Yes, Robert really is behind the wheel. Really.
What is the Petersen Museum? It's a car history museum. Duh. They showcase a variety of historically significant vehicles from the late 1800s and on. Mostly gas powered cars, I don't recall seeing any steam powered contraptions. In any case, it's definitely worth a look for its educational value.
10:00 - As is usual for caravan activities, I met Robert Enloe at the usual meet location (the Wendy's restaurant off of the 55 freeway on Katella and Tustin). He just recently purchased a Freedom Design strut bar but hadn't installed it. I obligingly showed him the one bolted onto my car the night before. That's when he pointed out that the driver's side bracket wasn't sitting flush. All of the nuts could be hand tightened. Doh. After quickly determining that neither of us had a 14mm wrench handy, we drove to the nearest Pep Boys and picked one up. Thanks Robert, I owe you more than that 5 bucks you loaned me. Speaking of money, I left my apartment that day with two dollars in my pocket. After leaving Pep Boys (having bought a 7 dollar wrench with plastic), here's an abbreviated version of a short exchange I had with Robert.
Jin - "Hey Robert, could you remind me later that I need to get some cash out of an ATM?"
Robert - "No problem. Hey Jin, remember to get some cash out of an ATM."
Jin - "Ok. Thanks."
We'll get back to this later.
11:00 - There was a a 93-94 Probe SE parked outside of the museum. I don't know what to call the color, but it was a cross between salmon and peach. The color didn't agree with either of us. That's when it hit me that I hadn't stopped by an ATM. It's 4 bucks to park in the structure. Oops. Robert handed me a fiver and we headed for the entrance. As we swung around to go into the parking lot I heard my name being called from inside the structure.
Inside already were Daven Hall (Last seen at the second meet. Where the heck you been?!?!) and SCPOC vet Roger Hsu with his better half Stephanie in tow. After a few more minutes of waiting we headed for the door. That's right, no San Diego peeps showed up. Chris apparently wanted to come up, but he couldn't get a ride from anybody (his car was in L.A. at Hotshot, getting fitted with a new set of Gen IV headers, lucky bastard.).
Inside, the price of admission was 7 dollars for adults, 5 for students. Damnit, I was armed with 3 dollars in my pocket. Fortunately they accepted plastic. Of course by this Time Robert had already told the rest of them about my pathetic lack of cash. I offered to keep my hand in Robert's back pocket so he could trade me later for two packs of cigarettes and a chocolate bar (San Quentin style) but he said he'd catch me in the showers later(!!). Ok, so he didn't say that, but I did offer to put my hand in his back pocket to be traded later for goods.
11:20 - Lambo, baby. One of the first significant sights to greet us was a red 1993 Lamborghini Diablo within arms reach. I seriously thought about reaching out and touching those 335/35zr17 Pirelli P-Zeros (compared to the 2nd gen pgt's 225/50r16) but I believe it was Roger who reminded me that there were cameras everywhere. Oh well. I'm a tire fanatic.
Other than that, suffice to say that walking among the automotive memorabilia was very interesting.
- Daven really wanted this monstrosity contraption of a car with a giant spike on the front of it. I think it's a case of penis envy myself.
- There was an indycar there that you could sit inside. The car didn't actually have a seat, though. I have pics, courtesy of Roger's fake camera (as opposed to Robert's "real" camera) that I'll get on the page soon.
- There was a little living room that had various TV show "car theme" clips that were played. I tried to sit down and watch for a bit, but the loop was only about two minutes long. Bummer.
- They had a recreation of an accident scene with a balled up late model Toyota Supra with its airbags deployed. A rather sad sight to see, but at least it wasn't the twin turbo model.
- Two custom low riders with some of the smoothest paint jobs I've ever seen. The finishes looked like satin with absolutely no orange peel. Really rich in appearance.
14:00 - We went outside and drove our cars to the top of the parking structure where Robert absolutely insisted we park in a perfect straight line for pictures. Sheeesh... Fanatic... Robert and Roger both took pics, but I think Roger may be a bit too in love with his car as he seemed to concentrate an awful lot on it with his fake camera. Anyway, after pics we moved the cars into cover and walked across the street to a restaurant for food.
14:30 - Here's where I had yet another rude surprise. The damned place didn't take credit cards. Once again I was bailed out, this Time by Roger. He offered to pick up lunch. I can't very well have my hands in two pockets, so Robert and Roger will just have to fight for property rights. Maybe they can work out a deal for candy and adult magazines.
While there I was paged twice. Now what... All of my change was in my car across the street. In any case it was probably going to cost me quite a bit to make a call from L.A. and besides, I didn't even know where there was a pay phone. Here's where Daven bailed me out by loaning me his cell phone. *sigh*. Too many back pockets, not enough hands.
While at the restaurant Roger commented about spending a lot of money this upcoming weekend on car stuff if I remember right. In any case, I glanced between him and Stephanie and said, "hey, aren't there other places you should be spending your money?" If I got you into trouble, Sorry Roger. At least I offered to help you install that fuel pump this weekend, right?
15:30 - Another half hour or so spent talking shop and future meets and we broke this one up. I caravanned back down to Orange County with Robert.