Scenic Drives, Fun Car Stories and History
08-17-2002, 08:41 PM
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Burning Brakes
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Scenic Drives, Fun Car Stories and History
Car fun history… where to start? Let’s start at the very beginning. That’s a very good place to start… Hmm…
My dad really liked Chryslers, and would drive fast in pretty much straight lines like on the way to the beach. I bought my first car at 16 years of age. It was a Chrysler Newport convertible. It only took me about 10 minutes to leave my hometown and get onto remote country roads with this over 120 mph capable car. I had the four wheel drift down pat within a few weeks of owning the car. I had been able to practice on the Chrysler 300 XL convertible family car named Snoopy. It was a 452 cubic inch high compression experimental model. You could whip the rear end into a slide, and punch your way to instant traction with all 4 wheels nicely screaming until you pegged the accelerator pedal. It was also fun to hit the wildlife reserve sandy roads. We could get airborne through the bumps. A fun trick was to whip the right rear end off the shoulder and slide on the right rear body pan for a while, then break left, and swing back into a fast paced romp through the woods on down the road.
Next was possibly the most beautiful car I have ever owned – a gold Mercedes 280 SEL. The steering was incredibly responsive. But, 4 wheel drifts were pushing the limits a little far. With independent 4 wheel suspension, the rear end does not just swing around and wait for you to punch for traction through the curve. But, I didn’t mind. How smooth was this one in the mountain curves?
I sold the gorgeous Deep Forest Green, with tan interior Carmen Ghia convertible to a Japanese entrepreneur. He bought some used Mercedes too, and shipped them out of LA or the Long Beach harbor to Japan. He paid several grand in cash on the spot. I took all those small bills, and threw them up in the air across my bed in preparation for Holly’s visit. When I showed her the bed just dripping with cash, she kinda’ freaked. The fun was to play on the bed dripping with money like that Uncle Duck with the diving board into his money vault. We rolled around kissing for a bit. But she could not help but to tend to the money. It was fun to swim in those bills. But, soon she jumped out of my arms, and had to catch the hundreds of dollars spilling off of the bed. I must confess that it was the most fun I ever had playing with money.
Some driving experiences around California have been incredible. Mulhulland Drive skirts across the top of a mountain range above Hollywood. The Malibu mountains can be very remote, and scenic. It is easy to give the sports car a good workout up there. California Hwy 1 is a fantastic drive between LA and San Francisco. It turns into twisting mountain paths high above the sea at times. There are often fantastic vistas of the surf splashing way up into the air above the jagged rocks.
Now, the 928 rips through the Smokie Mountains for a good time. The Blue Ridge Parkway has slow speed limits, but scenic vistas. Skyline Drive up in Virginia has more rolling hills.
California:
Sequoia National Park, CA – Redwood trees are amazing
Redondo Beach to Palos Verdes beach and cliff road
Canal area of Venice Beach
Utah:
Salt Lake City, Utah to Snowbird and Alta ski resorts
Monument Valley, Utah
Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
Zion National Park, Utah
Arches National Park, Utah
North Carolina:
Pisgah National Forrest, NC
Outer Banks – take the ferries
Europe:
Anywhere in the Alps
Lichtenstein
Paris, France
Lake Lucerne, Switzerland
Grendelwald, Switzerland
Arizona:
Canyons road in Arizona? Narrow road, between the cliffs, along the river – Can anyone ID this one?
The Painted Desert, Arizona
What fun times, and drives have other Sharks had with cars?
<img src="graemlins/burnout.gif" border="0" alt="[burnout]" /> <img src="graemlins/jumper.gif" border="0" alt="[jumper]" />
My dad really liked Chryslers, and would drive fast in pretty much straight lines like on the way to the beach. I bought my first car at 16 years of age. It was a Chrysler Newport convertible. It only took me about 10 minutes to leave my hometown and get onto remote country roads with this over 120 mph capable car. I had the four wheel drift down pat within a few weeks of owning the car. I had been able to practice on the Chrysler 300 XL convertible family car named Snoopy. It was a 452 cubic inch high compression experimental model. You could whip the rear end into a slide, and punch your way to instant traction with all 4 wheels nicely screaming until you pegged the accelerator pedal. It was also fun to hit the wildlife reserve sandy roads. We could get airborne through the bumps. A fun trick was to whip the right rear end off the shoulder and slide on the right rear body pan for a while, then break left, and swing back into a fast paced romp through the woods on down the road.
