I finally got my Swedish driver's license. After taking the test, which is worded horribly as I have previously talked about, I had to do the driving test. Now when I took my drivers test in the USA I had to do all sorts of things, parallel parking, hill starts and more. The Swedish driving test is pretty much just driving around like you are taking your elderly family member out for a drive around town. The hardest thing I had to do was back into a parking spot at a local grocery store.
So the license process is complete, it is valid for the next ten years and then all I have to do is go in, take a new photo and they will mail me a new license.
Feels rather silly after all the hoops you have to jump through to get it that they don't at least re-check your driving skill or even eyesight after a few years.
Jun 5, 2012
May 15, 2012
Swedish License, step 3
So I've posted before about the difficulties, or rather the obstacles, for getting a Swedish drivers license.
First you have to attend a four hour class on driving risks where they talk about things that affect your driving decisions, such as alcohol, drugs, stress and the like. This is rather boring and somewhat obvious if you've been driving for more than a year, or even if you have half a brain.
Then you get to take one of the learning center's cars out on a series of skid like tests on a slippery track. This might sound fun but it really isn't. Basically you drive a base model, front wheel drive car that can barely dream of getting out of its own way. Many will tell you that the course is more slippery than ice but if you've lived in a winter climate for any length of time and driven during the winter, you'll know straight away that ice is way more slippery. Anyway, you drive this course doing things like braking before you reach a certain point while in a corner to show you how the car behaves while braking and cornering. Driving around and around in a circle to show you how the car will slide while cornering. Trying to do a slalom run where the distance between cones changes and finally doing a lane change to simulate avoiding a moose or other large obstacle, again on the slippery course. Assuming you have passed both of those you get to take the written test.
As I've said before studying for this test in English is a joke. First off the translations are done in absolutely horrible British English. Typical errors include simple things like using "to" instead of "too" but also get much more complex such as asking a question of "What is the greatest difficulty to judge when passing another car" and the answer they want is "Judging the speed of oncoming traffic". What?!? Who passes when there is traffic coming at them so close that you have to judge the speed? And if there was oncoming traffic why wasn't it mentioned in the question/scenario?
Another classic that is sorely missing in translation is "What does 'the basic rule' say?". The correct answer is "It decides which spirit that shall prevail in the traffic." What? What are they saying? Since when is there a spiritual component to basic driving rules? I've had a few OMG moments while driving when there were close calls and such but that's about as close to spiritual that I've ever gotten while driving.
Here's another fun bit...one question asks how many passengers a car can have, the correct answer is 8, but there is another nearly identically worded question and the correct answer is "as many as the registration form says".
There are also dozens of questions that anyone who went to school in the USA will hate. They all basically boil down to that age old question of "if train A leaves from here traveling at X speed and train B leaves from there traveling at Y speed, at what point will they meet?". However most of them are on the order of how much time do you save if you drive 10kph faster or how long does it take you to stop if you are driving X speed. They're completely ridiculous, if you're driving something like a VW Polo the braking distance is light years longer than if you're driving any sports car. You just can't even put the two in the same question, but they do.
Finally there is my favorite. The question asks "What distance is suitable to keep to the car in front of you?" and shows a picture. Awkwardly worded to start with, but ok, easy enough to understand. The possible answers are "100 meters", "3 seconds" and "3 seconds". That's right, they gave the same answer twice. The answers appear in a random order each time you see the questions. The correct answer is "3 seconds", however it is still possible to get this one wrong even if you choose "3 seconds". That's right, only one of the "3 seconds" answers is correct...WTH?!? I'm not even going to get started ranting on this one...I'll leave that up to you to imagine...
Here's the real kicker of the test that nobody can explain to me. The test is 70 questions, you need to get at least 52 correct to pass. However, before your test is graded they throw out 5 randomly selected questions. They then claim that "this will not affect your score". How the hell can they randomly discard 5 questions and not have it affect my score?!? What if all 5 were correct and I have several wrong answers? Of course that will affect my score! Some will tell you that they put in several questions that do not count, they are there to see how people will answer a question of a certain type, like to see what people think or how they think about a given situation. If they are throwing those out, I still don't see how it is a fair test. If I get a "test" question correct I should still get points for it.
Anyway, I've been studying for quite a while off and on trying to "get" what the people were thinking that wrote this test in English. You basically have to read the question, read the possible answers, go back to the question and re-evaluate what they wrote to figure out what they really meant and then go pick an answer. Anyone enjoy translating English to English?
