Grandma’s Couch

Believe it or not, these delicate little lacy seat doilies were an OEM option for JDM EGs

Itasha EK9 CTR

Another one of those trends my inner ricer thinks is fun, but that I wouldn’t do to my own car. What’s funny is your average tuner in the states would cry rice if they saw this, but this is as JDM as it gets. At some point somebody needs to do a good in depth study of how and why everything considered rice these days like body kits, wings, neons, etc all have their roots firmly in Japan, yet the hard line JDM crowd frowns so sternly upon these things. And don’t get me started on the USDM movement in Japan where they immitate us immitating them (see USDM Jam), there’s probably a cultural studies doctoral thesis in there somewhere.

Teaser

Yoshitomo and the crew at WestHill Motorsports have blown my mind again. I received my gauge pod in just 3 days all the way from Japan! His support and generosity has been completely overwhelming. Duke and I are going to try to get it all installed tomorrow night after work, it’s pretty straight forward but he is much better at wiring than me. I’ll try to get pictures up tomorrow night as long as we don’t run too late with the project, for now I’d like to share the pictures Yoshitomo has sent me over the past week of it’s construction. These don’t come off some big production line, they’re hand made in house!

It starts with the basic mold, you can purchase them like this, finished, or with a complete gauge set up already installed and wired with all the senders and fittings you’ll need to install. Craftsmanship!

test fitting

finishing

ready for paint

ARRIVAL!!!

Loaded up with oil pressure, oil temperature, and coolant temperature meters from Auto Gauge, beautiful finish

fully wired, prepped and ready to go, the time and skill that goes into these is amazing

everything little thing you’ll need to get up and running, what a time saver

I leave work tomorrow at 6 so I might be a little too tired to get the install posted when I get home from Duke’s, so sorry in advance if there’s nothing new for you here tomorrow.

bB Stickers are Here

Thanks entirely to the incredible generosity of Hatch Life VIP Bosozoku James bB Hearts are now available. Like all other Melissa Project stickers $5ea or 2 for $9 shipped anywhere in the world. Thank you from the bottom of heart to James and the crew at ClubxB, as well as Sal, Terrie, Jonathan, Ryan, Andrew, and David for their recent generosity. With so many import forums full of hate and trash talking you guys have not only played a huge roll in helping Melissa get the medical help she needs but also in showing me that there are some truly selfless, caring individuals in this crazy hobby/obsession of ours.

xB Heart Stickers are Ready

They came out nice, big thanks go out to James and the gang at ClubxB! Shipping one to Andrew today!

Wazzup Scion!

After James‘ generous offer to donate to The Melissa Project, I went and had some xB stickers cut today. If you’re new to The Melissa Project the long version is right here. The short version is my dear friend Melissa has cancer, no insurance, and outrageous medical bills and 100% of the proceeds from these stickers (not just profits) goes to helping her with them. The xB stickers are just like the Honda ones, 4 inches by 4 inches die cut from red 3mil outdoor calendared vinyl and will look like this when applied

I’m picking up 20 xB ones Friday, let’s blow them out! $5ea shipped or 2 for $9 shipped. They won’t be all lumpy and low res like the sample below, that’s just my futile attempt to keep them from getting knocked off.

Your support is so greatly appreciated I don’t really have the words to express it, it’s just a small dent in her bills, but an overwhelming and priceless boost to her spirit in this situation that I wouldn’t wish upon anyone. As always you can send inquiries to stickerdonations@yahoo.com or leave a comment and I will contact you.

Amazing Hatchies @ JDMrides.ca Meet

And some killer photography from TWOLITRE media

J’s Gathering Spirit of Japantown Festival

Thank You!

From the bottom of my heart guys, thank you for your generous support. Special thanks to Yoshitomo from Westhill Motorsports, Manny, Duke, Karsten, and Slappy. I have no idea why but Hatch Life gets about 2000 views a day, my goal was if just 1% bought a sticker, 20 orders, we could pay for just one doctor visit, or one prescription, and we could give Melissa the hope that’s so hard to come by right now and show her that she doesn’t have to go through this alone. Thanks to you we met that goal in just 2 days! That’s community, that’s family, that is what makes cars such a special hobby….the people! You’re the best and if there is ever anything I can do to for you just give me a shout.

There will be a permanent link to the sticker post in the Blog Roll over there titled Buy Stickers, and I will probably bring the original post back up to the top of the front page from time to time, not trying to ram it down your throats, just to keep the exposure going. I still have plenty left to sell, and in the future I think I’ll add a B16 and DC version, maybe even S13 and S14 if there’s interest. There was also a request for a Hatch Life sticker which blew my mind. There will be a very very limited initial run to test the waters, I sketched something up real quick tonight but they’re at least a week away yet. You guys are the best, thank you so very very much!

Make a Difference

There’s a girl near and dear to my heart named Melissa. She’s one of those rare people who feels the injustices of the world to her core and fights everyday to right them. She lights up any room she’s in, she’s smart, funny, tenacious, and has the most beautiful blue eyes you’ve ever seen. Last month she was diagnosed with cancer in one of her lower vertebrae, the tumor is pushing on her spinal column and generally making her life miserable. When her insurance company got wind of her diagnosis they straight dumped her and she is now uninsurable because it is a pre-existing condition. She is a single mother of two grade school aged kids and has no family to lean on. As you can imagine her medical bills are quickly becoming outrageous. To help her from now on I will be selling some stickers I came up with here on Hatch Life. I’ve already done an initial run of 50, they were professionally printed by Next Day Signs here in Columbus on 3mil outdoor calendared vinyl and are 4 inches by 4 inches. They will be $5 each shipped or 2 for $9 shipped in the US. 100% of the money -NOT JUST THE PROFITS- will go to Melissa’s medical bills, the production and mailing cost are out of my pocket.
For right now there are three designs to choose from as shown below, they are red and diecut so what is black in the sample images will be red and where there is white there will be no material when applied. If this takes off I’ll be adding more chassis and engine codes and other colors.

They are of course inspired by the classic Hakosuka Heart Skyline stickers.

I threw one on the red car so you can get a feel for them.

I’ve checked around at the usual shocker sticker places and as far as I can tell no one else offers anything quite like these and I pray to God no one knocks them off, I’m not promoting my lame blog or trying to cash in on some “JDM” trend, I’m trying to help give someone the miracle she needs and deserves. Part of me thinks this won’t make a dent, but all of me thinks I can not just do nothing. Any word of mouth advertising you can help me out with would be appreciated more than you know. If you are interested in helping a good cause or just want a new sticker to rock send all inquiries to the address below, Paypal, money orders, and checks are all good. Thank you

stickerdonations@yahoo.com