As Vero gave us a tour of the Kickass premises I spotted at least five different builds that would make great additions to the mag, but unfortunately I had to narrow my choices down to two due to our time restraints. The first bike we shot was this BMW R75/S Caf Racer, the second you will find further on in the pages of this issue. Before we began shooting the BMW I had a chance to sit with Vero and talk about his past as a builder in Jakarta and how Kickass Choppers all began.
Vero: When I was 4 or 5 years old, before I could even read, my father never had a new car, but he always used to talk about how you could work on your car so you could be happy with what you could afford. He had a Jeep at the time and even though petrol prices were high he would go to a local race shop to buy parts to improve its performance. While we were there I would look at all the pictures in the magazines and one day the shop owner gave me a pile of Easy Rider and Hot Rod magazines stuck together in a folder. I brought it home and it became one of my biggest influences. I also discovered Mad Max and my dream became to have a car with a supercharger and the engine sticking out of the bonnet along with a custom Chopper. I had no interest in stock cars or bikes, they had to be custom.
I toured the States visiting swap meets and junkyards. Sending boxes full of parts home as I went. A German friend put me in touch with Cole Foster and Max Schaff and I met many other builders through them in the US custom scene. I was invited as a judge to the AMA World Bike Building Championships and I got to hang with some of the best builders in the world. In 2009 I went to Sturgis then on to Speed Week for two weeks. That trip really opened my eyes and inspired me. On the salt people were racing and wrenching everyday to go faster and nearby at a Casino the car park filled with hundreds of custom bikes and cars. It was great to see how performance and looks were combined here to create some really amazing machines.
I then started visiting other places closer to home to explore the Asian scene better. I went to Japan, Malaysia and Singapore then to closer places like Bali. Soon I was being invited to display my bikes at shows and be a guest builder. Now I build bikes for people around the world, France, Germany, Australia, but most of my customers are local friends.
The engine block was blasted clean leaving it with a lightly textured finish that became the starting point for the look of the BMW. The engine covers, air box, triple trees, hubs, rims and guards were consequently stripped raw and brushed to compliment the look of engine cases and tie everything together.
People tend to have their favorite actors. They like to go and watch movies with those people in them because they like the way they act and enjoy how they make the character come to life. The same when it comes to movie cars.
Movie cars are actors in their own right. People enjoy watching certain shows and movies because of the cars that are featured in the movie. This is the case for the Red Mist's Ford Mustang from the 2010 Kick-ass movie. This Mustang remains one of the coolest cars in the movies and one lucky person is going to get the opportunity to buy it.
The only downside to this Mustang is the solid, rear axle. Due to the axle, when you go over a rock on one side, it affects the wheel on the other side. This can become a bit annoying but overall, it is a great muscle car that looks great, drives well and roars the way that a Mustang is meant to roar.
This Mustang started out as a 2008 Ford Mustang GT. The car was brought to London during the first week of production. Mintz-Plasse had only 10 days to learn how to drive stick in a country where manual transmission vehicles are far more common.
Ezra Lafayette of Ezra Design Group created the modded Mistmobile, which is based on a modified Mustang built by Galpin Auto Sports called the Boss 281. It took Lafayette about three weeks to come up with the design. Lafayette said:
They designed the 281 based on the Boss 302 exterior design. It's an aftermarket upgrade that you would have to purchase. Since it was for a comic book film, we wanted to create something that was dramatic. I had a pretty open page as to what I could do, and what we could add on it."
The first thing that the team did when they received the car was to remove the bumpers and tore out the interior. They believed that it was better to start from the foundation. They got a custom made body kit which was made up of 19 pieces but only used the front and read bumpers, wings and fender flares that extend over the wheels.
The cherry on top was a supercharged 4.6L V8 engine that is capable of putting out over 500 horsepower. This bad boy has custom 20-inch rims, HID lighting, racing gauges as well as two-tone black and red leather seats.
If that was not enough, the car is kitted with a pair of remote-controlled nitrous oxide tanks with purge capabilities. Overall, the Mist Mobile Mustang cost over $ 240 000.00 to produce! The Mist is one amazing muscle car that graced our screens.