Tomorrow I go and take the test, hopefully for the only time. If I pass, next week I will go for my road test where they will basically have me drive around very similar to how it is done in the USA only with a focus on what they call "Eco-driving" which is a total pile of rubbish if you ask me. Basically they're just testing to see how "eco-friendly" of a driver you are, you can't do too much, don't use the clutch too much, don't brake too much, basically let the car drive you. Seems to me that they are trying to prepare the driver to be on a train, not actually "drive" the car.
Wish me (good) luck...
First you have to attend a four hour class on driving risks where they talk about things that affect your driving decisions, such as alcohol, drugs, stress and the like. This is rather boring and somewhat obvious if you've been driving for more than a year, or even if you have half a brain.
Then you get to take one of the learning center's cars out on a series of skid like tests on a slippery track. This might sound fun but it really isn't. Basically you drive a base model, front wheel drive car that can barely dream of getting out of its own way. Many will tell you that the course is more slippery than ice but if you've lived in a winter climate for any length of time and driven during the winter, you'll know straight away that ice is way more slippery. Anyway, you drive this course doing things like braking before you reach a certain point while in a corner to show you how the car behaves while braking and cornering. Driving around and around in a circle to show you how the car will slide while cornering. Trying to do a slalom run where the distance between cones changes and finally doing a lane change to simulate avoiding a moose or other large obstacle, again on the slippery course. Assuming you have passed both of those you get to take the written test.
As I've said before studying for this test in English is a joke. First off the translations are done in absolutely horrible British English. Typical errors include simple things like using "to" instead of "too" but also get much more complex such as asking a question of "What is the greatest difficulty to judge when passing another car" and the answer they want is "Judging the speed of oncoming traffic". What?!? Who passes when there is traffic coming at them so close that you have to judge the speed? And if there was oncoming traffic why wasn't it mentioned in the question/scenario?
Another classic that is sorely missing in translation is "What does 'the basic rule' say?". The correct answer is "It decides which spirit that shall prevail in the traffic." What? What are they saying? Since when is there a spiritual component to basic driving rules? I've had a few OMG moments while driving when there were close calls and such but that's about as close to spiritual that I've ever gotten while driving.
Here's another fun bit...one question asks how many passengers a car can have, the correct answer is 8, but there is another nearly identically worded question and the correct answer is "as many as the registration form says".
There are also dozens of questions that anyone who went to school in the USA will hate. They all basically boil down to that age old question of "if train A leaves from here traveling at X speed and train B leaves from there traveling at Y speed, at what point will they meet?". However most of them are on the order of how much time do you save if you drive 10kph faster or how long does it take you to stop if you are driving X speed. They're completely ridiculous, if you're driving something like a VW Polo the braking distance is light years longer than if you're driving any sports car. You just can't even put the two in the same question, but they do.
Finally there is my favorite. The question asks "What distance is suitable to keep to the car in front of you?" and shows a picture. Awkwardly worded to start with, but ok, easy enough to understand. The possible answers are "100 meters", "3 seconds" and "3 seconds". That's right, they gave the same answer twice. The answers appear in a random order each time you see the questions. The correct answer is "3 seconds", however it is still possible to get this one wrong even if you choose "3 seconds". That's right, only one of the "3 seconds" answers is correct...WTH?!? I'm not even going to get started ranting on this one...I'll leave that up to you to imagine...
Here's the real kicker of the test that nobody can explain to me. The test is 70 questions, you need to get at least 52 correct to pass. However, before your test is graded they throw out 5 randomly selected questions. They then claim that "this will not affect your score". How the hell can they randomly discard 5 questions and not have it affect my score?!? What if all 5 were correct and I have several wrong answers? Of course that will affect my score! Some will tell you that they put in several questions that do not count, they are there to see how people will answer a question of a certain type, like to see what people think or how they think about a given situation. If they are throwing those out, I still don't see how it is a fair test. If I get a "test" question correct I should still get points for it.
Anyway, I've been studying for quite a while off and on trying to "get" what the people were thinking that wrote this test in English. You basically have to read the question, read the possible answers, go back to the question and re-evaluate what they wrote to figure out what they really meant and then go pick an answer. Anyone enjoy translating English to English?
Tomorrow I go and take the test, hopefully for the only time. If I pass, next week I will go for my road test where they will basically have me drive around very similar to how it is done in the USA only with a focus on what they call "Eco-driving" which is a total pile of rubbish if you ask me. Basically they're just testing to see how "eco-friendly" of a driver you are, you can't do too much, don't use the clutch too much, don't brake too much, basically let the car drive you. Seems to me that they are trying to prepare the driver to be on a train, not actually "drive" the car.
Wish me (good) luck...
