Tricked out SVX sighting

[CigarJohnny]

Just spoke with a buddy from work who was at the HotRod show in Wildwood, NJ this past weekend. With all the cars there, the one that really caught his eye was a black SVX all chromed out and modded.

He described it as all black with black tint and huge chromed wheels along with tires with a profile no more than 2". He said that anything on the car that could be chromed was. Inside the engine all was chromed and braided steel hoses were used everywhere. He said it was an impressive show stopper. When they were removing the cars from the board walk the other hotrods were lighting up the tires coming down the ramp to the street. He watched the SVX go and he was stunned at the speed it just launched itself down the ramp and up the street without any tire smoking. He described the owner as a nut (and around 20 - 21 yearsof age).

Does anyone have any idea who the owner of this SVX is? Has anyone seen it around? It sounds like the most highly modified SVX I've ever heard of.

[Mr. Pockets]

How well does your friend know your car? No offense to him (or her), but maybe it was a first-gen Eclipse or Talon. The SVX is often mistaken for one of those cars.

[DavieGravy]

Or a 3000GT.

..or a *shudder* probe..........

-adam

*chills*

[CigarJohnny]

Actually he knows the car very well. While he may not know the difference between a 92 SVX grill and a 97 SVX grill, he knows the difference between the SVX and any other car. The car in Wildwood also had a 5-speed conversion to go with everything else. Why is it so hard to believe that someone has 18 or 19 inch chrome rims or that someone could take it upon himself to upgrade the hoses and chrome some engine parts? I trust him to know an SVX when he sees one.

He knows a guy in our area that collected cars and was heavy into Subaru's. At one time the guy had an SVX factory rally car with a fully adjustable race suspension and a full fiber body. He sold it a couple of years ago to another collector after it sat gathering dust in his garage for several years. He never told me about it until I had gotten my SVX. That is one car I wish I had seen in person. Another guy I met who works at my local Radio Shack is heavy into Rally racing and remembers seeing the factory SVX rally cars in action. He was always impressed by them.

[Subafreak]

What? Subaru rally raced SVX's? I,v never seen or heard of one of thoes.

[rufus]

So far the search for "rally SVX" has turned up no such car, but here are a couple interesting pages with some SVX references:

http://www.subaru.co.nz/news/news_awards/

http://www.spimotorsports.com/Autoyear.htm

And here is an Impreza rally car with a few SVX parts...

http://www.acme-audio.com/newviz1/car2.htm

[rufus]

Wow. Check out the winner of the 1991 AlCan rally...

http://www.alcan5000.com/2000facts.htm

[WestCoastSVX]

Originally posted by CigarJohnny
Why is it so hard to believe that someone has 18 or 19 inch chrome rims or that someone could take it upon himself to upgrade the hoses and chrome some engine parts?

It's hard for some to believe because after a while on these forums we tend to start to think of this as the SVX universe. We start to get the mentality that if anyone out there owns an SVX and thinks of it as more than "just a car", then they are an active member here.

The reality of it is there are still thousands of SVXes out there we know nothing about. And while we have some of the biggest SVX nuts on the planet here, it is not inconceivable that there are even bigger nuts out there that have yet to find this site, or may be spending so much time working with their SVX they don't have time to post here, or maybe no desire to.

There could indeed be supercharged SVXes prowling the streets at night hunting Vettes and Cobras, there could be fully riced SVXes out there in racing clubs alongside all the others running 12's. Who really knows? Anything is possible with money, and likely someone who has enough money and knowledge to make the SVX into such a beast wouldn't need to waste time posting here. Of course they would be missing out on some great companionship. But now that I think of it they would probably just be missing out on a verbal beating for making the SVX "something it isn't". That is if they were even believed in the first place. In our defense, we have been fed a lot of BS in the past about 900 hp SVXes and the like, so by now we are skeptical. But it probably makes it hard for someone new to come in and share about their projects. What can you do? <shrug>

[GreenMarine]

That is a very interesting point..... Kinda opens your mind a little to think about what could really be out there... There are many times that I have thought that there are no real SVX owners other tthan the ones on this site... But I am quite wrong there....

[Noir]

well i know there are at least 5-6 svx's in the county that i live in. i don't think they are on the network. never heard of many people here from atlanta much less the county that i'm in. also i'm sure that if someone modified their car, they would want to be the only one with it. many people don't want to post what they have done so that others may copy them. it's part of that uniqueness that we all love about the svx.

i've had offers from a shops to buy my svx if i were willing to sell it. not a surprise if they choose to modify it.

