|\/|@ver!c|< - The Preface


Thread Starter #1
Joined
Feb 23, 2011
Messages
19
Likes
0
Location
Bangalore
Hello Everyone,

I owe this thread and the effort gone into it all to my buddy Naveen Raju.
He has been nagging me like a wife for the last 1 year to do this segment and I kept postponing it over and over again. Finally the time has come to keep my word and so here goes.

The year is 2008 and the world looks so different once you step into it with a hard-earned degree and a new job.

Fresh out of college and almost a year into my first job, I decided to buy my first car. I always loved one car from the day I first let my eyes gaze upon it.

The Suzuki Swift.
A great looking hatch and a sporty look that lurks within yearning to be unleashed. I had for long yearned to own one for sure, in this life or the next ! [:)]

I had already decided on the color and the budget, but the question was would I be able to get one that satisfied both parameters.

The color I wanted was blue and with my budget, of course the obvious option was to go for a second hand, but then finding one in the color was a big ? .

Only time would tell.

And so began the journey to find "The-One" .
 
Joined
Oct 23, 2009
Messages
9,164
Likes
330
Location
Chennai
Hmmm please continue the report buddy.


So the blue Swift which i see in Naveen's pictures must be your's i guess.
 
Thread Starter #5
Joined
Feb 23, 2011
Messages
19
Likes
0
Location
Bangalore
|\/|@ver!c|< - Chapter 01 - Love at First Sight

My search started in Chennai where I was posted for 1 year. The color+price factor did not seem to work out. It was during this time that I had asked for a relocation to Bangalore as I had wanted to be part of a new and interesting project.

I had spent most of 2008 in Chennai and finally reached Bangalore in the wake of 2009. My hunt for "The-One" started again almost immediately after relocation. After going round and round in Chennai, thanks to a bunch of unreliable dealers, I decided to focus all my energy on the seller directly and to avoid any kind of interaction with dealers.

January 09, flew by and February almost done. It was in the last week of February 2009 that fate had brought us together. Had seen an AD and immediately contacted the owner. Decided to meet with the owner and the subject in question the very next day.

The little blue boy that he was, standing sturdy and stubborn, reluctant to get out of my head from the moment I laid my eyes on him.

Model : Suzuki Swift
Variant : Zxi - ABS
Color : Blue
Year : 2006
KM : 18,000

He was in stock condition without even a HU as the previous owner wanted to retain the HU . So to speak, I got a Zxi in stock condition. I had decided to go in for this purchase as what I wanted was a squeaky clean car (overlooking the minor scratches) and a good engine in stock condition. All other add-ons that did/did not come with the car, was not important for me.

Finally, the purchase was completed and the documents transferred within a week. The little blue boy was my brother, my buddy for life on February 20th 2009.

I christened him "|\/|@ver!c|<" (Maverick). He had a decent set of tyres (stock - JK) and the stock alloys which was as good as new with no cracks nor any scratches. No mod jobs done, no major accidents save the few scratches which is a given considering the Bangalore traffic and driving conditions.

Decided to give each other a small time frame to get used to one another, what I called the Honeymoon period.

The most memorable part was the first official drive with "my" |\/|@ver!c|<. It is a day that I will never forget for it is something just not possible to describe in words. Exhilarating and Overjoyed maybe, nah but that does not do justice and it shall be better if I let that sentiment be. I am sure you all know what it is.

So, having done the introductions, let me show you how |\/|@ver!c|< looked the day he came to me.
 

Attachments

Thread Starter #7
Joined
Feb 23, 2011
Messages
19
Likes
0
Location
Bangalore
Very passionately written and boy you love your sibling!
Thanks buddy. My younger brother and my parents say that I love my car more than the family.They feel that if at all I do get married, it would not be a happy one as long as I am nuts about cars.[:D]

Next Chapter coming up soon. Stay tuned. [;)]
 
Joined
Sep 24, 2010
Messages
385
Likes
7
Location
Chennai
A cool report and a very good looking car Xryder!

It must have felt good to search for a car and get the same one! My case was different. bought cars twice, both the times search started with something and ended with something!

Do continue the report soon buddy!
 
Joined
Sep 22, 2009
Messages
6,377
Likes
489
Location
NYC
Excellent writeup buddy. Like Holysatan said, you are very lucky to have found th ecar you wanted even with the color choice.
 
Thread Starter #10
Joined
Feb 23, 2011
Messages
19
Likes
0
Location
Bangalore
A cool report and a very good looking car Xryder!

It must have felt good to search for a car and get the same one! My case was different. bought cars twice, both the times search started with something and ended with something!

