Update from Nick

Nick’s a great guy, when he sent me some updated pix of his awesome wagon it was the first time I’ve been inspired to post for a little while. He’s now rocking some deep Spun Super Mesh and the car’s looking better than ever, even got a great rig shot of it, thanks Nick! I know there are plenty of anti “fake wheel” peeps out there, but the finish on these looks pretty damn good, a lot better than the finish on my similary priced Rotas, Nick’s really making me think about picking a set of these up.

OMG I’m Still Alive

First of all, apologies to you great folks who stop by here regularly, sorry about all those wasted clicks just to find out I haven’t posted anything in a while. Been working a lot of extra hours, still shopping my resume around, had some great interviews but nothing solid yet. I just haven’t had time to do much plus the general anxiety that comes with no job security has had me undone, and watching a business I put 15 years of my heart and soul into crumble around me has me depressed as hell.  Spent more time than I thought I was going to getting the red car back on the road for summer. Spent a lot of time working on a hood for the silver car but it’s finally done. I’ve got a couple friends going through divorces, been talking to a new chick, all those things that come along in life that leave you with no real time for yourself, or in this case, your blog. There are so many awesome new blogs out there I’ve kinda felt like there’s no real point to mine anymore. But I ain’t dead yet, I’m gonna try to make more time to post at least something more often, I even forgot that Hatch Life had it’s 2 year anniversary until DC pointed it out lol. But I have no excuse to not post right now, I royally screwed up my back Friday and the doctor says I have to spend the weekend laying on a heating pad and popping vicodin, which under different circumstances sounds like a perfect weekend to me lol. The good news is I finished up my hood before I became crippled, I’m trying a clear vinyl wrap on it so it hopefully, in theory, won’t rust.

I’ve been infatuated with WW2 planes and nose art since I was a kid, I wish I could take credit for the image but it’s a Rob Schwager original. It’s cool if you think it’s stupid, I’ve wanted to do it for a while now and it’s just a $50 spare hood I picked up so I can be back to stock in 4 bolts if I change my mind. Well, actually 3 bolts since I broke one. I swear I can’t touch a car without breaking at least one bolt.

Still in Shock

I can’t believe Pete is dead. I grew up on a steady diet of Type O Negative, thier music, going to concerts when they were in the area and loving every minute of it. Thier music saw me through some very difficult times in my life so they are very personal to me. For the younger guys, Peter Steele was Type O Negative’s singer/bass player and you have to put thier music into context with what they were doing and when. Thier album Bloody Kisses came out when there was really just 2 different kinds of  “metal”; you had Poison and Crue doing 3 minutes songs about chicks and partying and hardcrore bands trying to see who could play the fastest. Type O changed the game entirely doing these 10 minute dark orchestral epic songs of mortality, spiritual emptiness, and theological uncertainty with hugely layered and rich production. No band before or since has played so heavy but slow and so beautiful but dark at the same time. Pete died last week and it’s had me pretty depressed.

Nick Nguyen’s EG : Art in Motion

Nick was cool enough to get in touch with me and say he had a car he thought might be right up my alley, turns out Nick knows me pretty damn well because I absolutely love his all up in your face EG. Even though I was hooked at first sight and mikemark5 took some stunningly beautiful shots of it, I bet this is one you have to see in person to take in all the details and just stare at. At first glance you may think it’s all about the masterfully done grafitti but nothing’s been left untouched and the mod list is impressive; starting with a B18b1 block Nick added Type R pistons, GSR cam, ported and polished B16 head and backed it up with a GSR tranny with a stage 2 clutch and a Spoon chipped ECU.  And the list goes on;  Samco hoses,  Yowai  intake and cooling plate,  ceramic DC 4-1 header, Skunk2 control arms and camber kits, GodSpeed X Brace, Sparco seats, Momo wheel, hub and e-brake handle, Spoon mirrors, and of course those Auto Strada wheels. I’ve only seen one other Honda on them and as far as I know they were never originally offered in white. I’m not gonna try and do the artwork justice with my words, I’ll let you just drink it all in for yourself, try not to let God Raideen distract you too much.

I’d like to thank Nick for the priviledge of sharing his car with my readers, it’s cars like this and enthusiasts with Nick’s kind of attitude that keep me inspired, in his email he said “never give up, be original and don’t be afraid to be yourself”. AMEN!

Nick would also like to thank his, girl, his son, all his friends for thier help and support and most of all his father and God for making it all possible. Personally, I think we all need to stop and take a moment from time to time even when things are at thier worst and thank God for the blessings we all have that we tend to take for granted.

Shout outs to WEK’SOS, Stance Works, Memory Fab, and JDM Land for thier contributions to make Nick’s vision a reality.

Harlequin….Civic?

So the secret’s out, trends and styling ques traditionally associated with the VW crowd have dominated the Honda scene the last year or so, but a Harlequin? I don’t think anybody saw that one coming.

The Pig Rig

I’m sure you’re familiar with the 24 Hours of LeMons, this humble ’91 Accord is a LeMons veteran that now runs in the Chump Car World Series where it recently won it’s first 14 hour event at Rockingham. Just like in the LeMons series, the spending limit for enties is $500 including car purchase price. Safety equipment is not included in that price for obvious reasons. Cheap, reliable, and easy to make quick, it’s the epitome of why most of us got into Hondas in the first place, which pretty much makes this our poster child.

and a vid of it walking it’s way through half the field at Rockingham in one lap

Straight Dope Status EF

Love it

WagoVans Getting Well Deserved Respect

Nice Little EG

He Loves His Teggy

and so do I