Well, after buying the Previa, I have felt invigorated to get back into imports like I was in 1999. But it appears that things have drastically changed since those times...
Parts are not available...
Many companies went out of business...
Car scene seems to be more selective of...
It is just different then when I first got into the Import scene.
When I was in high school, 93-97, my parents bought a 1993 Civic HB DX.
This was my car throughout high school. I then went to a Hot Import Nights in Long Beach and after that, I could not believe the popularity of the civic. This was at a time when body kits were super expensive and I think I was the 2nd one in town to have one.
Anyways, this was my first "build" but was never able to finish it. This was the car that started it for me.
I was so into imports, that a few of my high school buddies and I started a club called "Team Reaction" and for a minute, we were a great crew. More on that later.
Anyways, in 2000, I bought a brand new Civic Hatchback (EK) which would be the most effort to put in a car.
In 2001, I picked up a 1989 Nissan 240sx hatch (180sx body style) and also picked up a friend's project rx7, which he started to do a v8 conversion.
At one point, my cars were in all project mode... it was interesting.
My 93 civic, I converted to 5spd.
My 2k civic had the body worked, especially after my no experience self started to do a wide body.
My 240sx was in the middle of a full motor rebuild
My rx7 was getting done piece by piece.
I want to say around 2004, some jack ass tried to steal my 2k civic (after it was done) and caught it on fire. It also caught part of my parent's house on fire. I was pissed because it was my "show car" and a car that was out of my project status....
This made me rethink about Hondas. I knew people wanted to steal them, but I knew and was cool with everyone in town. But I also found out a person that was nice to my face was also the one trying to steal my civic. When word got out, he avoided me and would also tell people to tell me he didn't try to steal my car.
This brought me to my next car, Infiniti M30. I absolutely fell in love with this car. I saw it on craigslist and after some quick research, I was happy to see it was not a "mainstream car" such as all the other cars I got.
See, soon after I got my 240, the drift scene blew up... so now everyone was trying to pick up a corolla, a 240, or an rx7.
Finding out the M30 was a "limited car" and kept seeing a post for one in Anacortes, WA (way the hell out there) I decided to drop by and check it out. I saw the ad asking for $800, then $500.
So after I took it for a test drive, I was okay on the deal and then the guy tells me it was his brother in law's car (as well as 2 other cars at their house) and he needs it out of their place, and he gave me this price:
$100.
I could not believe it. I told him yup, and we got paperwork straight and I told him I will pick up my 240sx later.
-----------------------------
Soon after, I represented the M30 everywhere and soon enough, f31club blew up.
I also picked up a 90 Toyota Cressida, a 93 Acura Vigor and another m30.
------------------------------------------
Around 2006, the manufacturing plant I was working for at the time started to see trouble.. first Hurricane Katrina, Gas price prices going up (moving product), housing bubble about to blow (the company made vinyl window frames) and finally, competition with China.
This lead to lay offs and before I could officially be laid off, I decided to go back to school and figure out what I need to do in life. This lead me to leave Washington State... my home and comfort zone.... to basically start over and I had to give up my fleet of cars. I kept the 240sx and M30 with me to California. The rest had to be sold off....
--------------------------------------------
My wife was starting to not like the 240sx and so we sold that for an SUV, 2006 Mitsubishi Outlander. It was such a reliable vehicle. We got this knowing we were going to start our family soon enough.
In 2010, my first boy came. The Outlander proved to be a good vehicle for quite sometime.
In 2011, my wife's co worker sold us their 95 Honda accord (CD). It had a small head head gasket leak and I had to refill coolant weekly. It wasn't super bad, but annoying.
My wife convinced me to sell the car because I was finishing up school and money was tight.
THE ONE THING I HATE ABOUT MY SITUATION IN CALIFORNIA, I HAVE NO PLACE TO WORK ON A CAR. I MEAN SERIOUS WORK.
In 2014, our second little boy was coming, I saw this as an opportunity to get a bigger vehicle. This was actually the time I was going to buy a Sienna. I wanted that reliability... but not the price tag and hence, why I decided to buy a Previa.
While the Previa was starting to get rebuilt, One of the MDs I worked with had an 07 subaru legacy wagon outback. His sone banged up the body pretty good. I had to see it in person. I then got in a frame straightening class and when I talked to the MD about working on his car as my project, he said that he was going to get rid of it! I couldn't believe it and I ended up getting it from him.
So the Mitsubishi outlander was the main ride, the Previa and Outback were the projects.
