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
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
