Hello,
Got back to the City last night after putting on appx 600 miles oneway from
San Diego to San Francisco. It was myself, Dave Gardin and Fred Katz on this
mighty caravan to CDM's Surfside Show.
Before I go on I want to say thanks to the CDM gang for a great show once
again. You guys are the best and are very much appreciated by the Datsun
enthusiasts worldwide.
The caravan started well on Friday morning as planned. Fred and I met up in
S.S.F. and then drove to meet Dave at a rest area on Hwy 5. We were about 20
minutes late due to some traffic tie-ups but once we crossed the bridge
things just buzzed along. Btw... Freds car with the freshly rebuilt U-20 was
fantastic! Not only did the car run super strong but it looked good to. It
has got to be one of the smoothest sounding 2Ls' that I ever heard. Great
job in the '66 conversion Fred!
We arrived at our hotel in the San Diego area at appx 9pm. Much later then
expected. Again, we hit major traffic in the LA area along Hwy 405. We were
joined by another show-go'er in a beautiful '71 240Z somewhere down south.
We all cruised together for the next 25 miles, 1 1/2 hours. We checked into
the Days Inn and then headed to Les's shop for a brief hello to the gang.
The next morning Fred, Dave and I washed our cars in the beautiful SoCal
morning sunlight at 07:00 then went to the local Denny's for a pre-show
breakfast. After that we drove to the show which was appx 45 minutes away.
Arriving we saw already 80 plus cars parked with the hoods open and over twoo
hundred folks walking around. Very exciting indeed! We parked our cars,
signed in and did the normal show prep before we started walking around. It
was great to see all of the great folks again. Fred and I discussed how much
fun it was to see the names on the cars and match them up the the folks on
the Roadster List. Yes, there were several of them out there.
Of course, Les had some interesting things up his sleeves again. There was a
RHD 1999 Skyline GT-Vspec, or something like that out there. Dale Herseth of
Nissan Motors Prooving Grounds brought that baby over. It was radical! And
after the crowds cleared he drove it around the parking lot doing wheel spins
and doughnuts and all sorts of crowd pleasing stuff. Unfortunately this was
done with his matching RC car and not the real thing.
think that most radical car there was the Orange color 510 with the Rotory
motor in it. It was soooo clean that... well, you get the picture I hope.
Then of course there was the incredible 67.5 SRL311, Sora Blue with all of
those racing things on it. Oh, that was mine! ;>)
The after show party at Les's CDM was great too. The best part was the fun
crowd but the second best part was the free rides from Dale in the '99
Skyline. I am not a modern car enthusiast but this machine was a
technological powerhouse. I have never seen a car like it. I have been in
alot of fast, modern cars but this was really something special. I wont get
into it because I dont know enough to go to detail. But I liked it. And yes
it was very quick. Also that night Les let us use his facility and some
tools to work on Freds brakes. We bled them and then bid the CDM crew and
Marc Sayer ciao! Until next time you guys. Thanks again!
The drive home was uneventful as we had expected. Oh well, there was one
event that was not shocking but questionable. Fred and I did a rolling speed
test against one another. We started at appx 3500 rpm in fifth gear and then
we bothe jumped on it. Fred was running his fresh U-20 with SU's and I was
running my semi-fresh U-20 with Solex's and Cam. After we jumped on the gas
a couple seconds passed and his car pulled past to about 2 car lengths. Then
it stayed that distance until we had to slow. Question is what are the
advantages of Solex-vs- SU's.
Looking foward to the next West Coast Roadster Show. Looking forward to
seeing everyone again too.
Michael "Calspeed" Carion
SF BADROC
67.5 SRL311-000248 Solex
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