2/06/10- Rally Fighter: OK, not really our car... yet, but it's so cool that I had to post it here. This is the Rally Fighter that is being built by a small company called Local Motors. They are touring the US, and came down for the "Cars and Coffee" car show this morning, but it got rained out. It was still incredibly cool to to meet the Local Motors crew and see the Rally Fighter in person. They are reinventing the way a car company can run and build cars, and they're doing it here in the USA. There's a lot of interesting stuff going on there, too much for me to get into, but the highlights are:

• The community helps design the cars through their website. It Sounds crazy, but this sort of thing is done fairly often with computer software (Open Source Development). The Rally Fighter is Local Motor's first vehicle, and the fact that it exists at all is proof enough that the process is working.
• The cars aren't painted, they are shrink wrapped in a design of your choosing, or your own design. How cool is that? The shrink wrapping is a lot more friendly to the environment, so everyone wins.
• When it's time for your car to be built, you travel to Local Motors for about a week to help build it. I believe you can participate as much (or as little) as you want. For me, I absolutely love the idea of helping to build my car, and will have as big a hand in it as they will allow. :)

Jaime and I are #31 on the Rally Fighter list. See their website for more information on the Rally Fighter and Local Motors.

1/03/10- Pantera: Happy NewYear! I spent the first weekend of 2010 installing Pantera Performance's Wilwood Brake system. I started yesterday and finished them up today. Honestly, I put them on mostly for the visuals. Wanted to dress up the brakes a little, but WOW! what a difference! The brakes are fabulous. The install kit included a new master cylinder, front rotors and hats, four calipers, stainless lines and even brake fluid. The install went smooth and everything fit great. Outstanding kit!

12/25/09- Pantera Exterior... DONE.

12/25/09- Pantera: Success! Got the gill grills done today. Made them the same way Jaime and I made the hood vents.

12/24/09- Pantera: Christmas vacation means I have time to work on the Pantera! Over the last couple of days I have completed the carbon fiber stripes, made the side mirror mounts and got those put on, got the door panels on, brush finished the wheel lips and did a bunch of cleaning. Tomorrow Jaime is going to help me make the screens for the "gills". If all goes well, on Saturday we'll drive somewhere cool for a good photoshoot.