Priscilla may have been the first American itasha (痛車), or painful/decorated car. I had her painted in November, 1995. I cut off the painted panels before junking her. The rest of the updates below are old, but the photos have been re-scanned.
Note: I found an old usenet posting, featuring the old URL: 1996 posting.
She was a tan 1980 Honda Accord manual 5-speed hatchback who went over 300 thousand miles. In 1995, just before Westercon in Portland, I got her painted.
She is running well again, after having her tires, transmission (she still has her old 5th gear), exhaust, and clutch disk replaced Sept-Oct 1996.
I sold her to Ace around October 1997.
In March 1998, her exhaust manifold blew up. Ace couldn't afford to have her fixed, so I took her back. My friend TJ (and his truck) helped me tow her home. Now she's fixed again, with a used manifold, for $500. I got her back just in time to enjoy having air conditioning again.
In 1999, her head gasket blew, and she just sat there for a long time, being started once in a while, collecting leaves, going once in a long while for gas, because she overheated so quickly.
Then in 2000, I got a tax return and some bonuses, and a few bonuses, and got her fixed again. I even drove her over the mountain to Santa Cruz, and attempted to bake a potato on her engine block. Not enough heat for not enough time...
February 2001: Something went wrong with Priscilla's engine. One chamber is getting no compression, and my mechanic thinks there's a broken piston. So she's sitting again. Next year she'll need a smog check... hopefully I'll find an engine replacement by then, or another similar car I can paint, or have lots of money and replace the engine with an electric one.
Priscilla was painted by my sister Andri. She lives in Seattle.
Back to Ashi's Page or anysize.org.