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.
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.
This one had been in the works for some time, Paul had always asked us up but the timing never worked out. One weekend things were in our favour and myself and Flip decided to call up and check out the lads and Paul’s personal car collection. I love how much Paul downplayed this as we really were in for a treat. Things just kept getting more interesting as the tour progressed, between the group of friends and then the collection they had back at the house, this was and still is the best collection I’ve ever visited in Ireland.
I thought this day would never come, the 86 was sitting in the shed for so long that it felt like I bit off more than I could chew, a few hours after this photoshoot the car would finally be leaving to go for paint. I decided to bring it around the corner to the place where we did the original photoshoot before the tear down, just to get one last up close and personal photo set before this look would change forever.
These photos are from the night before the car went for paint, I threw on the Longchamps to give some inspiration and threw it out into the ring arena. Not much to say here ill let the photos do most of it but this was a really good look into the overall stance and look I wanted for the car. It kills me just how much I’m obsessed with these wheels!
I love unexpected nights like this, this stuff is always going on I just never want to shed too much heat onto lads who are out letting off some steam using their pride and joy. I think I’ve been documenting various lads and groups going night drifting for a long time, it’s well planned out, and low-key, the lads are out there to let off some steam usually on a dead-end road which we have been blessed to call a local area, it’s a quick burst of skids and then its time to go.
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Nothing to see here but more AE86 photo spam with cool parts. A Power Craft manifold, something I had lusted after since 2009, it only took about 12 years to get my hands on one.
A day I thought would never come, we had been at this for over five years at the time of these photos. This was an emotional day for both of us, we had both been so emotionally invested in this car over the last few years, Barry finished the front arch and gapped the front end and rear before hitting the hills. Without Barry this car would have never happened, along with Bryan, Flip or Jackie, key players in this car’s restoration, I wouldn’t have been able to undertake such a mission. I’m forever grateful for knowing these guys and having their influence and drive throughout the build.
Here are a few photos from the night we installed the cam cover and the pulleys, a vision I had for this for a long time I was curious to see if it would work out.
I could watch Barry forever working on this car and others, working with metal has always fascinated me and it’s been an absolute blast watching him figure things out with this car and slowly remove all the misery. It’s mad to think it’s over a year since I shot these photos, the last few weeks before the car went for paint, Barry devoted his weekends to calling down and wrapping up the flared arch work on the Trueno. I divided that work into four episodes one for each arch as I loved having Barry on the videos chatting shit and showing us how he does it. I’ll leave these photos to speak for themselves, someone might appreciate how he does it, a dying craft, very much on a dying platform, a blog post!
Here are a few photos from the first finished arch. Barry worked his magic here. I mentioned a few posts ago just how nervous I was about the overall shape of the arch and how it would come together, but Im very pleased with these. The profile follows the original form from Toyota and loses the flat piece on the front, which nods to the original design.
Here is the photoset from the day we nailed the very first arch. The rest were based on this shape and made for a balanced look. I’d be lost without Barry and his talents on this.
This was a special Saturday for the 86; Barry and I had been away from the car since September, things didn’t line up, and I was keen to get him back down to finish the arches; this was all that was left on his end before the car 86 gets shipped off for paint. We figured out a few weekends, and he promised he would make it down and try to wrap this up.
Here’s a little photo dump from the last few videos from the shed. When nothing happened on the 86, we would drip across to the E36. Like many of you, having a full-time job and life leaves little room for other stuff, so cars get neglected. We wanted to spruce up the BMW, and at the same time, Josh was getting his car buttoned up. I had been editing Japan in a Van series, so I missed much of this progress.