My Road Trip to STL

m4a1mustang · 09-12-2010, 09:36 PM

So as many of you already know, I traded my Z in for a new Mustang 5.0 last week. What many of you don't know is where I went to get it.

Got a pretty good deal on a car that fit my spec (Modshack actually spec'd this car out with them but didn't end up coming to a deal) so I decided I'd drive on out to STL to do the deal instead of shipping the Z there and shipping the Mustang back. I figured lunch with Lou is worth an 1,800 mile round-trip, anyways.

After finishing uninstalling the aftermarket parts from the Z, I left for St. Louis at 6AM on Sunday, Sept 5th.

Headed down I-81 South in VA.

Appalachian Plateau off to the west.

Just got on I-64 West in Virginia.

Twin Peaks

This is a pretty cool pic with the focus on the fisheye mirror.

VA is beautiful...

I-64 runs from VA straight through to STL, and there was a lot of construction along the way... many one-lane stretches...

Charleston, WV. Kind of a depressing looking city if you ask me!

Welcome to Kentucky

People in Kentucky drive pretty damn fast. My average speed here was much faster than any other state. The flow of traffic was anywhere from 90mph to a little more than 100 mph. Old people in Buicks had their cruise set to 100... it was crazy! I also got passed by a Ferrari 458 Italia doing roughly 130 mph just outside of Louisville... didn't have my camera at the ready so I didn't snap a pic, nor did I bother trying to chase him down to get one!

Louisville

Flat and boring in Illinois

The Z's last ever fuel stop (that I'm paying for, anyways!) in Illinois. I saved the receipt because I'm sentimental like that.

STL on the horizon! I could taste smell Lou in the air at this point.

Lou said if I stayed to the east and west of the city and didn't venture north or south I'd live.

My Z from the hotel room window in Chesterfield, MO, looking a bit like a solid red Cory Catfish.

m4a1mustang · 09-12-2010, 09:37 PM

I made it to STL around 7PM local time. Pretty tired so I decided to just hang out in the room. Watched the Cup race from Atlanta and surfed the boards from my phone. I wasn't able to pull up Lou's Ford site, so I made the mistake of asking Tony to check for me and let me know when they dealership opened. He said 8:30. Awesome, I'd check out of my hotel a few minutes before and head over there on Monday morning. Great.

Quote:

Originally Posted by m4a1mustang

Fuuuuuuu imawake.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sscottfitz

Try 14 hr changes, I'm still trying to get back to normal.

So you headed to Lou's yet?

Quote:

Originally Posted by m4a1mustang

Checking out of my hotel in a few then heading over.

Quote:

Originally Posted by m4a1mustang

There is a bird nesting in the S at Lou Fusz Ford.

Quote:

Originally Posted by m4a1mustang

I think I checked out too early.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 370Zsteve

This is almost as exciting as Paris Hilton's twitter feed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by m4a1mustang

Well some ******* told me it was open at 8:30.

Quote:

Originally Posted by m4a1mustang

When I get home I will compile a list of posts for my documentary of my journey.

Quote:

Originally Posted by m4a1mustang

I'm at starbucks now. I texted lou but he is probably sleeping in because they probably don't open until 10.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2theextreme

Hey....I checked the website....that's what it said......butthole!

Quote:

Originally Posted by m4a1mustang

OMG people in St. Louis don't how to make a white mocha frappuccino.

Quote:

Originally Posted by m4a1mustang

Holiday hours!!! 10AM jerkwad! You owe me starbucks for a month!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2theextreme

Monday, Wednesday, Friday 8:30 AM - 9:00 PM
Tuesday, Thursday 8:30 AM - 6:00 PM
Saturday 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday Closed

And there's no "Holiday Hours" anywhere to be found.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 370Zsteve

Ahem. I REPEAT. This thread is about as interesting as Paris Hilton's Twitter feed! Speaking of that, apparently she posted a picture of the now-infamous "not my purse" purse a couple of months ago, the one that had the gram of blow in it lmao

Quote:

Originally Posted by m4a1mustang

Fuuuuu Paris Hilton. This is more important than her right now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2theextreme

Yeah...this is about a Mustang!

Quote:

Originally Posted by m4a1mustang

Fuuuuuuuuuuu you tony. You bastard. I was totally comfortable sitting in my hotel on the freakin couch watching tv!

Quote:

Originally Posted by m4a1mustang

Now I'm on a goddamn wood chair at starbucks with a TERRIBLE frappuccino!

