You could’ve offered to trade me a Ferrari and I would’ve turned it down those first few months of having the Pao. I practically lived in that car. And thanks to the garage that sold it to me a lot of the upkeep was really pristine so I didn’t have nearly any worries about it. My only thought was well geez, how can I make this thing faster. I wanted to be able to cruise with my buddies in their STI’s and heck even their Camry’s.
The guy at the shop thought we should put a SR20DET into the Pao, although that tickled the 16 year old in me I just imagined ripping that little chassis to shreds with all that horsepower. Luckily the lack of power in the car helped quell the concerns of mom, and anybody who was nervous about my lead foot.
It’s a special thing those first few months of owning one of these little cars. It still is now half a decade later, but there comes a certain feeling of responsibility to care for this little piece of history.