If you’re a dummy, like I am, you’ll give yourself just under a month to finish a completely new specification on a car – which is exactly what I did. Luckily I had a lot of help from my friends who were happy to teach me new things, lend a hand, and give me plenty of emotional support to finish the car in time for the Summer Touring event. While I didn’t complete everything that I had initially wanted to and had to cut a bunch of corners to meet the deadline, I am delighted with how it ultimately looks in the end.
Not a single thing turned out perfectly on the car, but I still feel proud of myself knowing that I really gave it everything I had. Seeing how it all came together has truly shown me the importance of trusting the process, while knowing that I’m still not even close to being done. Leaving lots of room for improvement provides an opportunity to keep working on the car and create various new specifications in the future which I look forward to.
It’s been just over a year since we first bought the Cressida, and we’ve spent that entire time dreaming about how we wanted to style it up. Having multiple opinions wasn’t always easy to juggle, but I did genuinely enjoy working with the team to come up with ideas and I think this final product reflects that. My favourite part was probably putting on all of the stickers, which were mainly ones that I had collected from different people during my stay in Japan. It was surreal having a kaido racer of my own that I could decorate and pay homage to those who inspired me, and I feel that it really tied everything together as a finishing touch.
It was also fun going through the process of gathering everything needed, like ordering the wheels from Bellezza, driving to LA to pick up the aero parts from Moonlight Runners, or just grabbing spare parts from friends near and far. The most honourable mention here goes to Lordco, who provided a majority of the supplies needed, especially for all of the paint and bodywork which was the biggest thing. I mentioned it several times in the video but I cannot stress enough how often I was going there and how they always came through for me. Special shoutout to my main guy Ryan who definitely saw me at my lowest points but always got me sorted out and gave me kind words of encouragement.
Daunting is an understatement for how this task felt, and building my first kaido racer meant that I had to do a lot of things for the first time. I learned a lot throughout the process, including welding, painting, bodywork, and fibreglass, along with lots of new mechanical knowledge. Among all of the technical skills, I also had to learn things like how to ask for (and accept) help, how to take criticism, and how to admit my mistakes. As corny as it may sound, while the car underwent this transformation, I feel like I came out on the other side changed as well.
To be completely honest, there were a lot of times I was ready to give up on finishing the car for touring and wanted to go sit under a shady tree near a body of water. However, I never forgot the promise I made to the team that I would build us a cool car; I wanted to create something that they could feel proud of, so I knew that I couldn’t quit. With that said, I definitely would not have finished without endless support from my friends, I will always be grateful for your hard work and encouragement.
Thank you so much to everyone who helped me along the way, and especially thank you to the rest of Checkpoint for trusting me with building our team car.
A lot has changed for me in the last few months, which has led to me having to prioritize other aspects of my life. To make a long story short, I will be taking a step back from my role as a member of the Checkpoint Japan team. I plan to still come around and update you guys on my projects from time to time, as well as join in for the occasional video.
I also decided that after everything was said and done with the Cressida I fell in love with it more than I ever expected. After some conversations with the team, we decided that I would be buying the Cressida team car and hope to continue showing the evolution of what that car can become over the next few years. I also am very excited to finally finish the Skyline (should be done anytime in the next decade!) and share that with those who have followed along with that.
I really can’t express how grateful I am to have been a part of this team, Checkpoint has provided me with some of the greatest opportunities and I will cherish those memories forever.
This isn’t farewell, just a gentle goodbye. I look forward to catching up with you all again soon.
I really do love writing these articles, so if you’ve made it this far I do appreciate it!
Thank you, take care, and don’t EVER forget to break the rules!
With Love, Sandals
We are always adding new goods to our store, including a ton of car fashion accessories and vintage racing apparel.
Check it all out in the Checkpoint Japan Online Store.