Quote:

Originally Posted by 370Zsteve

Quote:

Originally Posted by m4a1mustang

Lou is coming to starbucks to rescue me from Tony's no time telling ***!

Quote:

Originally Posted by theDreamer

So after reading this page I gather, Mustang is whiny this morning, Tony cannot read find holiday hours and we all find this as interesting as a retard on TV.

Quote:

Originally Posted by m4a1mustang

**** you, Matt!

Quote:

Originally Posted by m4a1mustang

Did you guys know St. Louis is named after Lou???

Quote:

Originally Posted by theDreamer

You should visit all his car dealerships, it would be like a mini adventure.
Leave notes/clues for Lou to find them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by m4a1mustang

That would be gayer than a reacharound.

Quote:

Originally Posted by m4a1mustang

Lou drove the old Z …MAD…

Quote:

Originally Posted by 370Zsteve

Bastard! Tell him the Cardinals suck!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caravanshaka

Steve, you driving a mustang yet?

Quote:

Originally Posted by 370Zsteve

Lou just told him about the extra fees

Quote:

Originally Posted by FuszNissan

10am on Labor Day!

Quote:

Originally Posted by shadoquad

You'd better get the reacharound to end all reacharounds for all the b*tching he's been doing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FuszNissan

Steve is now a traitor

Quote:

Originally Posted by FuszNissan

I ripped out my door panels, trunk panels, and time to dynamat. I miss working on cars.
Had breakfast with Steve this morning, and he was like" where are your doors at"...lol

So, Lou and I ended up having breakfast at IHOP. I survived the doorless, beltless Z32TT. It looked and sounded awesome despite the lack of doors, though.

m4a1mustang · 09-12-2010, 09:38 PM

So, after breakfast with Lou we parted ways and I headed down the street to the Ford dealership. I met Tom, the sales manager who I had been dealing with for the week prior over the phone and e-mail, and he showed me my Mustang sitting there in the showroom.

Tom driving the Mustang out of the showroom

I had never actually seen this color in person before... only in photographs. This is a truly amazing color in person. It's a lot like the 40th Z gray only with more flake. It's awesome.

We took the car for a quick spin just so I could make sure I was 100% sure I wanted to go through with the deal... I was!

Transferred the Z's plates (and the NISMO plate frame!!!) over to the Mustang.

Goodbye Z

I do have to say that I was relieved to let it go. I have always hate, hate, hated red but for some reason when I first saw a red Z I fell in love with it. It just looked "right." If I had to do it all over again I think I would have bought Platinum Graphite. Red is just a pain in the *** to keep up with and with Nissan's soft clear and crappy paint it's really no fun.

Anyways, one of the young guys at the dealership (I'm guessing late teens, early 20s) tried to teach me how to use Sync. It was information overload so I told him just let me know how to use the radio and change the clock and I'll read the manual to figure everything else out (I haven't yet)

With the paperwork completed I waved goodbye to my Z (I'll miss her!) and drove off in the new Mustang at approximately 12:30PM local time. 900 miles to go!

m4a1mustang · 09-12-2010, 09:51 PM

STL heading eastbound on I-64.

Illinois...

Lousiville...

At about 9PM EST I was just crossing into West Virginia. If I tried to go all the way through I'd get home a little after 3AM, so I decided to stop and get a hotel at the next populated area. I ended up getting a room in Barboursville, WV, just outside of Huntington, which let me rest up and get a nice sleep.

I was up and back on the road by 6AM.

Back in VA

First rest stop of the morning at the first rest area in VA.

1000 miles!

Home at last!

All told I drove 1,800 miles. On the way out I saw no 370Zs and no 5.0s. On the way home I saw 2 370Zs and one 5.0. One of the 370s I saw was the Yellow Coupe that tows that G-Force racing trailer to his track days. He was headed westbound through Illinois or Indiana... can't remember exactly. Let's just say a 370 towing a trailer looks pretty ******* badass!

Pushing_Tin · 09-12-2010, 09:53 PM

Great pics, thanks for sharing!

theDreamer · 09-12-2010, 09:56 PM

Glad to see you not so whiny anymore.

Red370 · 09-12-2010, 10:01 PM

awesome post, I was thinking about doing the same for my road trip to Ohio from here, but in the end, laziness prevailed. I'm taking the stang on a 600 mile trip tomorrow to El Paso, TX, i'd take pictures but I have a feeling the desert is enough to depress even the happiest of people

m4a1mustang · 09-12-2010, 10:12 PM

Thanks guys. I just updated with more pics and commentary.

Xan · 09-12-2010, 10:19 PM

Looks like a great trip and nice post up with all the pictures.... but..... you're still a traitor!

j/k looking good and enjoy the new ride!

frost · 09-12-2010, 10:22 PM

Do you feel a happiness with it you didn't feel with the Z?

m4a1mustang · 09-12-2010, 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frost

Do you feel a happiness with it you didn't feel with the Z?

Yes.

Trips · 09-12-2010, 10:44 PM

Wow nice pics Steve.

I wish you 100k miles of happy motoring.

m4a1mustang · 09-12-2010, 10:45 PM

Thanks, Trip!

phelan · 09-12-2010, 11:02 PM

m4a1mustang · 09-12-2010, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phelan

You're getting an engine cover and a GTR start button out of this, so be quiet!

09-12-2010, 09:36 PM	#1 (permalink)
m4a1mustang A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Northern VA Posts: 55,385 Drives: on two wheels Rep Power: 6962	My Road Trip to STL So as many of you already know, I traded my Z in for a new Mustang 5.0 last week. What many of you don't know is where I went to get it. Got a pretty good deal on a car that fit my spec (Modshack actually spec'd this car out with them but didn't end up coming to a deal) so I decided I'd drive on out to STL to do the deal instead of shipping the Z there and shipping the Mustang back. I figured lunch with Lou is worth an 1,800 mile round-trip, anyways. After finishing uninstalling the aftermarket parts from the Z, I left for St. Louis at 6AM on Sunday, Sept 5th. Headed down I-81 South in VA. Appalachian Plateau off to the west. Just got on I-64 West in Virginia. Twin Peaks This is a pretty cool pic with the focus on the fisheye mirror. VA is beautiful... I-64 runs from VA straight through to STL, and there was a lot of construction along the way... many one-lane stretches... Charleston, WV. Kind of a depressing looking city if you ask me! Welcome to Kentucky People in Kentucky drive pretty damn fast. My average speed here was much faster than any other state. The flow of traffic was anywhere from 90mph to a little more than 100 mph. Old people in Buicks had their cruise set to 100... it was crazy! I also got passed by a Ferrari 458 Italia doing roughly 130 mph just outside of Louisville... didn't have my camera at the ready so I didn't snap a pic, nor did I bother trying to chase him down to get one! Louisville Flat and boring in Illinois The Z's last ever fuel stop (that I'm paying for, anyways!) in Illinois. I saved the receipt because I'm sentimental like that. STL on the horizon! I could taste smell Lou in the air at this point. Lou said if I stayed to the east and west of the city and didn't venture north or south I'd live. My Z from the hotel room window in Chesterfield, MO, looking a bit like a solid red Cory Catfish. __________________ - Steve Zs & Coffee - Saturdays at 10AM in Fairfax, VA and Columbia, MD (Click the banner!) LIKE us on Facebook! Last edited by m4a1mustang; 05-01-2013 at 12:34 PM. Reason: fixed broken image links

09-12-2010, 09:38 PM	#3 (permalink)
m4a1mustang A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Northern VA Posts: 55,385 Drives: on two wheels Rep Power: 6962	So, after breakfast with Lou we parted ways and I headed down the street to the Ford dealership. I met Tom, the sales manager who I had been dealing with for the week prior over the phone and e-mail, and he showed me my Mustang sitting there in the showroom. Tom driving the Mustang out of the showroom I had never actually seen this color in person before... only in photographs. This is a truly amazing color in person. It's a lot like the 40th Z gray only with more flake. It's awesome. We took the car for a quick spin just so I could make sure I was 100% sure I wanted to go through with the deal... I was! Transferred the Z's plates (and the NISMO plate frame!!!) over to the Mustang. Goodbye Z I do have to say that I was relieved to let it go. I have always hate, hate, hated red but for some reason when I first saw a red Z I fell in love with it. It just looked "right." If I had to do it all over again I think I would have bought Platinum Graphite. Red is just a pain in the * to keep up with and with Nissan's soft clear and crappy paint it's really no fun. Anyways, one of the young guys at the dealership (I'm guessing late teens, early 20s) tried to teach me how to use Sync. It was information overload so I told him just let me know how to use the radio and change the clock and I'll read the manual to figure everything else out (I haven't yet) With the paperwork completed I waved goodbye to my Z (I'll miss her!) and drove off in the new Mustang at approximately 12:30PM local time. 900 miles to go! __________________ - Steve Zs & Coffee - Saturdays at 10AM in Fairfax, VA and Columbia, MD (Click the banner!) LIKE us on Facebook!** Last edited by m4a1mustang; 05-01-2013 at 12:38 PM. Reason: fixed image links

