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Post by Henrik on May 4, 2002 17:03:17 GMT -5
Okay, I thought I would start a new story line thread to speak of our first cars. I'm sure all of you have fond memories of your first car, that is, if you actually have had a first car!
To kick of the thread, here is my story. It is a bit long, and probably a bit boring, so if your eyelids grow heavy, skip on to some other more interesting thread! I know I would....
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Post by Henrik on May 4, 2002 17:04:00 GMT -5
At the tender age of 18, with my drivers license still shiny and new in my pocket, I had managed to scrape together enough money to buy a car. Not just any car, but my car. This was a car that I had fallen in love with when I had just learnt to walk, and is a car that still today is one of my all-time favorites. A Mini. Mine was an all black 1978 1000, and on the day I picked it up, it was still in its original form. That was not to last for a long time.
There is something really special with the Mini. Unlike too many cars of today, it was a designer’s masterpiece. Small, light, fun, and oh so cute! I have often wondered how the British car industry could have gone so wrong ever since 1959, after having designed and built the car that is essentially the starting point for all compact cars of today. There were things not perfect, no doubt, but its simplicity makes so much sense still today. Then there all the little quirks that just makes it have its own personality.
As just about any teenage male, I quickly found that I could do with a bit more power. Sure, the lightness of the car made it respond well enough when first accelerating, but once past 60 kmh, the lack of power would become all the more obvious. Once on the highway, top speed was far too timid to satisfy my craving for excitement. That car stereo I had my eyes on for a while would have to wait in order to make place for a new carburetor. In digging through my stacks of car magazines, I had found an ad for a Nikki Twin-choke carburetor that would increase power by at least 30% (or so the ad said), which is precisely what was required. The order was placed, and my impatient waiting for the mail delivery began.
After what must have been the longest week in my life up until then, it finally arrived. All the pieces were quickly laid out in the garage, with the shiny stainless steel air-filter taking a special place so as to not get dirty. Now, I’m far from being a mechanic, but I knew that I would be able to handle this somehow. So, I grabbed the assembly instructions, and began to follow the required steps, the first being to saw off the original intake manifold from the header. Now there was no turning back!
The pieces fitted on easily enough, with the new aluminium intake manifold sitting snuggly over the header. At this point I did stumble upon my first problem, that would later cause considerable fear. The gas cable was for a right-hand drive, and so a bit too short for my left-hand drive. It did manage to fit, but the cable was a bit too tight. No matter, it all worked well enough. Time for the first test drive, with no time to put the hood back on the car. Driving around my block, with no hood on the car, on a peaceful Sunday afternoon, made the Swiss neighbors come out and stare. I’m sure if I would have gone around one more time, they would have called the cops. Twice more around and they would have shot me! But I wasn’t concerned with that as everything was working like a charm, and it was time for a real test. Back to the garage, and with the hood finally in place I set out to some more open roads.
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Post by Henrik on May 4, 2002 17:05:12 GMT -5
Part 2.
After driving for a while, the engine would begin to run very roughly. I was concerned that there was some tuning problem, and so pulled over to inspect the carburetor. As if I would be able to tune it! In touching the manifold, I discovered that it was freezing. Since the original cast iron one is connected to the header, it is automatically heated. Not so with the new aluminium one. It was at this point that I discovered a copper pipe running through the length of the manifold, and I had the idea of cutting the rubber pipe that served for the in-car heater. In its simple design, this is just a pipe through which passes warm water from the radiator. In passing it through the manifold, it would keep it from freezing. Problem solved!
Soon I found myself on the highway, ready to test the top speed of my “sports” car. The speedometer was a unit that was graded until 140 kmh, and I had previously been able to get it to maybe 135. Now the needle was pointing straight down, somewhere in the region of what would have been 165 kmh. As I floored it, and the carburetor would open fully, and a deep loud guttural howling would invade the already noisy cabin. It wasn’t me doing the howling, although at this point that would have been very likely, but the new carburetor. Satisfied with my test, I decided to exit the highway, and took my foot of the accelerator. That’s when nothing happened! The throttle was stuck full open as I raced up the off-ramp, and reality switched to slow-motion.