Three of these cars were made for the movie and one of the three Red Mist Mustangs movie cars produced are currently up for grabs on eBay. It was named for the character played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse, the 2008 model year Mustang was designed by Rich Evans. It was reported to cost well in the six-figure range. Whoever buys this bad boy, is one lucky person!
Native Los Angeleno, freelance writer and world traveler. An unabashed car junkie with a love of everything motor. While I have never raced for "pinks" I have had the pleasure of drifting aimlessly through Tokyo. No actual cars were involved. My interests include watching re-runs of Monty Python's Flying Circus, birdwatching, engine tuning, and the occasional audio book.
TVR's officially back! And the automaker has finally confirmed that it will base its new production facility in Ebbw Vale, Wales. It looks like Wales is becoming the go-to place to build British sports cars. Just a month ago, Aston Martin announced that it would set up a factory in the Vale of Glamorgan. The Welsh government appears to be giving TVR a helping hand by providing the automaker a reported $42.6 million over five years with the hopes that the sports car brand will attract new businesses.
The factory will be located in the Ebbw Vale Enterprise Zone and should be close to the state of the art race track, which is being built the in same country of Blaenau Gwent. TVR chairman Les Edgar, stated: "This is a fantastic opportunity both for TVR and the Welsh Government. South Wales is becoming a major hub for automotive and motorsport technology and development and the area is a serious opportunity for business development and job creation." The announcement for a new factory could not have been made at a better time as TVR plans to start production of its new sports car next year with deliveries starting in the summer of 2018.
We are looking for a second car for my wife. She'd like something newer (2012 and up) with less than 100K kilometers (preferably under 75K) for under $15K (remember, we're in Toronto). She also has a lead foot (God, I love her) and was excited about the tuning options for the Sonic. We talked about the MINI, a Velostar Turbo, and a few others, but they don't fit the bang per buck of the Chevy (if the Sonic isn't junk).
What do you folks think? What's the difference between the RS and LTZ with the 1.4 and is it worth the difference? Is the car a piece of E36 M3 and we should run screaming? It will be a miracle if we put more than 15K km on it a year. Oh, and it will be chipped and brought to a track day
The only major difference between the RS and LTZ was the transmission. Rather than add more power (The biggest complaint on these cars) they instead regeared the transmission for the RS to more performance oriented gearing. Except it doesn't make a noticeable difference in performance and takes a noticeable chunk out of the fuel mileage. It does get rear disc brakes instead of the LTZ-and-lower rear drums though, as well as some Grrrr-look-at-me-I'm-an-angry-car styling bits and nice wheels. I'd suggest sticking with the LTZ and putting a Trifecta tune and exhaust and intake on that instead.
As for the actual cars themselve, I work at a GM dealer and the Sonic is a pretty solid little car. Very few things, if any, go wrong with them. Mostly just front sway bar endlinks, because they are cheesy plastic lumps. GM even had a recall on them at one point. The interior has the cool motorcycle gauge cluster, the shifter and clutch is one of the better ones in the GM inventory and they get solid mileage.
One of the reasons I selected a Sonic is because it's about the last American-made subcompact. Or so I thought. Then the cruise control switch failed, so I bought a new one at the dealer. "Made in China", said the sticker.
Otherwise, it's a decent car, feels bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside, and goes, stops, and turns fine. Pocket rocket? No. Hot hatch? No. Can be had cheap because it depreciates faster than a 1989 Dodge Omni? Yes.
Having reaped the massive rewards that have been associated with selling parts for Aveo's, which the Sonic is in all but name, I cannot recommend this car to my fellow GRMers. The Daewoo GM's are still, to this day, under-engineered, poor build quality lumps that will fail in frustrating, and sometimes catastrophic, ways. All of the interior switchgear, window motor/regulators, radiators, timing chains, wheel bearings, engine sensors, hell even the gas pedal breaks! Literally everything else in the segment is both a better car and a better deal.
I drove a new Sonic RS and would describe it as "a cool little car". I liked the seats, which I understand are unique to the RS. The 1.4T never behaves like it has a turbo, which I'm sure a tune would take care of.
Interesting. I work for GM and have rarely seen any issues with these, even on cars at 100K miles plus. Saw one engine and manual transmission in the same care but the owner hammered on it and never did the maintenance
7fc3f7cf58