From the begining

At 16 it was decided my first car, a Nissan Langley brought for $800, had most defiantly done its dash. With my Uncle I went in search of a new car, through the Rotorua car yards we went in the rain until I found it, a 2000 Honda Civic that had 'Staci' written all over it, cheap to run, manual, 4 doors and being a Honda - reliable! We got the car stock standard at 50,000kms 1st NZ owner and with not a mark on it I was stoked! 

Of course the novelty soon wore off and I had to make her mine, then 17 I had saved my pennies and off I went to Mag Warehouse. I purchased a simple set of 17's and some D2 adjusties, I wanted her as low as she could go! A few more add ons and a respray with a pearl to make her shine even more - here is my first money pit ....

The storey behind the number plate I hear you ask? Well its simple really, I absolutly LOVED that car... so fresh and stylish, clean and straight, sly and low .... o yes, she'd have the power to Seduce You. 

However after a year n a half long relationship she was a tad slow on it, and when I met Michael the trips over the Kaimais to Tokoroa to see him, her 1600 soch vetc just didn't cut it. So when a friend offered me a swap for her Altezza, although the decision wasn't easy it was the right one to make.

A 2L 6 Spd Manual was defiantly a step up from the civic and being rear wheel drive I did have a bit of fun getting used to corners in the wet ;). We pulled out the tein super lows and replaced them with some apexi adjusties, added a carbon fibre bonnet and I once again had the look I wanted in a car. But after 12 months I got bord, so on Trade Me she went.

Long story short this is when I got what I have now, my pride and joy and much to Michaels disgust a car I still haven't got bord with, my Mercedes Benz C280.

When I got her, the plan was to tidy her up and flick her on Trade Me - NEVER to keep her, she was rough, a typical bagged merc with over 200kms on the clock and few 'HOE' number plates to her history.

Thankfully the guy before me had had the transmission rebuilt, Michael made a few repairs to the engine then she was painted purple .... it was then after seeing her painted, sitting on the ground low as she could go, straightened out and having that Seductive look about her, I decided she wasn't going anywhere!

So waaaayyyy to much money later here is a bit of a time line of whats been done so far

When I got her, April 2009

A trip to Mad Soundz Tauranga for a sub, an amp, new head unit and a 'general tidy up' of the interior resulted in this ....

To finish it off for the Jan 2010 4 n Rotary Nationals, an awesome surprise birthday present from Michael, a set of 18" Hot Swaps

I had a blast at the Nats, the Jamboree & the supershow that year! I wanted more, so back to mad sounds we went for a few more interior mods before the 2011 season

Picked up an old dive bottle and took it to Class A Kustoms  who painted it to add to my display

 2012 will be the year we get into the serious stuff, so no shows this season. 

I decided after a few daily drivers I'd had including a mazda familliar, a lemon of an MR2 and a Primera, I wanted to spend the money Id saved for the merc on a decent car I could keep forever as a daily. I have no plans to get rid of the merc so there has been no rush to finish her, a car like that is never 'Finished', I am always going to find things to change about it. So I brought a nice little Mazda SP23 and I LOVE it, nice & practical, perfect for what I needed.

Meet Red, I've had him just over 12 months he's a bit lower than in this photo now as me being me had to add a set of adjusties but for now thats all he'll need.

Thanks for reading! Keep an eye out for new posts as we start to pull the merc apart, it will definatly be an interesting one, spesh with the new engine Ive finally settled on ;)

Staci <3

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Something to think about ....

The silly season has snuck up on us all this year and as usual everyone is rushing around, this post is a bit different than what I would normally talk about but after the events of my weekend its time to stress about how important it is to watch out on the road these holidays.

Sunday night I happened to be one of the first on the scene of a major accident, it was pouring with rain when I saw a car crushed on its roof and its contents strewn all over the road. A car before me had stopped. One of the men was on the phone to 111 while the other was pulling a woman from the passenger side window. I hit the hazard lights and ran to see what I could do.

The driver was her husband, he was stuck, not moving or responding, I sat with the woman who I put into the recovery position, put my jacket over her and held a towel to where she had hit her head while the two men tried to get a response from the man who they dared not move before the ambulance came. She became so hysterical she started vomiting.

