Hi everyone! Chris here from SoCal.
here's a bit of background before the cars(or skip to the cars? haha)
I work part time for the public works depart of a local city where I repair and maintain medium and heavy duty trucks(and a few light duty trucks)
my whole idea for this search is to find the one car that does it all. race it, drive it home, take on a sunday cruise, grab some ice cream and be fun in every scenario general life scenario
I daily drive a 2012 vw golf. 2.5l 5banger. autotragic. it works great for traffic around los angeles(maybe not so much anymore since there's no traffic right now haha)
I've tracked the golf a handful of times(big willow, autoclub, grange(lol))
It's served me well and i still own it, but September of 2016, my brother got married and moved out, and an extra parking space opened up.
Told my parents it's either a dog or a project car
2 months later, i picked up a 1982 corolla(Crystal the corolla)
This was my first manual, first rwd car, first "project" car
I learned a lot on this car in the past year.
It was bone stock and i basically refreshed everything i possibly could with my college student budget.
after nearly a year of ownership it turned from a 40whp ****box to a maybe 50whp ugly duckling.
the only shop to ever touch this car was the smog guy to help it "pass"
anyone that has experience with carburetors knows what im talking about lol
i was very proud of this car
unfortunately i dont have any good pictures with the sparco sprint and fender mirrors
if anyone wants a detailed thread about this corolla i can post it up. the current owner of the car did what i planned. Beams swap with 20v ITB's. he did it the proper way as well. not a single expense spares. the gauges in the car are worth more than the car itself lol. i got a chance to drive it with the beams swap and i nearly sold my m3 to buy it back... back to the story
december of 2017, the day before my first planned track/drift day with the corolla, i traded it for a manual lexus IS300. straight trade. no money involved. car for car. similar miles(170k), clean title on both cars.
i regret getting rid of that corolla, but for a college kid on a college budget, it was the smarter move to get something that doesn't require lots of money and custom work. ill save that stuff for what im older and have more time on my hands.
I will own another te72 corolla again.. it's by far the most exciting car i've ever driven
so this lexus is300. i ended up taking it to the track day instead. gave it a shot at drifting. it's fun. i can see the appeal. it just wasnt for me though. i prefer to use the grip i have.. not the lack of grip i can create; make sense?
anyways, i putted around in the is300 until the title came in. i actually posted it up for trade a few days after the track day.
come the first week of 2018.
I traded it for a 2000 S2000.
i loved this car. it had the raw-ness of my corolla, but had power. it was enjoyable and satisfying to drive. vtec is a whole next level experience.. if you get a chance to drive any honda from the 90s or 00s that has vtec.. do it. itll make you laugh like a little 10 year old boy who got into a tickle fight with his older brother. i completely understand the love for vtec after owner an s2000.
it was bone stock other than a cut rear bumper and a berk headerback. I threw some period correct wheels, some koni shocks and H&R springs and did some reliability mods and genuinely enjoyed the roadster life. drove this thing EVERYWHERE. I want another one.
The s2000 the car i shouldn't have gotten rid of.. but corollas are cursed. theyre the devil. everything about owning one is hell. it's like that one ex you have that just keeps coming into your life whether you like it or not, and you have no choice but to let her into life again. its dumb and stupid
so come midway into 2018... i traded the s2000 for another corolla. dont ask why. i cant give you a reasonable explanation for this. if youve ever owned an old corolla youll know exactly what im talking about.
1986 ae86 sr5 hatch
this car was more so a show car more than anything else. i did like it.. but i didnt love it.
it caught A LOT of attention everywhere. i made a lot of genuinely good friends through this car.
it was heavily modded other than the engine.. bone stock 4AC. slow af. that's fine. this car is fun no matter how fast youre going.
i wanted to keep this car, F20c swap it, get it BAR'd.. til i found one inch thick bondo along the passenger side rocker panel.
that's when i completely gave up, did a few shows with the car, then sold it for $8k.
come now February 2019
sold the corolla.. looking for a kouki s14 or an ae86 GTS
i randomly came across an e36 m3 that i checked out. drove it and it was cool i guess.
i kept seeing more and more e36's everyone.. in person, online...
i grew up watching the e36 race in BTCC and JTCC. ive always wanted one since my brother's first car was a B5 a4 that he styled after the BTCC a4.
started looking into them and eventually found this m3
the car came along with a bunch of drama
the previous owner(s) did not have a good reputation in the e36 world. I found out the car was essentially a “parts bin” build and was all pieced together with spare parts. It needed some work, but generally speaking was a good car.
December of 2019 i did my first track day with this car. it was more of a shakedown. the car needed work... and a lot of it. suspension is well.. its fine if you wanna slam/stance the car or do some sort of slammed drift build, but from a track perspective, the struts/shocks and improperly valved for the spring rates, and the springs feel like they could be a tad bit stiffer.
