Like Paul, my thoughts on the Baltimore CC get together are extremely positive. Meeting everyone was a blast, and the event hosted a surprisingly diverse amount of vehicles, some of which weren’t even part of the show! I’ll also discuss the experience of driving to Maryland from New York and back. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t exactly free of drama.
Various routes will take you from New York to Maryland. This is obvious, but it didn’t occur to me that my Garmin GPS unit and the Waze app would offer different opinions on which way to go.
My instinct was to use the Garmin because it generally does a better job at visually informing the driver of various things. Unfortunately, the GPS unit lost the ability to report on traffic conditions long ago. Apparently, the majority of the power cable needs to be close to the windshield in order for live updates to work.
Where did my Garmin want to send me? On the same exact route that Google suggested. I-84 to I-87 to Route 17, then hop on the Garden State until hitting I-95, which would take me the vast majority of the way there.
Waze recommended a much different path. I-84 to I-81 to I-83. Pretty simple. And it saved me about fifteen dollars in tolls too!
Overall, Waze did an excellent job at getting me to Maryland. But there were some issues. The most glaring problem I encountered was the app simply freezing up, which happened twice during my trip. Waze also shut down unexpectedly for reasons unknown. I hesitate to blame the app because its entirely possible my otherwise flawless Galaxy S7 could have caused the problem. Ironically, my saving grace was the Garmin, which helped me with directions when Waze would malfunction.
NSFW language
So how did the actual driving aspect of the trip go? Reasonably well, although a couple of intense thunderstorms made things a bit dicey for a bit. My biggest scare happened about forty five minutes into the trip on I-84, when I ran over a sizable pothole that completely frazzled both myself and the car.
One of the benefits of dash cam ownership is the ability to show people exactly what I experienced. But for those of you who can’t view the video, here’s what happened: my front passenger side tire slammed into a pothole at about 70 mph with a loud “thwack!” and it prompted me to shout an expletive because I immediately became convinced that my trip had ended almost as soon as it began. Fortunately that was not the case. I credit the survival of the tire with its size: the 215/55R16 tires probably have enough sidewall to shake something like this off and come out unscathed.
Possible NSFW language
The rain was much less frustrating. Although it got a bit hairy at the intersection of I-81/I-83, the Focus powered right through it. The microphone on my dash cam records sound as if the cabin of the car was underwater, so it was interesting to hear how actual water impacted the playback. About thirty seconds in it really sounds like I’m taking a shower inside the car.
Due to some traffic around Harrisburg and the reduced speed caused by the heavy rain, it took me a total of four hours and fifty minutes (without stopping) to get to my hotel. But despite everything I just showed you, the drive really wasn’t bad at all. And I felt a lot less tired after the trip than I thought I would.
Paul’s coverage titled toward the classic cars, and while my content will also feature older vehicles, there were a lot of more modern cars at the show that deserve a shout out as well. First up is this beautiful Jaguar F-Type R. These mid level F-Type variants come standard with all wheel drive and a 5.0 liter supercharged V8, which puts out 550 horsepower and boasts a 0-60 time of under four seconds.
This F-Type S boasts a 380 horsepower version of the supercharged 5.0 liter V8. Obviously a bit less impressive than its R brethren but still pretty quick.
There were at least two Alfa Romeo 4C coupes at the show. With a 1.7 liter turbocharged four cylinder with an output of 237 horsepower and 258 Ib-ft. of torque, the 4C is actually slightly faster than the Jaguar F-Type S.
On the more vintage side of things was this F-100, which was in great shape. I unfortunately didn’t get a shot of the bed, but it was also painted red, and it looked fantastic.
If I remember correctly this Land Rover “Lightweight” half ton is a former military vehicle.
On the other end of the spectrum sits this 2006-2008 SL55 AMG. Output from the 5.4 liter V8 was probably 510 horsepower and 530 Ib-ft. of torque, which is still impressive by contemporary standards.
Like the Mercedes, this Saab 9-2X is also a rare breed. As a better dressed WRX, the Aero died far too young, which is why it was so great to see one.
The Saturn Sky also had a short lifespan. But people are still drawn to these cars, as there were two of them at the show, and they looked like they were in great shape.
This 1991-1993 Mitsubishi Galant is another car that is probably worth collecting at this point. These are quite scarce now.
Any gull wing car is generally cool. And this McLaren 720S definitely fits the bill. these things can do a 0-60 run in just 2.7 seconds.
How about some old and new cars in one picture? The M2 and 2002 are both coveted by enthusiasts. And these particular examples are rocking some excellent blue paint jobs.
The Toyota Pickup is a pretty rare sight these days. Newer Tacoma models are the exact opposite.
This Land Rover Defender attracted a lot of attention at the show. I don’t think there was even a hint of dirt on it either.
