Been Too Long......

I have really been slacking on writing about the car cruises that we've been to this summer.  Sorry about that.  The weather this year has just been okay for getting the cars out so we haven't been to much so you haven't missed a lot.  Let me get you got up on the main three car cruises that we've been to.

First, the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix.  The Marque Car of the Year was the Mustang.  And what a great turnout!  There was several hundred Mustangs to look at.  We attended, along with my dad in our Saleens.  This is a wonderful cruise for a great cause!  However, getting there & home from there is never fun since we have to drive through downtown Pittsburgh.  But it was a fabulous time there. They have so many great cars to check out & everything is placed in it's own area.  The Mustangs had their own area.  I think our favorite place though was Italian hill.  Wow!  I have never seen so many Ferrari's & Lamborghini's.  It was awesome to see!  The show runs two days & we attended both days there.  The turnout on both days was great.  Next year's Marque Car of the Year is the Mini Cooper.

Next, we had our Mustang (TC-TC) club's car show.  The club put on a fabulous show.  Everything went smoothly & we raised a lot of many for some great causes.  Once again, we had our Parnelli Jones Saleen there, along with my dad's Saleen & our Viper.  Any car is welcome at the show, it's not just for Mustangs or Fords.  There was a very nice turnout this year.  Weather was great too.  Not too hot, not too cool & no rain.  Perfect day for a car show!  Everyone there seemed to really enjoy themselves.  Looking forward to doing it all again next year!

Then, what had to be the biggest car cruise in the area this year, the Moon Twp Volunteer Fire Dept's car cruise.  It is always a big event, but this year it seemed a lot bigger.  The cars coming in never seemed to stop.  And I have never seen the playground as filled as it was this year.  Mike went there early to save us some spots.  He got in the row behind where we had been last year.  However, I was disappointed in where they decided to place the dj.  It ended up being next to us.  The dj wasn't too thrilled either, but he was extremely nice & promised not to blast us out & to make sure his equipment didn't fall on our cars.  And he did as promised.  But the cars in front of us decided to leave early so we moved our cars up & had excellent seats.  We were once again sitting by the road, watching as all the cars came into the cruise.  Everything really does work out!  The cars that came in were awesome.  And they just kept coming!  And as always the food here is great!  A little pricey for a hamburger, $6, but it was large & it was good.  (Our son wanted one, ate half, so I ate the rest)  They also have a burn-out row for people who want to do burn-outs.  They set it up pretty nicely too.  Safety is their #1 priority.  The burn-outs are a very popular draw to this car cruise.  We didn't walk around much to see all the cars, but since we had excellent parking spots, we got to see a lot of cool cars.  Already looking forward to heading back there again next year.  (And probably sending Mike out even earlier to save us spots)

To see more pictures of the events listed above, please visit us on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/2FastCars

And I promise to try to write more.......

Horrible car cruising summer until.....

This summer has just not been a good summer for cruising.  It has rained every weekend.  We've even been chased home from a car cruise because of a storm that was approaching.  The last time we made it to a car cruise had been the All Ford Nationals in Carlisle in the beginning of June.  Until this past weekend.

Last weekend we surprised our son with a trip to the Pittsburgh International Race Complex.  They had a drifting demo going on.  And he loves drifting.  He had a great time & the set up there was fabulous.  The Pittsburgh International Race Complex is a great place & they have a lot of different things going on.  I'll have to blog about them later because there is a lot to do there.  But after this trip there, are son has now decided that he wants to take up kart racing.  Guess we'll go back to let him ride the karts there.

This weekend we actually made it to two car cruises in one day.  It was beautiful, no rain in sight, finally.  We took the Saleen Mustang & the Viper, which was the first time the Viper had been out to a car cruise this summer.  The first car cruise we went to was a local one, right down the street from us.  It was held at the Monaca Turner's & benefitted the gymnastics team there.  There was a nice turn out of cars, but not a lot.  The prices for food & drink was excellent.  Very inexpensive & the food was pretty good.  They had the kitchen open & placed inside to eat.   We stayed at that cruise for about two hours before we packed up & headed to the Robinson Quaker Steak & Lube car cruise.  We've been trying to get to that one for the past couple of weeks, but they keep cancelling because of the weather.

