Beater and The Beast
It’s funny how perspectives change. When Art only had one car, his 135i, it was the do-everything, all-around machine. On one hand, it was a comfy cruiser; the stock engine and interior lending themselves well to a life of shuttling its owner up and down the peninsula every day. However, the muffler delete, wide wheels and tires, and lower, stiffer, pillowball-mounted suspension give a hint of how its driven when the chance arises: hard.
In comparison with the E30, the E82 is certainly much faster–but it hardly feels that way. It’s funny that just last month the constantly clunking pillow-ball mounts were becoming unbearable and the exhaust actually seemed loud. But now? It seems like a gentleman’s chariot.
And that’s all good news here, because the quiet, smooth, refined, and effortlessly quick 135i simultaneously shows not only how far BMW has come with their small coupés, but how much has been lost.
The M3 is much more raw, direct, and visceral. When you’re behind the wheel, you always feel like you’re driving a car, and not just shuttling yourself from one place to another in a bubble. As manufacturers continue to tailor new cars to reflect modern conditions and end-user desires, they become more isolated from their surroundings.
Why is there a GoPro on the bumper? Well, that low-pressure zone is the best place to record exhaust notes, because you get almost zero wind noise. I know turbos have their place in the modern world of torque demands and emissions standards, but I’m a little disappointed with the modern proliferation of forced induction because there’s nothing like a naturally aspirated exhaust note. Turn up your speakers and enjoy!
Picture Me Rolling
Not much has really changed with Pepe’s W123, although he did swap on the wheels from his 300D. He drove up to the city yesterday and I managed to grab a couple shots on the way.
It kind of bounces down the road like a lowrider, but that’s just a couple dampers away from being fixed. Other than that, it certainly gives off a stately aura, eh?
See you next time.
Make It Your Own: Art’s M3
The first time I posted about this M3, Art had just picked it up. Although–or maybe even because–there were several details on the car that were going to be changed as soon as possible, I really wanted to get some snaps of it to show where it came from. After all, you get a much better appreciation for where something is if you know where it came from and how it got here.
Since I originally posted about this car, it’s gone through a few changes that have made a huge impact. I consider this the baseline–the major problems have been ironed out, and now it’s time for tweaks and improvements.
First of all, the headlight tint has been removed, and now the Euro headlights and grille stand out much more.
All the window tint has also been removed, but the major change is right there: wheels, tires, and ride height. The OEM Style 42 wheels were swapped for a set of 16×8 BBS RX, which were promptly wrapped in a brand new set of Falken Azenis RT615K. Furthermore, the car was originally riding on the bumpstops, which made for a predictably horrible ride. Simply raising the car up to a proper height and getting it aligned resulted in an incredible improvement in ride quality and handling dynamics. So what do you do when your car is, quite literally, ready to roll?
You take it down some sexy Northern California backroads, of course.
Euro headlights and grille plus the Evo II lip are in contrast with the funky US reflector bumper. Safety first!
In any case, it’s sexy. E30’s are handsome cars, but the M3 takes it to another level with the quintessentially 80’s box flares.
Not sure why, but that wooden bridge kinda gave me a pirate ship vibe.
However, there’s nothing reminding you of a wooden ship in this bay. They say that Hondas are like Legos for the way that parts can be swapped among different models, but this shows the Lego side of BMW: that M50 from an E36 looks it was in this chassis when it rolled off the assembly line. Conceptually, it’s an interesting swap; the straight-six 2.5L M50 has about the same power as the original 2.3L four-pot S14, but more torque. And let me tell you, with the short-geared US-spec E30 M3 rear end, hitting the mechanically-limited top speed is not at all a challenge…
Spent gasses are expelled through this neat looking custom exhaust.
These 16×8 BBS RX were a great find. Not only are they just the right size, but they give off a nice period-correct vibe. Furthermore, they were recently powder-coated and have hardly any miles since then–score!
Similar to the front end with its beefy fenders and bumper, here’s a view of purely M3-specific panels joined together in a holy union of 80’s panel gaps. The only body panel that the M3 shares with a regular E30 is the hood. Even the windshields are different!
What a glorious car. It’s amazing the range of wheel sizes that work on an E30 M3–the stock 15’s look good, and by 1992 the DTM racecars were running 18×9 fronts and 19×9 rears and looked great doing it. Smaller wheels are usually my preference, so 16″ is a nice happy medium that not only looks good, but importantly in this case just barely clears the E36 M3 brakes! The only bummer about 16″ wheels is the relative dearth of high-performance tire choices.
Art: it’s for the cats. Stay tuned for more M3 updates!
