Ye Olde Pumpkin

Here's the somewhat abbreviated story of my last car. After owning a coupe FC's and an FB I came to the realization that there are way too FBs out there that just aren't cutting it. Sure the FC and FD guys have massive backing from aftermarket parts companies with tons of cool aero and suspension parts but what the FB lacks in this field it makes up for with it's retro, bad ass, "who needs them" attitude and it's time someone showed what an FB could do.
My FB started off life as a lowly base model, drum brake rear end toilet who's options consisted of a sealed closed sunroof, a racing stripe made of some sort of other worldly adhesive concrete that cannot be removed by mere human technology and 4 glazed and bald snow tires. Things were looking up...

I drove it around for a while like this but quickly got tired of her appearance, performance and almost all other aspects of the car. Logic would dictate I get rid of the car and go buy something else, but who listens to logic anyways? Decided first thing it needed was a new look, so I made an appointment with an "apparent" friend of a friend (I'll elaborate later) to have it painted. I grew impatient waiting for a spot to open in his shop as we were doing it as a job on the side for cash to save some money so I started doing some of the prep work myself.

After I had gotten it this far I got the call saying he had room so I chucked what parts were needed into the back of it and drove it to his shop. It was a slow process because the work was being done after hours and when they had free time but a couple weeks later she looked like this.

I got the phone call one day saying my car was ready to be picked up. Now to the "apparent friend" part. I had been paying him in installments as he made progress on the car. Long story short, there was a disagreement on prices, what had been done and what needed to be done. Unfortunately after some shady things happened I ended up getting hosed for a large chunk of money which set the project back a bit but at least I had my car home and it was ready for reassembly.

Now for reassembly. I'll admit, it took much longer than anticipated much to the frustration of my friends but aside from a few minor hitches like 2 faulty new calipers from the parts store, stuck thermostat and the inability to find a proportioning valve for what seemed like forever it was done. Here are a few pics and an abbreviated mod list:

• KYB's and super chopped springs all 4 corners
• Sportmaxx 501's 15x8 +15
• Crossdrilled and slotted rotors
• GSL-SE 4 wheel disc brakes
• GSL-SE LSD differential
• Front & Rear Racing Beat sway bars
• 2.5" custom exhaust
• Short shifter
• Upgraded rad and electric fan
• Rejetted carb
• Glass Moonroof
• Mazda Reman 12a

Unfortunately this story has a somewhat unhappy ending. One night, just down the street from my house a careless driver made an illegal left hand turn into oncoming traffic. I was the oncoming traffic. After a bit of a drawn out battle with the insurance company they chose to write it off. The upside is that with the money they gave me I bought my current FC. Here is one last picture in parting...

Rest in peace friend