Nicole - The Heartbreaker

By Gavin Dowse
Photos by Me.

Oh my dear sweet Nicole, I realistically have no idea where to start with this little gem. From blowing brake lines in traffic to screaming the sound of my people at 6000rpms. Nicole is someone special to me and I have no desire to ever part with her. She holds a extremely special place in my heart as my first piece of hardwork. From headache to heartbreak this beauty has always done what was asked without question. She is a 1998 Chevrolet Tahoe LT with a very thirsty, bad bitch attitude.

Nicole came second into my life after my beloved Jamie(2011 Honda Pilot EX) but was the first one I dumped all of my money into every week. She is very special because this was the first time I ever had to make payments and pay for gas on a truck that at best only ever got 14mpg. She started her life out as a troop transport for two different families and all of their children, finally ending up in a bachelors hands whom I bought the truck off of. He was a good guy and besides the rancid cigarette smoke, she ran mint. She has her issues like a failing cooling system, zero A/C and RUST! but who's complaining? I'm sure as hell not because in just a little over 8 months of daily driving this beast, she never left me stranded once. Not once on the hottest summer days to the coldest winter nights.

I started my search after Jamie for someone suitable to replace the void in my heart after the lease was up. What better way to start than with E28's and 240sx skurt missiles you know? Like no airbag, welded diff, screaming metal death traps. NOPE! No decent parent would ever insure one of those. So to get insurance I needed AWD or FWD, at least two airbags, less than 20 years old and honestly something overall "safe." I found countless rusted out pickups but I didn't want to wrapped up in the douche bag stigma of owning a pickup with nothing to haul. Like every faux country kid who grew up in Niskayuna.... So I went with the next best, Suburban's. I had one lined up; 87 "Rust Free" Suburban, 454 carb'd big block, four speed manual, 6in lift on military 37s and only six different colors. You know? Practical. That was also shot down....  Being led back to the drawing board led to Nicole.... but how cool would that have been, aside from the fact I'd be dead now.


If you look closely at some of Michael Corcoran Photography's photos from this winter, the roads are semi impassible because of the amount of snow. We trekked out in some of the most violent of snow storms, sometimes up to two and a half feet of snow just so mike could take pictures. Not only was she the winter storm champ but also had a starring role in being the tow vehicle in one of our former Cork And d00d productions (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8IkUJVNDo0&list=UUlMGazUHFObxTOp8pF5yQHQ).





Nicole also has easily the most memories from after high school because we probably snuck or smuggled over 400 beers under the sneaky compartments of Jamie. Jamie was notorious but this is not yet her time. Nicole has been the main proprietor to camping trips, hauling supplies, being ignorant and why I had zero saved from all of senior year. She is also the beast me and Joe took to pickup both his BMW (http://upstatefitment.blogspot.com/2014/04/rachel-green.html) and his Jetta which all of yall will see later this year hopefully.




But as Jamie has come and gone, I promise this old girl will never go, ever. She is a lifer at this rate unlike the rest of my fleet. Everything has a price but this trucks not for sale nor will it ever be, regardless of how many times I did try and sell her haha.

A Revelation of Sorts.

Written By: Gavin

Take a seat, this is a long one (w/ no pictures)....






So lets take a journey back to a different time, circa 2012 (like thats such a nostalgic and distance number in the time space continuum), that was a time filled with dubstep and honing (driving like an teenager) in my car for the first time. I can only remember shouting incoherent noise the first time I took my car to the store without my paranoid mother. Looking back upon my love for cars is before I can remember and anyone I went to high school with can attest for my love of four wheels. Close friends and my tastes have changed a lot in two going on three years I have had my license. Face the music Gavin, you thought dubstep was going to be a life long genre..... Anyways back to story time, I was bestowed a brand new car the day I got my license through a family short coming (R.I.P. Grandma.... I love and still miss you). This gem of a 2011 Honda Pilot was a lease and once the lease was up though I knew exactly what I wanted to start driving; Vintage European Classics.



