20 years of HondaSwap

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Briansol

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Somehow, i completely neglected to remember to post about this 2 months ago on the actual 20 years anniversary in February.

If you weren't here, or maybe you weren't even born yet, we were orange before Trump made it cool.

Feb 2002. It seems like decades ago, because it was. Fresh off the dust of 9/11 and what should have been my senior year in college was spent in tech school and working on this website in my spare time. Prior to that, East Coast del Sol was running for a few years but the limited target audience kept the place small. That lived for about 2 years with the first capture in late 2001. East Coast del Sol - V 2.1

Prior to that, I 'worked' as an editor for importrides.com in late 1999. I had just gotten my del sol in summer of 99 after i got rear-ended in my z24 cavalier. We tried to build something like overboost or one of those digital mags from back in the day, but never really had the ground team or effort to get there. Nor, digital cameras cuz we were poor and those things were like 400 bucks in 1999 money. ImportRides.Com - Taking the Internet Import Scene to a new Level Brian E is still around, and he might be my oldest internet friend in the scene. I haven't spoken to Ezra in many years, but we are linked in connected. No idea what happened to the rest of the crew. Tim used to be a mod here in the accord section back in the early 2000s. Henry, matt, and the rest, no idea where they are.

I'd like to think this had a positive impact on the tuning community. But then i look back on my old posts, and god, I was such a douche. lol I bet most 40-somethings, if given the chance to watch themselves 20 years back, would probably say the same thing though.

We learn, we grow, we change. 99% of folks are gone from here for a long time, moved on to other cars, families, out of the scene all together, or think FB groups are better (they're not).

But after 20 years, this place has always been family to me. I've had opportunities to sell, and it was never 'enough'. A few offers were enough to a balance sheet, but you can't put a price on family.

My vow to you all is to run this place as long as I possibly can, even if it costs me some money out of pocket. Non-corporate, family owned and operated is something I take pride in. And you all should take some pride in the fact that while there are bigger sites run by corporate conglomerates, there's no love there. How many admins of those boards are actually part of the history or culture of the theme?

Honda tuning will probably never be the same, but this is our past. It's where we came from. It's how we grew up. It's how we're all still e-friends 20 years later. And it gives me a lot of joy that there's been professional connections in our later lives that would have been missed if it wasn't for this place. Job opportunities, referrals, local helping hands, you name it.

So, whether it's a meme-drop or an actual Honda question, I wish you all continue to be a part of the family. Introduce more people to the family. And no matter what, never forget where you came from.

my desk in my parents basement on a crt monitor where most of this all started. Also, i still don't have stickers for sale. out of stock for 15 years :D

hsticker.jpg
 
Woop Woop!!
What a long strange ride it's been.

I graduated college in May 2002 and bought my first honda, a CRX as a daily driver/commuter, and it went downhill from there.

Glad to be along for the ride! (I have a few more months until my official 20 year anniversary, but not sure how long I lurked before coming onboard officially)
 
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yes.

Step 1 - rent a DeLorean
step 2 - install flux capacitor
step 3 - set time to 2004
step 4 - wait for the post to appear
step 5 - send paypal with haste
step 6 - stay in the past or not, your choice, just don't run into your old self
 
A couple other forums I'm on have what is basically a paid "VIP" subscription. Maybe 50 bucks a year or something. I would certainly be willing to make a contribution to keep the lights on. Anything above and beyond expenses could go to updated stickers or baby B's college fund. I'm guessing I wouldn't be the only one.

Just my .02
 
A couple other forums I'm on have what is basically a paid "VIP" subscription. Maybe 50 bucks a year or something. I would certainly be willing to make a contribution to keep the lights on. Anything above and beyond expenses could go to updated stickers or baby B's college fund. I'm guessing I wouldn't be the only one.

Just my .02
I’m a mod on the veloster forums .. pretty easy stuff nowadays. I have a lifetime subscription to toyotanation when I was crazy about that Corolla S I had, it was a poor choice .
 
Hell yeah!

I been around a minute and it's a good group. I remember showing my ghettttto Civic off and everyone just burned me. I was prob in highschool wrenching between shifts at BK lounge. I went through 4 ghetto hondas in high school before I got the scion in college.

Now a days still connected. Golfed with another OG couple weeks ago and it's hilarious how it's worked out for some of us.
 
