random – Gripshiftslide

Cars and Coffee :: Truganina

Grant — Mon, 11 Jul 2016 03:16:19 +0000

It has been almost one year since i have been to Cars and Coffee Truganina, these regular Cars and Coffee events seem to be expanding all over the place. This particular Cars and Coffee event has been running monthly for a couple of years now yet it is one of the originals.

All types of cars started to stream in, including a stanced Audi that was on show at the prestigious 100mm car show.

The que to get into the event continued to grow steadily until 10am. Lots of interesting cars made their way into the parking lot looking for the best spots to show off their rides.

It looked as thou there were a few interstate visitors with plates from NSW, QLD, TAZ. The real question, had they really traveled all that way for this monthly event? Or was it just a case of new car purchases from other states?

Regardless it was great to see such a good variety of cars at the meet. This classic Ford Escort was in great condition! looked like it could have maybe been a barn find originally.

There were plenty of nice Subaru’s in attendance including this charmingly stanced Swagon with some very nice mods including some gear from Like Wise.

This photo does not do justice to how low this R34 is! It was really dumped! full commitment by the owner, sporting tucked wheels at this low static ride height especially on a daily and points for the number plate!

A tidy white on white combo saw this RX8 turning heads! Not only did it attract attention but it also has been spotted and mentioned a fair bit on social media.

Damien from JNC Otaku has his very on unique style and you can see it at play in his classic Honda civic interior.

Although the hype over RocketBunny kits is starting to fade they are still damn impressive to see in person! Especially when combined with a great looking wing.

A little touch of color goes a long way! The right set of wheel nuts can really help to bring attention to your wheels among the sea of modified cars it can be the one thing that draws the eye of any onlooker.

Subtle yet effective this Nissan R32 is siting at just the right height to tuck and still be able to get over speed humps and enter driveways it is really what everyone dreams about.

The latest STI looked at home jammed in between its modified friends, I wonder if the STI needs 5 buttons pushed before it will go fast like the new standard WRX does?

No this is not some type of rare Pokemon! Although many people were hard at work playing Pokemon Go at the event this Gozilla wasn’t part of the hunt for Pokemon.

A good crowd for a Saturday morning, the weather was good which made all the difference plenty of cars in attendance which helped create a great vibe for the event.

Its not to often you see a supra running the classic TRD Supra Aero Bonnet! but by the sound of the car and chequered tuning sticker you know that this car will be packing some serious horsepower.

A car that is really starting to grow on me after the years is the mx5, for the longest time all i saw was a hairdressers car but with the right treatment and a few mods this is one of the best bang for buck cars around.

Interesting steering wheel, from the era of car phones and tape players when you needed 4 horn buttons just in case of a random road rage attack.

Spotted some interesting stickers and sights from the day including plenty of Hanging with the Homies air fresheners and even a few of our stickers.

In prime position were 2 stanced RocketBunny 86’s and 2 other equally stunning cars plus our good friends Saint Side selling plenty of rad merchandise.

Could this be a tribute to the Fast and Furious Eclipse from the original movie? The colors are close!

That’s one serious front splitter very time attack inspired with massive canards and plenty of carbon to match.

Not as popular as the standard R34 the four door still can look great with a good set of wheels and small drop kit to set the car off.

As far as wagons go these BMW’s are one of the most luxurious comfy to drive wagons you will find for the price they look great and run like a dream.

Smokey and the Bandit, Hooper, Burt Reynolds was the won who undoubtedly made the Pontiac Trans-Am famous! As a kid i wanted one so bad! It was awesome to see this one in person! Such a classic car!

From one extreme to another! Welcome to Bag town where touching the ground is essential.

An unlikely pair, running a mexiflush setup on a commodore is a statement and a half! Notably bold in comparison to the little mx5.

This KE70 looks like a work in progress with plenty of tasty mods, it also looks like it could be hiding a secret under the bonnet.

The growth of this event is very evident, with increased parking guys helping to fit all the cars into the space while arranging the cars into position. This Monthly event may soon out grow its space come summer! only time will tell if they will have to find a bigger location.
-Grant

Sneaker Freaker :: The Big Kahuna

Grant — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 06:58:10 +0000

Melbourne once again lived up to its well known weather last weekend, with a glorious sunny Saturday followed by a Sunday that seemed to have a bored two year old flicking the weather switch every 5 minutes.
Those that braved the cold conditions were rewarded with one of the best street events in town.
Sneaker Freaker took control of Globe Shoes head office in Port Melbourne to host ‘The Big Kahuna’ event, a massive Sneaker swap meet with truck loads of Melbourne street culture thrown in for good measure.

