The Old Warhorse

I was going through a DVD last night that is literally filled with nothing but photos from when I was back home in Australia. I didn’t think I actually had any photos of any of my old cars when I found a couple of pics of my RPS13 I took a few days after buying it.

I know it’s nothing special to look at as it was 100% stock standard when I bought it with the only modifications being seriously faded paint because it had been left sitting in the sun for the 2 years since it’d been imported into Australia (if you could call that a modification).

But the reason I spent my cash on the thing is that it had only 60,000 kays on the clock, had only one Japanese owner before I’d bought it from the importer and apart from the sunbeaten paint, was in pristine condition.

I know many people who won’t even consider buying an import unless it’s already been modified to save them some money, however I’m the total opposite. I won’t even think about spending money on a vehicle that I intend to modify unless it’s exactly as it left the factory.

The reason for this is simple enough, especially if you’ve seen the way that many cars are modified in Australia. Think ill-fitting and horrendously-styled bodykits that look as if they were installed on the car by a schizophrenic octopus, cheap home garage installed parts that work about as reliably as a government employee, and hastily-applied budget canary yellow or purple paintjobs that do nothing for the car apart from making it look like…well, shit.

If I modify a car, I want to do it once, do it right, and do it the way I want to do it.

The fact is, I could deal with a little sun-damaged paint (which you can clearly see in the photos) but apart from that it was perfect. I mean, look at how clean the engine bay is! And that’s after it had been sitting in a car yard for two years.

Sadly, I never got the chance to modify this precious as at the time, I was in some severe financial shit (thanks, GE Finance) and had to sell it to pay off some debts. Hopefully the guy who bought it did it proud, however I lost contact with him so I never did find out what the fate of my old workhorse was.

Anyway, that’s a little of my motoring history with some photos attached for those of you who have the attention span of a gnat, can’t read, or just like pretty shapes and colours.

- Leon.