[Mr. Pockets]

Originally posted by CigarJohnny
Actually he knows the car very well. While he may not know the difference between a 92 SVX grill and a 97 SVX grill, he knows the difference between the SVX and any other car. The car in Wildwood also had a 5-speed conversion to go with everything else. Why is it so hard to believe that someone has 18 or 19 inch chrome rims or that someone could take it upon himself to upgrade the hoses and chrome some engine parts?

It's not. I just offered up an idea. Why is it so hard to believe I had only good intentions, and didn't specifically want to rain on your parade?

Originally posted by CigarJohnny
I trust him to know an SVX when he sees one.

Fair enough. Too bad he didn't talk the owner into joining this site.

Originally posted by CigarJohnny
He knows a guy in our area that collected cars and was heavy into Subaru's. At one time the guy had an SVX factory rally car with a fully adjustable race suspension and a full fiber body. He sold it a couple of years ago to another collector after it sat gathering dust in his garage for several years. He never told me about it until I had gotten my SVX. That is one car I wish I had seen in person. Another guy I met who works at my local Radio Shack is heavy into Rally racing and remembers seeing the factory SVX rally cars in action. He was always impressed by them.

As far as I know, there were never any 'factory' SVX rally cars. The only actual rally-prepped SVX that I've ever seen was the one that won the 1991 AlCan Rally. 'Factory' suggests actual corporate backing from Subaru for the effort. To go through that expense would also suggest that they did it for something high profile like SCCA ProRally. I've never heard of such an effort, and I submit that it never happened. It runs counter to Subaru's marketing plans (such as they were) for the SVX.

That's not to say that nobody's ever privately entered an SVX as a rally car, and gone through the hideous expense of prepping it as you say, but I doubt it - and I especially doubt that it had full SOA or FHI backing.

Again, don't take it personally, but hearing you say that you 'know a guy who knows a guy' isn't concrete proof of a factory SVX rally effort. I'm obsessed with my SVX, I have been for a few years now, and I might say that I'm slightly internet-experienced. Yet I've never seen anything to suggest a factory-backed SVX rally car.

when I was at one of the junkyards part searching one of the guys helping me out said ther was a SVX he new of in New Jersey that looked real good and he said it did some time racing (1/4 mile) and was very respectable. He said it was easily in the 13's I never mentioned it because...
1. I didn't see it for myself
2. Even if I saw it run a frickin 13 with my own eyes 20 people here would say it was impossible, it cost too much or that the lights in the time board were wrong.

Anyway I think they're out there just not alot of them, that being why we are such an Elite (and crazy) bunch.

[jsvxstyle]

Originally posted by MacGyver


It's hard for some to believe because after a while on these forums we tend to start to think of this as the SVX universe. We start to get the mentality that if anyone out there owns an SVX and thinks of it as more than "just a car", then they are an active member here.

The reality of it is there are still thousands of SVXes out there we know nothing about. And while we have some of the biggest SVX nuts on the planet here, it is not inconceivable that there are even bigger nuts out there that have yet to find this site, or may be spending so much time working with their SVX they don't have time to post here, or maybe no desire to.

There could indeed be supercharged SVXes prowling the streets at night hunting Vettes and Cobras, there could be fully riced SVXes out there in racing clubs alongside all the others running 12's. Who really knows? Anything is possible with money, and likely someone who has enough money and knowledge to make the SVX into such a beast wouldn't need to waste time posting here. Of course they would be missing out on some great companionship. But now that I think of it they would probably just be missing out on a verbal beating for making the SVX "something it isn't". That is if they were even believed in the first place. In our defense, we have been fed a lot of BS in the past about 900 hp SVXes and the like, so by now we are skeptical. But it probably makes it hard for someone new to come in and share about their projects. What can you do? <shrug>

UM I SPEND MY TIME HERE. BUT I TRY TO STAY AWAY FROM THE VERBAL BEATINGS.

[LarryIII]

There were photos of the SVX in the Alcan Rally. I've seen them posted on both the Yahoo SVX Club and on this site. In fact, I used one of those photos on one of the flyers for the 10th Anniversary SVX Meet. Sadly, all I left is on papaer copy of that flyer.

There was a link to the site of the people that ran that SVX in the Alcan Rally. They seemed to be private and specialized in Subys. I have no idea what kind of 'factory' assistance or sponsorship they have/had, if any.

Anyone here can probably find the link by searcing the archieves.
I think I found it through Joe Spitz's site.
Good Luck.