Coty's Little Shop of Horrors: Australia.

Little Shop of Horrors Australia is proud to announce the purchase of their first vehicle, a 1992 Nissan Silvia. We purchased this vehicle in the hopes that we could promote our wheels with it.

In Australia our goal is to expand our wheel business, LSH Wheels. We make custom 3 piece wheels as well as doing wheel refinishing, repair, and 1 or 2 piece to 3 piece conversions. We also sell Adaptec Speedware adapters. We can ship wheels unfinished or finished in anyway the customer would like. We can also fit most brands of tires to the wheels before they ship; stretched tires are a specialty.

Here's some info about the car:

Spoiler:

And the accounting department says I need to have this here for tax reasons so here goes:

Spoiler:

Wheel sale disclaimer:

Spoiler:

Little Shop of Horrors, I remember we did a joint story back in one of the older forza's.. Dope to see it's on it's way back

Arsye wrote:

Little Shop of Horrors, I remember we did a joint story back in one of the older forza's.. Dope to see it's on it's way back

Yeah I remember, you had a Camaro right?

Coty wrote:

Arsye wrote:

Little Shop of Horrors, I remember we did a joint story back in one of the older forza's.. Dope to see it's on it's way back

Yeah I remember, you had a Camaro right?

I have no clue, probably though. we had a few cars

So while I was running around in the S13 a few days ago running some errands and looking for a place to live/ set up shop so I can stop sleeping in a hotel, I saw some skidmarks leading to a bank and some steam rising up over the hill. I figured this was a little odd so I stopped and walked over to the side of the road and looked down. There was a 6th gen Corvette laying on it's roof and a guy just sort of staring at it in shock. I slid down the hill and started talking to the guy to make sure he was okay. He seemed okay but his head was bleeding some so I told him I wanted him to go to the hospital and called an ambulance. When they got there they said he seemed fine to them but he should definitely get double checked. I started to follow the ambulance as I dialed the number for the local tow company so they could come yank it out.

When we got to the hospital they said he was good to go, and I gave him my phone number in case he needed anything. Today he called me and said the the insurance was going to cover the car and part of the tow, but because it was way off the road, and down over the ledge, he was still on the hook for about $2500. I jokingly offered to pay that for the car if the engine was okay and he told me he'd do that, much to my surprise. I asked him what year is was and he said it was a 2008. I looked it up real quick and the 2008 had the LS3, which is 6.2 liters, holy shit.

So I went over to the yard and paid his fee, and had my friend tow it to his house so it's there when I find a shop and can do the swap. I've always kinda shyed away from the LS swaps because everyone does them, but for $2500 with all the accessories and wiring and everything I need, I can't really say no.

I started doing some research on what to do with it, car setup for drifting, what tires I should go with, what trans to put behind it, and it started to get a little late so I broke open a few beers. And then a few more. And then I went to bed. And when I woke up the next morning I had a confirmation order for a twin scroll supercharger for an LS3.

Whoops.

So I went out and did some more scouting for houses. I figured I'd go check out the desert a little, because as much as I hate the heat, and hate dirt roads, I figured that with it being as open as it is, maybe there will be a house with a big shop or something out there.

So I loaded up the S13, threw a lunch and some drinks in the cooler, and headed out to the desert, not really knowing where I was going. I ended up going up this really curvy mountain road hoping to try to get a sense of the roads around me from my view at the top because I was trying to save data on my phone. As I went up the hill I noticed all these blue flags, and I remembered something some guy at the store had said about drift zones. Just as I was thinking that this must be one of those this FD goes flying by me and nearly takes my mirror off as he drifts up the hill.

Usually I'd be upset at a car coming that close to mine but all I could think about was how he managed to go UP the hill, sidewalls, while carrying as much speed as he was. I downshifted and got to the top of the hill as quick as I could hoping to get a better look at it because all I saw was a blue blur and enough of the tail lights to tell it was an FD. As I crested the hill I saw it pulled off into the grass so I pulled in behind him. I walked to the window where he was typing some stuff into his laptop to tune the car, and I think I startled him because he started apologizing for being so close to me. I looked the car over and everything was really well built, with lots of nice parts, and even more parts company stickers.