Some of Melbourne’s usual suspects like Saint Side, Fuel magazine and of course yours truly came along to make the day one to remember.

Globe’s warehouse and loading dock were over run with Sneaker Freaks snapping up rare and discontinued shoes from dozens of vendors.

The event was heaven for our fury little friends who love to chew old sneakers, thankfully their owners kept them on their leads as some of the sneakers on offer were worth more than $3000!!!

Aside from shoes and street ware, there were also a heap of classic cars invited along by the team from Fuel Magazine.

There were tonnes of old school cruisers and even a rad kombi on display!

This 1950’s Chevrolet Corvette convertible was a thing of neck snapping beauty.

The crew from Saint Side had a huge display of custom low rider bikes, each and every single one had it’s own unique theme. We loved the Louis Vuitton version.

The amount of work that goes into these creations is absolutely mind blowing. This was one of the more aggressively styled bikes on show.

Gold, Candy and Chrome as far as the eye can see!

Back inside there was plenty of wheeling and dealing going on with so many rare items up for grabs – it was certainly a buyers market.

Hosting an event at Globe’s warehouse would be a sin without some skateboard action. On show were plenty of vintage skateboards from the early 90’s and beyond.

All the skate paraphernalia was scattered around the Globe half pipe. Yep, they have a private skate park on site! Lunch breaks wouldn’t be for eating if you worked here!

In the outside area we had invited some of Melbourne’s best street cars along and despite the not so amazing weather, we were blown away by the dedicated owners that braved the weather and the driveway!!

Karl’s tough as nails KE Corolla wagon was a crowd favourite, complete with a Unicorn hood ornament that bled real rainbows!!

Later we found out that rainbow blood was in fact some oil escaping from the mighty 4AGE from the trip over to the event.

Josh brought back his S14 from the last event at Calder. This thing is absolutely perfect and clean enough to eat off!

The wheel choice on this blue EG Civic was spot on! Rays TE37V’s fill out the guards perfectly on this little hot hatch.

Some of the 100MM crew came down to party, we cannot wait to see what the boys have up their sleeve for the 100MM car show.

Probably the best line up of Melbourne’s street cars we’ve seen, so much quality!!

Billy’s 86 is still jaw-droppingly beautiful and we can’t wait to get some alone time with it after WTAC.

Chris’s E30 is spotless, we were really digging the new air splitters on the bonnet too.

Another of Melbourne’s best E30’s came along. Alistairs’ equipped E30 was one of the winners from the last event held at Calder, so we just had to invite him along.

While the weather wasn’t on our side for the day, the public certainly was with huge numbers coming along to see what all this Sneaker fuss was about.
We cannot thank the team from Sneaker Freaker Magazine enough for inviting us along and allowing us to showcase some of the best cars in Melbourne.
Until next time, thanks for reading.
– Gwyn.

HWY Oakleigh :: HighWay Masters

Grant — Mon, 27 May 2013 07:11:00 +0000

So what is HWY? it is a car and bike enthusiast club that is rapidly growing in size! Since november 2012 the group known as HWY has been creating a new type of car meet scene. One that does not discriminate on car or bike type and the best thing it’s open to all! The major difference with this car club is that it’s a Charity organisation.

One of the most impressive attributes of HWY is the regularity of its meets, nearly every Friday its on!
i was shocked to see such great classics on display especially driven by “P” platers.

Yes sticker bombing is still alive and well. I like the fact that there are a few people keeping it alive within the scene.

Probably one of the most scariest cars of the night, it arrived full of people and every one in the car was wearing a mask. With many gas masks and other crazy masks, i thought this may turnout to be a drive by shooting but luckily i was wrong.

Did i mention that the nights theme was dress up! You cannot really tell from the photos yet there were plenty of school girls and onesies. It also was great to see such a collection of skylines together in one place.

Such a clean restoration and attention to detail. This is a great looking package that really did make people stop and take notice.

