Mega car history thread & upcoming F82 M4 owner
Discussion
Hey all,
I posted another thread just a few days ago asking for M4/BMW specific recommendations & I'm overwhelmed with the helpful & insightful responses, which has somewhat inspired me to post this thread up. So here's a [shortened] run down of cars I've owned & what to expect in the future..
Don't really have any photos of it, but things kicked off when I past my test in 2003. I had my first car at 15 years old which was a Mini Mayfair. Worked on it for ~2 years until passing my test, then wrote it off 3 days later. Lovely
Car #2 - Mini Cooper SPI. Tuned a bit. Had this for quite a while. Enjoyed it but did seem to break basically 80% of the time.
Car #3 - 205 GTI, 1.6. Fair bit of engine work done, nothing too mad. Didn't last long. Was hit on a roundabout by a Volvo driver
her car had a broken headlight, my Peugeot was in 3 pieces. Walked away unhurt luckily
So two written-off cars, was feeling deflated. Back to my roots, so bought another Mini
Made it look like this & went to the Nurburgring for a long weekend. Good fun. 998cc with straight cut drop gears
Spent an obscene amount of money on it over the course of a few years & made it like this. 1300cc with ported race head, etc
I won't bore you with some boring stuff, but also had a Mk5 fiesta & VW Paasat around this era too
Sold the Mini after ~6 years, very sad.
Bought this. Nissan 200SX S14a. Loved it. Many powers compared to what I was used to
It was pretty clean, didn't do too much to it & didn't actually own it that long to be fair. About a year.
At the same time, bought this. Nissan 200SX again, but S13 chassis.
Man, this thing was SO MUCH fun compared to the S14a. I think it was mostly a placebo as the S13 was slower and "worse" in every way, but I didn't care about it. Threw this thing around like crazy. Brilliant.
Sold the S14a because of it
Literally the same day as selling my S14a, the S13 throws a rod through the block. This is my only car at this point haha
Doesn't matter. Bought an S15 engine with super low miles, got it fitted, took really good care of the engine/mechanics of the car & was perfect from here-on.
Got it sprayed silver & started to take up drifting fairly seriously
Got a 180SX kouki kit for it, changed the wheels etc. Starting to take shape
Much more drifting & many other changes
The chassis itself was in an awful state at this point, even though the bodywork/mechanics were decent. So much rust under that facade. Sold it a little while after this
During S13 ownership, also bought this. UK 350Z. Cool, good, nice noises. Did straight pipes on it
But holy hell, the cost of running it. Single digit mpg's most of the time
Replaced the 350Z with this. Absolute bargain of a car. And absolutely incredible to drive. Nissan Almera GTI. SR20DE engine. I loved this thing
Sold it as I wanted to go back to a single car, so bought this.
Nissan Silvia S14. Japanese import
Had a lot of fun in this. Tons of drift days
Did a Speedhunters event with Mad Mike & Fredric Aasbo. Took Mad Mike out in my car & he gave me drifting pointers. Super cool. He signed my dashboard
Had it sat on GeoMaster knuckles on the R33 GTR wheels for a long time but it was so damn low. Wanted new wheels & wanted wider wheels for more grip
Bought new wheels, much nicer
Competed in the Driftcup championship & ended up qualifying 1st place! Ended up coming about 9th overall. Incredible fun which pushed me to think about competing at a more serious level
Bought a 180SX "red top" SR20DET, equipped with TD06-20G turbo. All signing, all dancing Link ECU. Over the winter period got it built & fitted along with full roll cage, etc
Ended up back at Driftcup championship the next year. Qualified 1st again & ended up coming 3rd place overall!
Was invited to attend the British Drift Championship 2 weeks later. Qualified 15th but failed at my Top-32 run. But because I qualified, I had earned my BDC Pro-Am licence
Did more drifting of course, just for fun. Drift Matsuri in Wales was great, but cost me ~£3k all told for 2 days of drifting, which resulted in blowing my gearbox too (not including the £3k of costs).
Ended up taking the very difficult decision of selling everything (all parts, spares & trailer). Sold up mostly because of costs, but partially due to upcoming wedding & honeymoon plans. Also wanted to go on more holidays (cars had been 110% of my life up to this point, needed a bit of a break)
Sad times. Ended up selling my tow car as I didn't need a 5-series if I wasn't towing anything anymore
Actually loved the E39 530d, but didn't know much about BMW's at the time. I wondered if BMW had put that same 3ltr Diesel engine in a smaller estate? They sure do!
Enter my current car - E46 330d. She's a genuine M-sport manual touring which is a fairly rare combo all things considered
Of course, ended up lowering it & putting some wheels on it.
And that's honestly it!
I've had this car for 5 years now, and in that time got married, had a child & bought our forever-home. Been out of the whole "car thing" for a very long time it feels like. I basically haven't touched anything fix/modify related on my E46 in ~3 years. It's only now that I'm starting think about changing this, and getting back into cars a little more.
Current plans are: F82 BMW M4, in black (because the best cars are black!). Tastefully modified, perhaps lowered a touch, but all in good time. It won't be until early next year, so I have plenty of time to figure out exactly what I do/don't like & what I may end up doing to it.
Hope you've enjoyed my trip down memory lane! Any questions, feel free!
