Ron Tonkin Spotting

**Portenos** · #1 03-03-2012, 10:48 AM

I was very happy to see Ron Tonkin last weekend, at what else? a car event down here in Rancho Mirage. He was looking very good, moving a little slower, but sharp as a tack.
It was on the occasion of the Desert Classic Concours saturday road rally. All the cars had gathered in the parking lot of the River Shopping Center and there was Ron with his friend Chad McQueen, son of Steve McQueen.

It should be noted that Ron not only contorted himself to get in and out of Chad's racing Porsche but went on the hour and a half rally in the desert, in that car with no A/C and i am sure a very harsh ride. What a trooper.
I on the other hand wimped out and took the 360 spider home picked up Janet and slowly made our way over to Old Town La Quinta, found a shady table at our favorite coffee shop and read the paper and sipped doppio macchiatos until the sweaty tired group arrive.
From our table we could watch as all the cars drove by.
In the photos are Bob Lucurell with Ron and Bill Noon of Symbolic with Ron sitting in Chad's Porsche.
Ciao,
FGM

**Monza 456** · #2 03-03-2012, 11:45 AM

Great to see Ron out and about, He and Marcie are great people.

dinogt4guy · #3 03-11-2012, 09:08 AM

What a guy! Been a few years since I have seen him. Good to see he's doing well!

**f355spider** · #4 04-06-2012, 08:26 PM

Great photos, thanks Frank!

gelat0 · #5 04-07-2013, 10:49 PM

I could be wrong and have been doing research on my car which I have owned for several years. But I believe I have Ron Tokins's NSX that he personally owned, which in a color of which only 18 were made. I am wondering if this is the same Ron Tonkin? The paperwork I have looks as though it was a special order delivered to his own personal Tonkin dealership, and appears that it may have been his personal car. The car still only has 25k miles on it and is pristine, I have been contacted by collectors in Japan wanting me to sell, but hanging onto it. Would love to be able to send him a pic and make contact.

gelat0 · #6 04-07-2013, 11:11 PM

Recent pic of the car durning Monterey Car week.

**PlaysWithItalians** · #7 04-08-2013, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gelat0

I could be wrong and have been doing research on my car which I have owned for several years. But I believe I have Ron Tonkins's NSX that he personally owned, which in a color of which only 18 were made. I am wondering if this is the same Ron Tonkin? The paperwork I have looks as though it was a special order delivered to his own personal Tonkin dealership, and appears that it may have been his personal car. The car still only has 25k miles on it and is pristine, I have been contacted by collectors in Japan wanting me to sell, but hanging onto it. Would love to be able to send him a pic and make contact.

You can contact the dealership directly, Sue will answer the phone.
Portland Luxury Car Dealership | Ron Tonkin Gran Turismo - Portland Ferrari & Maserati exotic car de

Many of the cars from the dealership have had Mr. Tonkin as a previous owner. For several of them, it is considered to increase the value of the car.

**donv** · #8 04-08-2013, 12:12 PM

Mr. Tonkin has owned a lot of cars over the years, and still does today. It seems like sometimes the line between "inventory" and "collection" sometimes gets a little blurry...

Two of my cars were in the collection.... er, inventory... for multiple years.

**F2003-GA** · #9 04-08-2013, 08:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gelat0

Recent pic of the car durning Monterey Car week.

Very nice indeed

gelat0 · #10 04-08-2013, 09:41 PM

Thanks guys! All of the records are from the Portland dealership and I still have the original sticker showing delivery from Japan to that dealership, and I had called that dealership to get the background on the car before I had purchased it, and everything has Tonkins name on it as far as ownership goes, which was one of the reasons I bought it. I went to a warehouse in San Francisco to check out a Ferrari 360 that I was considering, and saw this car parked next to it, and fell in love with it since it was so unique and like new. Needless to say the car had everything done to it before it was necessary, with an impeccable service history from Tonkin Acura. Because the Monte Carlo Blue/Tan interior color is so rare (looks like Candy Apple Blue), it had to be someone special that had ordered it, since these cars had a 2 year wait on them with a $20k dealer markup for a more common Red, Black or Silver car. These are hand built Aluminum cars and production was about 250 examples per year so most dealerships were lucky to get 1 or 2 per year. There were 18 Monte Carlo Blue/Tan cars made in 1998, and the Tonkin dealership got one of them. The car now lives in Monterey California.

**F2003-GA** · #11 04-08-2013, 10:24 PM

I had a chance to pick up an orange NSX quite a while back - Regret not doing it :-/

**donv** · #12 04-08-2013, 10:46 PM

That is very cool. Lovely car.

**Jedi** · #13 04-08-2013, 11:08 PM

Very cool... his F40 is in the LeMay Museum right now as well. Very cool

Jedi

gelat0 · #14 04-09-2013, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by F2003-GA

I had a chance to pick up an orange NSX quite a while back - Regret not doing it :-/

Orange is one of the most rare colors and it looks like only 41 were made, and the rare colored cars are very coveted in the NSX world right now, the only issue with an orange car is that they were not made in the 97-2001 model years which are the most coveted. Here are the production numbers by color Production Numbers - NSX-Wiki . The great thing about the NSX is that they are all hand built aluminum cars and they never rust, and since they are Honda's they are very reliable.. Drive is similar to a F355 W/manual transmission in my opinion.. It's very fun to drive, I liken it to driving a 300hp beer can down the road! The HP is not as great as a Ferrari and the exhaust sound is not quite there compared to an 8 cylinder italian car, but it is a very light and well balanced car, that is and reliable very fun to drive. There was an Exhaust/Airbox upgrade option that gives the car a great sound which my car happened to come with, along with a Targa Top (NSX-T) which were also very coveted in 1997-2001. The most coveted NSX's for the collector are the NSX-T (targa), 1997-2001 model years (in a rare color). The 97-2001's have a bigger engine and many other upgrades including power steering, and they have basically the same performance as a 2002-2005 car, yet they still maintain the flap up headlight look that is also coveted. The Flap up headlight has become a cool feature of the past, and the 2002-2005 cars did not have the Flap up headlights. Try searching the internet for an unmolested 1997-2001 NSX-T, clean with under 50k miles.. They are a very tough find and they usually dont last on the market for more than a few days. http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-s...rch=true&Log=0