After 400 miles, I decided to take the Z up to the local mountains for some more spirited driving. Nothing crazy, just to get a feel of things to come.

For you San Diego folks, it was a trip up Palomar mountain via Valley center. Lots of fun and very twisty. Its a very popular road with the knee dragger crowd.

At the base of the run, I passed a group of imports on the side of the road. I was going too fast to really look, but I did see one WRX and a mustang. On the way up I got stuck behind a semi (I have never in my life seen a semi on this road before, just my luck). Stopped at the cafe at the top for a soda. The biker crowd looked and talked about the Z in the parking lot, but wouldn't stoop to walking over to look at it or to talking to me.

Back in the car for the drive down. About half way down, I see in one of the lookout areas the group of cars from the bottom, and they are waving me down! I pulled over, and talked with them for a while. It was a few guys from the local suby club and a few friends. A couple of the guys were national SCCA types, and all were real nice.

They crowded around the Z and asked a lot of questions. When I told them I was still breaking in the car and wasn't really pushing that day, they were very understanding, but I think they wanted some photo ops. Several of the guys were running up and down past the turnout while their compatriots took snaps. Lots of fun, and a really good reception from non Nissan folks. Its good to know there are a lot of good guys out there that enjoy all types of cars.

For the S.D. folks, I was told that the autocross is next weekend and that these guys would be there. Might go down for a viewing. Won't be broken in by then, so can't run. Always fun to watch though.

 

Yeah, I have driving a little over 400 miles too. It is amazing the reaction it gets. I have people pull up beside me on the interstate and give me a thumbs up, people shout out at stop lights and tell me the love it, and the valets shout, wanting to park it, as I pass their club. All of that on top of the amazing feeling you get behind the wheel. Life is good.

 

It's funny, isn't it? Today my wife and I stopped in at a Starbucks here in town and there was a shiny, new MINI Cooper S parked right up front. I really dig the MINI and there's not a single dealer in town. This is Dallas for f**k's sake and we don't have a MINI dealer. Anyway, we went inside and I asked who owned the MINI. A young man piped up that it was his and I started in with twenty questions and asked if I could see the car. He said sure and I mentioned that I've got something outside that he might be interested in.

When we all stepped out, he **** himself when he saw the Z and completely abandoned showing me his car, unlocked the doors and said, "yeah, sure, just look inside. It's unlocked." The funny thing is that I didn't want to go over the Z and he didn't want to talk about the Cooper for a good five minutes. We were so interested in the other's car that we didn't actually pay any attention to each other's questions.

After a thorough show and tell, we ended up sitting there for another hour talking cars and what not, admiring two of the most unique vehicles on the road.

 

I've seen that Mini Cooper S as well! What part of Frisco are you at?

Michael.

 

I'm up off 720 in the Trails. You? All I've been doing since Friday is driving! Flag me down if you see me. What color's the Z32?

 

I'm on the other side of town, Hillcrest & College Pkwy. My 300 is Glacier White Pearlglow (pearl white), but I'm mostly in the SE-R because it's WAAAY cheaper to commute to/from Las Colinas. So if you see an Aztec Red SE-R trying to keep up, then it's probably me.

I'm sooo tempted to get a 350. The first person to take delivery at Courtesy gave me a ride in his Chrome Silver Track model on Sat and it hasn't been the same since. Been up all night thinking about how I can get my hands on one w/o selling the 300.

We oughta meet halfway sometime like at Double Dip. We could have a mini-Z car show there.

BTW, are you on the Frisco forum? It's http://www.frisco-online.com/forum One of the members, FriscoFound, lives in the Trails -- I'll have to tell him to keep his eyes out for you.

Michael.

 

You 2 should have just swapped cars and then both of you would have been happy!

 

Who the hell would want to trade their Z?