Southern California X1/9

Best of France and Italy 2009

rmmj — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:31:25 +0000

Just another year at Woodley Park in Van Nuys. I was without an Italian car this year so I loaded up my BMW with food and drinks for the crew and of course the BBQ grill! And finally, after all these years of attendance, I got to shake hands and chat with Jay Leno!

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Another Cruise up to The Bay

rmmj — Mon, 04 May 2009 04:04:43 +0000

More of the same….jumped on another flight to LA, picked up the X1/9 and headed north. No problems to report although this trip I got really bored sitting on the 5 freeway for 5 hours so on the return trip home, I decided to take the 101. Still, just a smooth ride.

Cruise up to San Jose, CA

rmmj — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 03:52:19 +0000

Well at the last minute I decided to book a flight to LA, pick up the X1/9 and drive it up. It has been over 4 months since the car has seen any action. Since being stored at my buddy’s house under a car cover, it had only been started once a week to keep the battery charged and to let the engine run for 15-20 minutes.

It was about 7:30pm when I met my friend at LAX, drove to his place in Garden Grove, where I jumped in the car and sped off. It started up just fine; just in need of some gas. Despite haven’t had a significant voyage of any kinds in months, it ran smooth as butter all the way up the 5 freeway and into San Jose. Good thing, especially since I had no tools nor any spares. One minor annoyance that needs to be addressed is the loose auxilary belt around the alternator. While passing through an area of rain, the belt started to squeal which drove me crazy. Needs an adjustment…

Cruising around the Bay Area was great. The cool weather suited the X1/9 just fine and there were a couple of days of sunshine over the weekend when I had to top off. The return trip home was the same….

Best of France and Italy 2008

rmmj — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 18:41:49 +0000

The morning started out cold and rainy and I hesitated at going to the show. However, I promised a BBQ so I was obliged to go regardless. The drive there was fairly wet but as I approached the Van Nuys area it started to clear. Despite a muddy lawn, the rest of the day was sunny, warm and beautiful. As has been the case the last few years, I spent most of the time around the gang and cooking up lunch. I’ve seen pretty much everything else on the lawn so this is more like a picnic with friends. Speaking of friends, one of our long-time XWeb buddies from the DFW made it out to the show. Albert Alvarez showed his passion for FIATs by flying in Sunday morning and leaving Sunday afternoon! Thanks for “stopping by”!

Irvine Cars and Coffee – October 4th

rmmj — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 03:14:53 +0000

We had our first monthly meeting at Irvine. The weather was a bit drizzly which kept the entire show light and our meet fairly small. Thanks to all who came out – hopefully the next one will have better weather.

Meeting with Eddy and Jeremy Tuason

rmmj — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 22:12:51 +0000

I had the opportunity to meet with a new friend, Eddy Tuason and his son Jeremy today over lunch. Both father and son are Lancia Scorpion owners – Eddy has several in fact. His current driver is a nice example with some special lighting treatments – HID Projector headlights and round Opel GT taillights. Jeremy’s project has a custom carbon fiber top and a super-clean motor paired with an Anza quad exhaust.

We hung out for a short time while I dropped off a turbo mirror for Eddy’s other project – I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other again at future gatherings, including Best of France & Italy in addition to Irvine Cars and Coffee.

Thanks for lunch Eddy!

Las Vegas Rally & Bikini Calendar Photoshoot

rmmj — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 02:08:29 +0000

We are pleased to extend an invitation to the Italian Auto Club to participate in the “7th Annual Rally in the Valley and Hot-or-Not Bikini Calendar Photoshoot” on Saturday, October 11, 2008. The rally starts at Cars and Coffee, 9500 S. Eastern Avenue at 9:00am with the first car out at 10:00am. This is a strictly for fun rally lasting about 2-3 hours with trophies going to the cars that the bikini models deem the “Hottest”, the “Cutest” and the “Best for Dates”.

