Hey Sheldon,

Talked to my wife and she is definitely up for a day trip - might be a little early though. Can we make it 8:00 A.M? Been thinking about this event for awhile and can't wait to see the festivities! Hope some other Crossfire owners can make it as well.

See you soon -
John

 

8:00 works great. I don't think the big lines start forming there until about 9:30 so getting there about 8:30 will give us a good spot in the grounds.
It really is a blast. Again, directions to my house are at:
http://www.sheldonaubut.com/house/directions.htm

Sheldon Aubut
38 Peterson Street
Houlton WI 54082
(715) 549-6131

 

We had two Crossfire's at Wing's & Wheels, my red 2006 roadster and John's 2005 SRT6 coupe. We got a lot of attention and even met a few other Crossfire owners who were there showing other cars. Even had a few people stop by that are in the last stage of deciding if a Crossfire should be their next vehicle. After listening to me gush about mine I'm sure they will be at their dealer on Monday.

There were probably several hundred cars on display. Everything from Citroen CV2 to Lamborghini Murcielago, gaggles of 60's Muscle Cars, flocks of motorcycles, herds of Minis, even schools of Barracuda and Marlins. My favorites were two 192X flat-head ford street rods. Had me ready to sell the wife to get one like them. Any takers?

It was also fun watching, and hearing, the radial engined biplanes and Warbirds flying overhead and the sounds of the Ferraris, Jaguars, Rolls Royce and massive big blocks were like an incredible symphony. One car I heard about but didn't run across was a street rod on which the builder had reversed intake and exhaust. I'm told he had a row of motorcycle carbs where the exhaust header would normally be and straight exhaust pipes poking towards the sky where the intake would normally go. Sounds like it must be a fantastic work of engineering and I'm sorry I didn't see it.

The weather was perfect, there was plenty of good food, the price was right, Free!!!, and Motorbooks had many of their titles discounted to 50% off. They also had Randy Leffingwell and Tom Cotter autographing their books. Randy has written many books on Corvettes, Mustangs, Muscle Cars, barns and tractors and Tom has written anthologies of great "Barn Find" stories such as "The Cobra in the Barn" and "The Hemi in the Barn." It was fun seeing Randy Leffingwell again as he came to Minnesota several years ago to photography my "Greenwood Sportwagon" 1979 Corvette station wagon for the official 50th anniversary Corvette coffee-table book. Tried to talk him into doing a book on Crossfires next but he seemed to think that working on a book on Porsches, or some such, would be a better seller. I tried to point him in the proper direction but he would not see the light. I do have his e-mail address though so you can bet I will be dropping some very thinly veiled hints along that line.

All-in-all it was a wonderful day and I do hope that next year we will have a better showing than just we two.

Sheldon

 

I'll chime into this old thread. I'm in Coon Rapids.

Bought my X-Fire two weeks ago from Coon Rapids Chrysler after doing research and looking for a month+. Bought an '04 coupe (limited), graphite, auto-stick, 12900 miles, build #2952. Carfax report showed the first registered license was June, 2004. Materials in the owners manual indicated the original owner lived in Dayton.

It's already been waxed three times and clay-barred once; paint and clear coat looks like straight out of the factory. Not a speck of dust in the engine compartment! It's been well cared for.

For the money and mileage, I think I found the best deal within 250 miles of the metro. Made the dealer a low offer and stuck to my guns. I used a newbie salesman who told me that the car was on the show floor for at least two months since he started. I told the sales manager there was no way they were going to sell a rear wheel drive, 2 seat sports car when the snow was about to fly in Minnesota.

I'm thrilled! (With the deal, AND the car.)

 

This is so great to find other MN Xfire owners, I have had my baby (05 Limited) about a month and am truly depressed to be putting her away so soon! I do hope to see some of you next season!!

 

We should all meet up today might have been the last good day.

 

Inver Grove Heights here!

I'm currently rearranging my garage workshop to house the little Crossfire for the winter, but I'm open to cruising with any of you folks any time.

 

Hello MN frozen Xfire owners,
Not lovin' the weather lately but in MN it could aways be worse!
Does anyone know of a good trusted dealership/mechanic in the twin cities??
I need to get my oil changed and have a few minor things that need to be looked at next spring and I want to know I am going to a good place...or I will have to learn to do it myself, and eventhough I am up to the challenge (having had to do much for my other cars over the years) I am tired of wreaking my manicures...any advice? (about the mechanics not the manicures )

 

Do not go to park jeep I take mine to hudson chrysler they know how rare this cars really are and they treat you like a king

 

Any opinions about work done at Suburban Chrysler? Their garage seems to be look high quality and they are rated as a five-star dealer.

