The Toyota Corolla FX-16 is a special version of the Corolla from the late 1980s. It's known for being light and fun to drive, making it popular among car fans.
Car
Toyota FX-16
The Toyota FX-16 is a small car made by Toyota in the late '80s and early '90s. It was designed to be sporty and fun to drive, making it popular among car lovers.
A 16-valve engine has 16 openings for air and fuel to enter and exhaust to exit, which helps the engine run better and faster. It's often found in sportier cars.
The GTS model is a sportier version of a car that usually has better performance and extra features. It’s designed for people who want a more exciting driving experience.
A stick shift is a type of car transmission where you have to change gears yourself using a lever. Many people enjoy driving stick shifts because they feel more in control of the car.
An automatic transmission is a system in cars that changes gears for you, so you don’t have to do it manually. It makes driving easier, especially in traffic.
A junk yard is a place where old cars are kept, and you can find parts to fix your own car. People often go there to buy cheap parts instead of buying new ones.
The Honda Civic is a small car that many people like because it runs well and doesn't use too much gas. It's been around for a long time and is known for being reliable, which means it usually doesn't break down often. Many drivers choose it because it's a good mix of fun to drive and easy to take care of.
A shift kit is a set of parts that you can add to an automatic transmission to make it change gears faster and more aggressively, which can make the car feel sportier.
A variable length runner helps the engine breathe better by adjusting how long the pathways for air are, depending on how fast the engine is running. This can make the car perform better at different speeds.
The Nissan Altima is a type of car that has four doors and is designed to be sporty. It's known for being fun to drive while still being practical for everyday use.
The Infiniti Q50 is a luxury car known for being fun to drive and comfortable. It's part of Infiniti's lineup and has several model years, including 2008, 2011, and 2014.
High performance driving is when you drive a car really fast and learn how to handle it well on a racetrack. It's about improving your driving skills for speed and safety.
'Near luxury' cars are those that feel luxurious but don't cost as much as high-end luxury brands. They provide good quality and features at a more affordable price.
The Chrysler 200 is a medium-sized car that was made for families and people who want a comfortable ride. It has a nice inside and is easy to drive, but some people found it didn't perform as well as other similar cars. It's talked about because it looks different and had some trouble getting people to buy it.
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Welcome back, America.
This is your podcast about cars.
Remember, there's American history, there's automotive history,
and then there's your history.
We are at the Venn diagram intersection of those three.
Just wait for another episode, and we're
going to get into thoughts about cars,
whether it's parents' cars, road trip cars, your first cars,
the cars that have meant something to you.
This is, to all the cars I've loved before.
Check us out online at carslove.com, carslove.com,
all kinds of wonderful stuff there, embarrassing photos.
There's a form, if you want to be on the show,
join the millions of Americans that have never heard of us.
And my name is Christian, and I'm
going to kick it over to co-host, my co-host Doug,
my co-pilot, my co-driver, co-passenger,
as it were, Doug, as he introduces
today's very special guest.
Thank you, Christian.
Yeah, so we've got a blast from the past for me.
Love it.
I think it's safe to say best friend growing up, Adam.
He no longer resides in Maryland.
He's in the great state of Texas,
where everything is great and bigger.
And Adam's got a great automotive history, I feel.
How far apart did you guys live growing up?
We're pretty close.
We're probably half a mile, if that.
Oh, dang.
You could walk if you really, really wanted to.
We did before we could drive.
But I'm sure there's some stories there.
So, Adam, thanks for coming on the show.
Thanks for having me.
Yeah, happy to have you.
Please tell us a little bit about yourself, or listeners,
if you will.
So my name's Adam.
Grew up in the Northeast between New York and Maryland,
but have been in Texas and Dallas since, gosh, plug,
in 1998, work brought me down here and enjoying the heat.
Inhumidity.
Never forget the humidity.
And don't forget the cold and the power spikes.
It's not dry, but it's not like up there.
Yeah, man, did you guys get the power grid fixed,
or are you still lighting candles for heat?
It's the best dang power grid in the world,
or something like that, not much for men.