My first thought was that this was bad. Then I thought of the lousy brakes the Mini had, and bad turned to worse! Logic finally set in, and I pressed the clutch, put the car in neutral, and switched off the engine before it totally over-revved itself. Stepping hard on the brakes, I pulled over to the side of the road. Well, so much for a throttle cable intended for a right-hand drive. I got the throttle un-stuck, and puttered home a more leisurely pace. Tomorrow was Monday, and I would be able to get a proper cable.
Some time had gone by, and I was able to save up some more cash to spend on the car. After the improved performance the Nikki carb had given it, something had to be done about the lack of music in the car. Okay, the noise from the engine was music, but you did tend to get a bit tired of it after a while, and hey, I was still a teenager and needed to listen to my favourite tunes on full blast! I was lucky to have a brother who was very much in to electronics, and who was working for a small company in Sweden that built hand made custom amplifiers. He made me an amplifier for my walkman, and all I needed was a good set of speakers. The rear seat was turned in to a sub-woofer by closing of the cavity underneath with a wooden board, and then inserting two woofers in this board. I then inserted a pair of mid-range speakers in the side compartments in the back, and some tweeters up front. For not a lot of cash, I had an outstanding sound-system, that would out-shine those of many friends that had cost way more.
It’s funny how as I write this, my mind is filled with all the memorable moments I lived with that car. Must of them are fun, some are exciting, and others downright scary. I suppose those stories will have to be put in paper at some point, but that will be for another thread, as this one is about the car.
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Post by Henrik on May 4, 2002 17:06:06 GMT -5
Part 3 (and end)
So, what could be done to improve the car at this point? Minis are known to have an outstanding road handling, as they are indeed like go-karts. However, a set of wider wheels with fresh rubber can’t hurt, and so I set off scavenging the demolition sites to find some appropriate wheels. Four scruffy aluminium 5x10 inch wheels would have to do the trick. A bit of elbow grease had them looking like new, and with some Dunlops fitted, the car was again ready to roll. Here I ran in to a new problem, the tires where a bit too wide, and the rears would rub on the inside of the fenders as I raced up some local mountain roads.
I headed back to my trusted car magazines, and found a place that sold spacers. These would move the wheels out slightly, providing enough clearance for the wider tires. On top of that, the wider width should further improve the handling, and so the order was placed.
Fitting the spacers was a breeze, and the new look of the car was simply stunning! The wheels would stick out from the fenders, giving the all black Mini a very aggressive look. Problem is that in Switzerland it is strictly forbidden for tires to be outside the fenders of a car, so some fender flairs would be needed, but that would have to be for later. A new test drive was necessary, and I headed back up my favourite twisty mountain road. My car was now perfect! The handling was amazing, the engine powerful, and the sound system would really wake up the neighborhood. And it looked great!This joy was not to last for long though…..
The following week, my mom needed to borrow the car to drive to town with. I thought nothing of it, gave her the keys and she was off. On her way back home, she was pulled over by the cops as they had noticed the tires. They set about measuring the width of the car, and declared it illegal on the spot. My mom was not even allowed to drive it home, but we had to get a truck to remove it.
When the car was later brought in for the required technical inspection, after I had removed the incriminating parts, the authorities scrutinized every millimeter. The result was that it would require a fortune to make the car road-worthy again, a fortune I didn’t have. So, in the end, I had to get rid of the car. I still have the pictures of it though, just after I had the spacers put on, and it still gets the adrenaline flowing when I look at them.
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Post by imull on May 24, 2002 19:39:42 GMT -5
I bought a Renault 5 Campus for not a lot to get to and from work.
