by "jonny11quest" (jonny11quest)
Published 09/30/2017 at 12:31
by "jonny11quest" (jonny11quest)
Published 09/30/2017 at 12:31
No Tags
STARS: 15
Hello Oppo! I’ve been stalking Oppo and the front page for years, so I figured it was time to introduce myself. Hopefully Kinja doesn’t eat all my pictures, but apologies in advance if this gets posted 15 times.
My automotive adventure began in the summer of 1999 with me behind the wheel of a third generation Ford Econoline conversion van. Fascinating, I know. I would characterize the steering as “vague”, to say the least. The acceleration was, well I have no idea because I couldn’t reach the pedals. Every Sunday my Dad and I would drive out to the “clubhouse”, a shack on stilts in the river bottoms where my uncles would watch football, drink beer, and start bonfires. I loved it because I had free reign of the woods, and best of all Dad would let me drive (sit on his lap and steer) as soon as there were no more lines on the road.
This was also the summer of a few of my favorite “dad lies” that I embarrassingly believed for way too long. Like Dad pulling a U-turn on the interstate through one of the small “authorized vehicles only” lanes, and when I asked what that meant he said, “that means cars can’t turn around here, but it’s okay for vans.”
Needless to say I loved driving from an early age, and the bug only bit harder once I could reach the pedals. As a teenager my favorite cars fueled by video games and movies were the R34 GT-R, Ford GT, and Honda S2000, but I would’ve taken a go cart at that point. First car was a blue ‘93 Grand Am coupe, 5sp, 4cyl, spoiler. It was perfect... except for all the things wrong with it. I think I heard somewhere on here, “GM runs bad longer than most cars do at all.”
As I got older, I started to appreciate cheap beaters and thought less about video game and movie cars. In college I would fix my cars myself out of necessity due to budget, but I quickly realized how much I enjoyed it. It was the hands-on side of things while I learned about mechanical engineering in the classroom. Even after graduation and 5 years into a steady good-paying job, I found myself with the above $600 Miata and $1000 Focus. It was an incredible fun-to-dollar ratio set-up.
I’ve since started to dabble in newer and nicer cars, but I don’t think I’ll ever stop working on them myself, and I know I won’t ever make it too long without a sub-5k CL search. Just window shopping of course.
That’s pretty much it. There’s a few other cars and stories that I’ll throw out there every now and then. Above you’ll find my E90 in its natural environment (all joking aside, it has been very reliable). It may look like just another black BMW 3 series, but this one is a unicorn to me. In a future story (that I promised to E90M3 who owns an E90M3 with the license plate E90M3) I’ll have to write up how hard it is to find a post-facelift manual N52-engined E90 without a sunroof.
Thanks for reading!
[Focus photo credit goes to Rob Benowitz who takes great photos at the local rallycross]
"$kaycog" (skaycog)
09/30/2017 at 13:16, STARS: 8
Welcome to Oppo! We always love having a new
victim
friend here!
"E90M3" (e90m3)
09/30/2017 at 13:39, STARS: 2
Very nice looking E90! The style 360s are probably my favorite non-M E90 rims.
"Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever" (superchan7)
09/30/2017 at 13:45, STARS: 1
Welcome! Thanks for contributing to the variety here.
"RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars" (rallydarkstrike)
09/30/2017 at 15:15, STARS: 1
Welcome friend! :D
"davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction)
09/30/2017 at 19:30, STARS: 1
Welcome!
"davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction)
09/30/2017 at 19:31, STARS: 0
The new screen name - haha!
"E90M3" (e90m3)
09/30/2017 at 19:33, STARS: 1
I mean, it’s not inaccurate! haha!
"Nauraushaun" (nauraushaun12)
09/30/2017 at 21:07, STARS: 1
God damn that’s a nice miata. Still stock?
"jonny11quest" (jonny11quest)
10/02/2017 at 09:49, STARS: 0
Yes! I planned to do a few mods, but there’s absolutely no body rust anywhere, and after realizing how rare that is, I decided to keep it stock. 1990 5sp with the power window package. Paint isn’t perfect, I’m still troubleshooting the AC, and it has 165k miles, but other than that it’s in really great shape. It’s also for sale!
"jonny11quest" (jonny11quest)
10/02/2017 at 09:51, STARS: 1
Thanks! Yeah I really like the wheels also. I plan to get some lightweight aftermarket wheels for summer, but these are a perfect set for winters in the future.
"Nauraushaun" (nauraushaun12)
10/03/2017 at 22:28, STARS: 1
What it lacks in perfection it makes up for in strikingness. Looks great.