Interview with hurley97

This 1994 Celica GT springs back into life with the BEAMS 3S-GE.

6G Celicas: What's your name, how old are you, and what do you do for a living?

Stephanie, I'm 25 and I am a service adviser at a Toyota Dealer. Dustin, I'm 38 and I am area manager for KFC/Taco Bell. We have been together for about 6 years and married for about a year and a half.

6GC: When, why, and how did you first aquire your Celica?

Stephanie & Dustin: We both wanted to put a Beams in something but had other plans for our individual Celica's, the green turbo ST and blue GT with the 3rd gen swap. The opportunity came up where we were giving up a car to family member and needed to replace it. We actually bought the Beams motor before the car then had to scramble to find a car quickly since the motor was taking up space in Manny's (presure2) garage. When we found this car on craigslist in September of 2009 the owner had sold it to a kid who just about blew the motor so he took it back and was selling it again. The car was in terrible shape, would barely go over 30mph, leaked coolant everywhere, everything the guy had touched or replaced was trash, things that never break on a Celica were broken. But it was from Florida and had no rust, and it was red, those were the only good things.

6GC: What were your original plans for the car? Have they changed since?

Stephanie & Dustin: This car was supposed to be a simple winter car, we went a little crazy with it. Originally we were going to get a black car and paint it gray. Dustin started thinking about red, we agreed we would have to find the perfect red before we bought a red car and committed to it. Driving to a Boston Red Sox game we saw a Lexus RX350 in tri-stage Matador Red Mica and we followed it, that was it, it was perfect. We both made all the decisions on what to do to the car together but weren't afraid to try things we wouldn't have on our other cars. We joked about it looking like a confused mess in the end but it came out a perfect mix of subtlety and bold styling.

6GC: What are your future plans for the car?

Stephanie & Dustin: Oddly enough, we don't have any future plans, just get in it and drive it.

6GC: How and when did you find out about 6gc.net?

Stephanie & Dustin: Like most people, trolling the internets. I think around 2004 for both of us.

6GC: Any last comments you'd like to make?

Stephanie & Dustin: As crazy as it sounds 6GC really did change our lives. Dustin met Manny and Jenn through 6GC, they went to a 6GC meet in Jersey where they met me and offered to help with the auto to manual swap in 2006. Now Dustin and I are married and Manny and Jenn are our best friends. And since we bought this car together, the Beams wouldn't exist without 6GC.

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