NorCal GT-R Meet at Boardwalk Nissan – 7/20/14
I’ve always thought it was pretty bold for Nissan to keep their halo car badged as a Nissan here on American shores; when people spend a lot of money on a car here, they want that fancy badge cachet to go with it. And decades after the Japanese graduated to making excellent cars, there unfortunately remains a stigma on anything from the Land of the Rising Sun. With a brand-new GT-R now with a sticker price into six figures, the question is often posed: Who would spend that much on a Nissan? Well…these guys.
Showing up early pays dividends, because you can watch everyone roll in.
It was definitely interesting seeing how the more slammed cars tackled the entrance to the parking lot. For most cars, it’s a very shallow slope that presents no problem, but there’s always something interesting about watching lowered cars with big lips struggle to drive up and down things.
It was fairly warm, with an air temperature in the low 80’s. But as the day went on, the tarmac just got hotter and hotter; I have no idea how the security guys were able to handle themselves.
I’m not exactly sure why, but instead of being directed into the spectator lot in the back, I was chosen to park up front with a pink Jeep and a BRZ. Interesting. It was actually fantastic because I just left everything out in my car in plain sight. I know that you shouldn’t have to worry about your stuff at a meet, but sadly I usually feel I have to.
Since the GT-R has staggered wheels from the factory, the majority of owners will tend to keep it that way.
Nice selection of carbon fiber pieces on the backside of this thing.
Detail of the carbon fiber duckbill trunk lid.
Color is unfortunately not something you see much in the GT-R world. Of course, Nissan doesn’t exactly offer the most appetizing color palette–in 2012 they finally added a beautiful blue to augment the existing white, black, grey, silver and two shades of red.
Wait, what’s that? Yeah, they let a 370Z park amongst the GT-Rs…it’s amazing the size discrepancy between Godzilla and the humble Z-car.
There was a DJ spinning tunes, and I think that dude may have been trying to photo-bomb my pic…
The fighter-plane look seems to be on the rise. But why strictly for a nostalgic era? I want to paint my car’s tail like an F-35!
I love HRE wheels; the vast majority of their line is very tasteful and of course, they produce a high quality product. But yo, HRE…what’s with the big rims? For example, I would love to see the Vintage Series in anything smaller than the current minimum of 18″…
Everyone can agree that the Martini livery is classic, but not everyone can agree on its execution. It doesn’t always go well, you know–check out the Porsche 991 Martini Edition for proof. But I don’t think it’s exclusively suited to vintage stuff, because the new Williams Formula One car looks resplendent in its matte white finish and tricolor stripes, for example.
This GT-R? It grabbed me right away and drew me in. I didn’t ask what was up with the Diet Pepsi–maybe it’s like how Nakai-san is famous for Stella Artois? But I did confirm that the whole livery was custom-designed for this car.
The owner told me his next car is a McLaren 650S–which will feature a Gulf livery. Very cool. Although if it were my McLaren to wrap, I think I’d have a 12C in a Sunoco livery, echoing the Roger Penske McLaren M6A that Mark Donohue raced in Can-Am.
Wrap Bros. I’m really starting to warm up to vinyl wrapping, because they seem to be ever-increasing in quality, both in the material used and the wrapping style itself.
This right here is more up my alley. A bit of wheel gap and a lot of tire.
Sexy wheels, sexy brakes.
A lot of people think that “stance” and “flush” are nasty words to describe a car, but I would argue it doesn’t always have to be this way. This GT-R has great stance on its hellaflush, brake-dusted wheels.
Three identical cars, right? Well, no. Which front bumper do you like? What about front lip? Clear or amber turn signals? At single-model meets, tiny individual choices begin to stand out.
I always remark that black cars are rolling mirrors for their propensity to reflect, well, everything, but this chrome-wrapped GT-R has every black car nailed in that department. Try taking a picture of that thing without yourself showing in it! If vampires were real, they would be highly prized in the world of photography.
You know what, I’m really glad this guy parked on the end; I love bright silver wheels. But these days, darker wheels are definitely in fashion; just scroll up and down this post for proof. Doesn’t matter what color your car is–white and silver are out, black and gunmetal are in. This is slightly a downer for me, because I think silver gives a really fresh, athletic look. Even though this car is silver (like many other cars at the meet) and stock (like many other cars at the meet) it still caught my eye all day, every single time I walked past.
Speaking of unique wheel colors, what about bronze? These HRE’s look great and the car sits damn near perfectly on them.
Okay, the wheels aren’t pushed out absolutely as far as they could be, and the car could be lower. But for some reason, that’s the allure for me: it looks like you could jump into this thing and wail on it all day over any road. Remember, there are plenty of sexy roads out here, but it seems like they haven’t been paved in decades (which is pretty much true).
There’s a completely stock GT-R interior for you.
Texas, eh? I wonder what kind of power this guy is packing.
Another couple shots of the Martini wrapped car.
The new headlights are pretty interesting.
On a side note, the view out of the front of those houses is kind of strange.
I need that window banner for my car!