Anyways… here’s some pics of the progress of when I first owned it to the day I traded it.
now comes the hardest car ive had to own..
April 2020
The 996 was a dream car… it always has been. I have pictures of my cousin and I at every Los Angeles Auto Show from 1999 to 2004 in front of the 996. We literally watched this car grow throughout the years and we were always excited to see it.
I found a local who had posted this 996 up for sale/trade. On a whim I offered my M3.. we met up.. and a few hours later I was driving home in one of my dream cars.
here she is:
2001 Porsche Carrera 2
6 Speed Manual
173k miles
no maintenance history
This car was by far the BEST car i have ever owned. I had to sell it due to some unforeseen financial expenses which made it very very difficult for me to keep the car.
After some oem GT3 coilovers, and some GT3 spec OZ Racing wheels, it was slowly starting to become a reality of how well this car really is.
I don't like talking about the 996 much because it was the hardest car to get rid of. I spent nearly 2 months trying to figure out a way to hold onto it and keep it.. and unfortunately couldnt.
While i owned this car, I also won(yes won) an Integra Type R.
July 2020
The Type R was salvage title with a JDM b18c swap. Honestly... it was a shitty example of a Type R... but hey.. i got to say ive owned and driven one right?
It is a fun little car, but it's a hot car... they are targets of getting stolen.. i enjoyed it until the title arrived and sold it. In my area, hondas get stolen ALL the time. They'll be stripped down and sold off before you even finish filing a police report.
Back to the 996... I sold the 996 in October of 2020. Like i said.. it was VERY hard for me... unfortunately covid ruined a lot of stuff this past year and despite everything.. this is a hobby that had to be temporarily stopped.
Now onto November of 2020 and the whole reason i'm here
once i got my finances sorted, I was looking for an evo8/9 or an f20 swapped ae86 to get back onto this journey.
One day i woke up, opened facebook and saw a BAR legal s52 swapped e30. I talked to the owner.. met up with him eventually and well... i picked up the e30!
here she is!
I will use the next post to go more into detail about the e30
if anyone wants a more detailed description/build info on any of my previous cars let me know! i have tons of photos and documentation of everything
and like always, feel free to ask me anything! suggestions, comments, criticism etc is all welcome. im open to everything.
here's a bit of background before the cars(or skip to the cars? haha)
I work part time for the public works depart of a local city where I repair and maintain medium and heavy duty trucks(and a few light duty trucks)
my whole idea for this search is to find the one car that does it all. race it, drive it home, take on a sunday cruise, grab some ice cream and be fun in every scenario general life scenario
I daily drive a 2012 vw golf. 2.5l 5banger. autotragic. it works great for traffic around los angeles(maybe not so much anymore since there's no traffic right now haha)
I've tracked the golf a handful of times(big willow, autoclub, grange(lol))
It's served me well and i still own it, but September of 2016, my brother got married and moved out, and an extra parking space opened up.
Told my parents it's either a dog or a project car
2 months later, i picked up a 1982 corolla(Crystal the corolla)
This was my first manual, first rwd car, first "project" car
I learned a lot on this car in the past year.
It was bone stock and i basically refreshed everything i possibly could with my college student budget.
after nearly a year of ownership it turned from a 40whp ****box to a maybe 50whp ugly duckling.
the only shop to ever touch this car was the smog guy to help it "pass"
anyone that has experience with carburetors knows what im talking about lol
i was very proud of this car
unfortunately i dont have any good pictures with the sparco sprint and fender mirrors
if anyone wants a detailed thread about this corolla i can post it up. the current owner of the car did what i planned. Beams swap with 20v ITB's. he did it the proper way as well. not a single expense spares. the gauges in the car are worth more than the car itself lol. i got a chance to drive it with the beams swap and i nearly sold my m3 to buy it back... back to the story
december of 2017, the day before my first planned track/drift day with the corolla, i traded it for a manual lexus IS300. straight trade. no money involved. car for car. similar miles(170k), clean title on both cars.
i regret getting rid of that corolla, but for a college kid on a college budget, it was the smarter move to get something that doesn't require lots of money and custom work. ill save that stuff for what im older and have more time on my hands.
I will own another te72 corolla again.. it's by far the most exciting car i've ever driven
so this lexus is300. i ended up taking it to the track day instead. gave it a shot at drifting. it's fun. i can see the appeal. it just wasnt for me though. i prefer to use the grip i have.. not the lack of grip i can create; make sense?
anyways, i putted around in the is300 until the title came in. i actually posted it up for trade a few days after the track day.
come the first week of 2018.