Come New Year, we decided to give the Outback to my wife's sister in Vancouver BC. It has been such a great vehicle, I wanted to keep it in the family.
Parts are not available...
Many companies went out of business...
Car scene seems to be more selective of...
It is just different then when I first got into the Import scene.
When I was in high school, 93-97, my parents bought a 1993 Civic HB DX.
This was my car throughout high school. I then went to a Hot Import Nights in Long Beach and after that, I could not believe the popularity of the civic. This was at a time when body kits were super expensive and I think I was the 2nd one in town to have one.
Anyways, this was my first "build" but was never able to finish it. This was the car that started it for me.
I was so into imports, that a few of my high school buddies and I started a club called "Team Reaction" and for a minute, we were a great crew. More on that later.
Anyways, in 2000, I bought a brand new Civic Hatchback (EK) which would be the most effort to put in a car.
In 2001, I picked up a 1989 Nissan 240sx hatch (180sx body style) and also picked up a friend's project rx7, which he started to do a v8 conversion.
At one point, my cars were in all project mode... it was interesting.
My 93 civic, I converted to 5spd.
My 2k civic had the body worked, especially after my no experience self started to do a wide body.
My 240sx was in the middle of a full motor rebuild
My rx7 was getting done piece by piece.
I want to say around 2004, some jack ass tried to steal my 2k civic (after it was done) and caught it on fire. It also caught part of my parent's house on fire. I was pissed because it was my "show car" and a car that was out of my project status....
This made me rethink about Hondas. I knew people wanted to steal them, but I knew and was cool with everyone in town. But I also found out a person that was nice to my face was also the one trying to steal my civic. When word got out, he avoided me and would also tell people to tell me he didn't try to steal my car.
This brought me to my next car, Infiniti M30. I absolutely fell in love with this car. I saw it on craigslist and after some quick research, I was happy to see it was not a "mainstream car" such as all the other cars I got.
See, soon after I got my 240, the drift scene blew up... so now everyone was trying to pick up a corolla, a 240, or an rx7.
Finding out the M30 was a "limited car" and kept seeing a post for one in Anacortes, WA (way the hell out there) I decided to drop by and check it out. I saw the ad asking for $800, then $500.
So after I took it for a test drive, I was okay on the deal and then the guy tells me it was his brother in law's car (as well as 2 other cars at their house) and he needs it out of their place, and he gave me this price:
$100.
I could not believe it. I told him yup, and we got paperwork straight and I told him I will pick up my 240sx later.
-----------------------------
Soon after, I represented the M30 everywhere and soon enough, f31club blew up.
I also picked up a 90 Toyota Cressida, a 93 Acura Vigor and another m30.
Around 2006, the manufacturing plant I was working for at the time started to see trouble.. first Hurricane Katrina, Gas price prices going up (moving product), housing bubble about to blow (the company made vinyl window frames) and finally, competition with China.
This lead to lay offs and before I could officially be laid off, I decided to go back to school and figure out what I need to do in life. This lead me to leave Washington State... my home and comfort zone.... to basically start over and I had to give up my fleet of cars. I kept the 240sx and M30 with me to California. The rest had to be sold off....
--------------------------------------------
My wife was starting to not like the 240sx and so we sold that for an SUV, 2006 Mitsubishi Outlander. It was such a reliable vehicle. We got this knowing we were going to start our family soon enough.
In 2010, my first boy came. The Outlander proved to be a good vehicle for quite sometime.
In 2011, my wife's co worker sold us their 95 Honda accord (CD). It had a small head head gasket leak and I had to refill coolant weekly. It wasn't super bad, but annoying.
My wife convinced me to sell the car because I was finishing up school and money was tight.
THE ONE THING I HATE ABOUT MY SITUATION IN CALIFORNIA, I HAVE NO PLACE TO WORK ON A CAR. I MEAN SERIOUS WORK.
In 2014, our second little boy was coming, I saw this as an opportunity to get a bigger vehicle. This was actually the time I was going to buy a Sienna. I wanted that reliability... but not the price tag and hence, why I decided to buy a Previa.
While the Previa was starting to get rebuilt, One of the MDs I worked with had an 07 subaru legacy wagon outback. His sone banged up the body pretty good. I had to see it in person. I then got in a frame straightening class and when I talked to the MD about working on his car as my project, he said that he was going to get rid of it! I couldn't believe it and I ended up getting it from him.
Come New Year, we decided to give the Outback to my wife's sister in Vancouver BC. It has been such a great vehicle, I wanted to keep it in the family.
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