Do continue the report soon buddy!
Yes it sure did. I think it was more a question of how much more patience I had in me ! Hang in there buddy, I am sure you will find your chariot soon.[;)]

Excellent writeup buddy. Like Holysatan said, you are very lucky to have found th ecar you wanted even with the color choice.
Thanks brother. Consider myself very lucky in this regard. I think a few more months and I would have given up my search.[:)]
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thread Starter #11
Joined
Feb 23, 2011
Messages
19
Likes
0
Location
Bangalore
|\/|@ver!c|< - The Preface ICE

I found it quite hot to drive around in Bangalore and elsewhere without proper tints. Even after parking in partially covered places also, the heat inside was quite like sitting inside a steam-room.

So by mid 2009, after much researching both online and offline, I had decided to settle for LLUMAR for the tints and Sony Xplod for my choice of HU.

Went to meet a friend (Akash) who also happens to be running a popular accessories pit-stop (Final Touch - Mission Road) in Bangalore. After going through his LLUMAR catalogue, decided on Charcoal Black ATR Series - CH 50/CH05.CH50 for the sides and CH05 for rear and front.

CH05 has 52% VLT and has little or no drop in visibility. At the same time, during the night, it reduces the glare from the ill-mannered few driving with high-beams on through out. Moreover, the CH05 along with the CH50 on the sides blends in perfectly to give me adequate privacy while maintaining the visibility required as per the Law.

Now the next agenda on hand was to get a good HU as part of the I.C.E setup. I wanted a HU which would play CD/DVD/VCD/MP3/AUX and play movies(DVD) as well.So after looking around through all the various options available in the shop(Pioneer,Sony,JVC), decided to buy a Sony Xplod HU as intended, went in for a model with CD/DVD/VCD/MP3/AUX capability as wanted. Along with it, I installed a roof-mounted LCD screen (Sound Barrier) so that my fellow passengers could watch the videos/movies. This was basically meant as entertainment for my family during the long inter-state drives. I decided against amps/woofers for the time being. Apart from this, I discarded the old set of speakers(JBL) as it was having some internal component problem and bought a set of JBL oval speakers.

Having done that, attaching a few pictures of the ICE and the Tints.

Attaching pictures in new post as the upload was not happening in the previous post.

MODS: Please merge this post with the previous post if possible.
 

Attachments

Last edited by a moderator:
Joined
Oct 23, 2009
Messages
9,164
Likes
330
Location
Chennai
Very well written report buddy and cool name you have chosen for your ride , love it! I have similar looking Sony Xplod HU in my car but mine does not support DVD.


And yeah you are lucky to get the color of your choice , i tried very much for black Verna but couldn find one!
 
Thread Starter #13
Joined
Feb 23, 2011
Messages
19
Likes
0
Location
Bangalore
Very well written report buddy and cool name you have chosen for your ride , love it! I have similar looking Sony Xplod HU in my car but mine does not support DVD.


And yeah you are lucky to get the color of your choice , i tried very much for black Verna but couldn find one!
Thanks alot buddy. Yep he is a Maverick alright.Good to know we have the same HU's or almost the same.[;)]
I remember reading somewhere that it is a horse that chooses its rider/master, not the other way round. Similarly, I felt the same about my ride. When I saw him first, knew there was good chemistry. The effort and time that I have put in has been worth it and that alone is a huge consolation considering the prices of petrol skyrocketing each month. Ofcourse from time to time I do consider giving him away and getting a diesel, but then when it comes to actually putting up an ad, I always listen to my heart over my head. [:)]
 
Thread Starter #14
Joined
Feb 23, 2011
Messages
19
Likes
0
Location
Bangalore
|\/|@ver!c|< - Chapter 03 - From a Boy to a Man ! - Part 01

End of May 2010 saw me clock 32,000KM's on the odo. My boy was begging for a new set of rubbers(read tyres [:D]) and he certainly deserved it.The stock JK's had pretty much worn out.

I had started my search on a few popular forums for the best set of tyres and the right size to upgrade to. Finally decided it would be either Yokohoma-S Drives or the Maxxis Aramis in the size 205/55/R15.

Having decided to change the tyres, I had already decided on the kind of alloys w.r.t the design. Now finding them in a decent brand and price range was the next task. Had enquired with quite a few people and could not locate anything close to it. I had a perception of what Mav should look like eventually and this helped me resist the temptation to go in for any other available design for the alloys. I wanted what I wanted. Period.

So after 2-3 weeks of scouting around and having hit a dead end, I called up my friend Akash (Final Touch - Mission Road), yet again. I know he starts crying each time he sees my name pop up on his cell. [:D] I just dont like troubling him too much because he is a good friend and he knows how stubborn I could be when I set my mind on something that I want. So anyhow, I show him the design I want and had asked him to source me the same design from a decent brand like Lenso,Konig or AVA. With the perplexed look on his face, I was pretty sure that if I did not end up liking what he would later find, he would most probably shoot me! And now, I exit from his shop, waving him goodbye, pretty much confident that I would most probably incur his wrath in the coming days.

