“Great Drives” is a new Zcarblog series highlighting scenic routes and destinations we have enjoyed from the past and present. Whether it is a nice cruise or thrilling adventure, we hope to inspire Bay Area vintage car owners to Enjoy The Ride! Have a great drive of your own that you want to share? Feel free to contact us on Facebook, Instagram or by e-mail.

 

Mt. Umunhum, San Jose 7/1/18

Growing up in the Bay Area I have always been fascinated with Mt. Umunhum. Dominating the peak is an 84-foot tall radar tower built to watch over the nation’s airspace during the Cold War. Decommissioned and closed off to the public since 1980, last year this former Air Force station was converted into a place where you can view the Santa Clara Valley from 3,486 feet.

 

Mount Umunhum is the fourth-highest peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains just south of San Jose and can be reached by the new five-mile Mount Umunhum Road which is off Hicks Road in Los Gatos. The road is freshly paved and filled with a mix of hairpins and blind corners. Elevation gain is impressive with 2000ft+ over 4 miles.

 

Enjoy this short video of the drive up to Mt. Umunhum:

 

At the summit we had a 360-degree view from the Pacific to the Sierra Nevada.  The sunset was spectacular and I just had to bring my family back again the following day to share the experience.

 

Though it is only a few miles from our home, the drive to Mt. Umunhum is exhilarating and the summit well worth the climb. If you are driving your vintage car make sure the cooling and braking systems are up to the task!

 

Interested in the history of Mt. Umunhum? Watch the video below:

Stay tuned for the next Great Drives feature and enjoy more pictures in the gallery below!
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Our local Datsun Roadster owners enjoyed a great Sunday drive yesterday. I’ve been organizing these “Fun Runs” for several years and it always makes me smile to see fellow Datsun owners Enjoying The Ride on our backroads here in the Bay Area. We began in downtown Saratoga with a meeting point just before Big Basin Way. By coincidence we spotted ZCG customer James S in his 240z coming down the mountain!

  

The first stretch of HWY 9 down to Boulder Creek was exhilarating. We picked up another roadster on the way to our next meeting point in Felton:

  

 

The cars and participants

The six cars represented an assortment of colors, years and trim level. Everything from SU and Solex-equipped U20s to R16s and SR20 drivetrains. Shown above are 1970, 1969 and 1968 with their distinct rear end treatments.

John B’s 1969 SRL

John B recently moved from SoCal to the Bay Area and has yet to explore the fantastic backroads here so I was excited to have him join us. His ’69 2000 is a prime example of how a Datsun 2000 would have looked back in the day. Sporting period-correct parts and even vintage tires John’s SRL was featured in Automobile Magazine driven by John Morton!

 

 

I drove my 1967.5 1600 with SR20:

 

Joe and Lisa’s 1968 SPL

Joe is an avid rally driver participating in this year’s Faultline and Snowball events with the roadster.  He purchased it recently and it has a 5-speed from a U20. Lisa got some seat time in today’s run too!

 

 

Stacey’s 1970 SRL

Stacey joined us in Boulder Creek with his recently refreshed ’70 SRL. This car got engine/chassis overhaul and a host of upgrades. It was great to see stacey enjoying his new mods.

 

Aidan’s 1969 SRL

Aidan is the youngest roadster owner I know being a high school student.  He is restoring his ’69 SRL by himself and recently completed the 600 mile journey to the Mt. Shasta Datsun Roadster meet. We are proud of him.

 

Eddie Wu’s E9 BMW

Ed is no stranger to Datsun Roadsters. He owns the famous “SAKE RKT”, an SR20 swapped ’66 SPL. He didn’t drive his roadster, but instead graced us with another silver beauty, this E9!

 

Mike B’s 1967.5 SPL

Mike B has been my go-to roadster driving buddy for a long time. His ‘67.5 SPL is built with period looks and modern conveniences. He was our fearless leader/hot shoe.

 

After we met Aidan in Felton we headed back up 9 to Skylinetowards Alice’s restaurant. Then we took 84 down to Pescadero. It was fairly warm even at the coast.

 

After a quick lunch break at Arcangeli’s Bakery we took Alpine Rd to Skyline and ended at the vista point.

 

Here’s a short video of us Enjoying The Ride:

Our route:

You can see past fun run event reports here:
HERE

Thanks to all that came out it was a blast! More pictures in the gallery, enjoy!

 

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The Three Roadsterteers are out Enjoying The Ride again! On Saturday we embarked on a much longer journey to Cambria and back home via HWY 1. It was an interesting trek with great roads and good company. We covered over 370 miles with 8hrs of driving time, see our route below:

 

We tried our best to avoid freeways and to reach Paso Robles we took HWY 25 from Hollister. This road has a mix of super long straights, sweepers and some short tight stuff. Weather was warm. Our first stop was in the small town of San Miguel, where this local 85-year old gentleman shared his knowledge of Datsuns with us. He was a riot:

 

We crossed over to the coast via HWY 46 through Paso Robles.  Lots of wineries and green rolling hills here with a hint of cooler temperatures from coastal fog. We enjoyed some pizza and desserts after fueling up in Cambria.

The Chevron gas station in Cambria was epic. Not only because of the $4.99/gal 91 octane. The owner was an avid Z-car racer back in the day and the whole lot was filled with (derelict) Z’s!

 

The salt-laden ocean spray clearly took its toll on the Datsun sheet metal. Fortunately the owner’s current project was stored inside the shop!

 

We hopped on HWY 1 to enjoy the gorgeous coastal views and smooth, twisty asphalt. I really wanted to catch the sunset with our roadsters but we were having way too much fun. We eventually stopped in front of the Point Sur Lighthouse for some pretty pictures:

 

 

After sunset it became chilly so we continued on HWY 1 to Santa Cruz and blasted down 17 to get home. Gotta love those turns on 17! Check out our last fun run HERE.  Stay tuned to see where The Three Roadsterteers venture next!

More pics in the gallery!
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