Thousand Dollar Supercar
-
Posts
1892 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
2
Posts posted by Thousand Dollar Supercar
-
-
- Popular Post
Welcome back to my art project, where I thought I was aiming for retro.... Today it's looking more like sci-fi futurism.
You can see I've put a mirror on one inner wall of the radio cabinet enclosure, to give the illusion of space. I've polished up a bunch of metal valve shrouds and illuminated them from within using neon bulbs, to symbolise the glow of an actual valve. I've incorporated an LED spotlight which is faulty and flickers in an atmospheric way. On the right of the above photo, a pair of 'icicle' Christmas lights chase up and down inside the case of an electrified bug zapper. This both conceals them and helps them cast shadows. I've embedded strings of LEDs into the floor which chase off into the distance, deliberately laid out to give forced perspective. Unfortunately you're not really tricked into thinking the interior of the radio cabinet is impossibly large like the TARDIS - it just looks like a cross between Tron and a penny arcade machine.
Here's a piece of interior decoration in the light of day. I cut out and folded a metal box, mainly to give me somewhere to house another moving coil meter. Then I wrecked the meter by accidentally drilling into its internal mechanism when making a hole for a backlight bulb. I managed to half fix it, just enough for it to mostly work. Atop the box, a valve shroud is hiding the light fitting. This either looks like a rubbish bin, or a steam train chimney on a boiler.
On the side of the box, there's a vent grille which exists so that I can stick another neon inside and have the glow coming out. Everything has to glow.
Also, everything has to hurry up. I've only got another 8 months until my ten-year deadline for this project, and I'm looking forward to kicking back with my first ever glass of Absinthe and tripping out to the pretty lights.
-
13
-
I already want to stab the people parked backwards with their tailgates up.
-
4
-
1
-
-
9 hours ago, Yowzer said:
GR Supra .... allegedly getting a 6spd next year
"Better still, the manual gearbox won't be paired with the entry-level 2.0-litre turbo four-cylinder offered in other markets – instead, it'll be bolted to the fully-fledged 3.0-litre turbocharged inline-six."
Cool, bonus points. Hopefully it helps credibility and sales - there are only three new Supras on TradeMe at the moment, outnumbered by mk4s with similar asking prices...
Back to the GR Corolla, videos are starting to come out about it. New Toyota GR Corolla - better than the GR Yaris?!
Good: manual only, with manual handbrake
Bad: auto rev matching with poor pedal placement for heel and toe (OK this isn't a huge deal)
Quirks and features: three separate exhaust outlets.
-
3
-
-
I admit the GR Yaris is a definite future classic, cooler that the BMW Supra and probably the GT86/GR86 as well. But the first thing I want to know is whether the GR Corolla comes in manual or something stupid like CVT.
Whether or not it can do helis is of secondary importance. :p
Maybe Toyota's engineers get it but their marketing department still have a bit of a Camry mentality. At least the car exists. =)
-
2
-
-
1 hour ago, flyingbrick said:
I'm a Toyota fanboy from way back....
1 hour ago, flyingbrick said:I didn't know there was a gr86!
1 hour ago, flyingbrick said:Had no idea that [GR Yaris] actually existed.
I'm not a Toyota fanboy, so I went to https://toyotagazooracing.com/gr/corolla/ to read about the GR Corolla. I noted that the last photo on the bottom of the page clearly shows a manual transmission, but the entire page doesn't directly mention the transmission in the text at all. I'm not sure that Toyota gets it.
-
3
-
-
Daddy Doug discusses the Eterna Sigma V3000's quirks and features until you want to stab him:
Did these cars ever come with a manual transmission and a digital dash and a turbo all at the same time, for the 1980s bingo win?
-
Yeah, they call it Sillyspeed for a reason.
Why would you buy a 156 (or any car for that matter) with a single-clutch robotised manual gearbox if it was available with a proper manual?
This being the future classics thread, why would you buy a four cylinder Alfa when you could get a V6?
A future classic Alfa is something like this (pre-facelift GTV V6 in Alfa Red with tan leather):
Or one of these (a GT with the V6), even though I've never been a fan, just because they were last car to have the last true Alfa engine with a manual transmission. The future classic market likes "lasts".
-
4
-
-
4 hours ago, igor said:
All it would take is for an overzealous government to amend the forty (or thirty) year rule down to say fifteen years and a large portion of the working class would be well fucked.
Well then a large portion of the working class should stop voting for overzealous governments!
