The mechanic

And who is the person behind the project? On these pages, I'll introduce myself.

I'm born in 1983 in Middelburg, in the south of the Netherlands where I still live.

After high school I took up a study on Electronics, specializing in CIT (Computer Interface Technology).

When I completed that study, I went out to live out my long live dream to join the Royal Dutch Navy. So I went into the service in 2005.

I also realized that, though Electronics was very interesting, it was not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

I was more someone for the mechanical side of things. Someone that wanted to get his hands dirty in a workshop.

After I left the Navy and had to find another job, it was the ideal time for me to try and switch proffesion

I found that chance in my new job at Stork Gears & Services. I learned a lot there and got a chance to do a lot of what I learned in the workshop aswell.

But since that job was in Rotterdam and thus about 100km's from where I live. I had to travel up and down every day! I lasted about a year and a half there before I started looking for a job closer to home.

I now work in my hometown as a service mechanic at MRC Middelburg where we overhaul Valves and such for the industrial and maritime sector.

In contrast to many other car enthousiasts, I wasn't raised with pertol in my vains. In fact, as a child I couldn't care less about cars.

My fasination for cars and the engeneering that goes with it, came when I got my drivers license.

After I passed at the first time for that, as a student, I didn't have the money for my own car yet.

The Audi 100 2.3E from my parents was a good car to really learn to drive in. But they already had that car for years, and after I drove in it a little, it had to be replaced because it was getting to old.

Their next car would be a Toyota Carina E 1.6 XLi (I believe it's called a Corona outside Europe).

There was already a little work done on the car. Different rims, exhaust and such and it's sporty body apealed to me. (Defenetly when compared to the squared '80 Audi) The engine wasn't as powerfull as the2.3 litre engine in the Audi with it's 1.6 4A-FE. But since I put more milage on that car than my parents did, it was my first positive experience with Toyota.

Eventually, you just can't help starting to dream about you're own car. Via occasion sites on the internet I started to search for my own car. I couldn't afford it yet off course and there was no real neccesity for a car yet, but nothing wrong with dreaming right?

I really liked the Toyota Corolla GTSi (Later on, this turned out the be the AE101 model).

Until my cousin told me somewhere in februari 2004, that he was going to sell his car. I had looked at his '92 Toyota Corolla AE92 GTSi Hatchback and i kind of liked it. It was a nice, sporty thing to see, inside and out.

That's how the car was registered to my name at the end of the day. ( I had to decide fast because I was going on holiday the next day)

I had a great vacation, but when I got back, I was glad to be home and able to rack up the first miles in my very first car.

It didn't take long before the first changes were made. New radio, different shiftknob, new rims, etc.

My curiosity and interest in technique ensured that I dared to take the car even further apart to take a look at things. Mostly because I just wanted to see how things worked.

That starts with the dashboard, but than you end up in the enginebay and before you know it, you're lying under the car.

I really enjoyed working on the car aswell and my interest in things kept growing. The comments on what I did were usually good, so I figured I was doing something right.

A little technical insight and a 'just-do-it' mentality made me go even further, and after a short while I did my first engineswap together with my brother. (From a 4A-FE to a 4A-GE in his Corolla E9)

That's how I learned myself how to work on cars and I had a steep learning curve the last couple of years.

Even though I had the chance to drive a lot of other cars, My own little car was always the most pleasant to drive and kept amazing me with it's handling. It has no luxuries, no power steering, no electric windows, no ABS, ESP or any other aid to help you drive. This makes for a really natural car to drive. And I have come to really appreciate that in my car.

I all these years I always looked at the car with a smile on my face. I think I can be called a real fan of the E90 series Corolla.

After I joined the Dutch CorollaClub and became a regular guest on their internet forum, things sped up even further. It was u hudge source of good information for me. Now I try to share my knowledge with others there.

A lot of time has gone by since and the Corolla HB didn't have the eternal life.

When I bought it from my cousin, it had only 165.000 km's on the odometer. In the 4 years after I bought it, I drove it all the way up to 365.000 km's.

Unfortunatly, the Corolla lived up to it's reputation for having a real rust problem.

It kept getting worse ad just patching it up wasn't covering it anymore. It needed a real work over and I didn't want to use it as my daily driver anymore, because it would come to a point that it would be beyond saving when I kept using it on a daily basis.

The Corolla HB the way it was when I stopped using it. Quite a difference with when I bought it right?

In the meantime, I bought a house where I live together with my girlfriend and her son and it was time for a more practical, larger car.

A child in the backseat isn't always easy in a hatchback and with a pram in the back, the boot is pracically full.

My girlfriend is pregnant with another child and, so a larger car with 5 doors would be more practical.

In my search for a new car, it was clear it had to be a Toyota again. And I preffered one with a nice engine with a bit of power.

Thats how I ended up with another rare car. A Toyota Carina E GTi. (I believe it's called a Corona ouside Europe). It was even built in the same year as the '92 Corolla HB!

The Carina is still my daily driver and it probably will be for some years to come.

It has been susspended from taxes and such and is waiting side by side with the Coupé for it's turn to be overhauled. I've got some nice plans for it to bring it back better than ever. There is even a 4A-GZE supercharger engine waiting to be swapped in to it.