Everyone has tales of their fast cars, and nice cars. However some of the best tales are of the cheap cars that could, I affectionately call them shitboxes. Now, to be a shitbox car, it need not be old, it can be new. A Honda Fit, for example is a shitbox even though it is an expensive new car. It just has to be a subcompact 4 cylinder economy car. I have owned several of them, and refer them by their number. Shitboxes 1-3. #1 was a 1990 Olds Calais Quad 4 that was so terrible I swore I would never again own a late model American car. I traded it in ( for $200!) on #2, a new 1998 Nissan Sentra XE/5speed. I loved the fuel economy, but trade it in 3 mos later on my truck ( not a shitbox).
#3 was ANOTHER B14 Sentra, a 1995 GXE/auto I bought wrecked for $350. This is the one I most affectionately remember as it was cheap, and impervious to anything except a Rav 4 turning in front of it in an intersection. 😢 I had always wondered if the airbags worked since they did not deploy in the accident that totaled it before I bought it, but I guess they did. I jumped it, practiced FWD rally driving techniques, handbrake turned it, and used it to haul all manner of stuff. It even got 50+mpg on the highway. It was also FUGLY. Fugly enough that I tinted the back windows 5% and the fronts 20% so no one would see me. The body was many different colors, depending on the color of the car I sourced the parts from after hitting something with it. The wheels depended on what I could find with a good tire on it in the U pull it for $10, and it had a stereo made up of cast off stuff like the old CD player from my truck, a $50 set of Alpine 10's in a box built for a convertible 87 Mustang , and a free 4 channel amp with 2 bad channels that ran them. The deck speakers were 3 way Pioneers put there by the previous owner, and the fronts were Lightning Audio from Wal Mart that I put there...lol. It also had an alarm that was installed by the previous owner, but I cut the siren wires and just used it as keyless entry. I helped improve the handling with a $10 front sway bar from a 200sx SE (The only thing that changed on a SE vs base suspension), and was waiting to find bigger wheels for the brake upgrade I had just sourced from a junked NX2000. It even had a chrome exhaust tip I scavenged from the side of the road, and a cold air intake I got off Ebay for $35. I have lots of stories about that car, and miss it. It's funny how the least valuable cars are sometimes the most fun.
#3 was ANOTHER B14 Sentra, a 1995 GXE/auto I bought wrecked for $350. This is the one I most affectionately remember as it was cheap, and impervious to anything except a Rav 4 turning in front of it in an intersection. 😢 I had always wondered if the airbags worked since they did not deploy in the accident that totaled it before I bought it, but I guess they did. I jumped it, practiced FWD rally driving techniques, handbrake turned it, and used it to haul all manner of stuff. It even got 50+mpg on the highway. It was also FUGLY. Fugly enough that I tinted the back windows 5% and the fronts 20% so no one would see me. The body was many different colors, depending on the color of the car I sourced the parts from after hitting something with it. The wheels depended on what I could find with a good tire on it in the U pull it for $10, and it had a stereo made up of cast off stuff like the old CD player from my truck, a $50 set of Alpine 10's in a box built for a convertible 87 Mustang , and a free 4 channel amp with 2 bad channels that ran them. The deck speakers were 3 way Pioneers put there by the previous owner, and the fronts were Lightning Audio from Wal Mart that I put there...lol. It also had an alarm that was installed by the previous owner, but I cut the siren wires and just used it as keyless entry. I helped improve the handling with a $10 front sway bar from a 200sx SE (The only thing that changed on a SE vs base suspension), and was waiting to find bigger wheels for the brake upgrade I had just sourced from a junked NX2000. It even had a chrome exhaust tip I scavenged from the side of the road, and a cold air intake I got off Ebay for $35. I have lots of stories about that car, and miss it. It's funny how the least valuable cars are sometimes the most fun.
