Category: Cars

A Day of Rarities

Nam and I ran a bunch of errands today and saw three very rare things:

  1. At the body shop: A Kujira Crown almost just like mine, but in much better condition (original everything: 4 cylinder engine, chrome trim [sob], automatic shifter on steering column indicating the car’s original purpose as a taxi in Japan [moving the shifter from the center allowed another passenger to sit there], etc.) restoration-wise. I say almost because I think mine was the deluxe version with a straight six 2600cc engine and optional (front seat only, non-retractable) seat belts. In particular, this old timer had Crown badges and some other details I had never seen before, but were probably originally on mine as well. Basically, he owns the prettier car (in dark blue). I took a look in the engine compartment and under the car a bit, though, and mine is better maintained as far as non-visual areas (plus I have an RB20 silvertop under the hood and matching 5-speed tranny, so I figure mine is a better match for me). I asked him if he would ever consider selling his. He said he’s owned it for thirty years so he’d only sell it to somebody who would take care of it… He wants twice as much as I paid for mine, but the guy who sold it to me basically sold it for the price of the engine (also because he wanted someone to take care of it). I can’t buy it anytime soon, but I know where the old guy lives just in case…
  2. On a backroad shortcut to the highway between Kalasin and Sarakham: kwai puak, also know as kwai don in the Isan dialect; this means a pink water buffalo. I thought I’d seen one in the distance last year, but it looked more tan-colored than pink. Well I can tell you now, seeing one from behind, it looked like a cow-sized pig – bright pink!. It was awesome! The hair around its face was stubbly and it moved along just like any other water buffalo on the right side of the road, walking and chewing on grass. Actually this guy’s friend was walking on the left side of the road, and he was supposed to be the third thing on this list but since he’s basically the same thing, he doesn’t get his own number.

So I wished I’d had my camera twice today, but I stopped carrying it along in the car a long time ago (it’s a heavy DSLR). Plus, we just sold Nam’s pocket camera to a friend, so maybe we need to buy phones with better cameras or something.

mizumawari

In the past month I’ve had to replace the water pump and some skinny rubber hoses in my Crown as well as the radiator in the Cefiro. I had been refilling the water in the Crown every morning as it seemed to be losing 500cc or so per day. I could see where it was leaking from and figured it needed a new pump soon. The thing is, since I only drive it to work every day, I could afford to wait. Reversely, I couldn’t afford repairs right away so I just prayed for the old gal to soldier on until I could raise the scratch, and that she did. The shocker was what happened after the pump was changed out and the water replaced with proper coolant (it had been filled with water since I bought it, I think) – the running temp dropped damn near thirty degrees (celsius) on average. It went from 87 degrees at cruising speed to just below 60! Awesome.
Then, last week I noticed green coolant spatter in the engine room of the Cefiro and saw that the entire seam running around the top of the radiator was slightly leaking… Bad news! I always tell my wife to keep an eye on the temp gauge so that sweet-ass VQ30 under the hood doesn’t burn out… But really, this is a non-priority for non-gearheads who’ve never seriously overheated an engine. So that radiator had to get looked at, stat.
The Nissan dealer said it was very lucky we brought it in when we did because it was on the verge of catastrophic failure. Here’s the kicker: The stock Nissan radiator is made largely of plastic and costs 10,000 Baht ($300). An all-metal one made for my car by a third party supplier costs half that. It has the disadvantage of being heavier than the Nissan one. On the other hand, it can actually be fixed. So in this case at least, genuine parts were not the way to go (this is not always the case, though, as many of the cheapie parts here come from China marketed especially for the SE Asian market and are total crap).

$800 Pimpmobile for G-man

Cuz it’s all about O-REGON, yo:

“1989 Cadillac Sedan Deville Pimp mobile for sale. Perfect for the up and coming pimp who isn’t quite ready to step up into an Ex-calade. This fine example of Motor vehicle pimpery comes stock with no hubcaps, because as you know any real baller is just gonna drop dubs on it anyway. The stereo isn’t working, but then again, a real mac like you is going to drop some change to make this bitch rumble. The trunk is extra large in case you have a ho who steps out of line, you can put her in there. A good feature because if you spend enough time with hos, eventually you’re going to have to lock a bitch up. in case of drive-bys where you need to light up some suckers that have been perpetrating this car has a special window that comes off its tracks so you don’t have to wait for it to slide down. Just roll up on that fool, drop the window, and blast him with that burner.”

Via Craigslist@Bend
(via)