What I saw didn’t hit me until I got home and the adrenaline had worn off after having a hot shower and getting into some dry clothes. The screams from the lady, the feeling of being helpless and the sight of all the blood will be in my mind forever. I am embarrassed to say that I am glad I didn’t fully see the man as it may have been a bit much for me to handle. I kept the womans mind busy by talking to her and trying to calm her.
Reassuring her was hard especially when I was told her husband no longer had a pulse.

It seemed like forever before the police arrived and in that time only one other car stopped. I was shocked at how many drove past without offering a hand. Once the police all arrived and took over I was able to go home, I actually passed the ambulance on my way home at least 40 minutes since they were called.

I got a phone call from the ladies sister this morning - thanking me for my help and also letting me know that as we suspected the husband had not made it. A simple swerve in the wet to miss a possum on the road had resulted in the car flipping fully once and finally landing on its roof.

I now have a new found respect for the boys in blue and all emergency service workers, seeing things like that on a regular basis cannot be easy. Next time they give you a ticket for speeding or not having a WOF, blame yourself, not for getting caught but for being irresponsible, you never know – that ticket could of saved your life. And also – don’t swerve or hit the brakes when you see a possum, rabbit or any other animal on the road, your lifes not worth the risk.

Something to think about... if you have some free time during the year from work – do a first aid course, you just don’t know when you might need it. Although I have to say, knowing what your doing makes no difference to how your mind reacts when put into a situation.

So be safe out their guys,

Staci <3  
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Tokoroa Drags December 2011

The weekend when the airstrips far from suitable for planes ;)

First weekend of December every year and followed in March the Tokoroa Drag day is never short of surprises. From standard daily drivers and motorbikes to full on drag cars it is defiantly a good day out and this one was no different.

What makes it exciting is that anyone can enter, its not expensive and you can do as many runs down the drag strip as you like. At the beginning of the day they take times to put the cars into their class and from there its all about having a go! And afterwards they do fun races for those that want to have a little challenge against a mate.

This time Michaels dad, Wayne entered the ute and while the weather was good managed to get 5 runs in before the rain started at about 3pm. If the rain hadn't come along when it did we probably would have been there a lot longer than we were! But here are a few pic’s from the day that we took-

Gotta love the matt black drag car, my friend Sarahs parents own this, her dad Ian is a regular at the Tok drags as well as Meremere with her mum Wendy following along in the tow car or on the side line with the camera.

I did of course find a favourite of the day, love the old school style of this HQ, nicely done with the interior in black and white leather and of course female driven. She could do a pretty good burnout too!

This bad boy was LOUD when it started up but I tell ya, when it took off I just about shat myself -  it got even LOUDER.

Michaels friend Richard who was also in my last post from powercruise was there as well….

Check these out, driven by kids! Couldn’t of been much older than 12. They went pretty quick to I might add, no burnouts from these guys yet though.

‘Wasted Wages’ I think most car enthusiasts can relate lol

So that was the Tokoroa Drag Day. Fun for the whole family, come to the next one in March and have a go— and tell your friends the more people we get to come the bigger the success of the day.

Staci <3

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Powercruise 2011

The sound of V8's mixed with jap turbos and rotary's all out together on the track, the smell of rubber and an awesome atmosphere .... Powercruise 2011.

Powercruise this year was great! I only went on the Saturday but my friend Hayley has an awesome blog and I know she has covered the Sunday...

Check her blog out here: http://www.hq-addictive.blogspot.com/ .

It was about having fun - no times were kept in either the drags or on the track, it wasn’t competitive and was good for those just wanting to give their cars a good run and have fun while doing it. There was a burn out comp as well for those that wanted to burn some rubber. It was pretty windy which made it freezing cold but the sun was still shining and that was the main thing however next time ill be sure to take the sunblock!

Michael entered the WB ute and with him his friend Richard entered his VK Commodore (which I was lucky enough to go for a spin in, pretty quick might I add haha) Here are some of the pic's we took:

Michael -

Richard- 

A few other cars that were there-

Michael-

Richard-

More people enjoying the day-

Had to add this lol ...

Home time 

What a fun day - thanks for checking it out and dont forget for a bit of what went on on Sunday check out Hayleys blog above.

Staci <3