• Cars,  Photos

    Things I replaced on our car over summer vacation

    You may understand part of the pain and frustration we experienced if you can recognize the complete set of gaskets and ferrofluid engine mounts (replaced with solid urethane mounts). Yes, the whole front end of our Cefiro A33 (USDM: Infiniti i30) was taken apart and put together again. It runs really sweet now, except for a noisy power steering pump, another set of wheel bearings, some paint bubbling up on the roof, etc., etc., and so forth…. And my car, the 40 year old Kujira Crown, will be totally done sometime this year, hopefully (that’s a story in itself; not enough space or patience to cover it here).

  • Cars,  Knockoffs,  Old Blog Entries (archives),  Thai Society/Culture,  Toys & Tech

    Chris Pongpitaya’s Supercar Knockoffs

    …Because nothing says genuine 911 like a spoiler the size of a Cessna wing (and judging by the height of the hood, front wheel drive as well). (thx Mark) This video intrigued me so much, I had to dig around a bit. Here’s the juicy bits: When looks alone matter – A Bangkok Post article on Chris and his shop, Schönes A thread on a Phuket message board with sweet replica Aston Martin pics An online gallery with photos of the old factory in Ekamae According to this Danish article, this is the contact info for Chris Pongpitaya / Schönes in Bangkok, Thailand:Tel: (+66) 81 674 4950schones_2000@yahoo.com UPDATE:Here’s some alternate…

  • Cars,  Old Blog Entries (archives),  Photos

    My other, much-neglected baby

    The Kujira Crown is still my daily driver; driving in heavy rain everyday with no power steering, no hand brake, fairly torquey rear wheel drive, and Max in the front seat (in his new, larger baby seat) is a challenge, but it’s cool driving such a unique car every day. Here’s a photo from the other day when we had to dispose of a dead body in the woods: Although the lighting in this photo masks it very well, she is in great need of a new paint job, which when done properly will entail sanding everything off, fixing several holes and rust patches, and cutting out and patching the…