The story of your car

[ScottyB]

after reading about Rex's debacle with the SVX, it got me thinking. how did you guys come across your car, or what made you buy it. was it a funny or odd situation? did you rescue it from certain doom? did you have to go through a sketchy situation to get it? let's hear your stories.

[Feersty]

During my sophomore year of high school my dad found a blue silver Chevrolet S-10 for sale, and intentionally bought it for me. I was 16 at the time. He proceeded to fall in love with and still drives it, I was left with a 1996 beater Oldsmobile Ciera SL with a weak 2.2L, that I drove during my senior year of high school. Complete with silver pinstripes, chrome wipers, blue muffler tip, and fake cellphone antenna. All that stuff has been since removed, thank God. My brother drives that right now because:

My grandparents gave me a 1989 Buick Century, because they were going to get their second Buick LeSabre. I took delivery, May of my sophomore year of college, and the rest is history. They had $5000 in repairs done to it before I got it, so that was real nice of them.

[Sijray21]

The first car i owned was a 1994 civic ex coupe (white). It was a hand-me down car from my mom when she got her Z3 my junior year of HS. I wouldn't admit it at the time, but i was a very stupid driver. I'd acted like i wanted to modify my car and do all this crap to it, but i had no idea what the f**k i was talking about.

...Long story short i got into an accident with it, totalled the car. I drove around an '86 gti, which we still have, for about 4 months. Getting into the accident gave me a shock in driving, i just wish i learned the lessons from it before i got into it.

In the summer time before my senior year or HS my mom and i were looking for another car for me to get. My main priority was to get something somewhat reliable and fun. I should've looked into just taking the money from the '94 ex into the older vdub, or getting a cheaper car, but we looked at 1-2 year old cars on lots and at car fairs. The main cars i were considering were a vw gti (vr6 older and 4cyl newer), jeep wrangler (wtf on my part), and whatever cars i saw on the lot for under 15K.

...sorry for the long text, but it'll give you something to read at work or at home when you're bored

I came across 3 Civic Si's. I saw an '00 EBP one for 18.5K, an '00 FBP one for 17.9K and a '99 MR one for 15.5K. I test drove the MR one that Rosenthal had at a car fair near what is now the Hoffman Movie Theaters. Since it was a car fair (credit union car fair) the cars were relatively cheap where dealers were looking to get rid of them. There were about 600-800 people shopping for cars and about 20 dealerships with about 40 cars each.

Test driving the car was fun and i've read all about it in magazines so i knew the specs and what people have thought about the trunk, back seat head room, and other misc specs. I liked it. I didn't think my mom would get it for me. After the test drive when we rolled back into the parking lot there was a line for the car (3 different parties, 1 ready to buy it, heard him ask the dealer when i was still in the car). Then my mom turned to me and asked me, "do you like the car?, do you think it's worth the money?" I was shocked, but i said yes to both. Before we even got out of the car she said yes to buying it. After she said yes i talked the dealer down to 14.9K because there was a paint covered scratch on the rear passenger side quarter pannel and a big black mark on the hood ( ...that i later took it off with a little wax and elbow grease )

Got it 7/22/00 with 22.5K miles on the odo for $14.9K w/o including warranty and other misc fees

The car now has ~116K miles on the odo and i've kept every maintenance reciept for work that has been done to it.

I wish i would have looked more carefully at other cars, but i'm overall very happy with my mom's purchase. And for everything i'm very appreciative that my mom got me the car and i do plan on completely buying it off of her when i get a job and money to do so. I've paid for all the mods, part of the insurance, all the heavy maintenance, and some of the car up till now.

hope you enjoyed the long text

[Ryan T]

The story of the Z28 is quite confusing and starts when I was 17. When I was 17 my twin brother bought the Z28 that I drive now. At the same time, I bought the 97 SS camaro that he now drives. After about 4 monthes with the SS I realized that I could not afford it. I sold it to my older brother, who also has a 92 Turbo Supra. So at that time I bought my integra. Had it for a little over a year and wrecked it. After I wrecked it my older brother decided he wanted to sell the SS. My twin brother (who had the Z28) wanted to buy it. But in order for him to buy it, he would have to sell his car. So I purchased his car in order for him to purchase the SS from my older brother.

Oddly enough, my first car was a 1987 Toyota Supra n/a which was given to me by my older brother when he bought the 92 Turbo. So in summary, the 87 supra has been owned by two of us, the SS has been owned by all three of us, and the Z28 has been owned by two of us.

[Sijray21]

man you weren't kidding, that was kinda confusing....

