name: michael franklin
car: 2002 mazda protege es
tranny: 5 speed
mods: racingbeat springs, tokico hp shocks, mazdaspeed axelback, k and n drop in filter and typhoon intake, twm short throw shifter, kartboy bushings, and soon to come obx header, awr rear sway bar, and corksport front strut bar.
why my car? i graduated high school in may of 03. my dad's best friend offered to build me a supercharged 88 m3 as my graduation present, but instead they asked me what kinda car i wanted because im picky about alot things. i had no answer. my dad's friend went along and built the car. the stats were 326whp and 332torque. 2000 e36 m3 engine with a custom supercharger and 35k miles on the engine and tranny. alot of internal things were done, but im not listing because too many parts to list. stripped interior with 2 recardo racingseats, no ac, no power windows, no power locks, and no back seats. total cost of the m3 was $18k. i had to pay for parts only and no installations. the car was bought without an engine for $3400 and the other $14600 is engine and body work. the car was built within 3 weeks, and i had the m3 for about a week in a half. i passed my mom on the highway doing well over a hundred, and that is how i lost that car. i was really mad about it, but they were right about me not needing the car because i would probably kill myself in it. so my dad's friend took the car back and sold it for $35k to $40k to some guy in florida who made it into a race car in september of 03. in late july of 2003 i had to get a car before i went out to cali to spend time with my now ex girlfriend. so within a weeks time i test drove just about everything within the $18k price range. i was limited to getting only a 4 cyclinder. i wanted a r6 at the time, but it doesn't make since to have a motorcycle as a daily driven vehicle. i didn't like anything except the protege. didn't like the protege5 because its a hatchback and i didn't get a mazdaspeed because there were none in my area. then they had 3 2002 mazda protege's that they wanted to get rid of. two lx's and one es. the es was listed for 20k and some dollars(fully loaded with everything). it was the only 5 speed es that they had. we took out the cassette player and i paid $15k even for it, and i told myself to not spend over $1500 on this car. i picked this car mainly for its looks, and that it handled better than any other stock car, such as a civic ex, sentra gxe, corolla s, and a mini(not s though)(im not including the srt4, wrx, or se-r spec v as being stock because its a modded car). now its a year in a half later. have a couple mods, and im pretty happy with the car. now im only adding a couple more mods to it, and im going to pay it off and try to get another car. i love my protege to death and i take care of it, but i do want something alot faster. so thats my story. its a great first car and daily driver.
jobs: work at blockbuster video for another 4 weeks and ymca alpharetta.
plan: after sway bar, strut bar, and header im finished with modding my car.
car: 2002 mazda protege es
tranny: 5 speed
mods: racingbeat springs, tokico hp shocks, mazdaspeed axelback, k and n drop in filter and typhoon intake, twm short throw shifter, kartboy bushings, and soon to come obx header, awr rear sway bar, and corksport front strut bar.
why my car? i graduated high school in may of 03. my dad's best friend offered to build me a supercharged 88 m3 as my graduation present, but instead they asked me what kinda car i wanted because im picky about alot things. i had no answer. my dad's friend went along and built the car. the stats were 326whp and 332torque. 2000 e36 m3 engine with a custom supercharger and 35k miles on the engine and tranny. alot of internal things were done, but im not listing because too many parts to list. stripped interior with 2 recardo racingseats, no ac, no power windows, no power locks, and no back seats. total cost of the m3 was $18k. i had to pay for parts only and no installations. the car was bought without an engine for $3400 and the other $14600 is engine and body work. the car was built within 3 weeks, and i had the m3 for about a week in a half. i passed my mom on the highway doing well over a hundred, and that is how i lost that car. i was really mad about it, but they were right about me not needing the car because i would probably kill myself in it. so my dad's friend took the car back and sold it for $35k to $40k to some guy in florida who made it into a race car in september of 03. in late july of 2003 i had to get a car before i went out to cali to spend time with my now ex girlfriend. so within a weeks time i test drove just about everything within the $18k price range. i was limited to getting only a 4 cyclinder. i wanted a r6 at the time, but it doesn't make since to have a motorcycle as a daily driven vehicle. i didn't like anything except the protege. didn't like the protege5 because its a hatchback and i didn't get a mazdaspeed because there were none in my area. then they had 3 2002 mazda protege's that they wanted to get rid of. two lx's and one es. the es was listed for 20k and some dollars(fully loaded with everything). it was the only 5 speed es that they had. we took out the cassette player and i paid $15k even for it, and i told myself to not spend over $1500 on this car. i picked this car mainly for its looks, and that it handled better than any other stock car, such as a civic ex, sentra gxe, corolla s, and a mini(not s though)(im not including the srt4, wrx, or se-r spec v as being stock because its a modded car). now its a year in a half later. have a couple mods, and im pretty happy with the car. now im only adding a couple more mods to it, and im going to pay it off and try to get another car. i love my protege to death and i take care of it, but i do want something alot faster. so thats my story. its a great first car and daily driver.
jobs: work at blockbuster video for another 4 weeks and ymca alpharetta.
plan: after sway bar, strut bar, and header im finished with modding my car.
