Dad, I swapped my car ....... Blog post by Niel

About 3 years ago I bought De Wet a beautiful Mazda RX7. Only 48 000 miles on the clock, interior in great shape, airconditioner ice cold. "This is the last money I put into a car for you, this will last a long time" " " Do not screw around with this car, everything is in good condition. You wanted a fast, sporty car; well now you have one that needs no tampering"....
 First thing that changed was new (used) wheels ... "These original wheels are ugly Dad"  Really???!!
To my irritation the wheels got replaced a couple times. Every day held a new surprise, black wheels, golden wheels, silver wheels, all courtesy of Dupli-color, Rustoleum or any spray can that was on special. This car ran well, a rotary engine can run high revs and sounds great. I get to listen to 758 different RX7's screaming by in top revs .. Youtube is a wonderful thing.

"Dad, my car is not going to last long and I have someone that really wants it. All RX7 engines blow at around 75 000 miles and that will be lots of money to fix."
Now I am ready to crap in my hand and rub it through my hair. I thought I was done with cars. I don't want to even hear this. Persistance pays off. Every day something else is going to break soon.
" Do whatever you want, just remember, I am not paying for anything else..."
Due to immigration status De Wet is not allowed to work. He has been getting car parts from the scrap yard and selling it. The money is almost non existing, but it pays for some gas, and "necessary" modifications.



"Dad, I swapped my car."
I puckered my ass the size of a pinprick. Surely he made a decent choice, I hoped. I walked into the garage....
 In front of me was a Nissan 240SX, 1990. The red paint looked like a river bed that dried out in the desert sun. According to me it can't be worth more than $500, if it had brand new tires. These tires were worn... everything was worn as far as I was concerned. No aircon and the interior was shot. What the hell??
"What are you going to do with this piece of crap?" "This is a good engine, and I can make this car fast.. " 
I was so mad I could wipe my butt with a rattlesnake. Too late now. I should have supervised this deal, but since he was in automotive school I thought that he would make a good choice.

With very little money, visits to the scrapyard, lots of frustration and verbal abuse from his parents my son put this car together. At times things were held together with galvanized wire, duct tape and zip ties. I helped here and there, giving advice with new inventions and sometimes I heard the most colorful language at 130 decibels any parent can be blessed with. The whole car was painted  matte black with cheap spray cans.
I knew that this was a never ending story... and that all the hopes were in vain. "I am going to do drifting with this car; when I am done I will have so many horsepower, I will be faster than V8 musclecars......"
So this car got a new suspension, diff, brakes, turbo, intercooler, waste gate and  the money came frustratingly slowly. Sometimes months went by with no work done. "I am saving for ......." became a phrase I got only too familiar with.

" Dad, come look here..". Now, that phrase means Dad, hier is groot kak (Trouble). Outside was this car with the smell of burnt plastic smothering my response. "What the..?!!"    "We were welding the exhaust bracket and the interior caught fire .. " There was nothing left of the interior but three quarters of the driver's seat. At that time of the process I was just a spectator. I was beginning to like this process. Nothing turned out to be my problem. This young man was doing this on his own. Sometimes my opinion was considered, but this was not my project....

Last night I went with De Wet to Speedworld. He was going to drag race with a car that he built for drifting. The suspension is too hard for drag racing because you lose grip on the pullaway. He bought used tires,  for $20 each. There is decent tread left, but the rubber is hard and dry ... not good grip.
 I saw around me supercharged Ford Mustangs, a supercharged Ford Lightning, the new Chevy Camaro SS, Pontiac GTO, Dodge Chargers, all V8 performance cars. 5 L displacement was nothing.
I saw these cars racing and I was impressed. I could hear and feel the power and I knew that my son was in over his head. He had a 4 cylinder 2 L engine, but strangely enough he was smiling..

The race is a distance of a quarter mile. The drivers get their time slips at the furthest end and then they come back via a little circular route. When they get back  they can decide to park, or they can return to the start area to race again. Everybody was racing. Race after race.
The men were eager to race the little black car and kick some ass. The supercharged V8 Mustang was among the first to lose to the little black car. By 0,8 sec, at a top speed of 109 miles per hour in the quarter mile. Calculate that.... that is about by 50 yards.  OUCH!  Awesome!!!
I was watching how these musclecars got their asses kicked one after the other.






By the end of the night I was hooked. This little black car beat the crap out of all those $40 000 to S80 000( + $10 000 for performance) cars. I saw with my own eyes how nobody wanted to race this black Nissan 240SX anymore. It was amazing to see how the cars went to the parking lot every time De Wet was waiting to race. On one of the videos you can see how the race organizer tries to wave opponents in for the race, to no avail...  I loved every moment.

Before the race:  " Hey, do you have a turbo?" "Yeah?"..  Chuckle. " There is no replacement for displacement"





After the race:  "Nice when your dad pays and you can just put in anything you want"  (From a guy that drives a $75 000 car)





De Wet's response: Just a shrug and a smile.

Me??  I am a proud father. What he did with that car is awesome. He had a vision, and he accomplished it. With little resources. I think that is just bloody marvellous old chap...