The first time I saw the BMW E28 the hunt was over, I had to have that car. The formula stood as a four door luxury sedan with a factory 5 speed. It was weird to aspire to drive this foreign car because all of my close family was into big muscle. My cousin had a 70' Malibu Chevelle and my grandfather dragged a couple of wicked Mopars in his time. Hell anyone that knows me knows that I love this goddamn country more than anything. This car is easily the single crowning achievement of the 1980's because this car is the end all be all of perfect. That sharp nose to its proportions make the car absolutely beautiful. I could have had one as a first car and it was from upstate NY, she was black on black, 535i and actually had under 200k. Unfortunately when parents wont let their dickhead teenage boy behind the wheel of a no airbag, screaming metal death trap, practically eventually steps in. I with all of my saving, tail between my legs, buckled under pressure and with the help of my parents stepped into my Tahoe. Now its not to knock my truck because I love the piss out of it but its not exactly what I wanted at the time.



Fast forward 6 months and my graduation party wrapped up and I had more money than I knew what to do with. I was still daily driving my truck and I knew I wanted something either more fuel efficient or more fun. I took all of what was supposed to be school money and went and did what every responsible teenager does; look for another car.... No just me.... ok.... Either way the hunt was back on for a project BMW and at this point I would have bought just about anything with that iconic roundel. I was looking at a 535i in down state New York except it had a blown its clutch right before I was going to buy it. I lost another GEM 535is to a cancer auction because he donated it 45mins before I called. At this point I was destroyed because all I wanted was a goddamn BMW, how hard exactly is it to find one without spending an arm and a leg...? And after dealing with a dickhead about a E34 530i I kind of just lost all hope. Eventually in October of my first year of college made the purchase on my Passat and have been daily driving that thing around with no avail on my dreams.



Fast forward to about a month ago. Michael, David and I went to a cult classic known as the Iron Roost. We were getting breakfast before Mike left for Greece. If you have not already check that place out its in Ballston Spa and it is awesome. Anyway we were on our way out and per tradition I got shotgun back home. I was just scanning I had noticed a beautiful nogaro blue B5S4 sitting parked at a local garage. Another personal favorite of mine, but what truly caught my eye was a E28 in burgundrot red with a for sale sign .... my fav color. It was like seeing Mike dance for the first time because I just remembering shouting stop, as if we were going to kill a family of four. Dave, once his heart and mind finally processed what I too excitedly said he graciously turned around and we stopped.



It was rough. Like really rough, the paint was shot along with it tires and the same with a lot of the rest of the car. The interior was gross because it was cloth and the motor had a homemade turbo charger bolted to the car................. That stuff alone would keep away any rational person and probably scare the hell out of them, except I'm not a rational thinker. What I saw was a fairly rust free 1984 BMW 528e with mint frame rails and strut towers. Every component that needed to not have rust didn't and from that point on it didn't matter, I had to have it.



My dream car in fantastic shape fell out of the sky right into my lap. The stars and planets aligned because I found the car (84' BMW 528e, 5 Speed manual, Maroon Red, yadda yadda rust free) except for my financial standings stood in the way for the first time ever. Since the purchase of the Passat I have assumed full responsibility of its payments and returned to school full time too. Funds are ok because of my promotion but due to our slow season it would actually take a toll. In addition at his asking price it would honestly have put me into a hole. A spur of the moment visit to see a family friends 240sx I asked him why he had dumped so much money into his drift missile. And he said right after he lost his mother that he didn't know what was in store for him and that he wanted to be sure that he got the most out of life. So I did what all good negotiators do. I walked away until he came down to my asking price and well the rest is history.



And also I'm bringing it home Saturday 9.20.14.... Yolo bitches

Who Needs A Warranty?

