Hope everyone has a great 4th of July and stays safe over the weekend (Save a burger for me at the cookout) Ill be away for a bit so I thought this would be a great time to give an update on my project car.

Selection and Purchase: This first stage of beginning a project car is perhaps the hardest because if you love cars as much as me, narrowing a field of hundreds of cars down to a dozen or so can be difficult. And mulled over the various cars i was interested in for about a month and a half.

I saved $3000 and weighed my options between the JDM, American and Euro cars i was interested in and ultimately decided i was going JDM. (I am half Japanese after all lol)

Toyota Aristo/Lexus GS400 Vertex: I have always found the GS400 to be ascetically pleasing to look at. It was almost the first car i purchased when i was younger but i didn't have the money to buy one. Now that they have gotten older and more popular there are more aftermarket parts available for them.The 1998 Lexus GS400 i looked at was in fairly good shape but as with all vehicles you buy off of Craigslist some issues did arise. The owner took care of it but gave the car to his daughter who scratched it up a bit. The main issue with the car was that it needed a new wiring harness. A wiring harness could largely be compared to the human nervous system. All electrical systems rely on the harness for power, the car would start but none of the power functions worked because it needed a new harness. I looked at the price of a new one on Ebay and then the cost of installing it and it seemed liked a pretty fair deal but i ultimately decided i wanted my second car to be a two door. I also knew that i would be able to service the car at my local Toyota dealer.

Honda CRX/DelSol/Civic/Prelude: "The Original Pocket Rocket" The best thing about the small Honda's is there are tons of them around and they are extremely cheap. They are also super inexpensive to insure, tons of parts are lying around and they are very easy to work on. I've been searching for a decent Honda CRX for a long time and still would like to purchase one. The only one's i've come across have needed extensive renovation and welding work due to rust or have been gutted and are only rolling shells and need a new engine.

Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS/WRX/WRX STI: The Impreza 2.5 RS is widely regarded as one of the best Subaru models ever built. It has one of the more interesting designs and the first that introduced rallying inspired features to the average car buyer. Aftermarket support is perhaps strongest among the rallying models. Not to mention one of the most attractive sounds to come out of any JDM vehicle is the renowned rumble from a Subaru Flat 6 or 4 Boxer engine. It is however a rare sight to find one and many owners are reluctant to sell. The WRX has the same problem in that many people who own one are usually not motivated to sell and a well maintained WRX holds its value pretty well with models as old as 2003 still fetching upwards of $5000.

Mazda RX8/RX7/Miata MX5: I've usually not been interested in rotaries before but the main reason why is also the reason i've considered buying one. Rotary engines are very maintenance intensive, many people who have purchased an RX8 do not realize this and many RX8s for sale have bad engines and need them replaced. This drives the price for an otherwise good car down. The RX8 i went to see needed a complete new engine but the owner was willing to sell the car for only $2000. Putting in a new engine would ease any tensions i would have about buying a used car but the other thing about Rotaries is that they are not cheap to maintain. Most work on them must be done buy a Mazda dealer. The closest Mazda dealer to me is not far but not close either. I did come across a few RX7 FDs but they can fetch almost $14,000 because of their rarity. I've looked at the Miata and they are almost as plentiful as the Civic however they are a tad bit small for me however i think a rotary swap for a Miata would definitely be fun project.

Nissan 350z/300zx Fairlady: At last the 350z has started to depreciate enough for me to finally get close to buying one. The Z has always held its value for a long time because its one of the few cars that are entirely driver focused. They still command at minimum $5000 but its well worth the investment, roadsters oddly go for a lot less. Finding a good 300zx however is a difficult task because its nearly impossible to find one that hasn't been modified already.

Toyota Soarer/Lexus SC 300: Perhaps one of the cheapest cars to buy to begin a drift tune the SC 300 is also a common project car. Engine swaps with larger Toyota models of similar years is common and they can be purchased at a fair price. The SC 300 is slightly larger than a car i would like to buy but it certainly made my list. The biggest draw back is that many of them have horrible interiors because they were used as daily drivers and a 20 year old Lexus interior isn't easy to replace.

Whew, that was alot wasn't it? So which did i pick? I am actively searching for a well maintained CRX or a Civic, specifically the Civic EG or 5th Gen Civic Model. Admittedly I was not a huge fan of Honda but if you are building on a budget there is no better place to start than with a Honda.

The Civic EG came in 3 forms like most Civic models a Sedan, Coupe and a Hatch. One plan i do have if i find one is to use parts from an Acura Integra to boost power. This is perhaps one of the most easy cars to begin working on, if you break something you don't need to worry because there are millions of replacement parts.

I've ultimately decided on continuing to save up money and acquire more tools before buying something. I have actually contacted someone in a neighboring state about purchasing his CRX which is in fair condition. Until then I'll keep ya updated for now enjoy the only anime that ever caught my attention (better than maybe Pokemon/Yu-Gi-Oh/Last Airbender if it qualifies)