The same goes for this heavily modified Mustang. The owner even put nitrous oxide in it.
Fortunately, pretty much all the other cars at the show were tastefully modified, like this BMW Dinan 5. Dinan is an aftermarket company that works with BMW to sell upgraded models with factory warranty coverage. I believe they’re quite rare, and even more exclusive in wagon form.
The wide-eyed Toyota MR2 comes from an era when Toyota was a little less boring. This Spyder was absolutely dwarfed by both the Town and Country behind it and the late model Pilot to its right.
This Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint is also on the smaller side of the spectrum, but no less interesting.
The same cannot be said for this mid-nineties Impala SS. With a length of 214.1 inches and a 115.9 inch wheelbase, this full size is over a foot longer than the current Impala.
Unlike the Impala, this Volvo P1800 is probably much easier to park. It also has some interesting aftermarket side mirrors.
This 1987 Fiero GT may look stock, but it actually sported the Cadillac 4.9 liter V8. Total output for the 4.9 is 200 horsepower and 275 Ib-ft. of torque, which probably makes the Pontiac go quite fast.
Fiero enthusiasts often earn praise for outfitting their examples with more powerful engines. A fourth generation Toyota Supra owner would be criticized for doing this though, as the car already came equipped with a good powertrain. The popularity of The Fast and the Furious franchise doomed a substantial number of Supra models, so its nice to see that some owners opted not to do anything to their cars.
Does the Nissan 240SX also deserve to remain stock? The owner of this example answered that question with a definitive “no.”
There were also a surprising number of imported Nissans at the show. I believe I photographed two G-TR models and one Skyline.
In contrast to the G-TR and Skyline, the Pajero probably isn’t a vehicle most enthusiasts would import into the United States. But its still pretty cool. And rare, at least in these parts. The turbo graphics indicate that this particular Mitsubishi is equipped with a diesel engine.
The Focus ST was once forbidden fruit, just like those Nissan sports cars and the Pajero. And it may very well be again after all the 2018 models get sold. My suspicion is that we’ll get the new model, but it hasn’t been announced yet. Until then, we’ll just have to occupy ourselves with the ST models we have here, which are possibly both the first and last of their kind. I snapped some pics of this example due to its unique look, which is likely some sort of vinyl wrap.
There were also a surprising number of Ferrari F430 models at the show. I counted three at one point.
In post apocalyptic Australia, a former police officer probably wouldn’t be driving a Ferrari. They would choose something like this matte black Nova instead.
A modern reboot of Mad Max could even feature something like a late model Civic Type R.
Speaking of movies, do you remember the 1994 movie The Chase starring Charlie Sheen? I always think of it when I see red BMW models from that era. A 325is coupe was used in the movie. This is a 323i.
And while we’re on the subject of red convertibles, this Triumph TR3 deserves a shout out.
I have no idea why the kid was giving me the stink eye.
Paul covered the 1964 Lincoln Continental in his post about the meet up. I just wanted to include a shot of the rear and the interior as supplemental material.
This Rambler American was also already discussed, but I wanted to inquire about its reputation. My dad’s reaction upon seeing these pictures went something like this: “See? Even back then they had sh@tboxes!” Was that the general consensus on this model in the 60’s, or did my dad just have a bad experience associated with this model that he’s projecting onto this car?
These Corvettes certainly aren’t poop boxes.
Here is a car that one could plausibly call a box of poop. These second generation Cavalier’s were certainly not segment leading. My aunt had a wagon of this vintage and I never liked riding in it. Although it did have that distinctive GM exhaust growl.
This B5 Passat also resided near the Cavalier and was not part of the show. And next to it is an Accord sedan of similar vintage.
There actually were a lot of classic sedans on the outside fringes of the show. When I spotted this second generation Camry I hoped it was an All-Trac model. But alas, it was merely a V6 LE. Oh well. Still pretty cool to see one in such great shape.
This Mercury Grand Marquis LS hails from the same era as the Camry, but couldn’t be more different. And it still has whitewall tires!
Sadly, Thomassen Lincoln-Mercury no longer exists. Looks like it was replaced with an Audi/Porsche store, which is an interesting combination of brands.
Last but certainly not least was this Nissan/Datsun 280 with vintage plates in a very excellent green. Overall, the show displayed some very diverse vehicles and a good time was had by all.
I departed the Hunt Valley Towne Center at about 12:40, after having a great lunch with my fellow curbivores. Oddly enough, both the Garmin unit and Waze app were in agreement about which way to head home, which was kind of a mix between the two routes they sparred over a day before. The biggest difference was substituting I-81 for I-78, which then took me to I-287, a road which I considered the home stretch, given my familiarity with the area.
Fortunately, the weather was much better, and not long into the trip I spotted a genuine CC. The Chevrolet Spectrum is a pretty rare sight these days, and this specific example is a survivor that appears to be in good shape.