I posted another thread just a few days ago asking for M4/BMW specific recommendations & I'm overwhelmed with the helpful & insightful responses, which has somewhat inspired me to post this thread up. So here's a [shortened] run down of cars I've owned & what to expect in the future..
Don't really have any photos of it, but things kicked off when I past my test in 2003. I had my first car at 15 years old which was a Mini Mayfair. Worked on it for ~2 years until passing my test, then wrote it off 3 days later. Lovely
Car #2 - Mini Cooper SPI. Tuned a bit. Had this for quite a while. Enjoyed it but did seem to break basically 80% of the time.
Car #3 - 205 GTI, 1.6. Fair bit of engine work done, nothing too mad. Didn't last long. Was hit on a roundabout by a Volvo driver
her car had a broken headlight, my Peugeot was in 3 pieces. Walked away unhurt luckilySo two written-off cars, was feeling deflated. Back to my roots, so bought another Mini
Made it look like this & went to the Nurburgring for a long weekend. Good fun. 998cc with straight cut drop gears
Spent an obscene amount of money on it over the course of a few years & made it like this. 1300cc with ported race head, etc
I won't bore you with some boring stuff, but also had a Mk5 fiesta & VW Paasat around this era too
Sold the Mini after ~6 years, very sad.
Bought this. Nissan 200SX S14a. Loved it. Many powers compared to what I was used to
It was pretty clean, didn't do too much to it & didn't actually own it that long to be fair. About a year.
At the same time, bought this. Nissan 200SX again, but S13 chassis.
Man, this thing was SO MUCH fun compared to the S14a. I think it was mostly a placebo as the S13 was slower and "worse" in every way, but I didn't care about it. Threw this thing around like crazy. Brilliant.
Sold the S14a because of it
Literally the same day as selling my S14a, the S13 throws a rod through the block. This is my only car at this point haha
Doesn't matter. Bought an S15 engine with super low miles, got it fitted, took really good care of the engine/mechanics of the car & was perfect from here-on.
Got it sprayed silver & started to take up drifting fairly seriously
Got a 180SX kouki kit for it, changed the wheels etc. Starting to take shape
Much more drifting & many other changes
The chassis itself was in an awful state at this point, even though the bodywork/mechanics were decent. So much rust under that facade. Sold it a little while after this
During S13 ownership, also bought this. UK 350Z. Cool, good, nice noises. Did straight pipes on it
But holy hell, the cost of running it. Single digit mpg's most of the timeReplaced the 350Z with this. Absolute bargain of a car. And absolutely incredible to drive. Nissan Almera GTI. SR20DE engine. I loved this thing
Sold it as I wanted to go back to a single car, so bought this.
Nissan Silvia S14. Japanese import
Had a lot of fun in this. Tons of drift days
Did a Speedhunters event with Mad Mike & Fredric Aasbo. Took Mad Mike out in my car & he gave me drifting pointers. Super cool. He signed my dashboard
Had it sat on GeoMaster knuckles on the R33 GTR wheels for a long time but it was so damn low. Wanted new wheels & wanted wider wheels for more grip
Bought new wheels, much nicer
Competed in the Driftcup championship & ended up qualifying 1st place! Ended up coming about 9th overall. Incredible fun which pushed me to think about competing at a more serious level
Bought a 180SX "red top" SR20DET, equipped with TD06-20G turbo. All signing, all dancing Link ECU. Over the winter period got it built & fitted along with full roll cage, etc
Ended up back at Driftcup championship the next year. Qualified 1st again & ended up coming 3rd place overall!
Was invited to attend the British Drift Championship 2 weeks later. Qualified 15th but failed at my Top-32 run. But because I qualified, I had earned my BDC Pro-Am licence
Did more drifting of course, just for fun. Drift Matsuri in Wales was great, but cost me ~£3k all told for 2 days of drifting, which resulted in blowing my gearbox too (not including the £3k of costs).
Ended up taking the very difficult decision of selling everything (all parts, spares & trailer). Sold up mostly because of costs, but partially due to upcoming wedding & honeymoon plans. Also wanted to go on more holidays (cars had been 110% of my life up to this point, needed a bit of a break)
Sad times. Ended up selling my tow car as I didn't need a 5-series if I wasn't towing anything anymore
Actually loved the E39 530d, but didn't know much about BMW's at the time. I wondered if BMW had put that same 3ltr Diesel engine in a smaller estate? They sure do!
Enter my current car - E46 330d. She's a genuine M-sport manual touring which is a fairly rare combo all things considered
Of course, ended up lowering it & putting some wheels on it.
And that's honestly it!
I've had this car for 5 years now, and in that time got married, had a child & bought our forever-home. Been out of the whole "car thing" for a very long time it feels like. I basically haven't touched anything fix/modify related on my E46 in ~3 years. It's only now that I'm starting think about changing this, and getting back into cars a little more.
Current plans are: F82 BMW M4, in black (because the best cars are black!). Tastefully modified, perhaps lowered a touch, but all in good time. It won't be until early next year, so I have plenty of time to figure out exactly what I do/don't like & what I may end up doing to it.
Hope you've enjoyed my trip down memory lane! Any questions, feel free!
I remember you from the a272heroes / driftworks days - was great to see well-styled s-bodies get driven hard. M3/4s seem to be the natural progression from drift cars! Good luck with the search, prices are very bouyant atm but should drop a bit after christmas IMO. What sort of spec are you thinking?
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