What got you started....

[Danteneon]

I have been talking to another forum member about some old school projects we have in common, and it got me thinking (dangerous, I know).

My thought was this...How did you get to this step in your modifying passion? Maybe this is the first car you have modified, maybe it has always been Neons. But most of you have a longer story. Now, this is not to be confused with ZeroChad's thread of "What was your first car?". That is a great thread in itself, but it did help inspire me to this one.

So what where you working on before this project? Maybe a car you haven't talked about or thought about in a little while. Let us know (and of course....PICS!)


This is what I was working on (and still have) before my Neon days....

[glasswars]

Stock!


I got my neon September of 2004... before I even had a license. I can remember myself saying "why do people mod their cars, with all the money they spend they could buy nicer ones."

Then soon I got sick of having a white car..
so I painted it blue..

then i though rims would be SICK!!! BRO!!!
so i got some


and thats pretty much where it started.

[Haganracing]

Haha i like your story glasswars.

I really haven't done much to the look of the car.. I really like stock lookin cars but every now and then i see a car that looks really cool with the new body kits or even just a few things.

All the neons i see on this site look great, and i keep telling myself "that looks cool, i bet my neon would look good with that too"

But really, i guess i haven't gotten into the modifying stages of my car.

one day i will..
-Chris

[Adionik]

I saw the Fast and the Furious

[glasswars]

I saw the Fast and the Furious

Please tell me thats a joke hahahahhaha.

[-Devil-]

heh ... well .. my story is a bit different ...

i got my first car .. and well .. i had to put it together and get it running before i could drive it ...

it just kinda grew from there

(was a 66 bug, posted pics in another thread)

[Adionik]

I saw the Fast and the Furious

Please tell me thats a joke hahahahhaha.

No

I was young! But i'm not a ricer now aside from the fact that I have a car that looks twice as fast as it is. I don't rev at people. I don't ask "What's under the hood" to random strangers with cars. Don't put decals. Errrrrr....except the transformers.

[racer12306]

I started about 15 - 18 years ago, no BS. My dad has always had a race car. I always helped with what I could.

I remember building engines with him when I was about 10 or 11.

[SteelBlue]

I think my boyfriend (now husband) first got me started in it. He had fixed his own car up and customized it inside and out and finally he showed me sounddomain with all the different cars; once I got to see what my Neon could look like and the options that were out there I got the mod bug. I've had her for 4 years now but I really haven't done much even though I've got the ideas. It seems like everytime I try something always comes up and I have to put it on hold. I've got a good job now so hopefully this year will be different.

[contagious18]

the neon is my first car.

thats how it started and wat inspired me was my cousin modding up his mustang. i got the car before i got my license and little by little i started modding. i got the car in 2005

[slaw]

adionik wrote : I was young! But i'm not a ricer now aside from the fact that I have a car that looks twice as fast as it is.

lol i think mine sounds faster than it is

[Diablo0]

Ended up with a Neon trying to decide between it and a Wrangler. Next thing you know I'm surfing the net for body kits b/c I was young and thought it was "cool" and found a neon forum, got interested... hooked since. Now I have a hard time saving money... it's an addiction

[nate-00neon]

it's an addiction

dito
only a couple of months ago i said i was going to stop and leave my dd neon alone...i cant i think i have a problem lol

[Chibits12]

The Neon's my first car too. The only mod I could think of are the new speakers all around, hence my sig. I'm still looking for rt wheels though. Paying the car while being broke most of the time during college resulted into getting stuck to being stock.

[MoxHair]

a 1996 Eclipse GSX and my SCCA Membership

[Wenuden]

hearing stories about the multiple musclecars my parents had in the '60s and early '70s made me want one, but since I can't afford their '68 gto or '69 camaro, I settled for a 4.6 v8 '97 t-bird, built the motor up a bit, drove it for 5 years till I paid it off, then things started falling apart at a rate that it cost me more in repairs a month than anew car would. Bought my first neon, and left her stock for about 5 months, then I found this site and threw some small things on her. Had it for another 8 months till I found my srt (which I wanted before they came out at the dealer) and now, I've finally achieved my goal of having a musclecar, and one that's faster than their gto or camaro, to boot. Took my dad for a short drive one day, and he was blown away by the "straight 4" LOL.

Since I got out of boy scouts and baseball 8 years ago, me and my dad have drifted apart a bit.now, with him out working on the car with me all the time, we're getting closer again. Once drag season opens, we'll be at the track together all the time, I can't wait.

[Danteneon]

hearing stories about the multiple musclecars my parents had in the '60s and early '70s made me want one, but since I can't afford their '68 gto or '69 camaro, I settled for a 4.6 v8 '97 t-bird, built the motor up a bit, drove it for 5 years till I paid it off, then things started falling apart at a rate that it cost me more in repairs a month than anew car would. Bought my first neon, and left her stock for about 5 months, then I found this site and threw some small things on her. Had it for another 8 months till I found my srt (which I wanted before they came out at the dealer) and now, I've finally achieved my goal of having a musclecar, and one that's faster than their gto or camaro, to boot. Took my dad for a short drive one day, and he was blown away by the "straight 4" LOL.

