A Nostalgic Memory
Spenser’s 2005 Mitsubishi Evo 8.
It is true that it is in our nature as humans that we love to have the things that we cannot have. It is simply a part of us that we cannot deny nor avoid. Whether you’d like to claim that you are one of the few who are absolutely satisfied with what you have and want nothing else, something and somewhere deep down there are things that you desire greater merely because of the fact that you cannot have it. Us car enthusiasts are no excuse to this and I, on behalf of everyone will attest to this fact.
The Mitsubishi Evolution is a car that I find to make a great example of this scenario. With the first Evo being introduced in the 1990’s, Mitsubishi wanted to dip their toes into motorsport to help improve their brand and further innovate their cars into something more exciting than regular street sedans. They tapped into rally motorsport with the Mitsubishi Lancer which performed pretty well.
After collecting multiple titles in the WRC (World Rally Championship), it stirred attention from the world which created hype and the desire to have. Having been derived from a 4 door family sedan, it automatically checks off the box for practicality; add big turbos, great aerodynamics, a race suspension setup, and multiple titles to top off, it extends itself to become a must have car for many. The problem is that it took awhile for our side of the world to be able to get our hands on it. So as North Americans further watched Mitsubishi dominate the Rally Scene from 1996 - 1999, all it really was back then was a dream we hoped to have — experiencing it in notable video games like Gran Turismo, and the infamous Initial D which highlighted the Emperor Crew with a team full of Evo’s.
This is Spenser’s 2005 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8. Personally it’s very special for me to be able to feature this as it reminds me a lot about my childhood. The Evo 8 was my car of choice, alongside the GTR32 when I used to play Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune ritually. That was my daycare as a kid; the days when my parents would leave me in the arcade with a loaded up card to play all day. Being the competitive person I am, I took that game by heart and the Evo 8 and the R32 has won me multiple king titles in different maps. (If you know, you know…)
While the Evo plays a special role as one of the big influences I’ve had, it sure does play an even bigger part in Spenser’s life. As a devoted family man and a petrolhead, Spenser had to make sure that both needs were met on each end. So… it only makes sense to have a 450hp boosted 4 door family sedan right? It accounts for the weekly grocery run, has enough seats for the kids and the wife for a nice family bonding, the occasional pulls, as well as the occasional track days… all. in. one.
Before making all of this possible though, it starts with a very interesting story.
Spenser had always wanted to have a red Evo 8. It was an endless search and hope but at the time, the market was just not in his favor. So he had slowly started to let go of the idea and urgency to have one… “If it happens, it happens.“ … and soon enough, it did happen.
Him and his wife had gone for a drive to Burlington to take some photos during the cherry blossom season but just missed the timing as they got there a bit too late. Towards the drive home, they decided to take the local roads with the extra time they had to kill. Seemingly enough, they drove by a Chrysler dealership and saw this Red Evo sitting in the used car lot. In disbelief, they had to stop by to check if what they were seeing was actually real.
The very next day, Spenser inquired about the car. After multiple back and forth communication with the salesperson, he ended up realizing that it was similar to all the other Evo’s he had seen before — overpriced. As much as he’d wanted to own this car, he would never place spending on a car in front of anything else for his family, so no material object would get in front of those. If it was reasonable, he’d pull the trigger. So… he ended up dropping it like all the other ones he’s found in the past.
Little did he know, his wife was arranging the deal without his knowledge. I think his wife realized just how much it would make him happy to achieve something he’s been longing to have. On a regular weekday, his wife opens up the topic about the Evo again. She asks, “how bad do you want this car?“ He responds, “I really want it of course, but it’s out of the price range.“ On top of this, he already had a lot of other toys in the garage including a fully built Civic EG, a Honda CBR 929RR, and a 1998 Honda CR-V slammed on GTR wheels as a daily driver. “For me to dump another chunk of money for the Evo, I’d have to sell everything.“
“Well if you’re able to get the Evo, would you sell it all?“ — his wife asks again. He explains that by the time he sells everything, it would probably be already too late. Without looking much into the conversation or the reason why his wife is asking these questions, he moves on… Days later, his wife asks him to check his email. He was at work during this time, and so he did. He then finds an email thread of a long negotiation between his wife and the salesperson, with the closing remarks stating that he will be picking up the car during the upcoming Saturday. As you would expect, Spenser was in pure disbelief. “Congratulations, you are now the owner of an Evo 8… now remember when you said you were gonna sell it all? Sell it!” — a reminder from his wife.