Two long depressing weeks later, I get a call from Akash saying he has something for me. I go over to his place and he takes me to his storage warehouse. VIOLA !
Exactly what I had in mind from KONIG. He had sourced out the alloys in the exact design I had in mind. I was quite shocked that he got me exactly what I had shown him and from the look on my face, he thought I would say "No Akash, this is not what I wanted!".He has seen me on this road before you see. I think he turned quite a few shades of red and purple while I pondered over as to whether I should joke around and say a NO. Seeing purple turn blue, I said YES !

NOTE:Akash if you ever read this, dont shoot me. I just wanted to tell them how much I troubled you for these. Thanks for bearing with me so far and consider this is an advance for all the harassment I am yet to bring down on you.

So alloys all set, purchased the tyres Maxis Aramis - MA-Z1 Victra - 205/55/R15.

So by October 2010, my boy was running with a brand new set of shiny 15inchers and fresh smelling rubbers.

It was during this time that I had tried to reuse a custom bodykit made for another swift. It did not work out well as the ground clearance was very low for the front. Whats worse was that I had been at the end of a hit-and-run. A biker on a bullet with a crash guard which was rather too big for a crash guard had tried to squeeze in between me and a rick that was waiting at a signal. Even after seeing the gap was too small and narrow, this chap decides to go through thereby making a dent+scratches all over my left side starting from the rear-wheel arch all the way till the front. He also scrapes and scratches the rick on his left. He pulls through the gap thereby pulling out the left side of the front bumper and then takes off in a jiffy jumping the signal as he had damaged both my mav and the rick. In the shock of the moment, I failed to note down the bike's plates.

Anyhow, damage done is done. After 2 days, I went over to Sai Colorium, Bangalore. I knew the owner, Mr.Anant, through a mutual friend. Plus I had heard a lot of good reviews for Sai Colorium from friends and have seen the outcome of their work as well. I wanted the damage repaired through insurance as there were multiple dents and scratches on 4 different panels. While at the place, I noticed that there were a couple of cars with custom body kits without the mods painted. Enquired with Anant and found out that they do custom body mods/restorations etc. He introduced me to R.K.Ramesh, who is a GENIUS. RKR is a person who shifted to the IT field after doing his B.Com. From there, he went on to work for HAL in a top project as a design engineer. Thereafter, he decided to pursue his MS in Automotive Design from the Coventry University in UK. Now he is back and has started over again in life as a freelance automotive designer and restoration expert. He is working as an automotive designer for Sai Colorium and in charge of the mods division there. I have asked him quite a few times to put up his work for the world to see on a website, but the humble soul he is, always replies "My work will speak for itself. That is enough ! "

However demanding I became, RKR listened to my ideas patiently. I had spoken to him at length about giving a new look for my mav. I had initially decided to purchase the Hikari kit and get it painted at Sai Colorium along with the damage repairs. Then changed minds after seeing RKR's work there. Besides I had seen quite a few swift's on the road running with the same hikari kit. Now I had liked the front of the Hikari and the rear of the GTi kit. So I discuss with RKR and showed him a few designs of what I had in mind.RKR worked on blending the designs I had showed him and i loved the outcome. Dropped the car off with Sai Colorium in the 2nd week of december 2010. By now, it was decided that they would build the custom body mods.

Along with the body work, I was thinking of installing a set of Hella lamps for highway usage. But the addition of something like that in the front was quite disturbing as I wanted the final outcome to be one as a whole. Fixing Hella's was dropped. RKR had a better suggestion. He suggested a more powerful set of fog lamps to replace the stock lamps. T700 lamp units with powerful 80W90 bulbs were sourced.

The work started on the damage repair and the mods were going on side by side.The wait was just too painful as I had become too impatient now at the last moment. The patience in me vanished, simply because I just wanted to see how mav would look like finally. I had been visiting RKR on a daily basis and just enjoyed watching him at his creative best with his sketches and his creative solutions to any problems. And so days seemed like months and I started feeling as though the Gods were extending each day to 240 hours instead of 24.

To be continued..(Stay tuned for Part 02).
 
Joined
Sep 24, 2010
Messages
385
Likes
7
Location
Chennai
Xryder, you seem to stay awake almost all night!. Just read your post and 1.30 and went to sleep and I am waking up now to find yet another update.

Very well put write-up. So, when did the body-kit work get completed finally?

Aslo, post pictures of Maverick with new sets of alloys/tyres and body kits dude!

OT: Need help on getting fog lamps for my ikon Sxi (round type). I am finding trouble in sourcing branded ones here. PM me the contact details of where you got yours. I would like to check out! Below is the link with my car's pics for reference:

http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...-sxi-test-drive-highlight-fe-22-6-kmpl-2.html
 

Top Bottom