sucker for a lady in red

[johnlorspecial]

before we start, let's rewind the clock(back in 2012):


We met in November, but it wasn’t our first encounter. You belonged to someone else then, and so I didn’t take much notice. Late last year you came back into my life and we finally got the chance.

At first, it was surreal, exciting, and like a child with a new toy, I wanted to take you everywhere and show you off. As the relationship grew so did my feelings and fascination. I wanted more; go on a deeper level, find out your limits, push your buttons, see what made you tick and especially find that sweet spot.



The first time I got to take you out, I had my doubts but by the end of our little rendezvous, I was completely blown away. You were something else; something special, something I won’t ever forget.



Like most typical relationships, we had our ups and downs but you never once left me stranded, even after several times of pushing you to your limits. you gracefully took it in your stride; never complaining once.

In your own unique way, you showed me things about myself I was to blind to see; silently sending messages to my subconscious, allowing me to discover them in my own time.



It’s sad to see you go and for that short period, it was worth having you in my life, you opened my eyes and made a difference in the way I see and think about things. Would I change anything? Hell No! Would I do it again? Hell yes! x1000

I hope the best for you and who ever you meet.

Farewell

[johnlorspecial]

The S-chassis journey came to abrupt end, leaving me at several crossroads:

a. Start with a clean slate, save, grow the hell up, buy a Honda Jazz, and think of the end game.
b. Buy something newer and be socially accepted outside car people.
c. YOLO, Life’s too short to drive boring cars and outside of Japanese car there was a whole world of cars I hadn't yet explored. BMWs and AFLAs were on the hit list.
d. Push on and continue the S-chassis journey, the s14 had some really cool parts, and there was still so many things I wanted to do and try- I had the choice of repairing the damage, re-shell or upgrade to an S15.

A handful of cars were considered from a BMW E92 330CI, E92 320ds; I test drove three of them and was 99% sure the 320d was going to be my new car, two Alfa 159s; cause I’m a sucker for Italian girls, only to find out with all that Italian passion, a lot of crazy also comes standard (lol), three Honda S2000(s); the roadster life made sense as the timing felt right, it’s a shame that most are either run down requiring lots of work, or overly priced, knowing quite well what else was available in the same price that was newer, had more standard gear, more power and even in all its Honda excellence, I couldn’t justify spending 20k+ (for the better ones). So the Honda Jazz started making sense. Saving for my own roof and my dream car i.e. the end game should have been enough of a consultation prize, but I just couldn’t, cause I’m weak like that.

They say good things come to those who wait, and better things come to those who work hard for it. Every weekend for a month, I was test driving and inspecting cars only to be left disappointed. I was on the phone to car dealers making enquiries about potential buys, and even being temporarily crippled didn't stop me from kicking tyres.

It's interesting to note what peoples opinion on “mint" or "immaculate" means vs its actual market value. The Alfa I inspected were all low kms- under 50k, 10year young with log books up to date, but drove like they had 250,000km on the motor and were 25 years old. Of the two, one had a straight body, good interior, what turned me off was the owner's care or lack of understanding the purpose of speed bumps or parking kerb and so the poor car’s chassis rails and engine subframe suffered for it. I’m all for driving fast, but I’ve never been so scared in my life, this person had no idea what they were doing, no idea about weight shifting, steering input, throttle control, even just looking ahead and predicting a gap…and all of this was somehow supposed to get me excited and help sell the car. Nope I just wanted out! This wasn’t the car for me. They say never buy a car in the dark, and this particular BMW along with 200 other cars were kept in a ex-aeroplane hanger. All year around the cars were under cover, away from the elements. Great idea I thought, genius in fact, until the BMW was taken out for a test drive. In the sunlight instead of seeing this fine European, prestigious, metallic gunmetal grey car, all I could see was someones poor attempt in hiding a parking shunt and all the salesman had to say was "we’ll fix it!” How about getting it fixed before putting it on displaying or better yet, how about telling the customer first, instead of letting them find out an hour later into the sale. Not good enough Fred, especially when you’re spending close to 30k, I expected more, not much, just a little bit more. We got it outside the hanger before I called it quits and left limping away (I was already in a grumpy mood being semi-crippled, I didn’t need this crap).

There was nothing left but the Honda Jazz. Now there’s nothing wrong with the Honda Jazz if you happen to already have a cool car in the garage, because it’s a great little car, that's good on fuel, has heaps of room, is ultra reliable and cost nothing to run, but for me it was admitting defeat. So, I did the next best thing and procrastinated, into a sliding scales of unlikely to own, ever, of Ferrari(s), Porsche(s), Lamborghini(s), AMG(s), Lotuses, to if I saved and worked really hard I might be able to afford cars like M3(s), NSX(es) in midst of it all and for odd reasons unknown, I searched Integra Type R, and there it appeared! First on the list in her Milano red dress, she was the right build, the right price and I couldn’t swipe right fast enough.

The Honda Jazz could wait, I had to go see the Integra, even if it was to just satisfy my curiosity, the chance to meet an old friend was too good to pass up. I said 2 year ago that if I had another chance I’d do it again, and here it was. =)

[Perry]

Welcome back, hows the Mr2 going?

[IbbyDC2R]

Wow what a story lol , love the milano red dc2r the quickest of all the dc2r's [emoji6][emoji16][emoji594][emoji100]

[jv-st]

Haha crazy, I was just reading through your DC2R thread the other day on JDMST! Welcome back and grats on the pickup

[Apu]

Look forward to seeing you on the track John!

[eskimo_firefighter]

Nice buy John. Sad to hear about the S14's abrupt end. Will we see this at Wakefield any time soon?

[Bluscreama]

What happen to the s14!!:/


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[plAythiNG]

Jls!

[felixR]

Such a nice and clean DC2R. Crazy story too. Good to have you back

[Shakeel]

Welcome back JLS!