When I heard Spenser tell me this story, I was in disbelief myself. Quite a great love story if you ask me. It’s funny enough how we see a lot of jokes over the internet about the choices we would make, particularly between our significant other and a car, and how most of us would take the car over a person. Whether you answer this as a joke, or in all seriousness, Spenser is lucky to never have to face such ultimatums in his life… unfortunately though, the world isn’t perfect. With one ultimatum down, he is still left with a difficult choice I wish I’d never have to face myself… or maybe I do? “Should I cut my perfectly fine Evo 8 to install my widebody Voltex kit right away, or should I wait? Am I ready? Or should I just forget the widebody?” Such difficult decisions I guess…
Before he finally cut the car, I can say that it wasn’t really him that decided but rather the plain hard concrete when he smashed his front bumper and was forced to replace it. He first ordered the front bumper and installed it due to obvious reasons. After a year of driving with a Voltex front bumper and a stock body, he finally ordered the rest of the kit from Nextmod. When the rest of the parts came, it sat in his basement for 3 years waiting to be put on. Being the commitment widebody is, the thought of cutting up a car that had no rust was hard to digest. Again, some external force had to make him do it.
With an Evo that’s expected to get cut eventually, his buddy John had hooked him up with a sponsorship from Fast Wheels and deliberately got him wheels that were too wide for a stock body. Considering that Spenser had always thought about the Voltex kit from the very beginning, all he really needed was a little bit of a push to finally cut the car.
While you see a beautifully built Evo right before your eyes, the car didn’t come free from problems. Funny enough, during the test drive, the car actually broke down on him… talk about an instant slap on the face and a “welcome to your new project car/money pit“ reminder right? It had its issues that had to be resolved but with Spenser’s love for the car, he was more than happy to tackle each problem and learn about what he now calls his own Evo. He found that the reason why it broke down was because a regular hose clamp was used to hold the throttle body which wasn’t able to handle the boost. A great reminder of how much power this car is capable of. I think I’d still be smiling at the end of the day.
While he’s owned the car for 8 years now, the build is nowhere near done. Spenser plans to transform this into a fully committed track car in the years ahead, and it’ll be really interesting to see that considering he’s built a Civic EG specifically for the track already.
Credits to Spyder01Photography for the photos.
His EG had gone through different motors — from a D series engine, to a B series, and finally a K20. It first started as a rust bucket that was almost at the end of its life but Spenser transformed it into the ultimate track toy with a fully built engine, race focused suspension setup with the interior stripped down and a roll cage installed.
In case you’re not convinced that Spenser doesn’t mean business when it comes to committing to the track, here’s his EG chasing a GTR from Nextmod… What a sight to see.
Credits to Spyder01Photography for the photos.
Photo grabbed from Spenser’s Facebook archives.
Credits to Helmond Ching Photography.
Photo grabbed from Spenser’s Facebook archives.
Having owned the EG for 6 years, he had already learned so much from building cars. Funny enough, the EG met the Evo on his driveway and the Evo watched the EG get driven away by the new owner. It was the start of a new chapter…
His Evo 8 has the same 4G63 Motor that was built to push 453hp to all 4 wheels as tested on the dyno. Equipped with HKS camshafts, STM intercooler with a custom made piping from Ultimate Racing, upgraded turbos, upgraded injectors, fuel pumps, and a tune.
As mentioned, the entire body is dressed in a full Voltex Street Kit, a set of Fast Wheels FC08 running 18x10.5 square, stock Brembo brakes with DBA rotors and Project Mu pads. The calipers were painted teal as a tribute to his EG which was wrapped in a lot of J’s racing parts.
Inside you will find a pair of Recaro SPG bucket seats and the OEM Recaro seats at the back, Key’s Racing suede steering wheel, ARC titanium shift knob, and Defi 60mm gauges with controller, and a Chasing Js titanium cluster bezel.
Nowadays it’s extremely rare for me to see Evo’s especially in Canada. Seeing one on the road, fully stock or fully built reminds me of my “race weekends“ at the arcade and it never fails to bring a smile to my face. Do you think Mitsubishi will ever make a comeback and remake the Evo’s again? I hope so, and I hope they pay homage to the early days of their Rally motorsport blood.
If you would like to connect with Spenser, you can follow his instagram page: @knightx101