Written By: Gavin Dowse
Photos By: Michael Corcoran Photography

I love the lowered car scene, I love the perseverance and dedication that people put into to daily driving a car that is no longer allowed to cross speed bumps and enter driveways. I have been and always will be a truck guy and couldn't face life without a utilitarian gas guzzler but ever since I purchased this car I've wanted nothing more than a lowered daily. UGH MONSTER TRUCK YUCK. I could easily take this car to easter jeep safari and rock crawl with the best of them.

 Here is some comparison photos for anyone who cares...

I had plenty of options when choosing my path; H&R Sport Springs, budget coil overs, Super expensive fully adjustable coil overs or full air ride. I choose the best option for my budget which was $500 Solo Werks over the popular FK Street lines due to back order, price and warranty. Shout out to Dave @ ESE Tuning for being more than helpful and his wonderful customer support will have me returning. Now installing coil overs are super straight forward except that VW loves fucking with their customer base by installing the most unusual parts and bolt sizes. STUPID 12 SIDED BITS AND THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF GETTING THEM ANYWHERE EXCEPT NAPA. Thank you Napa.

Now you can clearly see I'm not on the levels of anyone who is running Broadway Statics on the gram but this is a whole new world to me. I'm about an inch and a half higher than where I want to be currently but until I get the hang of this whole lowered driving thing its going to stay where she is.

 You cannot forget all of those JDM stickers, roof rack or painted steel wheels. All of those scene points are off of the charts. Momma Dowse is uber pissed but she doesnt understand why there is a need to lower a daily driver or even modifying a car with payments.

Florida : Part Two

Written By Gavin Dowse

RACECAR! Wooooohooooo

But first...

Florida is known for a handful of things like the aid in George W. Bush's election, old people and their food. Their food is diverse and personally aside from tried and true southern bbq this might be my favorite place to eat. Its a mixture of a lot of different cultures as well as a bunch of different people. Daves family was kind enough to gift us hungry boys with a lot of awesome food, a place to crash and point us in the right direction. 

Our first night we spent here Mrs. Kos took us to Deck 84 in DelRay and it was so close to Daves grandparents where we were staying. The cuisine was a mixture of bar and seafood. PERFECTO MOTHER TRUCKERS. I love cheeseburgers and seafood, I opted for a mixture of the both, a best of both worlds situation; a Mahi Mahi Tuna Special. A wonderfully crafted and perfectly portioned meal that was awesome, I just wished it was a tad more raw though. Deck 84 is a open bar with a restaurant that had live music and a wonderful atmosphere. This place was truly perfect for just about any situation. Dessert was followed by Kilwins Ice Cream and it was wonderful. I'm also positive that if mike hadn't eaten 7.5 tacos he would have enjoyed it so much more. His selfcontrol is so bad. 
My phone died and well heres a picture that I snagged. 

Our next days were spent at the beach, the mall and playing Mario kart double dash. Might I remind you that double dash was the best of the series minus the newest number eight and its 11 years old. Rant aside DelRay beach might be one of my newest favorite places on earth. The town at least during this part of the season is a wonderful mix of locals and tourists, it makes it feel like a perfect hole in the wall. Its not overly populated with rich and old people, there is plenty to do and the weather this time of the year is perfect. It doesn't seem to hit that 100% humidity factor at 7am and I could not be one bit more happy about it.

A really awesome burger joint we went to was called BurgerFi. Now I wouldn't consider myself a burger aficionado by any standard but this place was it. I've personally never have had a shake shack or an In & Out burger but I cannot imagine a better place to eat. The menu was larger and in charge unlike the hometown favorite of Five Guys and the quality of food was so much nicer. The Five Guys at homes food is unbelievably greasy and has such a limited menu. BurgerFi was like a mixture  of atmosphere and wonderfully crafted burgers. ALSO they had the  greatest onion rings I've ever seen/eaten.

Stay Tuned For Part Three!

Florida : Part One

Written By Gavin Dowse

Well it all started a couple weeks back with the proposition of traveling to Florida with my two friends Michael and Dave. Dave's grandparents have a house in DelRay and the five day trip was on its way. Of course it was a no brainer to spent some well deserved time off with my friends but the dilemma soon came up about how to get there; Drive or fly?