Just one pet peeve, when driving along, why do people feel the need to tailgate my Saleen Mustang?  I really can't stand when anyone tailgates me when I drive any car, but especially my Saleen Mustang.  Just don't get it..... Now back to the cruises.....We made it to the car cruise at Quaker Steak.  When we first got there, there was not a lot of cars.  But they did start to come as the day progressed.  One thing I do like at this car cruise is that they rope off an area where the cruise cars are to be parked.  Doesn't mean everyone always listens to this, but the majority of the people do.  It was just so nice to be able to be out at a car cruise & looking at cars.  Hopefully as the summer goes on, more & more weekends will be nice & more cars will come out. 

Next weekend, our Saleen Mustang & my dad's Saleen Mustang will be going to the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix.  The Marque of the year is the Mustang.  Spending this week shining up the Saleen.  Come on out to Schenely Park this coming weekend & check out all the great cars that are sure to be there.

For more pictures of the car cruises, please follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/2FastCars   You can also find us on Instagram as 2FastCars & our twitter account is 2FastCarsDawnMike

Memorial Day Weekend

We finally made it to our first car cruise of the season.  Unfortunately this Memorial Day weekend was one of the coldest in recent memory.  But it was sunny & no rain in the forecast so we took the Saleen up to Quaker Steak & Lube in Cranberry for the cruise.  We got there early & there was not a lot of cars there yet.  I think that the colder weather kept a lot of the cars at home.

There were some nice cars there, but even as the day progressed, there still was not a lot of cars showing up.  So we didn't stay too long, but we do plan on going back as they usually have nice cruises there.  The cruise in Cranberry takes place every Saturday starting at 5pm.  And they give you a discount on their food there which is an added bonus, especially if you are in the mood for wings.

Then on Memorial Day, the Viper was in our local Memorial Day parade.  Friends of ours asked us if their daughter, who was the Poppy Princess, could ride in the Viper & wave to the crowd.  We were more than happy to help out.  So the Viper got cleaned up & ready for its Memorial Day parade.  And it was a huge success.  Lots of people loved seeing a little Poppy Princess in an awesome car waving to the crowd. 

The rest of the weekend was spent washing & waxing the Saleen Mustang, getting it ready for the All-Ford Nationals in Carlisle.  That will be taking place on June 7-9.  Really looking forward to heading there.  The biggest reason is Steve Saleen will be there.  Can't wait to meet him!  Hoping to have him sign our car under the hood since his signature along with Parnelli Jones is on our dashboard.  But I will tell you all about that weekend after it happens.

I wish that the weather would have been better for some more car fun, but it happens.  We will be back out & about with the cars this weekend so look for another blog about the fun we have this coming weekend. 

For more pictures of the cruise & the parade, please check us out on Facebook at 2FastCars.

First Generation Vipers

Back in 1989 the concept for the Viper was debuted at the Detroit Auto Show by Carroll Shelby & Bob Lutz.  They presented an insane V-10 roadster & suggested that it may be built as a Dodge.  There were a lot of skeptics who figured that this insane car would never happen.

But in 1991, it was born.  One of the most incredible supercars.  The Dodge Viper. 

Lamborghini was responsible for the 8.0 liter pushrod cast-iron V-10 engine.  This engine has 400 horsepower with 450 ft. lbs of torque under its long fiberglass hood.  It was able to go 0-60 in 4.4 seconds and completed the ¼ mile in 13.1 seconds.  And the top speed was 164 mph.  Very impressive.

What made it all the more impressive was that it was a very basic car, a driver’s car.  No ABS, no electronic aids.  And the radio, not really worth mentioning since you can’t really hear it above the roar of the engine.  What the Viper is great at, is pure & simple, go as fast as you dare fun.

The first generation Viper RT/10 is from 1991-1995.  The second generation started in 1996 when they added the GTS coupe to the line up.  And the second generation had 415 horsepower with 488 ft. lbs of torque in its V-10 engine.  It went 0-60 in 4.0 seconds with a top speed of 185 mph.  The Viper was proving to be quite a car.

But the creators of the Viper knew that it had to be raced.  It was what it had been born to do.  And race it did.  The Viper won the GT class of the FIA GT championship in Europe from 1997-1999, 2001 & 2002.

The third generation Viper, 2003-2008, came out with a new body style, thanks in part to SRT (Street & Racing Technology).  It lost the roundness & huge one piece hood for a more conventional hood.  The engine also went through some changes.  It was beefed up to a 8.3 liter V-10 that produced an incredible 504 horsepower with 525 ft. lbs of torque.  It could now go 0-60 in 3.8 seconds with a top speed of 190 mph.  And there was still no electronic aids other than ABS.

The fourth generation Viper, 2008-2010,  increased the engine to an 8.4 liter V-10 that produced in insane 600 horsepower with 560 ft. lbs of torque.  It could go from 0-60 in 3.4 seconds with a top speed of 202 mph.  And once again, no electronic aids.

After 2010, the Viper went out of production.  Was that to be the end of what was an incredible supercar?  Nope.  The Viper has returned in 2012. 

The Viper that we own is a 1994, first generation Viper.  And it is just incredible.  There is so much power in the first generation Viper that it is hard to imagine how driving one of the newer Vipers feel.  Will there ever be another car like the first generations of Vipers?  No, never again.  The main reason is that they were very simple.  No drivers aids, just hit the gas & go.  You have to really drive one of these cars.  I’m sure that the new Viper is just as incredible but it has the electronic aids due to changes in the laws.

 

I think that in describing the Viper from 1991-2010, Tanner Foust said it best on Top Gear.  “It feels like it’s trying to kill you.”  But if you love just pure speed, then the Viper is the car for you.

You can follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/2FastCars?ref=hl
and on Twitter you can find us under FastCarDawnMike.

General Lee Buzz

This past weekend was beautiful so we decided to take our Parnelli Jones Saleen & General Lee to a local park to get pictures taken of them.  We have a lot of great pictures of the Saleen, but none that were really nice of the General Lee. 

I am continually amazed at the response the General Lee receives.  We pulled into the park & parked both cars together on a grassy area.  As soon as we pulled in, people began to flock over to the cars.  Most of them were drawn to the General Lee.  But how cool is it to see both of these cars together!

Everyone started taking pictures of our General Lee & of course, they all wanted their pictures taken with the General Lee.  Everyone was great as they looked at the cars.  They all asked if they could get pictures with the cars.  The people around here are great!  It was a while before we could actually take the pictures that we wanted, but we did finally get some great pictures of the General Lee by itself & with both cars together.

To see more pictures, please go to our Facebook page  http://www.facebook.com/#!/2FastCars

As always I am amazed at how much people love the General Lee.  It is an iconic car & will forever remind people of their youth.

Now we just need to find a way to get the Saleen, General Lee, & the Viper to this park so we can get some great pictures of all three of them.  Any volunteers to drive one?  LOL!

Beaver Car Cruise

This past Saturday was one of the nicest car cruises in the area.  It's held in the town of Beaver, PA.  They close down main street & the cars park along the street & in their park.  This year was packed!  A friend of ours let us know that the park was full & that the street was getting filled at 10am.  The cruise officially started at 3pm.  My dad arrived at our house around 2 & we left.  Drove around before we parked on the street quite a ways down as there was no other place to park.  Guess that's what we get for trying to get some neglect yard work done.  LOL!

We took the Parnelli Jones Saleen, the Viper, & my dad drove his Saleen down. This is one of our favorite cruises of the year.  Lots of great people, wonderful food, & lots of great cars!  This year they had around 2,000 cars.  I'm thinking that is a record high for them. The only thing that we wish was different was how they parked the cars on the street.  At the Beaver Falls cruise, they park the cars side by side.  At the Beaver cruise, they parallel park.  They would get more cars into the cruise if they did that. 

After we arrived, we went to get something to eat.  On our way up to the vendors, we ran into Rosco's (Dukes of Hazzard) cop car.  (Never did manage to get a picture of it.)  Made us wish that we had brought the General Lee so we could have gotten the two cars together to get a picture of them together. After we had a nice dinner, we walked around.  This cruise is really nice.  They allow you to pull your cars up into their park & park under the trees & by a gazebo.  Very pretty setting for all these nice cars.

