My Car in Road&Track!!!!!!

[chuyler1]

For those of you who missed this. I submitted an essay to Road Gear Magazine (a sub-magazine of Road&Track) about how I purchase car audio equipment on ebay. Apparently my story was the only one that was actually interesting and I won the contest.

Unfortunately Road Gear Magazine was canceled and made into an online e-zine, www.roadgearmag.com. Due to legal obligations they still had to honor the rules of the contest and I won a trip to Daytona Beach to attend the Spring Break Nationals car audio competition. I am flying out there on the 24th of March with my Fiance for a 3-night mini-vacation.

Months after winning the contest, Road Gear contacted me again and said they would like to create a small ad featuring the contest and me, the winner. eBay wanted to get a little more exposure out of the deal and since Road Gear no longer existed, they decided to put the ad in Road&Track!

Here is the link to my essay...
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123450&highlight=passion

Here is the link to the photo shoot my friend helped me with...
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123622378&highlight=road+track

And attached is the full page ad for those of you who don't subscribe to R&T.

 

[slug420]

thats awesome! look at all the press NEPOC got(alright)....errr.....(peep)


wah waah waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

 

[Fear]

i saw it friday. congrats!


p.s. your weiner looks small in the pic. can't win em all, apparently.

 

[Fear]

oh, damn rep points. i'll give you some when i can.

 

[YellowMP5]

good job.

 

[ebmp5]

can i have your autograh lol
congrat's bro

 

[Bala]

Thats great!

 

[Pirana]

I saw it....congrats!!

 

[cboe's_mp5]

Cool

 

[Phoenix5]

I saw that today dude!Congrats on that!

 

[khaosman]

awesome

 

[Moeed]

a celebrity is in our midst.

 

[Cellerator]

It's in this month's Road and Track, page 121. You have become a celebrity, congrats!

For future reference, Road and Track APRIL 2006 copy.

 

[bazooka joe]

i know chris....i know chris!! good job man!!(first)

 

[Protege52003]

nice chris.....you have been waiting for this to get published!

see you tonight!

-R

 

[hyperboarder]

You know what's funny, I read that issue the other day, saw that and read it all, completely oblivious to the fact that you were on the boards. I even read the post about the contest and all the first time around. Anyway, congrats, gotta love publicity.

 

[Micah]

I saw that at my friends house yesterday. I was like - holy s***, I know who that is.

 

[capnsavem]

w00ty w00t

 

[cbcbd]

Nice, Chris, very nice.
Keep on chasing that Ebay dream

 

[chuyler1]

Thanks guys...

Just to be clear, eBay has it's pros and cons when it comes to buying car audio equipment. There is plenty of high-end gear and limited-edition models on eBay but you have to take your time and shop carefully. Here's a quick summary of the things I have purchased...

MTX Amps: I have purchased 5 total. I had an MTX Thunder 204 but I sold it to a friend and it is still going strong. I still have an MTX Thunder 302 which is sitting in my basement (power is good, SQ is ok). I bought three MTX Thunder 500d amps. One I returned immediately because the guy posted a picture of a different amp and the one I received was really beat up. The second one I got worked great for about a year and then shorted out and fried my subs. The third one I got never really put out full power. All the amps cost at our under $100 so it's not like they were a total loss.

Clarion Gear: I still have in my car a Clarion DRX9575rz, DRX655z, and DPH7500z. They are all going strong. I paid under $400 for everything which is about 25% of their retail value when new. I also recently purchased a new Clarion DRX7575z faceplate for my fiance's car because the back light on the LCD went out on the one she had. When it arrived it was a little beat up but I just pulled out the circuit board and stuck it in the original faceplate.

PPI AMP: I was having trouble with the PPI5440 that was in my fiance's car so I found another one for like $75. I hooked it up and this one had some crackling in the front left channel. I swapped back the original amp and it magically started working again. The new amp is in my basement (future project is to fix it).

Eclipse Subs: I got a crazy deal on a pair of 8" Eclipse 87081.4 subwoofers. They're rated for 200w RMS and have an XMAX of .73". They simply don't make subs like that in 8" form anymore. I've been in search for a 3rd one but I don't think I'll ever find it.

So I've had some good luck and some bad luck, but in the end, I still saved money over buying things at retail. I warn people to watch carefully for shill bidding, overseas auctions, and shady sellers. People selling new equipment for a fraction of their retail value are usually selling B-stock items or stolen goods off the back of a truck. I feel more comfortable buying from someone like me looking to make a few extra bucks on their old gear.