Phucking hell!

I don't remember the last time I wrote one of these things and I can't for the life of me remember how many cars I have owned in that time.

Again... I always have wonderful ideas to write a blog post and get us back to our former glory but I always have distractions...

Any old gaming console you don't want,  tick.

Amphibious creatures that eat each other and your wallet, tick.

I've managed to figure out what cars I like in the last year or two... The ones that are completely factory without any stupid modifications.

This is where the problem lies, I manage to somehow purchase a car thinking it can be reverted to standard condition... This can never happen because as soon as you pull something apart it never goes back together as it is supposed to and it always manages to make strange noises or stop working altogether*.

I know the perfect place to start, with a car that everyone (including myself) hated.

New Zealand, you are doing it wrong.

Harlequin... How and why was this ever a good idea? Because to this day I can not figure out why the heck anyone would paint a car this colour. So looking past the paint I purchased some black AMG wheels for it to try tone it down, which didn't work and I moved it on because I didn't want to be seen in it. Sadly the car actually went really well and was a rare manual, some noddy had just ruined it with thousands of dollars worth of bad decisions.

From this we came to the Libero GT, which I thought at the time was a good swap for the Mercedes above... This is where I thought I could make a toyed with car factory again. I shot myself in the foot, lost all sanity and spent too much money on some old bomb.

Turns out turbocharged cars are just bad news even if you try to sugar coat them. Fun to drive and sometimes reliable, I sold this Libero and it ended up looking like the Mercedes above somewhere in Porirua.

So with these learning curves behind me I came to a new formula, find a popular car and properly ruin it myself with the help of my friends.

Phresh and I were out in Porirua one afternoon and we saw this civic at Mobil, factory height, genuine BBS RS wheels and to our surprise it was a genuine EG9 SiR. I went over and had a chat to the fellow filling it up with petrol and it turned out they were tourists, within five minutes I had agreed to purchase their car from Auckland at the end of the week. Within a day of getting home it was bouncing all over the road on home made coil over suspension and by that stage I had found something else I wanted.

The first of the G100 Daihatsu Charades with a one litre, three cylinder turbocharged engine. This is probably the best car I have ever owned, its factory, it works and I don't intend on messing with anything. In my eyes this is the most amazing death trap ever built, just don't drive it on a wet or windy day because if you crash your life insurance wont pay.

Phresh, Phruity and Co are still very much alive... Just on instagram @conanmarriott @feathersword @n0c3rt @hadleighpells @milkspec #HarbourCityLurkers.

I'll leave you with a photo of the two I just cant part with, the devil on one shoulder and the angel on the other.

If in doubt, always own a Toyota Corolla.

Chris :)

*Does not apply to french cars, they frequently break down and make no sense prior to modification.

Locked up

Not every day you get to visit a prison. But Saturday just been, that’s exactly what we did. Milk, Caleb, Caleb’s little brother Joshua and I went to the Mount Crawford prison in Miramar/Maupuia for the open day. The prison only closed about a month ago, and it was intriguing to have a look round, check out the cells and ponder life on the other (in)side.

A good opportunity as ever to take some pictures, here are just a few of the pics I took.

I guess back in the day all government building would have a picture like this on the wall.

A reminder that we were entering a jail that had been in use a little over a month before.

  

Lots of photo opportunities.

Some activities for the inmates, pool, ping pong, and chess.

And my favorite picture of the day, Milk looking like he is where he belongs, in a cell.

Growing up in Wellington... Life

After a quick board meeting, it has been decided that Phresh & Phruity will be taking a different approach to things.

I'm going to get the ball rolling, I don't really have an angle on what I'm about to post but I'll give anything ago once.

Wellington, I love the shite out of it and wouldn't dream of ever moving away for an extended period of time. I thought it would be appropriate to write a short post on how it all started for me, for some reason I have a pretty vivid memory of where i grew up as a child.

It all began in a little cottage in Footscray Avenue, its a little walk up from Cuba Street next to where Real Groovy used to be (sadly now another business, where will I buy my Playstation one games from now?!)

I was walking the long way home from Aro Video last night to find it like this... Definitely not how I remember it at all. The room on the left where you can see the windows was my room... I think my Mother would have a heart attack if she saw the state of her garden now.

