OMFG - A piece of history surfaces
 

Well, for me, anyway. And for some here I know that this piece of history will interest you (since I'm one of the "old timers" of the Yahoo club, and then this site... and Usenet before that...)

Back in the mists of time, I owned my first SVX. It was a polo green 1995 L AWD... and boy did I love that car. I drove it a LOT of miles... about 50,000 or so... before I traded it for a Saab 900 Turbo in 1998. You can read my witterings from ten years ago here which is a copy of my website from a LONG time ago... so please don't email me about broken links!!! I learned a lot from that car, and really learned more than I wanted to about wheel bearings... but I did love driving it and did miss it when I was gone. The Saab was less fun, but more practical, especially when I started dating a woman with a daughter! Car seats and coupes are not good bedfellows :)

Anyway, I digress. Two SVX's later, I leave the fold for the final time and buy a BMW 330i last year. Again, a shame... but practicality won out over my desire for an SVX. I loved all three of my SVX's and miss them all (though the 94 less than the 95 or the 96... because it had issues...)

Jump forward to yesterday. I am still an SVX fan, so I go hang with pearlm30, someone who lives local and has a small menagerie of SVXi much to his wife's chagrin. While I was over there I spotted his new one... it was green... like my 95 and my 96. He told me it was a 95 L AWD. I smiled and wondered, "What if?"

So I begin to think; what would have been a sign that this was my old car from 10 years ago? What would give it away and still last through all this time and who knows what else? Then it comes to me; I remember in 1997 I loaded an HP Netserver into my back seat because it wouldn't fit through the trunk opening. As I did so, I scuffed the back of the drivers seat and left a few scratches and a tiny divot in the seat. I grinned, opened the drivers door, flipped forward the seat...

SCRATCHES AND A DIVOT.

Whoah. What the hell are the odds?

He and I didn't leave it there though... today he was going through the car some more and found an old title with my name on it... and he removed the alarm system; a Viper 600HF that I installed right after I bought the car. So yeah, he has just bought my original SVX!

So I am going to take some pictures soon of it as it stands today. The years haven't been kind. The roof is faded badly, the bodywork in general has seen better days. The transmission is toast apparently, and the interior... well... the less said about that the better. I am amazed the back of the drivers seat survived enough for me to see the divot and scratches... the rest of the interior has definitely been better. I know... I kept it better! :)

I'll post here again when I get some photos of the car. Denny (pearlm30) is going to part the car out probably, use it to fix his cars and salvage whatever he can from it. Me, I'm just pumped to see my car again, even in that state. I look forward to a nice weather day so I can get some pictures before he really tears it apart... sort of a memorial to an old friend.

So anyway... those who don't know me probably won't care much... but those that do know me, know that I have been around the club a long time. Back on the Yahoo club site, I was the owner of post #3, the first two being from the founder (Jester... wonder whatever happened to him?). Before that I was calling for an SVX club on Usenet (google it if you don't believe me :) ) and am always glad to see what the club has become.

I may never own another SVX, but I will always be a fan.

That's great! I have a very similar story...

About 8 years ago, I was a junior in high school, looking for my first car. I had driven a black '95 SVX and man was it SWEEEET!! I freakin' loved it, and told my dad that I wanted to buy it. Unfortunately, we hadn't brought money for a deposit, and then next day when I came back to see it again... it had been sold! Saddened, but still happy to find whatever else came along, I ended up buy the other option... A '94 Ford Probe. (which I still have) I wasn't unhappy with the probe at all, don't get me wrong, it was a GREAT fist car. I learned a TON of stuff about cars from just tinkering and reading about it. Ever since I'd driven that beast of an SVX, I just always had them in the back of my mind though.

Honest to goodness, a couple times a year I'd get on autotrader just to see what they were going for.

So, let's fastforward to the summer of '07. I and a friend are in town one night and we drive by a random used car lot at 11pm. I spot a black SVX, and inform him that we must IMMEDIATELY turn around. I go over every inch of the car to see as much of it as I can, and took a few pictures with my cell phone too. As we left the lot I told him, "I'm going to come and buy this car tomorrow." You know what? I did!

So anyway, after having a board member run a carfax on it, and after talking with the dealer about where he got it from, etc... I come to find out that it is the SAME car that I drove when I was back in high school! The best part was that in 7 years, they had only put on 25k miles, and it was in EXCELLENT shape. So, I was very happy, of course. Very weird, but very true though.

These cars are extremely rare around here though, so i wasn't "surprised" but it was still quite the news. In my entire life I think I've seen 4 other SVXii within a 50 mile radius of my home, so of course this was the one for me!

That's my weird story about my SVX.

Thumper,

It's good to hear from you.

I'm just another old timer. You may remember me as larry iii.

Wow thats nuts. :eek:

That's a great story Gavin. I remember you from Yahoo! days.

General high running costs over here [Road tax $2300 per year, Insurance $1500, gasoline at $7.50 per gallon etc etc] means the SVX is pretty expensive to run as #1 car.

I ran my JDM Claret for a good number of years as my main vehicle. Now I have a better solution; I run a minivan as an everyday car, and I have the SVX for a #2 car. And a #3 car. And a #4 car! :eek: etc etc.

I seem to have caught Earl's bug. ;) :D

I could be like you and go for a Beemer or something, but to be honest I like the multi car solution. I get the best of both worlds.

The SVX was beautiful to drive every day, comfortable and safe, but I remember well trying to get things into the boot [trunk] and failing. It's a good car for hauling the driver. It's not so good for hauling goods or luggage.:rolleyes: :lol:

I'll bet you miss yours.

Joe :)

Welcome back, Thumper! Even if you are SVXless, you can still stay here and get your fix.. :)

Is the Yahoo board still up? I haven't visited there in years...

I did that!! I bought a car that had gone by the wayside years before from the JAWS of the CRUSHER!! I had to give $60. for it!! That was 1974!! I STILL have it!! It still runs and is still LOVED by the family. It has a fresh coat of primer and is in the 'queue' for the spraybooth! 300k and 34 years later.

Can you save it???

SVXs must be really prone to this sort of thing. Mine's not AS amazing, but it was kinda ironic. Back in 2005, I went to a local Subaru shop to get my Legacy repaired after I ran it into a pole, and while I was there a black SVX came up the path, parked, and the guy went into the shop. Me and the guy who took me to the shop stood looking at the car, talking about how awesome it was. I didn't say it, but in my head I was thinking, "Man, I would never be able to own a car like this."

January 2007, that very same SVX is sitting in my driveway. :p

LOL... yes, Larry... how could I forget? :)

svxistentialist: Yeah, I remember you in the Yahoo days as well. I was truly tempted to keep the SVX and buy another as parts to keep mine running... it seems to be the way of things around here. However, I just didn't have room in my life for another car (we already had three with two drivers in the house!) and unfortunately the one week that two of the three cars were down for maintenance happened to be the same week we REALLY needed to cart the kids around a lot. Not much fun with a 7 and 9 year old getting them in and out of the back of the SVX.

And yeah, I miss my SVX every day. I miss all three of them for different reasons, even the 94 that was sort of already falling apart by the time I bought it. None of them were ever perfect daily cars; they all needed serious care and feeding, but they were good cars all around. I just needed more practical transportation at the moment and don't regret the decision... doesn't stop me missing them, though :)

And subi-crosser... no, probably no chance of saving it. Perlm30 has done his damndest to fix the tranny on the car but to no avail. It was a badly rebuilt tranny that went out again. The car itself... more valuable to him as parts for his other SVXi than fixing it up. The body and the interior both need more work than the entire car's really worth.

Glad all of you enjoyed the story.