May 14, 2012
Mar 19, 2012
I'm still alive...
Been a while since I last posted.
Not much has been going on of note, the weather here has been getting nicer every day with t-shirt weather right around the corner.
I'm still working on studying for my Swedish license but I hope to take it soon. With family visiting for the holidays and being sick for nearly a month after that I lost a lot of time. Because the test is meant to be in Swedish they didn't spend a lot of time on the English translation. It almost seems as if it was done by students with lots of simple mistakes such as using "to" when they meant "too". So in many ways I'm having to learn how the person who wrote the test was thinking when they did the translation in order to just study for the test.
There are many questions where if you answered strictly based on the question asked you would get the question wrong because of how badly the question is phrased or worded. So instead you have to read the question, look at the four possible answers and then go back and try to figure out what the real question should have been, go back to the answers and pick the one that fits best. As you can probably imagine that isn't the quickest method of studying and unfortunately my Swedish won't be up to the task of taking the test in Swedish anytime soon.
Our RC drifting season took a huge break because the place where we go to drive moved to a new facility that wasn't finished so we had no place to drive locally for almost five months. Not many people have come back now that the new place is open so I really doubt that the local club will continue for much longer. Although that would be sad and rather annoying after putting in so much money and effort into my RC drift cars, in a way it would be good as it would be one less thing on my plate and would free up a small amount of money to put into the full size car that I want to import.
Speaking of which, I'm still saving for that. It's rather disappointing but I'm sure I will get what I want in the long run. Anybody wanna make a donation? haha
Not much has been going on of note, the weather here has been getting nicer every day with t-shirt weather right around the corner.
I'm still working on studying for my Swedish license but I hope to take it soon. With family visiting for the holidays and being sick for nearly a month after that I lost a lot of time. Because the test is meant to be in Swedish they didn't spend a lot of time on the English translation. It almost seems as if it was done by students with lots of simple mistakes such as using "to" when they meant "too". So in many ways I'm having to learn how the person who wrote the test was thinking when they did the translation in order to just study for the test.
There are many questions where if you answered strictly based on the question asked you would get the question wrong because of how badly the question is phrased or worded. So instead you have to read the question, look at the four possible answers and then go back and try to figure out what the real question should have been, go back to the answers and pick the one that fits best. As you can probably imagine that isn't the quickest method of studying and unfortunately my Swedish won't be up to the task of taking the test in Swedish anytime soon.
Our RC drifting season took a huge break because the place where we go to drive moved to a new facility that wasn't finished so we had no place to drive locally for almost five months. Not many people have come back now that the new place is open so I really doubt that the local club will continue for much longer. Although that would be sad and rather annoying after putting in so much money and effort into my RC drift cars, in a way it would be good as it would be one less thing on my plate and would free up a small amount of money to put into the full size car that I want to import.
Speaking of which, I'm still saving for that. It's rather disappointing but I'm sure I will get what I want in the long run. Anybody wanna make a donation? haha
Nov 22, 2011
Another RC Body Project
So back in April I posted my Nissan R31 Skyline Wagon body (it's here if you missed it). One of my hopes with that body was that nobody else in my club would have one. The main reason for this is that there were very few shops that were carrying it and it was a pre-order item only. In other words they were only going to make the number that were pre-ordered.
Well unfortunately for my hope of having a unique body, some shops pre-ordered some for themselves to sell later on and one of my fellow club members managed to get one. This irritated me enough that I had to go out and find something that would be truly unique for at least a little while.
This led to much internet searching to see what bodies were available and hard to find. What I found was that there were very few bodies that I liked that were "limited" and of those that were limited that I did like, they were in the most popular shops which basically defeated the purpose. So I decided to create something.
Before showing the pics let me state that the company that makes the bodies that I hacked up to create something unique has probably the most expensive bodies. So one way that I hope this will stay unique is that nobody will be willing to risk hacking up two of the most expensive bodies on the market. The other is that most modelers in my club aren't willing to go to this sort of extent to create something.
I started with one of these, a Yokomo Koguchi Power S13 180:
And one of these, a Yokomo PS13 Silvia:
And combined them into the Sil80 (silvia front + 180 back) you see here by taking the front of the Silvia and grafting it on to the front of the 180. There's still more details to add and some things to clean up but I figured I was long overdue for a new post so enjoy (hopefully).
Main Body:
1. Base: Ultimate Racing Pearl Base
2. Main Color: Ultimate Racing Daytona Yellow
3. Backed with: Ultimate Racing Basic White then Ultimate Racing Basic Black
Hood:
1. Base: Tamiya Lame Flake
2. Main Color: Ultimate Racing Basic Black
Well unfortunately for my hope of having a unique body, some shops pre-ordered some for themselves to sell later on and one of my fellow club members managed to get one. This irritated me enough that I had to go out and find something that would be truly unique for at least a little while.
