Lightning McQueen Supra Project - Charity and Kids with Special Needs -LONGPOST

[Shortacus]

Hi all,

 

Long post here with a lot of background fluff but one I believe could impact on a lot of people's life's and I'd like your input and help, I even believe it could be a great opportunity for the forum to show good community spirit in the long run.

 

I recently attended my nephews birthday party - he is 5 and has autism, on my way down to the party I needed to pick him up a present. I done some background reading and sensory rich toys are game changing when it comes to kids with autism. I picked up a ball that played mad disco music, vibrated and whizzed round in a cage when you pressed a button. He loved it never put the thing down ( bare with me it gets supra related).

 

On top of this was the first time my two brothers and I had got together for a long time, this was the first time they seen I now owned our dream car ( bought a forum car about 3 weeks ago). The cars loud , it's beautiful and looking over it and prepping to do some minor work to fix some small issues had us all like it was our birthday party. (passed mot today with a clean sheet , something special about running a car that's the same age as you!!)

 

Then out came the nephew, I had bought a silly windscreen cover because just before I bought the supra I watched cars 3 ( don't judge its some film ) that is the red Lightning McQueen eyes ( see photos ) this blew his mind. He was so excited to see the car , couldn't believe McQueen was outside his house on his birthday and loved to hear the engine roar ( my brothers and I had no issues with this as we now had the excuse to spend the birthday party out by the supra).

 

Anyway... A few days later the car was parked up on the drive, the house is on a main road that many kids walk along to get to school. I received many texts that week from friends with kids in the school. I left the eyes on in the drive for a good laugh. I was told that I had made the kids morning they were so excited to see the real Lightning McQueen.

 

Now this is were it gets heavy :

 

Getting this car brought me out of a real bad spot, you can't help but be happy and smile when you have the car you always wanted! This all started to come together and with it being the festive time I wanted to give the chance to other people that I had got from the car. I feel if I can get the car resembling the real thing and take it to charity events and visit sick children it could really bring a smile to their face and I feel I owe that to people as I remember what it's like to be in a bad place and the difference that wee things can make!

 

I'm looking for advice, discussions, bouncing ideas off of friends, possible contacts, cost price help from other forum members, donations (skill or parts not financial).

 

Below are some points id like to discuss :

 

Thoughts on the different sticker combinations ?

 

Sticker sourcing and or manufacturing?

 

Wrap?

 

Car external speaker system, how to, best parts etc - I'd like to download a few phrases from the film and when the car is visiting children make it seem as if it's speaking?

 

Bottom grill? - do you think I can paint the mesh type grills to resemble teeth and fit in front of my intercooler?

 

Will stickers damage the paint underneath?

 

Everything I do I want to be able to easily remove , the car is after all my new love and I want to maintain and keep it in great condition I really don't want to turn it into a cheesey advertising wagon. I just want to give back a bit and want to help cheer up kids that have had a hard life with the bonus that both them and me get the joy out of the supra.

 

Financially I'm not in a great spot just now, I couldn't pass on the supra and knew it was a great car and similar spec for similar price would be rare - I'm now running two cars and a bike plus the fine joy of lawyer bills when you fall out with her ( probably the cars ).

 

I'm not looking for any help money wise, however long this takes I will do it bit by bit when I can afford to, that being said if you do have anything you can give to help out ( advice, could make some stickers, could make a wrap, have knowledge of announcement systems) please get in touch. It will be for a good cause. I hope to get the car a bit closer before Christmas and before the snow and salt come make some runs with small gifts to children who could do with a we bit of cheering up at this time.

 

I'll keep this thread updated with photos and hopefully some stories of wee kids enjoying the MKIV Supra as much as us big Kids do !

 

Thanks for taking the time to read

 

 

Ross.

Edited November 22, 2017 by Shortacus
Added alternative sticker option (see edit history)

[The Raven]

I don’t have a lot of advise on the car. However somewhere in the forum is my very personal very detailed experience of finding out my son has servere autism. May be helpful in some way.

[Ian Ian]

Hi Ross have a look at the Sporting bears charity they do a lot for the kids we had two cars in the NEC Classic cars show this year ( Darren and RobUK ) and they was very busy so a " Lightning McQueen" may appeal to the young kids wanting a ride, they are a nationwide charity just noticed your in Scotland

 

Cheers

-Ian-

[Al Massey]

This is something that happened to my car a lot, I did have big wing and widebody and had the eyes too lol

 

I LOVE lightning McQueen, I have the biggest Lightning McQueen collection in the world, honestly.