Definitely NSFW language
Was there drama on the trip back? Yup! On I-78 in NJ I encountered a construction area that temporarily killed my good mood.
For those of you unable to view the video, I’ve included some screenshots that explain the situation. Basically, I was cruising at about 70mph in this construction zone when I failed to notice a NJ state trooper parked in the median. Since I believed that speed was far above the limit in that area, I immediately became convinced that I had just bought myself a very expensive ticket, hence the two expletives. The cop car had its lights on and wheels pointed toward the highway, which contributed to my feeling that I was about to have a short conversation with a police officer.
The cop stayed put. In hindsight, its pretty obvious they were just there to slow everyone down, because clearly no work was taking place on Saturday. Definitely fooled me!
Because I was momentarily flummoxed, I failed to notice what was under construction. This led me to make a quick decision to shoot into the left lane, because my lack of attention led me to believe those lanes on the right were dedicated to the exit and not a continuation of the highway.
And here is a screenshot of the signs I should have read. All I’ll say is that a trucker pulled the same maneuver before I did, which you can barely make out in the video. Perhaps he thought he was getting pulled over too.
But I quickly returned to my post meet up vibe, which kept me energized throughout the trip back to New York. The drive was worth it. I look forward to future shindigs. Everyone was awesome and it was a great experience.
Related Reading:
Baltimore CC Meet-Up Postscript by Paul Niedermeyer
Very good. Like that TR-3, although I’m not sure about the whitewalls. A good TR-3 is still a pretty expensive car.
Interesting that you needed two GPS systems. When our family was in Costa Rica for March Break we relied heavily on Mrs DougD’s cellphone GPS. Which was great because CR doesn’t have a lot of road signage. Right until the app crapped out, at which point I hauled out my printed Google maps screenshots and we continued.
An enjoyable recounting of your trip. My Mrs. is a dedicated Garmin fan while I am a GoogleMaps kind of guy. My biggest problem is getting used to the different graphics and ways of navigating the systems when popping back and forth between the two.
That white F100 is a nice truck! A 64 I believe. But I am over the box Grand Marquis.
OK, on to the Rambler American. At the risk of tweaking some of our AMC fans here, my memory of the American is that it was what you drove if the Falcon or Valiant had too much personality for you. Maybe my memory is colored by the only person I ever knew with one of these – he was so thrifty that every time behind the wheel of his 68-ish 6/3 speed American (inherited from his grandmother) was like the final leg of the old Mobilgas economy runs.
I was told that he could nurse 40 mpg from the Rambler. But as a teenager I would have preferred a death sentence to that that little green box.
…my memory of the American is that it was what you drove if the Falcon or Valiant had too much personality for you.
Now, you *knew* I couldn’t let that pass.
A bumper sticker for every purpose.
McCahill tested one of these. It was no poo box. He loved it.
Of course, if you simply must go faster.
A traveling salesman that I knew in the 1970s had a half-serious list of three warning signs of drivers that he did not want to be near on the road: pipe smokers, people who talked with their hands, and AMC drivers. Of course, contarían that I can be, I came up with a lot of reasons to like AMC products over the ensuing years.
Hahaha, love that list. I would add one more, courtesy of my college roommate in the late 70s: men wearing hats. I think most of the hat wearers and pipe smokers have joined the AMC drivers on the endangered species list.
Edward, your father was right.
That trooper was one of NJ’s finest, which (from experience as a born and bred Jerseyan) means the stars were smiling on you that day, because they are a relentlessly unforgiving bunch.
I remain convinced after 35 years of driving around and through NJ that those construction signs, “temporary” lane markers, cones, barrels, blinking lights, etc. are not there to designate any actual construction (although in some cases there *might* be some distant future plan for it, or there *might* have been some minor project long since completed), but are intended to confuse, confound and trick Joe Motorist into “Speeding Fines Doubled in Construction Zone” tickets. I swear that the last time I drove the Turnpike from end to end no less than 80% of it was “under construction”.
I haven’t seen rain like that since 1966 when leaving Baltimore for Los Angeles. Like snow I don’t miss it as an adult.
Regardless of the rain, construction, and potholes, I’m sure your drive was far less nerve-racking than I-95 through the worst part of the Northeast Corridor. When I first started driving it 40 years ago I felt like I may not make it to my destination alive. That feeling never left me!
Glad to hear your navi worked fairly well. I call my Garmin “Gruppenführer Helga, the dash Nazi” due to her obstinate demands that everything be done *her* way, no matter how flawed.
On my last attempt to use Helga for a trip into a residential neighborhood in Ann Arbor, Helga decided I had completely left the road and refused to give any further directions. I was rolling down a 4 lane main street at the time. Fortunately a friend had decided to ride shotgun on that mission and whipped out his cell phone, which quickly provided accurate directions.
