Cars, Coffee and California...

[—tsingson—]

Friday was kinda crap. KINOD started out as usual and it looked like there was going to be a good turn out when five police cruisers showed up. Apparently there's been a lot of car related shenanigans (closing down intersections for donuts and freeways for races) and some fatalities in City of Industry so they've been instructed to shut down all car meets. They were decent about it and all but frustrating that some morons have to ruin it for the rest of us.

I have seen videos on youtube about it. SupercarSuspects posts a lot of videos of these "takeovers" and it sucks because it does ruin it for others. The Cars and Coffee nearby was just cancelled because of idiots.

[oldgrayleather]

This weekend I convinced youngest son to help me clean the cars. In fact, we cleaned all the cars. I did the Volvo on my own (mostly given how tall it was) but without complaint Jack was more than happy to help tackle the 911 and the three Miati. I kinda love everything about sharing anything car related with any of my family. Washing cars has always been somewhat therapeutic for me and today was no different. Loved having such a great helper to get everything cleaned up spic and span!







Now today was just the end of the weekend. Yesterday was Mrs. R’s birthday (lots of fun with a load of friends and the BBQ) but Friday, as with the first Friday of every month, KINOD takes place in Orange County. Thankfully that meant the issues we’ve faced with the City Of Industry’s Police force shutting down our meet didn’t apply. There’s still the outstanding question of what we do going forward and more importantly what is to be of the anniversary meet on June 22nd. That date was also my brother Dan’s birthday. He would have been 54 this year. And none of this crazy Miata journey would have happened without his inspiration.

This was Dan with his 1978 Fiat Spider back in 1985 a week or so after he’d picked it up and his first trip home from Vancouver. He showed up almost before the sun rose and convinced my mom in her housecoat to go out for a drive. This was the same car he let me learn driving stick and parallel parking with no power steering. It was also the first car we’d ever experienced true top down driving.

[oldgrayleather]

I first reached out to Adam at RevLimiter not long after I picked up Benny. I’d loved reading about his journey with Sharka and was blown away by his gauges. I first got a set of Rosso-180 gauges from him along with Sharka’s JIS screwdriver set soon after and then a number of horn buttons, some badges, door sill inserts, hazard switches, and more. Most recently Adam made me a set of RevLimiter lenses for my AWD cluster with the thick rings. I regularly refer to him as the Patron Saint of our Miata tribe which I think is absolutely fitting. He was the first one I heard coin the phrase, “forever car” and I knew exactly what he meant. It was great to meet Adam for the first time at Miatapalooza 2017 though my delayed flight meant I didn’t arrive in time to help out at all in his booth as I’d offered. I also met Rick, Randy, AO, Joe and many others including Corifto. Adam had a family holiday to California later than year and added a visit to see Mazda R&D (including the secret basement), 949 and KINOD. Corey also managed to help convince Adam to make the trek back out to California for MRLS in September and they joined the KINOD crew in our pilgrimage and what has become my most memorable Miata inspired weekend ever.

Going back to 2015, Adam and I first started talking about a custom gauge project for Benny. Initially we discussed some Space Lego inspired designs but typically I wanted to take the time to really think about what would be perfect for Benny and a fitting tribute to Dan’s inspiration.

It took almost three years but last November it was about to begin…

[oldgrayleather]

But before that, dog and I ended up the day filling up on gas. Filling up ahead of finally putting pen to paper on my custom gauge project, many years in the making….

[oldgrayleather]

It started with two core elements. An Omega Speedmaster I received as a gift linked to an incredible project I worked on over twenty years ago at the very beginning of my career. It’s the only watch I’ve worn since…


That and critically for me, finding a way to incorporate Dan’s initials so we could really make this a tribute. He had an incredible attention to detail so there was a lot between the two elements we had to work from.


Adam and I did a ton of back and forth to talk about the details and I consistently was blown away by his different ideas. His design time was over six hours and I can’t be more thankful that he put up with all my feedback and suggestions along the way.

The center of the Omega has a guilloche pattern that I never imagined Adam could even possibly recreate. But of course he did. He actually did before I even had the chance to ask him if such a thing was possible. The font for all the dials is perfect. Speedo and Tach both mirrored the numbers on the watch face down to the slight yellow tint that the luminescence gave. The gas, oil and temp gauges pull the same font from other parts of my Chronometer. The Oil gauge at the top mirrors the top gauge on my Chrono down to the red numbers and specifically how the markers are denoted. Fuel and temp also use fonts from the letters and numbers of the smaller gauges on my watch. I asked Adam to design the gauges to accommodate my AWD metal overlays but given the finished product I don’t expect I will ever cover up the Speedo and Tach given how they turned out.

I could not be more touched by these. For me, they are perfect and to Dan I am certain he would have been very proud. Proud and excited that someone like Adam was out there to be able to tackle a project like this with such incredible results.

Truth be told, they’ve been sent but I haven’t received them yet. Installation will happen soon after but I just couldn’t wait to post this up











Adam has also kindly added them to his custom gauge page here. He remains one of the best contributors to our community, a dear friend and an incredibly talented human being. Thank you again and a million times more Adam.
http://revlimiter.net/store/gauges-custom.php

[Paul B]

Amazing!

Cannot say enough good things about Adam.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[HarryB]

W O W. Just wow! Excellent idea, excellent execution, stunning result! I cannot help but thinking that some red needles would also look the part with these.

[druz]

Can't wait to see them installed!

[chanathon]

I never use the word "dope" but this gauge design is seriously dope. That texturized pattern in the inner circle is amazing!

[RustRat]

That’s AMAZING.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Slampen]

Both Adam's products and your posts are of brilliant quality.

[—Martin—]

Both Adam's products and your posts are of brilliant quality.

I agree with this wholeheartedly.

[— Phatmiata —]

That weave pattern looks amazing!!

Make sure to post these gauges in the Revlimiter Review for everyone to enjoy!
http://mazdaroadster.net/showthread.php?15028

[oldgrayleather]

Amazing!

Cannot say enough good things about Adam.

I don’t know if any of us can!

W O W. Just wow! Excellent idea, excellent execution, stunning result! I cannot help but thinking that some red needles would also look the part with these.

That sir would be part of the master plan!

Can't wait to see them installed!

Me too!!

I never use the word "dope" but this gauge design is seriously dope. That texturized pattern in the inner circle is amazing!

Me neither but dope? Hell yes!

That’s AMAZING.

Ευχαριστώ!

Both Adam's products and your posts are of brilliant quality.

takk, du er for snill!

I agree with this wholeheartedly.

That weave pattern looks amazing!!

Make sure to post these gauges in the Revlimiter Review for everyone to enjoy!
http://mazdaroadster.net/showthread.php?15028

You know that’s my next stop!

Thanks all – I truly appreciate having such an amazing community to share this journey with. xoxo

[HarryB]

Now that I see it again; maybe keep the three small needles white, and the two main ones in red.

I also remembered what these reminded me of; a pic I have stored for a while now in my inspiration folder, only yours are better