Now, is it a lot of windmills, right?
It's a lot of windmills.
West Texas has a lot of windmills, yeah.
West Texas, yeah.
We're talking about North Dallas.
It's a different animal, right, Adam?
Okay, before we get into it, gotta say,
now my aunt, my mother's youngest sister,
lives out in Amarillo, and I went and took my kids
to visit her, I'm gonna say, God,
right as we were coming out of COVID
and we were able to fly again, and it's so flat.
I mean, it is flat.
I've never seen anything so flat.
There are no hills you can see for miles down the road.
Everybody drives 80 miles an hour,
like even people that haven't, because you can see it,
and so the wind flies through,
and you can see these enormous windmills.
I've never seen anything like that in my life,
but it was...
Giant farms of them, giant, giant farms of them, yeah.
We drove through there once, like a few years ago, yeah.
Dig it, dig it.
Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt.
Didn't mean to interrupt.
Cool, I learned something I didn't know.
Yeah, so if you're a new listener,
or if you're just coming back,
we're gonna talk to Adam about
some of the significant cars in his life.
It could be a car that his first car,
one he acquired, how he got it, the color,
what he liked about it, what he hated about it.
What happened to the car?
Cars that significant things in his life,
he happened to own the car during that time.
Maybe he had his first date in the car.
Maybe his first child was born in the backseat.
I don't know, so...
That's what happened to Michael J. Fox and Doc Hollywood.
We should maybe have him on.
Great movie, by the way.
Julie Warner.
Yep, this is a great movie.
So yeah, Adam, you wanna start out with an early car.
This is really all about you.
We'll go to the very beginning.
Doug, you remember this car?
I had a, I don't know what year it was, 87-ish.
Toyota Corolla FX.
FX-16, if I remember correctly.
FX, correct, I'm sorry, yes.
Good point, FX-16.
It was not the base model.
It had the 16-valve engine, but it was not the GTS model
that had the stick shift in the 14s.
I had the automatic in the 13s.
13.
But it did have a mean,
I think a factory Toyota decal on the side.
It was pretty, it was pretty ride.
I love those.
Most people hate them.
I love them.
That's my official position on that.
My official position is the decals on the side.
Like anybody's first car, just lots of fun in that car.
How did you end up with that car, Adam?
What color?
It was white.
It was white and I ended up with it
because my dad, my parents were divorced.
My dad was in Indianapolis at the time
and went out there one summer.
He bought it for me and we drove it back together
and he flew back.
And if memory serves, sorry to interrupt you,
if memory serves, your dad was quite a car
aficionado as well.
He changed cars quite a bit.
He changed cars quite a bit.
He changed cars quite a bit.
But that was a fun car.
Learned how to, I think work on brakes on that car.
Learned how to go to a junk yard
and acquire replacement parts,
all kinds of good life skills.
Yeah, I was, my kids and I were on,
we were going somewhere, maybe it was along I-10
and we were just passing junk yard.
I said, man, look at that junk yard.
My kids said, what's that?
What's that?
And I said, oh, well, this is where cars pile up
and you go and you find your car,
you extract parts, you know.
You barter with the junk yard owner.
You try not to get bitten by, you know,
the dog from the movie, The Sandlot.
And they had no clue.
Cause typically what happens to old cars now
is they just get crushed down into cubes
and they salvage what they can, they recycle.
That is true.
That is true.
And yeah, really, really great point
about how times have changed, right?
And-
It was much more a throw away society back then, yeah.
For sure.
I remember a few junk yard trips with Adam, of course.
So first car, Adam, learned to drive in it, right?
It was a nice car, as I recall.
For our viewers, it was a basically
kind of a twin of a Honda Civic two-door.
It looked, we had a mutual friend
with a Honda Civic two-door.
And that's what it looked like.
It was very boxy.
Yeah, very boxy, roomy, roomy inside, two-door, white.
And let's see, I'm trying to remember what else.
Was there any significant feature like tape deck?
No, it did have a cool aftermarket equalizer
hanging off the bottom.
I think the previous owner installed it.
So that was always fun to play with.
