Congratulations
on winning November 2013 COTM Martin! You are a man who has owned many cars but
when it comes to the Nissan Primera, you know how to find the good ones and
make them even better!! The P10 eGT Saloon in this feature is outstanding! How
does it feel bagging this exclusive award and the awesome COTM trophy as well?
I’m absolutely over the moon, I can’t
believe I have been picked ahead of (in my opinion) a whole host of worthy
potential winners and thanks for the nice words up there. I do try to improve
them where possible, I aim to make the cars into what I believe they should have
looked like from the factory.
Another two
times winner of COTM as well!! Your 1st win was in May 2009 with a
silky silver Nissan Primera P11 2.0 SLX - Does it feel any different second
time around?
This feels even better then the first
time, I was still bouncing about the “Runner Up” at JAE trophy, when I got the
Private Message telling me I had won COTM and hadn’t even thought about this.
Before we talk
cars, modifications and mechanics, we’d love to find out about you the owner. Any
big life changes or anything since we read your original feature in 2009? Please
tell us about yourself and what you get up to, away from the NPOC.
This year I hit the big 5-0, but still
act like a kid according to my lovely wife Sharon and my two kids, Aidan and
Erin. I used to be a freight train driver but got made redundant 4 years ago.
Luckily I got a job in the Redcar steelworks driving the locos which transport
the molten iron @1600C to be turned into steel. I spend most of my time off
with Sharon, my 2 kids, Aidan and Erin, and the now (in?) famous Monty dog.
You’re an Elite Member
here (our highest level of paying membership) and have been for over 2 years
now! Are you still getting value for money with that? And please sell us the
reason, why everyone should become Elite.
It’s a no brainer really, even though
I only really go to JAE, the rewards from the owners usually mean you get most
of your subscription back in free / reduced tickets etc. I also see it as a way
of repaying a little of everything I have gained from NPOC over the years.
Those who remember your May 2009 COTM
feature (and if you don’t.. Go read it now), will know that at that time in
2009 you had owned a total of 6 Primeras WOW! What’s the Nissan Primera ownership
count at now?
Not sure my memory’s that good these
days mate, but here goes… After the P11 SLX in 2009:
Silver P10 eGT loon FP0 P10 eGT loon (1st time) Red P11 GT hatch Black P11 GT loon (“nabber”s original) White P11 GT loon Red P10 eGT loon Cobalt P10 SRi loon Red P11-144 estate (current) FP0 P10 eGT loon (current)
I have a feeling there may be one or
two missing from that line-up LOL, answers on a postcard please!
I believe the
Nissan Primera is not the only car you own at the moment but if I’m honest,
I’ve lost track of what may or may not be on your drive nowadays LOL.. Any
other cars knocking around you want to tell us about?
Just the 2 at the moment Shaun, my eGT
and a 144 wagon that used to belong to “Stevie-Boy” and ”Geordie” before that. We
also have the family diesel Ford Focus, just to ensure I appreciate driving the
Prims!
And back to
the car of this feature.. An absolutely sweet P10 eGT Loon YAY!! A nice story
behind this one as well! Not only did you steal it from me, when it went up for
sale originally! But after buying it, you took it to JAE 2010 and won a Club
trophy with it, then you sold it.. Then bought it back, took it to JAE 2013 and
won another Club trophy! So I guess what I’m trying to ask is, what made you
sell it in the 1st place and how happy are you to have it back on
the drive?
I was very fortunate to get it off the
original owner, a service manager at Mitsubishi (and club member) and I
stupidly sold it because I fell out of love with the colour, mainly because (I
found out later) I had been polishing it with green colour magic wax and this
subdued the blue metallics in the paint, making it appear bottle green…………
urggghhh!! But since I got it back from another member (GT786) it has been
polished regularly with SRP and Poorboys Black Hole and it shines like a good
‘un! It will not leave me again. It still has only 74000 miles on it too!
Talking of
Club awards / trophies.. The old china cabinet must be filling up now? How many
pieces of NPOC silverware have you got now and remind us of what they’re all
for please and what’s been your favourite to date and why?
A bit embarrassing really, as I’m not
the boastful type but I now have 2 x COTM, May 2009 and this one, Best P10 @
JAE 2010, Runner Up Best On Stand @ JAE 2013, and JAE Quiz Champs with “Geordie”,
“kitfar” and “Andrew” for 2010 and 2011.
Tough call, but my fave has to be Best
P10 @ JAE 2010 as I’d put tons of work into every detail of the eGT that year
and it was touch and go (as usual!) with “Tom-P10”, as his cars are always
beautifully turned out, so it was brilliant that other members appreciated my
efforts.
