So far, I've had two letters published in 'Super Street', a tuner magazine I read. It should be called "Super Honda" or "Super Rice", but its fun to read.
Anyways, this is the latest letter I sent them...

I read a letter a couple of issues back from a guy talking smack about domestics. The letter really got me thinking and, as a result, kind of pissed me off. Did anyone stop to think how unloved domestic sport compacts are? This particularly unintelligent individual suggested that we stick to the pages of Hot Rod or Super Chevy, or some such other doh-mestic magazine. This is one symptom of the cursed life of the domestic tuner. Our import peers think we're a joke, the domestic rear wheel drive guys think we're a fad. No one take us seriously, even when we are finally getting chassis and engines that make the grade. What the hell are we supposed to do? Defect to the dark side?
Some of us go back to the days of Turbo Dodge, the dim dark days of Chargers, Daytonas, Shadows (the Sundance if you were unlucky enough to NOT find a Shadow), Horizons, even the little Rampage. Some of us came from the Ford camp, the Escort Turbo GT's, the Thunderbird Turbo Coupe, the Mustang SVO (which no one loved) and the orphaned Merkur XR4Ti. And the most masochistic of us came from the General Motors camp. Cursed with the Cavalier or Sunturd, or a whole list of alphabet cars starting with J and ending with X, the best we could ever must at first was a the 3.1L V6 or the uber-crappy 2.0L OHC Turbo that was guaranteed to lunch cam in under 80,000 miles... and then they gave us the 2.3L Quad 4 and 2.4L Twin Cam that made better boat anchors than engines. Oh joy..Or you were one of the weirdos that happened to have landed in the Saturn camp, which was sort of GM, but didn't like to admit it. At least in a Saturn, you had a good engine, even though it had its roots in the land of Swedish meatballs and Swedish bikini teams.
But something happened not that long ago. We got an engine, a good engine, a great engine actually. The Ecotec promised to change everything, to be the mechanical messiah to lead us into serious competition, and in the antique J-bodies, it did well. And then, after all that, we got a car... the Delta chassis, something the rest of the world had. It was a good car with a good engine and finally there was an aftermarket... and now, the shoe is on the other foot. The Cobalt SS Supercharged, the Ion Redline, the Solstice, the G5 GT. Finally, competent, competitive cars that we can use.
And after all that.... still no love, no respect, no joy in Who-ville.
So before all you ricey fanboys hate, just remember, Domestic tuner guys have paid our dues. We've had to endure alot of crap from all corners. We may have started with clunky turbos and shitty engines, but we're here now and we're ready to take you on. And you V8 guys, not that any of you can read this, you can suck on the business end of my supercharger too, we're through being second class hotrods.

Scott Harris.
Mineville, NY

Nice...
Back in the pizza delivery days, I used to have a co-worker who delivered pizzas in a 351 Ford E-250 van, and always joked at me for driving a 4 cylinder. We used to get in arguments all the time, and he's try to say his van would get just as good of mileage as my Toyota/BMW/VW/whatever underpowered slow car I was driving at the time.

The dumbest comment he ever made? "There is no such thing as a fast 4 or 6 cylinder car."

...because, you know, the Porsche 911 is such a slug. As are Honda S2000, BMW M3, the Cobalt SS, the Omni GLH-S, etc.

Moron.

Posted by bandi Nice... Back in the pizza delivery days, I used to have a co-worker who delivered pizzas in a 351 Ford E-250 van, and always joked at me for driving a 4 cylinder. We used to get in arguments all the time, and he's try to say his van would get just as good of mileage as my Toyota/BMW/VW/whatever underpowered slow car I was driving at the time. The dumbest comment he ever made? "There is no such thing as a fast 4 or 6 cylinder car." ...because, you know, the Porsche 911 is such a slug. As are Honda S2000, BMW M3, the Cobalt SS, the Omni GLH-S, etc. Moron.

this is the letter I was responding to. It was in the february 2007 issue of 'Super Street'


Ignorance Is Bliss

I am a long time subscriber and this magazine is getting overrun with nothing but trash. Who do the domestic guys think they are? Imports rule the streets! So what is Pontiac has their poor mans' version of the S2000? Does that mean that the number one import magazine should bow down and feature articles on it? If you can't afford to buy an import then don't try with crappy American made cars with no resale value- by a used Honda or Nissan for around $2000 and build a nice car. Anyway, I'm glad I got that off my chest. Oh yeah, sad to hear about the Tein Si, it was a bad ass car. The thieves need to be caught and covered in oil like the did the car after stripping it down to nothing. Bastards. Keep the import articles coming and leave the domestics to 5.0 and Super Chevy. That's where they belong.

