After embarking on the road of restomod 5 years ago, "Project 144" was finally completed over the weekend. It now has all the bells and whistles that I have always wanted to have, and I must say, the car is a lot more fun to drive.

I inherited the car from my dad 5 years ago. He bought it new in 1974, a plain Jane DL model, with just an engine and tranny and no accessories. He added A/C in 1975 as we live in a tropical climate, together with an AM/FM 8 track player at the dealership, and that was all the accessories the car had until recently.(The 8 track was replace few years back)The car was his and my mom's daily driver until his demise in 2001. It took me to my first day at school, my first day at highschool, my highschool prom, to and from the airport when I furthered my studies in the USA...and the list goes on and on. Obviously, I learnt driving in it. At the age of 14.

And so, when my Dad departed in 2001, we were left with the decision to either keep the car or let it go and get a new one for my mom. We could not let it go. You don't just slap a price tag on a car like that and park it at a busy intersection, and wait for someone to call. Afterall, it has been there for you all your life. Getting rid of it was like loosing my dad all over again. And so, I decided then, that in memory of my dad, to restore the 144 to its original glory, and even more. I was in the USA at that time, and begin collecting parts and shipped them back to Malaysia, so that when I finished my studies in USA, I could come back and get busy on restoring the car.

Well, in 2005, I came back and got busy. I have now installed (I did some of the work myself) steel timing gears, an M-41 (yeah, overdrive!! thanks Greenteagod!!)), 1975 244 Bosch electronic ign, a 14 inch electric pusher fan, Hella FF1100 aux lamps with the original green toggle switch from a 244 turbo that says "fog lamps", diamond headlamps, new lenses for all turnsignal and tail lamps, Sanden a/c compressor, power steering (!), and later this afternoon, Virgo rims as soon as I put some tires on them. I also gave the car a premium oven-baked paint job, and a full rebuild of the B20A, which has never failed us in the past 32 years.

My heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you for all your inputs, help and assistance, and parts throughout all these years, without which this project would not have been possible and it was a pleasure to have met some of you during my days in the USA. For now, I'll drive and enjoy the car (if I can get my mom to hand over the keys, that is).

I'll take some pictures for you guys as soon as I get a digital camera. Just been a bit busy during the weekends past few years!
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...and the bricks keep on rolling