LS460L

Rain > Snow

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Random shot I edited yesterday just because I felt like it. I’ve been thinking recently that if I can’t do anything to the car next year, I’d like to at least wrap it. Most likely not a matte colour, but a simple metallic… Although there have been quite a few bodykits popping up for super cheap, but I can’t cop those right now… Unless someone can convince Diana that a bodykit would be a good way to spend money.

The Christmas season is upon us! So I’m busier than ever lately… Christmas shopping, house stuff, wedding stuff. You know the deal by now.

And here’s my “rain > snow” pic because it seems fitting right now.

IMG_2967 copy

Mode Luxe VIP Side Decal

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Well I finally got around to designing a Mode Luxe decal – version 2.0 for the side of the car. The first decal I made under the “Mode Luxe” banner was a simple and small (maybe too small) Japanese-style car club sticker. I’ll probably revisit that again this winter and try to revamp it and get it done bigger and better.

For now though, I really wanted to come up with a side decal for the car – sort of like a livery that race cars get. You start to see a lot of VIP cars going this route now with decals rather than the window decals and I personally love it. As long as it’s designed nicely, most cars can pull off that same design. This has been a rough draft and I’m thinking of incorporating shades of grey into the decal to keep it interesting. Bill over at Three Twenty is going to be helping me bring this decal to life soon enough!

Here is a rendering of what it would look like. Very basic but gives the car some character. I would definitely line up the right side with the curves of the door to make it look clean, but that’s the general idea.

The actual design. I think I’ll be making some minor adjustments to the left lines to make them thicker. I haven’t decided whether I wanted the english text to say “Dress up style car club” or “high style society” yet. The Kanji says the latter, but I may switch it up too.

What do you guys think?

Regina George Hibernates

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That time has come. It’s that one day a year where you painstakingly clean the car, but this time with sadness rather than excitement that the car will be clean once again. I stopped driving the LS at the beginning of October but didn’t have enough time to clean it or anything so it’s kind of just been sitting there. Today I had a few hours to finally clean it up nicely and make sure it was all clean to tuck away into the corner of the garage. It’s bittersweet because it’s sad to have to go back to driving the Civic again but my wallet loves me a little more because the tab at the gas bar isn’t so bad. $45 every 2 weeks is wayyyy better than $75 every week lol.

Huge thanks to Jackie Tong at Zero Limit once again for hooking it up with this battery maintainer. Usually I just park it and pull the battery and store it downstairs and then install it again when it’s time to drive again. I’ve heard about trickle chargers and such but I’ve been too lazy to go get it. I know – I’d rather go through all the work to take the battery out rather than get a trickle charger… Crazy.

However, during Jackie’s shoot he asked me how I would park the LS with the air and such and eventually he suggested this battery maintainer. Simple hook up to the battery, plug it into the wall, turn it on and select a mode and voila! When you’re ready to drive it again, all you have to do is unplug and go. The cool thing about this is that it cycles the battery through several cycles making sure that it charges, discharges, pulses, etc. We’ll see how it goes next year!

Dirty ass wheels that haven’t been cleaned for weeks. Chrome wheels are such a pain in the butt to clean.

Raised up looks so dumb lol… but getting ready for a wash.

Nice and clean!

Tucked away as far over to the side as I could get it and aired down. I air it down mainly because the bags are assumed to lose air over time and it’s just going to end up sitting aired out anyway.

Hooked up and good to go.

The maintainer showing which cycle it’s at.

Easy connect. Nice and simple.

Good to go for the winter. lol @ the jack stand in the bay – it’s to hold the hood up so that it doesn’t come down and clamp the wires or unhook it from the battery terminals.

Well… So far, I’m doing OK with the transition… I know once it starts snowing and getting cold, I’ll be itching to drive it again. Until then, I got big people stuff to worry about. I think that’s why I’m OK with parking the LS away for now…

Until next year!

Hibernation Time

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October 1st… The saddest day of the year for me – mainly because that’s when the car gets parked every year. I know it’s kind of early to do so because we still have nice days and there isn’t any snow yet but for me, it’s usually because it’s too cold to hand wash it and that’s what I usually do… So by that time, it’s not worth it to keep out anymore since I’ll be too lazy to keep it clean anyway.

Last night was the last drive of the season and it was bittersweet. Mainly because I’m sad that I have to put away the car, but the other half of me is relieved that I don’t have to pay for its drinking problem every week. It gets pricey! haha

Just the last few shots before the shoot last night…

All alone.

Then JC and Punit showed up and this will also be the last pic of the three of them together until next year. I suspect there are big things in store next year for many builds once again…

Until then, I have a bunch of awesome shoots lined up over the next week because I’m on a photoshoot frenzy!