| in "first" major Z event. No longer "noob", it was fun to hang out with some hard-core tt.net "veterans" and actually feel like I was part of the club. Sorry this is so late; my pics got skruud up on 6-6-06. Tho in Dallas for just 27 hours, I saw more Z's than I've ever seen in my long lifetime and met more people with more screen names and faces than I could remember. One of the first to welcome me was Dee Rigeway (DevilsZ), a fantastic guy with a great car. Next was Shawn (sfarrah), who volunteered his newly-scored MS maniafolds for some pics in front of Woody's fine white, mirrored underhood TT. I have to admit that the manifolds looked good, better than I envisioned. Of course my AAE pipes will blow them away (lol), but his tooling and machine work is very fine. Despite the similarity, port #2 and the d/s collector are a dramatic improvement over the stock TT manifolds. I'm sure when Mike sees these pictures he'll reposses Shawn's pipes, but I really enjoyed our cordial conversation. Just then Nicholas (Nixit) drove up in his "Skyline" and Bernie (YogoBernie), also a great guy, made sure I was introduced to him. Sure Nix has beated the living crap out of me (or tried), but none of that was present at our face to face meeting, just as if we were old friends
Now in all honesty, no one was drooling over my new manifold design, but I received a very warm reception during my little "show and tell" exercise. Even Mikey (CollegeBoy) seemed to study them extra thoroughly to ensure another "best of show" trophy next year in Daytona.
I was surprised to see a whole busload of Japanese people too. Imagine them coming so far to see their cars.... in our country. It was fun to welcome them and practice some Japanese with them and talk a little "shop", but man talk about shy. It was also good to see Ash again. We worked on Tyler's (BoostPro) car together last fall and ran into some fitment issues with my original manifold design. Having learned some important lessons, things should go better for Dee's upcoming 700 whp new ride. Ash's car is unbelievable to look and ride in....660 whp and 600 rms watts. On the way to the ZCon dinner, Z1's own Russell Floyd somehow managed to keep up in his boosted 350Z in some pretty ugly happy hour traffic. 
50 cars lined up before dinner, including Mark Brandyberry (marklar182), sporting my new manifolds installed just in time for ZCon (half price). He's pictured in front of his fine red car riding on 17 inch gold wheels. He's an engineer with Texas Instruments and equally sharp with cars. He pulled his engine just to instal my new prototype pipes. Thanks, Mark!
In the parking lot I ended up doing a lot of "manifold" talk. Then Bernie or someone said "do you know who that was you were just talking to?". I would have never guessed it was the real "Aliass" himself. Seriously, "Don" is a great guy. Sure, he's taken me to task big time on several occasions, but was a real gentleman in person and is welcome in my home anytime he's in Minnesota. The dinner was great. I asked Ash why we had to drive all over downtown Dallas just to find a place to eat. When we went inside it was obvious...a 50 foot screen showing classic car chases, intermixed with fine Z footage. The food was very fine too. I offered to trade my key chain for the JWT springs or the 300 Degree rails, but it was no use. Greg and Dallas did a super job putting everything together. On the way out, Anthony (Maglito) showed off his new-won treasures...another guy I was very pleased to finally meet. 
Some people hung out awhile, then took off. I was really impressed with how well-behaved everyone was with their wicked fast cars. Even the young CollegeBoy in his impeccable car with the duelies and roll cage, took off like he was driving his gramma's Buick. Ash asked me if I wanted to meet him next door to shoot some pool while he "parked the car". The next thing I see is Ash carving out a perfect cursive letter "a" in the pavement with charred rubber, blinding smoke... the engine bouncing off the rev limiter. Wow!
I'm not going to brag about my pool-shooting that night nor will Ash win a grammy for his well-lubricated rendition of "Horse with no name", but I am pleased to say that enjoyed seeing a side of people I had not seen before. I had often read on net postings of those who were up all night helping someone get their Z back together. The internet seems pretty impersonal and cold to me and I was encouraged to meet some pretty fine people. Even with Nixit and Alias, sure we meet over our mutual interest in cars but soon realize there's more to life and make some good friendships. Now I'm looking forward to the next big event in Daytona. All I need to do now is get at least one of my TT's off the jackstands and back on the road. Thanks a Zillion,
Jon Abeler
Speed Bumps & Steep Driveways Are Not My Friends
 |
