The Purchase

Author: Justin Dunn

STORY 1: Buying my first Turbo Car!

This is a story all about my 1997 Mitsubishi Eclipse GST. I have owned this car longer than any other car. This is the car that I drove to college in. I have always had various plans for this car but never had any requirements. In traditional fashion I have named her. Yes, she is a girl. It just feels weird loving a dude so much. It would be like a ego fight or something.

I have named her Mitzi, original right. I always feel a name should reflex how you talk about the vehicle to a non—family member. So, when you order parts or talk to the DMV you say “The Mitsubishi”. Some of the names for my other cars are a little more unorthodox. Mitzi has always been a good car to me, until one fateful day.

My history with Mitzi starts in… I think 2008 or 2009. I was going to The Art Institute of Tampa and working at Advance Auto Parts at the time. I was driving a Leslie the 1997 Buick LeSabre at the time. Leslie was originally my parent’s car they bought around 2 weeks before I bought my first car, a 1985 Lincoln Town Car. Leslie was great car and only had a few issues needing service over the years. Till one day there was no oil pressure.

Looking back at the situation I feel like I could have fixed it myself. However, I was unexperienced and it was over my head. The motor could have been damaged. I set out to sell the car. The issue was selling a car that doesn’t “run”. It would start and drive by it would start to make noise. So, I needed a car fast and I wanted a fast car.

This was a great opportunity to really find something I wanted instead of needed. Yes, I still had Suzie the 1987 Toyota Supra at the time. She just wasn’t fast and needed a clutch, rod bearings, and who knows what else. I was also driving 500 miles a week or more. My wallet needed something with better gas milage. So, I wanted something sporty that had a four-cylinder engine. Immediately, I thought of a Japanese car.

I started narrowing my searching down to Honda, Nissan, and Mitsubishi. I really wanted a Honda CRX or Nissan 240sx. I never thought I would be able to find a Turbo Eclipse with my budget. You see I had to ask my aunt and uncle for a loan. I agreed to pay them back once I sold Leslie. They loaned me $2,000 dollars.

I found a few options in central Florida and I set out to take a look at them one day. The first vehicle was a 1987 Honda CRX. It was in primer and had some issues. On the test drive, it was slow. It didn’t seem to be running right. It was also single port fuel injection. There was going to be a lot of work to get this car to be suitable for my desires.

The next car I went to see was listed as a 97 Eclipse GST that was misfiring and had a blown transmission. I figured if the motor was not damaged maybe I could fix the misfire and replace the transmission. I called the owner. He said it would misfire when you are getting on it around 3K rpms. This gave me a little scare because my Supra originally had rod knock and it would knock around 3K rpms. He also said the transmission shifted it will just not stay in 4th gear. I could live with that. I barely ever use 4th gear in the Supra.

I took the trip out there. We met at a gas station and as soon as pull in I saw it. It was love at first sight. If you like these cars, you know what I mean. The paint was crappy and the wheels were different on each side but I loved it. I looked over the car and REVed the engine up. It sounded solid. I asked to go on a test drive and he warned me about the misfire and said it should still get us up to highway speed. I knew then it would just be something simple.

I took it on the highway shifting from 3rd to 5th without a problem. I got it up to 70 miles per hour and everything felt great. On the drive we discussed price. He said he listed for 1700 but would take the best offer. I mentioned that I felt the car was worth around 2500 in good condition. He didn’t disagree. I said getting the transmission replace could put me over that mark and that isn’t including what could be wrong with the motor. He didn’t disagree with that either.

I offered him $1000. He countered at $1300. I said I don’t know. I thought about it for a minute and then offered him $1200. He took it. I suspect this is where he wanted to be all along. I said I have cash and he said he will need to go to his house to get the title. I was thinking this was now a problem. He said I could follow him. So, I did. We pulled into a nice neighborhood and he went inside. Came out a few minutes later with a signed title. I gave him cash and the car was mine.

My wife, Girlfriend at the time, drove her car back and I drove Mitzi. I had $800 dollars left in the budget for the car. I knew the misfire was going to be spark plugs and wires. They only costed 90 dollars or so. The owner said the reason it had a different set of wheels on one side was because he hit a pot hole and damaged two wheels. He got the new wheels from a Discount Tire Store near-by. I went straight there.

The Discount Tire must sell a lot of these 17-inch MB Seven X wheels because they had them in stock. They have universal lug pattern so they must fit a lot of vehicles. I had them take the tires off the Enkei RS6’s to put them on the MB Seven X’s. Mitzi was looking like a show car with the shiny new wheels all around. I went to my work and got a set of larger diameter spark plug wires and some NGK spark plugs. I did the basic maintenance on it like oil and filter.

The car was a lot of fun. I immediately started putting miles on it. I would race myself stop light to stop light even with the transmission missing 4th gear. Overall, the buying experience was great. I learned a lot about cars, life, people and making a deal. This car has taught me a lot and I hope to share all my lessons with you here on my website. This way you don’t have to make the same mistakes as me and you can move onto the mistakes I haven’t made yet.