We spent two weeks with my in-laws in Southwest Florida. We spent most of the time hanging out in the condo, on the beach, and in the pool. But I made sure to visit the Revs Institute.

This is probably the best all around car museum I have visited. Others may have more cars, but in terms of the importance of each car on display, the themes, the presentation/curation, and the dozens of knowledgable docents on standby to answer your questions, this museum has it all. It's even built to withstand a Category 5 hurricane!

The "owner" is a Mr. Collier. The museum is in Collier County. His family developed much of the area, hence the $$$. 

The museum's website is also worth checking out. Every car is documented with high quality photos and sometimes even videos.

The first car you see in the lobby is this green McLaren F1. That is quite a statement.

If you would like to participate, just answer the above four questions and submit one to three photos of your daily driver to milhousevanh at geemail. Thanks and have fun! 

If you would like to participate, just answer the above four questions and submit one to three photos of your daily driver to milhousevanh at geemail. Thanks and have fun! 

I was reading about the ill fated Blackwing twin turbo V8 last night in my print magazine. GM built less than 1,000 of them. And that's it. Game over. What a shame.

First up, I bought a book about the history of Yokohama Chinatown. I've been communicating with the author and I hope to learn more about my father's side of the family. Like, why the heck did my grandparents move to Japan in the 1930s?!


Next, I've seen this custom Cadillac Eldorado convertible around town. Yesterday, I was able to finally take a picture of it. It looks good!


And speaking of 25 year old luxury coupes, I really like the Lexus SC300/400. Jalopnik's Raph Orlove has a fun video about it:


And finally, I cannot stop watching Bald and Bankrupt on YouTube. Here, he visited the capital of Moldova and the breakaway republic of Transnistria. They look depressing and fun.

Thanks to rchen for this. Lots of interesting stuff. Most leaders got the Mercedes treatment. Japan had a Lexus. Saudi Arabia got a Mercedes with a Chinese plate along with G-wagen support vehicles. Turkey got a Maybach. China, Russia, and America brought their own weirdo limousines as well as unique, non-Hiace, support vehicles.

I'm here! And it's amazing.


The salt flats are/is about 1h45m west of Salt Lake City, on the Utah-Nevada border. I checked into the casino hotel last night and made it to the cars first thing this morning.

The layout is interesting. Once you take the freeway exit, you travel north on a paved road on BLM land for five miles. Then, you are on salt. Vehicles stretch for another five to seven miles. This week, three straights are open. Two long ones parallel each other. A shorter rookie straight is perpendicular to the long ones. To the west of the long stretches, you have paddocks, concession stands (not many), and the scrutineering area. Because of the heat and low humidity, walking from end to end is not advised. I parked my car at three or four different spots and walked in between. This is what I saw.

Many of the cars need to be pushed to begin the speed runs. And on the returns, the cars have to be turned off and pushed/towed back. So these rigs are everywhere.





This old Autocar tractor brought everything to the venue from Montana.


I was particularly drawn to mundane 80s and 90s cars that have been turned into racers, like this Citation.



The salt was extremely flat and fairly smooth. Aside from a few divots, passenger cars can go 45. Someone told me that railroad ties pulled behind trucks were used to groom the surface of the straights.


This Dodge Shelby Charger was neat. It was never registered for street use because it was a test model for Chrysler/Shelby. It's owned by a former Shelby manager. It should be capable of running 200 miles per hour once the clutch is replaced.


I learned that the field was most crowded at the beginning of Speed Week (last Saturday and Sunday). Once the teams have broken their respective class records, they pack up and leave. Today, Wednesday, half the cars are already gone. That may be why I was able to get a hotel room so easily.

I did not take that many photos of motorcycles because I don't know anything about them. But this one looked cool.



I've been following this Jensen since it was in England.


This could be a GM ad.


Rotary pickup!



This is the line to do the speed runs.


Note the Crown Victoria being used to push the yellow dragster.


Another cool looking bike.


This badass Ford Torino Talladega was by far my favorite car today.


There were a lot of Kiwis at Bonneville.


This is the start line.


What a weird HHR.


Dodge truck pushing Dodge truck.


I had to go back to that HHR.


A lot of people commuted between the hotels and the track in rusted hot rods.


Isuzu!



I took this parting shot of an RV because Independence Day was filmed here. Tomorrow, I see where the trans-continental railroad connected. Just a short three hour drive from here!