Futuristic car meets futuristic tunnel

[Bruce Johnson]

It's official. A DeLorean will be included as one of the first 30 civilian cars to pass through the just completed Twin Tunnels at Devil's Slide, on Highway 1 along the Northern California coast between Half Moon Bay and Pacifica, during the opening day ceremonies on Monday, March 25th. It'll be one of 30 antique, classic, and modern cars selected by committee to represent each decade of the past 100 years. I am humbled to be representing our club, and all DeLorean owner's and enthusiasts.

Thanks go out to all the members of the Devil's Slide Task Force Tunnel Opening Day Planning Committee for making this historic opportunity available to us.

Bruce

Below is a link detailing the history of Devil's Slide and the efforts of the local communities and leaders to bring this dream to a reality.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=resources/traffic&id=9026775

[Rich]

Have a great time, Bruce.

Your acceptance to that event is a very fitting tribute to your car, our club, and DeLoreans around the world that! Thanks to Ken for advising us of that opportunity.

Will be busy elsewhere that day but would have loved to attend the post-ceremony car show at Pillar Point Harbor with you.

Hope you can post a few photos to the club site and/or here.

[Bruce Johnson]

Thanks Rich, and thanks again to Ken for the heads up. We're allowed 1 passenger. Kyle will be home that week for Spring break so he'll be the photographer.....so far anyway. Kevin has a few contacts at the San Francisco Chronicle so maybe he can weasel a few photos from them as well as I'm sure they will be there to cover it. And of course there are all of the local papers and broadcast news too. First California tunnel project in 50 years!!

Bruce

[Bruce Johnson]

I just got the vehicle list for the 1st civilian cars through the tunnel. I'm # 24. Cars 23 and 25 are a 1978 Rolls and a 1987 Ferrari.

[Bruce Johnson]

Loooong day. But a great one. Kyle and I arrived at the staging area in Pacifica around 8:30 this morning after a drive up the coast from Santa Cruz. After all of the cars were accounted for we were all escorted to the north portal bridge and waited there until all of the opening day speeches were done at the south portal, around 1:00. Finally all 35 cars got the word that it was our turn! It was a festive and noisy drive through the tunnel. Upon exiting at the south portal we were all greeted by cheering crowds on both sides of the road! I'll post pictures later this evening, but below is an article on today's festivities....and of course...well, you'll see.

http://science.kqed.org/quest/2013/03/25/at-last-devils-slide-tunnels-open/

[Bruce Johnson]

Here are the photos of opening day. The first is the staging area in Pacifica. We then caravaned up to the North Portal bridge where we waited. Lastly the drive through. There was everything from a 1913 Ford Model T, to CA Governor Jerry Browns '74 Plymouth Satellite (new respect...he's a MOPAR guy) to a 2013 Tesla S.

Bruce

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[Rich W]

Very Cool pics, Bruce. Thanks for getting your DeLorean in a line-up of very cool cars for this historic event.

As a side note, I just saw a TV show on the History Channel with a similar line-up of cars driving on Daytona Beach.

[Bruce Johnson]

Compliments to the folks that followed us through the tunnel 3:05 into the vid. I'm glad this got documented.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RBGngvo2AU


Bruce

[Bruce Johnson]

Very Cool pics, Bruce. Thanks for getting your DeLorean in a line-up of very cool cars for this historic event.

As a side note, I just saw a TV show on the History Channel with a similar line-up of cars driving on Daytona Beach.

This particular event was that big because the last tunnel built in Ca. was the Caldecott near Oakland back in the 64. I was just 11. Little did I know I would be doing this type of thing almost 50 years later! One of the organizers and proponent of the tunnels' son suggested that a Delorean would be cool so his search went on and found me through our club's president. Yes, the rest is history.

[Rich W]

This particular event was that big because the last tunnel built in Ca. was the Caldecott near Oakland back in the 64. I was just 11. Little did I know I would be doing this type of thing almost 50 years later! One of the organizers and proponent of the tunnels' son suggested that a Delorean would be cool so his search went on and found me through our club's president. Yes, the rest is history.

Nice find on the video from the guy right behind you. I think you had a "better drive" by waiting for the MG to try to get started, since that allowed
you a more spirited drive until you caught up with the rest of the group, near the end of the tunnel. Video car was "horn happy", but not too bad.

Funny commentary at the end...the guy on a unicycle always seems to show up at Grand Opening events (LOL).

Looks like there was plenty of other video taken "at the end of the tunnel". Post links if you happen to find them.

[Bruce Johnson]

That stall was twofold, Rich. One, to allow my son to get back into the car after taking photo's of me entering (you can see him off to the left as the gal tells me to hurry on) and two as you suggested, to allow me some fun time through the tunnel. Yeah that horn was a bit much, but it was so easy to get caught up in the excitement, especially for the locals who had been waiting for over 10 years for this project.

Here's another from the south portal with us at 5:02


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DifeN-LV1w

Bruce

[Hand-Schaub]

very cool shots!