Where do you live?
Las Vegas, Nevada

What do you do for a living?
I work at Pac Sun (clothing store) and with AND Syndicated Production. They produce the Judge Mathis Show. The show takes place in Chicago, Illinois.  I go to the courthouses in Las Vegas and Henderson and read small claims and civil cases.  I chose the ones I think would make a good show and send the cases to the main office.  The guys down there get a hold of the people and see if any one in the cases is willing to be on the show.  I then wait for a call to see if any of the cases I have sent in are going to air.  I have been working for AND Syndicated Productions for almost two years now and I’ve had about ten cases that have aired.  May not seem like many, but it’s actually pretty good.  It’s an awesome job for me being that I work part time at Pac Sun.  This gives me a little bit more money on the side.

What Mitsubishi do you drive?
A yellow 2003 Lancer OZ Rally Edition

How long have you had your Mitsubishi(s)?
3 years this coming February.

What got you into Mitsubishi?
The very first time I saw the Lancer OZ Edition I knew I had to have it.  It was like love at first sight.  I didn’t know any thing about it’s history or even who made it.  I was determined to get one!

Got a favorite story to tell about your Mitsubishi?
The first day I got my baby!  I was looking online at prices and who in town had a Lancer for sale.  I didn’t really want to buy one off the street.  Simply because I didn’t want to buy someone else’s problems.  We all know people will tell you anything to sell the car, you only find out later what the real problems are.  I heard CarMax was a good place to buy a car.  People I know who have bought their cars from them say they were happy with their purchase.

So I go online to see if they have any cars to my liking, though I knew I wasn’t going to find anything all that great.  I was always looking for that one car I really wanted, a Subaru WRX or a Mitsubishi Lancer.  Though I did find two cars that I wouldn’t mind getting, so my grandfather went with me to CarMax to test drive them and look around.  We’re walking around and I see a yellow car and I swear I knew what it was by just looking at the side door.  I dropped the papers with the information about the other cars on the floor and ran to this yellow beauty.

My price range was 8K.  (I was 20 at the time with a part time job and figuring how to try to go to school, so my budget was low.) With my eyes big and not taking them off the car, I tell my grandfather “This is it! It’s not an EVO, but it’s the OZ Rally Edition (next best thing in my opinion). And she was yellow too. I have been wanting this for three years!”  He sees I’m excited and then looks at the price.  $12,000 and 72K miles.  He tells me it’s over priced and to look for a different car.  I stand there looking at him with the puppy dog eyes and the bottom lip out.  (I’m grandpas only granddaughter since my sister passed, so I get away with a few things…)  After a few minutes of jumping around, kissing his cheek, hugging and hanging on him, he gives in and we sign the papers.  I say we because good ol’ grandpa co signed for me.  So now I have credit.  Thank you Grandpa, I love you!  Just to put it out there, I’m not the spoiled little girl this story makes me out to be.  I pay the car payments and insurance.  I just got a little help that I am very grateful for.  And that’s the story on how I found my yellow beauty.

What are your goals for the car and how close are you to achieving them?
My goals are to get the window tinted, new wheels, get the EVO wing, exhaust, lowering springs (shocks and springs. I don’t need coilovers for a daily driver), get a CF hood and trunk, possibly a body kit, different tail lights (black JDM), and HIDs. Brembo brake kit along with Bride seats.

So far I got the windows tinted, not as dark as I would like.  I already have 7 tickets, I didn’t want any more trouble.  She has VME 6000K HIDs (Christmas present from the boyfriend), Sumitomo HTRZ III (215/45/17) tires (not Falkens, but I guess they will do), on 17” Motegi SP10s, flat black, with a matching yellow strip under the spokes (custom).  The EVO 8  CF spoiler with CF face inserts (03“ Model) with a matching CF DSM trunk emblem (YAY for carbon fiber!), and lastly, an HKS intake.

What was your favorite modification? Why?
Well, being that I don’t really have any – YET – the best thing on my Lancer are my wheels.  I LOVE them.  They may be nothing special to hardcore enthusiasts, but they look great!  I have the yellow behind of the spokes rather than the outside.  I wanted something unique, yet clean.  I would like the paint the calipers yellow as well, but a few people tell me it would be too much yellow.  I’m working on getting the yellow on the inside of the car.  Such as the air vents, door handle little things like that.

What’s next for your Mitsubishi? Why?
I’m working on getting different tail lights (JDM).  I want more of an aggressive look.  I know how I want it to look, but sometimes it’s the whole “Am I SURE this is what I want?” thing. LOL!

Who has helped you the most along the way?
My wonderful boyfriend.  He got me wheels and HIDs for Christmas.

Who do you look up to in the Mitsubishi community?
I have several people I talk to about my Mitsubishi.  If I have questions, I post them on the forums as well as ask my other friends who own Lancers.  . . . Mark, who does all his own work.  I also mooch parts off of him.  Dags, my yellow twin, who I go to for style.

What do you see as the biggest challenge facing the Mitsubishi community today?
Mitsubishi making parts cheap.  Sales of Mitsubishi vehicles are dragging since people are looking for more fuel efficiency and cost effectiveness.  All the negative stereotype portrayed by the media and police.  Not just Mitsubishi, but the tuner scene as a whole.  I feel Mitsubishi is not really helping us out on modding our cars.

We can’t go to the dealership anymore.  RalliArt is nearly non-existant along with the fact we have a very small Mitsubishi parts selection.  They have down-sized a lot in the past few years.  We also have to be careful about what we do modify on our cars so we can still keep our warranty.  We have to get aftermarket parts since Mitsubishi doesn’t have a strong performance division. [Here in the states, anyway. - Ed.]  Mitsubishi knows we want to tune our cars and change things out.  So why not let us go to the dealership and buy them there?  Toyota has TRD, Nissan has Nismo…  where’s our RalliArt?

Is there a particular shop you’d like to recommend?

I don’t have a shop to recommend.  I’m very sketchy on people working on my car.  I don’t trust people.  Maybe I need to loosen up a bit.  I don’t want to spend 5k on a new paint job, so I guess its my loss, huh?

Do you spend time on any Mitsubishi sites? Which ones?
I spend most of my time on Mitsu-Media.

Mod list:
In the works.