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MCLB treated to auto event

• Cars, beers, brats — and a lemur — are the highlights of an event at Albany’s military base.

Barbara Rivera Holmes

MCLB-ALBANY — Albany Marines got a peek at high-end custom cars Thursday, all without leaving the perimeter of their military installation.

Rather than traveling to a car show, the 2008 Military DUB Magazine Tour arrived at Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany with two of its custom cars, one of which is worth about $750,000, said DUB’s Tim Slayton of Los Angeles.

“We came out to support our Marines ... and brought out the cars (for them) to see what we do,” said Slayton, who also was promoting DUB’s weekend show in Atlanta.

Fashioned from a BMW 645, DUB’s “Sinister 6,” which took nearly seven months to build, looks nothing like the luxury sedan that it once was.

The charcoal-colored vehicle, which Slayton said wasn’t built to travel at high speeds, is “steered” using a joystick. The driver’s seat, which faces to the side when the car “door” is open and revolves to the front when closed, is more like a relaxed and open one-person cockpit than a traditional driver’s seat area.

“It’s real cool,” said Corp. Angel Pizarro of the car show. “I love cars ... especially customized cars.”

Pizarro, who enjoys customizing cars and often is searching for new ideas, has traveled to a few shows, but all have been about four hours driving distance from Albany, he said.

Also tagging along for the event were Busch Gardens and Sea World, both of which are part of the Busch Entertainment Corp., as well as Budweiser, a product of Anheuser-Busch Inc.

While Busch Gardens arrived in Albany with three wild animals in tow — Bakari, a black-and-white ruffed lemur from Madagascar; Shrimp, a 3-year-old North American alligator; and a three-banded South American armadillo that when fully rolled into a ball resembles a cantaloupe — Budweiser offered Marines and their families food and drinks.

“Free beer and free bratwurst,” said Pizarro, “you can’t go wrong.”

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