Elliot Byers
via the Internet


It figures... Via the Internet... the guy is a fanboy.
It's needs to be slapped across the face with a camshaft out of an Ecotec.

Samurai

Samarui, those letters remind of me the people who way underestimate my beloved Dodge Caravan to the point of insanity.

I know popular culture has made to beleive that the Caravan is for soccer moms from Southern California who drive 30 miles around the suburbs and that is true to a certain extent, but there are people who take their Caravans seriously much as you take your Cobalt and Cavaliers seriously with pride.

I have met a few people who didn't realize Chrysler offered A V6 Caravan, let along one withe MMC 3.0 V6 or even offered a 4C Turbo and even worse think that we are bullshitting with an "really really good aftermarket install".

Posted by Agent Skelly Samarui, those letters remind of me the people who way underestimate my beloved Dodge Caravan to the point of insanity. I know popular culture has made to beleive that the Caravan is for soccer moms from Southern California who drive 30 miles around the suburbs and that is true to a certain extent, but there are people who take their Caravans seriously much as you take your Cobalt and Cavaliers seriously with pride. I have met a few people who didn't realize Chrysler offered A V6 Caravan, let along one withe MMC 3.0 V6 or even offered a 4C Turbo and even worse think that we are bullshitting with an "really really good aftermarket install".

Turbo Gus is a legend in the Turbo Dodge community. He ran for the longest time, may still even, a Caravan with a firebreathing Turbo 4cylinder... I have video of him just schooling this LT1 Camaro on a dragstrip. It was sweet... And by the way, one of my dad's friends had a Caravan Sport Turbo with the 5gear.

Samurai

Skelly: When I first got my licence, my mom had a '91 3.0 V6 Caravan... I swapped over the 3.3 throttle body, 3.8 injectors and a cold air intake setup from a Daytona. I had a field day with that thing. It was my daily driver, my race car, my Jeep, my tow vehicle, my camping trailer, and a taxi at parties.

Anyways, that thing sounded pretty agressive when you really dug into the throttle. For a minivan, anyhow.

My friend had a 2.2 turbo 5 speed caravan, I always wanted that thing.

Posted by bandi Skelly: When I first got my licence, my mom had a '91 3.0 V6 Caravan... I swapped over the 3.3 throttle body, 3.8 injectors and a cold air intake setup from a Daytona. I had a field day with that thing. It was my daily driver, my race car, my Jeep, my tow vehicle, my camping trailer, and a taxi at parties. Anyways, that thing sounded pretty agressive when you really dug into the throttle. For a minivan, anyhow. My friend had a 2.2 turbo 5 speed caravan, I always wanted that thing.

Oh yeah...smart move. The MMC 3.0 V6 loves nice cold air for more power

Posted by Agent Skelly Oh yeah...smart move. The MMC 3.0 V6 loves nice cold air for more power

What is it with you and that fucking van?


Samurai

you guys have me reminiscing about my days driving a 89 aerostar. this is back in 94. the restaurant i worked in had a parking lot that was 8 times as long as it was wide (seingurial property lines, only in quebec) so we used to race after work. i used to blow the guys away in thier nissans and other rusty cars. An aerostar (hopefully with bad back brakes) can put on a smoke show that puts other car to shame!

Ever see a 5 speed Aerostar? I worked on one once, pretty fun in the snow.

Posted by bandi Ever see a 5 speed Aerostar? I worked on one once, pretty fun in the snow.

same drivetrain as a Ranger/Bronco II...


Samurai

the aerostar was pretty quick, but you had to carry bricks in the back come winter or else

Posted by Samurai Turbo Gus is a legend in the Turbo Dodge community. He ran for the longest time, may still even, a Caravan with a firebreathing Turbo 4cylinder... I have video of him just schooling this LT1 Camaro on a dragstrip. It was sweet... And by the way, one of my dad's friends had a Caravan Sport Turbo with the 5gear. Samurai

When I worked at a Dodge dealership (as a detailer in high school) I had to bring in a mid to late 80's Caravan. I was surprised as hell to see the turbo sticker, and even more surprised when I got in and it had a 5-speed!

