It sure was. Left me wondering, actually... are there really cars like that? Or is it just a fantasy car made up by the author to help Nikaidou-ojousama show off?
Having watched the show Pimp My Ride quite a bit in my younger days, I could easily believe a car like this exists.
As for the manga, it seems like an interesting start, even if it has a similar "Novice becomes friends with a veteran" premise as Laid Back Camp. I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes from here.
Funny you mention that. My first thought on reading this was "Ah, this seems like it'll be a nice relaxing read like Laid Back Camp"
Trust me, that was definitely an issue for me when writing the references bit (especially King ExKaiser since "lion mecha anime" just kept coming up with Voltron).
So that wasn't Voltron? Okay, so maybe I only got half the references then.
Voltron was referenced, there was just more on that same page.