SPD Tuning Service is now over four years old, but the SPD Impreza is all already eight years old and has 150,000 smiles on it. Other than the story below, I have just changed the plugs twice, air filter three time, wiper blades four times and the oil every 3000-5000 miles. For the curious, I have a sort of car background. I have always been building some car or another. The first car I rebuilt was an Austin Healy 100-6 at age 14. At 18, I was a service writer in a large Chevy garage for a year out of high school, and 15 years later I spent three years as a mechanic in a sports car shop in Southern California. The Impreza has "keeper" status at this point.

In spring of 1994 I when to the Vasek Polak (Porsche Audi VW BMW Saab Subaru) dealer in Hermosa Beach to look at the new Impreza. $10,600 for four doors and four tiny 165/75-13 tires. Two wheel drive, but the blind nuts were in the floor pan for the rear differential mounts. 1800cc 5-speed, but the blind nuts were in the left front strut tower for the turbo control valves. No electric windows, locks or mirror, but it weighed only some 2550 pounds. Hummm, so I write a check for 11,400 and drive it home.

Went to the salvage yard the next month as bought the entire back section of a crashed Legacy wagon. Installed the gas tank, differential and cross members, 18mm rear bar, and disk brakes to replace the drum brakes. Still 2wd now weighing 2635 lbs. Then I mount the 205/55-16 Michelin XGTV on DP5 wheels from my Celica GT4, totally make room for them with hammer, baseball bat and more hammer. Add KYB WRX replacement shocks. At least it is interesting to drive.

Summer of 1994, drive it out of brakes in the mountains, come home and purchase new Subaru 10.9 Turbo brakes. Fixes problem. Now very curious about developments in England at a company called Prodrive. Order Japanese language factory manuals to learn about the car. My wife happens to know passable Japanese, so I drive her nuts teaching me to read in Japanese. She also knows nothing about cars and cares even less to learn about cars.

Summer of 1995, 'invited' by my parents to the family reunion in Bad Durkeim, Germany,   I stop by Prodrive for a two day visit. I purchase 17x7.5 Speedlines, Group N bushings, Recaro seat rails and a '555' T-shirt. Have blast in Germany, again. So I now have a fair handing car, stops great with the new bushings, the new Recaro SRD makes a real difference in driving., and take many long trips to Washington state, Canada, four corners and countless trips to Monterey and Laguna Seca.

Couple of years slip by and I begin making somewhat informed comments to questions raised on this internet thing. By summer of 1997, with Subaru's intervening rally success, people are all of a sudden saying, "hey, this is a bitchin' car, how to I get one?"

A local dude calls up and says, "I hear you know about Subaru's. Can you help me setup my car?"  So I order a bunch of Prodrive stuff and we put it on his car. Turns out great and I write a web site on a long Saturday night and start SPD Tuning Service.

Since that time we have installed the a STI bushing kit, bigger STI brakes, WRX STI seats, WRX aluminum hood, WRX bumper, Prodrive P1 suspension and Strömung exhaust. In between, a friend locates a perfect 1996 WRX wreck in Japan. We install the transmission and LSD 4.11 differential in my car and put the engine on a stand in Mike's Garage. The wiring harness for the 260hp engine lays all cut apart on a guest room bed waiting for me to stop typing......Everybody who drives this car comes back with a smile on there face.