NOTE: If scanning the QR code on my car brought you here, I'm glad you got to see it in person and I'm glad you might get to have any questions about this weird ride answered.
Now on to the original posts:
Hey guys! It has been some time now since I have Been on the forums, but I really wanted to show what I have gone and done with my P5 over the past few months.
I bought my P5 brand new in 2003 with 14 miles on the odometer. Midnight Mica Blue. It was the only color I wanted and the reason I wanted a P5 was because it was the only car on the market in my budget that looked awesome from the factory. Basically I knew that I wasn't going to start cutting it up and customizing it right away. At the time the car I was currently driving was undergoing lots of body mods and other custom tweaks and I needed something nice and reliable that still looked good.
2 Years after my purchase I finally lowered it with some 1.8" Goldline drop springs. A few months later I picked up some 17" ADR wheels that my buddy used to have on his cavalier and that's where the car stood for a few more years. Eventually I upgraded to some clean Alba Chrome 18's, added a Weapon R intake and put a custom fiberglass stereo in the back. I loved my car. I kept it clean, I treated it right.
Then... I got a job as a same-day courier delivery driver for a company that required you to use your own car. I loved the job, but it was hell on my car. It was awesome being the delivery guy in the nice car, but road hazards DESTROYED my nice wheels, My front end had a million rock chips, the normal wear and tear on the car was sped up 10 fold... and I started to hate my car. Which caused me to neglect keeping it clean. Which made me hate it even more. and so on and so on.
I eventually moved on from the courier job, but my car had lost almost all my love. Sad.
Here's where the budget rebirth comes in. The point of this project is to show that you don't have to spend a ton of money on your daily driver after almost a decade of use to make it feel fun again. Not every car has to be a high dollar show piece. It just has to be enjoyable for you.
My car is paid off. I don't need/can't afford a new car payment.
I have a project truck that is where my real money needs to go, but If I can make the daily fun on a budget...Why not?
This car had 14 miles on it when I bought it. Now it has around 209,000. Still running strong.
This car doesn't deserve to be tossed away, it deserves to be appreciated by it's owner and I am glad to say that I am truly appreciating my car more than ever after a near decade of use. This care has taken me on so many journeys all across the southwest and the pacific and I am once again excited for the journeys ahead.
So here's the lowdown.
This build is DIY. As in I Did It Myself. In my two car garage. On the weekends or after work.
After working on a friends custom beach cruiser bike I decided to attempt to repaint the car with rattle can Graffiti paint. I know what you're thinking, "WHY? WHY OH WHY?!!!" Look, I know that this isn't the correct way to paint a car, but I'm taking a more artistic approach. The color is All City Brand: Miami Blue Matte. It took me about 12 cans and only that many because I was dumb and started the project when the weather was wet and rainy and also when I started my painting style was all wrong when it came to doing the doors. After a friend gave me some spraying pointers I am happy to say that most people don't realize it is a rattle can paint job. The cans were $3.99 each so I'm into this paint job about $50-$60 with masking tape.
Any parts that were black have been cleaned and re-sprayed with black Plasti Dip. This stuff lays down awesome, dries even and was WAY MORE EXPENSIVE than people lead you to believe. $7.19 per can at Ace hardware and I used about 4.5 cans. So about 50% of the money that went into the 12 cans of color.
I have noticed a trend of "sticker bombing" in the import scene where people take a hood or a fender or a front lip and cover it in all kinds of sticker to set the section off from the rest of the vehicle. Then in November when I was at the SEMA show in Las Vegas I saw an old Subaru That did a similar thing on the roof, but laid out comic book pages and then tried to wrap a clear material over it. The execution wasn't that great, but I really liked the idea. I have a folder of art on my computer that I have saved over the years. If I see a really cool piece of art online I save it to the folder. I have a bunch of really cool stuff, but never really had anything to actually DO with the pics. So I decided to use them on the car. I used Photoshop to spread out the almost 1100 photos into 2 single art files. One for the roof and one for the center of the hood. My best friend works at a shop that builds custom displays and stands for companies like Monster Energy, Rockstar, Grey Goose Vodka and a bunch of other companies for things like trade shows and public events. The shop had a large format vinyl printer so we were actually able to print my art onto laminated vinyl so that it could be laid on smooth and even unlike the Subaru I had seen at SEMA. I have also been using some of the excess to wrap some interior parts like the center console and the window switch plates. I still need to wrap the radio dash trim area.
This project is still unfinished. I plan on lowering the front a little more and also doing something with the wheels. Right now I have 17" Mazda3 stocks on it with a 205/40/17 tire, but I really want to find some decent aftermarket wheels or nice stocks like the RX-8 stocks and refinishing them. There is a show here in mid February and if I don't find a crazy deal on something else by then My buddy is going to help me powder the wheels I have now in his garage oven. I'm going to do a near chrome powdercoat and then a transparent kandy violet powdercoat over that. Something else to be wild and offset the look of where the car is at this point.
