ETS Drift Ute – I’m Tired

First I want to run through the last few days with you guys. Sunday night I loaded up the enclosed trailer in preparation to pick the cabin up from Tim and the boys at Breakwater Panels on Monday night.

Heading to work on Monday my brain was buzzing at the amount of things that had to go right for this week to go as planned. My rocker cover and Manifold were somewhere between Sydney and Geelong, my headlights were somewhere between Japan and Geelong and there was also a windscreen to go in the cabin once it was painted. Not only that but Monday night I had to drop the completed body off in a warehouse, load the entire ute (in bits) into the trailer and deliver it to the warehouse the next morning.

Amazingly the courier dropped off the manifold, rocker cover and headlights late Monday afternoon. I loaded up the trailer with every single nut, bolt, tool and part associated with the build into my van and trailer and managed to get around two hours sleep that night.

Tuesday morning started at 6am and we met at the warehouse the idea was to mount a camera on the roof, chalk out the area it covered and then place every part around the central chassis for possibly the most awesome handcrafted timelapse in the history of home made automobiles. I was happy that my friend Dean had all the photography gear covered, we wired in the camera to the laptop and had an amazing camera and lense mounted on the rafters. We also made the decision to flash everything with some studio lighting (thanks Cricket) to offset the changing conditions from the light coming through the skylights.

Once we were happy with the shot it was time for me to start my job, I had all the nuts and bolts and every part cataloged in my brain, I seriosly could put this together with my eyes closed. It started with the alloy floor panels and ended with the wheels, some 5 hours of fitting a part, stepping back out of shot making sure not to move anything, taking the shot and then doing it all over again over 100 times.

I only recently met Dean and he had never seen the completed assembly, his mates dad Wal also came along to see how this all worked. As every part was fitted and tightened it was satisfying to see the looks on their faces as it came to life before them. Its actually incredible how well everything fits and how easy this is to work on, as every part slots into place I remember what I went through to achieve the goals I had for each single component, through trial and error I have developed a deep understanding for the way every single thing works and know it back to front because I made it.

DJ from DeeJays auto glass dropped by and fitted the new front windscreen and it was just in time too. Late afternoon arrived and the last parts were fitted, I stepped back and admired the finished product, the depth of the clear powdercoat, the gloss on the flow coated Toyota white paint work, the perfect FRP panels, the alloy aerodynamic floor and ducting, the chromoly suspension arms and the list goes on, to see it all finished just made me smile.

The night wasn’t over though, while we had the warehouse we wanted to shoot the finished ute. We shifted it around, re-set the lighting, shot and perfected every single element we could.

It was now Wednesday morning and I had just loaded the ute and all my tools back into the trailer, as I drove home the sun came up, I was tired and incredibly sore all over, just a few hours sleep in two days had taken its toll on me, so many emotions with only a few hours work left to be done till its a wrap on the completed ETS Drift ute.

I would like to thank those people that have helped over the last few days.

Mum and Dad for getting new keys cut to the trailer after I lost them, life savers!

Celia, thanks for all the help over the last couple of days, without those coffees and brownies I dont know if I could have gone on!

Tim and the team at Breakwater Panels, I couldn’t be happier with the work you guys did on the body, you went above and beyond and met every deadline, im so happy with the paint on this, thanks!

Dean Walters, your professionalism coupled with being a top bloke who loves a good time made working with you a blast, thanks for all the hard work you put in.

Cricket, thanks for the warehouse and the lighting.

Hi-Octane Performance Coatings, thanks for getting the manifold and rocker cover back to me in time, I am so happy with the finish.

I will try and get this timelapse out to you guys asap, I might try and get some sleep first though.