We've all undoubtedly have seen, or at least heard of, the Fast & Furious movies. I can't deny that I wanted my car to eventually look like the ones driven in those movies, but of course, didn't have the knowledge or money to really make my car look like that. Boy did I try though, and while I got some positive feedback, it was mainly laughs and negative comments.

I was new to the import scene, though I have been around a lot of gear heads, but it never really sparked an interest to me until 2002/2003. Smack and I would look up various mods that I could do to my 1988 Honda CRX HF, and thought "that doesn't look too hard" or "that would be badass". What'd we know back then? Actually, he knew quite a bit, I was the naive one who thought I could go ahead and do it, which I could have if I was patient enough and started off in the right direction. I went out and bought a body kit for my car - bumpers, side skirts, fenders, wing, and a carbon fiber hood. My brother had put them on for me, but the parts were never painted, nor was the rust ever treated or repaired. The next thing I went ahead and bought was a new engine. The engine never made it into that CRX.

After some discouragement and talking with some other Honda fanatics, I found a 1989 CRX Si that had no major rust (a spot on each quarter panel that was barely noticable), but it didn't run. I spoke with the shop that the car was sitting at and asked how much for it. He told me the owner wanted $300 for it. I told him if he told anyone else who asked, I would give him $200 for holding it for me until the owner signed over the title.

The newly acquired 89 CRX Si was mine a few days later. A friend of mine had the car towed to his house, along with the engine that I bought a few months prior, and we swapped the engine into the Si. The day after the swap was completed, I registered the car and bought a new ECU for it from a junkyard to match the engine. This swap taught me a few things about Honda's and a few things before you swap an engine into a car. First, make sure all of the spark plugs come out of the head. The engine was already in before we replaced the plugs and one of them had been cross threaded in and would not come out. Great. Aside from that, swapping engines in older Honda's are actually pretty easy.

Once I started driving the CRX, everyone who had a Honda would try and race me. Now, I knew my car wasn't the fastest in the world nor was it the slowest, but I knew it was a waste of time to race a lot of people in it. I just wanted a car that looked decent and ran good with some pep to it so I could have fun driving around. The kit from the 88 CRX was moved over to the new one, and it looked really bad because it still wasn't painted. I now had a 3 color CRX with a motor swap, and no wing.

This car became a cop magnet as I would get pulled over at least once a week. Eventually I had moved to Virginia, and let me tell you, the people down there that are into Honda's and imports are bigger pricks than the people up in Connecticut. They also have reason to as well. People down south either have more money, or more knowledge on working on their imports because you rarely saw one that didn't look great.

After I moved back to Connecticut, I blew the engine in the CRX and was waiting for enough money to buy another replacement engine. This time I made sure to do the swap right - replaced all seals and gaskets, water pump, timing belt, plugs, wires, distributor, radiator hoses, radiator, axles, etc. The only thing missing on the car were the corner lights as I had them at home in my basement. Leaving the persons house who assisted with the swap, I was pulled over and given a warning for speeding, having a headlight out (didn't know it was out), no front plate, no corner plates, no proof of registration, and no proof of insurance. The only thing I had to do was put the lights back on, fix the burnt out head light, and put the front plate back on and get it inspected. I had 30 days. I did all the repairs and on the day I was going to have it inspected, I rear ended some stupid bitch who slammed her brakes at a yellow light in the rain and I blew out a headlight. The cheapest one I could find locally cost $200 and wouldn't be available for 2 weeks. I needed the headlight that day.

After work on the day I got into the accident, I ordered a set of HID lights for the CRX and had them shipped overnight. For the set of headlights and corner lights, and overnight shipping, it still cost less than the 1 stock OEM replacement. Strange. I couldn't make the repairs in time so I turned in the plates to the DMV so they wouldn't suspend my license. I asked Smack if he knew anyone selling a Honda, but more specifically, a del Sol. Ironically, he did. I went to look at it, and it was a must have. I didn't want to work on anymore cars unless I had a second one to drive, nor did I want to put more money into the CRX, so I bought the del Sol. For all of you Honda fanatics, it was a 1994 Si model with an Integra GSR engine swapped into it. It had a full exhaust system and was lowered 2.5" and had a custom paint job. Amazing car in my eyes.

So, Adam, what the fuck does this have to do with ricers? So far, nothing. I just wanted to share my experiences with Honda's. Anyways, the del Sol was loud due to the exhaust. I drove around with it knowing that at any point I could be pulled over for an illegal exhaust, but after a year and a half, nothing happened. One day, I was pulled over for talking on my cellphone and my exhaust. I was only given a warning, but 2 weeks later, I wasn't so lucky.

Cops have a hard on for import cars. I started to notice more and more imports were being pulled over for such stupid things like "too loud of an exhaust". I understand that not everyone wants to hear a loud exhaust, but look at all of the people who put a straight pipe on a bike, or the American Muscle cars that have straight pipes and are loud as fuck. Do they get pulled over? Nope. I don't want to hear that people who ride bikes should be allowed to have them for safety - that's bullshit. If they aren't required to wear a helmet and proper gear for riding, why should they have the luxury of putting an insanely loud exhaust on their bikes? Riding a motorcycle comes with a lot of responsibility and dangers, and those riders are well educated in their license courses about these dangers. Anyways. Ricers have a tendancy to rev their engines while next to you in hopes to initiate a race. I faced this annoyance daily because everyone wants to boost their Honda Penis around here just because they have a loud exhaust. Some of them do have engine work done and are respectibly fast cars, but the majority of morons in my area just toss on a wing and exhaust and think they're the coolest shit in the world. I hate to break it to you fuck face, putting a wing on a Dodge Neon still makes it a fucking Neon.

On top of the revving of the engines, people do some of the dumbest things to their cars around here. I've seen, not once, but twice, 2 different cars that had wooden spoilers. Yes. Wooden fucking spoilers. Or those big ass spoilers that makes their car look like it gets hung up at night in their closets. Seriously, it looks retarded. People should be shot for doing stupid things to their cars. I spoke with a lot of enthusiests over the years, and the majority of them do some pretty damn cool stuff to their cars, and make their cars gorgeous. Enthusiests also have different goals - whether it's doing suspension for better handling, body work to make a custom or better look for their car, or performance fanatics. These are the people that actually know their shit and do the "right" things to their cars. They don't slap on a spoiler and a fart can and think they're the shit. They're the ones who drive around and when someone with a video camera thinks their car is the fastest ride on earth shows up, they get smoked in a race.

One other thing I can't stand is when people find it necessary to put whatever kind of car they drive on a decal on the windshields tint strip, or the logo over their rear window. Seriously? Are you that retarded that you have to put "C I V I C" on your tint strip because you're afraid you might forget what your driving? What about that big ass logo on your rear window? Are you going to forget who made your car? People do some dumb shit. I know I went through my phase with my first and second CRX, but I grew out of it shortly after. The majority of people who do these dumb things today aren't the younger crowd, it's people in their mid to late 20's and early 30's, at least around here.

Fuck Ricers.