My Journey

[christine_lives!]

Wind the clock back to July 2008 when I was living in Monterey for the summer. Architecture internship I hand picked to go sailing. Fortune worked out and I was sailing every week in club races. Sounds pretty high class for a broke college student from Ohio, but the yacht club was more grounded then you would think and they allowed anyone to come down to the docks and race. It was also the summer for my first car, as I had finally worked enough cash to purchase a car, not credit one. Besides, my girlfriend was only 90 min away in San Fran, and if I wanted to see her for the summer, and have a life in a sleepy harbor town, I would need a ride...

Craigslist, eBay, and cars.com became the distractions in my day. I saw a lot of cars within a 20 mile radius. And man, were there some strange deals. The Volvo 850 Turbo that was only running "a little rich" with no mods. Never mind the ghetto cheap gauges drilled into the dash. Think Autozone checkout bin quality covered in electrical tape. The car didn't run rich, it ran bad. The guy had blown, I think, every possible gasket. Smoke was pouring out of everything and the dipstick was a rusty sludge.

I narrowed the choices down to 2 cars: a 1983 Porsche 944 and a 1992 Toyota Celica GT. The 944 was gorgeous, 112k miles, red with tan leather interior. It was of course a Porsche, and any work to be done on it would be expensive. Besides, a friend of mine growing up had a 90’ Celica that was still running after 350k miles. I talked the guy selling the car into knocking off $2,200 because he knew nothing about cars and was trying to buy and sell cars to support a shady business.

The car checked out, usual wear and tear, small oil leak, dirty oil with no water leaks. Just 17 years of use. Besides, it was fate, it had a University of Cincinnati bumper sticker from when it was registered in Ohio 12 months prior. She ran strong, needed lots of TLC. I did most of the work on her in a Kragen parking lot in Seaside right under the giant signs that said “Do Not Work on Vehicles in Parking Lot”.

I will also never forget that feeling driving late at night on I-280 with the stars over the mountains and wide-open empty winding tarmac. Cruising up the San Andreas divide into the fog alone with my machine, before descending back onto the 101 like pinball to dodge and weave Friday night San Fran traffic. If any of you ever get the chance, that area of Cali is amazing for driving, especially if your car handles well.

Then my time was over, and I began the long drive back to Ohio. I overloaded the car and should have used a gasket additive before I left. I was planning on swapping out the engine back in Ohio using my dad’s garage. I made it to the Bonneville salt flats where I blew the head gasket completely, a cylinder, the radiator and threw a rod. AAA wanted to tow me back to Nevada, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to afford a repair there. So I Macguyvered the radiator and drove 85 miles to Salt Lake City on 3 cylinders. It was like a riding on a fatally wounded animal, hobbling down the off ramp into a parking lot at Autozone. There I swapped out the radiator, and called a friend. He knew a great mechanic, and I found an engine in Park City. It took a week, but I got the new engine and drove an insane 24 hour stretch back to Ohio.

Should I kick myself for not having bought the 944? Nah, it was so cheap, a few hundred bucks gets me a complete engine to do what I want with. Even now, I am tempted at picking up a 3vzFe for $200 and do the swap myself. This is a fantastic car to mod. It’s not the most popular car to f*** around with, but boy, the things you COULD do are making that journey all worth it.

Michael