Nigel Nettar! Long time no talk. You’re somewhat of a stalwart of the local import scene, aren’t you?
That’s one of the most creative ways of saying, “you’re quite old, aren’t you?” that I’ve heard yet!

Hah, I say it with love, really. Tell us about your background in the local tuning scene and your early years of playing with modified cars.
I’ve been messing around modifying cars since 1995 when I got my first Honda Civic. This was before I even really knew anything about cars at all. One of the classic beginner moves at modding cars began with colour coding interior panels — painting your air conditioning vents and switch panels with a can of VHT from Repco is one of those classic amateur mods, isn’t it? Even more classic would be choosing a lurid colour to do it in, like florescent yellow or red (yes, mine was red). Ever since I discovered cars as a form of canvas, it’s been like a work of art that you never really stop painting — just one layer over the last, getting better each time.

Well said. We hear you used to kick it outside Caltex on Stanley Street in Auckland and up around the Museum late at night back in the day. What’s the go there? How long has it been since you did that?
I think many of us will remember our 'glory days’ of 1998-2000. Car life was easier then — and car culture and its people way more accessible than it is now. A good night out would have entailed sitting on an internet chat room talking trash till about 10pm, then heading out to a predetermined location (usually to the chagrin of the night staff at the Caltex on Stanley St, and the truckers simply trying to top up on diesel) where more harmless trash talk would ensue. The joys came from making your entrance with your pride and joy, for the rest of your friends who may already be there — and to then witness the arrival of other friends. Inspecting the latest mods done that week (“ooh a new free flow filter!” …”high mount tweeters bouncing off the windscreen — awesome!”) and taking the mickey out of each other were all that was necessary. No burnouts, no drag races, no gang signs, no flat peak caps, no dramas. In fact, almost zero alcohol was needed. Passengers showed up sober, laughed, chewed gum, drank coke. Jump in your ride and run a couple of laps round the city, and check out the latest ride rolling down Queen St. You could come off the northbound motorway onto Wellesley St and roll straight into the queue down Queen St (what bus lane?!). After a few hours you’d call it a night and cruise home, dropping your mates off along the way. Realistically, the most showboating you’d see would be a flat out acceleration in first gear leaving your hangout up to 50km/h, then slam it into fifth and roll. Back then there was no 'motorway’ right by Stanley St! Even the police would come through, pause and check the scene, and we’d go up and have a friendly chat. They’d make sure no one was being a hero, and they’d go on their way. Sure, if things got a bit too busy, they’d move us along, but nothing more was needed. That was it.

Nowadays? Streets are dead. Shop vendors and property owners have security patrolling like flies. Police now seem to be vultures with zero length fuses and one giant bucket to label everyone with. Your first move is your last. Obnoxious cars are packed overloaded with big guys all already intoxicated beyond belief, at the point where almost no provocation is necessary to start up a fight. It’s 'Gang A’ versus 'Gang B’, with both teaming up on innocent non-gang folk like common prey. Don’t like a car that rolls past? Don’t bother making a joke about it as it passes, just put your beer bottle through its back window. Private property? Vandalise it. Police? Well it’s no wonder the police are how they are if this is what they have to deal with. There is no sense of community, camaraderie — before you could go up to a stranger, compliment them on their car, and maybe earn a friend. Now doing the same may well risk you earning some A&E time, and maybe lose you your ride. Yes, there were always and will always be bad hats — but these days it seems there isn’t much else!

What was your involvement in the early days with cars?
My involvement started with my first car as it probably did for anyone reading this magazine. Once you realise you have this piece of property that you own, build and customise with your efforts and expense, it becomes an extension of your personality. I was always a home audiophile — but once I discovered you could put speakers and amplifiers in cars, that was it. I started with car audio and building on that scene, before the natural progression into performance modifications. I started looking at magazines for inspiration, and picked up a new, rather amateur looking NZ publication with a red Suzuki Baleno on the front cover. Issue #7 of something called 'New Zealand Performance Car’.

In a rather self-indulgent move back in '98, I plastered my email address on the side of my car window — resulting in receiving an email by a random fellow asking me about the car and if I would be interested in joining a little car club. Turns out he was a part of the then disbanding 'NZIC’ (New Zealand Integra Club), and this was a move to expand into something bigger. I humbly joined, and the 7 of us started a little community (initially restricted to private meets and a solitary internet chatroom), which seemed to grow in size and popularity into something bigger than all of us. You might have heard of it, it’s called NZ Hondas nowadays.