This led to much internet searching to see what bodies were available and hard to find. What I found was that there were very few bodies that I liked that were "limited" and of those that were limited that I did like, they were in the most popular shops which basically defeated the purpose. So I decided to create something.
Before showing the pics let me state that the company that makes the bodies that I hacked up to create something unique has probably the most expensive bodies. So one way that I hope this will stay unique is that nobody will be willing to risk hacking up two of the most expensive bodies on the market. The other is that most modelers in my club aren't willing to go to this sort of extent to create something.
I started with one of these, a Yokomo Koguchi Power S13 180:
And one of these, a Yokomo PS13 Silvia:
And combined them into the Sil80 (silvia front + 180 back) you see here by taking the front of the Silvia and grafting it on to the front of the 180. There's still more details to add and some things to clean up but I figured I was long overdue for a new post so enjoy (hopefully).
Main Body:
1. Base: Ultimate Racing Pearl Base
2. Main Color: Ultimate Racing Daytona Yellow
3. Backed with: Ultimate Racing Basic White then Ultimate Racing Basic Black
Hood:
1. Base: Tamiya Lame Flake
2. Main Color: Ultimate Racing Basic Black
Oct 14, 2011
Doldrums
Not much going on right now. After finding some unexpected costs with importing a car from Japan I'm having to save up quite a bit more money. Thankfully the RC Drifting "season" is starting to pick up since the weather is getting colder outside today. Speaking of which, we had our first real frost this morning.
For the start of the season I've painted up a new shell. It is an HPI Chaser Mark II with their Overdose kit. The kit includes the add-on grill and in addition to regular light buckets for LED lights, it has clear lenses to go over the buckets. Typically you would just not paint that area of the lexan body, but in this case you have to cut out that part so that the clear lens can poke through. It also has the WELD Racing decals applied over a white body, instead of the usual blue.
For the start of the season I've painted up a new shell. It is an HPI Chaser Mark II with their Overdose kit. The kit includes the add-on grill and in addition to regular light buckets for LED lights, it has clear lenses to go over the buckets. Typically you would just not paint that area of the lexan body, but in this case you have to cut out that part so that the clear lens can poke through. It also has the WELD Racing decals applied over a white body, instead of the usual blue.
Sep 26, 2011
Importing Update and License Stuff
I've had a minor setback with the import process. I discovered some fees that I wasn't expecting which means that I probably won't be importing a car for a little while until I can save up some more money.
I have also started the process of getting my Swedish drivers license. It's quite different from getting a license in the USA. To start off with it has four different parts instead of just two. The first is a practical test where you drive a car on a extremely slippery surface intentionally making it slide and then recovering from the slide. I did this part today and passed. The next part is a theory class on the various risks that can take place while driving. I will be taking this course in two weeks. After that you have to take a theory test which is like the written test in the USA covering the laws and such. Finally you can take a practical road test where they actually test your driving. Once these four tests and activities have been completed you will receive your drivers license.
I have also started the process of getting my Swedish drivers license. It's quite different from getting a license in the USA. To start off with it has four different parts instead of just two. The first is a practical test where you drive a car on a extremely slippery surface intentionally making it slide and then recovering from the slide. I did this part today and passed. The next part is a theory class on the various risks that can take place while driving. I will be taking this course in two weeks. After that you have to take a theory test which is like the written test in the USA covering the laws and such. Finally you can take a practical road test where they actually test your driving. Once these four tests and activities have been completed you will receive your drivers license.
Sep 23, 2011
So many choices...
I'm so torn on what to buy. There's just so many different cars in different genres that I'm interested in.
For example there's the PS13 Silvia like this one:
Or the R32 Skyline like this one:
The problem with these cars is that they are worthless in the winter and here in Sweden we usually have at least 5 months of winter weather and it's going to be winter soon.
I only have garage space for one car and it is going to have to be used for the daily as I don't want to be scraping snow off the car all the time and I don't want to have to go out 10 minutes before leaving to warm up the car so my son doesn't get too cold.
I also have a few performance parts for an Impreza left over from my last Impreza. They aren't much but it would be something I could start working with right away.
For these reasons I keep coming back to a Subaru Impreza but they are harder to find with the features that I want than the previous two cars.
But still, every time I look at the two pictures above I can help immediately thinking...WANT!!!
