Cancer Sucks

I would find it quite fitting if those of us who are eligible got registered as potential bone marrow/stem cell donors.
new post on Alex's personal blog:

In Memory of Alex

Alex expressed a wish to have people sign up for Be The Match Registry. Signing up means volunteering to be listed as a potential blood stem cell donor, ready to save the life of any patient in need of a transplant. It’s really easy. It would mean a lot to him and us if you joined.

People have been asking where to donate money in his name. We’re working on getting that information to all of you; we’ll have specifics in a few days.

We can’t thank everyone enough for all of the support.
There is a little bit more information over in the "How to help Fuck Cancer" thread.
 
Nice to see so many old members coming back, and new ones appearing, too, though it is for a reason no one would have wanted.
I dunno, it's just nice to see the forums liven up a bit again.


Hello, Final Gear.

I wasn't a member of the Final Gear forums until tonight, and I've only discovered them recently (some five years ago) when local car-related websites and Facebook pages went crazy about a bunch of car enthusiasts who took a Zastava 101 to the Nürburgring race track. (I'm from Croatia.) Somehow, with some bad personal circumstances happening during the summer of 2014, I've started reading the forums, and for a long time, I haven't visited any subforums other than the Post Your Car one, because I found those alone inspiring enough for me to somewhat solve some of my personal problems.

I didn't really know who Viper007Bond was for a long time after that, until I started reading other subforums as well. I learned more about who he was when he announced that he was diagnosed with leukaemia, however, I can't exactly remember when that was. Since then, I was hoping he'd win the battle, more so because my grandfather fought with cancer and won his battle. This thread has been a roller-coaster of emotions, and the final news make me sad, however, in a weird way, knowing that he left some legacy and that he will be remembered by many leaves me feeling... I really don't want to chose the wrong words for this, but it makes me feel warm around my heart, knowing that his life has influenced so many people in such a positive manner.

I know it's a bit weird to register onto a forum just to express my condolences, and I've been meaning to register here for quite some time, but I always found reasons to postpone it. Well, not today. I just had to express my feelings somewhere, and I felt it was most appropriate to finally register here and say what I felt a need to say. I'm sorry if I made a wrong move, but I just went with my gut feeling.

I'm not really good with making my thoughts concise, so I'll try keep my post short. Rest in Peace, Alex. You never met me, I never met you, but your forums helped me find myself in this mad world. Reading about people driving interesting cars and their adventures with them kept me entertained in the uneasy times, and it was always fun to get to know more about episodes of Top Gear after watching them. What you've created has certainly helped me.

Also, this post:



is what kind of inspired me to register tonight and share my feelings. I didn't want to waste my time postponing the day I register here and get in contact with people who have inspired me. More so when you have an actual reason to post. And again, big thanks to Alex for creating this site, I hope your legacy will live on with this site.

Greetings fellow countryman :)
If you'd like to widen your FG experience, there are members in these parts and we meet on a semi-regular basis just to hang out, have small roadtrip, and of course, eat cake! You never know, you might end up in Germany, too ;)
 
I only just found out about this via someone I follow on Twitter who worked with Alex at Automattic. Haven't been on here in a very long time. Just... damn.

FUCK CANCER.
 
I also wrote up some thoughts on Alex's passing and lasting legacy on one of the outlets I write for: http://www.thedrive.com/news/26723/...t-spread-top-gear-across-the-world-dies-at-34

It's been absolutely incredible to see how many people came forward acknowledging that everything from being able to connect with other people here to just having access to a really good car show changed their lives for the better, and honestly, the whole auto industry is better off for this site's presence.

RIP, man.
 
Great piece, Coco.
 
Greetings fellow countryman :)
If you'd like to widen your FG experience, there are members in these parts and we meet on a semi-regular basis just to hang out, have small roadtrip, and of course, eat cake! You never know, you might end up in Germany, too ;)

Greetings!

That sounds fun! One day I'd definitely love to participate in one of those meets, so feel free to PM me more details about when they usually happen, what kind of roadtrips you guys do and which kind of cake you usually eat. :D And any other info that might be relevant, of course.


Thank you so much for that video. I only got around to see it now, and now that I watched it, I got a nice little introspection in who Alex was. Seems like he was a really cool guy, which makes me even sadder about him passing away. Alas, such is life.