At this time, I was also in the middle of uni. This was predictably boring at times, and with huge gaps in our timetables at times there was nothing to do except take off for the afternoon to things more interesting. One of the pastimes was to head off to a certain joint called GP Performance, where apparently big things were happening. A certain gentleman there (who used to own a rather lurid purple/pink glittery FC RX-7, with bright blue wheels – perhaps you know who I’m talking about) would show us around, as we wandered through the shop floor checking out the latest in customer cars littering the floor.

There was always one curiosity in the middle of the floor — a large vehicle covered by a big car cover and buried with parts. We never knew what that deal was, as no one would say anything, and we were forbidden to approach it. Finally one afternoon, Ihad enough, and snuck up to the pile and lifted a corner to peek under. Bright blue glitter paint adorned what turned out to be an R33 GT-R with the licence plate GDZ1LR. Now you definitely know what happened there.

Someone else working there also had a car that caught my eye parked out of the way at the front of the shop — a very tidy but very stock looking black DC2 Integra. Nothing looked out of the ordinary upon first glance except for an aftermarket gauge bolted to the steering column. A closer look revealed it was a boost gauge. What?? A Honda with a boost gauge? What’s this guy doing? As it turns out, he was getting ready to paint the black teg cyan and blue, and go on to take the record for NZ’s fastest front-wheel-drive drag car.

The culmination of all of this for me were the 2000 4&Rotary Nationals. This was probably the peak of excitement and popularity for the event the scale of which I don’t think I’ve seen since. State Highway 1 was backed up and completely blocked and stationary for both lanes all the way from the Bombays towards Meremere. We sat stationary on the motorway, cars off, people walking around on the road; a complete carnival atmosphere as we lumbered along slowly, choosing to push the car along rather than drive it — such was the pace of our movement. The event itself was huge, with the entire hillside packed with spectators — and the good old Vodafone network completely overloaded from everyone’s frantic txting. I believe it was the same year that the day’s racing ended with a jaw dropping pass from an unassuming GTI-R Pulsar driven by someone called Justin Rood running a flat 12 — then unheard of. The best was yet to come — an amazing 21 cars lined up for the burnout comp. There was no skidpad — this was the days of skids in the middle of the drag strip just past the start line. The crowds on both sides of the lanes pounded their approval on the aluminium barriers as car after car (almost all rotors) was revved to destruction. The famous video you will find immediately on youtube for 'rotor blows up’ of a purple Series 1 RX-7 disintegrating its flywheel with such force that its front fenders and entire bonnet were blown open, was one of the cars on that day — I was right at trackside when it happened. After a number of rotors came through unsuccessfully, a Ford Escort rolled on the pad, to the boo’s of the crowd. “Get a rotor!” was predictably yelled at him. But he started up and put on such a solid effort that he blew both tyres and still drove off with motor intact, totally converting the crowd. The next car was another rotor, dying soon after starting with some inevitable mechanical failure. To my amazement, the crowds started booing the rotor’s efforts, and one guy yelled out, “Get a Ford!” — I greatly appreciated that tide turning moment.

The 20th car came on (I think yet another Series 1 RX-7) and tried to do its thing. He was not very successful, and after a while only managed to blow one tyre. He didn’t stop, however, and was intent on blowing the other one, so continued to rip up his tyre-shredded rim on the tarmac as the other was still going, ignoring the marshal’s attempts to get him to stop. One marshal got up to the car and managed to kick the door in an effort to stop the driver. Unfortunately, this only seemed to infuriate the driver even more, who then proceeded to rip up the tarmac back down the start line, into the staging area, and then off into the back paddock by the pits, with a string of marshals and security in hot pursuit to stop him. This was all too much for the crowd who were in such a state of hysteria that they leapt the barriers and poured right into the drag lanes to follow the madman and the ensuing chase and action. That ended the day from memory, in complete chaos — I recall the 21st and last burnout contestant still waiting in the return lane for his turn that would never come… I think from memory the weekend of those drags was also the weekend where, at a certain Quay St intersection in town, overexcited folks blocked off the entire road for burnouts at the intersection, culminating in the bottling of a police cruiser that went in to try to break up the crowds. It was the beginning of the end, really. Now we have boy racer laws, 'illegal gathering’ rules and so on, and a bunch of people protesting it all — but really, the reasons are all there, if you were around to experience it you’d understand. So that wass the early days; I was there for all of that!

