Dorky... but Effective?

 So as I was cleaning out my garage the other day, I found this - something I purchased, I think, over 10 years ago!

Yep, clear door edge guards, complete with double stick tape.

Of course, me being, me, I have already lined my garage strategically with soft foam where it counts, so I never have to worry about my car's doors getting scratched up if I happen to open a door carelessly while the car is parked.

But what about out in the wild? Maybe I should take pains to do something to add some protection? Either that or maybe I will always park away from others...

Since installation is literally by way of a pair of scissors and the included double stick tape, I will only show you the end result on the passenger side.

First, I wonder if the tape will continue to be effective, or will the clear molding end up as trash somewhere on the road, ripped away by the wind?

More importantly, is this easy mod just too dorky for my car? Let me know what you think! (I actually think this might be a period correct mod...)

And not to worry - I should have a much more interesting and lengthy garage related post up in a few days. Check back soon!

Very cool find on Yahoo Auctions.

In the past I used to be on Yahoo Auctions almost every night - it was quickly becoming an obsession - I am sure many of you understand why. There are some pretty interesting things out there, but unfortunately lately it seems like things that are actually useful for us 33 owners, like rare parts, new and used, are getting to be slight RIDICULOUS, pricing wise.  So now scouring Yahoo Auctions is more like entertainment for me... I guess I am lucky in that my car is running fine and at the moment there is no particular itch I want to scratch...

But of course once in a while I DO take a look.  And just the other day, I found something very interesting.  

So this was described as a 下敷き - shitajiki - which is essentially a thin piece of plastic everyone in grade school here seems to have -  you lay down the plastic on your desk and under your notes so as to provide a smooth writing surface, in case your public school classroom desk just happens to be scratched up  or pock-marked (and they used to be, 75% percent of the time).  They are also useful for studying while on the bus or train, etc.

So first, I was surprised that such a thing existed for the R33.  Usually the shitajiki are plain white plastic, or otherwise featuring your favorite TV/anime character (Doraemon, Ultraman, etc) or pop idol.  So of course since this seller was offering 10 of them, I figured why not grab something unusual, since no one else seemed to be bidding.

 

Can you imagine sticking this in your bag to provide a writing surface?

What is really cool of course is what is on the back - The History of Skyline!

Don't know about you, but it would be very difficult for me to concentrate and study if I had THIS to distract me at my desk...

So of course these will never be used. But what I am going to do with them, I have no idea... any ideas?

Finally! Super Rare Find #1!

For every car I've ever owned, I love, love, love looking at the catalogs for optional parts/dealer options that are available for each car - not only do they give me some ideas, but as a rule I like to have cars with all the available options - well so long as they aren't too over-the-top - see what I did for my Lexus IS-F - it has every factory option, plus most if not all of the dealer installed ones.

Obviously, for the GT-R, with things out of production, some parts are harder to find than others.  This is one of them.

From http://www.r33gt-r.com/p/nissan-oem-catalog-1996-r33-skyline.html

This is something that I spotted in the R33 Skyline catalog - page above - but never could find until just last week when a friend gave me a heads up that something interesting was on Yahoo Auctions.

Here is the box it came in, alongside another rare find (blog post soon!)

Opening and I found - looks like a tarp, right?

Wrong - this is the Trunk Bag that was a dealer option for both the 4 door and 2 door cars (I was too lazy to scan it in so took a photo with my phone):

Description is: Trunk Bag (4 door sedan (pictured) and 2 door coupe)
9700 yen, takes 0.2 hours of labor to attach.
By unfastening the velcro on both sides, can insert and remove items from either side.  
Also, there are 3 mesh pockets (dimensions are around 270mm tall x 930 mm wide)

I've been searching for this for over 10 years - a long time ago a friend in the car business offered to remove one from one of his cars and give it to me, and I declined. Been kicking myself ever since.

But at long last, here it is.  And here are some shots of front - side flaps closed

Here are some shots of front - side flaps open

And the backside, where it attaches to the underside of the trunk - you use plastic retainer clips and the holes in the yellow belts to attach.

Installation is simple - you don't need to have the cold region spec under trunk liner but it sure does make it look nice, right?

Voila! Except, as I point out with the green arrows, I have to do something about those dangling straps. Any ideas?

So a close up - note the period correct Nissan logo!

To be honest, not sure it is as clean as some of the OEM toolkit designs I've seen from BMW and other OEMs.  On the other hand, I doubt given how it's attached that it could serve the basis of a tool kit.  Most likely perhaps this could be used to store a nice golf umbrella out of the way, and not rolling about in the trunk?

Again, not sure if I will keep this long term in my car, not only because I can't figure out what to put inside it, but also because I think I like the clean look of the trunk lid without it.  I guess I will have to think about this... 

Meanwhile in my next post I found something super cool, and for less than 300 yen.  Can't wait to show you guys!