"KylesPerGallon" (gentlemandriver)
07/22/2014 at 20:05 • Filed to: subaru, miata, wrenching, wagon, manual, usdm, jdm, wrx
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"KylesPerGallon" (gentlemandriver)
07/22/2014 at 20:05 • Filed to: subaru, miata, wrenching, wagon, manual, usdm, jdm, wrx | 2
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I live in New York. This means that despite global warming, we tend to have some pretty harsh winters (seriously who is still a climate denier). Most of the journalists we follow, apart from the fantastic fellows that opporate [sp] Jalopnik, are based in California. They have their fun with their Nissan 300ZXs and sticky tired NA Miatas with a tight sports suspension. I find myself deep into July, which if you haven't been keeping track is the middle of summer, doing a slalom around potholes leftover from December. Talk about Christmas in July.
My tastes are changing, no longer am I desiring the impracticality of tossing around a 240SX deep into the fall. Hoping desperately that I can squeeze a bit more life into some summer tires before I have to retire it and slump back into the mundane family sedan. What if I could have fun year round? What if I could shell out 80 hours worth of work for an equal amount of entertainment?
Ladies and Gents, I want a Subaru wagon.
I'm browsing my local classifieds for late 90's early 2000's Impreza wagons. Particularly of the non WRX variants. This leaves plenty of headroom for activities. The sorts of things I missed out on by not having family members or friends who were into cars when I was young. This allows me to jump into all sorts of dumb things. From adding roof racks, to rattle-canning the stock steelies, replacing USDM bodywork with JDM.
I just feel like the plug and playability of the Subies lets you catch up on those lost years. The times you should have been cutting springs and saving up for cheap Chinese knockoffs of LED headlights that short out weeks after installation leaving you scratching your head wondering why you ever thought you could figure out this stupid wiring harness (okay, maybe I've done some of these things). The Subaru Impreza is like that girl in college that showed you things your adolescent dry spell self could only dream about. It's time to trade that gym sock for a microfiber towel and go down the rabbit hole.
If there's anything that life teaches you its that you learn from doing. I can sit back and listen to podcasts and watch !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and think I'm learning something about inline sixes. While in reality what I'm doing is acquiring knowledge, as a student of engineering I fully understand how an internal combustion engine works, the amount of expansion the components will undergo under thermal expansion. But this knowledge is only good for regurgitating on paper, wisdom is what gives you the ability to regurgitate it under the hood.
Seriously can not understate my excitement to pick up a clean canvas. Its all wheel drive, features a ton of space for hauling around crap, and is ready and willing to accept a more powerful mill. Its a relatively inexpensive shot of HGH to help add some fun to the practical runabout. I'm piqued by the amount of dumb ideas running through my head. Thankfully none of them involve an exhaust the size of a 2 liter bottle. I don't care who sees me in this car. I'm gonna be the one having a blast in this thing. I feel like I want to get it wrapped in an arctic camo wrap for the winter and add a light rail with Hellas on it. It may be Call of Duty achievement vulgar but damn I would get a kick out of it every day.
So here's to going out and actually doing something fun and worthwhile. Now to scratch up that dough.
If you liked this article I've been writing a lot recently on my blog, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , about all things automotive. If you're so inclined head on over and check it out and follow me on the social things to read more. Thanks.
E30Joe drives a Subaru
> KylesPerGallon
07/22/2014 at 22:37 |
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Yes. Do it for the winter beaters.