I asked him how he managed to get up the hill so fast, and as I was asking I happened to notice the rumble comping from the pipes didn't sound like a 13b. He told me it was a Supercharged LS3 and walked around to pop the hood. "Did you pull it from a wrecked car?" I asked, thinking of the Corvette sitting on the concrete at my friend's house, but given how clean it was I didn't really think he had. "No, it was a new crate engine from GM Performance." "Wow, that must be expensive." He then told me about how his car was sponsored and how Rockstar Energy had paid for the car, the swap, pretty much everything but the tires because he competes in this thing called DSL1 or something like that. I thanked him for showing me the car and walked over to the hillside to try to scope out some roads to go to.

I drove around for a few hours, wrote down the numbers to some real estate agents that were selling houses I was interested in on the back of an old takeout menu I found under my seat, and headed back to the hotel.

As I sat and watched the 4th season of Hawaii Five O I couldn't stop thinking about this SL1D thing or whatever the guy called it. I knew one of the distribution guys, Phil, at Rotiform was big into professional drifting so I called him and asked if he knew what it was. He laughed and said "It's called D1SL, why, are you trying to put a car together?" I thought about it for a second, because I had only really thought about going to watch, but if everything is sponsored, why not try to make a go at it? I sort of choked out a "yeah" and Phil said "Well let me talk to some people here and see if maybe we could sponsor you. I'll probably know on Monday or Tuesday of next week."

This is going to be a long weekend.

So I woke up this morning, went down for the free breakfast at the hotel and sat in the back corner of the dinning room hoping to avoid bothering other people while I made some calls. I pulled out the crumpled up takeout menu and started calling realtors and setting up appointments to go see some houses.

I went and looked at a few houses, and either they were like 10 miles down a shitty dirt road, or they didn't have any sort of a garage whatsoever. I left the last realtor kind of dejected about the luck I was having on finding a place out here. As I drove home I heard a buzzing from my passenger seat, and remembered I hadn't checked my phone all day because I had been in and out of the car looking at different places. I grabbed the phone and realized that it was the first realtor I had spoken to that morning, Frank, calling me. "Mr. Day I've just been asked to sell a property that I think you may be interested in." He told me where it was and he said he was there now. I accelerated a little so I didn't keep him waiting. As I got close I noticed one of those Horizon Festival outpost things where you can buy cars and parts and stuff, which is nice to have so close nearby.

As I pulled in, I saw Frank leaning up against his car in front of an empty store. As I got out I said "Frank, I think you hit your head. This is a store, not a house." "Well yes, this part of the property is a store. You can set up your wheel business up front here. But back hereeeeee..." his voice trailed off as he walked around the corner and away from the store front to point to a house hidden from the road by the store and some bushes. "...is a house."

He walked up to the door and unlocked it. As I followed him I noticed there were two small outbuildings. I sort of mumbled "I think the Corvette will fit in there." To which Frank replied, sort of surprised given I was driving a 1992 Nissan, "You have a Corvette?" "Uh...sort of."

I got to the door and stepped in. The cool central air felt like a wall coming in from the violent heat of the Australian sun. I walked through the rooms, noticing that none of the furniture was missing, but the people had obviously moved out already because there were no pictures around and the few drawers I happened to open were all empty. I asked if it came furnished and he told me it did. We walked back out to the store, at which point I noticed that there was a dirt loop that went around the whole store, that while not huge, was certainly big enough to slide around if I ever needed to test a new part or something.

I walked over and sat at the sales counter, running my finger through the layer of dust on top, and sat at this stool they had setup behind the counter. Frank walked over at sat down at one of the stools opposite me. He said that the people had been living in the house up until recently but the business had been closed for a couple of years. He said all the power was still hooked up and that the small bathroom in the back corner worked okay too. He said they were trying to sell it quickly because of the Horizon Festival making it unsafe for their children to be out by the road or something. Of course right as he said that a Lamborghini went by at about 150mph (still haven't figured out what that is in KPH). He said usually this would be pretty far outside my budget, but it was pretty much right at the top now. I asked when I could sign for it, and told him that I could sign it now and the original company back in Colorado would transfer the money to him on Monday. He said that would be fine and that I could even move in today as long as he got confirmation that the money had sent on Monday.

I asked if he could take one picture for me before he left, and said that he probably wanted to move his car out closer to the road. This is the picture he took:



Not the best but in his defense I think he thought he was gonna die. My bad, Frank.

This is the backside of the shop, which has a door leading pretty much right to my house:



And this is the house and the outbuildings. I forgot to take a picture of the front side of the shop. I'll have to take one when I get home because I don't have Wifi there yet so I'm writing this from a sandwich shop a few miles away.



I'm working on getting the wrecked Corvette trailered over there, probably on Saturday or Sunday. I also called Phil and let him know the address so Rotiform can send me some stock. I also called some of my other contacts, including ADV.1 which is gonna send me some wheels to put on the S13.

