My Saab/Viggen Hybrid Engine bay Stage 3 - 33psi 412whp
, like racing my 2004 Terminator Cobra with the 2.8H Kenne Bell blower against a 1987 Ford Escort LOL, it's really like that. I haven't ...
Why do I drive old POS cars?
Zunecast, I thought back to something one of our friends said when she first saw my “new” car, a 1988 Saab 900 SPG (SPG = Special Performance Group, it means it has a tweaked suspension, 3 spoke Ronal wheels, and a custom body kit). Mind you, I’ve wanted an SPG since my youth, because I thought the body kit and the wheels were just the business (to quote TopGear).
But then I thought about my car history. My first car, a 1984 Ford Escort, with a stick, was one of the last times I really ever owned a car without something special. Without, what my friend Becky called, character. Character? In a car?
Yeah, as I’ve looked back over my car history, character is what they all (since that Escort) have in common. Here’s the rundown:
1984 Ford Escort – I guess even it had a little character, as it was a manual transmission. Even as crappy as it was, it was more fun than driving a slushbox. 1984 Honda Civic – I got lucky because the previous owner of this car wanted a car with character as well. Before I bought it (after a lady totaled my Escort for me), the previous owner had swapped it to a CRX transmission, so it was a 5-speed, rather than a 4. He had also seen fit to swap the exhaust and interior out of a CRX into it, so it sounded better, and had a much sportier interior. This car is where I got my customization bug. Custom 13” (hey, I was poor, and it was the 90s) polished Prime 5-spoke wheels, took the nuts off of the torsion bars for a week, because it seriously slammed the car. Of course, then it seriously slammed my kidneys over every little bump. Raised the front back up and cut the springs in the rear (I was young and dumb), so it was lowered by 3” all the way around. Alpine head unit, MB Quart components, Phoenix Gold amp, and (after blowing 6 MTX Blue Thunders in a month) a JL Audio 12W1 sub. Custom “clear” corners, blue neon kit,...