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Outline of the Project | |
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Respectable performance in timelessly beautiful sclpture, and exhilaration
beyond words and numbers,...
Produced from 1991 to 1996(1997 in USA), Subaru SVX is known as a tragically
ill-fated dreamcar,
its true value not recognized by mass market and production terminating
at less than 6,000 examples
sold domestically in Japan(about 25,000 if you count exports).
But even so, each extant examples still serve the selected few with deep
joy of ownership.
Originally projected in so-called "bubble market" age, the Subaru
SVX is laden with multitude of on-board
amenity features. But what many owners feel detracted is the cheap-looking
wood-like panel materials not fit
for cars costing 4,000,000 yen when new. The online community of SVX owners,
the SVX Mailing List
(hereafter referred to as SVX-ML), which I am part of, repeatedly discussed
on this matter with strong wish
for improvement, but not materializing easily. My first SVX, lost in an
accident in 2000, had three cigarette burns
on the wood-looking shift gate panel by previous ownership, and it literally
"cried for the better".
My quest for improvement began, all too understandably, with no immediate
solution in sight.
Sometime ago, when I was reading an issue of "Road & Track"
magazine, there were ads of several firms
specializing in stick-on DIY dash panel kits containing real wood. I looked
over several such firms on the net,
and one firm my attention was attracted was a company by the name of "Joshua
Tree Wood Trim".
Not only it sported real wood, the long list of compatible makes and models
included left-hand-drive export SVX.
Lack of aftermarket performance enhancing parts was and still is a major
problem among SVX owners, partly to
the manufacturer's blame for making many parts incompatible "SVX-special" against industrial standards of
aftermarket parts. In such environment, having experience in SVX itself
is a great advantage, while majority of
auto part manufacturers literally "kicks you out the door". Furthermore,
the firm used full CAD/CAM for cutting
wood sheets, which means data could easily flipped over to create right-hand-drive.
As the result of lengthy talks over e-mail, it was decided that the speciall
trim kit could be produced on
condition that sufficient number is ordered. After some additional discussions
and supply of factory trim parts
on which the trims are to be fixed onto(so much for flipping over LHD data),
design and price was fixed and
in April 1999 the project was officially introduced to SVX-ML members.
With encouraging helps from senior SVX-ML members, the project bore fruit
and first lot of 32 kits were ordered
in spite of relatively high price(55,000 yen). Dellivery took place in
August, thankfully with high acclaim.
The project was concluded for the time being, but list of SVX-ML members
wishing for restart grew even longer
immidiately after the first lot was delivered, mostly having seen the first
lot kits actually on the cars. Discussions
started again, and with help of still more ML members, second lot order
of 30 was launched in April 2000.
Product arrived in June, some delivered hand-to-hand on occasion of SVX-ML
off-line meeting and cars bearing
the first lot kits served as showcase for all to see. Kits were delivered
nationwide, and amounted to 62 deiveries.
After the second lot delivery the project was once again concluded. Request
for the third lot still rose among
SVX-ML members, but for many reasons, the project came to a comlete standstill.
One major factor against
restart was change of ownership of the manufacturer, and prolonged illness
of the planner(me) was another.
But fortunately the CAD/CAM data was preserved, and after another lengthy
talks(apparently information of SVX
special trim was not passed down the line when the manufacturer ownership
had changed), the test lot of 10
was ordered in November 2005. Thankfully exact same kits came, and 9 out
of 10 is to be delivered to ML
members. Official third lot order is to be collected from late January
2006.