The engine was not particularaly standard (by about 300cc) and several hundred pounds worth of other little engine part. THe car was kept absolutely standard from outside, right down to the 135 wide tyres.
I generally hated the car but it was great fun when it was wound up and flying. Trouble was on one cold morning at about 4am I was going home and had a puncture.
At this poitn it is worht mentioning that I am not very lucky. The pucture (at roughly 90mph) sent me hard to right and into a Texaco fuel lorry carrying 40tonnes of petrol. I sent him about 2 feet to the side and he sent my car home on a break down truck with only 3 corners left.
There ende my little banger...
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Post by OT on May 28, 2002 4:26:27 GMT -5
I worked in a garage/service station after school and on weekends. My brother who was 5 years older than me used to take me out to gravel pits and taught me to drive (illegally). I wasn't even 15. He taught me hand brake turns, power slides, offensive driving and defensive driving. By the time i got my learner's permit i had been driving for over two years.
I got my drivers license at the first attempt on my 17th birthday. No mean feat considering the arsehole of a License Test instructor that i got. He was called Mr 90% - because he always failed 9 out of 10 learners on his schedule. I was his first "candidate" on that day. He tried everything with me on an extremely long test run - 3 separate reverse parks, back up very steep inclines - on the road; he put me in all sorts of difficult situations, he even tried to make me run interference with a police car - bastard. After pulling into the motor registry at the completion of my license test as we were getting out of the car, he simply said, "young fella - looks like i have to fail the next 9 today because you passed."
I drove around in the family Hillman Hunter for a while before i bought my first car - a Holden LC Torana GTR. What a great little car this was. I drove the car out of its mileage warranty in the first six months. It soon had it's single carby swapped out for a set of tripple Strombergs and the first transformation was complete - my little 161 cubic inch pocket rocket had just become quite a bit quicker.
After joining a local car club and installing a full roll-cage in my car that was only a year old, I purchased a set of slicks and we went "friendly" motor racing. The annoying thing was that in those early months, we could never resolve what appeared to be a fuel starvation problem at top speed. Back to the drawing board.
Some time passed and I happened to come across a bigger bore block and took it down to the "shop" where we worked a bit of extra magic. I managed to dig up some Chevy bits, a Ford crank, had a mate work a few tricks on the head and we soon had us a 204 cubic inch engine. Not at all happy with the Stromberg carbs, i managed to come across 3 Weber carbies at the right price and had a manifold and set of extractors tuned to the carbs. Sitting on the floor of the garage, it looked pretty flash.
So the day came. The boys rocked around nice and early and we proceded to pull the original motor out. All went well and we inserted my new powerplant - all clean and shiny. We went over the engine bay with a fine tooth comb ensuring everything was torqued down correctly and all parts bolted on. As we stood back and looked at our work, one of the guys came out with the remark "Something's wrong! There's no nuts and bolts left over! We always have a couple of bits left over doing this sort of thing!" As we all had a bit of a chuckle, my other mate said "Well, are you just going to look at the bloody thing all day?"
OK - moment of truth. We had installed an electric fuel pump to make sure the Webers had enough to drink and as i turned on the ignition there was that fascinating sound of the fuel pump - tic, tic, tic, tic, tic... I hit the starter motor which struggled as the engine ground away slowly. This wasn't looking good. 4 revolutions, 6 revolutions, 8 revolutions... nothing ...12. After about 20 revolutions, ignition! Ohhhhhhhhh.... What a sound. The inconsistant throbbiing from the lumpy cam - ahhhhhh.... music to my ears. After final tension checks and seating the tappets we eased the throttle on a bit, revs building.
Time for the test run. I backed the car out of the garage and selected first gear. A bit more throttle and slowly away - don't want to stress the new engine. Around the block to start with... Shit! It's stopped! Siezed solid! WTF???
