I miss the good old days

supraguy@aol

Well-Known Member
Dec 30, 2005
4,231
36
48
Atlanta
Im in the same boat. I graduated from Supraforums about a decade ago, and haven't really been back since. Bought my car in 1997, and i 'hope' to have the restoration completed by this summer, as well as picking up another Supra as a daily.
I do agree that Facebook is quietly shrinking the forum. You go to a mkIII page, and they ask the most retardedly basic questions, like "whats the birdcage light mean?". Questions that have been answered a hundred times over on the forums. When you post a link to SM for them, they just say "oh i dont go on the forums". Laziness is what it is. These cars are getting split between 19 yr. old kids that want to trash them, and 40-50 yr olds that want to restore them. The good news is- that they are indeed getting more valuable. Thus, they will eventually be strained out of the younger hands once they get too pricey to purchase.
 

A-to-the-J

Panda™ and Pre-89 Gracer™
Feb 19, 2006
1,080
1
38
38
Anaheim/West Covina, CA
Bogwon;2039561 said:
33 here and I like to drive like an a$$hole still but take care of the car!
I'm 29. I'm going to be picking on kids in the Supra even when I'm past my 50's lol
maxburn;2039563 said:
^Haha that's a good way to put it. I drive like an ass hole too
Slow down young blood :shakes fist: LoL

My first Supra was my first car.
 

Htown88Turbo

New Member
Mar 2, 2014
5
0
0
Htown
I'm 17 and lurk SM pretty frequently. I'm on my 3rd MKIII and not all us youngsters thrash em'!

I agree that the majority of build threads take place on Facebook and Instagram nowadays. It's just more convenient and guarantees that the people we care about see them. (For example I only have 70 or so IG followers, but they all own MKIIIs.) I agree that the Facebook groups are full of idiots, but of course they'll lack information without a search or archive function. I mainly use the FB groups to post new build progress, or ask opinions, or buy used parts.

All technical info I've needed has already been archived on SM for easy viewing. Nearly every topic has been covered front to back and front again, thus more lurking than posting. I mainly check SM to buy parts and update my build thread every few months. Hell, I haven't even posted about crashing my 2nd and buying another yet. With clean MKIIIs becoming more expensive and harder to find I think we'll see the quality of builds and posts continue to rise even if traffic continues to drop. Most of the youngsters who are seeking MKIIIs to drift and trash are ending up with the salvage titles and rust buckets that none of us would even consider buying in the first place.

Overall, the popularity may be dropping but that's fine by me, as it leaves only the core of us and the most devoted owners: those who bought their cars with love and not purely for a stick shift and FR layout. Our cars are becoming classics and slowly are being recognized as such. Plus, there's an extra sense of achievement when you smoke a brand new car in a nearly 30 year-old one still running its original powerplant.

My love for the MKIII will never die and I will continue to drive and build them until the last clean or recoverable specimens are destroyed,whether by rust or crash.
 
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miekedmr

mkiii in hibernation
Jul 12, 2005
511
0
0
Upstate NY
I'm turning 30 in a few days, only recently reached the point of starting up the latest iteration of my project.
Before a few weeks ago, I hadn't had a running supra since I ripped apart my black 89 non-turbo in ~2004, except for the few days I owned this one before pulling the motor out.

I certainly don't have the "collectors" attitude about faithfulness to the original product or anything. I respect people that want to keep everything factory. I don't have the same inclination. For me it's more a platform for me to practice my engineering skills on and develop into something personal, and I feel like the A70 is a great starting point, being comfortable for a fairly tall person and being pre-OBDII, among other things.

I think even for the preservation-minded, no one should cringe too badly at any of my modifications -- the first two cars were well and thoroughly trashed when I got them... 220k or so on the first car and leaking all over, rust holes all over. The second "parts" car came with a thrown rod 7M, and lot more rust holes. The third and current car was in great shape, but already had a cut radiator support and other changes made to it before I started.

I think it's safe to say when I'm close enough to "done" to call it that, not many people will be thinking "he should have just left it alone". ;)
 

gt2jz

New Member
Sep 28, 2009
23
0
0
Chicago
I am new to forums in general, made this account back some years but did not become active in any forums till about 2 years ago....honostly I dont really post because im embarrassed due to not knowing much the way everyone else here seems to know. So im here for the knowledge but I love reading build threads but I never seem to learn as much as I want I've learned more from actually working on the car but still like I said im here for the knowledge.
 

IJ.

Grumpy Old Man
Mar 30, 2005
38,728
0
0
61
I come from a land down under
Hybrid;2039619 said:
FB "builds" make no sense to me, where is the story?, how can you see a true start to finish etc. FB is not designed for those kinds of things.
I post daily updates on my current build on the Local Forum and FB for friends that aren't forum members, mine is more a thinking out loud thing rather than a build thread.
 

Silver MK3

New Member
Jan 24, 2011
1,517
0
0
Madison, AL
I'm one of the younger one's here too and not to sound cocky or anything, but I think I've got one of the cleanest stock MKIII's on the site. I do have to agree with most people my age not treating the car's correctly though. I think I am the odd one for my age group and having a Supra and wanting to keep it mostly stock. It get's annoying when the ricer's pull up and ask if it's a twin turbo blah blah blah, but it feels great when the guy who dreamed about this car when he was my age pulls up and compliments me on it and says it's the cleanest one he's seen in a very long time and then asks if I want to sell it haha.
 

Sside

Member
May 20, 2008
554
0
16
Houston
Young people are poor, and terrible decision makers . These things do not help when owning a fairly quick car with hundreds of cheap modifiers that can make them go faster into the back of someone's car trying to keep up with their friends mustang. Young people and Supras are not a good mix, ever...
 
