New to VIP not new to building cars...

(if anyone else is from the New England area and into 240s, yes, I'm the same who runs 240sxone.com)

Being from NH I also have a truck that I use as my winter beater to save my cars from the harsh salt on the roads:

I've been into VIP for a while and thinking about a build in that style, I like the style and it would give me a chance to try out a lot of things from the VIP world that just weren't right for any of my other cars/builds.

I had been looking for a Previa for a while and couldn't find one that was in good enough condition to use as a starting point, then a trip to Bermuda introduced me to the awesome Alphard, after which the Previa just seemed lame by comparison. Then a couple of weeks ago when driving home from work in my S14 it started raining hard and I hydroplaned off the highway causing this:

I'm still working it out with the insurance and I'm planning to rebuild but in the mean time I wanted to buy something else to drive around other than my pickup.... I started looking at LS400s and first/second gen Q45s... something inexpensive I could daily now, and turn into a VIP project once my S14 was rebuilt... I just happened to find a suitable Q45 first.

I lurked here on VSC for a while while I was researching Previa builds and now that I actually own a VIP chassis car I figured I should sign up.

I don't expect I'll do much more thank lurk and buy stuff from the classifieds for a while. My first order of business with the Q is just cleaning it up a bit to make it more respectable... replacing some worn interior bits and such.

My name is Mike, I'm from NH and I just bought a 95 Q45 Sorry no pictures of the Q yet but it's bone stock Silver on Black and a little rough around the edges; nothing really photo worthy. My main project car is not a VIP car but a 95 S14, I put an LS1/T-56 into it and did a JDM Kouki conversion along with lots of other details: [URL="http://solid-orange.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/clean_01.jpg"][IMG]http://solid-orange.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/clean_01.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL="http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/576985_454340291259075_591313938_n.jpg"][IMG]http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/576985_454340291259075_591313938_n.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL="http://solid-orange.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/clean_07.jpg"][IMG]http://solid-orange.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/clean_07.jpg[/IMG][/URL] (if anyone else is from the New England area and into 240s, yes, I'm the same who runs 240sxone.com) Being from NH I also have a truck that I use as my winter beater to save my cars from the harsh salt on the roads: [URL="http://solid-orange.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/yota_fuji_1.jpg"][IMG]http://solid-orange.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/yota_fuji_1.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL="http://solid-orange.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/yota_fuji_2.jpg"][IMG]http://solid-orange.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/yota_fuji_2.jpg[/IMG][/URL] I've been into VIP for a while and thinking about a build in that style, I like the style and it would give me a chance to try out a lot of things from the VIP world that just weren't right for any of my other cars/builds. I had been looking for a Previa for a while and couldn't find one that was in good enough condition to use as a starting point, then a trip to Bermuda introduced me to the awesome Alphard, after which the Previa just seemed lame by comparison. Then a couple of weeks ago when driving home from work in my S14 it started raining hard and I hydroplaned off the highway causing this: [URL="http://solid-orange.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/s14_off_13.jpg"][IMG]http://solid-orange.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/s14_off_13.jpg[/IMG][/URL] I'm still working it out with the insurance and I'm planning to rebuild but in the mean time I wanted to buy something else to drive around other than my pickup.... I started looking at LS400s and first/second gen Q45s... something inexpensive I could daily now, and turn into a VIP project once my S14 was rebuilt... I just happened to find a suitable Q45 first. I lurked here on VSC for a while while I was researching Previa builds and now that I actually own a VIP chassis car I figured I should sign up. I don't expect I'll do much more thank lurk and buy stuff from the classifieds for a while. My first order of business with the Q is just cleaning it up a bit to make it more respectable... replacing some worn interior bits and such.