I love going to Walmart. I’m fully aware the retail giant is definitely not great in a lot of (if not all) the ways massive corporations tend to achieve not-greatness as employers, seemingly in direct and inverse proportion to the profits they make, but man, I sure do like strolling those aisles.
As my wife will attest, merely running into Walmart for Q-Tips can and often does turn into a full one-hour adventure. Gotta hit the toy aisles, of course, and look at every Hot Wheel. And then I have to examine the Ozark Trail Ridge for the millionth time to convince myself I don’t need a cheap mountain bike. And see what’s in the clearance aisle. And then, and then, and then …
Another Walmart time-waster for me is car spotting, as my local Wally World frequently has vehicles that, while not exotic, are Definitely Worth Snapping. On a Walmart trip a few weeks ago, the machine you see below had my shutter finger twitching even before I entered the parking lot. And I’ve been thinking about it ever since.
Rest assured, I’ll pause to appreciate a clean NB Miata any chance I get. Or a not-so-clean one. But this one, resplendent in the deep sort of yellow I like best and wearing a comically huge wing, was an irresistible mix of love and LOL. Not that I’m one to laugh at people who go full wing, even when it’s a kid in a Nana-spec, seventh-gen DX sedan still rolling on the factory steelies with the trunk-mounted picnic table as its sole mod. Let people live, I say. But this cartoon-level wing appeared to be installed very much tongue-in-cheek and meant to illicit lulz.
Plus, there was an extra laugh-level unique to me, as the bewinged banana instantly made me think of this @stance_inst Reel we shared a ways back:
Indeed, my brain flashed “S2000!” when I first saw the car in the Walmart lot from a distance, and I thought I had the perfect opportunity to follow up that Reel (currently at 646,000 views, nice!) with another wherein I would wonder aloud if this car belonged to the same driver, and the wildly oversized wing was meant to prevent another spin into the ditch.
And so, despite the MX-5’s signature taillights looking right at me, I was thinking “S2000” as I looped around to the front of the car to record. Suddenly I could swear I heard gears stripping and smelled melting plastic as my brain struggled to process the unmistakable friendly-fish-face of an NB Miata … with a Honda badge?
Yes, precisely that. And so, I did the Reel in the character of an even dumber guy than myself, which was fun and not much of a stretch:
Say, 278,000 views, not bad at all.
Since then, my appreciation for the mirthful Mazda has only grown. I mean, ya gotta appreciate the commitment to the bit; this is a nice car, not some beater. The wing install was straight and tight. The body kit was gap-free and correctly aligned. Aftermarket, or factory applied? I couldn’t even tell. Naturally, it’s got a lemon-shooter pipe, that’s a must.
Later, I realized the split-personality theme extended to the wheels as well. Gloss black on the passenger’s side, gold on the driver’s side. Neat!
The rear window decals seen above (there’s actually two of them, identical but for color, on the left and right sides of the window) had me Googling fruitlessly to discover what they represented. And then I saw cyko_9’s comment on the Reel:
… which I also had to Google. While I’m cool enough to know the anime Attack On Titan exists, I’m not cool enough to have actually watched it, so I was unaware the decals depict the logo of the Survey Corps, fighters of the show’s titular Titans. For the record, I’m an Evangelion guy.
As for the Itasha wrap … well, I had to Google that too. Turns out it’s a style of wrap, not a brand. I’ll let Wikipedia handle it:
In Japan, an itasha (痛車, literally “painful” or “cringeworthy”[1][2] + “car”) is a car decorated with images of characters from anime, manga, or video games (especially bishōjo games or eroge). The decorations usually involve paint schemes and stickers. The cars are seen prominently in places such as Akihabara (Tokyo), Nipponbashi (Osaka), or Ōsu (Nagoya), or Itasha-based events, such as Odaiba Itasha Tengoku.
I’m glad our Mazda-mashup person didn’t go for the Itasha treatment. Not that those wraps aren’t cool – just look at ’em, that Hatsune Miku one is straight fire – but rather because I think such a wrap would be a very flamboyant hat on a hat. Further, said hat would completely overwhelm the very dry this is not actually a Honda S2000 joke, and I really appreciate the dryness.
And that’s the story of what I’m calling the Mazonda MXS-2005. I’m keeping my eyes peeled for it, and I will absolutely follow up if I get face time with the owner. He or she is going to be a super-cool person, I have no doubt.
There *are*…two of them.
Please be a Homestar reference
These alt-badging talks have me wondering what would be the best badging for a K20 swapped Fiero.
My initial thought was to just call it the Kiero, but maybe del Sol would be a better option.
Why badge the Miata to look like an inferior vehicle?
My neighbor drives a Prius with V8 and Hemi badging on it. Yes, there are people dumb enough to believe it.
That thing got a hemi???!!! LOL that’s just terrible
What’s really funny are the dumb (mostly teens) who pull up next to her wanting to race since they think the are racing a “hemi”
Cars like this are the prophets who point toward the coming of a true hero.
The One who will finally put Fiero badging on a Ferrari.
And promptly get sued by Ferrari.Just ask Deadmau5 what happens when you FAFO with them.
Looked it up. This is exactly why a true hero is needed.
