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I was looking forward to drawing parallels to our own local gatherings on a trip earlier this year to Gears and Grinds, a Cars and Coffee style event held just outside Las Vegas.  Visiting on recommendation of friend, RMS member and on this particular day, chauffeur, Patrick McCullagh (Nazor on the forum), expectations were blown out of the water as. upon arrival. a Pagani Huayra Roadster was being unfurled in its carbon clad glory.    For reference this Italian hand-built hypercar prices circa £3m, and I don’t even know if I’m rounding up or down.

I of course had come for the Americana.  Why else would you travel 6000 miles, and I wasn’t disappointed.  There is a vibrant import scene at home for vehicles with the steering column on the wrong side of the transmission tunnel.  This cool two tone Dodge Challenger is case in point.

This is of course an eclectic event; isn’t that the best thing about Cars and Coffee.  No pressure, so everything comes out to play, and that means plenty of modified and exotic ‘European’ cars with which we are much more familiar.  That being said, its the small differences like orange marker lights that federalisation imposes on manufacturers to bring cars into the US that give that USDM feel.  

Everyone has their favourites, and I couldn’t take my eyes off this fish-out-of-water Group N Impreza.  I chatted with owner, Pete, in the video below about this car, used by the likes of Colin McRae and other rally stars in the 90s before making its way into the US.   Pete has competed in Rally America in this car, yet kept it to a high standard as well as bringing it along to car meets in Vegas so other enthusiasts get to experience something totally unique.

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Gears and Grinds normally meets the first and third Sunday of the month at the Baguette Cafe about 10 minutes from the strip.  I’d highly recommend adding it to your tinerary if stateside.  See more at https://www.facebook.com/GearsandGrindsVegas

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Andy is the founding member of RMS, and when he's not following motoring events around the UK and Ireland he can be found on the track (sideways, having competed in top level drifting for a decade), or of course he'll be on the forum.