[ScottyB]

i guess since i started this thread i should chime in. it all started when i turned 15, and got my permit (in PA at the time you could do that). i got my liscense when i was almost 16. i got to take out my family's 1990 nissan maxima, which had a whopping 160 horsepower...which to me meant it was fast as shit and since it sounded cool that reinforced the fact that it was in fact fast. for me, at first i was very very careful about driving, but eventually i started doing retared shit in that poor car because i thought i was a badass when in reality i had no idea what i was doing (sounds familiar to alot of 15/16 year olds). i'd manually shift my automatic because i was convinced it was "faster" and drive with the detroit lean goin on since i thought that even though it was dangerous since i could barely see over the wheel, i looked like fast and stuff, which meant i would be cool. i was so pissed all the cool new "tuner" parts were made for civics and not maximas (this was at the time when the whole import scene really got big). anyway, over the years i came to be very attached to that old sack of fat and learned to actually drive with some sense of intelligence. it was a solid car and it was truly good for being some 13 years old and dealing with my idiocy on a daily basis. but anyway, last febuary i was yet again demonstrating my idiocy and understeered into a very deep, very not-gaurd-railed ditch near my apartment in a blizzard. i thought i was colin mcrae, however it will surprise you to know i am not. Ryan Wilson was unfortunate enough to be near me at the time and slid on the same turn, rear ending my max and totalling it. it also damaging his front subframe to the point of his car being deemed totalled as well. so i spent a few good long weeks bumming rides off buddies and riding my bike in sub zero weather.

fast forward to about march of 2003. my parents decided to be generous and help me out with buying a replacement car. their guidelines (since they were spending the money) were that it be fairly big, for safety, japanese for reliability, and front wheel drive, also for "safety". my guidelines were that it be reliable and have a manual transmission, and prefferably be the color black since i love that color. my dad and i cruised around on weekends that i could make it home, and checked out a few integras and accords, which we decided to pinpoint our search on. eventually my parents decided the teg was too small, and the insurance was unnecessarily high. so the accord was to be the target, and i was intent on a 5th gen...roughly 95-97 or so. during our travels we came across a 2001 accord sedan that had been on the lot of a large honda dealer for something like a day or two. it was perfect. low miles, manual, black, no leather, and 4 doors. had some nice options too. we were liking it alot, but there was a line of people to see this car. apparently, manual 4 doors are not exactly easy to source with this model still being fairly new. we also came to find the previous owner was a 70 year old farmer, who had to give the car up due to the fact that he was so old he couldnt work the clutch anymore! it also had a deliciously virgin 14k miles on it. we were really excited and some how ended up bargaining with the salesman enough that we got the car, and now it is my faithful steed today. im very grateful to my parents for helping me out, and i would really like to pay most of this car off to them when i have the means. i still like to play in the snow too, but i limit it mostly to parking lots after experiencing jay's blizzacks in the snow last winter, i will be investing in winter tires on any of my DD cars from here on out.

sorry for the long post as well, hopefully it wasnt too boring.

[JackoliciousLegs]

My cars in brief:

1. My parents didn't want me to buy a car, so they didn't help me with one. I didn't have the opportunity to work all of high school because I was overseas so money was tight. In comes .RJ!!! 1983 RX7 w/ 88k original. $1200 later, it was my first car that I bought against my parents' wishes towards the end of my freshman year. I knew nothing of the rotary, but I loved it.

Sold it because mommie thought it was dangerous.

2. Acura Integra GStunneR. I bought it after working a summer at Crapmax. Dad helped me out by tossing a WHOPPING 3.5Gs into it which I paid him back for by the end of the summer.

I spent all $2k that I had for maintenance in 2 months. Sold it for $4Gs more than I bought it for. Came out $1700 on top.

3. 1985 mARRR2. Got this car for free from a friend... but he couldn't produce the title, so I left it in a parking lot. Me and my "friend" no longer speak.
LOL

4. 1999 Honda Civic LX 4door baby blue. Mom and Dad caved and lent me their car for the end of my sophomore year. I had 0 priveledges with it. I paid all gas/maintenance/repairs/insurance (which had to go on their plan). There was no modification allowed. No racing allowed. No long trips allowed. (I know... wtf?!)

It was slow and I hit a deer with it.

After the drama, I decided it wasn't worth the effort.... so I kindly gave it back to them.

5. 1990 Mazda RX7 Turbo II. After having a long internal battle with myself, I decided on another rotary over an MR2 turbo. More practical, and easier to work on (albeit more frequently needed) I scoured the paper for any hint of them. Unsuccessful, I was saddened when the end of the summer rolled around, but ALAS! a 90 TII with 124k on the odo came in to crapmax and rolled to the back lot. Before it had even changed ownership officially... I had my purchase form in it. I bought the beast for $2000 square all included... and I plan to keep it for as long as the body is black.