***Confused***
For example there's the PS13 Silvia like this one:
Or the R32 Skyline like this one:
The problem with these cars is that they are worthless in the winter and here in Sweden we usually have at least 5 months of winter weather and it's going to be winter soon.
I only have garage space for one car and it is going to have to be used for the daily as I don't want to be scraping snow off the car all the time and I don't want to have to go out 10 minutes before leaving to warm up the car so my son doesn't get too cold.
I also have a few performance parts for an Impreza left over from my last Impreza. They aren't much but it would be something I could start working with right away.
For these reasons I keep coming back to a Subaru Impreza but they are harder to find with the features that I want than the previous two cars.
But still, every time I look at the two pictures above I can help immediately thinking...WANT!!!
***Confused***
Sep 22, 2011
Step Two
Powervehicles has received my deposit and I am now receiving emails that contain cars that they think their customers might find interesting. I have also received the login info to the website that lists all cars available at auction. I've found a few interesting ones here and there but nothing I'm ready to bid on just yet.
It is quite like being a kid in a candy store window in many ways as there are lots of cars that I would love to bid on but I can only pick one. In addition I don't have an unlimited budget so that's kinda cruel too.
It is quite like being a kid in a candy store window in many ways as there are lots of cars that I would love to bid on but I can only pick one. In addition I don't have an unlimited budget so that's kinda cruel too.
Sep 8, 2011
Step One
So I've finally started step one of importing a car from Japan. The first thing that you need to do with getting PowerVehicles to ship a car to you is put down a 100,000 JPY deposit. Today I transferred the money to them. Once it is received I will be put on their notification list and I will receive several notifications per week of "interesting" cars coming up at auction. I will also be given access to a website that allows me to search for cars coming up at auction myself. When I see a car that I am interested in, I just need to let them know which car it is and what my maximum bid is. Then when the car comes up they will bid on it, if my bid is the highest and last in the timeframe then I will win the car.
Here's an example of the kind of info I'll receive on an interesting car:
Here's an example of the kind of info I'll receive on an interesting car:
Sep 5, 2011
Brian asked me what I was planning on importing and when I said that I was trying to get a Subaru Impreza STi Type RA he said "Oh ok cool, I thought u were trying to get into drifting lol?" Well, I was going to answer with another comment but it just became too long so I'll answer in a post instead.
I do want to get more into drifting but there are several reasons why I'm going to go with the Subaru. I've been a Subaru guy since 1998 when I ordered my first Impreza. Until last year I've not driven anything daily other than an Impreza of one year or another. I've owned 4 of them in fact. I've also attended a rally school in Ireland where I was invited to participate in a sponsorship program, but since I didn't have an EU residence visa I couldn't actually join. -_- The school taught me several things but one of the things I took away was that a professional rally driver of 30+ years thought that my driving was good. That means that I can do something with it if I can just get the opportunity. Just drifting probably isn't going to get me there in this country, but if I can get into Gymkhana and Rallying there are more opportunities.
Here in Sweden there isn't a lot going on in the drifting community. It mostly consists of a few semi-professional groups that do exhibitions and such and then your average teenager who has had their license for a year just messing around. There's really no middle ground so there isn't much of a community. Also the police and the laws are much more severe than in other places, probably quite similar to Japan in a lot of ways I would imagine. For example 21kph over the speed limit is an automatic license suspension, under that and they usually don't bother you. So the grey areas are wide but narrow which makes it difficult to do anything in that zone. A friend has an S13 and had to take off his carbon GT style wing. It went through the vehicle inspection just fine but the police didn't like it so he had to remove it. It wasn't huge or anything, he just ran into a bad cop I guess. So those sorts of things make it difficult to do things like street drifting. Combine that with the fact that the roads are typically either designed in a boring way drifting wise, or where they are fun, they are very narrow with granite curbs and it makes street drifting an even riskier thing than normal. To my knowledge the concept of a drift day doesn't exist at the few race tracks here either. They are also huge fans of speed bumps here in Sweden. There's two types, one that goes all the way across the road that is about a meter wide and usually about 25cm tall. The other type looks more like some sort of leftover from the world wars. They are like a pyramid with the top cut off and are just a little bit narrower than the width of most cars. Additionally they have these same sort of obstacles on lots of the roundabout's to slow people down before entering. The lowered Audi barely makes it over without scraping or getting hung up. There is no way a properly setup drift car would make it over them. It'd wind up looking like a teeter-totter.
So I figure with the Impreza I could get into doing Gymkhana at the very least and maybe that could lead back into rallying. I'm not sure if there are events here already but if not, it would be rather simple to start one. Just need an empty parking lot and lots of cones. There are lots of rally events in Sweden and even an FIA World Rally event in February.
