No coffee, nor cars this weekend

Well that’s disappointing – I haven’t been to Coffee and Cars Gold Coast so far in my time in Queensland and I figured during the last weekend of my annual leave it would be the perfect way to cap off what’s been an eventful holiday. Now that the Stag’s back and not being a jerk I was planning to give it a clean and hopefully park it next to something else Japanese on the day.

But it’s not to be. The threat of Covid 19/Corona Virus has made the organizers think twice about running it this weekend. And even though they don’t usually hit the 500 people mark (anything more than that and it’s highly suggested you don’t run that event for the risk of infection) they’re still not keen to take that risk.

Which is fair enough and I can’t say I blame them either. So in my latest post you won’t be getting a rundown of what appeared out of the sheds of the Gold Coast early on a Saturday morning…but instead you can ooh and ahh over some Ferrari’s instead. Sounds like a pretty good compromise yeah?*

*Unless of course you don’t like Ferrari’s? In which case maybe you’d prefer something a little tamer?

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My wagon has become a bit of a jerk

It doesn’t rain, it pours. And that’s exactly what it’s been doing weather wise here on the Gold Coast. Which explains why my Nissan Stagea has suddenly come down with a strange cough and become very jerky after coming back from holidays. (Insert your own Corona virus joke here)
I’ve fixed it – although I can’t tell you exactly what did the trick. Possibly one thing, possibly a combination. But here’s a list of things to work through if your car has the same problem.

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That’s one expensive dragon..

I’ll be honest, I didn’t start out this afternoon looking for personalised plates. I was looking for Lancia Delta Intergrales (because why not?) but somehow tripped over a truly expensive personalised plate instead. Which lead to looking right through Gumtree for other options from semi affordable to a plate perfect for dragon lovers (and not so much for everyone else)…

Here’s what we’ve unearthed that’s still for sale at the time of writing.
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The swinging replicated 60s

Ferrari Dino

If you were like me growing up there’s a fair chance there was a couple of car posters on your wall (for me it was a Lamborghini Countach and a Ferrari Testarossa for a time, glorious). Also if you’ve grown up like me there’s every chance you can’t and won’t even get to ludicrous amounts of spare coin available to purchase that Ferrari Dino above. (Oh what I could do with 400K+ right now..)

That’s okay because I’ve found a far cheaper alternative, especially if the Ferrari Dino is your pick of the prancing horse brigade…
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For sale: Nissan 180sx. Well, half of one..

Completely useless fact time: I was going to buy a Nissan 180sx as my second ever car and when I rang up a finance company to see what I could borrow, they told me that yes I could have the money…for anything other than using it on a Nissan 180SX.

Which ultimately led down the path for me purchasing a Mazda Rx7 a couple of years later in what was a more entertainingly but undoubtedly far more expensive exercise.

Especially when I’ve just seen one on Facebook in the same state for a measly $500. Okay it might be missing a few lot of things but it’s a start…

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The Stageapedia

The Stageapedia

Welcome to the Stageapedia – an ever growing information repository that will grow as I continue to work on my Nissan Stagea Wagon. (Built after constantly losing notes every time I service mine and have to waste time searching for them again).

If I’ve worked on it, it’s going in here!

(links to Amazon where you can buy various things)

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Bring out your dead (for the Princess)

The much loved father in law has swung by Driveanotherday HQ to spend some time us with us and so his week long visit couldn’t be complete without a poke around the Carrara Secondhand Car Lot of Wonderment, aka Llyods.

In no time flat he found a HJ GTS Monaro that he really wanted to drive home. Me? I found the perfect vehicle to deliver you to your final resting place.

If you knew Al Capone on a first name basis that is..

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When the apocalypse arrives, hail this taxi

Seriously, less than twenty-four hours since my own Stagea has been let out of the panel beaters all shiny and ready to drive again, I’ve stumbled on the another Stagea that’s gone the completely opposite way and in turn has become ultimate apocalypse cruising war machine you’re ever going to meet outside of the back lot of a Mad Max movie.

When the bombs drop, I’m reaching for the sand blaster..

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Give power to the Nissan Pintara

Nissan Pintara

My best mate Heath once had a Nissan Pintara. Bright red and shiny, it came with a disco light powered by the cigarette lighter socket and many stupid adventures were had by all in this tribute to lunchbox shaped 80’s autos.

However as good as this four banger was, it was never a car that would put the fear of god into anything it pulled up alongside of at the lights. Well not like this Nissan Pintara I’ve found on Facebook…

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9 (car) reasons to check out Hyperdrive on Netflix

hyperdrive

‘Are you watching Hyperdrive on Netflix?’ was a text message I received from my good mate Brixey last night. ‘It’s like American Ninja Warrior but with cars.’

And that’s exactly what it is – a series of challenges to put even the best driver and drift machine to shame. I’ve burnt through 2 and a half episodes already and I absolutely love it. And with all spoilers aside, here are 9 track tearing cars that really stood out for me in what I’ve seen so far (and I can’t wait to see what else shows up!)

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My car went bang (going through an insurance claim process)

For those of you reading that that have found themselves in a auto bingle (your fault of the other persons) and followed your insurance claim process from start to end, then you’ll know the process fairly well. For those like me who have had a few scrapes (and near misses) but never had to put an insurance claim before up until now – welcome to my journey. In which I’ve learnt one thing in particular that will could take a bit of hassle out of the process if you find yourself in a similar situation…

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The colorful cabs of Kathmandu

So it’s been a little over a month since I last posted and plenty going on behind the scenes with other projects (like this one) and the occasional hiccup (in a future post I’ll explain what happened with the Stagea and a roundabout last week…). However I’m back for this five minutes and I’ve brought you…a bunch of taxis.

No no, not like the classic EJ Holden Taxi we unearthed a while back, but a bunch of taxis from Katmandu where the drivers have really taken the time to make your next trip around town a very visual experience..
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When things get steamy…in your engine bay

‘Smoke? Is that smoke? Oh ffs, what’s going on here?’ my first words spoken rather loudly as I drove up my driveway last night and watched something white and ghost like attempt to snake it’s way out of my bonnet. It’s been a while since Stag hiccups, the last one being the stretched throttle cable a few months ago..

Thankfully it wasn’t smoke, it was steam but it’s still not a great feeling when you lift the lid and half your block has had a coolant related steam bath. And currently resembles some kind of rain forest…

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Canvas the neighbourhood

Toyota Starlet

It’s amazing what you learn from Facebook (yes, even dubious Facebook can give you the occasional education it seems) – I had no idea up until today that there was a version of the Toyota Starlet that came with a canvas top! (I was thinking that it was something home made ala This Mitsubishi Colt we found decades ago).

But it’s real and we’ve found one.

And if you’re keen on the one we’ve found, we hope you’re good at canvas repair..

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Race block Ranchero

Ford Ranchero
The late great Chuck Berry once sang ‘Get your kicks, on Route 66.’ And if he was driving this 1965 Ford Ranchero with a modification list longer than most phone books, there’s a fair chance he would’ve kicked that strip of road well into the middle of next week..

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