It would have seemed like a gathering of the exotics, but just how exotic is a Smart Car anyway? Everybody was welcome at this year’s toy drive with Lamborghini of Las Vegas and KLUC. It made for a fun day, and it’s really going to make some people’s Christmas.

Vegas is known to suck the loose change from people’s pockets, but it is actually a very giving town. Every year, KLUC’s morning jock Chet Buchanan camps out on a scaffold in the cold for an extended period of time to help local disadvantaged kids for Christmas. It began many years ago and has grown almost out of control. It’s really great. Many of the car clubs support the drive, and some of the Rever gang made thei pilgrimage with friends at Lamborghini of Las Vegas. 

So, it was fun. Some of the gang spent as much on bicycles, electronics and gift cards as they do on their own families. Everybody had a great time. The dogs seemed to enjoy themselves. A good time all around.

I know you are wondering how we got all of those bikes down to the place; nobody had a trunk. Lamborghini of Las Vegas had a big truck. Robert is going to another toy drive with the Ferrari Club this weekend.

Merry Christmas everybody.

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One of the Rally In The Valley sponsors was Lamborghini of Las Vegas. Chris and I stopped there for longer than most to visit friends, and see if there was anything new worth seeing.

They didn’t really have anything new EXCEPT the flat black and white Lamborghini Gallardos. They looked amazing. It is factory paint and while I forget the exact amount for the upgrade, I do remember that it is tens of thousands. If you are one of those people that think there are just too many Gallardos out there, this is your chance to have one that is unique. Too bad they aren’t the new LP560.

I also shot more pics of the Ferrari F40 (you will see it a few times on my Flickr page)…because I just can’t resist. With the price of exotics dipping, this might be the time to buy the supercars!

They also had a Ford GT in the showroom. I don’t like pictures of it in red, but it looked nice in person. I suppose I would like to have one in any color.

Can’t afford the F40? You can slill look good in one or our Rever Clothing car t-shirts!

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What happens when over 100 fast cars get together to blast all over Vegas? Expensive speeding tickets? Impounded exotic vehicles? Nope…we raised over $3,500 for the Nevada Diabetes Association!

Everyone left Cars and Coffee around 10:00am to begin a trek that took us all around town (even out of town in one case) with stops at twelve sponsors. Each stop had a professional photographer and a professional model. Unfortunately, my photos for this post are ones we took of the driving…BUT I will have the shots of the car with the model soon!

You may think the models were present simply to look good, but that isn’t true. Each model judged every car, so we could find the “hottest”, “cutest”, and “best date car” in the bunch. My Pantera held its own in the “hottest” category, but didn’t do as well when it came to cuteness. It looks and sounds too uncivilized to qualify as “cute.” Actually, I would be insulted if someone called my car cute. But it was judged even more harshly as a date car. Some say it was the lack of a back seat. Others say the lack of reclining seats held it back. Maybe the models noticed it would be impossible to get in and out of while wearing a skirt. Well, not so much impossible as obscene. I think it was because you have to SPEAK SO LOUDLY to hold a conversation. Dates are for talking, right?

There was no prize for arriving first, so we all spread out and relaxed. Heck, a group of us hung out at one stop for 30 minutes to eat ribs and drink non-alcoholic margaritas. I don’t think a single driver received a speeding ticket during the rally. Must be our “no idiot” policy.

The photos taken of the Ferrari Club cars will be become our 2009 calander, which will raise even more money for the Nevada Diabetes Association. We love them.

Remberber to wear on or our cool car t-shirts to your next rally!

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Many of us in Vegas avoid road trips in the summer. But a few of us, tired of waiting for cooler temperatures, took a quick blast to the Techatticup Mining Camp. The curvy, nearly abandoned roads make for run driving, and the driving-to-rest stop ratio is wonderful if combined with breakfast in Boulder City and a slight detour to see the Colorado River. The group included friends in a Lotus Esprit, Ferrari 355 and Angie and I in the Porsche. It is only 40 or 50 miles from Rever Clothing’s T-shirt HQ in Vegas. Watch out for HiPo on the main highway.

The “mining camp” is really a little rest stop with a lots to look at. Old gas pumps, rusted cars, and a million things that I can only group into the category of “cool old stuff.” There is a barn filled with aged signs, tools, furniture, soda machines, pictures, televisions and radios. You can also wander around an acre or two of buildings, signs, cars and assorted stuff. The shop has hundreds of photos and articles of historic happenings, as well as the many films and TV shows filmed in the area.