Since I got out of boy scouts and baseball 8 years ago, me and my dad have drifted apart a bit.now, with him out working on the car with me all the time, we're getting closer again. Once drag season opens, we'll be at the track together all the time, I can't wait.

Good story man, and a happy ending to boot

[yellowpatrol]

I was searching for new cars and just happened to see an SRT-4 for the first time in one of the results from my searches for affordable cars. I knew from the second I saw the picture that I wanted that car. I wanted an SRT-4 but couldn't seem to find one at any local dealerships. So I settled for a Neon knowing that one day I could just swap the engine. And now they are EVERYWHERE!

[KrackstaR]

My credit was screwed and i could never afford a nice car so i started doing little stuff here and there to make me happy with my cars, then i got a new job and needed a reliable car so i went to the dealer looking at GSR's and ended up leaving out with a purple neon, and i said i refused to drive around like this so i started doing crap to it and about $40k later I have this sick addiction. someone help me please. i cant make it stop. lol

[yellowpatrol]

^^ It started out purple!?

[KrackstaR]

^^ It started out purple!?

yeah i was (and still is on the org), The_purple_people_eater.

[contagious18]

i think we all have this addiction

[Danteneon]

i think we all have this addiction

Oh yes, without a doubt. I was just curious as to what folks were working with before hand, and I have to say, I like what I'm reading so far

[jckevns]

my first car was my 2001 neon, i got it when i was 15. as soon as i got my liscense i got a cd player and srt spoiler installed. couple weeks later put a CAI, tailights and header on. ever since then been buying parts for her left and right
when i turned 18 i bought a hyundai sonata for a DD but plan on keeping the neon for as long as i can

[Hudson_Neon]

i started workin on cars when i was 12-13.

i didn't start "modding" cars till i turned 16. that was on my first car (the duster). and MOST of those mods were custom. absolutely nobody makes aftermarket for those cars (3.0L that is). so my CAI and exaust was custom (CAI is exhaust tubing that i bent up at school and exhaust had NO cat and a "high flow" magnaflow muffler). then came a killer sound system (hatchbacks FTW!). it now has booger bushings. i recently bought this car back from my friend. good car

now i have the neon and my garage will tell you all about that pretty much.

i also did a "custom" intake on my mom's caravan when i had to drive it cause the duster's engine was locked up

[Nutmeg]

i also did a "custom" intake on my mom's caravan when i had to drive it cause the duster's engine was locked up

Good story. For me, this is my first car. Big plans are coming up.

[Danteneon]

i started workin on cars when i was 12-13.

i didn't start "modding" cars till i turned 16. that was on my first car (the duster). and MOST of those mods were custom. absolutely nobody makes aftermarket for those cars (3.0L that is). so my CAI and exaust was custom (CAI is exhaust tubing that i bent up at school and exhaust had NO cat and a "high flow" magnaflow muffler). then came a killer sound system (hatchbacks FTW!). it now has booger bushings. i recently bought this car back from my friend. good car

now i have the neon and my garage will tell you all about that pretty much.

i also did a "custom" intake on my mom's caravan when i had to drive it cause the duster's engine was locked up

I completely understand the problem with getting things for the 3.0 P bodies. My brother had a '93 Shadow, and I had a '94 Duster. We switched my bro's trans to a 3sp first, then to a 5sp manual after that. Had to do the whole "custom" everything...intake, exhaust, etc.

[biggrobb1995]

It all started with 4 of my cousins. One had a 77 camaro, her sister had a 81 vette, their brother had a 80 Z28 and the other brother had a 4 x 4 Nissan. I was only about 5 yrs old and my cousins had all of these badass cars so I guess you can say I got bit a little early.

[quicksilvr]

I grew up on a farm, and besides being a good mechanic, my dad is a Mopar muscle car addict. So, that set the stage for all this craziness. My first car however, was a 1987 Nissan Sentra 2 door. All I did to it was clean it up, fix all the upholstery, install a stereo and 4 speakers, and put bigger tires on it. I don't have a good picture of it available...this was long before I ever owned a digital camera or any camera for that matter. Picture this car in red..


Then when my dad and I decided it was time to move up, we found a 2000 Dodge Neon ATX at a local dealer and bought it. I just found a picture of her....

Oh how I wish I would have known then what I know now. The car was painted everywhere, and the exhaust manifold leaked. But that white neon was where all the modding started. When my dad and I bought it, we knew it looked WAY too much like a girl car, and it needed to be lowered, and have some better wheels. So I got some 16" PT cruiser wheels, and some Arospeed sleeve style coilovers. It rode so bad that stuff started breaking....and that's when I started researching and found some neon forums and the true addiction began. I sold that car after I'd put 45K miles on it (it was at 120K), and bought my silver 2000 Dodge that is currently in my garage.

My family has owned 5 different Neons over the years, and we modified all of them. We also have this...





Mopar faithful will notice that it used to be a 3 on the tree.

We also have this Dakota and the Caravan C/V in the backround...


Most people know that turbodudey is my brother, but for those who don't here's his car...technically the craziness has gone even farther for him than me if you just compare our cars. It's mostly because he has money though... His car...

[Danteneon]

Great story man