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Post by OT on May 28, 2002 4:27:26 GMT -5
...We pushed the car back into the garage and everyone stood around with very solemn faces and we all started looking for that elusive "part" that someone might have forgotten to insert. But none was found. Shit! Nothing else to do but pull the engine out, strip it down and have a look-see. Oh crap! The rear main bearing had melted! The new block had to go to the doctors, so we chucked it in the boot of the mate's car. The doctor checked it out and on very close examination it was found that the rear main bearing cap was a few thou' out of round and indeed would have "pinched" the bearing.
The doctor rectified the problem with a new bearing cap and after a thorough check and a new set of bearings, we headed back to the garage. By this time it was starting to get a little late in the day so we retired to my "den" under the garage, cracked the slab and ordered some pizzas. When the cover came off the third slab, the boys decided to stay overnight as no one was in any condition to drive anyway. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......
Sunday morning saw some very furry tongues and a lot of arse scratching, but after a hair of the dog and picking our way through the rubble, we moseyed on up to the garage. I can tell you now, it wasn't a pretty sight. Five bleary eyed guys standing around picking their noses and farting... Nahhh shit ...time for breakfast.
After a good dose of bacon and eggs ...and another beer, we were ready to tackle anything. We painstakingly set about rebuilding the new motor - which probably took a couple of hours longer than it normally would have due to our fragile condition. Cranking up the block and tackle, we slid the new motor into position and bolted up all the necessary bits and pieces.
No smartarse comments here... The starter motor turned the engine a bit easier this time and we had ignition after half a dozen revolutions. Ohhhhhhhhh ....love the sound of that lumpy cam. Again - a final check on torque settings and tappets, bolt down the rocker cover and away we go. Out cruising the area nice and gently determined to let the motor settle in, we have covered a couple of hundred kilometers before the early afternoon.
By this time we've returned back home and are giving all the fuel lines a solid checking over... there must be a fuel leak somewhere. We couldn't have used a tank of gas already.... No leaks to be seen anywhere, after filling up at the gas station, we continue cruising and running the engine in - nice and gentle.
the next day after another 500 kilometers on the clock, i decided to see what my little motor was made of. Pulling up along side some wanker in a hotted up Ford - I said to the boys, "we'll blow the shit out of this guy!". With the obligatory niceties out of the way, the two drivers look at each other and finally wait for the lights to turn green ....some time back, someone had mentioned that the gearbox in the LC wasn't the strongest box on the market ...if only I had listened.
As i limped away with no first gear and a horrible grinding sound, i headed for my local spare parts man, "Got a spare Muncie gear box in stock?". With the necessary adapter plates, new tail shaft and gear box in the boot, it was back to the garage. Over the next couple of nights we got the new gear box in place and the required modifications carried out inside the cabin. We were ready to roll again.
Many a happy traffic lights was seen in that little car from that day on - shocking the shit out of some of the more fancied opponents. Unfortunately, conscription saw the end of my days wallowing around the club circuits and as the fuel consumption wasn't all that flash (10-13mpg), the little car got sold off to another enthusiast.
That was when i bought my first shaggin' waggon....
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Post by Henrik on May 28, 2002 4:46:22 GMT -5
Great stuff OT!
Happy somebody caught on to my thread, and I was hoping it would be you.
Keep 'em coming!
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Post by Henrik on May 16, 2003 3:49:23 GMT -5
Moving this thread up top after what El Sid mentioned in the tech/engine area.
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Post by Cine_Man on May 20, 2003 11:52:28 GMT -5
First wheels, actually purchased with own Money. '72 Chev Monza 4 liter V8. Got a few speeding tickets... used to overheat all the time.
Learned to drive: 2 ton lorry at age 7. I was too light and didn't have the leg reach to be able to hold the throttle down... so the truck would take off, I'd get thrown off the throttle, the truck would stop , the foot would come down... lurch, lurch, lurch.... it was quite comical if I wasn't murdering the transmission.
Cine...