For some reason, they have a sign on the door that says “we don’t rent pigs.” I wish I would have asked about that.

The Techatticup mine was discovered in 1861, and was the most important mine in Eldorado Canyon. There were hundreds of mines in the canyon, but Techatticup was famous for producing more than $2.5 million dollars before 1942. That may not sound like much, but it is a gazillion dollars if adjusted for inflation and current gold values. I did the math; you can double-check it if you want.

Trivia: The canyon was also home to a couple of renegade Indians (Ahvote and Queho) that killed over 25 people. Queho killed his last victim in 1919 and was never caught.

Visible from the upstairs window of the Techatticup barn is an aircraft boneyard. It is worth a visit if you are into that sort of thing. Here is the funny scoop: In the 1970s, Thai and Vietnamese pilots trained at Keesler Air Force Base. The cadets damaged a BUNCH of the 1950s era T-28 Trojans, which were slated for disposal. An enthusiast bought the fleet and moved it to Eldorado Canyon to rebuild the airframes and salvage serviceable parts. They are sold as kits. I would have stopped at the boneyard if I knew that story in advance… But walking in the heat was daunting. That’s code for “I was too lazy”.

We hit the Colorado River on our way back. It was fun for a few minutes—we don’t see much water here in Vegas—but the lack of water wings, floaties or power boats kept us from doing much.

Anyone in Vegas should consider this short blast. If your butt can take it, add the Pioneer Saloon to the end of the trip. Supposedly it was founded by one of the discoverers of the mine… That is from a dubious source on the Interweb. Regardless, the 100-year-old Pioneer is in the theme of the trip. It is located in Goodsprings, and you can find a few pics elsewhere on this blog.

Click here to see a LOT more photos

I thought this would be the year that I finally made it to Speed Week at the Bonneville Salt Flats, but managing our first run of Rever T-shirt designs kept me in Vegas. Fortunately, we still had people go to check it out and take pictures. So, no clever commentary, but lots of great shots of things that go fast on salty surfaces. Next year HAS to be the year I make it to Speed Week.

As an incentive, a friend has announced 2009 is the year he goes over 200 miles per hour on a motorcycle. Hopefully, we will start working on that project soon. A turbo ‘Busa should have no problem going that fast, but will it go 250 miles per hour? We will see—it might take a few years.

For those not familiar with Bonneville… It is a 159-square-mile salt flat in northwest Utah. W.D. Rishel recognized it as a perfect speed-testing ground in 1896, and it became famous when Malcolm Campbell set several speed records there in the 1930s. Cars now go over 600 mph. The salt keeps anything from growing, and every rainfall cleans the surface and keeps the densely packed salt very flat. Trivia: The huge beach scene in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End was shot there because it is large enough for the curve of the Earth to make the salt seam endless.

A few days ago (September 5, 2008), Cliff Gullett was killed going 239 mph on his motorcycle. His family said he died doing what he loved.

Lamborghini Las Vegas sponsored a track day at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch in Pahrump it’s just over the hill from Rever’s T-shirt central command . We were excited to have a free track day, but we ran into problems on our way out of town.

Four of us were cruising—we had a Ferrari 575, Ferrari 308, my Pantera and a Lamborghini Diablo—and passed a BLM park ranger going the other way. He lit up the gumballs, turned around and came screaming past me (wasn’t worried - I wasn’t speeding) to pull over the 308. The rest of the group kept going—sorry unnamed friend.

The 308 was for sale and belonged to the driver’s employee. Our friend was driving it to the track as a favor… Give the car a little exposure and maybe attract a buyer. As it turns out, there was no proof of insurance in the car, and the our friend had to explain to the ranger why the car wasn’t even registered to him. The ranger was understanding and didn’t write a ticket for the lack of insurance, but he did give the driver a ticket for doing 75 in a 65. Fair enough.

The ranger then says the car will have to be towed… Umph. The lack of insurance and registration in someone else’s name made the whole thing just a wee bit too shady to let drive off.

It took an hour for the tow truck to show, but our patience was rewarded when the tow guy was willing to drop off unnamed friend with the rest of the gang and hang around while we took some pictures! It’s a bit of a tradition.

