1981 Mercury Capri
My first car was a 1981 Mercury Capri RS, and we put AMSOIL 10W-30 in it right away. I had that car for about a year before it was stolen from the community college parking lot one night.
In a way, I had the last laugh. The Capri looked like a performance car with its RS-Turbo styling, but it was actually a slow, economical straight six. I still loved the looks of that car, and even now I wish I had found a real 5.0 RS or RS Turbo.
1980 Honda Accord
My next car was a 1980 Honda Accord. After I moved to Orlando for college, it was my basic get-to-class-and-back car for a while, still running on whatever oil it came with because AMSOIL wasn’t easy to find.
Later, I started modifying it with a Weber carburetor, rebuilt engine, racing cam, a head swap from the stock CVCC, high-performance fuel pump, and MSD ignition. It turned into a true four-door sleeper. Once I found a local parts store that carried AMSOIL, I switched it over too.
It was never the fastest thing on the road, but it surprised more than a few people, including my girlfriend with her ’87 Chevy 305 Camaro. The question was always, “What do you have under there?” and the answer was always, “Just a four-cylinder.” For me, that car proved that with the right work — and the right oil — you could make something ordinary feel special.
But I started to like driving that Camaro, and at one point started looking for my own Z-28 or IROC-Z.
