The past weekend was one of greater length than would seem. Saturday July 10th was Formula D here in Monroe, Washington with HellaFlush hosting the car show. After waiting quite a while for the day to come, the day seemed to be much longer than expected.
As required, I had to submit my car for evaluation before it was allowed in. Knowing Hella Flush and the current import style, I had my doubts as to whether it would be accepted. After talking with Shawn McManus shortly after submitting my car, I was less worried and more curious about if it would still be accepted. Shawn McManus is a photographer who works with the shop I frequent, U.P. Garage, amongst other shops. He also happened to know some of the guys at Fat Lace/Hella Flush. He was correct that at the end of the day, they were all automotive enthusiasts.
My car was reviewed and accepted for the One of One show, which I was quite thrilled with. It had been quite a while since I was last at a car show, and with my S12 finished as of late, I was ready to hit the show scene. What better way to start out the limited show season up here in Washington than with probably the most publicized one.
Getting up early to avoid traffic and construction, I made it to the track with time to spare. Like all shows, it is a hurry and wait situation. Slowly the line of cars shuffled in and were set up. It was obvious that the Hella Flush staff was grouping the cars by likeness. Mine being an odd one out, it ended up more towards the back with the other miscellaneous cars.
I went about prepping my car when one of the Hella Flush staff walking over. We started talking for he recognized my car as an S12 and mentioned that his friend in the Bay area had one. I immediately knew he was talking about Henry Nguyen and told him I had been talking with Henry for a bit and was just online with him the night before.
We continued to talk random stuff and observations about cars, the car scene up here in Washington, the laws/regulations of Washington compared to California, and the upcoming JCCS show. Towards the end of it, he looked at my engine bay and showed interest. I asked him if I could possibly be able to move up the show at the end of the line where the other GTRs were. he looked over and said that it would be a great idea. Ten minutes later, he had the spot ready for me to park my S12 at the end of the line of GTRs showcasing the Godzilla of Nissan motors. As Henry had mentioned the night before, Kenny was a really cool and chill guy who was enthusiastic about what it is we all do.
Throughout the day, my S12 garnered much attention. It was the best turnout the car had ever received. Showcasing the S12, it inspired several people to build their S12s they seemed a loss for and a few were caught to be saying that they would seriously consider finding one to toy with. There were still a few who thought it was an AE86 and even one thought it was a Celica-Supra. Despite the mistaken identity, the majority of those attending knew it was an S12. Then there were those who did not have the slightest clue. It was obvious by the way they looked at the car. They looked over the entire car perplexed and each one walked to the rear of hte car in an attempt to find the traditional name badge that had been removed when swapping to the Euro taillight setup. Many of those who were confused were only more so by way of the Australian plates the car hosted. Those who asked to what the car was were given a brief summary of the S12 and its place amongst the other better known Silvias.
Despite the fact that I own the car, I made sure to give credit to U.P. Garage as it was their craftsmanship that shaped the swap from beyond just a concept in my head. While the styling and interior were of my past work, if it wasn't for Doug, Erik, and Randy collaborating with me, it would never have been the final product it is today.
At the end of the show as everyone filtered out to watch the final 16 drifters, I ran into a Brit who had moved over recently. He was walking the show when he saw my S12 and made a bee-line for it. He knew instantly that it was a Silvia and told me that he had a soft spot for it since many years past. Apparently when he was quite young, his mum owned one and used to drive it quite often. We talked about England, Australia and the import scene in both countries compared to that of the States. Not surprising, he was also the only one who seemed to fully appreciate the Euro spec. headlamp guards and the Euro spec. taillight setup.
With the success of being able to showcase the S12, that was only half the thrill of the day. It was not until after the drift competition in the pits when the fun truly start. It can be argued that the true fun of the entire event was back in the pits. I for one who have been in the pits a few years back can agree with this. There is nothing more exciting than watching the car be prepped, fixed, go out and return from runs. During the aftermath of the event, I was able to talk with Adam Burgess, who I met earlier that day along with his wife Sarah. Adam and Sarah are Australians how moved to California a couple of years ago to pursue their goals. What makes him so interesting is not what he appears to know, but the breadth of his knowledge as well as whom he knows. Adam Burgess was the lead tech for the 4-rotor BMI/Snap-On RX8. While talking with him, Randy found out that not only does Adam Burgess knows heaps about Nissans, but his wife Sarah fancied S12s a fair amount and was keen on taking a gander at mine
Adam and Sarah Burgess/BMI Racing
With much of the spectators gone and those left mainly who took part in the event, I drove my car back to the pits. There Adam Burgess had a chance to talk more with Randy about the technicalities of the RB comparing both mine and Nikolay's swaps in addition to small tricks that can be done to increase the potential, performance, and reliability of the RB. Not just that, he knew an extensive amount of information on the FJ specifically. That was invaluable in addition to the contacts he gave us for when we finally build Randy's FJ20 for his hatch S12; one such individual he mentioned of specific importance was Mark Ashford. It was one of the most intelligent and educating conversations I have ever had with a technician. It did not just focus on RBs, FJs, S13s and S12s, but ranged to 4G63s, SRs, AE86s, DR30s, the politics of Formula D, Domestics and their efforts to pursue the advantage Imports have, Rhys Millen, and Ben D. Adam Burgess had a shop in Brisbane, Australia for a while and at the time knew well of Ben D. That was very much part of what prompted his interest in talking with Randy and I about our S12s. Not only giving us some interesting commentary on both Ben D. and his FJ S12, there has been a bit of history between him and Rhys, all of which greatly increased my respect for both, especially Rhys. Towards the end, I was able to grab a moment of Rhys Millen's time, who was willing to banter with Randy and I in addition to Adam Burgess.