The I had a run of Volkswagens.... Had the pleasure of a '78 Toyota Celica Coupe for several years.
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Post by DeadCat on May 27, 2003 5:15:51 GMT -5
First cars?
Arhhhh, back to the days where you could somehow afford a new $250 VDO gauge but you couldn’t afford to chip in for pizza on a Friday night….
Let me grab a couple of beers (1ltr cans over here) and settle in…………….<pppssshhh> Now that’s more like it….
At the time I was still single and barely 18 years old, I’d somehow fluked a job working fulltime as an Electrotonics Technician LII, mainly repairing fried and production Z80 (basically a more efficient i8080) controller boards and getting heaps of overtime on a per repair basis. (At the same time I was still studying towards my Degree.)
Anyway, back on subject, the first vehicle (that I owned) was an ordained classic, a light brown <kinda greyish> 1973 FJ-40 Land Cruiser, (arguably Yota’s finest ever built vehicle). It had a 4.2-litre straight line, leaded petrol feed, long stroke six engine. It already had a 350 Holly (standard jets) when I bought it. – I know, I know, I am already starting to sound like T3’s right wing support group….lol. But it only gets worse…
Well, I immediately whacked on a finer air filter, a second fuel filter, and installed a set of Genie headers running through a short 2 ½ inch exhaust system to a small sports muffler and a side pipe out the drivers side. (The only benefit of the side pipe is that it reduces exhaust damage when you often whack the rear of the vehicle on the base of a sand dune, though be sure to keep it away from your rear tyre, they also look kinda cool)
Over about a one-year period I also had done/did the following:
I ran a kit through the fuel pump to ensure the Holey was being properly supplied, whacked on a set of Rancho RS5000 shocks (heavy), installed a dual battery system (easier said than done) and fitted a fridge (Engel) to run off the second battery in the back...
I also changed to a heavier steering damper and installed a set of ARB freewheeling hubs on the front.
There was also a ready-made kit for the 350 Holly so it just had to be done, (thinking back I think I just wanted to see the insides of this Carbie and see how it worked). So the Holly came off and got strewn across the parents garage floor, each and every piece of course got washed in petrol as it came off and every single piece of residue was removed even if took hours. This continued till the carbie was in every single piece it could be in and that every single piece was in absolutely emasculate condition.
It wasn’t surprising that putting the carb back together was a little difficult, but it was surprising that it was just that, only a little difficult. The simplicity of its construction just amazed me with its intricate tunnels and bypasses, the whole thing just pieced together like a well-made jigsaw puzzle.
The rebuilt Holly ran like a dream…….
Being a farm vehicle the FJ didn’t have a factory taco and it also only had very basic oil, amp and temp warning lights, (it did have a basic amp gauge but with what I was planning to draw out the alternator, a more arcuate figure was required,) so quite a few visits to Mr VDO were in order over the span of a few months and soon I was informed in the drivers seat on what was happening in the engine bay whilst I was driving.
Next, was lighting, first it was 2 x Hella 1000’s quickly followed by two smaller Hella 500’s (you can never have too many lights). The radiator and alternator was already designed for high load at low speed so the two big farkers (one spread, one spot) went in the middle of the bull bar and the 2 babies (again, one spread, one spot) sat by their side.
I can’t remember (or I don’t want to remember) just how long I spent in the garage trying to line those bastards up, but it was a very bloody long time. (line them up, take for a test drive, realign them up, take for a test drive, repeat and repeat, also making sure you take different routes on each test run as these beauties really used to light up the road, including anyone’s living room within 200 metres down the road in the process)
I also rigged the spotties up to 2 x 3-way marine switches (1 switch per pair) on the dash, up was off, middle was on only with high-beam, down was on no matter what, (including ignition, more on that latter, we had some great fun with that feature and it also got us out us some serious trouble)
A small rectangle spotty at the back took care of reverse, (broken numerous times due to rough terrain, thank gawd side pipes were still legal on off-road vehicles where we lived)
The side mirrors had also been replaced for big-arsed truck type mirrors, they were indispensable, (ever tried reversing a heavy car and a heavy trailer down a massive sand-dune, it is not easy at the best of times).
