i’m glad i didn’t

20 01 2012

ever see something you were considering on someone’s car and realize how glad you are that you didn’t end up doing it yourself?

20120120-133715.jpg

the polished hood look popped up on clubroadster.net a couple times and i was pretty into it at the time. i figured it would look great with the olive drab job on the other panels. seeing it in person made me glad i never devoted the time and effort into removing the paint and hand-scrubbing it to almost-mirror. i’d rather be driving it.

20120120-135550.jpg

20120120-135613.jpg

20120120-135644.jpg

here’s where it gets controversial. i feel compelled to add a disclaimer before i get into this one: in no way am i attempting to say that these cars are bad or calling their owners’ taste into question, this is just personal preference. having gotten that out of the way, FUCK! that’s one way to drop a few thousand bucks on your car without enhancing performance…

by my estimation, this guy has more into his miata than i have spent on any car purchase in my life. the GV rear lights alone come close to $1,000.

the interior looks like the results of a drunken late-night credit card shopping spree at Rev9AutoSports.com (a lot of miata owners know what i’m talking about, even if 99% of us don’t have the cajones to click “submit” on the checkout page). I spot so many dress-up parts that range from deceptively subtle all the way to unmistakably baller that i am having trouble keeping count.

this is definitely a divergent path from the one i’ve chosen for my car. seeing all this up close and personal makes me glad i spent my money elsewhere. no doubt the owner enjoys his driving experience – and i hope this is a daily driven car – but quite honestly i feel the spirit of my miata begging me to rip all of the unnecessary stuff out of it so i can pare it down to a barebones machine with the sole purpose of going faster.

at one point i had dreams of a quick little bastard with enough style to make snobby euro owners think twice about turning up their noses, now i just want the former. i suppose it could have something to do with my decision to switch to a heavy sedan with big power goals for my daily ride.

in any case, a couple years ago I would have killed to have this exact roadster, sans-bodystripe maybe. red on white? check. custom headlights? yep. trick interior? triple check. this car could be and probably is the miata equivalent of a supermodel. but i like chicks that eat off the dollar menu and send nudes on the first date (because it’s classier than putting out but you know it’s a sure thing anyway). and from the condition my car was in at this show, you can tell i don’t spend hours maintaining the interior and exterior.





three inches?

4 01 2012

20120104-134204.jpg

20120104-134310.jpg





junkyard x7 with bonus

7 11 2011

20111107-084904.jpg

20111107-084911.jpg

20111107-084925.jpg





jawbone

27 10 2011

20111026-194844.jpg





sideways to SEMA fort worth

26 10 2011

tonight we met up with chelsea denofa on his way through texas. in-n-out burger was accommodating enough for the smallish group that showed up, all told about 15 cars. not bad for a tuesday night. what else have you got to do?

20111025-223254.jpg

chelsea’s car drew attention from attendees and onlookers alike.

20111025-223308.jpg

the no-frills, no-windows, straight through exhaust had everyone asking the same question, but the gang was more than happy to share their story as many times as they had to.

20111025-223326.jpg





morning drive

25 10 2011

boring vid, just showing my cluster working and some fog this morning on the way to work. yes i need a camera mount.





junkyard trip

24 10 2011

saw this right off the bat:

20111023-204355.jpg

1983 jaguar xj6.

20111023-204440.jpg

then i saw this:

20111023-204641.jpg

i was really dumb and forgot to go back and look for which engine it actually was.





fb convertible spied

17 10 2011

saw this getting gas over the weekend. the only one i have ever seen in person, i did not know they even existed until saturday. there are apparently a few coachbuilders including pacific avatar, mariah, and global coach that did conversions although this doesn’t appear to be from any of them. the b-pillar bases remain as nubs attached with a cross brace to stiffen up the chassis. the hatch area is covered with a tan tonneau but i didn’t see any sign of a soft top or a way to secure a hard top. i couldn’t find any info so i am wanting to call this a backyard mechanic job.

20111017-101158.jpg

20111017-101206.jpg

20111017-101213.jpg

20111017-101222.jpg





cleaner

17 10 2011

20111017-080736.jpg





jzx81 mark ii roof spoiler fitted…

26 09 2011

… and for sale!

20110926-083808.jpg

20110926-090109.jpg








Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.