The guy that owned the car had to pay $400 to get it out of impound. The driver received a $225 speeding ticket and had to put up with people speeding past, yelling things like “Good job, Magnum!” So funny!

The photos above include a previous trip to the track that resulted in a friend being pulled in his white Ferrari 328. What is it about 308s that attract so much heat?? No ticket and no problems in this case.

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What would you do if you were on a road trip, and one of the four cars developed a problem after a few hundred miles? Leave the guy on the side of the road to fend for himself, or blow the weekend’s plans and roll the dice? What if it was two cars that had problems? Or three?

I can tell you what WE did… Used three tow trucks, brought in a replacement car from Vegas, drove through the night, left a Ferrari in Reno, and took part in a story worth more than any tow bill (or three).

Five of us headed to Tahoe on a Friday morning with high hopes, three Italian cars (Ferrari 355, Ferrari 550, Lambo Countach)and one German (BMW Z8). I was riding shotgun in the 355 as my Pantera is too loud, stiff and thirsty for an 1,100 mile trip.

WE LOSE CAR ONE.
We hit Beatty, Nevada in the early afternoon, fueled up and tore out of town. After passing 30 mile markers and two brothels, the “slow down” light on the dash of the 550 started blinking. Surprisingly, this light doesn’t come on when you are going too fast, but rather, when something is too hot. We pulled off to the side of the road, found the problem (overheated cat) to be too risky to proceed, called Vegas for a tow truck and turned back toward Beatty.

Don, the driver of the 550, graciously said, “Go on without me.” Ridiculous. I came on this trip to be with friends, not to worry about hotel reservations in Mammoth. Everyone else agreed.

WE LOSE CAR TWO.
Two hours later, we loaded the 550 on the tow truck, topped off the remaining three cars and tore out of town. Again. After passing 30 mile markers, two brothels and a cell tower, the Countach started to run hot. The Countach doesn’t have a “slow down” light, you have to keep your eyes on the gauges (and pay attention to funny smells, like coolant). Rather than take a chance, we turned around, called Vegas for another tow truck and headed back to Beatty… Again.

Now things get tricky, because we had more humans than car seats. Gary, not wanting to be the boat anchor, said “Go on without me.” No way. This was just getting interesting. There had to be a way. Rental car? Nope. Not in Beatty.

CHICKS ARE SMART.
Then, we came up with an idea… One of our wives could drive a car up from Vegas, and ride back with the tow truck and broken Countach. Brilliant! But, would any of our wives be willing to do it? Luckily, our wives are smarter than us; they arranged to have the tow truck bring one of their cars to Beatty and return with the Lambo sans-wifey. We felt stupid, and blamed it on the heat.

DID YOU KNOW BARS CLOSE?
Once the Mercedes was unloaded and the Lambo took its place on the truck, we topped off and tore out of town… Again. For the third time! We arrived at the hotel bar in Mammoth just before last call. Being kicked out of a bar might not be strange to some of you, but to be kicked out for a stupid reason like, “It’s getting late” is bizarre to a group of guys from Las Vegas, where the bars only close if they go bankrupt. But it was a treat—and a little tragic—to see the last-minute hookups. Don’t do it, girl! You’ll regret it in the morning. Oh well.

WE LOSE CAR THREE… REALLY!
Saturday, we left beautiful Mammoth and headed toward our next destination, Lake Tahoe. After a spirited, but uneventful drive, we stopped at a lodge to sit by the lake and drink hot chocolate—don’t mock; it was cold. So, it’s time to leave when we notice a pool of fluid under the 355 and gear oil still dripping from the rear of the car. You have GOT to be kidding!

NOTE: Women flirt considerably more with a man working under the hood of a broken Ferrari, than a guy with an well-running Jetta.

SUNDAY, ALMOST PROBLEM-FREE.
After getting the 355 up on the flatbed, we head to a friend’s house in Reno to store the car until it would be sent to a shop first thing Monday morning. We left Reno around 4:00pm and headed home to Vegas. We got fuel in Tonopah so we wouldn’t need to stop in Beatty… The small town eats cars. Note to self: Maybe Rever should do a “I hate Beatty” t-shirt? No offense to the good people of Beatty who fed us well and kept our drinks and gas tanks topped off.