(I never did get that blue tongue air compressor thou, I really wanted one and had the mounting place under the bonnet all laid out, due to insufficient funds I had to suffice with some cheap K-Mart job that ran outta the cigarette lighter, it did the same job, only much slower and much less reliable)
I did though keep the standard steering wheel as without power steering it helped in keeping the vehicle under control in deep ruts and soft sand. (Anyway, the fitted gauges had been fitted so the driver (me) could see them with this wheel)
As time went on her cylinder compression measurements continued to spiral downhill, it was clear the engine was tired and so I had the engine rebuilt after about a year of ownership (and after much much penny pinching) at the same place where one of my bros had his Nissan/Datsun GQ Patrol 4x4 done and they had done an excellent job on that, since the engine had never been machined before they took a couple of thou off the cylinder bore and I coughed up the extra and got them to install new pistons.
After sticking strictly to the regulation guidelines for over 2,000 clicks, the new engine seemed to be very much run-in and ready to be gently released into the workforce. (I’m all for the theory that if you run an engine above its design limits it will break, as well as if you continually pamper an engine below its design limits it will also break before its peak)
Well, we gave the engine some light off-road work, we then gave it some more off-road work, we then gave it long runs at variable rpms and we eventually exposed it to solid off-road work where high rpms were required and it performed perfectly…
Finally, out of a stroke of luck, I managed to get it dyno’d for a good price at a place in Osborne Park (WA), the same shop also did a number of the V8 Group C series that used to come every year and a mate of my brother who was a copper teed up the event (he had his own hotted up V8 commode). And what a difference that made, I still remember the last words of the tech as I climbed into the cruiser at the shop, “Enjoy the power…” (She came in at around 185bhp @ 3400 RPM, I forget exactly what the torque figure was but I remember it was above a normal worked V8, this also led to many a debate on the subject. (The V8 people just couldn’t accept that a Straight 6 could pull so much torque and insisted that it was a different type of torque, I offered them to a tracker pull contest, it never happened))
The thing just had an awesome torque curve.
Max RPM was 4,200 (I only hit near that twice) and max torque was at 3,200 RPM, (low rpm torque is a must for off-road driving) subsequently, the road speed in top gear at 3,100 RPM was only 100Kph, it was definitely not a vehicle designed for the bitumen. (But I didn’t buy it for it’s road handling abilities).
The downside of this was of course fuel consumption; it literally loved a good drink or even a bad drink, it just drank heaps. When on trips the standard 65-litre fuel tank would only get us just over 250 clicks whilst the insides of the exhaust pipe would say a neutral grey, needless to say, I owned, that is owned 4 gerry cans…. (on long trips we’d take up to 8 gerries, 7 full of super for the Cruiser, and one full of unleaded for the Geni.)
To be cont'd....
