Congratulations
on winning November 2011 COTM Syd! An awesome head turning Nissan Primera P12
and club favourite! I’d firstly like to point out to the members, that you have
now joined a very special crew, being only the third person ever to win COTM twice, with 2 different
cars. A big well done! How does it feel bagging this exclusive award and
the awesome COTM trophy as well, second time around?
It feels as if all the blood, sweat and TEARS were all
worth it in the end. It is a great privilege and honour to be a member of such
an exclusive few, that have won it twice. Winning this trophy once was amazing,
to win it twice with two totally different cars is outstanding.
Before we talk cars, modifications and mechanics, we'd love to find out about you the owner. Please tell us all about yourself and what you get up to, away from the NPOC. Have there been any big changes since the last time I asked you this question? My wife has recently bought me a new camera and I have
been going out most nights after work, taking photos of the area around me. I
recently got one of my first photos printed in The East Anglian Daily Times. I
never totally get away from NPOC, as walking around with my camera I'm always
looking and thinking of new ideas for the P12. Most of my spare time is taken
up by my sons football and skate parks.
How did you
find the NPOC forums and are we any good? Would you happily recommend the club
to other Nissan Primera owners? Are we still the number one place for Nissan Primera
owners to come?
The forums are excellent and helpful. The fact that I am
useless at putting anything on them, is down to me not the forum. I print out about
30 flyers a week and stick them on Nissan Primeras where ever I find one. So,
yes I do recommend the club to all Primera owners. Even the Nissan main dealers
who service my car are members on NPOC, thanks to me. Well, I can't speak for
everyone but for me it is the best and only place to go.
You originally won COTM in
October 2008 with your wildly modified P11 144, that car was always a marmite
one (you know what I mean here and no offence intended), so here we are again
with you winning another COTM feature but with a more subtly styled car. Has
old age changed your stance on modifying? Why is this one not “so in your
face”?
Due to the fact that nobody makes a marmite bodykit, I
had to get it made by a professional bodykit builder that does not do “in your
face” kits. If there was an “in your face” bodykit available, it probably would
have been fitted by now. So nothing to do with my age, just availability. I
like to be different.
A
lot of what we see on your Nissan Primera P12 are “one off” custom made parts,
is there no audience in the UK for companies to sell aftermarket P12 parts to
and why?
I don't think there is a market for custom made kits for
the P12 because it is a butt ugly looking car which is made by Renault, but
saying that I have had at least 10 – 15 people offer me money for my bodykit!
Would the car
be more mental if there were off the shelf parts to buy?
100% yes, but I love the look of it as it is, so thank Christ
they don't sell off the shelf parts, so I can create another marmite car.
What was the
reason you went for the P12 in the first place, did you have some kind of idea
about how it would evolve under your ownership?
I only went for the Nissan Primera P12 because of all the
piss taking whenever one drove past. So I was well up for the challenge of
making it a more loved car within the club, and not a Renault with a Nissan
badge.
Ever tempted
by a Nissan Primera P11, we know there are a lot of parts available nowadays,
both cosmetically and power wise?
Yes, everytime I saw your old Nordic GT and when I see “ragt20”
and “Neilistic”s Mystics and now your new car, Pinky.
On to the
modifications, now would be a great time to tell us all about your sweetaz
Nissan Primera P12! So please list your full spec and all modifications, inside
and out:
Custom made front bumper
Custom made sideskirts
Custom made engine cover
Carbon fibre look door pillars
Aftermarket Boot spoiler
Headlight protectors
Wind deflectors
Tinted windows and sunstrip
Stainless steel Powerflow exhaust from cat back
Lowered 30mm on Spax springs
19” Modular alloy wheels with one off NPOC centre caps Painted calipers
Chrome front indicator bulbs
LED sidelights
Blue strobe lights in front grille
Stainless steel power steering and brake fluid bottle
covers
DIY NPOC bootmat NPOC tax disc holder NPOC stickers DL Tribute stickers
Headrest mounted screens with individual DVD players
Colour changing interior lights
Private number plate
What’s the
most enjoyable change you’ve made so far?
The front bumper by far.
Anything
you’ve tried so far, that didn’t work and went in the bin?
Four bucket seats, changing the wing mirrors and 4 x different
boot spoilers.
If I gave
£500 right now and told you it had to be spent on the car, what would you buy?
Upgrading the sound system with bass speaker (sub) and
door speakers.
If money was
no object and you could do anything you wanted, what would be the ultimate
Nissan Primera P12?
Nissan 370z engine on air suspension.
Any secrets
or future plans I can squeeze out of you?
A new set of alloy wheels similar to “ragt20” on his
Mystic, or your old gold wheels that you had on the Nordic.
Time for the
quick fire question round!
P11 144 or
P12? – P11
144
Shotgun or
Pistol? –
Shotgun
Power or
Looks? – Looks
JAE or
Japfest? –
JAE
Xbox or
Playstation? –
Playstation
Honda or
Subaru? –
Honda
Tell us your
favourite NPOC car?
– “ragt20”s NEO VVL Mystic
You are
always a regular at our Club Meets and the Nissan Primera P12 always gets
attention (thanks for representing the NPOC!) – Tell everyone why they should
take the time to get out to our meets.
Because you should spend time with your family (NPOC). Also
just for the amount of information and help you can pick up from just one meet.
Plus once you've done one meet, you'll be hooked.
We missed
your family at JAE in September (and I know you missed them too) - Are we gonna
see them (and yaself) at Ace Café in December, for the end of year finale?
Yes, my family did miss coming to JAE this year. We will
deffo be at the final meet of the year, to see you all at the Ace Cafe.
NPOC for life
(regardless of what car you own and drive) or leg it when you change car?
For life, regardless!
Tell Carlos Ghosn (again, cos he wasn’t listening in your 1st
COTM feature) why he needs to bring back the Nissan Primera brand:
Because there are less and less Primeras on the roads and
I'm waiting for the P13, so start building!
I’ve just
added up all the trophies you have won as an NPOC Member and it’s now 4 in
total! 2 X COTM trophies and 2 X JAE trophies (the members voted for the JAE
ones) – WOW! Any
chance of a photo, showing us the complete haul please?
Many thanks
for telling us all about yourself and your Nissan Primera P12 Syd, seeing the
passion you have for the club and your car, when I presented you with the “Best
Nissan Primera P12” trophy at JAE 2011, makes me feel happy to give you this
COTM feature too ! Congratulations once again for winning Car Of The Month for
November 2011! Please end this feature, in your own words and feel free to
thank anyone who’s made this one possible.
Well firstly I would like to thank the wife for not
moaning about the money I have spent on the car (as she has been waiting for a
dishwasher for 3 years).
Thanks to all at JAE this year, for more than once
helping me out, you know who you are.
A big thanks to the Club Owners; Shaun Ade and G for my
membership this year, after losing my job.
Finally a big thanks to Gaz (Sluffer) for taking the
photos you see in this feature. I have now got my own camera but still don't
know how to get my photo's on the NPOC forum!
Congratulations once again to Syd!
November 2011 COTM - bigsydney Written by essNchill
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