Ha, you really do have an illustrious history with the scene, don’t you! Your LOFREQ Honda Civic used to be one of the more distinctive cars on the streets; talk us through that car and how it evolved over the years.
Ever since my first Civic I fell in love with the ugly boxy third generation shape. It may have been one of the most common cars ever sold, and totally un-unique — but I saw potential. When the time came to sell my first car, I decided to fix all the things I saw wrong the first time — I bought exactly the same car again but the highest spec I could find — the last of the Si models, which was the year before Honda released its VTEC B-Series motors in its hatches. This time instead of the lowly 1500 carby motor and lack of accessories, I had a 1600 twin cam injected 880kg street legal go kart. Car audio modifications advanced from my experiences from the first car, and after countless visits to Car Audio Sound & Security (later renamed Soundshack) I ended up with some quality audio gear, some of which I still own to this day. (I might be wrong but) I made friends with a chap called Rob there, who was just one of the guys there at the time. These days he runs a joint known as Rapid Radio.

Countless hours of boredom during uni lectures saw me doodling concepts and sketches of mods onto my lecture notes – bodykit designs, engine mods. I joked back in 1998 about a crazy turbocharged rocket version of my car, to the amusement of my friends, and myself too. Yet, in 2001, I picked up my car from Quest4 performance and took her for a drive — and the vacuum/boost gauge on the dash (which up till then only ever swung to zero) went to zero and carried on to 7psi – dreams became a reality. Modifications continued with more and more quality parts resulting in that same stock Civic (originally dyno’d at 63kW at the wheels stock by Robin @ Torque Performance during the height of the popular dyno days back then) to a motor pushing 173kW @ 15psi on the same totally stock block, custom paint and kit by the (at the time) top cats at N1KITS. This culminated in its entry into the 2003 Autosalon, representing the NZHondas club, and then again in the 2004 Final Battle. Not long after that it was rear-ended hard by a Ford Falcon and written off, and it was time for something new.

That’s not cool! It was also one of the loudest audio systems around at the time, wasn’t it?
These days it is probably nothing, but back then it managed 149dB SPL at its peak during the dB Drag comps I entered. This was a big deal! I actually won the 1999 dB Drag competition during the 4&Rotary Nationals and got second place in 2000, and I think I even managed to get some photos sneaked into NZPC covering this event. I used to compete in the sound-offs held in the gravel carpark across from Rapid Radio, and met many good people there.

How do you think the scene has changed over the years?
There will always be enthusiasts interested in different things, so in a way I guess the scene hasn’t changed at all — just the people and the subject matter is different. I come from the era where the pinnacle of street weapons were 'DOHC’ers’ (the 1986 Mazda 323 Familia DOHC turbo hatchbacks and sedans) or a 185i Holden Senator/Clubsport; having coloured spotlights were considered cool and tinting your rear taillights involved wrapping them in women’s stockings. Then we had the move in popularity from burnouts to straight line drags. From there, people discovered [Mitsubishi Galant] VR-4s, then GSRs, then Evos and then [Subaru Impreza WRX] STIs. Then came the spinner phase, followed by the ridiculous blue-LED-window-washer-jets phase, and then the drift phase (seemingly years late). And now we are in the 'let’s all be Audi R8s’ running LED lights phase. The hits just keep on coming!

Do you think your tastes in cars and the way you build them has evolved as the scene has evolved?
I believe my tastes changed and evolved, but only as I learned more about the history and backgrounds of certain styles and as I gained technical knowledge – but certainly not from the scene itself. If anything, the thing I have learnt from the scene is, not to follow it.
The more controversy you face, the more you know you’re headed in the right direction — all it takes is vision and sticking to your guns with what you’re trying to create.

Hence the Mark II, I take it. You bought this as a factory standard vehicle, and carried out all the work in the time you’ve owned it, right?
Yes, she was bought completely stock in 2004, and everything was slowly visualised and created from there. Nothing is off the shelf for these cars, so everything is a custom affair. From making cardboard rims with sliding centres to test clearances and offset to determine wheel specs, to the hand cut/rolled/beaten/fibreglassed/bogged flares, to the motor swap; basically everything other than welding and final paint. Even drawing and photoshopping the final product — I remember comparing photoshopped versions of my car to the real finished product. That was satisfying. When I got it I started a build thread on the oldschool.co.nz forum, stating my intent to do a boso-themed car — it’s been one of the highest hit build threads in the history of the board, with almost 60,000 hits to the discussion thread. The build has been linked to boards all over the world, including bemused fellows in Japan who were following my efforts! I knew when this started happening that I was on to something.

