[MrVIPMan250]

Hello everyone,
I'm Paul, an Indian petrolhead originating from Jharkhand but currently live in Melbourne, Australia. I'm glad to have been added to this forum, since here in Australia car forums aren't as popular as they once were.

I'm a major car enthusiast with my interest spanning from the brass era of american automotive manufacturing to everything being pumped out onto the mareket. That interest spans across into the car modifying scene, as every car I own is unique and personalised to suit myself.

Usually I take ownership of a different car every week due to Australia's ease of access to car auctions, salvage and running examples, mixed with my intense interest in everything with four wheels and an engine, it's a slight carcaine addiction.

Currently I'm sitting with a 4 cars lying around here in Australia with them in very different running conditions. To introduce them I'll start with the running examples and span to the unrunning ones.

To begin with is my main daily driver, a 2005 Lexus IS250. It is the car I worked through my high school job/pocket money efforts to purchase for myself once I hit 18. It currently sits with some simple mod work done to it, DIY F Sport Airbox, DBA T2 brake rotors and Akebono pads, and have F Sport lowering springs which are yet to be added.


Next is my spare daily. a 2000 Lexus IS200. This is a childhood dream car since this was featured everywhere from Gran Turismo to Need For Speed in the US spec IS300 form with the 1JZ instead of the slower 1G-FE that this has. Current plans are to turn it into a weekend track car.


After is my 1997 Honda Accord Wagon. One of the rarest Honda products in Australia. First due to it being a Honda Of America (US built in Ohio) product along followed with less than 1000 wagons of this generation being sold in Australia. My main project with this is to form it into something you'd traditionally see along Venice Beach in California.


Finally is the longest project car that I've owned to date. My 1994 BMW E36 318i. I bought it at the start of covid as a fun lockdown project. Then first gear went after a mountain drive and it's been sitting in my garage waiting for something interesting to be done with it. Current plans are to source an SR20DET from a Nissan sports car from the 90s and create a similarly reliable drift car that I can abuse from time to time.

[Yusha]

Welcome to the forum!! It will nice to see hoe these cars progress over time. Keep us updated!!

[MrVIPMan250]

Oh for sure. All my automotive projects are long term and constantly expanding. But the interesting ones will be posted up here.

[DicKy]

Welcome to the forum @MrVIPMan250

Each of your cars deserve a separate ownership thread and with the mods done and future intended ones, will keep it interesting for sure.

Maahn..The 1st gen IS is one of my most favourite sedans

Apart from the rear seat space (cause it is...compact) and my initial dislike for the chrono instrument cluster, it is almost there as the perfect compact sedan.
Can't get enough of the styling and size.

Thought there wasn't any in India. Most would import the GS(Aristo) instead. Imagine my surprise when I found out in Instagram that there are atleast 4-5 1st gen IS in India.

[kiku007]

Welcome to the forum!

You love your project cars, don't you?! Would be interesting to read the progress. Do share your experiences.

[MrVIPMan250]

Oh for sure guys. As some of my projects get more work done throughout the idea, expect length write ups on progress

Originally Posted by DicKy

Welcome to the forum @MrVIPMan250

Apart from the rear seat space (cause it is...compact) and my initial dislike for the chrono instrument cluster, it is almost there as the perfect compact sedan.
Can't get enough of the styling and size.

Thought there wasn't any in India. Most would import the GS(Aristo) instead. Imagine my surprise when I found out in Instagram that there are atleast 4-5 1st gen IS in India.

Yeah the IS in general has tiny rear seat space. The 1st gen, 2nd gen, friends 3rd gen and the poorly updated 2021 model all have no room in the back. Is pushing my towards a BMW 335i or Merc E400 to replace the Lexus IS250 as my main daily later this year.

But wow 5 XE10s? That's really amazing since it's such a niche car. I'd imagine all are Japanese imported Altezzas with 3SGEs or UK imports with manual boxes. The autos in them are reliable but to slow + easy to drive. The manuals liven them up more

[MrVIPMan250]

Originally Posted by kiku007

Welcome to the forum!

You love your project cars, don't you?! Would be interesting to read the progress. Do share your experiences.

Cheers dude and yea. With how accessible salvage and cheap car auctions are here i try to buy a project car every so often. I tried to do the same back home but only ended up with finding an 05 Corolla sedan that fell into my budget. That only lasted a few weeks

[benbsb29]

Impressed with your project cars, and looking forward to your builds.
Welcome to Team-BHP.

[EightSix]

Woah! You got a quite a garage, mister. I’m impressed too. I would love to know more about your Accord Wagon, in fact all your cars.

If I may ask you a question, do you have a special affinity for Japanese cars since there’s 3 of em in your garage?

And before I forget, welcome to Team-BHP!

[MrVIPMan250]

Originally Posted by EightSix

Woah! You got a quite a garage, mister. I’m impressed too. I would love to know more about your Accord Wagon, in fact all your cars.

If I may ask you a question, do you have a special affinity for Japanese cars since there’s 3 of em in your garage?

So the Accord Wagon is a really unique type of Honda product. In Japan there's always been a fairly major trend for imported vehicles as a status symbol. As such Honda introduced Honda Of America through their own network to bring over a mix of LHD Honda's and Japanese intended Honda's that were just built at their Maryland, Ohio plant. My Honda Accord Wagon was the runoff that Australia got as a result during the 90s era when that was trialled. Quite a few Japanese and even Euro cars have ended up in Australia due to it, Toyota Cavalier (GM's Chev Cavalier) for example.

I have a strong affinity for all cars. It just happens that the cheapest cars to get a hold of in Australia are Japanese. But yes I do havea strong bias towards Japanese products, but in particualr 4 door, slightly large, Japanese cars form the 90s-00s specifically. Sedans and wagons a like. Due to how current hey can be with tech, value for what your purchasing, and overall fun that you can have with them. Both my Lexus' and BMW's of the same era have been treated the same. All my Lexus' need is a new set of brake pads and a service whereas my BMW needs a new transmission.