There were a few 86’s in attendance but this one really caught my eye! with these simple mods this 86 is totally transformed and now really stands out amongst the sea of cars.

Two very iconic cars just happened to be siting next to one another. If only my car history looked this good!

Sex spec style seems to be one of those things that has not left the scene yet. Is sydney to blame? im not sure but i respect the amount of tuck this commodore gets on its airbags.

The General Lee’s dark cousin made an appearance, its one car that i really didn’t expect to see at this car meet.

One mad little e30 that looks like it has had a bit of track time over its life.

It seems that all the NA supras are finding homes, surprisingly not the only supra on the night i saw about 4 in total which is good considering that they are really not as popular as they once were.

The R34 GTR is one of those cars that most JDM fans dream of owning at one time or another. So glad to see one at a local met like this.

Nissan has come up with alot of new cars lately but none have had as much character and ionic lines as the 370z. The design really does give that Datsun look in a modern way!

Although HWY meets are 70% / Holden / Ford i did manage to find some gems among the rough.

This one of the cars i wish i would of had as a “P” Plater, tough, fun to drive, with plenty after market parts. The s13 is a real trooper!

Now for something different a Hearse you say? well their ain’t many Hearse’s up for sale! so if you want one you have to create one. The movement of creating modern Rat Rods and throw backs is a very interesting concept and like all things evolution is always around the corner.

Oakleigh Masters was a great location for the meet. Even know the police did know of the event they still made several laps of the carpark to make their presence felt. Everyone still had fun, the growing community of young car lovers really look forward to events like these and not even the police car dampen their mood.
HWY really is changing the car scene for the better. With so many events and fundraises planned we at Grip Shift Slide will defiantly attend more of these great events.
Want to find out more ? hit up HWY FB Group or their new forum -> http://www.likehwy.com.au/
Thanks for looking,
Grant

Fiat :: Pheasant Creek Catch Up

Grant — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 21:52:40 +0000

After driving in circles around Kinglake on the hunt for the cafe meeting spot, I found myself a little lost. That was until I spotted a Fiat, gave chase and luckily it led me straight to the meeting point.

This is such a nimble looking car, very light and balanced. Once I laid my eyes on it I knew there would be more than one unique gem at the meet.

I really wasn’t expecting this Lancia Delta S4 in the flesh (or metal)! Okay, it’s not the full blown twin charged legendary monster of my dreams, but it is the closest you can get. I was truly blown away.

No parking under trees for this classic!

The Fiat 124 Spider was by far the most popular car on the day, for good reason.

Just look at that face and those clean lines! This is a prime example of how many cars used to be completely original. This is a contrast to many of today’s designs, which all seem to be cast from the same base.

From old to new, this Fiat 500 did a great job of standing out in the crowd, not to mention how it wears its colours with pride.

It’s a real shame that the days of the hood ornaments are long gone.

Forget the Model-T, check out this Fiat 501. It was amazing to see one of Fiats first major cars alongside some of their newer models.

Classic rally cars don’t get much better than this.

The set of semi slicks shows that this car is no garage trophy, and is used to being driven hard on a regular basis.

Nice and simple up front, but in the background you can see the fire extinguisher is in prime position, not half hidden under a seat.

When you see an angry scorpion you know it means business!

It’s great to see Abarth are making a comeback with the Fiat 500 and Punto.

This is the little Fiat I spotted and followed to the meet. From a distance I thought it was a Fiat 500, but on closer inspection…

I love the little cooler hanging off the front!

Simple and functional, this interior is solid and definitely not made of cheap plastic.

One of the best things about this car is that it’s equipped with suicide doors!

These guys definitely know how to care for their cars. I don’t know what their secret is but I’d love to find out.

Nothing inside but timeless quality.

From this photo you can see how Fiats style extends between models.

This subtle racing harness almost passes for a normal seatbelt.

The may be generations apart, but on the day most of the family was there.

I have a soft spot for a mid-engine car. Despite the pain of fixing them, nothing drives like a mid-mount!

Not just a coffee and chat style meet, the event later moved to a large garage. Hoping that this wasn’t a glimpse of what lay inside, what came next was more than I anticipated.

This simple looking Clubman was one of the many interesting projects within this garage.

It may be mistaken for the fuselage of some type of aircraft, but in actual fact it’s the body of a Formula 2.