As we pulled away from Beatty, the Z8’s oil light came on. We just laughed; Beatty wasn’t going to beat us. It had tried twice already. Turns out the BMW’s oil light comes on when you are half a quart low. Yup. A half of a quart sets off an alarm. My car (1972 De Tomaso Pantera) lets me know I’m low on oil with a seized motor! Ah, modern technology. We added oil, got back on the road, and arrived in Las Vegas safely.

THE MORAL.
You might be asking yourself, “But what did you do besides deal with cars?” Well, we did stuff we normally do: we ate, hung out, told stories and got sunburned. But the food was better, the chairs more comfortable, the stories bigger and the sunburn less painful because we stuck together and turned a road trip into an adventure.

The love of the road trip is one of the reasons we begin design clothing for people who love cars. Everybody needs the perfect road trip shirt. But even more important… Everybody needs a great ROAD TRIP. Get out there with your friends soon!

OK, so it isn’t the world’s fastest car. That would be some jet fighter without wings, but I’m talking about the world’s fastest production car. It has officially gone faster than the Bugatti Veyron—257mph.

It is called the SSC Ultimate Aero TT. 1180ish horsepower and modestly priced at around $600,000. This isn’t a concept car…you can actually buy one.

A small group of us took our cars out to Red Rock Canyon, on the outskirts of Las Vegas, with the designer/owner and a film crew. They were shooting for Newsweek.

Point of interest: Tires are the weak link when going over 250mph. Shelby’s tire partner had scientists and engineers at the top speed run (held in 2007) to help. No tire was allowed to stay on for more than 30 miles as the tires can’t stand up to that much punishment for long, and tire failure at those speeds causes a fatal crash, period. It doesn’t matter what kind of safety equipment is in the car.

Need wide tires with 29 miles on them?

Some of my favorite Ferrari Club events are really Viper Club events… That we crash.

I love driving, and the Viper guys drive pretty hard. When I heard they were making a run to Hoover Dam, I called my friends and told them when and where to invade the Viper drive. To my amazement, LOTS of folks showed up.

The drive turned out to be pretty uneventful as it is often one lane (each way), and construction further slowed our pace. But it was still fun to eat breakfast with fellow drivers, make a few friends, and see the dam.

Despite our recollection of constantly driving BELOW the speed limit, one of our gang still managed to get pulled over. Correction: I originally thought her ticket was for speeding, but it turns out there are no speeding tickets in the National Park; she got a “wasting a finite resource” fine.

Wasting a finite resource? Anyone that knows my Pantera knows I should get that ticket when I pull out of the driveway every morning. 8.5 mpg my friends! But I was practically “going green” that day by driving my wife’s car. It is the silver Porsche in the pictures, and it probably gets twice the mileage my car does. And it is pretty.

BTW: Hoover Dam is a must-do morning or afternoon road trip when you come to Vegas. Beware in the summer. If your car no likey the heat, then you may want to check with the weatherman; temperatures break 120 degrees in the canyon during the summer, and you’re going to spend a lot of time idling. Aside from the heat, it’s a spectacle even if you’re not into non-automobile engineering wonders. Put on your favorite T-shirt and enjoy your dam drive.

I had been waiting for the group to make a run to Death Valley for months, but some of the exotics (including mine) couldn’t go until the weather was cool. A few months ago, we teamed up with a group of Audi and VW drivers for a lunch run.

I spent most of my time driving, so I didn’t get many pictures. Some of these photos were taken by Angie (lovely wife) from her car…in case you are wondering how I took photos of the Pantera from another car.

I found out a few important things on this trip:

1. I got my car up to 150mph at Spring Mountain race track. I heard rumors that a previous owner put a taller final gear in the transaxle- it could be true, or maybe it is the 550 pounds of torque. Regardless, this is pretty good for a car that went 130mph in stock form and only has a five speed.

2. The blowing sand is hard on paint. My front air dam looks like it has been sandblasted in some places…and, technically, I suppose it has been.

3. There is water in Death Valley. At least there is when it isn’t the middle of summer.

4. Tourists will walk up and down a wooden pier, that doesn’t go anywhere, in the middle of the desert. Why?

5. Audi and Volkswagen drivers have a different driving style than sports car and exotic drivers. They make up for it by being a very polite and likable bunch. I would love to hook up with them again if they will have us.