For some reason, I didn’t take as many photos of the car in this state as expected. I was mainly shocked to see it look like this after so many years of looking the same. It felt like it wasn’t mine; the only indication was the dented eyelid covers with the original paint. I had waited years to see the car in this silhouette, and when it finally happened, it was like I wasn’t ready for it.
Jackie bolted all the panels on because he reckoned it the safest place for them; you can see the 1/4 looking a little crumpled in this picture, but looking past this, the beautiful silhouette of the car was finally revealed, the arches the simplistic look of the car, finally things were starting to take shape. I took the same photo four or five times from each angle, but I didn’t have much to say that night; I just stood back to admire one of my all-time favourite shapes. I love the trueno version of the hatch as I feel that’s the best balance for these cars. Don’t get me wrong, I love a Levin hatch, but something about that Trueno hatch does it for me.
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.
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.
Sometimes you have a very brief encounter with a car. I’m glad I snapped a few photos of this S15 when I had the chance. This car was quite famous in Ireland back in 2007-2008. Ray Tsang built this car using the finest of parts; this was before Chinese or replica parts were rampant amongst the car scene. Being honest, not too many people were pouring this kind of money into S15’s at the time either.
This car will always be one of the main reasons I fell in love with the AE86 and that proper Japanese car style.
I’m constantly reminding myself just how lucky we are to have such a solid car scene for such a small little country. Time and time again I’m left floored by the cars that are on this Island.
So for the people who have been following our trip to Japan so far, quite a lot of this will be car related (as you may have guessed). This holiday was planned out as a car holiday, so it’s going to be an automotive heavy story throughout.
EG Ferios were everywhere back in the early millennium especially around big cities like Dublin. They were a popular grey import back before the whole Japanese thing really kicked off.
Isn’t it nice to be able to stand back and admire an inanimate chunk of metal? It has always fascinated me how these pressed pieces of metal can evoke certain emotions in us.
I honestly feel bad for the AE111 Levin, it had a lot to live up to following the AE86 legacy along with its two older bothers the 101 and the 92. None of them were rear wheel drive but all possessed fresher better engineered hearts than the original Eighty Six.
What makes a great RPs13? The 180sx has been around for over a quarter of a century, a car that is loved by so many it is essentially a mascot of the drifting world and we still just cant get enough of these things.
An encounter with some good metal.
Two Japanese Icons side by side in perfect guise.
Its hard sometimes to define a good car. What makes a good car, everyone will have a different opinion on this? The same could be asked about the above..What makes a good Honda? The above civic is almost as close as you could get. It doesn’t need to have the most horsepower nor does it have the rarest components, the most insane engine, or the best suspension setup…