I have always planned to make an actual close to real replica of Lightning so I can drive that around.

 

In regards to the supra, I think static signs/magnetic could be more beneficial so you could remove them anytime.

The biggest drama would be if anyone, child or adult is a bitter cocky twat could moan that it isn't the correct shape etc but hopefully you wont meet many of them.

[squiffy]

This sounds like a great idea!

 

I was hunting eBay last night and spotted a wing that would tie in quite well (I know it probably isn't a priority right now)

 

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F302461122928

 

Although if the car is going to be used for charity work etc it might be worth an email to the company to see if they can help you out for maybe putting some of their company logos into the livery?

 

Same goes for the graphics, it might be worth sending out some emails to various companies with the same idea as mentioned above

 

 

[Shortacus]

I don’t have a lot of advise on the car. However somewhere in the forum is my very personal very detailed experience of finding out my son has servere autism. May be helpful in some way.

 

I'll have a look for that mate , it would be good to try understand the experience the people that I would most like to benefit from this have been through - I have a cousin who has very severe autism and my nephew talked about above who has a milder form. Seeing how sensory items made them very happy and content was amazing to witness and be part of.

 

Hi Ross have a look at the Sporting bears charity they do a lot for the kids we had two cars in the NEC Classic cars show this year ( Darren and RobUK ) and they was very busy so a " Lightning McQueen" may appeal to the young kids wanting a ride, they are a nationwide charity just noticed your in Scotland

 

Cheers

-Ian-

 

Thanks Ian , I'll certainly check them out - I'd like to take the car to events like this and have it talk to the kids and be quite an Interactive experience for them.

[Shortacus]

This is something that happened to my car a lot, I did have big wing and widebody and had the eyes too lol

 

I LOVE lightning McQueen, I have the biggest Lightning McQueen collection in the world, honestly.

I have always planned to make an actual close to real replica of Lightning so I can drive that around.

 

In regards to the supra, I think static signs/magnetic could be more beneficial so you could remove them anytime.

The biggest drama would be if anyone, child or adult is a bitter cocky $#@! could moan that it isn't the correct shape etc but hopefully you wont meet many of them.

 

With mine being red, very loud and the big wing it was a given , I actually think the supra very closely resembles the McQueen shape also.

 

I never considered the magnetic type stickers , this could be a good shout for both preserving the supra's look for me and the easiness of removing them before and after the event for insurance etc - possibility of scratching the paint if not very clean before applying tho ?

[Shortacus]

This sounds like a great idea!

 

I was hunting eBay last night and spotted a wing that would tie in quite well (I know it probably isn't a priority right now)

 

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F302461122928

 

Although if the car is going to be used for charity work etc it might be worth an email to the company to see if they can help you out for maybe putting some of their company logos into the livery?

 

Same goes for the graphics, it might be worth sending out some emails to various companies with the same idea as mentioned above

 

/QUOTE]

 

Thats a good find mate , I was considering options on how to get the wing solid but only when at events , was considering getting a red rubber insert thats a snug fit under the wing i have just now with the " rustease" font. wont be good at any sort of speed but stationary and at slow rides should be ok ?

 

I think I will send out some emails to various companies and see if there is anything they can do to help support this project - I do believe it can put a smile on a lot of peoples faces who would appreciate that greatly. I'd be happy for companies to attach their logos or brands to the stickers and even give out business cards of these companies when people ask about the car ( as long as its more for the kids and the replica of lightning i dont mind that in order to bring this i give back to the companies that helped out with some advertising and attention)

[RobUK]

Sorry I haven’t read the entire post, just saw my name mentioned, not that it will make a difference to your project but there is a Maserati version of the lighting McQueen car already [emoji1303]

 

Good luck [emoji3]

[ben_harmer32]

My car is wrapped and covered in stickers.

 

If you paint work isn't 100% then wrapping is very hard to do. Had a lot of issues with mine when it was first done and i ended up painting some parts orange to match the wrap.

 

I bought my stickers from a company in Holland, they designed them from pictures of the movie car for someone else but were the most accurate i could find. If you give them shots of what you want i'm sure they could do the same.

 

https://www.tuningstickers.nl/page/home/

 

I love the reactions i get from people, especially the kids (most just think it's a race car but surprised the number that know it's an F&F car). I've also received messages from people saying it's made there day seeing it, and if i'm not in a hurry to get anywhere i'm more then happy for people to sit in it and take pictures etc.

 

Also you'll find having a car decorated in a certain way can get you invited to a lot of shows which is also good fun