1997 Mitsubishi Eclipse GST Spyder

Different people get into the hobby for different reasons. You know, like the pathetic skinny dude with buck teeth and shot-glass spectacles who couldn't get laid if he was trapped in a women's prison, much less get it driving around a stock Civic LX with 13-in. wheels and a tape player in the dash. Or the poor bastard who's cursed to spend his high school and college years driving around his grandma's '81 Corolla and now has something significant to prove to the world. You know all about it; every car enthusiast has some reason they do what they do.

Reasons to build are as far reaching as the people who make up the hobby. Take Miami resident Gary Ryan as an example. He drove into a puddle one day and got stuck, and it was all the reason he needed to build the hot 2G Eclipse pictured here. Actually, that's not the sole reason he owns this vehicle, but the incident was a big factor in bringing the car up to the level it's currently at.

"All my life I purchased practical vehicles," Ryan said. "I had a VW camper as a young man, station wagons and family cars as time progressed. Then, with my son soon off to college, a wild urge came over me...I had never owned a convertible."

In 1997 Ryan purchased a '97 Eclipse GST Spyder. The car served as his daily ride for the next 2 years. He kept it shiny and added a few personal touches, but basically the Eclipse remained stock until 2000. Figuring he was over the sports car phase, Ryan took the car to a local car show to see if anyone would be interested in buying it, but the show promoters liked what they saw and convinced Ryan to enter the contest. At the end of the day, he had won a "best of show" trophy for his clean Eclipse.

"A few hours later, to my surprise, I was home showing my wife a 5-ft trophy," Ryan said. "I was hooked."

Intent on increasing the car's show appeal, Ryan did a lot of research on the Internet, read all the magazines and went to shows to talk to people. He began adding to the car little by little, starting off slow because it was still his daily transportation. Then, in October 2001, Miami was hit by a pretty big storm, as tends to happen in that part of the country.

"On that day I was driving to work and got stranded on a flooded street and got stuck in a big puddle," Ryan recalled. "Rainwater flooded the interior and ruined the electrical system. The car had to be towed, and that was when I decided to have all the major work done."

We'll start on the exterior, where most of the important stock panels have been replaced with an amalgam of aftermarket kit pieces all molded together for the clean one-piece look. Parts include a Stillen front bumper, VIS rear, DG Motorsports carbon-fiber hood, Andy's Combat side skirts and Aerogear Z3-style fenders. Body work was carried out by Hector and Joseph Hernandez at Auto Pro in Miami, Fla. The Hernandez brothers also did the completely custom paint nose to rear, beginning with maroon, transitioning into airbrushed flames and then gunmetal gray, and the dragon graphic that peers over the neon-imbued Z3-style front grille. Look closely, and you'll see that dragon has working LED lights in its eyes and purges NO2 out its nose.