A very popular series, this 1100cc Formula 2 ran from 1955 to 1958. This shows just how light and advanced these cars were back in the day.

Everywhere you turned there was another ongoing project. This one looked like the beginning of a miniature hotrod.

One of the newest additions to the garage was this very rare and sought after Lancia Flaminia GTL Touring Coupé.

This car was in very good condition considering its age. Check out that gear stick!

What garage would be complete without its very own fuel bowsers?

Under these sheets lay many legendary cars. It was incredible to see so much history in the one place.

You don’t see many Isuzu Gemini’s racing anymore!

The collection had something for everyone as shown by this Cortina, one of three housed in the garage.

This interesting looking frame looked like it has the potential to become something truly great.

By far the youngest person at this event, I was surprised by the number of cars and the amount of knowledge in one place. It was definitely the most interesting car meet I have been to in recent times and I hope to attend many more like this.
If you would like to see more Fiat action check out the Fiat Club of Victoria
thanks for looking,
-Grant

Jap Parts :: Coburg Cruze

Grant — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 08:09:34 +0000

The Jap car meet up and cruise expected a turnout in excess of 200+ cars and it was all organised via facebook!! This event had all the makings of a large JDM meet, but as soon as people arrived, they were gone just as quickly!

Everyone quickly grabbed a parking spot and soon the place was filled.
Bet you didn’t you know that wagon’s are back in? Itss true! There were Legnums, a Caldina, Subaru’s and even a VW Passat wagon.

Some of the first people to arrive were the RX7 boys.

There was a decent rotary following going on and it was good to see the classic RX7 is by no means gone and certainly not forgotten.

In my opinion, pop up lights are the most futuristic thing invented for cars! It is a pity they outlawed them on newer cars due to the damage they would cause to pedestrians.

These three were the only cars in this area, then suddenly the whole thing was full!

Primed and ready for a touge battle! It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I do like the race inspired taped headlight.

Its ok, it’s only a flesh wound! And we hear chicks dig scars like these!

Simple and clean, this EK was looking like magic! What I find strange is that it hadn’t been murdered with stickers! I guess that’s why this car looked so nice.

Didn’t see many chasers on the night, but managed to grab a quick snap of one hidden up the back.

With oil cooler hoses this low, I would be scared to drive over anything!

Its not all about jdm , I spotted this mini truck away from the crowd.

This one had such a unique front lip! I can honestly say this is the first time I have seen one like it.

One of the finest examples of a well modified ke70! This is ‘faptastic’! The owner should be very proud of what he has achieved with this car.

Another kesev and nearly all of them had welded or locked diffs, also check out the fitment!

When someone yelled out “Lets cruise, follow me!” it was a race to get out of the carpark!! This caused a bit of a traffic jam. The cops had done their normal rounds, watched, talked to a few and considered blocking people in, but the place had too many exits! Three or so squad cars did a drive through and the place really cleared out.

This may look like a SAU meet! its not, its only the skyline section moving out.

Later I heard that the cruise was heading up around the King Lake and Diamond Creek area. Many who turned up late did not want to battle traffic to catch up though.

The worst part about this meet/cruise was, there were a fair amount of people who turned up after
everybody had left! Some who had driven all the way from Geelong and were only late because of crashes on the ring road.
A group of Subaru’s were late, they had stopped to help a Subaru owner lower his wrx and also got caught in other freeway delays. This has got to be one of the fastest moving meets I have ever seen!
Thanks for looking,
– Grant

XXL2NV :: Hyundai Time Attack Car

Grant — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 14:45:42 +0000

What simply started as a tuned street car soon ended up a dedicated track monster.
Built by the crazy lads from Team Tuffcore, this Hyundai is going to shake things up this year on the professional time attack circuit.
Everything you see here is built by the boys themselves, no workshops, no help, just blood, sweet and hard earned dollars.

With a completely built car ready to hit the track, the boys needed to get some exposure. As you well know, racing isn’t cheap. Fuel, tyres and travel costs can all add up pretty quickly.
So we were approached by the boys to become their official media sponsor and needless to say we jumped on board straight away without hesitation!

The car is a shadow of it’s former self with massive over fenders and aggressive areo, all helping to transform the car completely!

This is no grocery-getter, not unless you are Michael Schumacher and had a hankering for ice cream 5 minutes ago!