I traded it for a 2000 S2000.
i loved this car. it had the raw-ness of my corolla, but had power. it was enjoyable and satisfying to drive. vtec is a whole next level experience.. if you get a chance to drive any honda from the 90s or 00s that has vtec.. do it. itll make you laugh like a little 10 year old boy who got into a tickle fight with his older brother. i completely understand the love for vtec after owner an s2000.
it was bone stock other than a cut rear bumper and a berk headerback. I threw some period correct wheels, some koni shocks and H&R springs and did some reliability mods and genuinely enjoyed the roadster life. drove this thing EVERYWHERE. I want another one.
The s2000 the car i shouldn't have gotten rid of.. but corollas are cursed. theyre the devil. everything about owning one is hell. it's like that one ex you have that just keeps coming into your life whether you like it or not, and you have no choice but to let her into life again. its dumb and stupid
so come midway into 2018... i traded the s2000 for another corolla. dont ask why. i cant give you a reasonable explanation for this. if youve ever owned an old corolla youll know exactly what im talking about.
1986 ae86 sr5 hatch
this car was more so a show car more than anything else. i did like it.. but i didnt love it.
it caught A LOT of attention everywhere. i made a lot of genuinely good friends through this car.
it was heavily modded other than the engine.. bone stock 4AC. slow af. that's fine. this car is fun no matter how fast youre going.
i wanted to keep this car, F20c swap it, get it BAR'd.. til i found one inch thick bondo along the passenger side rocker panel.
that's when i completely gave up, did a few shows with the car, then sold it for $8k.
come now February 2019
sold the corolla.. looking for a kouki s14 or an ae86 GTS
i randomly came across an e36 m3 that i checked out. drove it and it was cool i guess.
i kept seeing more and more e36's everyone.. in person, online...
i grew up watching the e36 race in BTCC and JTCC. ive always wanted one since my brother's first car was a B5 a4 that he styled after the BTCC a4.
started looking into them and eventually found this m3
the car came along with a bunch of drama
the previous owner(s) did not have a good reputation in the e36 world. I found out the car was essentially a “parts bin” build and was all pieced together with spare parts. It needed some work, but generally speaking was a good car.
December of 2019 i did my first track day with this car. it was more of a shakedown. the car needed work... and a lot of it. suspension is well.. its fine if you wanna slam/stance the car or do some sort of slammed drift build, but from a track perspective, the struts/shocks and improperly valved for the spring rates, and the springs feel like they could be a tad bit stiffer.
Anyways… here’s some pics of the progress of when I first owned it to the day I traded it.
now comes the hardest car ive had to own..
April 2020
The 996 was a dream car… it always has been. I have pictures of my cousin and I at every Los Angeles Auto Show from 1999 to 2004 in front of the 996. We literally watched this car grow throughout the years and we were always excited to see it.
I found a local who had posted this 996 up for sale/trade. On a whim I offered my M3.. we met up.. and a few hours later I was driving home in one of my dream cars.
here she is:
2001 Porsche Carrera 2
6 Speed Manual
173k miles
no maintenance history
This car was by far the BEST car i have ever owned. I had to sell it due to some unforeseen financial expenses which made it very very difficult for me to keep the car.
After some oem GT3 coilovers, and some GT3 spec OZ Racing wheels, it was slowly starting to become a reality of how well this car really is.
I don't like talking about the 996 much because it was the hardest car to get rid of. I spent nearly 2 months trying to figure out a way to hold onto it and keep it.. and unfortunately couldnt.
While i owned this car, I also won(yes won) an Integra Type R.
July 2020
The Type R was salvage title with a JDM b18c swap. Honestly... it was a shitty example of a Type R... but hey.. i got to say ive owned and driven one right?
It is a fun little car, but it's a hot car... they are targets of getting stolen.. i enjoyed it until the title arrived and sold it. In my area, hondas get stolen ALL the time. They'll be stripped down and sold off before you even finish filing a police report.
Back to the 996... I sold the 996 in October of 2020. Like i said.. it was VERY hard for me... unfortunately covid ruined a lot of stuff this past year and despite everything.. this is a hobby that had to be temporarily stopped.
Now onto November of 2020 and the whole reason i'm here
once i got my finances sorted, I was looking for an evo8/9 or an f20 swapped ae86 to get back onto this journey.
One day i woke up, opened facebook and saw a BAR legal s52 swapped e30. I talked to the owner.. met up with him eventually and well... i picked up the e30!
here she is!
I will use the next post to go more into detail about the e30
if anyone wants a more detailed description/build info on any of my previous cars let me know! i have tons of photos and documentation of everything
and like always, feel free to ask me anything! suggestions, comments, criticism etc is all welcome. im open to everything.
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