All in all I am into this redesign under $100 so far. I really hope you guys like my trying to be creative, out of the box ideas on this. And now for some pics!
Now on to the original posts:
Hey guys! It has been some time now since I have Been on the forums, but I really wanted to show what I have gone and done with my P5 over the past few months.
I bought my P5 brand new in 2003 with 14 miles on the odometer. Midnight Mica Blue. It was the only color I wanted and the reason I wanted a P5 was because it was the only car on the market in my budget that looked awesome from the factory. Basically I knew that I wasn't going to start cutting it up and customizing it right away. At the time the car I was currently driving was undergoing lots of body mods and other custom tweaks and I needed something nice and reliable that still looked good.
2 Years after my purchase I finally lowered it with some 1.8" Goldline drop springs. A few months later I picked up some 17" ADR wheels that my buddy used to have on his cavalier and that's where the car stood for a few more years. Eventually I upgraded to some clean Alba Chrome 18's, added a Weapon R intake and put a custom fiberglass stereo in the back. I loved my car. I kept it clean, I treated it right.
Then... I got a job as a same-day courier delivery driver for a company that required you to use your own car. I loved the job, but it was hell on my car. It was awesome being the delivery guy in the nice car, but road hazards DESTROYED my nice wheels, My front end had a million rock chips, the normal wear and tear on the car was sped up 10 fold... and I started to hate my car. Which caused me to neglect keeping it clean. Which made me hate it even more. and so on and so on.
I eventually moved on from the courier job, but my car had lost almost all my love. Sad.
Here's where the budget rebirth comes in. The point of this project is to show that you don't have to spend a ton of money on your daily driver after almost a decade of use to make it feel fun again. Not every car has to be a high dollar show piece. It just has to be enjoyable for you.
My car is paid off. I don't need/can't afford a new car payment.
I have a project truck that is where my real money needs to go, but If I can make the daily fun on a budget...Why not?
This car had 14 miles on it when I bought it. Now it has around 209,000. Still running strong.
This car doesn't deserve to be tossed away, it deserves to be appreciated by it's owner and I am glad to say that I am truly appreciating my car more than ever after a near decade of use. This care has taken me on so many journeys all across the southwest and the pacific and I am once again excited for the journeys ahead.
So here's the lowdown.
This build is DIY. As in I Did It Myself. In my two car garage. On the weekends or after work.
After working on a friends custom beach cruiser bike I decided to attempt to repaint the car with rattle can Graffiti paint. I know what you're thinking, "WHY? WHY OH WHY?!!!" Look, I know that this isn't the correct way to paint a car, but I'm taking a more artistic approach. The color is All City Brand: Miami Blue Matte. It took me about 12 cans and only that many because I was dumb and started the project when the weather was wet and rainy and also when I started my painting style was all wrong when it came to doing the doors. After a friend gave me some spraying pointers I am happy to say that most people don't realize it is a rattle can paint job. The cans were $3.99 each so I'm into this paint job about $50-$60 with masking tape.
Any parts that were black have been cleaned and re-sprayed with black Plasti Dip. This stuff lays down awesome, dries even and was WAY MORE EXPENSIVE than people lead you to believe. $7.19 per can at Ace hardware and I used about 4.5 cans. So about 50% of the money that went into the 12 cans of color.
I have noticed a trend of "sticker bombing" in the import scene where people take a hood or a fender or a front lip and cover it in all kinds of sticker to set the section off from the rest of the vehicle. Then in November when I was at the SEMA show in Las Vegas I saw an old Subaru That did a similar thing on the roof, but laid out comic book pages and then tried to wrap a clear material over it. The execution wasn't that great, but I really liked the idea. I have a folder of art on my computer that I have saved over the years. If I see a really cool piece of art online I save it to the folder. I have a bunch of really cool stuff, but never really had anything to actually DO with the pics. So I decided to use them on the car. I used Photoshop to spread out the almost 1100 photos into 2 single art files. One for the roof and one for the center of the hood. My best friend works at a shop that builds custom displays and stands for companies like Monster Energy, Rockstar, Grey Goose Vodka and a bunch of other companies for things like trade shows and public events. The shop had a large format vinyl printer so we were actually able to print my art onto laminated vinyl so that it could be laid on smooth and even unlike the Subaru I had seen at SEMA. I have also been using some of the excess to wrap some interior parts like the center console and the window switch plates. I still need to wrap the radio dash trim area.
This project is still unfinished. I plan on lowering the front a little more and also doing something with the wheels. Right now I have 17" Mazda3 stocks on it with a 205/40/17 tire, but I really want to find some decent aftermarket wheels or nice stocks like the RX-8 stocks and refinishing them. There is a show here in mid February and if I don't find a crazy deal on something else by then My buddy is going to help me powder the wheels I have now in his garage oven. I'm going to do a near chrome powdercoat and then a transparent kandy violet powdercoat over that. Something else to be wild and offset the look of where the car is at this point.
All in all I am into this redesign under $100 so far. I really hope you guys like my trying to be creative, out of the box ideas on this. And now for some pics!
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