I was almost t-boned on the way home from work today…at the same intersection where my previous card was hit!
This time, I was making a left turn and was clearing the intersection after the light turned yellow. Some clown in an SUV then decided to run the red light — this despite her being almost four seconds away from the intersection when the light turned yellow!
The rude gesture the driver made to me as she drove by (not visible in the photos) was icing on the cake.
I painted up a miniature version of my car:
I’m not entirely happy with the sloppiness of the paint job. My model-painting experience is almost entirely in acrylic, and this job was done with enamel. I figured enamel would be more durable for something like this. Unfortunately, enamel is a bit harder to work with and is less forgiving than acrylic.
The paint I used was Humbrol Black Satin 85. It does not look very much like satin paint to me, though.
This just happened to be my odometer reading after I parked my car at work today:
I painted up a couple of my X-wing minis. Here are the two best ones so far:
I was never a fan of the original color scheme of the Moldy Crow. I thought something darker and stealthier looking would look good.
Original:
Repaint:
Inspiration:
The fastest ship in the X-wing Miniatures game deserved to be repainted to look like my Camaro.
Original:
Repaint:
Inspiration:
I came across my Camaro’s double earlier this week:
He doesn’t have side spears like the ones that I put on my car a few months ago, nor does he have the gill inserts, and I can’t tell if he has a black spoiler or not (and he’s missing two cylinders ;-), but he does have the same hood wrap, fender hashes, and powder-coated wheels as my car does. It’s difficult to tell here, but I’d bet he’s got the same window tinting, too.
When I first picked up the car from the dealership, the person who sold me the car took a photo of it to show other prospective customers (I had the tinting, hood wrap, fender hashes, and gill inserts put on by the dealer). On a later visit to the dealership, the salesperson commented that another guy had seen the photo of my car and ordered the exact same thing. I wonder if this is that guy?
As a driver of a very distinct looking car, this photo also gives me something that might come in handy in the future: plausible deniability.
I finally ordered a set of of lower body accent stripes for my Camaro. I purchased them from Big Worm Graphix.
This is the final cosmetic change I had planned when I first bought the car. I think they give the lower body a sharp, dynamic look. What I especially like is that they darken up-facing areas on the car that are normally brighter than the rest of the body due to reflected sunlight.
I put these decals on myself. It was a little nerve wracking, but I believe I did a decent job. We’ll see how long these last.
Also new to my car in these photos are yellow rubber lug nut covers, which I ordered from AliExpress. I just came across them one day and figured they were cheap enough to try. I liked the look of them, so I kept them on.
I think that about wraps up all the exterior cosmetic modifications I’m going to make on the car.
When I was a kid, the best car ever was the Lamborghini Countach. It was the fastest, coolest looking car around. I always wanted to have one when I was younger. I remember saying once when I was ten or so that I wanted to buy one when I was older, to which one of my uncles quipped, “You’d better start saving now!”
Today, I own a 2014 Chevrolet Camaro SS. On a whim, I decided to compare its performance specs with the dream car of my youth. Here are the results of my research*:
| 1982 Lamborghini Countach LP500 S | 2014 Chevrolet Camaro SS | |
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| Engine | V12 | V8 |
| Displacement | 4.754 L | 6.2 L |
| Power | 375 bhp @ 7000 rpm | 426 bhp @ 5900 rpm |
| Torque | 302 ft-lbs @ 4500 rpm | 424 ft-lbs @ 4600 rpm |
| Top Speed | 182 mph | 184 mph |
| 1/4 mile | 13.4 s | 12.9 s |
| 0 to 60 mph | 5.0 s | 4.5 s |
Looks like I’m already driving the supercar I always wanted as a kid!
*There’s a few tenths of a second variance in some of the performance numbers I’ve seen, since they are partially dependent on driver skill, but the Camaro consistently outperforms the Countach.
I got the spoiler on my Camaro painted black, attached my Cobra decals, and just finished putting on the summer rims. Behold!
This is what my new car looks like after some decals: black hood, black fender hashes, and black gill stripes:
In the summer I may put on side spears just above the rocker panels.
I’ve also got custom Cobra badges on their way which will go below the Camaro badge on both sides.
I just bought a yellow 2014 Camaro 2SS/RS.
6.2L, 8 cylinder engine. 426 horsepower. 420 lb-ft of torque. She’s a beast!
I’ve got some decals on the way which should really sharpen things up and personalize the car a bit.
I still don’t know what personalized license plate I will get.
The Amazing World of Don Dueck 