In high school I had a 1968 VW Beetle. I didn’t know anything about cars and performance. I was a total noob. I had a car that had all the potential and had the chance to be an old school rocket. I mostly watched my dad work on it! When I think about it, I was really a loser back then! Eventually, I got rid of it. I regret this now. I could have made a rocket and smoke all my classmate’s fancy cars, but I was just clueless. This was my first failure in cars.
In university, my interest in Japanese cars took off. I wanted to live in Japan and drift cars. I got a Nissan Sentra SER Spec V. It was a head turner and I spent a lot of time pulled over by the police. It was red! My drifting dreams turned into FF touge dreams. Sentra was hydrolocked during a flash flood and I spent a year rebuilding it. After rebuilding it, it never ran right. This was my second failure in the car world. Don’t use cold air intakes!
My next car was way more successful and I still have it! It was a Honda Civic Coupe LX. Not a fast car, but it was fun. I lowered it, upgraded the rear sway bar, shift bushings, and the Greddy TIC cutback! I was really getting things right. Still had some mishaps, but at least I knew what to do. Springs were too low and gave me blown strut issues. I was able to maintain this car until recently when the engine block cracked ( a manufacturing defect from Honda! ).
I always owned front-wheel drive cars and Texas is not known for it’s mountains. Also, even though my minor was in Japanese I found myself meeting more Korean friends. My Japanese abroad dreams turned Korean.
I started learning Korean, and eventually became an ESL Teaching Aid in Korea.I bought a 1997 Kia Sephia and instantly started to mod it. Aftermarket was very limited, but I was able to build the best car I could. It had the style down! I had to get rid of it, then I came back to the States. I was poor as hell. I was basically starting over in life with my beloved wife.
I needed a car and I found my 2001 Toyota Corolla. This was when I became the Corolla Yanki! We eventually added the 2014 Corolla to the family. Now I know what I need and want for these three cars. Come with me while we build the 2001 Corolla, 2014 Corolla, and 2006 Civic ( New engine coming! ).