Wasn't a great sound system,
but it had like a 10-segment equalizer on it.
And I know I said tape deck for those viewers
that are the listeners who remember that.
Yeah, tape decks were fun.
And the secret when they're not working
is a pencil, right?
And a lot of people don't know
how a pencil and a tape work together, but they do.
They're best buddies.
I used to love having equalizers.
You know, I'd love to play with the little sliders,
and I thought I was Dr. Dre or something.
I couldn't hear a difference ever
on any of the equalizers.
I had to say, oh boy, I thought I was fancy,
sliding the little levers up and down.
Adam, what happened to that car?
That car?
What happened to that car?
It was in an accident,
but I don't remember if that was the terminal event
for that car.
Yeah, that was the end of the car.
Yes.
That was the terminal event of the car.
I'm pretty sure my head hit the side of the window
during that accident.
Oh, wow.
It didn't crack the window.
No, it didn't.
Present at creation.
So you're fine.
Oh yeah, I was fine.
A concussion later.
Toyotas are safe.
You guys heard it here first.
Yeah, I heard that a free concussion
came with that trim package.
So anyway, let's pivot to the next car
that meant something to Adam.
Love that.
Next one, not in chronological order,
but my first, probably adult car.
So when it first moved to Dallas,
went to the dealer, bought in 98
and bought a 96 Nissan Maxima.
Nice.
Which had that for a long time.
Love that car.
Love that car.
It was quick.
It was well-equipped.
Absolutely.
Well, nice big, big old sunroof.
And I ended up in the later years
doing a lot of mods to that car.
The kids would know what I,
we did what the kids call a pre-cat delete
where they piped to bypass the pre-cats,
gave it, which was a big bang for the buck for that car.
Nice.
I know I put some lowering springs on it.
I know I rebuilt the brakes a number of times
and I'm pretty sure I dropped
the automatic transmission valve body,
send it off to some crazy shop somewhere
that drilled some holes a little bit bigger,
increased fluid pressure.
And it was basically a shift kit, right?
So under light throttle,
you wouldn't notice the difference,
the full throttle,
this thing would like bang second
or really, really hard and even third.
Gave it a little bit more,
a little bit more path.
Wow.
I forgot.
I don't think I knew about that stuff
that you had done it, I mean.
It was, that was a long time ago.
A long time ago.
Now did you do that
or did you have that done
or did you collaborate with something before?
I did all that myself
except that shift kit work
and that you send off.
So the car sits idle
while you drop the part box
and send it, they do their magic over a week
and they send it back to you
before you, hopefully you install it correctly.
I did, I did.
Hopefully you'll remember
where all the springs and screws went.
You know that car,
man, I did like that car.
That car also had,
so the variety of that car
they sold in the Middle East
had a like a variable length runner
and you could buy it aftermarket,
install that, so I did that on it
and give it a little bit more power
and then I'll go put RPM switch
and all kinds of crazy stuff to get to work
but that was, that was a fun car.
All kinds of work on that.
Nice, nice.
And yeah, I do remember that car.
What color was it, Adam?
That was white too.
Oh, it was another white car, interesting.
That was white too.
And that one got,
that one got sold to my neighbor across the alley
and if you're listening to this podcast, I apologize.
Yeah, well that needs to move into the 21st century.
All right, we're at 15 past, is there another car?
Do we hold till next season?
Where are you at?
What do you think, Ed?
Gosh, I mean, we can do a quick third car.
I had a 08 Infiniti Q50
which is probably my most fun car.
So I leased and I had three of those
an 08, an 11 and a 14.
That series of cars I loved.
A lot of fun to drive.
That first one I did a lot of modifications to
I won't get into but in Dallas,
they have Texas Motor Speedway
which is a big nice car loop
and they hold private events
and I did some high performance driving stuff there
in that car.
Wow.
It was a lot of fun, a lot of fun in that car.
Yeah, so what did you love about those cars
since you had three of them?
There had to be a few things.
It was quick, it looked good.
Yeah.
I liked how it drove.
It had all the options I wanted
and I couldn't find like BMW Mercedes Audi
was too expensive and then down from there
it was kind of a nice middle ground.
