Well, yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting up with Tim (Tbat) and Don (northtnguy). The guys were great company and had some wonderful cars. We met up in the Walmart parking lot, and after goggling at each others cars (and Tim installed his shorter torque struts) we headed off to the park for some photos.

The guys in black had to get the bugs off:



Ah the park, and a nice lineup. Notice that Don was the only one smart enough to turn his front wheels.



Another lineup.



A nice shot of the rears with the mill in the background.



The Panther, in a condition that can only be described as beater or WIP. Could you imagine a s/c whine coming from that hood under full throttle?



Don's pristine GP. Once again, he crooked the wheels like a pro... plus he found a better parking spot.



Tim followed his lead, then we had to remind him to turn his wheels. Unfortunately we were losing light, so the pic is a bit dark (even after I brightened it). I've said it before and I'll say it again: the hood, spoiler, and rims look amazing.



After that, I took them through town, down main street and we ate at a local roadhouse off the interstate. Both of these guys were great and Tim is the man with stories, never a dull moment. I can't wait to do it again. Hopefully me and Don can get together and do some stuff again. Anyone else that wants to meet is more than welcome!

Sounds like fun! Wow that Panther is a sleeper isnt she??

Nice.
I'm sure we'll get some pics up of Tim's TX visit.

That's a sleeper and a half! Glad you all got to me up. Tbat's ride is sweet. Hope his drive didn't suck.

Your car cracks me up Rook. You HAVE to go to the track like that, it would be so awesome! Nothing like a pink SE with a mismatched bumper and a cammed and modded GTP engine.

Seeing as it's running now, do you have most of the kinks worked out? What's left?

And I am going to be stealing Tbat's car, please don't tell him.

sexy black cars, and um, the Pink Panther sure does pull off the sleeper look REALLY well. When you gonna be posting some numbers of the Panther?

Hey Jon!

It was great meeting with you and Tim yesterday. I wish I could have gotten there a bit earlier, but as it turned out, seems me and Tbat were on the same schedule. Who would have thought that we would get there within 10 minutes of each other.

It was good seeing what all you had done to your car already ... and guys, let me tell you, it IS a sleeper!

After our three hour drive back to the TN/KY state line, Tim and I stopped for gas, Tim got a room and I drove 7 miles to my home.

We met up this morning for breakfast and after twisting Tim's arm a bit, he drove the Comp G. After that, he got on the interstate and headed to meet up with you guys in TX. I'm thinking he'll make it there around 9ish.

Jon, I'm serious ... if you want to meet up sometime and do the Corvette museum and plant or Mammouth Cave sometime, just give me a yell.

Don

Sounds like it was a good time!
I've got to ask Tim about the Comp G tomorrow. I'd love to be able to drive one of those. I drove a GXP, but I'd rather have the paddle shifters.

Tim said he didn't care for those (at least before he drove it). See if he feels the same way still.

All I can say is, lack of funds = sleeper. It's still got the single exhaust, the black rear bumper hasn't been installed yet, no tires to put on my torque stars. I'm even still running the 3.8 stock pulley because I couldn't afford a proper puller until recently. Plus side: 0 kr, even at full throttle on a DHP 1.5 flash.

Don, we'll most definitely get together again. Hopefully the Panther will be even better then.

Well, Tbat said that the paddle shifters reminded him of a video game. He didn't use them when he drove the car and didn't say anything about them until we got back to the parking lot. If he wasn't ready to head to TX, I would have suggested he take it for another drive to try them out. Maybe if he comes back through here on his way home, I'll make sure he uses them.

Don

Pink, i could have sworn you had a special edition spoiler? do you still have it if you have one?

Wow... ridiculous sleeper. Those steelies really complete the look.

Man, T-Bat and NorthTN, you guys have some SHARP looking rides! Manoman

I've got the spoiler (It's an SLP GTX Spoiler, looks like a Daytona). However, it's in primer. I mounted it with 3m tape for a curious forum user one time, which is why the pic is around and was in my sig. Like most things, it's unpainted, and unfinished.

pm sent rook

Thanks, drummerboy

Don

I got some quick access here in the hotel lobby...I just got back in from TMS and we had a blast for sure! If there is any way any of you can make it down for this event it will be worth your trip...I closed the track down with my last turn while the pace car played "catch me if you can"...90-100mph hot lapping is a rush!

I'll do some mre serious posting when I get back home but I'll say quickly that the long miles have been tough but the people have been golden...I thank everyone for all the props you have given me about my car...but this trip has shown me that people of all ages come together with heart and soul when it comes to their cars.

It breaks down boundries and borders in ways hard to describe but I'm very glad to be a part of it...I've had a wonderfully fun and memorable time these past few days but for now I gotta crash so I can start the long ride home tomorrow.

...and btw, Don spoiled me terribly by letting me drive his CompG...smooth, responsive, powerful and loaded with all the toys a guy could ask for...I hate to say it out loud but its a worthy Bat-Machine superior in many ways to my own (boy that hurt )

Signing off for now...two big thumbs up to everyone who has made this trip great...many long posts to come!

YAY I DROVE TBAT'S CAR ^____________________^

the end.

I'm very tired. So yeah, more literate post later, for now, beware of rock quarries, they're not healthy to eat at.

A great weekend! Arcx has me curious about how the Batmobile really rides now.

Safe trips home for everyone and once my gallery is fully operational, I'll upload the pics I have.

And yeah, I would not suggest eating at the Hard Rock...