At each checkpoint every car will be photographed with a bikini model as you pull in, and as you “check out” the girls, they will be rating your ride. This is not a timed rally, so you can feel free to hangout at each checkpoint as long as the mood suits you. Each driver will get 12 high quality digital pictures of his ride with 12 different professional models in 12 different settings. So if only one member of your club participates, you will still have enough photos to take to Office Max or Office Depot to print out your very own, very hot, 2009 Italian Auto Club Bikini Calendar.

Since our sponsors are paying for all the models, all 100% of the $30.00 registration fees per car will go to the Nevada Diabetes Association. We hope to count on your support and see a lot of your members here! Thanks!!!

Flyer Available Here

Cars and Coffee – Irvine, CA

rmmj — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 06:26:26 +0000

Well it is back behind the wheel of my trusty X1/9 again and so I gave her a nice detail, saddled-up and met some of the gang at the Ford Motor Company in Irvine for the weekly Cars and Coffee event. Today we had Jeff, Ricardo, Mark and Eladio attend – 3 X1/9s and 2 Spiders. After the event, we drove over to Panera Bread on Lake Forest and Rockfield for some breakfast and “bench racing”.

We have decided to make this a regular event for the local FLU-SoCal Chapter. The first Saturday of every month will serve as our meeting, from 7am to 9am, with breakfast and a perhaps a drive immediately following the show. If we get enough participatants, we will be able to request a Featured Marque designation and have our own corral for the show – we wil have to build up to that type of attendence level though.

For now, here are the few pictures I took. I’m not so much interested in the cars as I am hanging out with the gang.

Final Trip Metrics for the 500

rmmj — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 08:15:16 +0000

I’ll soon be moving on to other things, but before I wrap up on the whole adventure with the Cinquecento, here are some final numbers from my trip:

2,359 miles from Dana Point, CA to Knoxville, TN
37 hours of driving time
43.2mpg
65mph average speed

Some things to keep in mind – the drive eastward on Interstate 40 is mostly an uphill climb from sea-level to 7,400-foot elevation. Even with the A/C on and everything mated to a 69hp 1.2L engine, the 500 performed quite nicely and turned in superb final numbers.

Overall, this was the highlight of my summer, if not my year, and more. I grew quite attached to the car and I was really sad to see her go. Hopefully, FIAT does bring it to the U.S., but it was an honor to be part of the unofficial debut.

Re-trace portions of my journey and long streches of highway as a passenger and also fiddle with the 500’s media console here:

http://socalx.com/mc.htm

Day 4: Memphis to Knoxville

rmmj — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 06:29:20 +0000

After a relaxing evening in the pool and sauna, I got to bed and slept until I felt like getting up. No alarm, no real timetable, it would only be about a 5 hour drive today to my final destination. Today’s drive was rainy, at times very heavy rain which slowed me down some. It was otherwise a fairly uneventful drive aside from the fact that I now had some really green scenery along the way which was a nice change from the desert and plains. I finally arrived in Knoxville around 530pm.

I had met, in-person, another one of my long-time virtual friends, Brett Melancon. Brett is one of the nicest guys you will ever find and it was quite a treat to pull up to his house and have his entire family come out to greet me and welcome in the Cinquecento. After settling in, Brett and I headed downtown to Calhoun’s on the Tennessee River where we met a couple of his friends for brew and BBQ. From there we visited a very unique garage filled with some very special and rare automobilia. I will not divulge all the details out of respect for both of the owner’s privacy (unless I hear otherwise), but here a few pics from the evening, including my final relay of The Torch.

Last but not least, there are so many people to thank for having been able to take part in this whole experience. It starts with one man, Jim Magill, who with his association with the Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice, led him to bring us this car and promote the fundraising charity. I only found out how I could get involved through my own association with XWeb and fellow club member Brett Melancon so without either of these individuals/organizations, none of this would be possible for me. As such, I have made my humble contribution on behalf of XWeb and all of it’s fine people and with the help of Brett for the amount of $100.

Thank you to all!