I call my GARMIN “Jill”. It’s not really very original though, as the default voice is “American English: Jill”. She even speaks the street names! Albeit poorly. 😉
CC Effect: I just updated Jill’s Maps today so my wife can use it to travel. Her Lancer doesn’t have Apple CarPlay like my Honda. This is the GARMIN out of my Mustang, as it’s the most up to date one we have. Her Nuvi 1450 doesn’t have free lifetime maps like my 2555.
I like WAZE, but prefer the GARMIN in the Mustang, but go back and forth between Apple’s maps and WAZE for the second GPS.
Like you Edward, I enjoy using 2 of them sometimes to see what their recommendations are, but ultimately wing it on my own!
She even speaks the street names! Albeit poorly. 😉
Helga utterly butchers street names. Anything abbreviated “Rd” is pronounced “round”. Traveling to my Aunt’s in Ohio, I pass a lot of County Highways, abbreviated “CH”. Helga pronounces “CH” as “church”.
A friend of mine drove his 79 Lincoln to a car show at the Gilmore today. Of course, he used a navi. Of course, it took him on an arduous course through Battle Creek (BC is no garden spot). I told him to use a paper map in the future as a paper map shows a brilliantly direct route that totally avoids going through BC.
I guess I’m just a dinosaur but I don’t use any type of GPS. Instead I rely on my good old Rand McNally road atlas, widely available for under ten dollars. I would rather concentrate on the road, traffic and everything else than try follow a route on a small electronic screen. I can see that under certain conditions some sort of GPS might be useful, for example if you need to make an unexpected course change due to construction or whatever, but for most of my driving I would rather rely on a printed map. Now, if you will excuse me I need to go and rewind a few of my VCR tapes and then listen to a cassette tape on my Walkman.
I still use paper maps for trip planning and orientation, but if I need navigation I’ll use the nav in my truck or Google. I’ve tried Waze but don’t like it. And I’m even starting to use another digital map database to supplement or replace paper maps, maps.me. It’s free, and covers the world, though it needs to be be downloaded by region for offline use. It’s really comprehensive and is regularly updated. I’ve used it all over the US, in Mexico, and in Ecuador, where I encountered a taxi driver who also used it. It has a pretty good network of hiking and biking trails as well as all Forest Service roads here in the US.
My wife and I just survived a harrowing trip through five states without the benefit of any modern nav system at all – but for those historic paper maps my local AAA office provided. One of those, a street map of Milwaukee, even worked during bicycle navigation around that city. I know I could not have biked and simultaneously operated any nav system but the trusty paper map, folded up in my saddlebag and studied prior to the ride, was all I needed.
Sorry about the snark. I would too have chosen a western route from north of NYC to north of Baltimore. I know to avoid New Jersey too.
You really do have good roads if that is meant to be a pothole, I was on our highway one recently and they havent actually put the road back after the Kaikoura earthquake its being moved to what was untill recently seabed it has a lot of single lane sections that ex military Land rover would feel right at home on, Some nice cars in that show but Skylines are just traffic, Mustangs are becoming the same I like the TR and the old rambler those I donr get to see every day same with those F type Jags.
Last years inland alternative route was different included at no extra cost were single lane bridges like this one near Springs Junction.
You realise that your NJ State Trooper – the one you greeted with BOTH his names – was in a CC of sorts? It’s statistically an oddity, at any rate. And to Aussie eyes, an oddity in general: it looks so misplaced to see a dog-dished Holden Statesman ready to rumble as a cop car. Here it was (and is) a posh limo, befitting its size, only ever occupied by politicians, including the leader of the country.
Immediately, I conjure an image of Ron and Alice, retired Aussie tourists, cruising a bit quick through NJ in their rental, with Norm drawling, “Don’t look now, Al, but we’re being chased by the f*ing Prime Minister.”
Btw, enjoy your youth, Edward. At 50, there’s no way I could drive nearly 5 hours non-stop now. Not unless I’d ordered a pale yellow interior.
We don’t get the Corvette here. Those photos remind me that it’s quite original and quite a stunner.
Before reading your comment here, I had assumed that the US-market Caprice was used as a police car in Australia as well. I can see how odd would it be to see such a car in patrol vehicle disguise; it would be like if North Americans were to see a Toyota Avalon police cruiser in another part of the world.
My local City ordered a fleet of (Holden) Chevy Caprices for police interceptor use, so until I read another thread here on CC, I didn’t realize how relatively rare they are nationwide. I’ve seen quite a few used by the Illinois State Police, but otherwise, they’re not too common — and of course, now are getting less so.
Great sightings!
Interesting seeing the JDM version of the Mitsubishi Pajero here. It’s not imported to Spanish speaking countries or even North America with that name, because in Spanish, pajero is translated as a “wanker”. They’re called Monteros here.