96 Terminator Re-Painted

Almost Everything's Car of the Day is a 1996 Ford Mustang Cobra...of sorts...this has a motor and driveline transplant from the legendary 2003-2004 Cobra. 6 speed Swap, ported Eaton Supercharger, and a whole ton of other goodies made their way on to this lucky 96' including the paint color which is called "Dark Shadow Grey" which was only offered on the newer "Terminator" (03-04) Cobras.  The previous paint job was done by another shop in a less than desireable manner, lots of areas were not sanded prior to painting and now they were peeling and chipping very easily.  This Cobra was repainted using one of our premium Base Coat / Clear Coat paints in the same "Dark Shadow Grey" color!

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1990 Mazda Miata Re-Re-Painted

Almost Everything's Car of the Day is a 1990 Mazda Miata. This Japanese roadster came to our shop before, hence the shiny red paint on the majority of its body. Unfortunately it had a "Run In" with a wall, requiring body work and repainting. The car's owner repaired all of the areas that he deemed neccecary, and dropped the Miata off for us to refinish with our basic Enamel paint, in a Ford factory color red!

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Look at the beautiful body of this Ferrari!

Almost-Everything attended the 2013 San Fransisco Auto Show. Many beautiful cars, trucks, and SUVs filled the Moscone Center's halls.  We like to document our outings such as this one, strangely this year there was a new type of challenge presented before us when our Customer Service Manager, Joel, and our Detailer Jason were attempting to snap a picture of this Ferarri, an obstacle appeared, obscuring the beautiful body lines of the Italian beast...Joel and his wise mouth left the scene swiftly to avoid potentially being murdered by the model, while Jason stood frozen, motionless, trying with all his might to not laugh at the slightly annoyed model's stone-cold glare aimed towards the fleeing Joel. Both employees made it safely into work today.     

Houston Grand Prix Video

In-car video of Lloyd Read in the Almost Everything-JDC Motorsports formula car during his last lap of the season at the Grand Prix of Houston. This was the final race of the 2013 Star Mazda Championship. The video shows a great race with several changes in position as the finish line approaches. Just 2 laps from the checkered flag Read is bumped from behind by another car. He hits the wall and the car is done for the day.

Read won the 2011 Goodyear Formula Car Challenge Series for Almost Everything and last year led the championship until crashes (caused by other drivers) put him out of contention.

2013 was Read's rookie season of the Star Mazda Championship. He finished top 10 in all but 2 races. This put him 8th overall in points standing. Congratulations Lloyd. We look forward to an exciting 2014 season of racing.

For more information on Lloyd Read, the Star Mazda Championship and the Road to Indy, visit:

LloydReadRacing.com
Facebook.com/Lloyd-Read-Racing
indycar.com/Series/Pro-Mazda-Championship/Lloyd-Read
wikipedia.org/Star_Mazda_Championship
StarMazda.com/

Lamborghini hits 250 MPH. . . then Bursts Into Flames (of course)

Almost Everything's Wreck of the Day is yet another Lamborghini. If you know us at all, you know we can't pass up an exotic supercar flambé-ing itself. This time there's a somewhat reasonable excuse. This particular Lamborghini, called the "LP570-4 Underground Racing R2/Altechno," has 2005 HP and set an all time speed record at the Moscow Unlimited 500+ drag races. It is traveling 402 kph (250 mph) at the finish line. . . then it blows up. Great video.

Video of Crash at Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières

Video below shows Lloyd Read in the Almost Everthing/JDC Motorsport Pro Formula Mazda advancing a couple positions right at the start of the race at the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières (GP3R) in Quebec, Canada. Then another driver causes a multi-car pile up. Our car gets damaged and Read is injured but manages to get back to the pits. JDC Motorsports miraculously replaces both front and rear suspensions in just 15 minutes and we're back racing. Be sure to watch the end of the video for the crash view from the rear mounted camera. It shows all the other cars piling up behind us!

Read went on to finish the race with a broken thumb. The time for repairs, while amazingly quick, ensure that Read and Almost Everything will not be on the podium this race. But Read gains valuable championship points by managing to finish in spite of the crash and injury.