Oh, and great article, @ninjacoco!
 
I haven't logged in in forever, but I feel that it would be crass of me to continue being a part of this community without chiming in, no matter how pithy it might seem. I have attempted to pay tribute on Twitter, or in FB comments, where I've been fortunate enough to be friends with some of the regulars here, and on Twitter I can reach out to a wider audience, or at least I believe so, anyway.

So, I can only speak from a personal level. (Everbody loves to speak personally, of course, and while we're here, sharing memories, we might as well embrace it.) I first joined in 2005. So this is the oldest community I've been a part of; older than my college fraternity, longer than any of my relationships, longer than any other online community I've been in. I feel like I've actually outgrown TG and whatever iteration they've been, and however the modern world has passed the three dinosaurs by—I was fortunate enough to write a sponsored content project for the first season of The Grand Tour, and watched every episode in advance, and my opinions on it are better shared in person. But despite me having not posted in the TG subforum in oh god I don't want to check but at least ten years, I've been fortunate enough to meet some of the rest of you in person, a warmhearted alcoholic bunch of weirdo shut-in nerds, and therefor the perfect community for yours truly, whether here or Amsterdam or London or Dallas or Austin or Ringmeet.

I never got the chance to meet Alex, and I always felt regretful at that. But the fact that this thing he built blossomed into something so much larger than himself, and that he remained humble about it throughout, is a testament to his character and his worth on this planet. We as a greater whole have made friends IRL and traveled the world and begun romantic relationships and given each other jobs and support, and the positivity that results is the best kind of legacy that Alex could ever hope for. In his memory, no living person can hope for something more.

Also, I still can't believe I have the title "Little Nudger." C'MON
 
You sure? You were both present at Ringmeet 2015 if my memory serves me well.
That might be the case, though it's been too long since I've been to a Ringmeet... :(
 
I haven't logged in in forever, but I feel that it would be crass of me to continue being a part of this community without chiming in, no matter how pithy it might seem. I have attempted to pay tribute on Twitter, or in FB comments, where I've been fortunate enough to be friends with some of the regulars here, and on Twitter I can reach out to a wider audience, or at least I believe so, anyway.

So, I can only speak from a personal level. (Everbody loves to speak personally, of course, and while we're here, sharing memories, we might as well embrace it.) I first joined in 2005. So this is the oldest community I've been a part of; older than my college fraternity, longer than any of my relationships, longer than any other online community I've been in. I feel like I've actually outgrown TG and whatever iteration they've been, and however the modern world has passed the three dinosaurs by—I was fortunate enough to write a sponsored content project for the first season of The Grand Tour, and watched every episode in advance, and my opinions on it are better shared in person. But despite me having not posted in the TG subforum in oh god I don't want to check but at least ten years, I've been fortunate enough to meet some of the rest of you in person, a warmhearted alcoholic bunch of weirdo shut-in nerds, and therefor the perfect community for yours truly, whether here or Amsterdam or London or Dallas or Austin or Ringmeet.

I never got the chance to meet Alex, and I always felt regretful at that. But the fact that this thing he built blossomed into something so much larger than himself, and that he remained humble about it throughout, is a testament to his character and his worth on this planet. We as a greater whole have made friends IRL and traveled the world and begun romantic relationships and given each other jobs and support, and the positivity that results is the best kind of legacy that Alex could ever hope for. In his memory, no living person can hope for something more.

Also, I still can't believe I have the title "Little Nudger." C'MON
Nice writing, Blake.
 
Just found this by mistake, how it all began it seems:

New domain name registered, FinalGear.com

(I was looking for the logo font for something, haven't found it yet so if anyone has a copy please let me know).
 
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911 Porscha

Brilliant, thanks. I knew it was a Porsche variation but the A on that didn't quite match so I moved on. I like the background image used for the sample, the G-6155 interceptor from Spy Hunter...
 
Just found this by mistake, how it all began it seems:

New domain name registered, FinalGear.com

(I was looking for the logo font for something, haven't found it yet so if anyone has a copy please let me know).

that's wasn't the original url, when i registered, it was something like viper007bond.something.com
i also remember the many discussions about possible url's, that landed us eventually to finalgear.com
 
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