So I tried to go through Summit catalogs like other people, but the V6 didn't have any parts available. This worked out because I later learned that any modifications to the engine would prove futile. Instead I turned to the universal mods that every teenager knows: rims and radios.
 
I first moved from the stock 15x7's to some 15x8 polished tri-blades. Some time later on I moved up to some 16x8 pointed tri-blades. This is when I first learned that not everyone knows what they are talking about. The rims were the wrong offset and my fender lips promptly tore up some pretty nice Dunlops. The ever changing rims did help the growing ticket problem.  Not sure why burying the needle on the 280 went fine, but slower speeds on the bird caused problems.. Maybe they knew the 280 would stop running on it's own every month...I'm not sure. Back on topic, the "Tire shop sold me the wrong tires, my speedo was off" works wonders in getting a speeding ticket dropped to a non-moving violation. Save your receipts! On a side note, since Mississippi was not on a point system (and hardly sent anything to the state), the whole 'tickets make your insurance go up' was an urban legend. I'm not sure what you would have to do to make it go up, but it must be a lot.

Back on the stereo. It started with a Sony CD deck from the Penny Pincher. Once I had a deck, it was on. Some Pioneer 6x9's in the back and a Kraco amp from the pawn shop. Never mind that I found the same amp at Walmart a week later for $10 cheaper (the pawn shop one was used too!). As the topic states, I tend to obsess over things. After buying every car stereo magazine for 6 months and really annoying the guys at Advanced Audio, I started on my first system. To say I butchered the car during this was an understatement. I'm trying to do a magazine system working for minimum wage. Sure it looked decent from the outside, but the install was full of hacks and fixed mistakes. One of the major mistakes I remember is spending months building a ported box and not realizing the ports got sealed by the deck lid when closed. I sold the whole first system to go on a senior trip to Ocean City, MD. Mainly because I got tired of the 'vision' that never seemed to come out right.

It doesn't sound like much, but you have to understand that I was out in the garage doing 'something' almost every night. In hindsight, I really did a bunch of nothing but I was learning! Mechanically at this point I might have been able to change my brake pads, but for the most part other people fixed my problems. So off to college I went: tore up rear tires, stock tape deck on some Blaupunkt separates, and no money or tools to do anything.

 

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