My Life in Cars: Vaughn Gittin Jr

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Dan Smith

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AMERICAN DRIFTERS ON TRANSITION FROM 240SX TO MUSTANG LIFE

My life has been all about cars, so much so that my mom had to pry the matchbox car out of my hands during the wedding when I was supposed to carry my wedding ring down the aisle. My father was a used car salesman and he always brought back cool cars from auctions. He was an old-school hot-rod guy, a 1955 Chevrolet He owned a Bel Air, a Mustang, and a low-down Pro Street pickup his truck. When I was four years old, he gave me a go-kart for my birthday. I had it running until it ran out of gas when I visited him over the weekend. It has paddle brakes and I was hooked on going fast and pulling the paddle brakes to skid the rear tires.

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Fast forward to remote control cars, skateboards, dirt bikes, BMXs, and I got my first car when I was 16. That he was a 1964 Oldsmobile Cutlass Lowrider. A few years later, I got my first rear-wheel drive car (a Nissan 240SX) and went to industrial parks and parking lots to eat donuts, burnout, and play figure eights.

When we first purchased that car it was actually to sell my father's business to a friend. That friend tried to do the same when he graduated college a few days later, but he put it straight in the tree. So I bought the car back from him and it was left torn apart on my parents' drive for two years while I figured out how to get the money to fix it. and it effectively changed my life. I started formula drifting in the first year of 2004 with a 240SX. It was also the year Ford debuted the fifth-generation Mustang, and I fell in love with it. From 2005 to today, I've ridden Mustangs and never looked back.

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I still have the livery of the last Nissan driven in my garage. I'm just sitting there, but I'm not ready to let go yet. There is so much learning and personal progress associated with that car. There is a lot of attachment there. I had driven the car on the road and in Formula Drift at the same time. I remember driving around Baltimore in full color in 2004. It held all the lights, turn signals, etc. When I switched to the Mustang, and before I started dating Ford, I had a Mustang, and that was the first feeling I had of torque. The Mustang has an image of a big and heavy car, but it was very light and suitable for drift driving. Why didn't you give it a chance when you were a teenager? I came to the conclusion that I was a hard-headed teenager and wanted something different from my parents. Once I started driving Mustangs and getting into the culture, I thought I'd start RTR. I developed a passion for Fords and have since moved to Fords in all my road cars. My wife drives a Ford Explorer. We are very proud of the products Ford is working on projects like her Mach-E 1400.

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But I can't let you go. The Raptor has a set of RTR wheels and some chunky tires. That truck is very impressive just sitting there and it comes with a full warranty so you can go and enjoy it so I haven't messed with it too much. from RTR Spec 2 to Spec 3 and Spec 5.

Vaughan's Dream 3 Car Garage

Mustang Mach E 1400
Build a second Mach-E 1400. It's silly and a great introduction to electricity for me.
lamborghini countach
I've always wanted a Countach. I drove it and was very disappointed, but it was still in my dream garage.
Zakspeed Ford Capri
One of my favorite cars of all time. Group 5 was literally 'do whatever you want the car to do and race it'.