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I ride a “big bike” in Thailand

This is what it feels like in the city, even when you’re not rushing a kid to the hospital:

Quotes are in the title because my CRF is only 250cc; it’s the correct term for Thailand in both the Thai language and the English dialect of Thailand.

From the YouTube page: This is the incredible moment a hero biker saved the life of a young girl having an epileptic fit – by rushing her to hospital while her family were stuck in a traffic jam. The girl’s father Sorachat Sadudee, 51, was driving home after picking up his two daughters from school in Phitsanulok, central Thailand on Thursday (23/05) evening. His youngest daughter Kaimook, eight, told him that she felt sick and very tired, so he tried to make his way home as quickly as he could.

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Why, Ben, why?

I remember seeing the original scene for the first time and that was all I could think. Revision time:

Next station, Synthwave (I heard where we’re going is actually closer to Retrowave, but whatever):

Tomorrow, I will blast this in the Crown (New! Improved! Exhaust Note!) with all the windows down and melt into the Tatooine sunset.

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View from the Kuj

Cornering in my MS-60 Crown.

The sky looks like a painting. My new (probably fake) Alfa Romeo wing mirrors work a lot better than the old ones. Now adjusting them only takes two tries instead of five (check mirror, get out, walk over, adjust angle, walk back, sit down, repeat). Badass.

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Delfonific!

I’m on a kick looking for BGM tonight, because I need to start writing chapters 4 & 5 of my master’s dissertation tomorrow. I will be aided by my trusty steed, Dragon Naturally Speaking and all of these badass beats. Sometimes Lofi radio on YouTube gets old…

And speaking of steeds, I’m planning selling my trusty CRF250M to help pay off Max’s upcoming trip to the states… Which looks likes it’s really gonna happen.

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RIP Gaijin Shacho Hero Dude

Dear Nissan,
Now that you have ousted Carlos-sama, can you please stop making horrendous cars?
For example, no Skyline is worth a million dollars. Period. But this isn’t even trying:

The best looking part of this is the shadows!!
“Note from management: Please add ugly color swatch on the side.
Now THIS is how you de-accentuate a historical badge… Just bury it in carbon fiber and instead, make those air vents POP!!

Now, it’s rumored that you gangstabbed your Caesar in the back because he wanted to fully merge Nissan and Renault, but really, at this point you need to look at Renault’s current product lineup compared to yours. Although many Renault products look quirky,  they are at least generically modern, while Nissan’s look like they were designed in North Korea:

Nissan’s tribute to the Ssangyong Stavic?

It’s not necessary for you to compete with everybody on all fronts, but please, stop making ugly-ass cars. Please go back to your roots.

80 years old. This production car has more soul in just its tires than a million dollar Skyline.
Available in most parts of the world from around $500.
Aw hell, maybe there is a Skyline worth a million bucks…
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Dajiban Glory

Road & Track published their first cool story online, maybe ever: The Glorious Madness of Japanese Dodge Van Racing

If I were still in Japan, I might be into that… Different and kinda expensive, but not overly weird. Then again, I think about my homie that drove around a Suburban and was constantly getting stuck parking spaces, narrow streets, and once, even a car wash, and it might give me pause. Still… Those oversize Watas are pretty awesome.

Check out the drifting from around 9:10!

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Classic JDM Cars in Thailand

Note: My Kujira Crown is still running strong and you can find every post on it by browsing through my Cars category.

Recently, there have been a lot of interesting JDM classics popping up in my Facebook feed for sale in Thailand. There’s nothing I would consider buying as most of the sellers are just asking for way too much, but it’s interesting to see these cars are still somewhat maintained. Here’s a few that caught my eye last week.

Mitsuoka Bubu 501. The 502 was much cooler because it was even stranger, but still… 
Hino Briska (with unspeakably horrible wheels)
Daihatsu HiJet S70 or S80

The HiJet is nearly identical to the one I had at university, except the one pictured has a sunroof. I rode this car so hard and created so many legends in it… We once packed 19 people in it and drove from Nara Koen to Amemura. I stood it up on 2 wheels with a parking brake turn while driving back home from Rumours. It may still currently hold the speed record from the top of Tenri Dam to Nara Kyoikudai via Tenri Kaido.