As Rhys walked over, Adam joked:
"Hey Rhys, how's it going mate?"
"Not bad mate, you?"
"Fine. You signing too? You should know what this is. You're from New Zealand after all."
"yeah, been a while." a short laugh, "Where would you like it again?"
In the end, I was able to obtain both the signatures of Adam Burgess and Rhys Millen on the underside of my bonnet along with some of the best conversations I've had concerning the automotive world. I was extremely thankful to the two of them and look forward to having more chances to talk with Adam Burgess in the future.
However, it was not just about my car and the S12 chassis. I was there representing a few other organizations as well. S12Silvia.com, Olympia Nissan, and U.P. Garage were the other groups I was pitching for in an effort to hold up my part of the sponsorship each had offered me after seeing the efforts I had put towards my car. Although last on the list, the day belonged to U.P. Garage and its owner Doug Smith. One of Doug's sponsored cars driven by Nikolay Konstantinov participated in the actual drift competition. With Nikolay's skill and Randy's/U.P. Garage's work on the S13 with Type X aero, Nikolay succeeded in pulling off what no one had done in the Pacific Northwest before: qualify for the Formula D comopetition and then proceeded to the top 16. A huge congratulations to Nikolay and U.P. Garage for all their hard work. As I drove my S12 to the pits, people were congratulating me on my S12 and U.P. Garage's success on the track. It was made apparent by hearing the spectators as I drove by that they recognized my car as U.P. Garage's show car and of top notch quality along side Nikolay's S13 as U.P. Garage's drift car, also of exceptional quality. I felt really happy for Doug. He has been at this for quite a while and with all his hard work, in addition to both Erik and Randy, it seems to be paying off.
For more information and pictures, visit the following sites:
S12Silvia.com blog
S12Silvia.com Community: Discussion thread and pics of the show
Well the first thing that happened in August of note was the Nissan of Olympia's Nissan & Mitsubishi Meet, on the 14th. Put on by Russell Moore, manager of Internet sales at Olympia of Nissan, and sponsored in part, amongst others, by S12Silvia.com. The turn out was much larger than expected and a total success. As part of my job as the representative of S12Silvia.com, I assisted after the meet where it was possible, donated a replica S12 Silvia bonnet badge, and donated a set lanyards to those who dropped by. The lanyards were the first out of the three batches to go, which was a good sign. The bonnet badge was won by a customer of U.P. Garage of all the people. He knew Randy, the tech. whom I've worked on for years on my S12, and was willing to trade the S12 bonnet badge for some random S13 parts that Randy had. In the end, it worked out great for the both of them. I walked away with a Nismo SR thermostat, which I can trade for an RB thermostat, and a Nismo key fob. Afterwards, I went out with U.P. Garage to the nearby Red Robin where the shop and all those associated do their traditional after event meal. Driving home was an event as I followed Randy and Doug. Doug knew that the freeway would be packed, so he took many back roads that were quite fun to drive though, seeing that much of it was through windy roads int he forests.
A week later on August 22nd I attended the Infiniti of Fife car show/meet. The showing was a bit poor, mostly due to the weather since it appeared that rain was virtually imminent. Thankfully, it did not rain at all. Despite the eighteen cars that showed and a plethora of trophies... something like nine total, it was pretty biased. I was not aware of the extent until after when I got back to U.P. Garage. There was a guy by the name of Jason, whom I had heard about before, in attendance. He brought out his show S13 that the only time it was ever seen was at show. I knew of the car for it was swapped years ago by Dave&Cody. Dave and Cody had lost their business years ago for attempting to import too much and unregulated to US laws and such. Those were very much back in the Pit Stop days... four years ago. Anyway, Jason had been featured in a magazine, which turns out that he carries it in his S13's glove box at all times. Jason's presentation was pretty dang good and of a higher caliber of mine. I knew he would win, which he did take home three trophies.