A couple other forums I'm on have what is basically a paid "VIP" subscription. Maybe 50 bucks a year or something. I would certainly be willing to make a contribution to keep the lights on. Anything above and beyond expenses could go to updated stickers or baby B's college fund. I'm guessing I wouldn't be the only one.

Just my .02
yeah, that was the original idea of the VIP group that i think every active member is in. you all are grandafther'ed in.

I made some massive cost reductions last year which has helped dramatically.

I have a few more pieces of fat to trim, but the time/value prop isn't there for me to invest just yet. It's a massive switch for $20 a month savings. like, 100 hours of my time probably.
 
The Nostalgia of coming back here really hits me... I had no kids when I signed up here and now my oldest turned 16 in December, drives, and is looking at College offers for Basketball... God damn I'm getting old 😪

Also, nice to "see" most of you still on here. I'm going to try and make it a point to jump on here whenever I'm doing my Social Media rounds lol.
 
Dude!! You brought up some memories!! And you even mentioned me! Lol. Man this has been an epic adventure the last 20 years. Ive made many friends from this page and and few enemies. We have lost members whether they have left on their own, banned or have gone from this world. We have also gained alot of new people and have alot of funny as well as angry posts/threads over the years. I may not own a Honda any more, but I still call this site home. May HondaSwap go on for another 20 years!

TPP for life!!
 
Somehow, i completely neglected to remember to post about this 2 months ago on the actual 20 years anniversary in February.

If you weren't here, or maybe you weren't even born yet, we were orange before Trump made it cool.

Feb 2002. It seems like decades ago, because it was. Fresh off the dust of 9/11 and what should have been my senior year in college was spent in tech school and working on this website in my spare time. Prior to that, East Coast del Sol was running for a few years but the limited target audience kept the place small. That lived for about 2 years with the first capture in late 2001. East Coast del Sol - V 2.1

Prior to that, I 'worked' as an editor for importrides.com in late 1999. I had just gotten my del sol in summer of 99 after i got rear-ended in my z24 cavalier. We tried to build something like overboost or one of those digital mags from back in the day, but never really had the ground team or effort to get there. Nor, digital cameras cuz we were poor and those things were like 400 bucks in 1999 money. ImportRides.Com - Taking the Internet Import Scene to a new Level Brian E is still around, and he might be my oldest internet friend in the scene. I haven't spoken to Ezra in many years, but we are linked in connected. No idea what happened to the rest of the crew. Tim used to be a mod here in the accord section back in the early 2000s. Henry, matt, and the rest, no idea where they are.

I'd like to think this had a positive impact on the tuning community. But then i look back on my old posts, and god, I was such a douche. lol I bet most 40-somethings, if given the chance to watch themselves 20 years back, would probably say the same thing though.

We learn, we grow, we change. 99% of folks are gone from here for a long time, moved on to other cars, families, out of the scene all together, or think FB groups are better (they're not).

But after 20 years, this place has always been family to me. I've had opportunities to sell, and it was never 'enough'. A few offers were enough to a balance sheet, but you can't put a price on family.

My vow to you all is to run this place as long as I possibly can, even if it costs me some money out of pocket. Non-corporate, family owned and operated is something I take pride in. And you all should take some pride in the fact that while there are bigger sites run by corporate conglomerates, there's no love there. How many admins of those boards are actually part of the history or culture of the theme?

Honda tuning will probably never be the same, but this is our past. It's where we came from. It's how we grew up. It's how we're all still e-friends 20 years later. And it gives me a lot of joy that there's been professional connections in our later lives that would have been missed if it wasn't for this place. Job opportunities, referrals, local helping hands, you name it.

So, whether it's a meme-drop or an actual Honda question, I wish you all continue to be a part of the family. Introduce more people to the family. And no matter what, never forget where you came from.

my desk in my parents basement on a crt monitor where most of this all started. Also, i still don't have stickers for sale. out of stock for 15 years :D

hsticker.jpg
new phone, who dis? Still waiting to be the ride of the month.
 
This is an amazing community, I like to read more articles, but my work is so hectic sometimes that I miss updates from the Honda Swap community.
 
Well, I never owned a Honda but we had fun when we worked together B, playing Mini Putt with that other guy in IT. I forgot his name? Maybe Dave? Always liked liked this site. Met a few people on here. We need to go out for breakfast again, you pay this time :p I just can't believe we are talking about 20 years. Fuck sakes we are fucking old, some more than others.
 
breakfast... is going to have to wait a bit, but yea... def can get that going sometime next year.
 
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