Mostly, right now I just want a car that I can have fun with year round and is something different from all the cookie cutter Saab's and Volvo's here. I know Subaru's inside and out and I have lots of option parts that I can install right away so it just makes sense.
I've got a bunch of things that I'm doing as far as my finances are concerned, consolidating things, cutting corners and my base income should be doubling by the end of the first quarter 2012. So the overall plan is to get the RA and at least have a car that I can enjoy, work on saving for a house & garage and then probably import a JZX100 that I can dedicate for drifting.
Check out this video of a guy I know doing Gymkhana in his Type RA.
I do want to get more into drifting but there are several reasons why I'm going to go with the Subaru. I've been a Subaru guy since 1998 when I ordered my first Impreza. Until last year I've not driven anything daily other than an Impreza of one year or another. I've owned 4 of them in fact. I've also attended a rally school in Ireland where I was invited to participate in a sponsorship program, but since I didn't have an EU residence visa I couldn't actually join. -_- The school taught me several things but one of the things I took away was that a professional rally driver of 30+ years thought that my driving was good. That means that I can do something with it if I can just get the opportunity. Just drifting probably isn't going to get me there in this country, but if I can get into Gymkhana and Rallying there are more opportunities.
Here in Sweden there isn't a lot going on in the drifting community. It mostly consists of a few semi-professional groups that do exhibitions and such and then your average teenager who has had their license for a year just messing around. There's really no middle ground so there isn't much of a community. Also the police and the laws are much more severe than in other places, probably quite similar to Japan in a lot of ways I would imagine. For example 21kph over the speed limit is an automatic license suspension, under that and they usually don't bother you. So the grey areas are wide but narrow which makes it difficult to do anything in that zone. A friend has an S13 and had to take off his carbon GT style wing. It went through the vehicle inspection just fine but the police didn't like it so he had to remove it. It wasn't huge or anything, he just ran into a bad cop I guess. So those sorts of things make it difficult to do things like street drifting. Combine that with the fact that the roads are typically either designed in a boring way drifting wise, or where they are fun, they are very narrow with granite curbs and it makes street drifting an even riskier thing than normal. To my knowledge the concept of a drift day doesn't exist at the few race tracks here either. They are also huge fans of speed bumps here in Sweden. There's two types, one that goes all the way across the road that is about a meter wide and usually about 25cm tall. The other type looks more like some sort of leftover from the world wars. They are like a pyramid with the top cut off and are just a little bit narrower than the width of most cars. Additionally they have these same sort of obstacles on lots of the roundabout's to slow people down before entering. The lowered Audi barely makes it over without scraping or getting hung up. There is no way a properly setup drift car would make it over them. It'd wind up looking like a teeter-totter.
So I figure with the Impreza I could get into doing Gymkhana at the very least and maybe that could lead back into rallying. I'm not sure if there are events here already but if not, it would be rather simple to start one. Just need an empty parking lot and lots of cones. There are lots of rally events in Sweden and even an FIA World Rally event in February.
Mostly, right now I just want a car that I can have fun with year round and is something different from all the cookie cutter Saab's and Volvo's here. I know Subaru's inside and out and I have lots of option parts that I can install right away so it just makes sense.
I've got a bunch of things that I'm doing as far as my finances are concerned, consolidating things, cutting corners and my base income should be doubling by the end of the first quarter 2012. So the overall plan is to get the RA and at least have a car that I can enjoy, work on saving for a house & garage and then probably import a JZX100 that I can dedicate for drifting.
Check out this video of a guy I know doing Gymkhana in his Type RA.
Sep 2, 2011
Flaky People
One of the things I have the most trouble with in life are flaky people. If you want to do something and say you want to do it, then do it if you can and if you can't for whatever reason, explain that. In my last post I stated that I found a car that I wanted to buy. I contacted the seller asking if the car was still available and if so, did he have any more pictures and when could I come see it because I was very interested in it. After two days he hadn't responded so I sent another email. Several days after that he responded that he had pictures of all the damage on the car and would send them. A week later I still hadn't received any communication from the seller so I sent another email asking if he had found the pictures. He responded the next day stating that the car had been sold. What?!?
So...I've decided to bypass the middleman so to speak and am going to be purchasing the car I want at auction in Japan. I have located a buying agent who will handle the actual buying, all the paperwork and get the car shipped to me. Once the car arrives here in Sweden I will be responsible for handling all the paperwork and getting it registered. The buyer I have chosen to use is PowerVehicles.com. There are several reasons for this but among them are that Powervehicles can perform any desired modifications on the vehicle before shipping. I have had several communications from them as well as seen many testimonials that have led me to trust them.
