The American Job
[30 Apr 2019]
It's time to get rocking and do the transport mission! First off, I have Ziga with me as I drive from Ardmore to DFW airport in the Silverado at early morning. Sun was partly rising as we set off. Ziga was a bit sleepy when we set off, but I guess eventually he'll fully woke when we arrive at DFW. Well yes, I could simply park the car there as I'll be at CA for less than 12 hours, but I think it'll be safer if I have Ziga return the car to Side to Side HQ. If he managed to be fully woke that is, and I hope he remembers that the truck still has the stock brakes, which has stopping power as big as a biscuit......
Along the way, to get some more information and to keep Ziga awake, I asked him on how to ship cars from US to Japan. Fortunately he's kind enough to point me to one of his trustees at Port of LA, as well as giving me a crash course on the paper and import agreement procedures. With enough infos secured, finally I arrived at LAX and handed the keys to Ziga.
And so, I departed from DFW to LAX...........
.....and landed an hour later. After I landed and and a cup of coffee at a shop inside the airport, I contacted the Mustang owner and informing that I've just landed and ready to go to his place with an Uber. Not gonna lie, actually there's nothing to be worried about and there's no need to rush along this transport job, but because I'm a time attack addict (and recently attending time attack races as well), everything seems to roll so fast, so I work as fast as possible as well. The need for speed creeps into my daily life it seems 
It feels like I've jumped into a action movie involving secret agents and missions.
My Uber car was a Toyota Prius, so uhhh....no pics of it the driver would mind of me taking pic of the car as well I guess, so I'd better not take a pic after all. This being a Prius, the ride along the trip to the Mustang owner was quite comfortable, if not a bit mundane. Well at least finally I'm able to see and live the downtown Los Angeles traffic by my own eyes, something I usually can only see via Hollywood movies. Speaking of movies, specifically action movies, I enjoyed a lot of them, in particular anything involving a secret agent, detectives or law forces, as well as lots of driving action and requirement of intelligence (fights are seondary). Some of my favourite series are 007/James Bond series (obviously!), Sherlock Holmes series, Die Hard series and The Transporter. As for The Transporter, I like the main character's stoic, ice-cold yet caring personality as well as his choices of cars.
Another hour of the trip and I arrived at the owner's place. As we have a banter about muscle car ownership and my trip from Ardmore to Calabasas, he took the car out from his garage. Trust me, it actually looks better in person......definitely something someone might use in an action movie!
After checking the car condition for a while and showing him the transfer proof, as well as waiting for him to check if the transfer indeed succeed, we shook hands and the deal is sealed. The owner then get the papers and slips sorted as we have our last chatter. With everything done and the Mustang in my hands, I left the place and went to the Port of LA via interstate roads for some more testing by myself.
The good news is, the engine looks visually health from outside. But in order to assess it mechanically without having to dissassemble the car, there's only one way to find out.........and that is to hit the gas deeper. Well if you wonder if it's actually okay, Sleepy said I could keep this car for a while and drive it anywhere as long as I didn't get caught by cops or even worse, wrecking it. But since Calabasas to Ardmore takes around two days of trip including rest, and there's a dockyard nearby Calabasas rather than Ardmore, I decided to simply send it immediately.
The engine is in healthy condition indeed, as it provides that sweet supercharged V8 soundtrack without any side effects or unwanted noises. This thing motivates you to keep on pressing the pedal along the way, and aided with the vastness and also straightness of most American highways. Probably this is why most American performance cars has a very, very long gearbox ratio compared to European and Japanese ones.
The SN95, frankly speaking, is one of my three favourite Mustang generations, the other ones being the 1967-1968 generation and the 2013 facelifted S197A. And one reason that I like the SN95, other than it looks so 90s and not so boxy is....the existence of the Mustang SVT Cobra R. No, not this one as this is the regular SVT Cobra, but indeed the front bumper is a replice of the R version. Often appearing as a video game racer, the Cobra R is essentially Ford's 90s equivalent of today's Porsche Cayman GT4, Renault Megane 275 Trophy or VW Golf CS: A streetlegal pure track toy machine. The Cobra R has no back seat, no radio and not even an air conditioner.....just like an actual GT racer! Even for the 1995 model you can only obtain a Cobra R if you're either a race driver (of any discipline and level. All you have to do is flash/flex your race license to the dealership) or a racing team owner. You see, it could be said that Ford invented the high-end track day racer market before it was cool and booming like we know it today.
I had to veer off the interstates and went back to downtown LA because it's lunchtime, I almost forgot to contat Sleepy and all these adrenaline rush made me hungry. But coincidentally this also serves as a test for the Mustang's city driving capability. In this form, complete with that supercharged engine and in thsi colour, it's quite a show-stopper. Literally everyone is looking me at traffic lights and muttering something, either admiring the sharp, savage looks thanks to the Cobra R bumper or complaining about the loud V8 engine and/or the supercharger whine.
Thankfully, despite I left it for a while for lunch and contact with Sleepy to inform I've secured the Mustang, nobody has tried to vandalize it. Probably because it was a busy day and every single human being was on the street at that time. I'm glad to report that despite the clutch taking some time to get used to, everything is fine in this thing and nice enough for a stroll in the city. Just be prepare to attract sooo many people in the streets. Some are complimenting the car, some dissed it for various reasons, some even encouraged me to rev it up or even do a burnout. I admit that Ii revved up at times, but don't worry, I didn't pull a single burnout on thsi thing. I don't want to be either arrested by the cops or even commiting the crowd control joke and smash something. This isn't really my car after all.
I went to the Port of LA via a short section of the interstates......which involves tunnel. Time to roll down the window, drop a gear, and play with the throttle as I direct an orchestra of 4.6L liter supercharged V8 inside. Or since it was actually quite loud, make it into a heavy metal concert instead. And I'm sure some people would say muscle cars are best enjoyed while listening to loud and brash music inside. You know, speed metal, death metal, heavy metal, punkcore, etc etc etc......
Finally, I reached the Port of LA's dockyard. I have to went a bit further around to find the import/exporter company office where they could sort the shipping process to Japan. If I'm not mistaken, either this or Port of Long Beach, which located close to it, was featured in the very first scene of the very first FnF when they load up stuff into a truck in the middle of the night before Dom and his crew in Civics with green neons hijacked said truck. As this is daytime, there's no nee dto worry about such things. Time to deliver an overnight parts-ah I mean, a Mustang to Japan
Finally, I found the company's office, where I immediately register the Mustang to be exported to Japan. The company's representation said the Mustang will arrive in Japan in 7-10 days, depending on the weather on the ocean. With all the papers and other procedures sorted and completed, here comes the last step of the mission: Parking the Mustang near the cargo ship and giving the keys to the company to be safely delivered with it. I stayed there for a while until the Mustang has landed on the cargo deck. Hopefully it'll be delivered safely to Sleepy's hands 
With mission completed, I ordered another Uber to LAX to fly back to DFW. Probably this would be the last time I'll visit LA....or I don't know, probably there would be another chance to visit the downtown again along the US trip. But hey, I'm grateful for that. After another lengthy flight to DFW, I ordered yet another Uber to get me to Ardmore.
Big boss my man I couldn't be more grateful especially for testing the car and traveling 3+ days to get it for me so I did something to compensate what words can't say I transferred you 500 bucks to compensate for the work I gave you. can't wait next week to get it and get the supercharger and v8 noises back in my life (sold the ae86 entire engine for 3.250)