Dave, Mike and I are currently saving money in efforts to travel the country in the summer of 2015 and this would be an amazing pilot adventure. Now I've driven to the wonderfully crazy state of Florida several time with my family and all up and down the east coast but usually I would drive for short 3-4 hour spirts. This time the option of taking Dave's 2011 Ford Explorer was a very tempting choice. It had everything that my truck didn't; MPG, A/C, Mufflers etc. Now this was plan A as we wanted to experience 24 straight hours cannon balling the trip. Almost a right of passage to Florida with a experience of driving all by ourselves for 3000+ miles. Unfortunately our parents made such hard moves to end that as they knew we wouldn't sleep and cannon ball the shit out of the trip. I eventually forked over the plane money.

SO our alternative was to fly and well GAVIN HATES FLYING, a lot. the whole idea that you're in a clunky tin tube with two extremely powerful thrusters is a terrify idea especially now that I'm much older. Apposed to baring myself into a vegetable state I decided to bite the bullet and fly without it. Wishing all of my family and small animals a last farewell I set off to Albany International Airport in hopes that the plane and its crew wouldn't disappear like the Malaysian flight.

Upon entering the entering the airport it was littered with problems because I'm a big fucking idiot. As everyone who really knows me I love camping as well as the outdoors, and well the last time I went hiking I took a bunch of stuff. Flashlight, food, pocket knife.... I'm more than confident that ya'll can guess which item that I completely forgot to take out of my backpack before entering the TSA line. Got my favorite knife confiscated and not only soon after I forgot the boarding pass in the TSA shenanigans.... AWESOME WAY TO START THE ADVENTURE.

Stay tuned for the rest of the trip!

Why so serious?

Written by Gavin Dowse
Photos by Michael Corcoran Photography (Mikes Page)

My very narrow knowledge of the car community of the past is something that I'm doing everything in my power to flip. I missed out on older muscle cars, vintage Bavarians and NSYNC era rice rockets.  I started my involvement with the scene only about a year ago. Unfortunately I grew up absent of a father that had that had that weekend cruiser but I knew from the time that I took a ride in my first corvette that this was for me. Ill never forget our family friend pulling in with a 2004 Z06 C5 and doing a first to second pull without an ounce of traction.

Everyone and their mother know that I'm about making a scene. Some can call it a need for attention but I like to think I'm just being eccentric. My newest and lastest venture is to bother one of my closest friends Tom. He had the last feature with the Si for those who didn't read it. I had a set of plastidipped white steelies and well caught flack from everyone who begged the question, WHY?! Why would you paint steel wheels? That's so stupid. Yes, its pretty bad but it could be the fact I don't want to buy rep wheels and support those companies. That or I dont have the money for real Rotiforms or VIP Modulars either.

My white steel wheels made the brutal winter and this summer I decided to change it up. The only things my friends had to say were vulgar and negative. I figured that I would really piss them off. COMING OUT HARD FOR 2K14. I went to the local Lowe's and purchased the most bright and flamboyant color I could. And opposed to a highlighter drift color wheels setup I wanted a real color and this is the product of that.

 

Now you cant own a Volkswagen without a roof rack and wood trunk like you cant own a Honda without a DC Sport axle back muffler. People take their cars stereotypes so god damn seriously that even though I painted these wheels for shits and giggles people still hate them.

My whole goal with doing these bright and ridiculous wheels were to shove it to all of those purist haters that believe if its not their way, its wrong. I want everyone who has a social media account to take a long hard look at see how I "Ruined" a grocery getter with these wheels. Everyone that has seen the wheels have all but two different responses; OMG I LOVE THE COLOR or the more appropriate WHAT THE FU*K WERE YOU THINKING!?!

Truth be told I very rarely ever take more than 2 minutes to decided on what I'm going to do next this was one of those very laughable moments. I don't have a love for this color or what I'm going to have to correct but hell I got the response I wanted. My dad is the most supportive person in my life but fo him to tell me this was a retarded idea was comical.

