So I Ended Up in Europe
A few weeks ago I found myself in Europe on practically no notice whatsoever. Long story short, a friend of mine that I haven’t seen in a year and a half posted up on Facebook asking if anyone she knows wanted to meet up in Rome. I’ve been dying for a long-haul flight for ages and was hitting my breaking point with stress anyway, so I booked a trip on was on my first (of three) flights the next morning. I’ll detail the whole trip in an article for Redpants Unzipped (website down as of this writing as I’m doing a complete rebuild right now). But the takeaway for this blog post is that I told the opportunity to visit two companies - Valiant-Ecosse in Germany and ECPS in Poland.
I didn’t do much filming at Valiant-Ecosse as Alistair, the owner, isn’t fond of being on camera (trust me, I can relate). Rather, he prefers to keep a low profile and let his work speak for itself. He’s not looking to be a hugely famous company, but rather be the best of the best at what he does: track prep and builds of cars mainly intended for track use. I had an absolutely incredible time while I was there, including knocking off a major Bucket List item for me - driving an Aston Martin on the Nürburgring! - and got a wild demonstration of his products when he took me out in his built V8 Vantage. Even though I don’t have much to share for entertainment (read: YouTube) purposes, I came away seriously needing a few of his products on my own car.
My time in Poland was the complete opposite as I spent nearly the entire time there working with ECPS and filming with them. The first video released was a tour of ECPS’s facilities in Włodawa, and shortly after that I uploaded a video showing behind the scenes of how they make their carbon fiber products. We filmed enough to create several videos, including about their own project cars (a DB9 that looks like a Rapide S shagged a DBS, and a V8 Vantage that resembles a V12 Vantage S) plus some product showcases to give customers a better insight about ECPS’s products before they buy them.
Some of the videos will be on ECPS’s YouTube channel and some will be on my Redpants YouTube channel, so make sure you’re subscribed to both with notifications turned on so you know when those are released!
New Product Listings and Product Updates
Redpants Lightweight Battery Mount
Tail Light Repair Kit
Camera Package (without the Infotainment Upgrade Kit)
Also, the first inventory shipment of Powerflex bushings has arrived so those are now in stock. I’ll be increasing stock levels as quickly as I can so please be patient if they sell out temporarily.
I only have a few of my Lightweight Battery Mounts in stock, but they’re slated for production so more will be in stock soon. My famous Oil Catch Can Kits are nearly ready for production as well, which I’m extremely happy about. And I’ve got a new version of my High-Flow Intake Filters finishing prototyping now so those should be ready in the next few weeks, too. The battery mounts are being made by the same manufacturer but I have new ones for the catch cans and intake filters due to changes at the original manufacturers that no longer made things feasible.
BC Forged have increased their prices for wheels, so I’ve had to adjust pricing accordingly. They’re still excellent value for money but the price increases were a necessity due to the changing global environment.
New Website Content
I’ve added another Build page for my buddy Scott’s 2011 V8 Vantage S. It showcases quite a bit of forged carbon, which you can get a better look at in my video about how ECPS makes those products. It’s another example of how an Aston Martin can be personalized to suit each owner, so make sure you check out it and my other Build pages to get some inspiration.
And lastly, of great interest to just about all of us Aston Martin owners, I finally got my Tail Light Repair DIY Guide finished and uploaded. Tail light condensation is a huge problem with these cars and mitigating it and the damage it can cause could potentially save an owner a couple thousand dollars in replacement costs.