Catalyst

We all remember the first time we got into cars and for me and a lot of kids in my generation, it was The Fast and Furious movie, specifically Hector's Eg6 Hatch. In early 2000's when my life pretty much revolved around playing the guitar, binge drinking and cutting class, this film was a game changer. It's like having your third eye opened for the first time and seeing an entire new freaking awesome world! I mean look at that tri-color paint job that changes color with every different angle the sun hits it with, big ass chrome rims(which are legit by the way), crazy drop(the word "stance" didn't exist yet in the 90's/early 2000's) and out of this world wings. Not to mention my very first auditory experience of the blow off valve. Yes, my ear drum cherries popped and the "kapish" experience caused a lot of sleepless nights and failed classes back in college. I have to admit even Hector's cholo accent was cool! At least I used to think it was.

Fast forward to 2005, I finally had a chance to drive my own car, I looked forward to this day since I've seen the very first movie of the franchise and guess what? I bought my first mod even before getting the car. That's how excited I got and I can remember the butterflies doing crazy donuts and burnouts in my stomach when I saw someone selling on a local honda forum my dream EG wing. So lo and behold, my first mod ladies and gents, the Bomex EG Wing. Fine, its RICE, but JDM Yo! During this time though I had no idea what the hell is with the JDM culture and why people liked their Japanese cars looking almost all stock even after spending hundreds of thousands of Php(Philippine Peso) on mods.

**pic taken from clubcivic.com**

So there, I am one mod closer to my project ride, Hector's hatch. Met with the seller of this beauty and took a cab ride home. Now its time to start searching for a mint condition EG hatchback. Took me and my best buddy another month or two to find a reasonably priced EG within my area that fits the specs that I want. By specs that I want I meant as close as possible to Hector's EG. Hell I didn't even care about performance as long as it looked badass! I test drove around 3 EG's that month and 1 stood out. It was previously owned by a doctor and used as an extra car. Probably only used during number coding days of the daily driven main car. When I looked at the specs and checked it out in person, I was blown away! Are you ready? Here goes - aftermarket 15's Rota Flight wheels, low profile tires in 195/50 R15, custom body paint in blue/green shade, stock suspension which means there's a 1 km wheel gap, custom front bumper chin painted body color, and yes, effing indiglo guages which can be manually switched from blue to green! OK so the powerplant, 1.3 Liter carburated engine with custom black iron headers, stock midpipe and a 4 inch free flow muffler. Riced as shit! But back then, the first time I saw this car in person felt the same as when I see a rally prepped STI today. It was glorious!

I will end this first post here and will continue with this story of love at first sight in a day or two.

Cheers and more HP from the Cheap Ricer!

#CheapRicerRiceJDM