Read was the Champion of the 2011 Goodyear Formula Car Challenge Series for Almost Everything. In 2012 he once again led the championship until crashes (caused by other drivers) put him out of contention. In 2013 Read pilots the #16 Almost Everything-JDC Motorsports formula car in the "Road to Indy" Star Mazda Championship.

The Star Mazda Championship is part of the "Road to Indy" that trains drivers and showcases talent to F1 and Indianapolis 500 teams. Read joins a very elite alumni that includes NASCAR and Formula One star Scott Speed, Indy drivers Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal and NASCAR/Champ Car/GTP driver Michael McDowell.

For more information on Lloyd Read, the Star Mazda Championship and the Road to Indy, visit:

LloydReadRacing.com
Facebook.com/Lloyd-Read-Racing
wikipedia.org/Star_Mazda_Championship
StarMazda.com/

Another Ho-Hum Day in Pebble Beach, California

We like to putter around Carmel and Pebble Beach, California (pun intended) in August every year. It is when and where the world's richest car fanatics congregate for the annual Pebble Beach Concours d' Elegance. Decades ago it was a one day event. Now it's a week that encompasses the Monterey Historic Races, auto auctions, Concorso Italiano, and auto manufacturers showing off their best stuff. Our favorite part is trolling the streets and parking lots around the event. . .

Carmel traffic jamb. How many exotics can you spot in this picture?

$30M Ferrari 250 GTO Testarossa--driving down Ocean Ave. in Carmel

No clue what this is. Please tell us.

Lamborghini Miura parked on side of street

Ferrari 275 driving through Carmel, California

Just more Ferraris and a Bugatti

Of course, this year we spent the weekend painting the outside of the Almost Everything building instead of participating in automotive nirvana. Thank goodness for our great friends at ExoticSpotter across the Bay who agregate photos of stuff like this.

Video of One-of-a-Kind Lamborghini Crash

Almost Everything's Wreck of the Day is a one-of-a-kind Lamborghini concept supercar called the Giugiaro Parcour. This past weekend at the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed (FoS) the Giugiaro Parcour was participating in the Supercar Run and spun off the race track into a hay bale wall. The damage is certainly repairable but the video is still hard to watch.

Goodwood Estate where the Festival of Speed is held every year

As is so often the case, our buddies across the Bay at WreckedExotics.com alerted us to this automotive tragedy.

1993 World Rally Wagon.

Almost Everything's Car of the Day is a 1993 Subaru Impreza Wagon. This sporty gas saver came to our shop wearing nothing but primer. A friend of the owners primed the vehicle but did not finish it with new paint, leaving the surfaces vulnerable to rust beneath the primer! We began by repairing a few areas that were damaged by a collision, and unfinished by the previous body repair person. Once the bodywork was complete we sanded out all of the remaining chips and scratches and sealed the fresh surface with our own primer sealer! The car was originally green, instead of continuing its life with a run of the mill color, the owner decided to repaint it like one of Subaru's wickedly fast race cars. The color is called World Rally Blue, and the paint material is Almost-Everything's Enamel!

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24 Hours of Le Mans!

It's that time of year again, the oldest and greatest auto race in the world celebrates its 90th anniversary this weekend in Le Mans, France (June 23-24, 2013.) The race is fast and torturous. It is where the world's premier auto makers--Aston Martin, Audi, Chevrolet (Corvette), Chrysler (SRT Viper), Ferrari, Honda, Lotus, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Porsche, Toyota--come to show not only that they have the fastest, best handling, most advanced cars but in order to win, they must also be reliable and economical.

The race attracts top drivers including celebrity Patrick Dempsey who in past years has been a LeMans class leader. Audi once again captured the pole in 2013. Toyota was third fastest in qualifying with a hybrid prototype.

Unlike most races, these vehicles must run all-out for 24 hours straight without breaking down and with as few stops as possible. At 2013 speeds we can expect the leaders to travel more than 3000 miles (5000 km)

NASCAR, Formula 1 and Indycar feature straights that can be a thousand feet long. LeMans features a straightaway that is 4 miles (6 km) long followed by a series of curves, hairpin turns and shorter straights.

It is our favorite race at Almost Everything because the cars look like real cars and the technology is often a few years away from making the cars we drive everyday safer, more fun and better performing.