So I got a call early this morning from Phil, and he said that Rotiform would sponsor me. "We also called Michelin and managed to get them on board to be your tire sponsor." "Oh yeah, the uh, tire sponsor. Definitely." I said, trying to make it sound like I didn't just find out about this last Thursday and like I had any idea what was going on. "We talked it over and we think our best bet of doing well in the series is a Supercharged LS3 with just a little bit of work so we can be right at the 550hp cap, and then raacing parts for the chassis, suspension, and remainder of the driveline." So much for getting into something different, we're pretty much building my S13 but nicer. "Yeah, that sounds good." I said. Then Phil said something that really made me happy. "Maybe while we have the guys over there putting the car together, we can have them pull the LS from that Corvette you have leaking gear oil all over your yard and put it in your S13 too." I was pretty much sold at that point.

I walked over to the shop and swept up some more of the dust and a little bit of broken glass. There was a lot of stuff sort of strewn about. I found an article last night in a random drawer in the house saying that a disgruntled employee came back one night after bring fired, broke the lock and proceeded to break pretty much everything in the store, and being that sales had been down the owners decided to shut the business down.

I was up on a stepladder fixing a few things when I heard air brakes outside. I hopped down and walked to the window and saw an ADV.1 truck starting to unload. ADV.1 had sent me all the wheels I ordered but they were also kind enough to send me some display racks. I actually had the guy put them out in my shed for now because I want to get the floor buffed, but I do take the time to find the 18" ADV.1 ADV Forzas they sent me for my car and set those on the counter in the store so I knew where to find them later.

By that point it was lunch time, so I got in my car and drove over to this Chinese food place that has wifi so I could eat and check my email. A few days ago I put an ad on Gumtree, which is basically Australia's Craigslist, looking for an employee. I scrolled down through my email looking for that, but got sidetracked by the email saying they'd be coming to hook my wifi up tomorrow. Then my meal came, and I almost forgot to look at my email again for the job ads. So I got back on my phone and found an email from a guy named Ryan. He said he liked cars a lot, and that while he didn't have a lot of business experience, he understood wheels and the terms associated with them like offset, barrel, lip, the difference between one, two and three piece wheels, and stuff like that. I called him and asked him when he could come in and talk. He said he could be there any time today, so I told him to meet me at my house and he'd probably get there around the same time I did. When I pulled into the drive I saw a dark blue SC300, which I've always liked. I pulled up next to him and said "You must be Ryan, I gotta go park my car real quick but feel free to go inside and sit on one of the stools by the counter." As I walked in the back and started walking to the counter I realized I left those wheel boxes on the counter, so I said we should probably go sit in the house instead. We worked out a deal and told him he could start tomorrow. He'll be doing installation, tire mounting, and occasionally helping me with deliveries (once I get a delivery vehicle) and sales stuff. As he was about to leave another truck pulled up with a bunch of wheels, mostly a mix of Rotiform and Fifteen52 stuff. Ryan helped me unload them and get them to the shed without me even asking him. I think this will work out very well. He mentioned he had a shop where he liked to tinker on things and set up his D1SL car called Panda Motorsport. I'll have to go over there and look around some weekend.

I'm gonna go to bed here in a few minutes, I just have to scour Gumtree first and see if I can find a delivery van.

So I got up early this morning. Not by choice. There was a knock on my door at 2 A.M. so I walked to the door in my boxers and opened the door still sort of half asleep. Looking back at me was Phil, and behind him was a 4 door pickup, with the back half of the cab full of parts, an LS3 bolted to a T56 on a stand in the bed, and a fully stripped out S13 coupe on the trailer behind it. I walked over to the window of the S13 and stood on my tiptoes so I could see in the window. It had been acid dipped and seam welded. The cage was already welded in and it had a seat bolted about where I would normally sit. Other than that it was completely empty. "The other guys will be here in a few hours but I wanna see if we can get this thing off the trailer before they get here."

I walked over to the front doors of the store, opened them and put the door stops in. I walked over to Phil's truck and backed the trailer through the opening. Ryan was just showing up at that point, a little early, eager to impress on his first day. I quickly measured the distance between the frame rails and laid out jack stands for them to sit on while we put the car together. Even though I was sponsored, it definitely felt more like a privateer effort, given that most of the D1SL cars are A. already done, and B. built on lifts in million dollar shops, not on jack stands in a wheel shop. As we lifted the car off the trailer and slowly let it down onto the stands I looked back to when I bought the shop last week and how I never imagined putting jack stands on tile.