There was a little lineup of cars with their hoods popped. I didn’t see much going on there, but maybe that’s the beauty of the setups?
I love this color. Not sure about the factory red engine cover though.
Rocket Bunny stuff is all over the internet to the point where you’d almost think that you see them on every corner. Well, I’ve only seen a couple Rocket Bunny 86’s in the wild, and this was my first time seeing the GT-R kit.
Right when I pressed the shutter, this little dude took off. I wish I could cite my impeccable timing, but it was actually pure luck…
I dig how the new TE37’s have engraved logos in the spokes, as well as that machined ring around the lip.
Don’t forget about fuel!
Although it wears a Rocket Bunny kit, it bears the signature of Nakai-san of RWB on the dashboard.
Not too many people showed up in something other than a GT-R, but this Mustang was one of the coolest.
More spectator parking.
Black and white and grey all over.
Yet another view of the Martini GT-R.
Interesting green badges front and rear on this one.
If you saw my other post on the subject, you’ll know that I absolutely love wide, slow pans like this.
Another interloper! Again, another sports car that the GT-R absolutely dwarfs…
Speaking of getting dwarfed, what about this bro dozer??
Brendan got some shots on his GoPro as he flew it around the show…really looking forward to seeing the video.
One more of the chrome wrap…there were dudes hanging around it all day so I couldn’t get an isolated shot.
Thought this looked pretty good in front of this very “USDM” housing.
Same cars but with another white one in the mix…
They say that BBS LM’s look good on everything…this set on Pilot Super Sports further proves the point.
Another CF duckbill-equipped black one.
Fancy tips galore!
You might be familiar with this car from the internet…I first saw this car on Instagram actually.
I wonder if this guy will ever rock a license plate, haha.
Lot of smaller aero (like the duckbill trunks) but there weren’t many big spoilers like this one.
Kind of a bummer that reflective vinyl seems to have inherent “orange peel”…I hope they eventually develop a reflective solution that’s as smooth as paint.
Aesthetically, those are some of my favorite tires of all time: Toyo R888. I just love those square shoulders and the aggressive tread pattern.
Contrast that with Michelin Pilot Super Sports which, while being an excellent tire in their own right, are quite a bit uglier with their rounder sidewalls and all-season looking tread pattern.
Lots of OVERTAKE parts. Man, I love that brand name.
Weave lines…
Another interesting looking tire, the Nitto INVO.
I know the new headlights are the hot thing, but I like the older black-housing lights a lot.
No idea why this widebody dude was parked to the side…nor why he has a huge body kit and sunken ship wheel fitment. All I know is that it looks ready for a top-speed highway run.
Nice front lip there. Also, this demonstrates that sometimes it is simply impossible to match body panels that are different materials. Look how the bumper is the same shade, but the flake reflects differently…
Now THIS was a treat! Amongst all the OEM monochrome shades in attendance, this was a breath of fresh air.
Don’t mind the A/C condensation…
A bit more Rocket Bunny action since this was one of my other favorite cars at the meet.
Super clean and simple.
Okay, the Z doesn’t look so small here.
At this point I just went around grabbing some random snaps as people started to head out.
I made my way to a good vantage point to shoot people leaving…but first, some panning practice.
Gotta warm up, ya know? Seriously…I always have to do some warm-up pans before I nail any.
After shooting a few cars on the way out, Brendan asked me if I wanted to go on the roof of the four story building overlooking the meet. Hell yeah! Every single spot in the lot was taken up at one point, hence why some cars had to start parallel parking up at shop at the top of the frame.
White, but a little different…
Yes! I managed to capture the silver on silver one!
Nice little detail, took me a few times looking at this car to pick up on it.
One last one of the Rocket Bunny, because even though the internet seems to be flooded with RB kits, you hardly ever them in real life. I’ve been a TRA Kyoto fan for years now, way before they blew up on the internet, and I’m glad to see that none of the coolness factor has been lost…
Normally I try to keep a positive tone–there’s already way too much “hate” flying around the internet these days–but I gotta pause here for a WTF moment. This brand new GT-R has a $117k sticker and features seat material that feels like my grandma’s throw pillows. Seriously, that velour seems like it would be more at home in a 1981 Chrysler Cordoba, NOT a six-figure flagship supercar. Hell, my $25k Scion’s seats are wrapped in way nicer material. And that ricey blue? C’mon Nissan…
At the very, very end of the meet this 300ZX on CCW’s rolled up. I’ve touched on this a couple times already in this post, it’s a valid point: almost everything that seems “played out” on the internet these days is actually very rarely seen in real life.
Interestingly, the interior was absolutely immaculate–it looked like a time capsule.
Well, that’ll do it for my coverage of the GT-R meet. Hopefully you saw something you liked, even if you’re not exactly a GT-R fan.
Star Road 