Next was possibly the most beautiful car I have ever owned – a gold Mercedes 280 SEL. The steering was incredibly responsive. But, 4 wheel drifts were pushing the limits a little far. With independent 4 wheel suspension, the rear end does not just swing around and wait for you to punch for traction through the curve. But, I didn’t mind. How smooth was this one in the mountain curves?
I sold the gorgeous Deep Forest Green, with tan interior Carmen Ghia convertible to a Japanese entrepreneur. He bought some used Mercedes too, and shipped them out of LA or the Long Beach harbor to Japan. He paid several grand in cash on the spot. I took all those small bills, and threw them up in the air across my bed in preparation for Holly’s visit. When I showed her the bed just dripping with cash, she kinda’ freaked. The fun was to play on the bed dripping with money like that Uncle Duck with the diving board into his money vault. We rolled around kissing for a bit. But she could not help but to tend to the money. It was fun to swim in those bills. But, soon she jumped out of my arms, and had to catch the hundreds of dollars spilling off of the bed. I must confess that it was the most fun I ever had playing with money.
Some driving experiences around California have been incredible. Mulhulland Drive skirts across the top of a mountain range above Hollywood. The Malibu mountains can be very remote, and scenic. It is easy to give the sports car a good workout up there. California Hwy 1 is a fantastic drive between LA and San Francisco. It turns into twisting mountain paths high above the sea at times. There are often fantastic vistas of the surf splashing way up into the air above the jagged rocks.
Now, the 928 rips through the Smokie Mountains for a good time. The Blue Ridge Parkway has slow speed limits, but scenic vistas. Skyline Drive up in Virginia has more rolling hills.
California:
Sequoia National Park, CA – Redwood trees are amazing
Redondo Beach to Palos Verdes beach and cliff road
Canal area of Venice Beach
Utah:
Salt Lake City, Utah to Snowbird and Alta ski resorts
Monument Valley, Utah
Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
Zion National Park, Utah
Arches National Park, Utah
North Carolina:
Pisgah National Forrest, NC
Outer Banks – take the ferries
Europe:
Anywhere in the Alps
Lichtenstein
Paris, France
Lake Lucerne, Switzerland
Grendelwald, Switzerland
Arizona:
Canyons road in Arizona? Narrow road, between the cliffs, along the river – Can anyone ID this one?
The Painted Desert, Arizona
What fun times, and drives have other Sharks had with cars?
<img src="graemlins/burnout.gif" border="0" alt="[burnout]" /> <img src="graemlins/jumper.gif" border="0" alt="[jumper]" />
08-20-2002, 12:05 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Riyadh
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One thing I miss here in Riyadh is interesting roads, from a driving enjoyment perspective (sorry Omar). There are few roads here that are fun to drive, except maybe mountains in SW, and they are verging on dangerous, so I dont enjoy them either.
I used to have a piece of road in Oz I liked - not long, but fun. Started with some moderate, but well cambered corners, a crest and steep downhill with some gentle corners (open, not blind), then bottomed and rose again sharply, more gentle corners, then a long sweeper of constant radius that tested your ability to balance the power oversteer and stay out of the kerbs. Once I was asked late to take a friend of my son's home on a route that used this road, and it was inconvenient, but I had to do it. Well, I though, might as well have some fun here. I went at it with some gusto, and enjoyed it a lot - cool night air, engine singing, no traffic, good fun. After it was done, back to normal driving, I noticed both boys were white as sheets, hanging on for grim death. 'Werent afraid were you?'. Well, just a little they said.
I havent had the 928 through that part yet, but I am looking forward to it. Wonder if jnr will come with me again?
jp
I used to have a piece of road in Oz I liked - not long, but fun. Started with some moderate, but well cambered corners, a crest and steep downhill with some gentle corners (open, not blind), then bottomed and rose again sharply, more gentle corners, then a long sweeper of constant radius that tested your ability to balance the power oversteer and stay out of the kerbs. Once I was asked late to take a friend of my son's home on a route that used this road, and it was inconvenient, but I had to do it. Well, I though, might as well have some fun here. I went at it with some gusto, and enjoyed it a lot - cool night air, engine singing, no traffic, good fun. After it was done, back to normal driving, I noticed both boys were white as sheets, hanging on for grim death. 'Werent afraid were you?'. Well, just a little they said.
I havent had the 928 through that part yet, but I am looking forward to it. Wonder if jnr will come with me again?
jp