[CaptainHenreh]

My (kinda interesting) Car history:

16 years old. My father buys me an '85 S-10 pickup. 2.5, 2WD, Manny tranny. Teaches me to drive his '83 Chevy Luv Diesel. I learn to drive a 5 speed pretty well, but the Turd (the pickup, thus named due to it's color) rarely ran, and never ran well. I ended up mostly driving mom's 1995 Olds Achieva, with a peppy (I thought) 3.3 V6.

Turns out, it was a little TOO peppy. I'd had my license for less than six months, and driving home from a friends house, I'm beating on the car pretty hard, see a deer, understeer into a ditch, overcorrect, hit a patch of ice, have a heated discussion with an enbankment and lose. I open my eyes to find myself alive and stopped, unbuckle my seatbelt and promptly fall to the roof. Learned my lessons: Front drive automatics suck balls, and if you're going to drive fast, learn how first.

Needless to say, Mom's car is totaled. She still gives me shit about it. One day I'm gonna buy her a goddamned Acheiva so she'll shut her hole about it.

I sell the pickup to my Neighbor (for twice what we paid), glad to be rid of the thing. He puts a new ECU in it, and drives it to this day. Oh well. I purchase a 1991 Geo Storm. Don't laugh, I drove that thing to death and it meekly gave everything I demanded of it. This car I took more time to learn the limits of Man and Machine, and learned to drive the most out of that 90Hp. Lowest HP number of all my Cars to date. I also get stopped for 85 in a 50. In an incredible display of mercy, the officer bumps it to 59 in a 50.

After driving it for 1.5 years, 2 houses, 6 girlfriends, and 3 jobs, the muffler falls off the Geo and I decide to get a new car. The car of my Dreams. A local lot has a 1993 Eagle Talon TSi AWD. For 5200. I drive it, it's slow and it sucks. I look under the hood, complain loudly to the manager. He drives it, agrees it doesn't have enough power, and I get a cool grand knocked off the price, and 1500 trade-in for my P.O.S Storm. I promptly take it home, re-attatch the wastegate actuator to the wastegate, and proceed to enjoy every last of the 190 ponies. The highest HP number of all my cars to date. I drive it hard, and with an enormous smile. I am crowned the "doughnut king" of Garrett County one winter, and I am generally regarded as the local "car guy" at my community college. I try to get a serious group of folks together to modify their cars, but all the local yokels want to do is drink, get high, and have sex. No time for driving fast. I decide to be a full-time volunteer for a year, and get the hell out of Maryland, need to sell the car. I sell it to a guy for enough to break even + 1000, he later gets 423 horsepower on 110 leaded out of it.

I take half of the Grand, buy my brother's 1995 S-10. It runs....barely. I wish I'd never bought it. I sold it recently, it was a Pile. My brother doesn't understand that cars are not magic travel devices and must be maintained and cared for. It was my newest car, to date. I move to Colorado for a month, then to Harrisonburg, where I proceed to have the best and worst year of my life.

A few days before my 20th birthday, Julie notices an Autotrader ad for a 1990 240SX hatch. I'm not interested, I want a twin cam. She then tells me the ad also says that the guy has a 1991 coupe for sale. I go look at it, paypal the guy the money, and drive it home with no speedometer. This is my current car, and the one I chose to modify for better performance. The best car I've owned, to date.

Yesterday, I "bought" a 1994 Subaru SVX and a 1989 Toyota Camry. Mostly, because of the price. The Subaru is the weirdest car I've owned, to date.

And that's my carography.

[KPWSerpiente]

Oh my god. I just wrote a fucking novel about my car. ANd it got lost.

Ask me sometime if you really wish to know.

-T

[Chris]

Back when I lived in Lynchburg, I got my permit around age 15 and by 16 had my license. I never thought I would have a car because my parents always said they would never be able to get one for me and I figured I wouldn't be able to make enough money through H.S to buy one.

I drove my parents cars around for a couple years, my favorite being my dad's 88 Audi 5000 CS Turbo. This car had been in the family forever (finally sold after 12 years). The turbo lag was incredible, and being auto didn't help either. The car did handle well though. There were many twisty back roads around Lynchburg that I took friends out on and scared the hell out of... (stupid now that I think about it).

Finally after Sophmore year of HS, my parents decided to move to Richmond. I was really pissed to have to move half-way though HS, and I told my parents I would move if I could get a car... I know it sounds bad, but I don't take anything for granted- especially the car I've had for almost 5 years now.

