August 14: Champagne 24 hours non stop
Tomorrow: Elegantly wasted
Photo and text: Christer Lundem August 14: Champagne 24 hours non stop I am unfortunately not motorshows man. I prefer that cars are being used as intended, and that I get to experience both sound and movement. Golf Club Pebble Beach hosts a world famous Concours d'Elegance. The cars are on display at the meticulous groomed golf course and are assessed by elegant gentlemen in suits and hats. I think it is a strange mix of frivolous and great. Fortunately, there is a perfect compromise, the cars attending drive a mini rally on 17 miles along Ocean Avenue in Carmel. In addition, this experience for free. Seeing cars I have only heard about, pass accompanied by the engine noise and smell is wonderful. This certainly is the way to experience all the unique cars without haveing to put on my suit and become part of circus. We end the day at a Mexican restaurant seated beside legend Nick Mason (drummer of Pink Floyd), leving us stuffed with food in a far too expensive luxury cottage on the golf club “The Quail”. Purely coincidental they arrange one of the world's finest Motor Show there the following day. Tomorrow we do not even have to drive to experience something extraordinare.
Tomorrow: Elegantly wasted Photo and text: Christer Lundem August 13: A road tripWe decide to make the journey to Monterey as a proper road trip. It means in reality to avoid highways and find a bit of the old California. The road we will travel on is Highway 1. We start on Highway 101 through Santa Barbara, head north on Highway 1 to Monterey. The landscape is dazzling beautiful, large parts of the road runs along the Pacific Ocean, and the salty sea air makes us feel refreshed. Along the itinerary we see surfers, campers, hippies, motorcycles and some single bikers with way to good patience. We are now in the California wilderness. In the next two hours we haven´t even had mobile connection. Making cautious city folks like us a bit nervous. The roads wind their way around small mountains and it is just as nice as we would imagine them to be. The Mustang rumbles satisfied, it is as though it recognizes that we embrace the American car culture to the fullest.
The trip is estimated to six hours, so we think we have plenty of time. After driving for six hours and reached The Big Sur, it starts to get dark and cold air bites. In fact it is so cold that convertible top must up, and the heater switched on. The roads are not illuminated, and the cozy roadtrip has degenerated into a "death race" between us and vehicles with dim or no lighting. Totally exhausted, at eleven o'clock at night, when we find a hotel just north of Monterey. This is a shack that most closely resemble an abandoned psychiatric hospital. The hotel room is a wall-to-wall lined cell. Having stepped on something that certainly is a carpet full of urine, we go to bed in desperation with our clothes on. Tomorrow we will sleep in a good hotel, whatever the costs: Champagne 24 houres non stop. Photo and text: Christer Lundem August 12: The legend Magnus WalkerIn Downtown LA lives a peculiar character: He looks like a hippie – beard and long hair with dreadlocks wearing a knitted hat. However, looks are deceptive, he is a renowned business man and a Porsche persona. Are you just vaguely interested in Porsche you probably know the name: Walker, Magnus Walker. It just happens so that one of my American friends, Dorian Valenzuela, do mechanics for Walker. During a lunch at the trendy sausage restaurant “Wurstkuche”, filled to the brim with hipsters (and us not so much hipsters), Dorian asks us if we want to visit Walker. He pops the question randomly, as if he asked me for some more ketchup. Magnus lives only a few blocks from the restaurant, it is not even necessary to bring the car. Obviously, this is an invitation we cannot decline.
Magnus is originally from Sheffield, England. He is a former fashion designer who now has achieved guru status with his personal Porsche conversions. He has cars in large warehouses which looks like a film set. It turns out that the buildings around the garage is also used by the movie industry to recordings. The garage is a mecca for the Porsche fans. There are also exciting car builds and a big room full of old 911´s from 1964 to 1976. On the roof of the building, with a view of the LA skyline, we get to grips with some of the causes of Magnus' success. He is generous with his time, almost like we were old friends. He has an infectious English humor, a lot like John Cleese. Our kind of guy! Tomorrow more about our road trip. Photo and text: Christer Lundem AUGUST 11: RACING WITH JAMES DEAN After a good night's sleep, we take the car for some sightseeing. The sun is shining so obviously the roof stays down. We drive through Beverly Hills, passing the famous HOLLYWOOD sign and test the G-forces on Mulholland Drive. This is the winding road that stars like Gary Cooper, James Dean and Steve McQueen tried their cars and bikes on. In the 50s and 60s, race drivers unauthorizedly tested their cars before races there. Today it is a shadow of itself, the asphalt is full of holes and cracks and clearly lacks maintenance. But if one has one ounce of petrol in ones blood, it is simply irresistible. The famous road stretches from Cahuenga Boulevard to Beverly Glen Boulevard. Along the way you can stop to enjoy the view towards the north San Fernando Valley. You've probably seen this classic row of lights from LA-buildings on both cinema and television before. The experience reminiscent of a Hollywood film from the sixties that you can not remember to have seen, but know by heart. It is truly emotional.
Tomorrow: The legend Magnus Walker Photo and text: Christer Lundem It took me 45 years before I got to travel to the United States. Whether it was coincidence or recognition that such an experience requires time, I'm unsure. Back home freezing in an autumn damp Oslo, straight from California's dry heat, I contemplate memories and experiences. Ten days of travel is actually enough. My car passion spans many nationalities and brands, but there are European sports cars that are closest to my heart. So why then volunteer 13 hours by plane to watch European sports cars? Well – Join me on my American Car Adventure. Monday, 10 August: In LA It's Monday, 10 August, we've just landed at LAX (Los Angeles International Airport), the sky is dyed in golden yellow colours from the rapidly declining sun. Around us are airplanes scattered inn all directions, taxing, parked and up flying in the air. We feel utterly small and very Norwegian. Here in America everything is big, so also airports. An imaginary wall of warm air greets us as we step out of the plane. Four hours later we relax behind the steering wheel of a 2015 model Ford Mustang convertible. The V8 convertible; an irresistible cliche that simply must be tried. Our iPhone sat nav guides us to 1700 Ocean Avenue at Santa Monica Beach, while our car stereo plays Hotel California by The Eagles. Reality transfixes imagination and everything is simply perfect. We head towards the real Hotel California. This will be our first stop and our only deviation in the trip which otherwise focused on car culture: This night we drink beer and dance on the beach, but who am I to complain? So what is our goal? We want to experience California's car culture from the driver's seat of a rented Ford Mustang. In advance, we had chosen the acclaimed Monterey Week destination. Even before we planned the trip, we realized that to experience everything that happens during this week in California, will be hopeless. A loose itinerary was printed on a piece of paper, and no hotels were of course booked. The latter would prove to be a fatal mistake. Spontaneous traveling in high season for holiday, involve financial challenges that one could easily have done without. American hotels have namely no concept of the concept fixed price. Without exaggerating the individual overnight stays in hotels would become more than challenging for Norwegian HSE standards. I now know very well why the Americans call places like this "flee motels". One never learns.
Tomorrow you can read about “Racing with James Dean”. |
BENZINA STORIES
We want to share our stories and passion with the Benzina readers. Whether it is about an unforgettable road trip to the United States, eating a good meal in Italy, enjoying classic racing in Copenhagen or driving a scooter thru Paris is not important: It's all about the good experience and the unique story. Archives
August 2020
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