Chapter 2: Oh, So THAT'S What a Money Pit Looks Like

Chapter 2: Oh, So THAT'S What a Money Pit Looks Like

After getting the money together to pay for the car, Turtle went to the unusually blond Asian fellow and received the key.

Directly after, Turtle went to a nearby business park to begin with the training. From this day forth, Turtle was going to become the bestest drifter in the world.

That is, until something important fell off his car. Right after the very first corner, something made the most awful scraping noise Turtle had ever heard.

Oh, look at that, it's not just a piece that fell off. It took part of the FRAME with it!

Embarrassed, Turtle had to find a single piece of string to tie the rod back up. He dragged it all the way to a surplus computer parts store, where he bought a single wire for like $3.

After consulting with C4AG and a local enthusiast named Roy, Turtle found out that the piece that had been broken off was the part of the frame that held something called the PANHARD rod. Turtle thought that was a weird and slightly dirty name for a car part. Roy happened to have a Battle Version panhard rod that he sold to Turtle for the low, low price of $175.

This wasn't the only problem, however, for Turtle still needed to find someone to weld the frame back on. He found a dude in Milpitas who would do it, and after he was done, Turtle said good-bye to another $250.

By handing over the $250, he received an S shaped stock panhard rod back.

From here, Turtle had a revelation of what the hell happened to his new car. After receiving the deposit, as a last hurrah, the young Asian fellow must have ghost drifted his whip,

Right into a curb.

The pay-outs don't end here. Turtle wanted to get new tires and an alignment.

Only to find out that his front bearings were bad. He then had to get those done with the previously mentioned Roy.

All of the initial problems left Turtle's wallet a little worse for wear.

At this point, Turtle felt a little overwhelmed and in over his head. He had questioned whether this would all even be worth it. It was a car all his own, but with even worse problems that Lana ever seemed to have (aside from the engine and transmission issue in the end). Turtle didn't even want to learn how to auto-cross OR drift anymore in fear that something else might fall off or break.

But how could Turtle ever deny a face like that?

FTH

Chapter 1: Good-bye Big Truck, Hello Little Car

With Lana on indefinite leave, Turtle was offered to drive his dad's MK1 NA MR2 for a little while.

Going from a truck on 33 inch tires with a 3 inch lift to a car that was probably 3 inches from the ground was going to be a strange transition.

Or was it???

With this car, Turtle was able to bob and weave through traffic with the greatest of ease.

Going up hills was a cinch. Even though the engine was normally aspirated, the engine still pulled up them in 5th gear! And going downhill? Forget about it!

Turtle was having so much fun with this car, but truth be told it wasn't his, and his dad needed it for work. One day when he and his co-worker were heading out to lunch, his co-worker mentioned that the engine in the MR2 is the exact same engine as in the 85-87 Corolla GT-S.

Having little knowledge about compact cars in general, Turtle didn't know that a "Corolla GT-S" was. After a brief explanation from his friend, Turtle started to take notice of a car that was always "hidden in plain sight." A car that was often overlooked by enthusiasts amidst the more popular Civics and Integras. He was told about a website called "Club4ag" and from there he started to research what made this Corolla so special.

Real-Wheel Drive. Sold.

Soon after he registered and browsed for a bit, Turtle noticed on the main Club4ag page that there was a link to watch a video of the opening sequence to a relatively unknown (at that time) anime called "Initial D". Coming off of an anime addiction of several years, Turtle foresaw the impending demand for this car from rabid anime fans. From then the race was on to pick up a GT-S before something that would eventually be called "Initial D tax" was imposed on all Corollas, GT-S and SR-5 alike. Turtle searched Club4ag's classifieds (back in that day the cars for sale were mixed in with all of the other parts for sale) as well as searching through the free local classifieds (craigslist had not yet gained traction).

It would appear that Turtle was already too late, as the first car he went to see was a "Panda", or the two-tone white and black paint scheme. This one was found around Clement St. in The City. According to his friend, the prices were already on the rise. Before then, a $1200 GT-S was common. By this time, they were going for for $2500 and up.

And actually it was 3-tone, as the door jambs and the engine bay were red. Kind of a turn-off. Turtle did make an offer on that panda, but in retrospect he was lucky that the young asian boy said that his momma didn't accept the offer. This is not a fabrication of the truth. He literally said "I need to ask my mom about it" and then later he said "no" with no counter offer.

After the loss of that offer, Turtle continued to look and found a silver hatchback being sold by another young asian guy, but this time in San Jose.

Though this one was silver, it had a black hood. Turtle kinda liked that. Even though it wasn't perfect, Turtle began to see its potential.

Turtle found it unusual that two sellers in a row would say Corolla in the way they did, but from that day on, something about it stuck.

Turtle may just have found the car he was looking for.

FTH