Now the back yard used to be huge! I had a sandpit, paddling pool and all sorts of other early 1990's goodies! Sadly, it looks like a concentration camp now...With a little bit of a dangerous limbo on the shed roof I found the Jasmine plants still growing beside the shed! (I'm going inside that house...)

I found that most of the places I knew had closed or been re-branded, I found remains of the things I used to neglect on a daily basis but I guess whats why they call it childhood. Kind of decided a bit of a mosey was in order...

Older Gentleman who was a friend of my old mans used to own this place, spent many an afternoon waiting while they had a yarn... If you know my old man, you'll know that means a half an hour chat.

Breakfast, lunch or dinner. Was a favorite of mine for a very long time, very well known burgers (I used to get  VIP kitchen visits when I was younger).

Bit of a 1990's vs 2000's battle going on here, this was the place where I purchased my original Optimus Prime transformers toy... of course the thought of this still leaves me grinning from ear to ear!

With the 1990's on the mind, it was home time for a jam on the Sega.

Before I depart I figure I should leave everything on a happy note, or interesting note...

When I left home this evening I walked over the top of the terrace tunnel entrance... I came across two oddly dressed females carrying a BMX bike over their shoulders. As I wandered past I asked why they weren't pushing it... I had them stumped, so they began pushing it and chatting away, I found out they were friends with the window washer fellas from Newtown and demanded a photo.

I swiftly parted ways with these two only to find them about fifty meters down the road with the police, the BMX didn't belong to them. A quick snap and a duck down a side street found me where I took some of the above photos.

I bumped into these two lovely humans again on Cuba Street which totally makes sense if you are a Wellingtonian... I ended up talking to a few interesting people tonight and I wouldn't change this place at all.

I promise weekly updates with interesting content.

Milk

Sneak peak of things to come...

Damn it's been awhile! Here we were thinking we were going to be real "productive" over summer and to heaps of posts... turns out it was the opposite, maybe we just all have more time for stuff in the colder months.

We have actually been doing things though, Hardpark was a good catch up, 4 and Rotor was hilarious , My highlight of the day personally was a certain quote about some of the cars on display ( Hey bro the 90's called , they want you to fax there car back! )
The civic's had some progress , Some subtle interior mods and a little more low was added, Milk's owned about 20 more cars since the last post and Loki somehow sold a Citroen yet cant seem too part ways with the rusty rolla.

Anyway here's a sneak peak of the BBS RS progress, They have been away being lovingly restored by a BBS guru in the big smoke of Auckland, (apparently he's had 30 odd sets). I Pinched the pics off facebook so will take some better ones soon.

Now just waiting on Centre caps to turn up from overseas and they will be sitting pretty on the civic.

Tealy Aqua Bluey Green FTW

Good things are coming....

Che , C

NZPC Hardpark

I thought it was about time I did another post before this blog dies altogether!!

A few weeks ago, NZ Performance Car held their second annual "Hardpark", in the carpark at the Hutt Riverbank.

Naturally the Phresh and Phruity boys where in attendance, along with Hadleigh in his Corona wagon, looking delightful on whitewalls. 

Pretty much every blog covered this event, so here are just a few pics, enjoy.

  Milk en route, grinning like a fool!

 Hadleighs Boss Corona Wagon

 How hard can you park?

 YEMO!!!!

 Slammed out Jetta and my car of the day, Red BMW 2002.

Honorable mention to these two cuties..

Hopefully more posts to come, perhaps one on our trip to Fielding for the 4 & Rotors Jamboree? 

Useless..

Yes, we are.

It seems like ages since the last post on here, probably cos it was ages ago! Milk is still rocking the BMW, the Civic is still dented and WOFless, and the Citroen is currently on TradeMe. Seems like Bryce has managed to find a motor for the Silvia, so that should be up and sideways in no time!

One of the reasons for the slackness has been Conan finally marrying Liz - wedding plans meant not a lot of work on cars went down. This should change in the next few months, Civic and Silvia to be fixed, Citroen hopefully sold, perhaps finally picking up an E30......

I'll leave you with this snap of Milk's BMW as one of the wedding cars, more pics from that day to come!

Quick BMW Video

Bryce took this wee vid of Milk's Beemer on the Camera he got for Christmas. Not bad for a first effort without a tripod! Look forward to seeing more of this!

http://vimeo.com/34187014