Here is a brief excerpt from the abridged version of my latest book, Mike’s Guide to Attracting Attention in Your Car Without Being Even the Least Bit Pretentious. All you hipster kids trying out out-attention whore each other with stickers of cartoon characters and colorful wheels, please take note:
Here is a little bit of trivia from the day the Cameron’s article “Modifying Shock Hangers on My 1996 C2500“, took place.
That day was memorable to me for several reasons.
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I am pleased to announce the arrival of a new category: The Rice Report!
Surely you remember a time when it was impossible to drive anywhere without being constantly surrounded by ricers. It seemed to really peak right around 2003-ish. At the time I was driving an S10 with a loud exhaust and it seemed like somebody wanted to race me at every light. I remember receiving constant “rice-bys” on the way to school. (Who really feels like driving like that at 7AM, anyway?) I remember going to AMC 30 around that time and just marveling at how basically every spot in the gigantic parking lot was full of cars with unpainted body kits. And then, thankfully, the whole thing started fading away just as suddenly as it had appeared.
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This has got to be one of the rarest Corvettes around. According to my research, there are only either 2 or 3 of these cars in existence, depending on who you ask. This particular Corvette is on display at the Mel Martin Auto Museum in North Phoenix. It is owned by Mel’s son.
There isn’t much information on the internet about these cars, but according to the sheet of paper that was displayed near the car, its got a Vortech supercharged 383 stroker LT1 putting out 500hp and 454lb-ft of torque. The brakes have been upgraded to Brembo units, the wheels are 17 inches (this was 1992, remember) and it cost $80,000 when new. The modifications were performed by Lister Cars in England.
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I spotted this at an emissions testing place a while back. While I like seeing mentions of Typhoons and Eclipse GSXs, I can’t help but be disappointed at the idea of a bunch of “car guys” assuming that Corvettes are AWD (I wonder how suprised they are when they pop the hood and find out someone replaced the rotary engine with a small block?) and that Dodge calls its fast cars “TR” models.
I wish I would have had a better camera at the time, but the next time I go back, I’ll try and get a shot of whatever ridiculous inaccuracies they’ve got on the board nowadays. Here’s a close up:
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I remember seeing a movie when I was younger about a group of kids who were all bummed out about having to move because their houses were being torn down to make room for a golf course or something. The kids are really sad because for some reason their parents have all decided it would be much more convenient for them and the kids to move really really far away from each other.
On one of their last days together, the kids find a map in their attic full of priceless artifacts that leads them to where a hidden treasure is supposed to have been buried and booby trapped by a particularly clever 1994 Ford Escort Wagon named “One-Eyed Willie”.
