I'd always intended to buy a 911 or NSX or 308 when I got to my mid-life crisis but the 308 got very old, the NSX just didn't cut it, and 911's are legend for maintenance cost and pretty darn pretentious as well! I started looking at S2000's and found a number of friends had them and generally found that everyone who had one loved them, they were reliable, very safe, and very much a race-bred car. Perhaps the best recommendation is that the chassis can take whatever power and mods you put on it.

I created a huge list of available cars and got very familiar with issues, values, etc. I narrowed my search and then went to CA for a few week's vacation to evaluate a bunch of them. Considered many cars but narrowed to several in Suzuka Blue, some with Nürburgring interiors plus a few Rio Yellow and a few others. Decided I wanted low miles, AP2, later the better and totally box stock only. I have had a Google search and used Daily Lister for months to keep up with CraigsList and other sources nationwide along with S2Ki. It is great how many nice cars there are to choose from.

I was watching a very modified '07 in Ft. Worth, Texas knowing I was headed there in early January for a sales meeting but it was too crazy and too expensive. I ultimately connected up with the dealership and found out they were selling it for an estate and also was able to see who and how all the work was done. I researched JoTech in Garland, Texas and further explored the history of this car. It was "done" back in late 2009 by a guy who supposedly owns more than a dozen S2000's. He put somewhere between $25K and $30K worth of mods in this car two years after buying it new. Another guy bought it a couple of years ago and he passed away. Long story short, we have a very well sorted out 2007, intercooled big turbo, coilovers, big brake kit with a really exceptional (to the tune of $4500) Mercedes Red paint job, so really is one-of-a-kind.

I flew into Dallas a day early and went straight to see the car. Only 40K miles on it, understated and beautiful. Roads were damp and cold but I took it for a ride, could easily have been a "spin" with all the horsepower as it broke loose in any gear. Very clean car inside and out and the mods/engine are so well sorted and professionally done. Negotiated with the dealer during my multi-day sales meeting striking a deal and setting up the money wire on Tuesday.

I finished my 4 day meeting in Richardson (Dallas) on Wednesday at noon, checked out and drove to Fort Worth. The money got there before me as the dealer did a Mobil One oil change as agreed as I arrived. I'd gone back and forth whether to truck it home or drive it and ultimately with clear weather and me having the time I decided always go for the adventure. One really nice thing is that I was able to stop into JoTech Motorsports in Garland on my way out of Dallas and meet Kenny Tran and Tony Cheung who were able to fill me in on a lot of details, look over all the paperwork since their work in '09. These guys have been doing these staged kits for a variety of cars for a long time and really seem to know their stuff. I got some advice and history and headed out late at rush hour and drove to Memphis late in the night. Thursday I drove to Roanoke where I called on some clients on Friday and finally arrived home, after 1400 miles, at 10pm. Averaged 70 mph for the trip! Great adventure and yes, this car with a recent Dyno of 380 hp/ 280 ft lb and suspension, wheels, tires set up for high speed motoring is just an insanely fun car.

I broke the cardinal rule of "never buy a modded car" and I am so far just massively tickled and thrilled. The long trip has helped me tremendously in learning and understanding the car and being able now to feel and feed the inputs the right way but the rush from 70-80'ish in 6th to whenever you chicken out is by far the "quickest" car I've ever been in. I mean it is instantly into triple digits and just keeps pulling with a long way to go on the rev counter when I backed out each time. Running right around 100 mph for over an hour nearly continuously east of Memphis was awesome and the car, suspension, wheels, etc. is totally set up to get better and better the faster you go.

Looking forward to springtime and putting the top down for the summer and perhaps Looking forward to some S2000 events and perhaps may take this to some car shows, it is quite a wicked looking baby both under the hood and understated outside. Was debaged after the new paint but then they were put back on with Turbo logos so will have to see about whether to leave them on or take off to accentuate the beautiful paint job.
Here is an initial slide show of the outside and the engine.

Library Slideshow by sailchessi | Photobucket



Thanks and see you soon,
Stuart in Columbia, Maryland