New York City, surroundings, classic cars

Re: New York City, surroundings, classic cars

Christian Tepfer said:
Nice one, it's true, a 97 Cobra is nice, but not what we aim for here. It just looks like a "normal" car (sorry, I didn't mean to insult your car or yourself). It really about the classic feeling, the "no power steering, steel and rubber"-thing. This is definitely not rational ;-)

I thought of seperating things and just do NYC, maybe we will settle for that.
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My '97 is a street car, my actual daily driver so indeed like a normal car. In fact I like that my green '97 does not draw as much politzi attention as my former red '93 did.

While I have always been more about go than show. I personally find it a little disappointing that you can now buy 500-600 hp mercedes or beemers. You could save the airfare and hit the nurburgring in a new porsche 918 to see if you can match their sub 7 min lap?

You can easily keep yourself amused in NYC, New Years Eve in times square is an event. This time of the year hitting a warm southern beach to recharge your vit D is not a bad plan too, while you can find warm beaches closer and cheaper.

Whatever you decide welcome and enjoy... You still can't borrow my car...but I don't see many tourists in central MS :-)

JR
 
Re: New York City, surroundings, classic cars

While on the wrong ocean for your trip, the coastal drive between San Francisco and LA is very scenic and pretty exciting driving. But, I would much prefer driving it in a nimble sports car than a classic muscle car. I would think that the flats of the southwest would be a good place for a muscle car joy ride. Just save a lot of cash for the petrol. Long distances in a 12mpg machine can add up. ;) As far as the northeast coast, there are definitely a lot of sights to see. But I don't have anything to offer as far as driving opportunities.
 
Re: New York City, surroundings, classic cars

drew gandy said:
While on the wrong ocean for your trip, the coastal drive between San Francisco and LA is very scenic and pretty exciting driving. But, I would much prefer driving it in a nimble sports car than a classic muscle car. I would think that the flats of the southwest would be a good place for a muscle car joy ride. Just save a lot of cash for the petrol. Long distances in a 12mpg machine can add up. ;) As far as the northeast coast, there are definitely a lot of sights to see. But I don't have anything to offer as far as driving opportunities.
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Spot on about driving Pacific Coast Highway! Beautiful route, lots of stuff along the way (Hearst Castle in San Simeon is a must-see, IMHO). I used to stop in Carmel for a meal at Clint Eastwood's restaurant...

Driving opportunities... we have those in Kansas, if you like dumb drivers and mostly flat landscapes.
 
Re: New York City, surroundings, classic cars

Jay Barracato said:
What about looking into one of the high performance driving schools associated with the road tracks? There was one at Watkins Glen.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD
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I'm not sure. If they have the cars we look for, maybe. But I doubt this. I found lots of these schools having newer muscle or sports cars.
Plus, as John pointed out, for instance the classic Mustang is not for racing really. I call it an optimistic car. Optimistic to put a high power V8 into a car like this. Breaking is a lot harder then bringing it up to speed. I think we are more into cruising. Maybe even on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I laughed hard at the Top Gear video btw. But after all it's a scenic drive and a V8 at idle is a nice thing as well. It is about the style that never took off in Germany (maybe because of higher oil prices even before the oil crisis that ended the muscle/pony era). Well, we had the Opel Manta, forget about it.

I would personally settle for a classic T-bird (55-57) or a late 50s Cadillac, even when they don't fall into the muscle category.
 
Re: New York City, surroundings, classic cars

Christian Tepfer said:
I'm not sure. If they have the cars we look for, maybe. But I doubt this. I found lots of these schools having newer muscle or sports cars.
Plus, as John pointed out, for instance the classic Mustang is not for racing really. I call it an optimistic car. Optimistic to put a high power V8 into a car like this. Breaking is a lot harder then bringing it up to speed. I think we are more into cruising. Maybe even on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I laughed hard at the Top Gear video btw. But after all it's a scenic drive and a V8 at idle is a nice thing as well. It is about the style that never took off in Germany (maybe because of higher oil prices even before the oil crisis that ended the muscle/pony era). Well, we had the Opel Manta, forget about it.

I would personally settle for a classic T-bird (55-57) or a late 50s Cadillac, even when they don't fall into the muscle category.
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My brother had a 56 T-bird (decades ago) and that was actually a respectable handling car considering the 50's technology. The engine is set back in the chassis so the static front/back weight distribution is night and day better than the mustang (that was designed as an affordable kid's car), and superior to all but serious purpose engineered sports cars.

My brother upgraded his transmission to a 4 speed and bored out the 312 v/8 (with 3/4 race Isky cam). I recall having to drive it periodically for him after he was drafted into the army and it sat for a while. That was one sweet car... It surely loses some points from purists for not having a stock transmission but that close pattern 4 speed (Hurst floor shifter) was a pleasure to bang around in.

I suspect driving a circa 50's Cadilac would more resemble a boat trip...

JR
 
Re: New York City, surroundings, classic cars

Dave Barnett said:
I saw a Factoid on CNN once where they said that 40% of all traffic on Manhattan is drivers looking for a parking place.
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There is a TV commercial in heavy rotation about a small company that developed a system of parking spot sensors networked together that reported to a website so drivers could search for open parking spots using their fingers and a smart phone.

Sounds like a heavy infrastructure investment but makes sense for big cities with a shortage of parking spaces to reduce congestion and minimize extra pointless driving around.

JR

PS: The commercial was from some big bank bragging about helping the small company with capital and advice.
 
Its not the type of car you're looking for, but a day at the BMW performance driving school in south Carolina is a blast. I won a one day M school class and it was really fun. The facility is about an hour from the blue ridge parkway. It is pretty expensive, but it includes all your meals and a hotel. Also of you like tight twisty roads the tail of the dragon and the chereolah skyway are 3 hours away. Just be warned on the weekends the dragon is infested with Harley riders who think 20 is an acceptable speed.

Also once you get not too far south of Savannah Georgia it becomes very straight and monotonous, even on back roads. My favorite drives through the US was a canyon run near arches national park, a group drive near Boone NC, the Virginia highlands on back roads, and pikes peak. You could easily hit two of those on your trip.
 
Re: New York City, surroundings, classic cars

Klaus Zimmermann said:
Christian,
correct, but Maestro is the best way (for europeans) to get cash with the least costs. besides this, use a vise/master/diner/amexco/whatever ;)
when I book a rental (as well as hotel rooms), i'll do it from here (Germany) with FULL insurance package for a FIXED price! in the US, they'll always try to sell you something else ;)
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i had the odd luck of my sparkasse issued card being usable to purchase nyc subway cards, but not to get cash at chase bank or western union
 
Re: New York City, surroundings, classic cars

Driving from NYC to Miami could be a real treat.I would skip Skyline Dr because the speed limit is only 25 or 35 and really winding.Blue Ridge Parkway speed limit is 45.Lot's of nice places to stop.After the Blue Ridge,I would head to Charleston, South Carolina and spend the night.One of the most beautiful cities in the US.Nice market place and plenty of great restaurants.Another nice city along the way is St Augustine ,Florida.Visit the old Spanish fort and walk through the old section of town.If you have time,Disney World is great if you have never been there before.Expensive,but worth it.Have a great time.
 
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