My Vehicles

This section is for the different vehicles I’ve owned over the years.

I have always liked cars that are slightly different; in one way or another.

Currently I daily drive a 2001 Lexus LS430 Ultra Luxury with 387,000 km. I love this car. Having driven lots of high dollar vehicles and wanting that luxurious ride mixed with more options than I’ve ever had left me with few choices in my budget. I am so fortunate to have found this Lexus, and thankfully the higher mileage on it meant I got it at a good price. Between the amazing and well known 3UZ-FE 4.3L V8 and every conceivable option for 2001 (heated and cooled front seats, heated, memory, powered, and massaging rear seats, air ride suspension, fridge in between the rear seats, soft closing doors and trunk, to swinging vents for the climate control there isn’t much this beauty was missing. Thankfully I’ve done a few things to bring her up to my standards. Adding bluetooth was an absolute must; thankfully the stock sound system has an 8 inch sub and sounds awesome. Remote start was also necessary for those cold winter mornings. A Weathertech trunk mat was also installed; although I wish they made the mats still for the interior. Last fall I put new winter tires onto the stock rims, and this spring I purchased some 18 inch black rims and installed them on the car. They look great but if I must be honest I prefer the look of the stock chrome wheels so much more. Thankfully it doesn’t look much like it’s age; between a polish and ceramic coating I always try to keep my cars looking their best.

The Wife’s Daily Driver – 2022 Hyundai Tucson Hybrid Luxury. Such a great daily, tons of immediate power being the hybrid; as well as amazing gas mileage. This summer we put on a set of bronze 19’s and kept the factory 19’s for winter use. We have a little tent trailer that we tow with the Tucson; you barely feel the trailer behind it. Thankfully it’s polished and protected with a graphene coating so that maintaining is so much easier.

1993 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham AKA Betty White – Talk about a tank, at 225 inches it was the longest production car for it’s year. It was an amazing daily; there aren’t many of these left on the roads today, and the ones that are left are going up in value quickly. I prefer big, rear wheel drive sedans and this fit the bill perfectly. After the Accord Wagon and Mazda B2200 I wanted something that had enough room to be comfortable all the time. Betty White as she was named was great on the highway, as well as in town. She lasted until a driver slid into her while she was parked outside of my house and wrote her off, as parts are becoming very difficult to source these days. As it was hit on the drivers rear wheel I did not want to deal with the headaches of rear differential issues, axle or spacing issues with the rear skirts so she got sold.

1991 Honda Accord EX-R Wagon – What started out as an original Calgary vehicle with records dating back to new ended up becoming the most customized ride I’ve ever owned. What wasn’t done to this wagon? H22 swapped, 5 lug swapped, odyssey front brake upgrade, integra rear disc, black leather interior swap (wagons only had cloth), carbon fiber hood, legend lip, custom front grille, custom steering wheel and column, tein lowering springs with kyb shocks, this was my baby for years. The Whistler 17×8 wheels were the first set of wheels I ever ordered brand new. I enjoyed this car thoroughly and felt like I had completed my vision of what I wanted the car to be. That being said it lived outside 365 days a year, and for winter I removed the front lip, carbon hood as well as winter wheels and tires got put on. There is a very sad story about the demise of the car, although I had no part in that. I somehow lost the pictures of the engine bay completed; but the valve cover got sanded and painted, and the spark plug wire cover got wrapped in neo-chrome film. And it received a proper battery tie down.

1993 Mazda B2200 Minitruck – aka “50 shades of teal” lol, the hood was a different shade than the fender, which was off from the doors, and then the topper was once again a different shade. But holy what a fun truck. My best friend bought a Cadillac on airbags and I felt left out. The only other lowrider for sale at the time was this truck. What was initially a great idea turned into a great summer of fun and breaking said truck. When I bought it the hydraulics weren’t working; the interior was half green and it had stock wheels on it. The hydro’s and interior were the first things changed. New batteries, wiring, and pumps brought the system back to life. First cruise night was the first stunting ticket I’ve ever received (also fought and won), along with my first fire from a stuck switch. Another new pump and some new solenoids and wiring and I was back in business. Next step I found some used wire wheels, needed to paint them to match some part of the truck because they were dark blue in the center. Added as much of a stereo as a regular cab would allow; and really enjoyed the truck for a couple of months. Got an offer to trade the wheels that were on the truck for a set of 17 inch wires that would fit my friends Cadillac, so did that deal. Then found the big white wall tires and chrome wheels for the truck. Upgraded the headlights; and did a few minor things. But kept having issues with the truck not running. It would be great for however long; then randomly die and not start. Would get it towed to the mechanics shop; they would go out the next morning and the truck would fire up with no issue. After I sold the truck I found out it was the computer in the passenger side footwell that was causing the issue.

2001 Nissan Pathfinder aka the Bassfinder – The only reason I purchased this (my only SUV) was because a friend of mine found a great deal on an 18 inch sundown sub. Found an amp to power it; bought the wood and with my best friend we built a box for this mammoth sub. 2500 watts rms running to one 18 inch sub is loud enough to make everyone notice. From blocks away with the right song lol. But being honest it sucked not having any cargo space; and even though the sub was amazingly loud and performed better than I ever expected it was tuned to about 28hz and so a lot of music that wasn’t bass boosted or heavy sounded horrible. Between rattling the hatch apart and having to replace an alternator I had had enough lol. I ended up parting out the system and getting rid of the Bassfinder.

1999 Mercedes E55 AMG – What a car. With 349 hp and 391 lb-ft of torque it was a beast. And depending on my right foot would go through tires like no other. Did a full 3 stage polish with sealant coat; leather conditioning and an interior detail. I learned about the AMG tax every time it went into the shop lol. With the classic Monoblock wheels it looked great.

1999 Lexus GS300 – Antique Bronze Mica was such a rare color for any GS model. Being nearly perfect despite having almost 300,000 km (well over that by the time I sold it) allowed me to take that step into the luxury market. Some tint, a small stereo, remote start and a set of summer wheels and tires were all I did to make this Lexus mine.

1997 Lexus LS400 – I bought this car strictly because of the color shifting paintjob on it; the change from emerald green to a candy root beer brown looked great after a polish; sadly a hail storm rolled through about 2 months after I purchased it. The payout I received from insurance wouldn’t have covered the cost of the materials for repainting the car. The dents bothered me enough that I ended up selling the car; the polish that I had done made them stand out more than I could have been okay with.