Last year I was really excited for The Little Car Show. It was my first time being part of Car Week, rather than covering it, and honestly I just love this show. This year I was still excited, but I was also a little nervous. Sure I’ve driven the car further than Pacific Grove before, but we can usually pick a time that we can avoid heavy traffic. After doing so much commuting and the Prius just being involved in an incident, I was a little nervous.
I noticed when I recently swapped the wheels that I had a leaking rear axle seal. I picked up a new seal from Lithia Toyota and my first order of prepping the car was to swap in the new seal. I just replaced these when I went through the rear end, but hopefully I managed to nick the seal or install it too far, or something. The bearing ins’t making any noise, and I don’t get any vibration indicating a bent axle, but anything is possible. My fingers are crossed that the wheel stays dry on the 400 mile drive.
I followed up the seal swap with a nice wash and wax. I didn’t get crazy and do the wheel wells and under carriage, like I have in the past. The APEX’i exhaust and “new” SSR wheels did get a nice polish though.
So rather than risk the car in the commute traffic I decided to take the scenic route around the traffic. I tried this route on Tuesday when I drove the Hi C down to cover the Concourse On The Avenue. There is a bit of road construction going on coming out of Hollister, but that was the worst case. The actual drive down was fairly uneventful. Although we did get to do some spirited driving to make sure we were at the head of the line entering the dusty construction area. I have to say it’s nice to have a wheel and tire combo that doesn’t rub the fenders on large bumps. I have a feeling that the Works would have ended up cutting up the tires on the fender mounts.
Eventually we made it to the show, and got the car cleaned up and into place. We moved the car down the street a bit from last year. I hate to be one of those people that tries to re-create the same scene every year. It makes for very boring photographs.
Full Photo Set in my Automotive Collection
As always the show was good. We ran into some people we met the year before and of course met some new people. A gentleman I met last year even brought out an MR2 for me to check out. A good day to say the least.
To end the show the folks from the show do a short cruise around Pacific Grove and down the beach. This is probably one of the best parts of the show. With coastal views on one side of you and spectators waving you on like a hero on parade, it doesn’t get much better.
Well maybe that feeling of bringing home an award is a little better. This year I came home with a Merchant Appreciation Award from Bob The Printer. These awards are sponsored and chosen by the local shops in Pacific Grove. Since I don’t know any of these people personally it really means a lot to bring home some appreciation from them.