The end result should be that I will get a car that is in great condition as cars sold in Japan are typically very very clean and in like new condition for less money than I could find a similarly equipped car that has already been imported to Sweden. Also the cars that have already been imported are not typically in the same condition as when they left Japan.
So watch this space as I detail out the process and how it goes.
So...I've decided to bypass the middleman so to speak and am going to be purchasing the car I want at auction in Japan. I have located a buying agent who will handle the actual buying, all the paperwork and get the car shipped to me. Once the car arrives here in Sweden I will be responsible for handling all the paperwork and getting it registered. The buyer I have chosen to use is PowerVehicles.com. There are several reasons for this but among them are that Powervehicles can perform any desired modifications on the vehicle before shipping. I have had several communications from them as well as seen many testimonials that have led me to trust them.
The end result should be that I will get a car that is in great condition as cars sold in Japan are typically very very clean and in like new condition for less money than I could find a similarly equipped car that has already been imported to Sweden. Also the cars that have already been imported are not typically in the same condition as when they left Japan.
So watch this space as I detail out the process and how it goes.
Aug 18, 2011
Impatience
So I finally figured out a way to possibly purchase a "fun" car. I even found a car that I want to buy, it's a 1997 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Type RA. Enough names in there for ya? Anyway it needs some work, which is fine with me as I want a car to work on, I already have a daily driver.
I contacted the seller on Monday and still haven't heard anything back yet. Starting to get pretty annoyed, the advertisement is still posted. If the car was sold or the seller decided not to sell the least they could do is reply back and say that the car isn't available or take down the advertisement.
I contacted the seller on Monday and still haven't heard anything back yet. Starting to get pretty annoyed, the advertisement is still posted. If the car was sold or the seller decided not to sell the least they could do is reply back and say that the car isn't available or take down the advertisement.
Jul 13, 2011
Getting Inspired
Still trying to get the Opel GT over here so I can start working on it. That's a whole other set of problems that involves trying to find a place to store and work on it, but one step at a time.
Been reading this thread on the resurrection of another of my all time favorite cars, a Porsche 356 hardtop. In just under two years it went from this:
to this:
Granted it had a roof replacement and it is intentionally kept in the "worn" look so it's not showroom perfect but that is still one hell of an accomplishment. I wish I had guys like that available here to work on the Opel GT once I get it here.
Been reading this thread on the resurrection of another of my all time favorite cars, a Porsche 356 hardtop. In just under two years it went from this:
to this:
Granted it had a roof replacement and it is intentionally kept in the "worn" look so it's not showroom perfect but that is still one hell of an accomplishment. I wish I had guys like that available here to work on the Opel GT once I get it here.
Jun 24, 2011
Dead Zone
It's been a little while since I posted, mostly because not much post worthy has been going on. I've been really busy with work trying to get a few projects out the door. I also took a 5 day weekend and went on a short trip down to southern Sweden.
Mostly been trying to figure out how to make more money so that I can get a project car to work on or get my Opel GT shipped over here. To ship it is going to cost about $1000 plus customs charges but it has to be in running condition and that will likey cost me another $1000 or so. :( Then once I get it here I'll need a secure place to park it, preferably indoors. However if I can find a project car to work on that doesn't have the same sort of sentimental value that the Opel GT has I won't need a secure parking area other than the parking lot where I live.
In the mean time while I try to drum up more cash I've been drooling over my friend Brian's new project car, an S13 Sylvia. Check it out over on his blog here: http://pandapirates.blogspot.com/
Mostly been trying to figure out how to make more money so that I can get a project car to work on or get my Opel GT shipped over here. To ship it is going to cost about $1000 plus customs charges but it has to be in running condition and that will likey cost me another $1000 or so. :( Then once I get it here I'll need a secure place to park it, preferably indoors. However if I can find a project car to work on that doesn't have the same sort of sentimental value that the Opel GT has I won't need a secure parking area other than the parking lot where I live.
In the mean time while I try to drum up more cash I've been drooling over my friend Brian's new project car, an S13 Sylvia. Check it out over on his blog here: http://pandapirates.blogspot.com/
Jun 3, 2011
My Opel GT
I've been reading a very lengthy blog/forum post with about four years of content about the build of an Alfa Romeo Spider, it's inspired me to start working on my Opel GT again. Sadly it is still in the US and I need to figure out a way to get it shipped here. So for now I've started photoshopping some images of it to start working on the design direction.