You know, you're a premium
but you weren't like spending BMW money.
There's a term in the industry, near luxury.
Near luxury.
And I love the candor of that statement.
Like I've had a few accuracy
and I felt like it was there but not there.
Kind of one foot on either side
so you can go all in and buy something European
or more reasonable for the pocket book.
That's a really good point.
Good point.
So did those cars, obviously you lease
so you had to return them.
Yeah.
Did they get better with each successive one?
So every three years you got a new one.
My first one was second gen,
then second two were third generation
so the second two were basically the same.
Gotcha.
So from the first to the second two
there are big differences
and you can get a lot more sport,
your bigger wheels, bigger brakes
than the later ones
but otherwise car itself would change a whole lot at all.
And that was a rear wheel drive car
with a big V6, right?
300 or 100 horsepower?
Nah.
I mean these were, it was a 3.7 V6
and it was, I don't know,
it was low to mid 200s at the time.
I don't remember what it was
but I mean it moved.
Well that before you deleted the cats
and all that stuff but you know.
Yeah that's before you put the blower on it
like fast and the curious.
Yeah.
Hey good stuff.
Oh yeah.
So as we wrap up, good stories.
Yeah.
Anything before we say ta-ta here
to all the cars I've loved before Nation.
Any thoughts as we wrap up?
Love you guys, thanks for listening.
Amen.
It's been years since I've heard your voice.
It's sort of wonderful.
I think there was probably some sort of wild night out
in DC was our last hurrah.
So you look good, you sound good.
Thanks for making the time
and we're definitely gonna have you back in season two
because you're a great interview.
Assuming there is a season.
I'll get three more lined up.
I'll get three more lined up.
Go buy three so we can talk about it.
No I'm just kidding.
Well yeah.
And Adam, if there's something you forget about the car
the chances are that I'll probably remember.
Yes.
What are the odds that your lovely wife
would wanna be on the podcast Adam?
She's a big podcast fan.
Oh.
So I bet she would love to do that
because when I told her I think she got a little jealous.
So I think we might be able to make that happen.
All right.
Well we could have a spin-off car.
Yeah, we could have a spin-off podcast
to all the cars of the spouses that we've loved before.
Could work.
Could line up my ex-wife, it's beautiful.
Just kidding.
I think that's all for this week.
Thank you guys.
Remember we're online at carsloved.com.
Check us out at carsloved.com
and where you find your favorite podcast.
Where do you find it?
Yeah, where you find your favorite podcast.
Which in terms of this podcast,
most people will find it in the nearest recycle bin.
But hey, you know, we're the young up-and-comer
on the street.
Hey, thanks for listening.
We'll see you next week.
Carsloved.com.
Check us out at carsloved.com.
Take care.
About this episode
Christian and Doug welcome Adam, a longtime friend and car enthusiast, to share his automotive journey. They reminisce about Adam's first car, a Toyota Corolla FX-16, and the life lessons learned while working on it. The conversation shifts to his favorite adult car, a Nissan Maxima, where he discusses modifications and memorable experiences. Adam also shares stories about his Infiniti Q50s and the thrill of high-performance driving. The episode is filled with nostalgia, humor, and insights into car culture and personal connections.
Adam’s automotive journey is a tale of youthful innovation and speed. He transports us back to the late ’80s with his first ride, a peppy 1987 Toyota Corolla FX-16, and shares how it ignited his inner “shade-tree mechanic.” Listeners will hear how Adam pushed boundaries by modifying a ’96 Nissan Maxima – even engineering an automatic to “bang gears” like a manual – reflecting true car enthusiast creativity. As he moves into the modern era with an Infiniti Q50, Adam doesn’t just commute – he takes it to the track, proving that everyday cars can deliver heart-pounding automotive adventures. This episode is rich with car trivia and tuning insights: from garage tinkering victories to the adrenaline of tracking a sport sedan.
It’s an inspiring look at automotive culture and personal growth, sure to fuel anyone who craves car stories about customization, performance, and living life in the fast lane.
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