Story: This is my second car, but I've had much experience with cars over my 21 year life. I come from a family of gear-heads and adrenaline junkies, and it seems that members of my family need an adrenaline rush. My aunt used to drag race cars, my father used to drift and jump out of airplanes, my uncles used to jump out of planes and drag race, and two of my cousins now race. The members of my family who don't get an adrenaline rush, even once in their life usually turn out dull, boring, and judgmental without having ever formed a personality.
I have an obsession with cars thanks to a combination of OCD and Aspergers Syndrome (a high-functioning form of Autism). I prefer to get my kicks from driving. My face lights up at the thought of a long curvy road or a flat straightaway, each with no traffic. Don't get me wrong. I get my kicks, but I'm FAR from stupid enough to street race. I'll save up some cash and either take it to a drag strip or a full on racetrack, like Watkins Glen in New York.
Now onto the cars. My first car, I technically still have. I inherited the car when my mother passed in 2008. I grew up with the car, learned to drive in it and so on, so it was very important to me. The car? A 1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Z34. An oddball for sure. My mother had a thing for muscle cars, and despite the FWD, almost everyone I know considers the car, high output OverHead Cam V6 and all, the last of the muscle cars. I still live with my widowed father, going to school for mechanics. The car gave us problems over the past 2 years, with the car getting old and needing parts left and right. Not that it was much easier with parts becoming so rare. The engine was a 3.4L DOHC 24 valve high output 210 HP 60 degree V6 with 5 camshafts (2 over each bank and 1 in the block), a timing belt, and a timing chain. Well the Monte gave up the ghost a little over a month ago when the timing belt tensioner and crankshaft position sensor went at the same time. What did this mean exactly? A huge repair bill because it led to bent valves... all 24 of them. I wanted to fix the car, but parts were hard to come by and it'd be cheaper to just replace the entire engine than to rebuild the heads. Upset, I broke down crying. I was trying to keep the car going in my mother's memory, but the high maintenance of the engine under the hood was simply too much.
Seeing as I now needed a car, My father offered to buy me a newer car, his only stipulation being it had to be newer than the Monte and with a price cap of $20,000 at most. I began my search for something my mother would've approved, but met my needs and standards as well. The Monte Carlo was an automatic transmission model and I'd become sick of it over the years. I stipulated I wanted a manual transmission stick shift car no matter what, and any potential car would be eliminated from my views if it had an auto-tragic. This eliminated 96% of cars in the USA, period. I had also noticed that almost all cars on the road were a bland assortment of beige, silver, white, black, and gray. Knowing this, I also stipulated it had to be an actual color. None of this bland crap. I wanted to be able to look in a parking lot and know from a quick glance which car was mine and where it was. Now you may notice my screen name is TommyTwinCams. It's not just a screen name, but a real life nickname as well. The name stems from my judgmental views on engine design. OHV pushrod engines may be newer in design, but the design itself is inferior and outdated compared to OverHead Cam engines, so I stipulated whatever car it was had to have an OHC engine, preferably DOHC as they tend to make more power and be more efficient. Being young, I want to make my cars stand out more, so aftermarket support was also important to me. I had been heavily disappointed with the aftermarket of the Monte Carlo and vowed never again. I also am very patriotic, so I preferred something from an American Manufacturer. Where it was built didn't matter to me as long as the money from the car's initial sale went to an American company.
Now my father wanted me in a pick up truck. His reasoning was that in an accident, I'd be above the point of impact, and therefore safer. I pointed out a few flaws with that. First, I'd probably lower a truck in an effort to get some good handling. Second trucks tended to be big and I wanted something smaller than the Monte. There were only 2 pick up trucks that were capable of hitting the nail on what I wanted, the Chevrolet Colorado, and the GMC Canyon, neither of which seemed particularly interesting. MY father was also willing to let me get a small sports car, provided my toolbox for school fit in the truck. I looked at the Saturn Sky and Pontiac Solstice, but ultimately decided that getting a RWD drop top sportscar wasn't the wisest thing to do in Connecticut with winter on the way. My father, having had horrible luck with them in the past, also stipulated no Fords, otherwise I'd have probably gotten a Ford Focus. In the end, it came down between a 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt LT (2.2L DOHC I4, 5 speed manual), a 2008 Saturn Astra 3 door hatch (1.8L DOHC I4, 5 speed manual), or a 2004 Saturn Ion 2 coupe (2.2L DOHC I4, 5 speed manual). The Astra was very pretty, but ultimately lacked any sort of aftermarket support in the USA, so that was eliminated. So in the end, it came down to sister cars Saturn Ion and Chevy Cobalt. I was heavily leaning towards the Cobalt until I saw the carfax which stated the car had been in an accident with a deer, but had been expertly repaired. Despite the fact it drove fine and there was no visible damage, I was still iffy and went with the Saturn.
For those who don't know, the Saturn Ion was released in 2003 to replace Saturn's aging original S-series cars, the SC, SL, and SW. The Ion was built from 2003 to 2007 and was available as a 4 door sedan or a 4 door quad coupe. Mine is the latter. Neither body style shares a single exterior body panel, though they are identical underneath. Aside from visual mods I make, anything else I do can be done to any Ion. Without further ado, here's the pictures of the Saturn Ion from the day I got it from the dealer.
In the past month I have modified the little sport compact. Stay tuned for that blog post on what I've done in a little over a month. Stay tuned.
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