In The Wild- Cars And Coffee Wichita 17 Sep 2016

  It's Too Early For This..

Ever since I moved to the Wichita area, I've wanted to check out the local Cars and Coffee event.  As I mentioned in a previous post, the Wichita area has a car scene, I just needed to get out there and discover it.

The Cars and Coffee events are held in a few cities nationwide and consist of car enthusiasts getting together on a designated Saturday each month and showing off their cars.  There's coffee available, along with the occasional food truck to keep everyone happy.  The meets tend to be pretty large and are geared for the older crowd, and the more "exotic" cars.

  At the Dallas C&C, it wasn't uncommon to see Lamborghini's, Ferrari's, Porsche's, Bentley's and even a few McLaren's sitting side by side with GTR's, EVO's, Gutted Hondas, Muscle Cars and Hot Rods.  If it rolled on wheels and had an engine, there was something there for you to look at.  It's a pretty popular event in D/FW and has grown as time passes.

Yeah, But This Wichita

Knowing Wichita was a much smaller city than the D/FW area, I was really interested to see what the area had to offer.

While the size of the event wasn't as big as what I've seen before, the selection of cars were more than satisfying.  Truly something for everyone.

Fanboying, Sooo Hard!

While I love pretty much anything with wheels, I was primarily looking for Miatas, some Old School RWD Japanese rides and anything Mitsubishi or DSM.  I was soon rewarded with a  VERY clean 97/98 Eagle Talon TSi/AWD.

*Soapbox Time*
For some reason, some Talon owners feel the need to change out certain unique parts on the Talon to make it look more like an Eclipse.  Swapping out the Front and Rear Bumper, ground effects, tailights and  wing for Eclipse pieces is a common practice and a damned shame. 

These cars look different for a reason, with the Talon wearing a much more aggressive look. Presumably to appeal to male drivers.  Not saying the 2G Eclipse is a bad looking car, because it isn't.  I'm just saying if I wanted to drive a Eclipse, I'd just go buy one and avoid butchering a Talon.  
 *End Soapbox*

Fortunately, the owner of this car kept everything original.  The car still wore great looking paint, all the stock body panels in place along with the very aggressive front and rear bumper setup and the "Jetsons" wing on the trunk unique to the 97-98 Talons.

Motegi Trak-Lite Wheels, some sticky tires, a stealthy blacked out Front Mount Intercooler and a set of Wilwood brakes on the front end of the car, seemed to show that this guy had some well thought out mods on the car.

Love The Color On This

"Jetsons" Wing And Strakes On The Side

Small Blacked Out Greddy 2G FMIC With Factory Fogs Retained

Motegi Trak Lites and Willwoods

4G63 Power!

I got to talk to the owner of this car for a bit, and was kind of surprised to find out the owner, was older than I was and owned a shop in Wichita, Autobhan Power. 

The car was his personal car and set up primarily for road racing out at Hallett Motor Racing Circuit, with a few additional mods for more power.  I was impressed because these cars are generally modified to go fast in a straight line, and it was refreshing to see someone going a different way for once.

In addition to the mods easily spotted, I saw that he had replaced the original leather seats in front with a set of reclining Recaro seats.  The engine had a Turbonetics exhaust manifold, with a Hahn Racecraft Super 20G, thicker Koyo Radiator, AEM Fuel Rail, Dejon Power Intake, K&N FIPK and Greddy Intercooler Piping and BOV.

It looked pretty much like a car that had been modded when new and just left alone afterwards. Almost like seeing a time capsule from the late 90's.  Unfortunately, I never got to ask him what he used for engine management on the car.

Seeing this, made me miss my DSM days.  One of these days, I will own a 97-98 Talon TSi/AWD.  I just need to find a good deal on one, and have a place to put it.  *sigh*

Other Cars

After getting over the shock of seeing a "survivor" 2G AWD Talon, I checked out the rest of the cars.

Black On Black 6 Speed GTO.  Just Like The One I Used To Own

Older Saab Sonnett

I Think This Is The First One I've Ever Seen

 

A "Tired" NA Miata

 

More Roadster Love

MR-2

 

Clean Little BMW

 

Speed Buggy!

Clean Fiero

Lotus

I Want These Seats For My Miata

I Remember Almost Killing Myself In One OF These Things

Still A Good Looking Car

That Interior Though

Zombie Outbreak Command Post?

I Think This Is A 71 Corolla.  Love It!

Well Played Wichita

Well this was my first C&C event for Wichita and hopefully it won't be the last.  It's good to get out, see some cars and talk to people as well.  Can't wait for the next one.


Until Then,
Alpha, Mike Foxtrot...