As we sat down by our cars, we watched as people drove their cars up & down the street.  Got to see a '37 Packard & still upset that we did not manage to get a picture of it.  But we did manage to get a picture of two rare cars together.  A Porsche Carrera GT & a Ferrari 458 Italia.  Just absolutely gorgeous cars!

Once again to see more pictures from this great car cruise, please go to our Facebook page,
http://www.facebook.com/dawn.hluben#!/2FastCars

The only other bad thing about this cruise is that means that summer is getting closer to an end.  But until then, we do have a few more great cruises that we are planning to attend.  However, we will be taking a vacation & heading to the beach in a few days.  So until we get back, keep on cruising!

Corvette Night

Extremely hot day, but still a very nice day for a car cruise.  We decided to take the Parnelli Jones Mustang & the Dodge Viper to the Wexford Starlite Car Cruise on Friday.  We meet my dad there with his Saleen Mustang.  Parked under some trees for shade.  Everything was set for another fun night at the car cruise.

Kids played in the bounce house, then went & got our food.  And as always food is excellent.  But then the clouds started coming in.  We decided to stick around for a while, hoping that it would just blow over.  So the kids & I went for a walk down feature row.  It was Corvette night.  We may no longer own a Corvette, but I still love them.  There were so many great looking Corvettes there, old & new ones.  But as the clouds got darker, they started leaving. 

I really wish that the weather would have stayed nice, but it wasn't to be.  The clouds got darker.  And because we had the Viper, with no roof or windows, we started to worry.  So I looked at a weather radar on my phone & saw nothing but rain heading towards us.  It didn't look like it would blow over or something that we could sit out & wait.  So we packed up.  Kids were disappointed because they didn't get their shaved ice.  So we headed back home.  We did get rained on a bit.  But we managed to get home without it raining too hard on us.  But the cars definitely need a good bath now.  LOL!  So guess what we'll be doing this week!  Cleaning & detailing the cars. 

How we became 2FastCars

I'm sure that a lot of you are wondering why we call ourselves 2FastCars when we actually have three fun cars.  Over a decade ago, we bought our first fun car.  It was actually my anniversary present from my husband.  It was a 1992 Chevy Corvette.  I loved this car!  It was so much fun.  Even though I had always loved cars growing up, it was the car that got me completely hooked on the world of cars & car cruises. 

A few months after we bought this car, my husband found a 1994 Dodge Viper that he wanted.  At first we talked about trading in the Corvette on it, but decided to keep the Corvette & go get the Viper.  Good thing too, as we found out later, that the pedals & seat does not adjust very far & since I am short, I am unable to drive the Viper.  So we ended up with two very fun cars that we took to every car cruise that we could.  We loved opening our garage & seeing these two cars sitting there waiting to come out & play.

So we offically became 2FastCars over a decade ago.  We kept both cars for about 10 years.  Eventually though, I didn't drive the Corvette as often as we were blessed with two kids, a boy & a girl.  When we went to car cruises after they were born, Mike would take either the Corvette or the Viper, though mostly the Viper & I would meet him there driving my Trailblazer.  About two years ago, I started to drive the Corvette again, taking our daughter with me while my husband took our son in his Viper.  The kids loved doing that, but we still wanted a fun car that we could all take together.  So we started looking for another car.  My husband found our General Lee.  So the General Lee came home with us.  So we had three cars.  However there are no seat belts in the back of the General Lee yet so we don't like to put the kids in the General Lee.

So we had three cars, but still not one that we could all go to cruises together in.  We continued our search.  And just last October, we found our 2007 Parnelli Jones Saleen Mustang.  Once my husband showed me the car, I knew that was the one I wanted.  So we drove up to Cleveland, Ohio & checked out the car.  We drove our Corvette up there to trade in for the Mustang.  And while I miss the Corvette, I will always love Corvettes, I am very happy that we got the Mustang.  The kids love it & so do we.

So even though we now have three very fun cars now, we started off with two.  We were 2FastCars then, & we are still 2FastCars today.