 

I also take mine to Hudson Chrysler in Hudson Wisconsin, or to Bernard's Chrysler in New Richmond where I bought my '06 roadster. The Twin City dealers all seem to be less interested, more expensive, and less trusworthy and for me these dealers are close, but I'm thinking it would be worth it for Twin City folk to make the jump across the river.

Sheldon

 

I am yet to have a problem and they literally are so gracious to see me . I have not gotten that kind of treatment anywhere else, besides of coarse the one time i went to the MB dealership for testing.

 

Thanks for the advice, it's a trek for me to Hudson, but it's well worth it to find a dealer I can trust, and it's a beautiful drive over so I have something to look forward to in the spring!
And on a dead battery note...yes, it happened to me too, I had a screw stuck in my tire and took it in to be patched and it must have been a slow night because the minute I drove into the tire place the whole crew came over to take a look at my baby, and as I have learned from this forum, ALWAYS CHECK THE TRUNK!! Which I had done before I took it into the tire place but I think the guys there were pretty curoius about the car and knowing I had checked it previously, I drove it home and didn't think about it until the day before I put it in storage...needless to say, yeah, dead, in fact I have never seen a car so dead...but a few hours on the charger and good as new...and a good lesson learned...

 

Hey BlazeRed215,

I had to bring my SRT-6 in when it developed the much talked about transmission leak at 2500 miles. I called around to many of the Metro area Chrysler dealers to see if they had certified Crossfire mechanics. When I found that Hopkins had two (also certified for Vipers), I new that would be the place since it was so close. Made the appointment and made sure they had the parts in stock, then dropped it off. When I got there, sure enough, there were two Vipers up on the lifts. I got my car back the same day, problem fixed and great service.

I tend to do most of the routine maintenance myself, but for this and warranty work, this is where I'll be going.

Take care!

 

Was that Walser Chrysler in Hopkins?

 

It's currently -14 degrees (-31 with wind chill) here in Inver Grove. It's supposed to get EVEN COLDER tonight. Hope all you Minnesotans are staying warm out there!!!!


I'm heading outside to get some firewood...

 

Thanks for the heads up about Hopkins! It's a relief to know that there is some qualified Xfire mechanics a little closer to home.
Is everyone going as stir crazy as I am waiting for spring...Once this state thaws out we must do a spring ride!!

 

I've had my Crossfire in the garage since before Thanksgiving, giving it a loving look about every other day and dreaming of better weather.

Finally, I decided I've had enough looking and longing and I "had to" take it out! Today was a perfect day for winter cruising. The roads were dry, temps just low enough to prevent highway spray. I backed out of the garage into the street, and started to roll............

After a few city miles, I was headed east on the ramp to get on Highway 10. It purred, I guided it to 70 on the ramp and sped onto the highway. After another mile or so my side of the highway divided to four lanes with a concrete barrier separating the oncoming lanes from mine. Foot down, I'm doing 105 before I know it! YeeHa. I lightened up to a reasonable highway speed and enjoyed myself. Bobbin' 'n weavin', I cruised to I-35, to I-694, to 169, to 610 across the river and back to 10 West. One of the more enjoyable moments was when a white Grand Am zooming up on my behind looked like when I thought "I wasn't gonna have any of this...." SEE YA! Another was on 610 when a guy driving a Cadillac passed me and then slowed down to have a better look. I could almost read his mind, "What the hell is that thing?". I chuckled to myself as I curved left and he right at the 610/252 split.

A few minutes later before I eased into the garage I passed a neighbors house down the street where a lady lives who drives a Mustang. (She always drives way too fast past my house.) It was shear pleasure to catch her with her mouth open standing in her driveway with key in hand as I glided by.

The car is all buttoned up again; I got my taste that I yearned for. It'll either wait another few months for me to hit it again or maybe I'm a Crossfire junkie, and gotta have more sooner......... I rolled the odometer to just over 14,400 miles today....Hmmmm, maybe I could get in another 30 miles or so next weekend????

 

I use to live in InverGrove Heights when I was a kid. Then my family moved to Coon Rapids. Almost all of my relatives live in the Twin Cities area.

Today in So. Cal. it was too wet, raining and miserable to drive anywhere.

 

My SRT-6 has been under a car cover in the garage since Halloween and my coupe hasn't been on the road since Thanksgiving. I miss them. C'mon Spring!