Once we got into Richmond, I started looking for cars. Hondas were high on the list, as well as any other economy/sporty car I could think of. I liked the del sol because it would handle well and I had the option of taking the roof out if I wanted. I really only cared about having a manual tranny.

I found a del sol in the auto trader and went down town Richmond to this shady dealership. I was pretty excited looking over the car bc it was in great shape and drove well. We did all the car fax reports and had a mechanic look it over. The next day we went back and purchased it (Sept. of 99). It was probably the most exciting day of my life.

To this day I still have it and it continues to be fun (getting 37 mpg). I wasn't aware of things like having a targa roof make it less structually sound and I didn't know about all the engine ranges for the car when I bought it. It has been fairly reliable, and had 98k on it when purchased. It now has 151k on the body (found out this past year its not the original engine ). Anyways, thats my story and the car should last me through college and until I can determine my car/track plans after graduation.

[Mike]

Damn y'all are writing a lot...

1st car - BANANA1 (OG), 1986 Olds Delta 88. This thing was in perfect condition, my Dad's car for about 10 years. Nice torque, tons of options, it was bling bling pimpin'. One rainy night I decided to test it's limits and wound up head-on with a light pole at 40mph. Nice little V in to the hood. Sucker was toast, we donated it to some charity for a tax write-off. I escaped with a bruise on my leg.

2nd car - BANANA1, 1991 Accord DX Coupe. Loved this car... Reliable (except when doing neutral drops and eating the tranny), fairly large, and automatic ()) This is the car that got me in to Hondas... I wanted to do stuff to it but after scouring Honda-tech realized it was a lot of effort. While owning this I fell in love with hatches.

3rd car - TRAK HOR, 1993 Civic LS. Began my search for a hatch in 2000. Started looking at cars in person in 2001, wanting an Si model so I wouldn't have to swap a motor. Every Si I saw for a year or so was a POS and had rust amoing other issues. In early 2002 I decided Honda-Challenge looked fun and running H1 would be cool, I opened my search to swapped hatches. After many more months of looking at cars I finally found a gem. The price was too good to be true for a car in this condition so I had to check it out ASAP. After fingaling a nice price I made the tip down to Tennessee to take a look. Meanwhile, Jessica had me stopping every 10 miles or so so she could yack (she drank a lot the night before against my warning of a long trip ahead). Arrived in Johnson City, drove the car around, filled out the paperwork, handed over the check and VOILA! A couple more grand invested in to the car and here we are today. 175k miles on the body and about 100k on the motor.

edit: Damn, I wrote a lot.

[Mike]

I plan to keep it for as long as the body is black.

uhhh didn't you just try to sell it?

[Sijray21]

I plan to keep it for as long as the body is black.

uhhh didn't you just try to sell it?

i was thinking that too :wink:

i love my car too and i plan on keeping it, but i'll sell it if the price is right 8)

[navin]

lets see...

First car, and only car my ugly ass red 94 VX hatch. Learned a valuable lesson about being patient. My friend Greg saw this car at a shopping center where the guy worked, car was/is in poor condition. Rust on rear quarters, and the hood and bumper had crazy rock chips. Should have known it was in an accident..

Had a b18c sitting my garage, bought it online and when it came to me it was missing shiftlinkage, axles, ecu... Had to pick up all that crap on my change and had to add some bling while the motor was out.. [toduh flywheel, new clutch, intake manifold, etc..] Paid someone to install it [st00pid] and I had a hybrid that was fun for about 2 or 3 months..

Then I noticed it was burning oil, I am pretty anal about how things work with my car. So I decided to rebuild. Tore the car down almost bare...

New shortblock by sGT
etc
brakes
suspension

And here I am today, car is still ugly and still gives me problems. Autoxed it twice this summer, still looking to track it one of these days. And I am still wasting money on this car..

Future predictions..

Car will get stolen and burned to da ground..

[Sijray21]

lol, sounds promising navin :wink:

why such a dim outlook on the car?

i wish i got the chance to build up my car like that though.

[navin]

the dim outlook, I think is from my feeling that the way I went about everything was wrong..

And also I not much of a dreamer, we are in the bermuda triangle of honduh's...

[.RJ]

Car will get stolen and burned to da ground..

Lets just cut to the chase and light that bitch on fire

[navin]

bring the plasma cutter over anytime...

I'll roast marshmallows in the fyre!

[JackoliciousLegs]

I plan to keep it for as long as the body is black.

uhhh didn't you just try to sell it?

No, I wanted to see how much people would pay for it. :-)

[.RJ]

Sold it because mommie thought it was dangerous.

I drove (well drifted) it in the snow, how could it be that dangerous?

What ever happened to that thing anyways... I wish I'd kept it