A couple of weeks ago was the Scottsdale Barrett-Jackson Auto Auctions. You can watch all of the actual auction on the Speed Channel and see some amazing vehicles get sold at rediculous prices, but what else happens there? What does a $55 ticket give you access to? Take a look. It gives you a chance to look at lots of really cool cars, and to see what the social elite spend their money on. Helicopters, jets, million dollar boats, and pictures of ferraris mashed up with classic works of art.

About 10 days ago I took a little drive with the local AZ Toyota crowd up one of the best drives in the state of Arizona.  We started at the Quick Trip located at the beginning of Highway 88 and drove all the way past Canyon Lake to Tortilla Flat.

I met Brady at the “QT”, the unofficial organizer for the majority of the AZ Toyota clubs in the Phoenix area, who proudly brought his AE86 with a silver top 20V 4AGE powered engine.  But as the Toyota’s started to wheel in, Cris (Picture Below) and John showed up with later generation Corollas.  But we didn’t just have Corollas showing up to this, there was a Celica GT-S, a *cough* Infiniti G35 *cough*, MR-S, and several 3rd generation Supras.

The supra below is Clint’s and has a turbo charged 2.5 L 1JZGTE engine putting 330 HP to wheels.  Impressive, I think so.

After gas tanks were filled and all the Toyota members were amply supplied with their beverage of choice, we headed down highway 88 in Arizona.  If you haven’t been there is is worth the drive, especially on the day we went; sunny and 70 degrees.  I cruised with the windows down and the wife snapping pictures along the way.

We stopped at Tortilla Flat where the Supra guys split off and took a drive further back on 88.  I took some pictures of our local “Boso” who represents a recent Japanese craze here in the U.S..  Check out Woody’s crazy exhaust.

(If you need to know what a “Boso” is check it out here: http://www.autoblog.com/2008/12/10/video-japans-bosozoku-roll-deep-phat-loud-and-weird/)

All in all, it was a great drive and I can’t wait to bring the AE86 out again.  If you want to see more pictures from the drive check out the link below.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62mph/sets/72157612771119176/

Seriously, who knew that a combination of an 85 year old car genius, million dollar cars, Elvis impersonators, and Red Bull and Vodka could be so awesome and so devastating…

Last night was one of the best experiences that I have had in the automotive world. I got to see one of the greatest living automotive legends of all time, Carroll Shelby. You know, the guy who invented the Shelby Cobra. It was truly an honor to share in his 85th birthday (and if he reads this I wish him many more.)

But the night was not solely about Carroll Shelby and the impact that he has made to the performance of American cars. It was a celebration about one of the greatest car auctions in North America.

Allen and Laura

As Austin, my wife Laura, and I drove to the Auction I sat in silence not knowing what to expect my stomach was churning butterflies and wisps of adrenaline flowed into my veins. Even the parking was great. I followed a brand new BMW M5 into the parking lot and had the opportunity to park behind a Bentley Continental GTC which probably cost over $200,000. (There was another one for sale inside that was stickered at $209,000.) But that wasn’t the “Ice Breaker”, it was the fact that my wife seemed to think that her Hyundai Sonata wasn’t going to be safe in the parking lot. Bentley or Hyundai?

As we walked into the doors I was simply amazed by the sheer size of the event and apparently so was my wife. She actually was very entertained to be there. I was a little bit skeptical at first but she started snapping off photos and took some great shots.

[Austin] The evening was very nice. You walk in past 15 Shelby GT500s into a room with another dozen new and concept Ford vehicles. As you walk through the main vendor floor, you come to a giant black tent with people stamping hands and taking invitations. Inside was completely shocking. Not only was it huge; not only was it packed; but my invitation said “elegant attire” and Elvis was on the stage. I immediately felt overdressed, and I was just in a tie.

[Allen] Well, I don’t want to ruin too much for our readers because we are going to be blogging and shooting a few videos on vendors and key vehicles that are there, but the new ZR1 supercharged Corvette is there, as well as the first production Dodge Challenger, as well as a number of vehicles that will auction significantly over the $500,000 mark, and I can’t wait to talk about them.

As far as Devastating, that was the wicked combination of Red Bull, Vodka, followed by 5 hours of sleep and the 6:30 AM time I have to be at work..

[Austin: Just a note, but I didn't get home until 1:30 and had two Red Bulls, two Cokes, a double espresso (yeah I found some) not to mention all of the earlier caffeine of the day and I slept like a baby]

Booze and Cars (Note: Austin’s is the empty one)

Sean Connery or is it?

This isn’t a joke, this guy was going around with a Scottish accent doing a mock Sean Connery.

It is 62mph.com. We are doing vidcasts of car reviews in addition to continuing to provide regular blog posts. Check it out, bookmark it (RSS still coming) and feel free to give us your feedback. We would love to hear it.

Thanks from Allen and Austin.

We spent the evening at the weekly car show that goes on at the Scottsdale Pavillions. This event has gotten quite large over the past few years. Last night’s turnout was no different. Hundreds of cars and bikes of all makes and models. Allen had the only ‘86′ there however.