I think the highlight of the whole adventure was being able to see The Hard Rock, because I promise you if I were by myself, I would have never thought anything about go to the Hard Rock to get a bite to eat.

cars look good guys, sleeper and all...lol
i really like the purple that the flash made on the black cars, reminds me of the blue dot the rodders put in there tail lights, And arcx.. you cant steel t-bats car, i already called it...lol, nice ride t-bat

So much for storms over in Texas! Now Tbat has to worry about Gabrielle over near his Virginia place! Hope things are well. Glad everyone enjoyed it. I understand the Hard Rock is gone, but is there an inside joke I missed?

And how!

When Arc, Slick and myself met up with T-bat in Ft Worth, we all wadded up in Arc's car Slick had his laptop with him and we found ourselves driving around downtown FTW looking for a wi-fi connection so Slick could find the nearest Hard Rock Cafe. After finally finding someplace to park while Slick worked the Google, it showed the nearest Hard Rock to be a little bit of a ride from where we were. We headed out counting the street blocks. We started at the 2000 block and we needed to go to the 10000 block. We saw everything on the trip from a 2-door GTP cop car to gull wing doors on a couple of pimp mobiles ridin' on 22's. By the time we got to the 10000 block we were all pretty well starving and we looked over and found the Hard Rock... in the pic above.
We got owned

Did anyone call the number to see if it was live still? ROFL...

A bit of advice from my wife:

"Next time you want to do a search for Hard Rock, look for Hard Rock Cafe".

Oh, that is pure classic ownership there.

Glad to hear all went well, everyone is alright, and Im damn bummed I couldnt make it my darn self. Thanks for the pics, yall.

Wow, great pics guys.

For rook thats what I call a sleeper look. I know people give you looks at the lights or just whenever you drive plus have you raced anybody yet from a red light.

Nope, no races yet. I've only had it out three times for full trips and not test runs: The morning of the meet (work), the meet, and the day of work afterwards. I'll save the other fun stuff until I get my pulley installed and a tune.

hey hey hey...back from the dead (still alittle sore)...but thats what you get from 40hours of driving in four days

Guys let me just say what a great time I had in Kentucky. RooK was a super host, just as cordial and open a guy as they come ...but it does, and he described his vision of the finished car to us and I absolutely cant wait to see it!...and to see and hear this growling Pink cat ripping around TMS would be awesome! (theres a goal for ya RooK!)

NorthTnGuy arrived just before I did and they were already checking Rooks engine bay out.
Don's 05 CompG is perfect fit, here is a guy that is subtle, classy and knows what he wants in his cars...and that says something about a guy who has owned not one, but two Trans Ams.
The CompG is like 4wheel James Bond Tuxedo, formal black with all the toys. Don met up with me for breakfast the next morning and asked me to drive his car (oh yeah, that took some arm twisting)...it took me a while to absorb all the subtle changes in the 2nd gen GP, since I was to busy being beguiled by its smooth yet taut ride, HUD and on demand thrust...here is a hi-way cruise missle I could get myself in real trouble with

Dinner with these two was entertaining to say the least...we didnt exactly close the place down but it was great to be able to laugh and see the personalities behind the screen names.

Thanks guys for a great time and hopefully we'll have lots more to show off when we meet up again

(see next post for pics)

heres my pics from the park RooK took us to...pretty similar to his actually.

the dynamic trio



from right to left...classy, showboat and wicked sleeper.


I tweaked the light abit on this one...his pink paint has subtle cameleon quality to it.


Don's smooth and sweet CompG

Hey Tim,

Thanks for the compliments on the CompG. The only thing you didn't try out was the TapShift, but maybe we'll remedy that the next time we get together! I wish you could have known the thought running through my head when the two of you wanted to check the engine bay of my car ... I thought to myself, 'here's the car all shined up and NOTHING has been done to the engine bay since the last oil change'. It's on the 'to do' list for this week-end.

I'll have to agree with you on Rook's sleeper ... it's gonna be one fine Pink Panther when he gets the little bit of paint work done on it and gets his wheels and spoiler put on!

Rook, when you get to that stage, let me know and i'll come over that way and bring all my Meguiar's products and we'll put a super shine on it. Plan on about 2 days of work (yeah, I'm slow, but you've seen the results on the CompG).

Tim, I've got to say that your GP is one of the best looking GTs I've seen. The touch of lowering and the wheels really set it off.

I know I'm a little late with these, but I just got the time to do a little editing on the pictures of our mini meet. The pink is so subtle on Rook's GP that it's hard to get a true color match.

Here are a few more ...









Guys, we've got to meet again sometime soon.

Don

wow that one of the front wheel is so sharp and crisp...all of 'em really...if I headout that way anytime soonI'll definitely let you guys know I'm coming...we gotta give RooK a chance to get alittle more done...i do like that new sig pic he posted

Yeah, we'll have to plan on getting together again. I can't wait until Jon gets everything done to the Pink Panther ... it's going to be a head turner when he's finished!

HEY ROOK can you get a clip of your exaust with that xp cam? i think im gonna get the xp soon

I can try, just give me a few days. Keep in mind, it's through the stock, single exhaust and muffler from the fuel tank back.

i can tell you its not loud at all...but if you stand there and listen its got a nice rumble with a slight lope from the cam...when he gets some tubes on that cat she's gonna growl sweet.

Tada: http://www.youtube.com/v/FeUJO_8gCRY

Idle drops about 36secs into it.

Try to ignore the rattling metal sound. It's the muffler. It did it with the 3100 and it's worse with the 3800 due to the cam. I can only surmise that it has a baffle loose inside. It's not touching metal on the car anywhere... especially since I rehung it.