By the time the rest of the guys showed up with the rest of the parts we had all the rear suspension in place, a lot of the interior mocked in place where I wanted it, and bolted the rear lexan window in and started building braces for it. When the other guys showed up they started bolting in all the engine and transmission mounts for the swap, running some of the wiring they wanted to have in place before the engine went in, and bolted my switch panel and ignition box to my "dash" which is really just the dash support with a piece of sheet metal welded on where the glovebox would've been. We also rewelded the roof structure to the roof because those always break.

I grabbed the engine hoist out of one of the trucks and brought it in. Once we got the engine all lined up in the bay I went to go grab some lunch in the house. As I sat at the table eating, getting up that early began to take it's toll and I fell asleep right there at the table. Probably an hour later I was awoken by the sound of a V8 running sort of rough and very loudly because of the exhaust not being on it yet. I ran back out to the shop and got to see it running for just a second before they shut it back off. Once they knew it ran okay (for not being tuned or anything) they took the intake off and put the Edelbrock E-Force supercharger back on. Phil went and grabbed this scratched up Mishimoto universal intercooler that had a shit ton of overspray from different cars it had been on over the years and started plumbing that. I started working on the front suspension and Ryan started cutting Lexan for the windows.

We kept plugging away at it until it was running, with the supercharger on it, had suspension under it, all the windows in, and it was very, very dark outside. We didn't have hardly any body panels on it and certainly didn't have any lights, but I wanted to drive it around the yard just once to see how it felt. We took if off the jack stands, I put it in reverse, and started easing off the clutch. Nothing. Car didn't move at all. Then it hit me. "Guys, there's no driveshaft in here." So we put it back up on the stands so we can order one tomorrow. Kind of an anticlimactic end to the day.

So I woke up this morning dreading the fact that I was gonna have to find a carbon fiber driveshaft for my car somewhere around here by the end of the day. They were announcing when the first competition was later on today and I really wanted to have the car bolted together so we could start tuning and making the wrap. Phil called some guy he knew over in Surfer's Paradise that made carbon fiber driveshafts, but he said he couldn't do it today. Before Phil hung up, the guy said "wait wait wait. I have an LS swapped S13, I guess you can come take the driveshaft out of it." So I hopped in the truck and started heading that way while the boys worked on the Rocket Bunny kit and wiring up the lights and switches.

I walked into the shop and the owner showed me where the car was. It was out back, and probably hadn't moved in a month or two. I climbed under the car and laid in a puddle while I unbolted the driveshaft. I held it up as I went by so he could see I managed to finagle it out and then put it in the bed of the truck and started driving back.

When I got there my car had actually started to look like a car. The kit was on, the lights were in, and they had taken the steelies we had used to push it around the shop and replaced them with 18" Rotiform USFs that were powdercoated white with red center caps, and they even managed to wrap the car gray and put some Rotiform and Michelin decals on.



It didn't look bad, but it did look a little bit bland. After everyone went back inside to sleep on my floor, I noticed that they had left the vinyl cutter and wrap machines on, so I called Ryan, who had left for the day, and asked if he wanted to make some overtime. Before too long he was there, and I was printing off some stuff I had made and we were wrapping the car. I got a little carried away but at least it's not bland now.







Hopefully Phil doesn't skin me when he wakes up and sees it but I think he'll enjoy it. Tomorrow they're gonna put the LS3 from the Corvette in my personal S13 and supercharge it, and I'm sure I'll probably bolt my wheels on then, too.

So Thrusday we got the car moved out of the store and even managed to get the guys to do the swap on my beige car. Friday we put the D1 car in an enclosed trailer, drove around to some spots did some runs, making tuning adjustments as we went. Even though the car is street legal, drifting on public roads certainly isn't, so we'd unload, make a couple runs, and then throw the car back inside the trailer and hit a different zone. It was sort of fun listening to the confusion on the scanner. When we got home we shoved it into one of the outbuildings so no one would notice it.

Today is the last day the Rotiform guys are here; they get on a plane tomorrow morning to head home. While I had the extra manpower I got the store all setup. Got the wheel displays, stockroom, and the catalogs all laid out and professional. Even laid some neon down underneath the counter. I also set up the mount and balance machines. I printed off a few LSH stickers to put on the door, and a few wraps for the upper wall around the shop. By the time I locked the doors up at the end of the day it looked like a professional wheel shop.