The car got out of hand as a simple street car. Once the boys realized that it could hardly be driven without taking the paint off speed-humps wherever they went, they decided to bite the bullet and retired it from its’ street registered duties indefinitely.

Not a single bolt has been left untouched during the build, everything has been lightened and strengthened in the search of the fastest lap time.

The car runs a very high compression engine with a lot, I repeat a lot of boost!
Helping keep things reasonably cool under the hood is this massive vent.

The problem with building a car like this from such an uncommon platform has meant the guys have had to do a lot of custom fabrication along the way.
Things like these neat little GT mirrors have been completely built from scratch!

Now with the build being on a strict budget they have had to cut costs along the way, believe it or not, these wheels are replicas!

While the interior is still largely intact for this shoot, the boys have since built a dry carbon dash!!
We can’t wait to see it!

The car sits just 20mm from the ground, this made navigating the local streets for the photo shoot extremely difficult!

Here is a shot with a random child for scale references, the car is clearly bigger.

The Excel is running some pretty wild negative camber, the boys told me this was just for the shoot.
On the tack it is not so intense to save on tyre wear.

This Hyundai is tough to the core… (sorry!!)

There are a host of gauges and warning devices in the cockpit to help keep an eye on all the important things.

No stone has been left unturned, inside the bucket seats are mismatched so the driver is firmly in place in the very tight Groom seat and the passenger has a regular Bride seat for a little more comfort.

The massive tacho on the dash has harmed visibility but “the cool factor was far too high to mount it anywhere else.” – said the boys during the shoot.

The engine bay is just has highly modified as the exterior, ITB’s, ARC air box and a mid sized turbo all come together to produce the very impressive 484KW (p.m.p.o) at the wheels!

Suspension is comprised of a heap of the brand new Kony 2012 coilover range, this thing handles like nothing else.

When you take a step back to truly take in everything the boys have done to create this wild track car, you really appreciate what it takes to build such a monster…

… Months of tuning and rebuilding each part to chase that 0.01 second faster lap time, for example these canards are the 5th set that have been created for the car!!

The massive rear wing has probably been the single biggest expense the boys have had during the entire build, it’s estimated to have cost $12,000 Aud.

Yes this is a Photoshop… However the boys need your help to realize this dream and get them to the 2012 World Time Attack Challenge.
Please head to our Facebook page and hit the ‘like’ button, for every ‘like’ our page has we will donate two ‘likes’ to the Tuffcore Team page.
Simple!

This is easily one of the most competitive time attack cars in the country right now and built on a relatively small budget thanks to in house tuning and fabrication.
This Excel is a testament to budget racing and the ‘underdog’ and after completing the local time attack circuit the boys have their eyes on taking the car overseas.

Don’t miss out on the amazing video we shot of this crazy car,

And, Visit Team Tuffcore http://teamtuffcore.tumblr.com/
Thanks for reading,
– Gwyn.

Mobile Snap :: Yellow 370z

Grant — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:01:55 +0000

Where else but Box Hill? That is where I spotted Seeker Motorsports Nissan 370z and his Evo friend.
Carbon fibre everything, custom headlights, this is one serious ride!

Neverland :: Hot Import Nights

Grant — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 11:24:43 +0000

Neverland, one of Melbourne’s newest night clubs, showcased a fine selection of cars in a unique setting for the Hot Import Nights promotion.

I have always liked the boldness of the Evo 5. Its flares and large spoiler remind me of playing Colin McRae on Playstation.

Mugen Civic look alike.

These Lamborghinis stole the attention of the crowd.

The only Lexus in Australia rocking purple wheels!

This BMW made a quick exit from the event! Dinner must of been burning!

Classy set of wheels on this clean EK Civic. Rays wheels always look good.

You don’t see a v-spec GTR everyday! It was great to see one in the flesh.

A very clean Evo 8 sitting between great company.

Everybody wanted a seat in the Lambo’s but only the pretty ladies got the chance.

A very well looked after Evo 8.

The hardtop Murcielago and the convertible both sat in prime position the whole night.

Talk about nice offset! This AE86 was rocking some quality SSR Longchamps.
Hot Imports Night was a great idea. With a proper lighting setup and the inclusion of more cars this event can only get bigger and better.
– Grant