On to the modifications,
now would be a great time to tell us all about your Nissan Primera P10 eGT, so
please list your full spec and all modifications, inside and out:
Exterior / Body / Cosmetics:
Fox Evo
3 alloys with Toyo tyres Yellow
tinted fogs Twin
rear fog conversion Seat Cupra
R front splitter Custom
front grille Custom
rear black perspex boot filler plate Custom
JDM front tango corners Chrome
exterior handles Gold
painted calipers / discs Personalised
number plate BTCC
stylee sunstrip Alloy
oil cap
Interior:
Stainless
steel sill guards P11-144
sunglasses holder P11
GTLE seats (front and rear!) N15 GTi
steering wheel Momo
gear knob Sparco
pedals Custom
painted dash / centre console USA “
loaf” armrest Chrome
dial rings and red clock bulbs Blue
LED alarm mod DAB
head unit Corsa
rubber gaiters for column stalks
Performance / Suspension:
Full
scorpion stainless cat-back exhaust Poly
bushed drop links and ARB Poly
gearbox stabiliser bush Lowered
40mm on H+R springs (front only at the moment) 278mm
front disc upgrade E-tech
strut brace Flat
top front strut mounts from USA K&N panel filter
What’s the
most enjoyable change you’ve made so far?
Right now it’s the P11 GTLE seats…..
Mega comfy!
If I gave
£500 right now and told you it had to be spent on the car, what would you buy?
I’d put it towards a dent removal / respray
programme.
If money was
no object and you could do anything you wanted to the Ten, what would you do?
Easy one this … A full nut and bolt restoration
and a VVL conversion.
Do you carry
out most of the repair work yourself and is there anything you wouldn’t take on
and out of 1 – 5, what rated spanner monkey do you consider yourself to be?
I’m a 4 on the monkey rating, as I do
most of the spannering myself, mostly since I was brought up in the days when
you could tinker with a car. It also gets me away from the DIY jobs in the
house LOL, I’d happily tackle most things except an engine or gearbox rebuild
etc.
Time for
the quick fire question round!
How
long have you been an NPOC Member? Over six years now What makes you smile?
Baby ducks
What makes you sad?
Rust bunnies
Tell us something we don't know about
you..
I once chucked Robbie (Dean Gaffney) from
Eastenders off my train for not having a ticket, and yes.. He did ask if I knew
who he was LOL
Your favourite colour?
Silver
Your lucky number?
(p) 10 LOL!
What will it say on your gravestone?
Shit happens
Your favourite drink (any)?
White Russian (it’s what I would drink all
the time if I won the Lottery)
If you could steal the keys to someone else’s
car (on NPOC) for 1 day, which car would you steal and why?
I’d quite fancy
a spin in “Ant-Dat”s re-shelled P11GT, as it’s got to be the closest thing to a
brand new Primera we have in the club.
What’s been
your favourite ever club meet, “of all time” so far and why?
My first JAE in 2009, it was just awesome and
my silver P10 eGT loon got 3rd best P10 on stand. That was quite an
achievement back then with Tom / Jimmy / Ross / Doz / Gaz and Sam etc all
showing lovely P10’s!
NPOC for life
(regardless of what car you own and drive) or leg it when you change car?
For life guaranteed, I’ve made too
many friends on here to leave now.
Sum up in a
few words, why everyone should own a Nissan Primera??
I’m going to amend that to “everyone
should own a P10“ and you should, because it’s a real driver’s car compared to
all the modern iron out there, proper drive by the seat of your pants stuff.
Tell Carlos Ghosn why he needs to bring back the Nissan Primera
brand:
So people like me will have something
to look forward to buying in the future, when all the current Primeras have
gone - But he needs to VVL or turbo it next time.
From 2013 onwards in every COTM feature, my final question to all
winners is going to be this one... If you could change one thing about the NPOC
Forums, what would it be and why (and don’t be shy)?
I’d like turbo over-run sound effects
when you refresh the page LOL.
Many thanks for
telling us all about yourself and the Nissan Primera P10 eGT we see featured
here - 2 times winner now and with 2 fantastic cars!! Congratulations once
again for winning Car Of The Month for November 2013 Martin! Please end this
feature, in your own words and feel free to thank anyone who’s made this one
possible.
First of all a big thank you to
EVERYBODY on here. There would not be an NPOC without you all.
Thanks to all the Admin team and the
ones who arrange all the events, JF, JAE and the local meets.
Thanks to “Geordie” (Chris) for his
input styling wise (even if we disagree most of the time LOL), “Tom-P10” (Tom)
for keeping me on my toes, “GT786” (Tan) for selling it back to me, “dysopath”
(Nick) for bringing the seats and wheels to JAE and everyone else who makes
this award worth winning, thanks fellas and girls! Congratulations once again to Martin!
November 2013 COTM - prim-n-proper
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