What inspired this crazy boso-themed Toyota Mark II you now own?
A respect for the Japanese culture in general led to stumbling upon their car cultures, which by chance lead to discovering random photos of the real thing in Japan. Seeing hoards of increasingly crazily modified cars in Japan, all totally illegal and parked up in the cover of night at random 'meets’, sparked curious parallels with the car culture I knew here. It was cool to see the same thing in effect being done on the other side of the world, but instead of 323 wagons with nuclear waste logos on the rear windows, they just rolled in late '70s Nissans and Toyotas, with silhouette JTCC styling cues taken right over the edge into the realm of tongue in cheek ridiculousness. I was hooked. I knew that the uniqueness, and the challenge of creating something that wild and different yet remaining legal for NZ roads, would be something really cool to try.

Did the Japanese scene guide your ideas for the build?
Absolutely. I had a complete disinterest in the local trends of the time — rotor/Evo/STI/chrome/airbags/quarter mile performance etcetera. I had no time for that. All inspiration came from the perfect fitment and clean tough stance of the old cars — taking something that, when factory looks completely boxy and ugly, and purely by wheels, fitment and stance, turn them into pure intimidating machines. And that’s before any crazy mods! The same styling 'rules’ create the VIP-style you see with more modern cars there — exact same recipe, just new big sedans. It’s the same again with vanning. Wheels, perfect fitment, stance = magic every time.

Do you think you’ve built a good replica of what you’d see in Japan? Or do you think you’ve thrown your own spin on it, as such?
It was never meant to be a direct replica, but more of a style based on that idea. It’s obviously not a full on 'bosozoku’ illegal street weapon like they are in Japan with the shark nose extensions/10-foot star exhaust through the bonnet, roof chops, massive box overfenders etcetera. Obviously, people look at what I’ve done and say, “That’s not boso, where’s your <insert string of over the top mods>?” That’s not the point. The challenge was to base the styling on the Japanese theme, but have the car totally street legal and actually usable on NZ roads. It doesn’t have to be extreme to do the job — in fact many of the extreme cars in Japan do look terrible. It’s the mild street versions that take the best of the styling cues and execute them with perfect precision, which is what I’m talking about. By challenging myself to get as much of the style while keeping it within the rules of the road made the project that much more interesting, with the result being that much more unique.

We understood the plate LOFREQ, but talk us through the LOFA plate.
Pure phonetic shortform of the nickname 'LOFREQ’ that I used on the online chat forums — of course standing for 'low frequency’ — a nod to my car audio roots. I just got lazy with the original nickname when signing in online! Never thought about it sounding like another language or hinting at a different culture until it got made and then realised, “Hey, does that sound like something else? Whoops…” It also sounds lazy (a 'loafer’) which I seem to be these days.

Has it been a hard undertaking to build this car?
As with anyone building up a project car with a low budget, no tools, no real fabrication skills and nowhere to do the work; yes, it’s been hard! All I really had was a vision. Perhaps that’s all you really need – it just makes the creation that much more of a triumph.

How much custom work has had to be put into it?
As usual, nothing was available off the shelf for suspension, so it was just an amalgamation of parts found randomly and endless trial and error. The engine is a 1G-GTE Gen 3 out of a Soarer. Random coil-overs were found in a corner of FBI Performance (now AAP Imports) marked for a VW Polo, but they somehow fit my struts perfectly. Shocks are from a Toyota MR2 and Levin and the springs are from Fords — all random and custom. It took many hours of trial and error. In fact, what is on this car that is not custom and was able to be bolted on right off the shelf? Let’s see… The locknuts — they bolted on. The steering wheel boss… Yep, that’s it. Even my crystal gear knob needed customising to fit!

Have you had many problems along the way with it, and if so, what?
The major things that have happened only did due to my negligence. I had a crack in my factory radiator that I didn’t bother to fix properly. Upon driving to the mount for new years, the crack became a 1.5-inch split and a huge headache when everyone who could assist was closed for the holidays. Driving the car back to Auckland overheating resulted in a cracked head. Good chance to swap to a better spec’d N/A head perhaps? Amazingly, the 1G-GE head took a wealth of mods to fit, needing a new dizzy, thermostat, waterpump, and then the bigger N/A dizzy hit the turbo upon reassembly! That meant we had to cut and move the whole turbo, modify the dump pipe and heater lines… And that’s just one example. Another problem, albeit a bit less serious, was the fact that the factory car relied on engine vacuum powered diaphragms to move the temperature and blower positions in the car. But it now runs a motor that sees boost. When driving off boost, the fan controls go full hot and full windscreen defrost. On boost, it goes full cold and in your face! The funny thing about it is that it actually gives the impression of speed via wind blowing you as you come on boost! One of the unintentional but amusing things about this car.

