My Hard Earned Custom Ride

Not that many people would know that I love driving and that I love fast cars. I have been driving cars for 24 years since I was 12 years old and have a lot more street-sense and driving smarts than most people would estimate that I would. Some people choose to see me as this young, rich Asian guy behind the wheel and automatically think that I must be one of those fresh off the boat immigrants that probably drives like shit. Or maybe they think that I'm some spoiled brat who's mom and dad bought them an expensive, exotic car. Also because my car is high-profile and highly customized with aftermarket parts, I can always tell from people's reactions that they assume that I am some kind of drug dealer or involved in some kind of illegal activity to afford such a car. I'm happy to prove them wrong.

I earned this car with my own money. I didn't get any financial help from any parents or relatives and did it solo. It required alot of savings and effort from 9 years of hard work in I.T. and the computing field and living in an incredibly expensive city of Vancouver. If anyone thinks I came upon this car with any kind of ease then they need to be kicked in the face and told the truth. My car is a symbol of how hard I work and how far I've come. When I moved to Vancouver in the year 2000 after graduating college I had only $450 dollars in my pocket, a duffle bag of clothes and my home computer to start with. My vehicle is a very rare and ultra customized 2002 Toyota Celica GT/TRD (Gran Turismo Toyota Racing Development). I bought my car in April 2009 second hand and in great shape. I only added a few of my own touches to make it the piece of art that it is today. I bought it for roughly only $16,000 dollars and it was a really great deal. The car with the amount of aftermarket modifications could easily be worth $40,000 dollars.

I take my driving very seriously. I was taught to drive by my eldest brother Conrad before I was 12 years old in 1992. He took it upon himself and taught me to drive since our father passed away and lost his battle to cancer the year earlier when I was nearly 11 years old. I remember that my brother tricked me into driving when I really didn't want to. He said "let's go to the video store and rent a Nintendo game". We went to the video store and I got the game I wanted, and then we took a drive out to the highway headed to the United States border. We reached a quiet straight stretch of highway and he pulled the car over to the side and tells me to get behind the wheel or we're not leaving. That was the beginning of many lessons that would turn me into the smart driver that I am today. In retrospect, it may have been illegal to do that since I was not the driving age of 16 yet, but the back roads he taught me on were pretty much desolate and empty so there was no real danger for me or any other drivers.

Today I still obey traffic laws and I don't speed recklessly. I do respect other drivers and I refuse to drive like an idiot even when other drivers piss me off. I could outdrive many people if I needed to. I had three older brothers that enjoyed driving and I inherited a part of their leadfoot mind state. Instead of wreaking havok on the real road I actually enjoy taking out alot of frustration by playing alot of racing simulator games and even have the racing steering wheel and foot pedals for my XBOX 360.

Vehicle Specifications for my 2002 Toyota Celica GT/TRD:
Color: Glossy Candy Coat Red
Engine: 1.8L Variable Valve Timing (VVT-i) 16 valve 140 horse power
Transmission: 5-speed manual
(* indicates aftermarket add-on)

Interior:
- power locks + windows
- Air Conditioning
- red & black Suede leather seats,
- red & black leather wrapped steering wheel
- red & aluminum sport pedals
- red & black leather wrapped gear shift knob
- Broadway oversized rear view mirror *
- Audio Deck: Eclipse 7-inch touch screen DVD + MP3 with GPS Navigation *
- Audio enhanced JBL 10-inch subwoofer + felt bassbox *
- Alpine 3541 Audio Amplifier 140W *

Exterior:
Suspension: Tein lowering springs with 4-inch ground clearance *
Body Style: Celica 7th Generation TRD SSII fully loaded
Body Kit: BoMex Aero complete set front bumper, rear bumper + air diffusers, left and right sideskirts ****
Hood: Tanabe Carbon Fibre *
Headlights: Xenon HID *
Wheels: Falken Ziex 512 high-performance tires ****
Rims: Racing Heart Evolution 18-inch chrome x 4 ****
Exhaust: APEXi N1 chrome catback exhaust with silencer *

Additional Accessories:
- StreetGlow Red LED lights for tire valve caps
- red & black Toyota carry pouch
- USB plug adapter for cigarette lighter
- white title vinyl decals for aftermarket brands "BoMex" and "APEXi"
- grey car cover exterior protector
- Noco G3500 car battery tender and charger