I used to be a big Turbo Dodge guy. Scratch that, I am still a big fan. I used to LOVE dropping less into my car than those Honda guys spent on their wheels(cost of car included), and walking right by them without a sweat or thought. Domestics and Imports alike both have good rides and turds. Anything can be made fast, even if it isn't the 'in' thing at the time.

Even during the less than stellar days, even GM had some toys. Turbo Grand Prix, with the TC's 3.1 was a rocket. At the time, the quad 4 and the Turbo 2.0 were both fairly quick. No Honda at the time was close. The Ford 2.3 is a wolf in sheaps clothes, and the 2.2/2.5 Chrysler cars were second to none.


As for todays standards, it's all about what the magazines and media publish. That's what becomes popular and that's what the aftermarket supports.

The guy who was firing off about domestic sport compacts was probably some poor Honda guy who dumped thousands into his Civic, only to have the doors blown off by a stock SRT-4.

Posted by Agent Skelly Samarui, those letters remind of me the people who way underestimate my beloved Dodge Caravan to the point of insanity. I know popular culture has made to beleive that the Caravan is for soccer moms from Southern California who drive 30 miles around the suburbs and that is true to a certain extent, but there are people who take their Caravans seriously much as you take your Cobalt and Cavaliers seriously with pride. I have met a few people who didn't realize Chrysler offered A V6 Caravan, let along one withe MMC 3.0 V6 or even offered a 4C Turbo and even worse think that we are bullshitting with an "really really good aftermarket install".

you think that V6 was fun, find one with the 2.5 Turbo!! '89 and '90 Model Year.

Now, add one part front mount intercooler from Volvo 740, larger injectors and Walboro 225lph fuel pump, $15 Grainger valve(the ORIGINAL manual boost controller, which would not exist if it wasn't for a Turbo dodge guru! Turbo XS and the like got the design from HIM!), free up the exhaust, crank boost to 15-16psi and watch as WRX owners piss themselves as you go by.


Good times I tell ya!

Posted by Samurai Turbo Gus is a legend in the Turbo Dodge community. He ran for the longest time, may still even, a Caravan with a firebreathing Turbo 4cylinder... I have video of him just schooling this LT1 Camaro on a dragstrip. It was sweet... And by the way, one of my dad's friends had a Caravan Sport Turbo with the 5gear. Samurai

Alas, Gus was taken from us in a tragic accident.

RIP Gus, you were an inspiration!

speaking of odd turbos, my girlfriend used to have a turbo sprint. basically a geo metro with a hood scoop

Posted by Rover Rob Alas, Gus was taken from us in a tragic accident. RIP Gus, you were an inspiration!

Are you serious?
When did this happen?

That's a loss... he was legend.

When I had my Daytona, he actually took time to email me back on tips to make my beat up old turd fast...
it's always the good ones that die first. It seems that assholes live forever.

Expos, back in the day, I tried out an 89 I-Mark Turbo... it was a fucking wicked sleeper. And it was wicked quick! That same die, i tried out two Fieros and one Chevy Turbo Sprint... that was on odd little car.

Samurai

Posted by Samurai Are you serious? When did this happen? That's a loss... he was legend. When I had my Daytona, he actually took time to email me back on tips to make my beat up old turd fast... it's always the good ones that die first. It seems that assholes live forever. Expos, back in the day, I tried out an 89 I-Mark Turbo... it was a fucking wicked sleeper. And it was wicked quick! That same die, i tried out two Fieros and one Chevy Turbo Sprint... that was on odd little car. Samurai

It's been a couple years. I had the pleasure of meeting hi in person a few times. He was an inspiration and a legend in the TD community.

Actually, between him, Russ Jerome, Gary Donovan, Paul Smith, and Jan Daurio, they pretty much started the TD revolution. Those guys were about crazy!

Btw, speaking of Isuzu turbo cars, the Impulse with the Lotus suspension. That thing is STILL one of my favorite cars!! I'd love to actually find one!

my friend Richie had one... IN BLACK.
he lunched the turbo and let the bank repo it... i was a week late in getting back from maryland and missed taking it off his hands.

Samurai