The next few years of my life were filled with tinkering with the 89GT on a budget. I always had a job so I would do what I could with what little money I scraped together.
My first few months of owning the car were filled with trips to the mechanic and exhaust shop. I didn’t know how to work on cars so the only option is to take it to an expert. Hundreds of dollars later, I felt sufficiently burned. My budget couldn’t support having somebody else work on the car. Out of necessity I learned about my car. I began spending hours taking parts off and putting them back on, trying to memorize their order and function. The knowledge gave me confidence. Once you can (in a sense) reverse engineer something to determine it’s role in a system, you feel like you just conquered part of the world.
It was the late 90’s and the internet was only gaining it’s steam. I remember searching for hours for parts to add to my wish list. At one point I remember running a www.kbb.com “what’s my car worth” and seeing $3,000. A figure which at the time excited me, I could actually sell the car for a profit! How silly it sounds now. Anyway, my parts wish list grew and grew.