I just got home not too long ago… I went to Shinsengumi, one of our preferred Southern Cali ramen restaurants with a small group of friends after my photo shoot today. The black FC3S in the photo is normally aspirated. It is a daily driven streetcar owned by my friend Justin Pawlak (aka JTP) of Formula D and All Star Bash fame.
What I like about this car is it is pretty simple, yet it looks good. The car was purchased for under $1000 without an engine… then Justin put a high mileage normally aspirated 13B in it, for gas efficiency and street driving duties. The funny thing is, this car is super quiet!!! I thought it would be loud, like all the other rotary engined cars I normally spend time with… but it's quite the contrary. Justin put this car together to be a low budget streetcar. It sits low and mean, thanks to a set of DG5 coilovers from Driftspeed. The wheels don't match, but that's okay. What matters most is that the stance of this car is just right – the wheels come out to the fender. I think a front lip would really set this car off, but hey… it's a work in progress and I'm sure that's on the list of upgrades in the near future.
Cars like this just go to show that building a nice streetcar doesn't have to break your bank. Justin summed it up perfectly tonight when he said, "I don't really care what type of car it is… it's really all about the wheels. If it has cool wheels and a good stance, it will be sick no matter what."
True that… you can definitely say that again!
-Antonio Alvendia