May be it's a product of getting older, a trait that we pick up once we leave behind the safe comforts of our 20s and break through the threshold, the point of no return, our dreaded 30s. It usually comes the day after you discover your first gray hair and right before you realize your scrotum has dipped a full centimeter lower from the previous year (And, yes, I do measure my scrotum on an annual basis.) It is not about wrinkles, however, or increased instances of hemorrhoids, or even 5 o'clock early-bird dinners at Norms, though those are pretty damned good. This is about the moment you realize that (queue drum roll) things aren't what they used to be. Very anti-climactic, right?
Let me give you some examples: R&B music, the NBA, hip-hop, Dick Clark, The Price is Right, bottled water, the Hmong, stool softeners, porn. Should I go on? These were all at one point guaranteed to either make you dance, cry, swoon or laugh. Now all of them are just mere shadows of their former selves. The point is that seasons change, and you'll fully realize it when you start getting older. What really did it for me, other than listening to another dismal Soulja Boy joint, watching a depressing Drew Carey host The Price is Right, and seeing the Hmong in a Clint Eastwood movie, is Steve Sawicki's '97 Toyota Supra. If looking at his whip didn't give you a semi-erection, I don't know what will. The smooth chassis, large wheels, strong wing, the welcoming headlights. In other words, if I were a Volkswagen Jetta (the girliest car I can think of), I'd let this Supra smack me up, flip me and rub me down. From Cleveland steamers to rusty trombones to upside-down donkey punches, this is the type of mandingo you leave your husband for. Looking at it immediately prompted me to say, "They don't make cars like they used to."
Steve originally bought this Supra on eBay ten years ago, not only as a present to himself but also to cement the idea that Supras indeed belong to the state where beards get wet on the daily and taxation is as accepted as Nick Hogan behind the wheel. "Watching Supras run at the track about ten years ago, I knew at that moment I wanted one," Steve explains, "I wanted to build a super car and make it look and drive just like a JGTC." Since the JGTC, now known as Super GT, consisted of super rides with super bodies, Steve's first mission was to say good-bye to his Supra and send it off to the body shop. Originally, he installed a JUN front bumper, Tom's sideskirts and a Veilside rear bumper. But Steve knew this setup wasn't what he sought out, especially if he wanted to get major status in the tuning scene. So he saved up and purchased an authentic Top Secret GT300 widebody kit ($15,000 retail), molded it to the already stealth Supra chassis, and coated it with the factory Royal Sapphire Pearl paint, which was the original color. This process took the body shop nearly a year to complete, which gave Steve plenty of time to map out the rest of the car.