Now to explain a little on the bias judging. The judges by way were those who were employed by Infiniti of Fife, and the head judge was Shae. From what I was told, the year before, Doug had annoyed those from Infiniti with his line of cars and took home a fair amount of the trophies with his shop's car. In the past year, Doug changed his supplier from Infiniti of Fife to Nissan of Olympia partially due to the price and also due to the availability of parts in stock. The parts department of Infiniti made it clear to Doug that they were not happy with the turn of events. To make matters worse, Shae used to work at Nissan of Olympia. When Russell Moore was hired at Nissan of Olympia, he moved parts like no one's business; stock that was supposedly unable to be moved while Shae was in charge. Seeing that Russell was doing a better job put Shae on edge. Shortly after, Shae left Nissan of Olympia and was hired at Infiniti of Fife. Since then, Shae has not been on good terms with Olympia nor Russell while constantly complaining to Russell to raise his prices to match Infiniti's. In addition, he has made several attempts in obtaining Doug's business back and while I was at the show, Shae went out of his way to tell me all about the RB parts that were available and told me to contact him if I ever needed anything. Well knowing the position of the Infiniti dealership, I had two strikes against me: one for having U.P. Garage decals over my car and another for sporting Nissanparts.cc decals as well - Nissan of Olympia's parts website ran by Russell.
After the Infiniti of Fife Show, I ended up heading to Ruston way and Point Defiance with some other mates. Mike from U.P. Garage showed up in Doug's white R32 GTR, Manuel who came down to check things out, Raj came over from the M Meet in his red 97 M3, and Jason (previously mentioned). Driving down the 509 bridge from the Port of Tacoma to Downtown Tacoma, I decided to see what I could get out of my car. I took off leaving Raj in his M3 behind easy enough. Driving along Ruston way, there were several heads turned, especially when the tuners there recognized the R32. Due to the poor parking, we ended up hitting up Point Defiance where we settled on a parking spot near Fort Nisqually.
The event was not just aimed at a car show competition but included drag races and a drift competition. The venue opened at 9am and continued until 5pm. A very long day indeed. For those participating, 6-7am was arrival time; show cars, drift cars, and drag cars alike. With the exception of drag racers, all entrants had to be here at such an excruciating early hour. I for one am still surprised that I somehow made it through the day seeing that I woke up at 5:15am and arrived shortly after 6am. The best thing car shows are known for, hurry up and wait. So that's what I did early am in the morning when I'm never up. Waited until a bit after 7am until anyone was admitted. If I had known that, I would have slept in a bit longer, but at least they recognized that I was early and waiting and gave me a prime spot to park.
I met up with some older and former S12 owners in addition to forum members who have ceased to be active for various reasons. Many of them were impressed with my additional upgrades to my S12 since the last time they had seen it. Some were keen on starting their project up again after a year or more of dormancy. Then there were the several who never thought about owning or tinkering with an S12 who suddenly saw potential in the chassis and seriously considered giving it a go. One such person was a Mitsubishi guy who worked at a Mitsubishi dealership and would never have thought that such an older chassis could be adapted so well with that of the such modification procedures the S13s and S14s have.
In the end, it was quite a surprise. To date in the States, an S12 had never won a trophy or much official recognition at a car show. There is the usual surprise at seeing the chassis at a show and being so clean and for me personally the expected "Oh my God" reaction; however, despite being a crowd teaser, when it comes to the judging, the S12 has never seem to have gotten much love. It was last Sunday that this changed. A first for me and a first for the S12 in the States that I am aware of in the past decade or possibly more, an S12 won. I ended up with two trophies amazingly. I won "Best Performance Engineering with Dyno" and "Best Sleeper Build." The first award goes fully to U.P. Garage USA. It was their work that engineering the final stage of my car. I give them full credit. I did not do anything this time with the actual mechanics of the car.
As required, I had to submit my car for evaluation before it was allowed in. Knowing Hella Flush and the current import style, I had my doubts as to whether it would be accepted. After talking with Shawn McManus shortly after submitting my car, I was less worried and more curious about if it would still be accepted. Shawn McManus is a photographer who works with the shop I frequent, U.P. Garage, amongst other shops. He also happened to know some of the guys at Fat Lace/Hella Flush. He was correct that at the end of the day, they were all automotive enthusiasts.
I went about prepping my car when one of the Hella Flush staff walking over. We started talking for he recognized my car as an S12 and mentioned that his friend in the Bay area had one. I immediately knew he was talking about Henry Nguyen and told him I had been talking with Henry for a bit and was just online with him the night before.
The current interest for the past four years has been with a single item. A 1987 Nissan S12, also known as a Nissan Silvia, Gazelle, 200SX, and 180ZX. I have named it several things as each stage evolved and grew into its own. To date, it is very possibly the single coolest thing I've accomplished and yet probably the greatest financial folly. Despite that, the best things and higher valued possessions always seem to take some extra effort.