This would be the best solution, followed by the various compromise measures like mileage limits, proof of car club membership or proof of second car ownership. These measures wouldn't suit all scenarios and would be open to abuse - just disconnect the odometer, join the Japanese Nostalgic Car club with your 1980s Hiace, put all the family's cars under one person's name etc.
Also, I agree with xsspeed that it's not the business of a car club to become advocates for non members (except incidentally on shared issues).
-
15 hours ago, datlow said:
Old boy clearing some condensation
Then all the blue smoke once it warmed up
This was my brother's unofficial first car back in 2001:
Later, he made some double quotes to go around the badge on the tailgate, turning it into a giant...
...and then it got fricken stolen. =(
-
5
-
1
-
2
-
3
-
-
1 hour ago, Valiant said:
Nsu RO80
I recall the Rotatey having some fans during its voting on the alfaowner.com Cool Wall - I guess Alfa owners quite like awkward styling and unreliability.
-
1
-
-
On 03/02/2022 at 14:19, ChrisJM said:
Hi Guys! Does anyone know what happened to this car? Does this owner still own it? I just bought a Savanna GT over here in Australia, and would love to chat to him about it!
Hi Chris.
The guy still owns it, but he's no longer visiting this forum. I spoke to him on Facebook and got his email address, which I'll send to you in a private message.
-
- Popular Post
I've discovered that my radiogram is actually from about 1957, newer than I expected. It is (or was) a La Gloria Recordergram, made here in Auckland by Dominion Radio and Electrical. A nice example sold on TradeMe the other day for $100.
I got the magic eye installed and working:
It responds fast (no damping) and the microphone input works well. I nearly came unstuck a few times with electrical oversights, but I managed not to blow anything up. So now my cabinet has
some kind of sink plug affixed to the front of it for some reasoncyclops vision.
I'm working on multiple bits of the project simultaneously at the moment, with varying degrees of success. The common thread seems to be that I throw stuff together out of hoarded junk because I'm impatient. Here's my TV screen thing:
Don't worry, it'll sit right in the back in the dark where (fingers crossed) it's barely visible. Hopefully you'll just see the screen and the illuminated gauges. Nobody will know I used a bit of cupboard door, tile edging, copper cut from a hot water cylinder and tarnished on my gas cooktop etc. There's a digital photo frame at the top, which will run a slideshow of random stuff like period advertisements for electronics and alcohol. The bit between the analogue meters at the bottom is a light-up display from a cheap Chinese UPS. It may look out of place, but I can't live without incorporating its red "UNUSUAL!" warning somewhere!
And here's my ripoff of the Starlight Headliner, an option I'll definitely be specifying on my next Rolls Royce.
Take one piece of left-over roof flashing, drill it full of holes, spray it with rubberised underseal, hide the remains of some Christmas lights behind it, seal it with left-over draft stopper.....
Wow, staaaars!
They twinkle in random ways and it's all very cheesy.
I've cut alcohol out of my home life lately, but the day this project is finished, I'm allowed to buy myself a bottle of Absinthe:
I'm gonna need something at least this hallucinogenic in order to appreciate the end result of whatever it is I'm actually making here!
-
16
-
1
-
1
-
@GMH63 That would be great if you've got an eye trim with a hood/eyelid that you'd be prepared to part with.. My first choice would be brass, bronze or similar, but brown Bakelite/plastic would also match existing trim on my radiogram.
Re the collectors, the cheapest broken 'project' radios with magic eyes seem to fetch ~$50+ for small ones and ~$100+ for tombstones, plus there's the challenge of getting a whole radio to Auckland. They seem to be worth a few hundred once done up (everyone in Napier and every trendy hipster needs one). I wasn't gonna pay that just to scavenge one piece of trim, and in the process, ruin a proper antique to adorn my abomination. But if you've got a trim piece on a radio that's already missing parts, let me know..
I'd also be interested in a couple of logo / nameplates and large valves (not working) for decoration. Will pay monies plus shipping.
Pic for thread:
-
3
-
-
- Popular Post
More parts arrived.
There's pre-assembled kits to drive analogue VU meters and another magic eye.
I've wanted this circular kind of magic eye since I first saw them, cos they're daft and creepy. My radiogram never had one, so I'm adding it, even if it's from slightly the wrong era. The hardest piece to obtain was the eye's trim surround, because the few that come up for sale are attached to 90YO radios that collectors keep outbidding me for.