You’ve also done the entire engine setup yourself, haven’t you? What was involved in putting that in?
The top model GX71’s in Japan came with 1G-GTE, so I knew it would work somehow. But it was a risk until actually driving to New Plymouth to perform the swap two weeks before Christmas. When swapping motors we saw different unused engine mount bolt-holes in the new 1G-GTE block. Test bolting the factory mounts to those holes made the motor fit perfectly with no fabrication necessary, so that was an awesome bit of luck. All that was needed was swapping the rear sump for the front sump and oil pickup off the stock 1GEU motor, which bolted on perfectly. However, the biggest problem was that it would not start! The new motor would crank and fire for about three seconds, then choke and die off — I had planned three days in New Plymouth, but this turned into a week and a half of trying to get it running, ending up in having to tow it back to Auckland days before Christmas. The problem in the end? Some moron (me) forgot to check the fuel banjo bolt that fed the fuel rail — it had the old copper washer still on it, which was just the wrong size and ended up blocking the fuel supply to the new motor completely. Once removed it fired immediately. Doh!

We know it’s a streetcar, but you also recently took it to a drift practice day at Meremere. Was that the first time you’ve had a go at drifting?
First time indeed. Streetcar first, drift car second. It was a great experience to hit the track, and a fantastic environment for beginners and for just learning your car and its characteristics. This was the first time I’ve had a go at really fanging the car around, and I can totally see why people just keep coming back. Team S-Club was fantastic in putting it on, and I got some good tips and learned fast with the car. The bonus was seeing Nick [Teeboon] bash on his legendary Levin, and checking out a certain 18A-powered Trueno getting some trial time. All in all, fantastic and totally worth the money.

How did the car perform, and would you do it again?
She performed reasonably, but to get more performance means more work. Suspension/camber, diff, gearing, torque — all these settings were great on the street, but more tuning is needed to set it up for the track. A more track capable car means it gets less streetable — you’ll never have both sides of the coin – so it’s a tough call to get the right balance.

Did it seem like a good chassis package and setup for drifting? Or were there some obvious things you thought needed changing for more of those days?
To be honest, it’s probably not the best choice as a competitive choice. The weight of chassis is significant — this is a luxury '80’s cruiser, not a nimble street fighter! It has a long wheelbase meaning slow, lazy drifts — you could doze off in mid-counter-steer without getting into trouble. The rear trailing arm suspension is not the best for adjustability in camber, and it means no coil-overs unless large mods are made. Plus, as mentioned before, there is nothing off the shelf (camber plates, caster arms, sway bars etc) so everything is manual and custom, meaning it is a big commitment to use this chassis and make it work.  It’s easy to see why getting a Nissan chassis is the easy way out. However you then have to be content with being 'unique like everyone else’.

So what’s the future for this car and yourself as part of the import scene?
I don’t think I will ever kick the bug for modding the cars I drive. There is something intrinsically wrong for me driving a completely stock vehicle without doing something to it. For this car, I guess like so many other project cars, you could continue to modify and throw money at it ad infinitum — there is always something you can do. But I kind of think of it as akin to Star Wars: it’s a great movie, revolutionary, original, and a classic hit — but every year it gets re-done. There is a new special edition, a new directors cut, a new spinoff – the same thing over and over again. I guess what I’m trying to say is, perhaps it’s time to make a new movie.

We hear ya. Cheers Nige, good catching up with you!
I’d like to give the mad props to my girl Sara; my sisters Louise and Samwise, my brother Hughman, the O.G. Garage Slipway crew — Mike, Waz, Davy, Evan & Simon, the GC’s on oldschool.co.nz, Garage Dori, Team S Club, Nathan @ Boosted Performance, Grant @ GT Refinishers, Steve @ Demon Graphics, the NZ Police for all the entertaining pull-overs and questioning, and all the people who know what this car is about without needing explanation. Cheers, NZPC!

Interview: Gray Lynskey Photos: Dan Wakelin