09-12-2010, 09:51 PM	#4 (permalink)
m4a1mustang A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Northern VA Posts: 55,385 Drives: on two wheels Rep Power: 6962	STL heading eastbound on I-64. Illinois... Lousiville... At about 9PM EST I was just crossing into West Virginia. If I tried to go all the way through I'd get home a little after 3AM, so I decided to stop and get a hotel at the next populated area. I ended up getting a room in Barboursville, WV, just outside of Huntington, which let me rest up and get a nice sleep. I was up and back on the road by 6AM. Back in VA First rest stop of the morning at the first rest area in VA. 1000 miles! Home at last! All told I drove 1,800 miles. On the way out I saw no 370Zs and no 5.0s. On the way home I saw 2 370Zs and one 5.0. One of the 370s I saw was the Yellow Coupe that tows that G-Force racing trailer to his track days. He was headed westbound through Illinois or Indiana... can't remember exactly. Let's just say a 370 towing a trailer looks pretty ***** badass! __________________ - Steve Zs & Coffee - Saturdays at 10AM in Fairfax, VA and Columbia, MD (Click the banner!) LIKE us on Facebook!** Last edited by m4a1mustang; 05-01-2013 at 12:40 PM.

09-12-2010, 09:56 PM	#6 (permalink)
theDreamer A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Texas Posts: 30,879 Drives: 370z Rep Power: 4210	Glad to see you not so whiny anymore. __________________ theDreamer's Z // Fast Intentions // Uprev // GTM // HKS // TEIN theDreamer's Silvia // URAS // GREDDY Houston Zs // Facebook // Twitter // Instagram

09-12-2010, 10:01 PM	#7 (permalink)
Red370 A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Kaiserslautern, Germany Posts: 4,391 Drives: your mom to church Rep Power: 295	awesome post, I was thinking about doing the same for my road trip to Ohio from here, but in the end, laziness prevailed. I'm taking the stang on a 600 mile trip tomorrow to El Paso, TX, i'd take pictures but I have a feeling the desert is enough to depress even the happiest of people __________________ 2011 Mustang 5.0 \| 3.55's \| Lethal Performance off road H-Pipe \| Magnaflow Muffler Delete \| JLT CAI/Bama tuned 417whp/ 404 ft/lbs

09-12-2010, 09:53 PM	#5 (permalink)
Pushing_Tin A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Eugene, OR Posts: 2,875 Drives: E63 AMG Rep Power: 227	Great pics, thanks for sharing!

09-12-2010, 10:12 PM	#8 (permalink)
m4a1mustang A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Northern VA Posts: 55,385 Drives: on two wheels Rep Power: 6962	Thanks guys. I just updated with more pics and commentary. __________________ - Steve Zs & Coffee - Saturdays at 10AM in Fairfax, VA and Columbia, MD (Click the banner!) LIKE us on Facebook!

09-12-2010, 10:19 PM	#9 (permalink)
Xan A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: MA Posts:99999999999999 Posts: 3,301 Drives: 370Z 40th Aniversary Rep Power: 24	Looks like a great trip and nice post up with all the pictures.... but..... you're still a traitor! j/k looking good and enjoy the new ride! __________________

09-12-2010, 10:44 PM	#12 (permalink)
Trips Administrator Join Date: May 2009 Location: Disneyland, Ca Posts: 8,728 Drives: 🔰 Rep Power: 10	Wow nice pics Steve. I wish you 100k miles of happy motoring. __________________

09-12-2010, 10:45 PM	#13 (permalink)
m4a1mustang A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Northern VA Posts: 55,385 Drives: on two wheels Rep Power: 6962	Thanks, Trip! __________________ - Steve Zs & Coffee - Saturdays at 10AM in Fairfax, VA and Columbia, MD (Click the banner!) LIKE us on Facebook!

09-12-2010, 11:02 PM	#14 (permalink)
phelan A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: CA Age: 38 Posts: 9,513 Drives: Scoobaroo Rep Power: 3406	__________________ 凛 ('Rin') - 2009 Nissan 370Z With silence comes peace. With peace comes freedom. With freedom comes silence.

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