Mighty Car Mods Interview

BL: What cars have you gone through?

MARTY: 7 Holden Geminis, Isuzu ZZ/T, Mitusbishi Cordia GSR, K11 Micra, K10 March Superturbo, 97 GX Liberty, 96 Legacy GTB Twin Turbo, 2 Toyota Lasers and a Pulsar that we blew up.

MOOG: Camira, Mini, VL Commodore, S13 Silvia, 180SX, Jeep, Daihatsu Cuore Golf GTI MK4, Golf GTI MK5, Golf Sportline.

BL: What cars did you drive in high school?

MOOG: My first car was a yellow 1976 mini. I installed the stereo myself and I got the car when I was 15 years old. I had to wait a year before I got my L’s so I just drove it up and down the driveway nearly every day. As soon as I got my P’s I upgraded to a 1984 yellow Holden Camira. It was terrible but had black tints and a ‘Bass Canon’ that took up the whole parcel tray. I used to push it down my driveway in the middle of the night to sneak out to my girlfriends house without waking up the parentals. Little did I know soon the only way to start it was a push start. Last time I drove it the back right wheel fell of at 80km/hour (the whole thing)

MARTY: I had a ’75 Holden Gemini which I made all the learner mistakes in and also got the bug for fixing up cars – it needed LOTS of fixing… I installed the equivalent of an ‘iPod’ into it which took up most of the boot and you controlled with a keypad to choose from.. wait for it… 1000 songs! One of my friends fell out of the back of it in the school car park and somehow got his leg caught in the seatbelt, i ran him over but he didn’t get hurt. I am responsible for students cars no longer being parked in the carpark.

BL: Tell us about your current rides.

MOOG: We currently have an 08 AUDI S3 (stock), 2000 Daihatsu Cuore, 2000 Nissan S15 just imported (Full 3″ exhuast, Pioneer AVIC Stereo and DVD, and low and very hard suspension – more on the way) and a ’93 Subaru RS Liberty Wagon (3″, WRX Interior, STi suspension, Wideband – a work in progress!)

BL: I noticed that you said you had 2 Toyota Lasers, i’m assuming you’re talking about the Ford Laser used in the final episode of season 1. Why are there 2, where is the second Laser?

MARTY: The second laser was given to us in the hope we could convince tuning house ‘TRD’ to take it on as a project car. The language barrier got in the way somewhat so we haven’t been too successful there. It also had a broken muffler so while it did well for part collecting duties during the 2 weeks of rego it had, it also was so loud that people thought a jumbo jet was landing on their heads as we drove past.

MOOG: It was also automatic and not nearly as cool as the original TRD Laser. We sent it to a wrecking yard where they have been stripping it for parts.

BL: Also what possessed MOOG to buy a Jeep?

MOOG: I was actually overseas in Africa and got quite sick. In a state of delirium while sweating in a hotel bed I decided that I should buy a Jeep. It made complete sense at the time though at the same time I was also convinced that I was a duck. Demonstrates the kind disrupted and deluded mental process that actually thinks a Jeep is OK. As soon as I flew back to Australia I went out and bought a black Jeep. I drove it for six weeks, wasted my first home owners grant buying petrol for it and then sold it to a lesbian from Newtown.

BL: What are the plans for the Audi S3, S15 and the RS Liberty?

MARTY: RS Liberty? We don’t own one of them. The S3 is a pretty good package from the factory and doesn’t lend itsself to DIY garage tuneups like your average import. We’ve been in touch with some companies that make off the shelf mods for it and we’re looking into installing them ourselves.

MOOG: OK well there is a long and tortured story to the RS Liberty that Marty denies we have. We got ourselves a Legacy from Japan and we have had some legal dramas with it and in short, it will never land on these shores due to what was found in the boot. So when we found out this news we decided to find the next closest thing so we bought an RS Liberty and a regular Liberty and have been doing a transformers job. Actually more like Voltron – combining the best bits of both.

The AUDI S3 remains our stock car. As Marty said it’s a tricky one for DIY and it already goes faster than any of our other cars but we are exploring some off the shelf options for it before we take delivery of another German car in about 12 months. (A really REALLY fast one)

The S15 is going to remain a daily drive and while it will get tougher and faster, it is important for us to keep it looking stock. We will be installing a FMIC, boost controller and a full stereo system. We will also be doing a POD Filter VS AIrbox shoot out on the dyno to get some actual figures and put the argument to rest (or stoke the fires) in the on-going POD vs BOX debate. All the usual tried and tested S15 snacks will be installed on the S15 but we’ll be doing them ourselves of course. We are filming an episode this weekend that involves urinating on the S15 headlights. Sounds crazy but it has scientific benefits and can make your car look better. And when a car looks better it goes faster right?

BL: Will you be filming a JDMST EOMM soon?

MARTY: I had to look up what EOMM meant and i saw it was on March the 31st. I thought to myself “awesome i’ll check it out” and then looked at my calendar and realised it is on right this very minute as i write this. Fail. I’m not so sure everyone at Krispy Kreme is happy about having a camera crew shoved in their faces, but we do get along to a few different meets each month, so, Yes.

BL: Thanks guys. Hope to see you soon at an EOMM. We wish you the best of luck on your future endeavors.