Welcome to the start of my addiction. This was my very first car ever, a 1980 Nissan (Datsun) 200SX. I think I paid $700 for it.

This was my first experience working on cars. My first try at repairing rust, painting, installing stereos. Everything but motor work. Actually, I learned to change filters on this car. It was a great car to learn on, although at the time, I would have never uttered such a statement. Oh no, this was the coolest car ever at the time.

It was blue when I got it. It had a little rust, but some bondo took care of that. I drove it around with primer for a long time. I finally decided to paint it myself, but screwed it up so bad, that I had to take it to a shop. I called every place in the book until I found one that would do the job for the $200 that I had saved in quarters throughout the year. Yes, I really did pay in quarters. I had it painted 6 hours before "senior week" in Ocean City. I drove it there 3 hours, still wet. Oddly enough, I didnt have much road debris stuck in the paint like I thought I would.

The greatest thing about this car was the interior. I had a Sony tape deck, which I always wondered why I never had a problem with people trying to steal it, but now I know. It was a cheap 2-shaft model. Anyway, signal from there went in to a graphic equalizer with some really fancy lights. After all, thats what graphic equalizers are really just about neat lights, right?

That then runs to 4 Pioneer speakers, and to a $30 JCWhitney amp, which powers......

.......2 fifteen inch subwoofers from Radio Shack.

OK, so I was 16. I was a little more concerned with making sure the system looked good, rather than sounding good. I dont even think the subs ever really worked. The Pioneer speakers on the deck were loud enough where I couldn't really tell. There was no cross over, the amp was cheap, there were too many things wrong with it to mention.

As cheap as this was, I really appreciate it as a learning experience. Every car I had, built on what I learned in the previous one. This is admittedly a bad install, with bad components. But all the same, I leared a lot from these 'mistakes', which make each subsequent install that much better. By the way, the board that the subs are sitting in was my families ping-pong table. Needless to say, Dad was a bit upset when he found out. We really didn't use it that much anymore, so I thought I could get away with it. Sorry, dad, I apologize. Again, I was 16 and not thinking that well. :) By now, you've noticed the TV...

But wait, it gets better. Yes, thats right, what good is a TV without an Atari?....

All in all, this was a great car. I had to sell it once I was in college and out of money. When I sold it I had to take all the gear out, because as cool as it was, it didnt make the car any more sellable.