Mustang Night at the Wexford Starlite Car Cruise

The day started off with rain in the morning so we weren't sure if we would end up going up.  But the day turned out to be beautiful!  After the light rain in the morning, the sun came out & so did the Parnelli Jones Saleen Mustang & Viper.  The Wexford Starlite Car Cruise was having the Mustang as the feature car.  So many great looking Mustangs there!  Spent a wonderful afternoon & evening with members of the Mustang club that we belong to, Tri-County Thoroughbred Corral (TC-TC for short).  It was the first time for a lot of them at that car cruise & they really enjoyed it.  They loved the food there.  The food there is very good & at a very reasonable price.  I had the cheese steak & it was excellent.  Highly recommend it!  And we all tried the shaved ice they have there.  Huge serving of it for only $3.  And it was very good.

We arrived early at the car cruise on Friday so we could get our Mustang on feature row.  And good thing we did as the row filled up quickly with great looking Mustangs, both older ones & newer ones.  We also brought the Viper & parked it in the row behind our Mustang.  Perfect place to sit & enjoy the day as we were parked by a tree. 

The above picture are pictures of some of the Mustangs that belong to members of the TC-TC.  Nice club with nice people who share the love of Mustangs. 

And just a small example of the Mustangs that were at the cruise on Friday night.  To see more pictures, please go to our FaceBook page, 2FastCars.  This cruise is one that we try not to miss as we really enjoy going here.  The people that come to see the cars are great too.  We never have to worry about anyone touching the cars as they all seem to respect that these cars are very well maintained.  I love when I hear parents telling their kids not to touch.  Our kids understand that the cars at the cruises are show cars & are expensive, along with the fact that it takes a lot of work to get them looking as wonderful as they do.  Car cruises are a great family event.  Our kids really enjoy going & looking at the cars.  Our son loves taking pictures of them.  He brings his camera to every cruise we go to.  I love how they ask questions about the different cars.  So take your kids to a car cruise.  It's a great family event!

Two Car Cruises in one weekend

Last weekend was a very busy weekend for us.  But we managed to squeeze in two car cruises.  The first one was the Friday night, Wexford Starlite Car Cruise.  This cruise is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, cruise that is held weekly.  As a family, this is a great cruise!  They have a bounce house for the kids, along with face painting.  Our kids love the bounce house.  They look forward to it every week.  They also have a few vendors for the ladies.  And the food is great!  They have a variety of vendors for the food.  My husband has the hot sausage sandwich there every week.  And he loves it!  Our kids love the snow cones & the ice cream that they have.
This past Friday, we took the my husband drove the Viper, with our son as his passenger, while our daughter & I took the Parnelli Jones Saleen Mustang.  And my dad met us there with his Saleen Mustang.

As always too there are tons of great looking cars there.  We really do love this cruise.  Every Friday night, they have a different feature car.  Those cars get their own row to park in.  This past week was Ford night, no Mustangs though.  Mustangs have their own feature night which happens to be June 22nd.  And we are planning on being there.  To see more pictures of this car cruise, please check out our FaceBook page, 2FastCars.

On Saturday, we managed to make it to the Happy Days Car Cruise in Beaver Falls, PA.  This is another huge car cruise.  We usually go there all day, but this year, our daughter had her first dance recital so we made it to the car cruise later in the day.  But it was still a great time.  They shut down the main street in Beaver Falls.  Lots of music along the street.  They also have so much food to choose from.  As you walk down the street, all the bars & restaurants are offering food.  There is something there to eat for everyone.  And the cars that are there!  Wow!  Fantastic!  You can also cruise up & down the main street too. So while you sit at your car, you can watch other cars drive by.  This is by far one of the past cruises every year. 

This year because we arrived late, we only took our Parnelli Jones Saleen Mustang & my dad joined us with his Saleen Mustang.

Here are just a sample of the cars that were at the Happy Days Car Cruise this year.  To see more pictures, please go to our FaceBook page 2FastCars & while there, become a Fan.

This weekend will found us once again at the Wexford Starlite Car Cruise.  We are taking both the General Lee & the Parnelli Jones Saleen Mustang.  And hoping that my dad will be able to join us with his Saleen Mustang.  Maybe we'll see you there......