I have always said if I win the lottery I will buy a Ferrari and do as many things to it as possible to make Ferrari mad. I am adding Fiero badging to my list.
Yesterday afternoon the car next to me at the stoplight was a Toyota Camry that had all of the badging for a Dodge SRT Hellcat and Go Mango paint. I didn’t get a chance to see if it had a front splitter with the yellow tape on it.
It was actually really impressive and deadpan funny.
Bonus points on the fakery if it was also an automatic.
Is this like putting an Isuzu badge on a Land Rover?
More like putting a Honda badge on an Isuzu. Oh, wait a sec… yeah, not that first particular Rodeo…
Could be useful for evading the law. Tape the plates, commit crime, and park it in a garage somewhere. Take off the wing and badges, and bingo, the cops are looking for a completely different car… that happens to have same paint.
Wonder if this thing can exceed the speed limit with the drag induced by that spoiler? Good way to slow your teenager’s car down. Like permanent DRS.
One of my guilty pleasures are cars loaded up with anime stickers. There’s just something so fun about it, especially on pickups.
I’m not one to put those stickers on my car, but I wouldn’t be against putting Commander Shepherd’s red/white stripe (off-center) on my car if it were black.
For now I’ll have to settle for a custom license plate, but all the good ones like N7, comandr, SR7, Shephard, and citadel are all taken. The best I can come up with is “no geth”, but that’s not very inclusive to Geth sympathizers.
I’d love a Honda F20C actually swapped into an NA Miata.
In many ways, it’s the perfect swap. It’s lighter yet also better built than an s2000, but much more powerful than a stock Miata. And by doing the swap you’d add a negligible 15lb or something to the Miata. Yes I have looked into this.
Why do people slap Honda badges on innocent Mazdas? Back in the early oughts at the height of “ricer cars” I stumbled on a 2nd gen Mazda RX-7 Turbo, a performance car in it’s own right, that har been rattle canned black, fitted with Acura badges and “Powered by Acura” shoulder belt pads, and the obligatory fart cannon because the teen working at TCBY wanted an Integra but couldn’t afford one
All mods like this will be forever weird to me. The people who know, will know it’s fake. The people who don’t know, won’t care. Why?
Yup. You aren’t fooling anyone who cares about a “Type R” badge when you put one on your Corolla.
Similar humorous vein: prancing moose stickers for Volvos.
The body kit is factory – or at least a dealer-installed Mazda option. There were two versions. This version is known as the ‘Big Tupperware’ if I remember correctly.
Correct. Although it’s normally seen with those god-awful headlight and taillight covers. Glad this guy thought best to remove them or not put them on at all.
I have one with big tupperware and no headlight covers. I think those only came on the Special Editions (mine’s an LS).
Yes. This guy decided to remove the headlight and taillight covers but add Honda badges and an aircraft wing because he is a champion of premium and superior design decisions. Yes truly a hero.
Every sticker adds 25-50 hp 🙂
I also enjoy the Hiku. Wouldn’t do it to my car, but like it. I would consider a Rolling Girl set up.
Year’s ago my mother’s significant other was a retired Marine Lt. Colonel pilot. He’d flown TBF Avengers and early carrier jets. Very, very much a no nonsense kind of guy.
We happened to walk by a Civic coupe with (among other questionable mods) a fake exhaust clamped onto the very much stock pipe. He pointed to it and said “I’ll bet that gives him an extra five mph on the top end”.
Still makes me laugh every time I see one.
Speaking of cringeworthy… 🙂
illicit = adjective – illegal, unlawful, not permitted, no bueno
elicit = verb – to draw out, to prompt, to call forth
Without sarcasm, I just sort of bumbled over this as “illicit lulz” as being the nudge nudge wink wink say no more that this is definitely a Miata with a kitchen counter wing and S2000 badgenanigans.
Stealing badgenanigans
(no matter how much spellcheck hates it)
I love gags like this. There’s a guy running around here with a Honda Element Type R.
My neighbor has an old Bronco with a “It’s a Jeep thing, you wouldn’t understand” sticker on it.
A K20A/A2 would seem to be a pretty straightforward swap (trans from an EP3 for the dash shifter linkages) and get all of my love.
Now that you mention it, I know a guy that did something similar with an Element. Same guy that did that miraculous spin and recovery of a V6-swapped Mini Cooper that we saw in a video here a while back. I’ll have to find out more…
Just this morning I saw a Pilot Type R…
In my day kids just put prancing horse stickers on very much non prancing horse things.
The Volvo community has Dave Barton’s prancing moose.
I’ve actually been thinking about this a fair bit lately, after seeing photos of an SW20 MR2 done up as a 355-alike and a Z-based 250GTO tribute. Now, I’d happily rock either, but the only reason I’d be okay with having Ferrari badging on there is because I know Ferrari aren’t keen on that sort of thing, and that’s funny to me… but not as funny as putting Ferrari-style script on the rear deck reading “Toyota” or “Datsun” along with parody emblems like Barton’s.
The question, though, is… what animal? Prancing green pheasant?
That thing better at least have a K swap under the hood.
It’s not a real S2000 if it doesn’t have RPF1s on it