Another photo from the impromptu shoot outside STM after the dyno test.

I'm back at work on the car after a trip overseas, and currently setting up my garage for the body work stage to proceed, so work should be progressing rapidly soon. I can't wait to have the car back together again...

Syber 13

SYBER 13

A crazy Gatebil-style S13 Nissan Silvia built to four-wheel drift. It features a set-back Chevy LS V8 with twin superchargers and a custom four-wheel drive setup. The front blower is mounted backwards and has its internals reversed so air goes in the bottom, gets compressed, and comes out the top and into the second blower mounted normally on top of the motor. I think it makes for a mean-looking beast head poking through the hood, and should have the performance to back up the looks. The radiator is in the rear, fed by the roof-mounted scoop, so when the one-piece front is removed you’d get an uninterrupted view of the front blower on its cantilevered brackets, and also of the front transaxle, and custom-built and white-painted suspension and spaceframe.

Another potential future build concept. I really like this machine, it would look rad as hell for real I reckon.

The Joker

This is The Joker, or the Shakotan Demon, a Mashine Chop based a 1971 Dodge Demon with Japanese shakotan/bosozoku styling. I’ve been photochopping works-style overfenders and big ducktail spoilers on all sorts of cars for many years now, and think this one really suits the look well. It’s kind of like a big Mazda RX-3 or a KE35 Corolla. It’s called The Joker both for the purple and green colour scheme (which is based on two of the famous Mopar ’High Impact’ hues of the ’70s: Plum Crazy and Sublime, and also happens to be the Joker’s colours from Batman), and also because of its badass PPRE 26B turbocharged quad-rotor engine – a choice that V8 fans won’t find very funny!

Mashine is a project myself and good friend and fellow designer and car nerd Ash Thorp are working on. A way to indulge our crazy car fuelled plans and make big things happen in the future…    Keep your eyes peeled!