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Post by DeadCat on May 27, 2003 5:16:33 GMT -5
Gearboxes; Although it had a 4-speed gearbox, 1st was too low to be usable on any black stuff. So it was much like it’s ’68 predecessor that only had 3 gears with a crash-box 1st, though it did have syncro in all forward gears except 1st…I personally would’ve preferred the 3-speed crash box (It’s 1st was same as my second) as the straight meshed gears for 1st meant for much more torque (at least 20% more) through the wheels, it was just a little bit more difficult when changing down in the middle of steep slippery incline. On that note, I did get to drive a ’69 cruiser and the crash box was noticeable, even at 2-3 kmph with the clutch disengaged it would grind into 1st. The trick was to try and match revs the best you could and just ram the bastard in there, the shift was designed for this as there was a run-up to first gear (where 2nd is on most modern cars), you literary had a good 14 inches to gain speed on the gear lever before it crashed in. I’ve only heard positive stories of people taking apart these crash boxes after 20 years of use thinking that there would be excessive wear, only to find that they are in new perfect condition. The transfer case as well was a monster on it own with high 4x2, high 4x4 and low 4x4, it was straight meshed (only change at stand-still, if it won’t change, rock the car a little). Once had it priced at 5 grand to replace <shudder>. It was a locked ratio front and back so it was for strict use in off road conditions only. (The underside was also protected by ¼ inch steel plating, Yota was serious when they built this puppy). The thing was a beast; big drum brakes all round made sure it was a prick to stop and 10 ½ inch Bridgestone (Desert Dueller) rubber on white Sunraiser rims made sure the soft beaches weren’t going to be a problem…. (Tyre noise was noticeable at high speeds, i.e 70kpmh and over) As a final touch I fitted a Uniden dual-band 40 channel CB radio trued with two aerials, one short for the city, and one that would have difficulty getting under a freeway bridge. (Only really used for emergencies, though it did get more than normally expected usage.) Amongst the items in the toolbox were a tyre tube, tyre iron, air gauge, fuel filter, points, old rotor, old dissy cap, standard Holden wheel bearing kit (for trailer), radiator-piping tube…. (I think we used everything on that list at least once) Those were good days, and I never ever hit a kangaroo in the thing, a few foxes and many a rabbit, but no roo’s. (DeadCat) Arhhh, I’ll never forget the sound of that engine on a deserted beach on a cold morning idling at a steady 550 rpm as we waited for her temp to rise so we could power outer the sand...... (boam, boam, boam, boam. boam, boam) I often look back and feel sorry for the drivers of today’s modern 4x4 vehicles, power steering has always been a pet hate as it removes vital feedback to the driver that allows the driver to direct the car along the easiest to travel path. I also much regret in not competing in more no-clutch/no-brake competitions whilst I could, as they are virtually impossible in today’s line of so-called recreational vehicles… When I do eventually return to Aust, my eye is on a MGA….
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Post by Topcontender on May 27, 2003 8:27:13 GMT -5
OK let me share with you my first ride. Well my first car was not exaclty something we would be proud of by any standard. When i was 15 my father bought a car (around christmas) to give to me for my 16th birthday(in may). Well i go into the garage and see this GEO Tracker sitting in there, and my father just proud as all hell of what he had done to it. To start he had bought new rims and had spacers put on to make the tyres stick out (bow legged). He had installed a new system with 2 Bazooka tubes (bass speakers) that were installed in the back. The car was light blue but my father had put on some extra body work to make the car look more Ghetto. He then had the bottom of the car painted bright pink all the way around the car so it was pink on the bottom and blue on top. Then being the creative mind he is, he decided to have a custom logo put on the hood of the Tracker. The Logo was a cartoon hockey player/puck that was giving everyone the middle finger (not a nice gesture here in the states). Well my father was very proud, but my mom and everyone else looked at him like he was nuts. To start the thing was ugly as all hell, and i wouldn't be allowed to drive an obscene car like that to my school. I was going to a Catholic HS, and they have rules for that sort of stuff. My dad saw nothing wrong with it, but that is the way he has always been and to him this would have been his dream car. So the car just sat in the driveway, and one night my prayers were answered. Someone stole that Tracker and stripped it down. Next day we get the car, and my dad decides it was not a good idea to have the car. I was spared ridicule, and got a Ford Explorer.
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Post by Henrik on May 27, 2003 9:51:55 GMT -5
TC,
Man, you must have a picture of that blue and pink Tracker somewhere! Please!!!!
ROFL!!!!
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Post by Topcontender on May 27, 2003 15:49:23 GMT -5
I will look, but man was it just a F-ing sad thing to look at. No kid needs to go to school in that thing. I rather ride the bus than drive it.
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