Bigpower

After passing my driving test at 18 I was let loose on the roads in a mighty 1.3 Vauxhall chevette! This lasted nearly a year when I then joined the nova boys with a black 1.3SR. This also lasted nearly a year when I wanted something quicker. :-D My first quick car was a phase 1 Renault 5 GT Turbo in silver. I loved this car, handled well, fast and great fun. I kept this for nearly three years when I started to have all the overheating problems known with these cars. :x I part exchanged this for another GT Turbo, this time a limited edition Raider model. Modified to nearly 180BHP and with a flame spitting exhaust I had great fun on my daily drive through country lanes on the way to work . Unfortunately the engine blew after nine months and I couldn,t afford to repair it so it was sold. I then ended up with a Peugeot 306 Diesel!! Boring but very economical. After I had saved some money I was offered one of the very first Citroen Saxo VTR,S at trade price .Imprezas and evo,s were becoming known around this time but there was no way I could afford one. This was to good an offer to miss so bye bye Peugeot. The Saxo was a good car, handled quite well, not bad on fuel and quite quick. Then when driving past a local garage another car caught my eye. It was a Peugeot 206 heavily modified, big bodykit, cobra seats, 17inch alloys and a loud Magnex exhaust. A deal was done and the Peugeot was sat on my drive. I kept this for 2 years when a change of job and a company van meant I didn,t need my own car and I was looking to buy my first house with my fiance. The car was put in Max Power and a young lad came and took her away . The money went towards a deposit on a house and I was quite happy cruising round in a bright orange van!
After about a year I was earning good money, we had moved into our new house with a empty garage but I had the urge for another car. If I was to have a car it had to be something I really wanted. I looked at Subarus and Evos but it seemed everyone had one and I wanted something different. Then on the way to work one morning I was passed by a blue blur. My first experience of a skyline! I had to find out more. I read as many mags as I could get my hands on and with my budget I could afford a R32. If I was going to get a Skyline it had to have those magical three letters on the back, GTR.
I didn,t have the internet at the time(wish I had) and saw a advert for Keighley Trade Centre. Lots of skylines within my budget. So on a weekend off I made the trip to Yorkshire. Three hours in a van only to find most of the cars were dented, scratched and in very poor condition. I stayed 10 mins and then came home :x :x
I then found an advert for skylinesRus. Only 15mins from me, so I gave them a call. After about an hour on the phone, it was arranged for me to view three R32 GTR,S. :-D
I arrived to find one white, one red and one very clean grey car waiting for me :lol: . After a chat and a good look round I was taken for my first ride in the grey car.

Come on Darren, where's the rest and pictures!!
:needpics:

Darren, is this your car then ?



I bought the red one they had at skylinesrus ... this grey one was with them at the time.

Yep that,s the one. Sorry had to pop out for a while!

Very nice, and on the basis it's from skylinesrus then it's a minter ...

how much have you changed so far?.

I went out with Andy for a drive. "Its not boosting properly" he said. "we,ll have to go back" Now this felt bloody fast to me and he,s telling me it can go faster?! We arrived back at the garage and Andy dissapears for a minute. He then returns with another set of keys. "We,ll take another one out so you can have a drive". So, which one? White one? Red one? Nope. A R33GTR LeMans tuned to around 600BHP!!! It was their demo car. :-D So, it was my turn and I,m grinning like an idiot. We turn onto the A10 between Hertford and Cheshunt and Andy says" Go on then put your foot down".
YeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeHaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! This was the fastest thing I,d ever driven and I didn,t realise we were well into three figures :oops: When we got back I had a chat with Andy about the cars and what I was looking for. As this was my first skyline he suggested I have one nearly standard. The grey car suited me perfectly and I was assured any problems would be dealt with.
I got a call about a week later, the grey car was fixed, Two sensors on the engine had failed and had been replaced, did I want to test it? Yes please!! I went back and had a drive, this was the car I wanted. A deal was done and I handed over the largest amount of money ever (apart from my house), I,d pick it up in a week when they had sorted a few minor things out, no stereo or alarm.
On 21st June 2005 I was the proud owner of this:- :-D
[img][img]http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u145 ... TR0011.jpg[/img]

The car came with Tein coilovers and 17inch Rays Engineering Gram Lights wheels. It still had the standard airbox fitted![/img]

I had the car for about six months but didn,t like the ride and wasn,t sure about the wheels. Nearly every skyline I had seen was modified in some way but I decided to go back to as standard as possible. I then found the skyline forums on the internet and saw the many secondhand parts for sale. I eventually found some standard suspension in good condition so these were bought and put on the car by my uncle who has his own small workshop. The difference was amazing, I had more confidence in the car and the way it handled. I then found out a guy down the road from me had bought the red R32 but wanted some new wheels. We chatted over the internet and we met up one evening. He had standard wheels which he didn,t want and I had some wheels I wasn,t keen on. We decided to swap. My car was now 99% standard apart from the exhaust.

Now that is one clean Skyline.
Sounds like you had a great experience!!

Did you take the gramlights off then? .... very tidy mate.

Ben, where did you get that pic? Any more? Swapped wheels with a friend.

Lovely clean car Darren. Nice write up too :thumb: