I'm really glad to be here and find this
amazing group of car enthusiasts.
My name is Samir and I'm in Huntsville, Alabama, USA. I found team-bhp when searching for something on google. I was amazed at the quality of the posts and the awesome scene that is there in India. I had to join in on the fun.
I've been a car enthusiast ever since I was young. My father worked in Michigan for American Motors and Ford in the late 1970s so I think I got the bug from that. (He came here in the late 1960s to do his masters in mechanical engineering.) When I was able to finally get behind the wheel myself, a whole new world opened up for me.
My serious hobby, and pretty much my occupation, is a local car and bike enthusiast web site,
Huntsville Car Scene.com. I try to create synergy between all the local car and bike organizations by providing event coverage and maintaining an all encompassing calendar of events. It's like a local emagazine and a lot of work. We have so many organizations for such a small city (only 300,000 people)--Corvette clubs, Ferrari, Miata, Mustang, Porsche, Viper, Volkswagon, RX8, Harley Davidson, Sportbikes, etc, etc. I've shot over 200,000 photos for the site and continue to shoot every week. But I love it as I get to do things most people only dream. Just recently, I met former Indy, Nascar, and Lemans driver Davy Jones, and sat in and touched the new 2011 Jaguar XJ. I've also met (at the time) Indy driver Scott Sharp as well as others over the years.
And since I'm also an enthusiast, I own nine cars.
I don't have nearly as much time to drive them all, as each is for different purposes, but I love them all and want more!
Here's the list of them with details:
2005 Porsche Boxster - black on black. Just a mid-level Boxster with the premium Bose 11 speaker stereo and power everything like seats, heated seats, etc. I added RS60 front lip spoilers after an encounter with a coyote tore off the front nose of the car.
$4500 USD later it's back like brand new. This is my car for curves. I love the handling. It's custom license plate reads '4CURVS'.
2002 Mercedes e55 AMG - black on black. I originally bought this car as a gift for my dad, but he drove it so many miles without changing the oil that I told him to park it so I could change the oil. Well, the battery went dead and it took me two years to figure out how to get back in the car. It's currently sitting, but has been in a climate controlled garage and now has a new battery. I need to get the oil changed and a good lookover on everything and it will be back on the road! This is probably the lowest mileage w210 e55 in the USA. It has less than 24,000mi on the odometer.
2000 Chevrolet Corvette - red with sand beige interior (my avatar). I bought this car from a good friend who did all the modifications to this monster. This car dynos 510+hp to the rear wheels on nitrous.
It will do 0-60mph in 3 seconds and will hit 123mph faster than you know it. The car isn't happy until about 140mph, but there's not too many places you can drive it that fast. This is my straightline car for drag racing, but it is very daily drivable. It's custom license plate reads '4STR8S'. It has dual zone climate control, a heads up display, a strengthened automatic transmission, a Bose stereo, and gets 33mpg on the highway when cruising. But push the pedal to the floor at 70mph, and you feel the traction control kick in (even with 295 width tires on the rear), and by the time you count to the 'th' in three, you are already at 123mph. And this is
without the nitrous.
The fastest I've had it was 168mph. It can probably hit 180mph, but I'm too chicken to do that on public highways. If the police catch you at those speeds, the car would be impounded and I would be in jail.
1996 Mitsibushi Galant S - white with cream interior. One of my daily drivers. This car is your basic four door automatic transmission car with power windows. I upgraded the front brakes to a 13" rotor Baer big brake upgrade, and the wheels to 17" to accommodate the new brake system. This is the same brake system found on c4 Corvettes and older Mustang Cobras. This upgrade has only been done on about 5 other Galants in the world, as far as I know.
1995 Nissan Altima SE (2) - black with charcoal interior. I actually have two of these. My brother and I bought twin cars. His was in California for most of its life while mine stayed here. My brother recently gave me his, so now I have both. I modified mine with suspension modifications as well as an header and a Greddy exhaust. Friends told me it was the fastest Altima in Huntsville. I lost control one night chasing friends in an Mitsubishi Evo 7, a Subaru WRX, and a Mitsubishi Galant VR4, and ran off the road. The damage was bad, but amazingly I didn't get hurt. I have the car parked in my garage and will completely rebuild it someday. I'm currently driving my brother's daily and working on restoring it completely.
1994 Honda Accord LX - dark blue with charcoal interior. Another basic four door commuter car with power windows. I've added 17" wheels to have better tire compound choices. I'm also researching the same 13" Baer big brake upgrade for the car. In theory, I believe it is possible. And if I do complete it, it will be the first Accord in the world with this setup.
1993 Nissan Altima SE - black with beige interior. This was my first car. I never modified it and didn't really know much about cars back then. I just knew I loved it. I lost control one night and the car was totaled by the insurance company. I bought it back to restore it. It sits in the garage next to the 95. It has less than 37,000 miles on the odometer
1987.5 Plymouth Voyager - Silver and Grey two-tone with matching interior. This was our family minivan which was driven over 300,000 miles.
It was parked one day and then was left for dead until I came along. It's been a rocky restoration project, but it does run again. It's useful for transporting used oil or parts for the other cars.
I started into cars after my fiancee Bhumika left me. The only thing I loved more than her was cars, so my love went into cars. I also picked up a camera at the time, so I've become a semi-pro photographer as well.
I started with street racing, but then moved into autocrossing and car shows. I love everything with wheels though, and as one of the moderators here posted in their introduction, "I'll watch any type of racing, even lawnmower racing."
Basically, if it has wheels, a motor, and will go on or off road--I love it.
I've spent about 3 months of my life in India, many of them riding my grandfather's Red Sunny in the streets of Vidyanager and Anand in Gujarat. A good Parsi friend of mine, now here in the US, is originally from Mumbai and I've spent some time there as well. When I was in India, I could feel that there were enthusiasts around, but I was never able to connect with them. I guess they were all inside on team-bhp.com.
I hope I can be a resource to BHPians on what's happening on the other side of the pond, as well as connect with BHPians as to what's going on in the motherland. One world, one love.
Note from Mods : Welcome aboard. Congrats on your attempt at breaking the smiley world record, however, please do familiarize yourself with our rules before continuing (2 smileys max per post!). Have a good time on the forums, and do post some pics of your cars.