While Nathan and I have had to work our day jobs, we’ve managed to finish other cars for our clients (Nathan doing the heavy stuff, me with some wiring and CAD diagrams, etc.) and such demands pushed back my own project, but now Nakey has more time to help my car to completion.
We’ve also had many queries and explanations asked of us in relation to how it all works – and providing those answers has taken considerable time in itself. Now that my car is near completion, I need to take a break, a long one while the body-panel experts fix areas one may consider trivial but I see as important.
A Stallion, Unique
Yes the Starion is unique in many ways and as a high-performance electric car, people have commented that they’d rather have my car any day over a MiEV – hah-hah! I’ve had offers from collectors to purchase the car, and part of me considers this – but only if I get the chance to convert another car 
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Venture Crapitalists
Since a couple of interested parties have found my site (and I took time off to explain technology to these people with Nathan) some good news has come Nathan’s way; others have approached me separately in some areas (as Nakey and I have overlap areas and a lot of differences), some of whom I knew already from associated industries. I’ve learned to be level-headed but perhaps Christina (who did all the YouTube.com filming) is right and I have allowed far too much to be taken away from me.
Unlike some folks, I am no hard-nosed business woman – I just like fiddling with stuff. We’ve had many promises from rich business types (who made their money by sheer hard work, immense luck, deception or self-grandiose (or combination thereof)) who really either just wanted to suss out our business model or big-note themselves and their wallets (knowing we have limited financial resources) before spending an incredible waste of money elsewhere, to the lure of some empty marketing guy with slick words and lofty, wafty ideals and with no real technology to back it up with.
I refuse to deal with such great unwashed codpieces promising this, that and the other while they pander to their rich buddies in homo-social rhetoric. I see enough of that in the industry I work in – the Aussies call it ‘wank’ – no wonder there are few women in engineering. It really can get quite demoralising at times.
Time for fun, for some…
Nathan, after quitting his day job, now has a bit more freedom to do the fun stuff he likes, thanks to our hard work getting interest from genuine people, which will also free him to do more talks and publicity which he’s apparently really good at. While I’ve done a few talks on how to get an electric car together and know the technology very well, I’m not a great speaker, get nervous in front of audiences, etc. I’ve been asked to do a talk at my local amateur radio club which I’ll consider as those guys are cool. The car club is a bit different – women tend to get overlooked and not even thanked for helping out on something. Hah, that may change if Linda has her way (speaking of which, she’s been a hard business-driver behind Nathan and the gang – and without her efforts, the boys would still be swinging from the trees).
Meanwhile Nathan can do the TV and radio stuff as young ‘old’ ducks like me should hide from the contorted lens. There’s a Channel 10 Nathanwide News appearance this week; keep an eye out for that, as I’m not sure which day it will appear yet. Reporters will basically say the usual thing; the government spends money on gas guzzlers and ignores the backyard engineers like us. At least the business will get a mention – yay.
A Quiet, Hard-working Team
Nathan’s had a lot of help on his cars, with the publicity-shy ‘JD’ working in the background to get the speed sensor computer right (and hopefully a replacement part for one that was snaffled from me without me knowing at the time) and Mark for machining the gearbox bell-housing adapter plate, etc. Others have chipped in along the way. While not very good at welding or lifting, I was happy to conceptualize and do wiring and sort continuity issues and other logistics, etc, as electronics is my background, but my part wasn’t huge when compared with the physical labor that Nathan put in – I wish I was stronger; at least I can actually pick up an Advanced DC 7 inch motor 
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It will take a while longer for the car to be truly completed, with aesthetics mostly the reason (and my lack of resources as usual (because I am not a business savvy green-paper-prioritized person, I just tinker with ‘stuff’), but in the end it’ll be the only Electric Starion in the world – no wonder some want it in their hot little hands!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Carmel, I have a friend with a PhD in engineering, and some other degrees as well. She graduated two years ago and still cannot get a job. She tells me that every interview she goes to, they get really, really concerned about whether she will want to go off and get married and have babies. She is single, is off guys for the time being and cannot have children. I thought there was this thing called feminism, that dealt with this sort of crap? And laws. No wonder there are so few women in engineering, and science. The men still live in the stone age.
Carmel, I’m with you here, all those big men spanking their wieners is just so yesterday – I work in a plastics factory with some other scientists as a chemical engineer and some of the guys are always trying to take the credit and treat us like we know nothing, and then come on to us like we’re some cheap trash and then boast and lie about it. You go grrl with that car and don’t let those chumps take advantage of you and all the good prospects you deserve.