[bcpianoman]

The story of the acquisition of my first SVX is rather mundane but the second one is interesting. After I had my first one and met Earthworm at Dabob, I knew I wanted a 5-speed. As there was nothing wrong with my 4EAT I didn’t want to cut it up. That meant buying another SVX with a bad transmission. I also knew that my wife would be opposed to the idea of me having 2 SVXs (I now have 4 but those are stories for another day) but I thought if I gave her the 5 speed she wouldn’t be too angry for too long. It generally being easier to obtain forgiveness than permission, I thought I’d surprise her at Christmas.

I bought a ’92 Pearlie SVX from Salt Lake City with no motor and a bad transmission for $800.00 and had it shipped to Washington State where a friend of mine picked it up. When I first saw it I realized that the seller had cut the entire wiring harness off at the firewall with a hacksaw – damn.

My friend and I dropped the car off (no motor, bad tranny and no wiring harness) at my mechanic's shop and asked him to replace all the wiring, install a motor and put in a 5-speed. My mechanic, who up to that time had never even seen an SVX let alone worked on one, was up to the task. It was over 100 hours of labour at $35.00 Cdn per hour but I think he did a great job.

A couple of days before Christmas I hid my SVX (also a Pearlie) in the neighbourhood and started to drive the new 5-speed. My wife (remember – she still didn’t know that I had bought a second SVX) didn’t notice the difference even though she stood outside the window one evening and talked to me as I was pulling into the neighbourhood.

On Christmas morning I told her that her main present was about a 10-minute drive away and that we would have to go and get it. As we left the house I suggested that she drive. She got into her new car (still thinking that it was my 4EAT SVX) and noticed the stick shift. She was so bewildered that I could almost see the wheels spinning in her head. After about 10 seconds of complete and utter confusion I asked her if she wanted an explanation. She said she did so I told her I bought a 5-speed transmission. She was content with that explanation for about 5 seconds, then the wheels started to spin in her head again. I waited for another 10 seconds or so while she tried to figure out when I had the transmission swap done (I drive my SVX every day) then I told her that I bought another SVX to go around the 5-speed transmission. Then I told her I hoped she likes her Christmas present.

It wasn’t until the day after Boxing Day that the sh!t hit the fan for having bought another SVX without having consulted her. That took only a few days to blow over and she’s loved her SVX since.