I would have preferred brass or a similar metal:
The eye is going to sit on the front face of my radiogram above the display window, and I'll experiment with giving it a direct audio input from the guitar amp or using its mic input to pick up the speaker cavity sound mix.
The VU meters will just be installed somewhere inside the display area, trying to look retro despite their LED backlighting. As they're another item that reacts to the music, they'll hopefully help distract from the fact that you're basically looking at a static collection of lights.
I've got all the key parts for this project now, so nothing is holding up anything else. I'm hoping to make some progress over summer. =)
-
12
-
8 hours ago, MIRAGE-MAN said:
I've sold the multicolored Mirage. It's being restored. Has just had a full body respray.
Really? Hopefully they're making it into a cheesy bogan turbo edition, with a panther stripe.
-
3
-
-
11 hours ago, kempy said:
Is that an Aerolux Cross I spy? @Thousand Dollar Supercar
It's a knockoff no-brand "Neon Cross". Surplustronics used to sell them but they don't seem to be listed any more. Hindu "Om" lamps are still available but unfortunately those can't be inverted for Satan worship.
The left channel of my magic eye kit has stopped working. The tube now just indicates the minimum level. I need to fix this before I can go any further. =(
Edit: I traced the problem to an open-circuit resistor. Of course I don't have a replacement one of the right value, but I'm pretty sure that Ohm's law is temporarily suspended during lockdown...
-
1
-
-
4 hours ago, - i5oogt - said:
A good condition MK5 Cortina S is 15-25k these days. Madness
At those prices, Dubstar could afford to trade theirs in for a Honda Accord!
/spam
-
5
-
1
-
-
I'll be in town for the week but probably won't have a car. Is this meet gonna be on the Thursday night?
-
1
-
-
Just now, Transom said:
Cool - what was that music track ? Knightshade ?
That's 'Run of the Mill' by Judas Priest. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuXoalKim9c
I picked it because of that quiet section which shows off the fact that the kit works in stereo. With most busy and full-sounding music tracks, the tube displays just sit near their maximum most of the time.
-
3
-
1
-
-
- Popular Post
My magic eye VU meter parts arrived!
Magic eye tubes were used as signal strength indicators on old valve radios, to help show you when you'd tuned the station accurately. Fast forward 90 years and this kitset just makes the tube displays dance to the music.
I went for a pricier kit, but made up for it by getting the tubes on TradeMe and supplying my own case.
Here's the kit assembled:
I set about installing it in the project box and started to freak out that it would look like a monster face - the box for the head, tubes for eyes and a grille for a mouth. I added a Tesla nameplate below the grille to try to minimise that, but from some angles....
Anyway. Here's a video. Behold the pointlessness!
-
24
-
3 hours ago, Nominal said:
@Thousand Dollar Supercar might be keen?
Looks like it has been turned into a racecar and has a rollcage etc, so it probably isn't road registered. I can't think why it would be at the wreckers unless it's dying of rust, in which case the running gear has probably been removed... basically I doubt it would be any use to me. =(
-
1
-
-
7 hours ago, ThePog said:
She went to the local car yard to look, which resulted in them trying to sell her an MG Core...
Aww. When I saw the title of this thread, I thought you were buying a new MGB body shell - the only kind of MG core one should consider purchasing? You could probably get a Corolla engine and a CVT in it if you really wanted?
-
2
-
-
- Popular Post
Making slow progress on this whenever I can be bothered. The control panel is covered in leather jacket, and we have volts!
I bought a kitset of a motorised chain similar to a tank track, and used it to create a motorised curtain. The curtain grinds its way noisily open and closed, which adds to the cheese factor.
It's lit by some Christmas lights:
Hopefully the lights in front are sufficient to stop lights behind from being visible through the thin fabric.
I discovered that my plasma globe causes my neon bulbs to glow dimly, which is kinda cool.
I hope I don't have to ditch the plasma globe because it scrambles electronics in its vicinity.
Next up on this project is puzzling out what the rest of the controls should do, and deciding how much effort to put in. I'd quite like a magic eye VU meter.
-
19
-
1
-
1 hour ago, ul9601 said:
its a stationay camara. the one on Hillsborough rd near cemetery.
I live not too far from that one. I didn't think it issued tickets for speeds that low, but maybe they've all changed because of not making enough money. Was your ticket issued on a long weekend?
-
1
-
Nissan March (micra) K11 appreciation thread
in General Car Chat
Posted