Aside from an inspiring artist I am also an astute auto enthusiast or in other words, I'm a car guy. :-)
I've owned many different types of cars in my life and can tell you every small detail about every single one. From my 1994 Chevy S-10 that would stall on me every time I came to a stop (I've never made so many right turns before in my life)
My 1996 Honda Accord that came with a cracked engine block and spark plug leads from a Ford motor
My 1996 Ford F150 box body (I rode the ten toe express quite often)
My 2005 Honda Accord EX sedan which was at the time the best car I’ve ever driven, very comfortable
My 2006 Subaru Impreza Outback Sport that had a very powerful single overhead cam motor that I had to replace 6 times in the span of one year due to a cursed rod bearing.
And now with this magnificent beast I’ve given the name Finn or FN2187.
The name is symbolic for my heart because Finn was the Stormtrooper who became enlightened to the atrocities of the First Order and joined the Rebel Alliance. Finn has a strong heart, a competent mind and a good soul. I even installed a POP bobble head doll of Finn on my dash board which scores really well with my passengers.
Finn is an incredibly durable and fast 2005 Alabaster White, Mercedes-Benz W203, C230 Kompressor Sport Sedan. I bought this car on an impulse after I sold my F150 and Impreza. I was not so sure how it'd go at the time but owning a Mercedes-Benz has always been a HUGE goal of mine. I was just browsing cars online one day for sh**s and giggles when Finn crossed my screen. The listing dealer is a known corner cutter and volume dealer which doesn't always sell the most honest and solid cars but something about this one just grabbed a hold of me. Perhaps the force was with me and also with it.
The very next day I woke up early, secured a ride to the dealer and took it for a test drive. It was rather typical in that the sales lady was not entirely transparent, very rude and seemed to be trying to rush me. I even discovered a few faults with the car that she was hoping I would over look as most people probably would have but I didn't care. There was a force driving me to the Stormtrooper and I was decided before I even woke up that day. I know enough about cars that anything that could possibly be wrong wouldn't be much an issue and just like I expected, I was correct so I knew I had it!
The only problems I could find up front were the cracked motor cover (common problem in this model I learned)
and the steering wheel column didn’t adjust up or down and was stuck in the down position. I am 6’3” so I take the high ground with my steering wheel. I negotiated that they fix the wheel column as a condition of purchase which they have yet to follow through with but I did manage to get them to adjust the wheel to the top position so it’s not that big a deal to me.
A few months into owning this beast the starter failed on me and left me stranded at the auto parts store of all places.
The starter costed me $900 to fix at a local euro shop and after that I decided I was going to do any future labor myself which ended up being my saving grace. Over the summer I decided to take up Lyft as a method to supplement my income and also cross advertise my real estate business. A downside to driving Lyft is that I was averaging 100 miles per day on my car and problems began to pop up left and right. The next issue was when my alternator failed right in the middle of a ride!!! I managed to sputter the car to the customers destination on time and didn’t sacrifice my driver rating. I then immediately hit the auto parts store and got a replacement BOSCH alternator which ended up giving me more problems. For some reason the replacement alternator didn’t come with the correct size pulley, 8 replacement serpentine belts later I finally figured out this was the case. I commissioned my mechanic James to help me fix this pulley issue and while we were at it I went ahead and also replaced my valve gaskets.
The funky fresh was back in the flesh with a vengeance!
During opening day at Coors Field while driving Coors Field beer goers around Lodo a car in front of me stopped short and I sustained significant damage to the right front end. The other car gave me false information I was devastated! I had so many plans for Finn which seemed to come to a quick and tragic end before it even started. The insurance company declared the car a total loss and even tried to screw me out of my settlement. I was determined to win so I withdrew the claim and was subsequently dropped for doing so. Suddenly once again in my life I was at a crossroads.
What to do?
I was lucky enough to have come into contact with James early on in my career driving Finn and no more than a week later I received a tip that my car in the same color had just hit the ground at the local junk yard and to top it off, it was in perfect condition! I went down to the yard and to my expectations there was already two people stripping it for parts. The car itself is not worth much but the individual parts are still extremely valuable. The fender for example was going to cost me $1100 from a body shop but I managed to get a replacement from this one at the yard for $20!!! The hood was already spoken for so that was a loss but I got 95% of the parts I needed to bring Finn back to the light.
I still needed a hood and headlights so I saved my pennies and bought a juicy pair of Angel eye headlights with black housing and halo rings. So begins the most exciting summer of my car life!
The car was starting to come back so I envisioned my build and even used my digital artist tools to project new mods before I wasted any money on them. Next came new center caps because the originals were busted and some punks had actually tried to steal the trident ring from them so they looked awful. The new ones added the exact increase in aggression I was looking for.
Next came the dry carbon fiber wrap which I did entirely myself. It was a daunting task especially considering I did not own a heat gun. I actually used a book of matches and would light a match, wisk the match across a small section, adhere and repeat until it came together.
Next came a new set of rotors which I purchased from Cquence Performance. While I was at it I decided to go ahead and paint my brake calipers red which was a winning decision indubitably. I ordered a set of Mercedes caliper decals from Ebay so that I could maintain the OEM appeal which is what I'm looking for in this car.
Theres a lot more work to be done mind you. 2 spoilers, one roof and one trunk, front bumper lip, rear diffuser I'm going to order a set of side skirt lips made for the E55 AMG and cut them to fit Finn and then get a wider set of wheels in wet carbon fiber. All body modifications will be authentic wet carbon fiber which I will then wrap with dry carbon fiber to align with my theme of alabaster on dry carbon.
From there I will dive into the motor which is where I'm limited. The m271 is a supercharged 4 cylinder dual overhead cam motor that does not get a ton of love from performance manufacturers. I'm going to install a set of stainless headers and a boosted pulley kit provided by the amazing people over at Kleemann. After that I am considering installing a stage 3 water methanol injection kit provided by Snow Performance.
Water methanol is basically just like Nitrous Oxide in that it injects itself through your motor and makes you go fast only there is a benefit with water meth over nitrous in that it cools and cleans your motor. As the car gods wrote, Let there be boost weather! The winter time is the best time of year for a boosted car.
After all that jazz it will be time to dive into the interior, I've already covered the trim pieces in dry carbon fiber but the seats will be replaced with a set of grey/red diamond stitched seats, the roof liner will be replaced with a grey leather material and to top it all off I will install a set of red seat belts.
Once this project is complete the summer will be spent registering for any and all car shows that come around. I cannot wait to pile a stack of show trophies next to this car. I push it to it's limits but I take very good care of it and it takes very good care of me.
This car is my absolute favorite subject to photograph. I love creating creative creations for many reasons. When it comes to customizing cars I find my joy in riding that thin line between tuner/custom and ricer/pos.
There is an art to modifying your car while complimenting the original already beautiful body lines of the original designer by adding your touch of greatness to it.
I hope you enjoy the shots I've included with this post and know that most were all taken with my Iphone. Even the good ones :-P