Sside;2039685 said:
Young people are poor, and terrible decision makers . These things do not help when owning a fairly quick car with hundreds of cheap modifiers that can make them go faster into the back of someone's car trying to keep up with their friends mustang. Young people and Supras are not a good mix, ever...

Thats a bold statement right there. I drove my first supra through highschool. Senior year I sold it and started driving my 13 sec (then) big block chevelle. Never been in an accident that was my fault, and that was only one that some b**** in a mustang ran into my truck when I was sitting at a stop light. So please explain why Supras and young people are not a good mix EVER? I'm 26 years old now and have had some decently fast cars though my life.
 

Sside

Member
May 20, 2008
554
0
16
Houston
GreenChevelleSS;2039770 said:
Thats a bold statement right there. I drove my first supra through highschool. Senior year I sold it and started driving my 13 sec (then) big block chevelle. Never been in an accident that was my fault, and that was only one that some b**** in a mustang ran into my truck when I was sitting at a stop light. So please explain why Supras and young people are not a good mix EVER? I'm 26 years old now and have had some decently fast cars though my life.


Its an honest statement, the issues found and neglected on a younger person's supra or whatever he drives to get his rice fix is always going to put himself and other people in danger. Why are certain things neglected? One reason why is because money always becomes an issue with an older car so instead of investing on brakes a young kid will invest in an exhaust. Most young people driving supras or older cars tend to be poor because if they weren't they wouldn't be driving a 20+ year old car. Older guys who know what they are doing can afford a 20+ year old piece of Japanese motorsports heaven while the young kids just want to feel special because SUPRA despite the problems that the car can and will present. So yeah, I don't see how you can actually justify an older car combo with a broke kid who has yet to mature and make correct decisions in his life because if that kid actually had that ability he wouldn't have chosen a Supra as a daily.

On you never causing an accident, hmmm... Because you were lucky does not mean everyone out there driving will be. I see the list of cars you have and I cant possibly imagine that you bought those cars because you wanted to go the speed limit on your daily commute. I'm pretty sure you did some stupid a$$ things in every single one of those and never had an accident. I did pretty stupid things in my supra too but because I'm still alive I'm not gonna say its a perfect fit for an 18 yr old. ITS NOT... Its like you played russian roulette over and over and never got a bullet to the head, doesn't mean you were never at risk. Street racing happens and I don't care who the hell is behind the wheel, we all come across these situations and there is no holding back sometimes. But to put these faulty and old turbocharged machines into a young persons hands is going to always raise the risk of an accident...
 

maxburn

New Member
Jan 12, 2014
235
0
0
Iowa
Everytime you get in a car you raise the risk of an accident. I'd rather Be driving next to someone that knows what their car does at the limit than someone that's never breached the speed limit and pushed their car
 

JDMMA70

Active Member
Dec 4, 2006
2,550
0
36
Houston
maxburn;2039779 said:
someone that knows what their car does at the limit

The likelihood of a first time driver knowing this, is very slim. I think thats what Sside is getting at.
 

Sside

Member
May 20, 2008
554
0
16
Houston
maxburn;2039779 said:
Everytime you get in a car you raise the risk of an accident. I'd rather Be driving next to someone that knows what their car does at the limit than someone that's never breached the speed limit and pushed their car



Knowing your car is just like getting to know someone. Sometimes we think we know people very well only to find out that we actually never did, yet we spoke to that person a hundred times and they never showed signs of whom they truly were. We can drive the same car everyday until one day you lose traction and you sit there thinking "was it me? did I do something wrong?"..... A lot of younger people don't know their cars well enough because most of the time they are on jackstands period, not to mention that they are driven by impulse and not logic. They want to race and don't you dare try to get into their lane because that is insult to their manhood. Yeah.... Most younglins out there don't know their cars and they make stupid decision therefor giving them a heavy/quick/boosted car is not the smartest thing in my opinion....
 

Grandavi

Active Member
Sep 25, 2008
2,663
5
38
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
miekedmr;2039582 said:
I'm turning 30 in a few days, only recently reached the point of starting up the latest iteration of my project.
Before a few weeks ago, I hadn't had a running supra since I ripped apart my black 89 non-turbo in ~2004, except for the few days I owned this one before pulling the motor out.

I certainly don't have the "collectors" attitude about faithfulness to the original product or anything. I respect people that want to keep everything factory. I don't have the same inclination. For me it's more a platform for me to practice my engineering skills on and develop into something personal, and I feel like the A70 is a great starting point, being comfortable for a fairly tall person and being pre-OBDII, among other things.

I think even for the preservation-minded, no one should cringe too badly at any of my modifications -- the first two cars were well and thoroughly trashed when I got them... 220k or so on the first car and leaking all over, rust holes all over. The second "parts" car came with a thrown rod 7M, and lot more rust holes. The third and current car was in great shape, but already had a cut radiator support and other changes made to it before I started.

I think it's safe to say when I'm close enough to "done" to call it that, not many people will be thinking "he should have just left it alone". ;)

Im here as well.. and on Facebook although facebook is a whole mess of retards and a couple intelligent people. Identifying who's who isn't all that easy :D

I want my car to look like a MK3.. but perform like a Supra. Body mods (not massive like making it look like a corvette GTR or something silly) are good if it enhances the body lines imo. Engine mods are almost a necessity because we have had a quarter century to find the flaws of the 7M (1j/2jz people already know this.. lol). But the interior is good enough on its own as long as its intact. Im just switching to leather for fun and because it just enhances the car.

I think that there are only maybe 5-10 "survivor" MK3's worth "not driving" in the world. The rest should be enjoyed. They aren't likely to gain the status of the old American muscle cars.

The thing I like best about my car is that its not a car you see often and when you do.. you can pick it out of a crowd almost instantly. Never had anyone anywhere say anything negative while standing in front of my car.