Created: 4/24/2004
Last updated: 4/26/2004
Glenn, Yuichi, and I decided at the last minute to head down to SoCal for the Motorsport Z Car Nationals. I prepped my car and then left Glenn's house in San Jose at 9:45 PM for the drive to SoCal. We met up with Yuichi near Buttonwillow off of Highway 5. On the way down, I saw a cute, white bunny rabbit (reminding me of Peter Cottontail) sitting in the slow lane. I attempted to swerve thinking I wouldn't run it over but drive around it or something. At the very last possible second, the rabbit jumped into my escape path and I ran it over. Glenn felt the thumping under the passenger side floor pan. Yuichi, who was driving his 350Z behind me, saw the rabbit explode into a billion pieces. When we finally pulled into the hotel parking lot, upon first inspection, there was no visible damage. When I woke up in the morning to take off the hood mask, this is what I found.... Doh!
The white strands are
pieces of rabbit fur. Go and check out my writeup on the trip to Arkansas.
You'll see the deer episode pictures. The tuft of fur reminds me of that
incident. What is with me and animals on the highway. ;-(
More damage to my
front fascia. Here you can see a 4" by 4" chunk of paint missing and some road
rash under it.... Now I definitely have to repaint the front end. What better
time for this to happen than right before a car show. Luckily, I brought some
touch-up paint. Hopefully, it will look okay later on.
Picture of a random Z
on the 405.
Pictures of Yuichi's Daytona Blue 350Z.
Today, we decided to stop by the Magnaflow's open house. They had many classic, current, and retro cars on display. Several tuner shops, vendors, and manufacturers were also there on hand. Several celebrities were present including, Steve Saleen, Mario Andretti, Chip Foose, and Duane from "American Hot Rod" fame were present. Here are some of the pictures.
Maserati Coupe Cambiocorsa.
1935 Chevy Purple
Rose. This was an absolutely beautiful hot rod.
The man and legend
himself, Mario Andretti, signing autographs.
For those of you who
watch American Hot Rod, here is Duane, shop manager of Boyd Coddington's garage.
He was a great guy to talk to and he talked about how they ham it up in front of
the camera. This can be seen on the Discovery Channel. This has to be one of my
favorite Boyd Coddington creations. This is the Alumatub. This hot rod was
custom hand fabricated from aluminum and given a brushed finish. Check out the
lines and how beautifully crafted this was. You can tell by how many pictures I
took that I love this hot rod and it was my personal favorite at the show. It
has since been sold to a private owner by Boyd Coddington.
The Alumatub. Simply
beautiful.
Interesting Mazda Protege truck conversion.
Nissan Skyline R-34 show car.
Carbon Creations' custom RX-7.
Dodge Viper.
Some of the 350Zs at
the show. Gull wing doors and side opening hoods. What will they think of next?
Chevrolet SSR truck.
Chip Foose and
Courtney Hansen from the TLC's "Overhaulin" tv show. Chip Foose is one of the
ultimate car modifiers and custom designer and fabricator. The following are
pictures of vehicles from the show:
Pictures of the rescue
truck from the Overhaulin' show. The father and son were great people to talk to
as they described how the rig came together and how the joke was played out on
the son. You have to watch the show to really appreciate the story behind the
truck and how all the pieces came together. Check out the flames. Just looking
at it made me think the truck was really on fire. Pictures don't do it justice.
Some other vehicles at
the show.
Random girl pictures.