Thought I'd Tell Everyone My SVX Story

[MacknHoes]

I signed up here a while back but never actually posted anything or talked to members on here so I guess this is my formal introduction. I'll begin by telling everyone about my acquired SVX.

My name is John I live in the town of Twin Falls, Idaho. I am 20 years old.
Ever since I was 13 back in '98 and first played Gran Turismo on the PlayStation I remember seeing that specific freaking car and talking about how cool it looked. Then a year or so later I saw a green one at the gas station on the corner of the street where I live. I didn't actually know they even existed in the states because of all the strange imports in that game. After seeing it I did my research and found out everything I "thought" I needed to know about them. I knew I had to have one. In 2003 at the store where I work a lady who began working there occasionally drove up in a black '94 SVX LSi with a huge indent in the hood, a cracked windshield, and a big dent in the drivers side door that also went into the rear panel. I thought it was probably a big piecer because of the disfigurement until I looked inside and saw it was almost mint. After a few months passed I realized the lady wasn't taking it to work anymore so I thought I'd ask. She told me the tranny was going out and that it was way too expensive for her to fix (considering she bought it off of her lawyer friend who sold it to her for only $2,000 I think it was). So I asked the question about if she was going to sell it. She told me told me she was going to real soon. Without hesitation I told her I wanted to have first dibs. A few days later I went down to her house and snatched it up for $1,800 cash. I bought it knowing it was going to be a car which greatly needed TLC.
Here's what it was like when I first bought it:
-136,000 Miles
-Cracked Windshield (Needed Replacement)
-Hood was ran over by a fire truck (you can only imagine, but I have no pics of what it looked like at first)
-Driver's side door was a bit dinged along with the rear panel
-Balding tires
-Lots of highway chips

The story about the hood was pretty funny I guess. Something about the car was parked next to a hydrant when a fire broke out in the neighborhood. Instead of asking the owner to move the car the fire dept. ran over the car to get where they needed. Then only a week after that the lawyer guy was on our main street when he got plowed by a lady changing lanes or something. By that time he was done with it and sold it to the lady who sold it to me.

I had that car sitting in my driveway for about a year until I was able to actually get the necessary repairs it needed. Then I remember after that it was just one thing after another...
-Power Steering pump went out to complement the Dead Tranny
-CD player died
-High pressure hose blew when I replaced the PS Pump
-Went through 3 batteries due to electrical problems
-Alternator bit it
-Rear wiper died
-All the belts went out at once (no joke)

But you know, after working those little things out like waiting patiently for parts, labor, and spending big bucks on it all the driving experience was breathtaking. I would have to say I was about $6G's in the hole by now but it was all worth it.

As time went on in the last year I had almost everything I listed fixed besides the body and a few other minor things. That's when the nice people of my Subaru dealership stepped in! I woke up one morning on Nov. of last year to my dad yelling at me telling me to wake up because we have to go to the dealership and pick up all the body parts for my car today or else they would be thrown away. The thing is I never ordered anything or paid for it at the least. Turns out that "lawyer guy" was good friends with the people at the dealership (having bought a $35,000 car from them and all) that when he got into that wreck they ordered everything for him without making him pre-pay. Little did they know he was going to sell it soon there after. After sitting there for about 3 years and not having a single person in my town that was in need for those parts they gave them all to me for free. Sadly there was no windshield or hood but it was about $2,000 of parts I needed FREE!

Just this last April I finally took it down to a body shop, parts and all, to give her some reconstruction. And after having an order for a carbon fiber hood go belly-up from Advention Corp. and constantly having the wrong molding for my door window come in I might finally have my car back as soon as tomorrow perhaps. We’ll see though, nothing is EVER for sure anymore with this car. In the meantime I bought a ’73 Dodge Dart Swinger for $400 a few weeks ago and it has driven me around quite nicely.

Check out my pics of both cars. I can’t wait to add “after” sections….

[n00b on demand]

Wow very nice story. I hope everything works out for you!

[ensteele]

Way to go! Welcome to the site and that was a great story. True love of this great car. I just hope you can start driving it and really fall in love!

[yesmar]

I'll have to look out for ya, Im in twin almost more than Im accualy at home. Every time ive been in twin and seen a SVX i freak out! have you noticed any for sale in twin? i need to buy one! do i hear a twin falls meet, i know there's a red one lurking around as well.

[MacknHoes]

Thanks guys. I am supposed to pick it up by 5PM on Thursday now. Can't wait, hopefully this time it's for real.
yesmar - I found three others here in Twin lurking around. The red one you were talking about I see parked downtown or at this duplex. Then there's this two tone gray and black one with a dent in the rear end that some guy drives. The other one I see around here is a maroon one. A few months ago I was looking through some ads I found a place in Hailey selling two but they said they both had mechanical problems and wanted over $4,000 for each of them. Don't worry, if I ever spot anything I will let you know. A meet would be great though.

[freak customs]

wow... welcome to the site. sounds like the luck i've had so far. i hope you'll enjoy the car once it's all done (i had mine on the road for two days and haveing a hard time going without it now). i think i can speak for many here when i say the svx a sickness that i don't wanna cure

[yesmar]

dude i would love to go to a meet!! wahts more fun than being around SVXes? mabye I would accualy get to finaly sit in one

[michael]

That swinger kicks @$$, I had to get a 84 rabbit to get me around. These things are an uphill battle. I hope you stay on the upswing the constant kicks in the belly can get you down. Good luck!