Night Drives, The Juicebox BBQ and AE86 festival. Car Life is a good life, and the culture still thrives here in Ireland.
The AE86 Trueno gets the doors and wings primed, and it’s all one colour. I’ve waited years for this!
Ireland is packed with sheds; when you think you’ve seen or heard about it all, something comes down the wire, and you must check it out. Paul Stryker and family have been in the scene for years, and Paul himself is a big Nissan guy. He asked us to look at the family collection some time ago, and it didn’t disappoint. The chicken sheds on the land were filled with cool cars like this Ex Uras R34 skyline, which survived the Ireland import boom in the 2010s.
Some photos from the ultimate distraction night, when we got a call to see some action with an NZ-imported Corona on Star Sharks. This was happening near the shed, so we couldn’t resist the offer.
Here are a few overdue photos from the first few days we took the 86 up to its new home, where the car still lives, as we begin to wrap up the paint process. This was a scenario I had anticipated since the start of the build, and honestly, I almost felt like this moment would never come. The car had a few lull periods, and I was worried it would never pull out of it. It sat as a bare shell for a little too long, and then we had a string of events that set things back. Thankfully, things came together at the start of 2022, and the progress car ramped up. It finally felt like we were on the home stretch.
I’ve wanted to shoot this car for years, and we grabbed a quick chance to take some proper up-close photos on our visit to Paul Keenan and friends some time ago. Ever since this car popped up for sale years ago on Yahoo auctions, and then landed in the UK and finally into the hands of Paul, I was always invested in and loved the character this 81 has.
It would have been rude not to pull this out of the lad’s shed for a close-up, the killer with the trip to Paul and friends is the fact they had so many good-looking cars. I could have spent the week up there shooting everything. Regardless, I loved everything about this ek4, the colour, the OEM bits the wheels, everything worked perfectly. Enjoy these few up-close photos from that day of a very well-executed EK4 Civic SIR.
In part two of our trip to Paul Keenan and friends, Paul took us to the family house. The first thing we were greeted to as we drove down the lane was his Yellow Evo 9, which he told us was the one and only yellow Evo 9 ever sold in Ireland through their family dealership back in 2006. How good is the license plate, I love the story that this was the very car he sat in as a kid and managed to find it many years later and buy it back.
A dive into our adventure to LZ Fest last year with early morning blown gearboxes.
In the quest for AE86 perfection, Jackie spends insane hours straightening the bodywork.
We unearth a hidden K20 Honda-powered Cortina build and grab a bargain 4A-GE 20valve
A massive moment for the AE86 build, the first coat of primer is applied to the Trueno!
We organise cars and coffee, check out an ITB Altezza and do some rings in a 4A-GE Daihatsu
We prep the AE86 shell for primer using rust treatment and prepare it for the first coat of Epoxy.