The Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend dawned clear and cold.  Just the type of morning Frankensprit enjoys.  Scott Stegmann, his girlfriend Colleen, Brandon Benson, and I were to meet for a romp down the fastest roads around, I-87 and I-287, to make it to the Die-cast Toy Car Show in Parsippany, NJ well before the opening time.  Brandon, who had joined us for the first time just a few weeks earlier on the twisting back-roads of the Roebling Run, was eager to show us Lotus guys just what some German V8 muscle was meant to do.

Now Scott is always up for high speed adventure, but maybe his S2 was feeling just a little outgunned having to run with Frankensprit and Brandon’s ’84 Porsche 928.  Or, maybe he was just too beat the night before to move all the stuff necessary to get the Lotus off the trailer in his airplane hanger.  It’s all right Scott; we’ve all been there.

Brandon and I met at the designated time and then we proceeded to wait...and wait…and wait for Scott.  That gave us some good time to talk about the work done to our cars and all that’s left to do.  Finally, we heard Scott and Colleen rumble up in the big Dodge diesel dually and we wasted no time hitting I-87.

I zipped through the EZ pass lane while Scott went through the manned (womanned?) lane.  Thankfully I didn’t take the entrance ramp from 17 to the Thruway at my normal speed in Frankensprit, as there was one of NY state’s finest with two cars off to the side.  Scott and Colleen caught up with me shortly, but Brandon just wasn’t.  After a few miles, the Brandon missile shot by us at autobahn speed.  L8R Scott!  I nailed it, the turbo immediately spooled up maximum boost, and I just blasted off from the diesel dually.

It wasn’t long before Frankensprit’s nose was right up to the wide rear end of the 928.  While Brandon and I played with each of us leading for a time, Scott was peddling that dually as fast as he could.  When we slowed and Scott finally caught up, we all diced through traffic taking turns in the lead.

When we arrived at the PAL Hall a lot earlier than I had expected, we all had smiles including Colleen.  It should be mentioned that contrary to appearances, Colleen is as much of a “car guy” as any of us.  Though disappointed they weren’t in their Esprit, Scott wished they had a video camera.  The perspective of Brandon and I carving through the light traffic on the 3-lane highways from high up in the dually was quite a sight.

Now, I thought Scott was pushing hard to just keep up with us, but found out his motivation was more pedestrian…or should I say canine.  You see Scott and Colleen’s constant companion Bentley (he’s like a mini-dog…only smaller) was threatening to rain on Scott’s parade, if you know what I mean.

After waiting half an hour in the cold (thanx again for getting the coffee Brandon!) amongst the toy show “regulars,” (as Scott says, “ever seen Toy Story 2?” if you have, you know just what he means) the doors to the hall finally opened.  Unfortunately, the show didn’t live up to the freeway fun.  Both Scott and I, who had been to other of these shows, agreed that there were fewer vendors with slimer pickins.  A reason for this might have been that two weeks earlier the hall had a slot-car show.  As a result, I found just one vendor with some older AFX slot cars and made what turned out to be a pretty good deal for three cars and two bodies.  Scott found some ultra mini die-casts to go along with ultra mini Bentley.  These cars were actually Bentley choking hazards!  Brandon didn’t go away empty handed either, finding a Peugeot rally car die-cast.  We finished with the show in about an hour’s time.

This was just about the time I had arranged for any LEO members attending to meet in the central hall.  I had expected to meet club member David Teitelbaum for the first time, but he had not arrived.  With no one else showing I called Jim Cummings, who it turned out was on his way with Joe Saturnia.  Both he and Joe were driving their Esprits with WSVs (Wife Support Vehicle) following.  While on the phone, David and family arrived.

As they went to browse the show I said my good-byes to Scott, Colleen and Brandon and waited for Joe, Jim and respective families to arrive.  Though the show was a little disappointing for me, imagine being one of Joe or Jim’s boys let loose in two gyms full of toy cars!  Sorry guys, but this was going to cost you money!

David, who doesn’t yet own a Lotus (anyone have an S4 or S4S they want to sell him?  He’s looking. Contact jtrealty@webspan.net), but has a DeLorean, bought a bunch of “Back to the Future” stuff.  Naturally, the Joe and Jim’s boys found the stuff of dreams as well.  There wasn’t much for us Lotus fans, just a couple of beautiful Lotus 38 die-casts and a Tamiya Europa kit.  The Europa would have found its way home with me, but the price was nothing “special.”  The only Lotus related item I picked up was a ZR1 model kit.

After blowing through the show and wrestling where to go to get a bite to eat, we decided to try a Pizza restaurant/lounge Atwell had recommended; the best around according to our connoisseur of the pie.  Unfortunately for our stomachs, but good for our waist lines, the restaurant was closed at which point we all decided to go our separate ways.

Though there were some disappointments for the day, all in all it’s always a great day when you can take out the Lotus, do some serious driving, and meet up with the great people in this club!

Wishing You All Clear Roads,

David Nagler

Postscript: It’s snowing as I write this and winter’s inevitable driving fever is setting in earlier then usual as I think about all the driving fun we had this past year.  I think I’ll head to the basement give my new, old slot cars a hard run!