Unfortunately not a great photo, but this is her
just after her paint work was finished. In all there was 20 coats of paint
and 10 coats of clear on top of that. The colour is actually a Toyota colour
that they used on the Supra and MR-2, it is called Blue Mica. It actually
has 3 different tints of pearl in it, under different light conditions
it will change from a very dark blue to and almost greeny-blue colour.
Work begins on the interior. The Upholstery is a
polar white colour (very practical !) with blue carpets. The arm rests
were beyond repair, I ended up borrowing a set to use as a guide and I
made a new set, carving them out of a sold piece of meranti timber. These
were then stained a mahogony colour and lacquered. I spent a week on the
arm rests alone.
The wiring was an absolute nightmare. The original
harness was in pretty good shape, the only thing I did to it was I re-taped
it, just to make it look better. The problem was with all the modifications
I was making to the car. The original one speaker AM radio was replaced
with an Alpine 4 piece component stereo system with a computer equalizer,
4 speakers and remote amplifiers and a joy stick balance control. This
took up all the centre console, so that meant I had to re-locate the headlight,
wiper and map light switches. I ended up mounting illuminated push button
switches where the ash tray normally goes. These push button switches operate
4 relays that are mounted under the dash, which in turn operate the lights
and wipers. I also added entry lights in the doors, lights under the dash
that illuminate the foot wells when you open the door, a light in the boot,
and electric antenna, a car alarm with a pager and a voice box warning
system that says things like "the door is ajar" and "fasten your seat belts".
All this more than doubled the number of wires in the car.
Months were spent on the engine bay alone. Anything
that was made of steel, right down to the smallest screw, was chrome plated,
anything that was alloy was polished. The intake manifold was hand filed
and polished. All rubber hoses were replaced with polished braided stainless
steel hoses with blue anodised fittings.
The instrument panel and centre console area were
finished in a mahogony timber veneer. The wooden steering wheel was stained
to match, also other things like the seat back adjuster levers were carved
out of solid timber. The boot lid badges off a 1964 Nissan Cedric were
used on the top of the sill.
Delta Hot Wire wheels with the inside of the spokes
painted to match the colour of the car. Tyres are 185/60/14 Bridgestone
V-Grid soft compound directional tyres.
Five years after the project began she is finally
finished.
The awards she has recieved include "Best 1500, 1600
or Silvia" at the first Datsun Sports Nationals, "Best Silvia" at the 1999
Datsun Sports Nationals, and at the 1993 Mt. Tamborine car show she won
"2nd Best Paint Job", "2nd Best Sports Car" and "2nd Best Japanese Car".
She is the only car to have won a trophy at Mt. Tamborine that was actually
driven there, every other award winner has arrived on the back of a trailer.
The only problem I have now is keeping the girls
off the car.
(The photo of the car + blonde was a prize at a car
show)