Here's the first draft, all I've done so far is give it a healthy drop, and add oversize wheels. They will likely be 16" or 17". In today's world that doesn't sound so big but you have to remember how small this car really is, it came with a 13" wheel from the factory! There will also be extensive body modifications, but in this draft the body is completely stock.
First draft:
Here's the first draft, all I've done so far is give it a healthy drop, and add oversize wheels. They will likely be 16" or 17". In today's world that doesn't sound so big but you have to remember how small this car really is, it came with a 13" wheel from the factory! There will also be extensive body modifications, but in this draft the body is completely stock.
First draft:
Apr 24, 2011
New Shoes
Today I went to the Elmia car show in Jönköping Sweden, which I think is the largest car show in northern Europe. There are four halls filled with cars of every vintage. This year was the 40th anniversary so there weren't any special guests like usual, unless you count the poor, riced out, beaten up cars from the various Fast & Furious movies. They had the Charger, Supra, both Eclipses, RX-7 and the R34 Skyline. The cars are even more disappointing in person than they are in the films. The front of the R34 has had a light coat of gray sprayed on it to simulate road dust and the like from driving and it was done so badly that it even has some major runs in the paint since they sprayed it on so thick.
Anyway, I picked up a new pair of shoes there, Sparco Esse in blue/white. I got a pretty good deal on them, roughly $20 off of regular price. They're not the competition shoes that are fireproof and all that, just regular sportswear type shoes but should be pretty good for driving.
Here's a pic I found on google that will have to do until I can take some pics of my own.
Anyway, I picked up a new pair of shoes there, Sparco Esse in blue/white. I got a pretty good deal on them, roughly $20 off of regular price. They're not the competition shoes that are fireproof and all that, just regular sportswear type shoes but should be pretty good for driving.
Here's a pic I found on google that will have to do until I can take some pics of my own.
Apr 20, 2011
Newest Project
It's been a while since I last posted, not a lot has been going on but I did manage to paint up a new body for the RC drifting I do. It's a limited edition Nissan R31 Skyline Wagon. It was actually produced for R31 House which is a Japanese tuning shop that specializes in, what else, R31 Skylines.
Usually RC bodies come with a ton of stickers for every little detail like the black weather strip that goes around the windows and things like that but this body only came with a few decals for the headlights/taillights, door handles and the intercooler in the lower grill opening. So there is a lot of little detail work that I have had to do to it and I am still not done but I figured it was time to post something and this is what is new.
I still have to paint a thin black pinstripe trim line between the blue and silver, install the led light kit, install a muffler, install mirrors and a bunch of other little details before it is finished.
For those interested it was painted with the following colors:
Tamiya PS-49 Aluminum Sky Blue
Faskolor FasPearl Silver mixed with FasBlack to create the lower gray
Tamiya PS-53 Lame Flake backed with Faskolor FasBlack on the hood
If you want to see another version of this body in action check out this youtube clip of an R31 Wagon versus a Volvo 850 Wagon.
Usually RC bodies come with a ton of stickers for every little detail like the black weather strip that goes around the windows and things like that but this body only came with a few decals for the headlights/taillights, door handles and the intercooler in the lower grill opening. So there is a lot of little detail work that I have had to do to it and I am still not done but I figured it was time to post something and this is what is new.
I still have to paint a thin black pinstripe trim line between the blue and silver, install the led light kit, install a muffler, install mirrors and a bunch of other little details before it is finished.
For those interested it was painted with the following colors:
Tamiya PS-49 Aluminum Sky Blue
Faskolor FasPearl Silver mixed with FasBlack to create the lower gray
Tamiya PS-53 Lame Flake backed with Faskolor FasBlack on the hood
If you want to see another version of this body in action check out this youtube clip of an R31 Wagon versus a Volvo 850 Wagon.
Mar 22, 2011
New bling
After much delay thanks to the US Postal Service not recognizing that "Sweden" is not a state in the USA I have received my new bling. A friend of a friend makes these so I had my friend pick up a pair and mail them to me.
I really like them and they're better than I had hoped they would be. It was definitely worth the wait.
If you're interested they come in several other variations, in both men's and women's versions as well as different sizes. Head over to X7X-Yubo.com if you want some of your own.
I really like them and they're better than I had hoped they would be. It was definitely worth the wait.
If you're interested they come in several other variations, in both men's and women's versions as well as different sizes. Head over to X7X-Yubo.com if you want some of your own.
Mar 11, 2011
In our thoughts
Just a short note to say that all the people affected by the tsunami in Japan are in our thoughts today. Glad to hear that my friends in Japan are a bit shaken but none the worse for the wear otherwise.
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