Next time you see this pile of shit it wont be a 4X4 monster truck nor will have these colored wheels. Steel wheels for life and some respray.

Rachel Green

By Gavin Dowse

Jennifer Aniston is a soon to be mother who still looks absolutely flawless even after 45 years. Joe's BMW still looks awesome as the body has not fallen to the sands of times 21 years later. BMW is a German based automotive group that specializes in luxury automobiles as well as motorcycles. The deep impressionable lines that flow with vintage BMW's as well as their wonderful driving dynamic make them very capable cars. Joe Anderson is a very close friend of mine that has been around the boyz for going on 5 years. Joe and I are both are very driven individuals and both of our cars reflect the time and effort we have put into them. Joe's first car was just a bit to old to be on pace with Jenifer Anistons acting career but they share the similar characteristics; age, body lines and are both flawless smoke shows, etc. Jen walked down the Oscars last year sporting a sexy red dress while a few months later Joe found his all red beauty too.

Joe Anderson fit in just right with us. He like the rest of us spends his free time drinking beers, gambling and hooning in his BMW. The subject is one red number, a 1993 BMW 325is. Its a red on black car with a 5 speed of course. To quote Matt Fararh from his show //Tuned; "If a car is a sum of its parts, then Joe's E36 325is is a schizophrenic homeless man." 

If you know anything about old German cars is that they're ridden with gremlins. And unfortunately if you have bought a neglected German car you already know it SUCKS! Old German car problems root deep into the fabrics of the car. Per example once upon a time in high school, they blossomed senior year from a uh-ga-ly caterpillar to a smoke show and a half. Unfortunately there is not enough time left in high school to achieve maximum attention levels that they so hungrily crave. So once a college freshman they bang every guy who shows even the minimalist amount of affection. Being past around from owner to owner something has to give. Eventually serving up with a hysterical mental break down and are then put on the inter-webs and sold for pennies as a "project with no time to finish." Trust me...


Joe bought this car for what was originally a good deal, minus the lack there of even a single sheet of maintenance or the fact the title did not line up with who sold him the car. The the first real drive was a 2 hour drive home with an intermittent check engine light and constant SRS beep. Once home after that Joe was hooked. Fast forwards 1.5x what he paid and the idle issue has become very pro dominate.


Immediately a plethora of new parts is slowly bringing this car back to a non neglected state; a full front end rebuild, oem suspension components, clutch work, cooling system and a lot of gaskets. Joe and I have spent countless hours working and redneck tuning his car. From idle issues to broken suspension components we have seen it all. Joe does have a very wonderful short throw shifter and CAI that makes this car so much more fun to drive. This car draws a mixture of emotions ranging from love to wanting to set it on fire.

Driving my Passat and the 325is are incomparable with the massive difference in driving dynamics. It is comparing apples to dog food really. The Passat is more fresh and tight but the dead power steering and chassis is a boner killer as new cars are not tried and true driving cars. These older more redefined BMW's really show what these newer generations lack. The last of the dying breed of really good driving cars are among the VW GTI, Scion FR-S and the Mazda MX-5 Miata. The E36's whole chassis will out perform most of what BMW has put out in the decade following the last E46 on any autox course. Late model //M3's can make 500 whp without blinking but there's something about this car that stems from the lack of fully functional seat belts, abs or traction controlled anything. A true drivers car.

It could be the lack of a tilting steering wheel, disintegrating electronics or the fear of the on board computer that lets you know everything is wrong with your car all of the time. But throughout the major fears, once over come, this cars limit is practically up to to the driver. By that it means if you're crazy enough to push this car up and beyond its limits the results are unexpected. Running at 100% stacked busses on the Passat.

Unfortunatly the lack of photos is due to the blown motor. Mike and I couldnt move the car to our location so the photo shoot never happen. And thee saddest part is she was sold to a CT native for pennies.