Autoblog

click on image above to see high resolution gallery with 50 pics

Now here's a New Year's resolution we can get behind: pledging to drive our classic or high performance cars more. We're not talking about street racing or anything illegal, mind you, just a little spirited motoring to hear and feel these great machines at speed. This particular drive was in Southern California and has been a staple for local residents going on a few years now. The event was the 4th Annual Tour d'Orange, and it kicked off another New Year for some of the car crazy residents of Orange County on Monday. Starting at the Auto Kennel and adjacent Newport Shelby Cobras, we looped around OC to rediscover our diverse landscape.

Winding our way from the heart of Orange County to the Pacific Coast Highway, we drove down along some of the most scenic coastline known to man, cutting back inland to the foothills and canyon roads before a lunch stop at In-N-Out. As you can see from the high-res gallery we've assembled for you, the assortment of cars that showed up this year was quite eclectic: Mercedes SLR to rat rod, 996 GT2 to VW GTI, a genuine aluminum Cobra, a Ferrari Daytona, Superformance SPF, and '69 soft top Porsche Targa. Similar events take place all over the world, and even around SoCal there are a few other drives like this one, but when offered a ride in a 600-hp Andial-massaged 993 Turbo, we jumped at the chance. Thanks to everybody involved for kicking off 2007 with the right foot.