It Coulda Been a Car Show
When it comes to light-capturing equipment, I’m pretty much all or nothing. In other words, if I’m not carrying my DSLR around, then the only camera I’m carrying is the one attached to my phone. I’ve experimented with point-and-shoot equipment over the years and have always been disappointed; the image quality of truly pocket-sized cameras doesn’t represent enough of an improvement over an iPhone to justify their existence anymore. And if I’m going to make the effort to lug around a slightly larger camera, why not go all the way and carry my DSLR?
That brings me to last weekend. My friend Andrew, proprietor of Holly Speedy Smog Test Only, held a party at his smog shop to celebrate his engagement. I knew a lot of people would be coming, and judging by the previous gatherings at the shop, I expected something interesting. So I decided to bring my DSLR and see how it went.
Unfortunately, that was pretty much all there was: Art’s M3, which you’ve seen plenty of if you follow this site. The newest addition is the OEM chrome kidney grille, but that’s about it lately.
I went inside and poked around; I noticed this sweet 1/10 scale HPI Honda Accord R/C car. In my opinion, these are the perfect types of cars on which to base R/C cars, because in real life they were already equipped with cartoonishly huge wheels, so it looks totally correct and even realistic on a scale model.
Up on the lift was the dirty S13. Maybe I’ll share some pics of the full car at another time; it’s in the midst of a mechanical refresh and hasn’t seen the road in some time. It’s a true “drift sleeper”; if it rolled down the street you’d probably just assume it was another crappy 240SX, but what you can’t normally see–the built suspension and SR20DET swap–tells otherwise. Anyway, the reason I posted this particular photo is because of the very interesting bend in the sway bar. Packaging issues…
Another car that’s normally in the shop is Andrew’s Starlet, which he’s had as long as I’ve known him. Check out the truck-status HI/LO lever connected to the hydraulic handbrake, plus the JDM right-hand-drive shifter that leans the shift pattern heavily to the right. I gave the gearbox a quick row and you know what? The car is so tiny that the offset shifter doesn’t really affect anything! And hey, it keeps your hand away from that massive handbrake.
It’s not really the prettiest thing, but then again, the patina speaks to its experience. It has the goods where it counts, and Andrew enjoys the car, which is what really matters at the end of the day.
Okay, that’s it for now. I do have more content from Sonoma in the works…hope it won’t be too stale by the time I post it…
Star Road 