It’s Our FoST Time With An Autozam Scrum: Members’ Rides

Good afternoon! I love doing these Member interviews so much. Last week I had the chance to show off one of the most inspiring one-car solutions I’ve ever seen! I cannot tell you how much I love the idea of an impractical classic car as a daily. Having dailied all sorts of terrible cars for many years, I get it – mine have never been that old though. Maybe I should learn how to play with carburetors …

This week, we’re heading to the confusingly named Rhode Island, which, despite the name, is not an island. We’re continuing on the theme of modified cars this week, but this time going for a more modern take. Today, I get to introduce you to David (Sploch). David is a mechanical engineer working for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, and he’s got a very interesting duo that fits in very well with the Autopian crowd.

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How did you get into cars?

Kinda started by binge-watching Top Gear back in college, back when it was still on Netflix. Though the argument could be made that it started earlier, since my dad is both an engineer and a lifelong mechanic. Didn’t hurt that I ended up getting my degree in aerospace and mechanical engineering either. Lastly, I prefer saving cash, so I try and do all my own car work, which lends itself well to being an enthusiast, even if by osmosis.

And what’s in the garage today?

• 2016 Ford Focus ST
• 1994 Autozam Scrum

How long have you had the Focus?

I bought the Focus new, so going on 10 years now. Got it after the previous car I had, a 2000 Corolla, would no longer pass smog. The poor thing burned about a quart of oil a week by that point, so it was time to start looking. I knew I wanted something more sporty, but I wasn’t making actual sports car money. So this is a good compromise to that, in my opinion.

Did you know you wanted a Focus ST?

Not specifically. I was looking for something in the segment, but I bounced between similar cars like the Civic SI or the Golf GTI. Ended up with the Ford ’cause I ultimately liked the look of it better. The front end still has the semi-Aston-like grill, and to me that made it look way cooler than the other ones.

When did the modifications start?

The worrier in me left it stock way longer than you’d think I would have. Everyone asked for years what I planned to do with it, and it’s only now that it’s paid off and over 200k miles that I actually started doing anything with it.

I’ve heard the ST is a bit of a pain maintenance-wise. Has it given you much trouble over the years?

I’ll say the ST has not been any less reliable than any other cars I’ve known. Aside from regular maintenance, I’ve only had two major problems: at about 175k, the turbocharger waste gate seal failed, which I figure is pretty good for a turbo. Since it is integrally cast in the turbine housing, the whole unit needed replacing, which I did myself as perhaps the most involved piece of wrenching I’ve yet done.

The other problem is the second-geargear synchromesh has gone out, which is a known issue with the 6-speed transmission that these came with. It still works, but I just can’t slam the gears in. More often than not, I just go straight from first to third now. I’ll get it fixed eventually, but that’s some significant downtime to yank the transmission, redo the gears, and reinstall, so for now I just make do. Upswing is that when I do it, I’ll be able to throw an LSD into it as well, which I foolishly did not opt for on purchase. Otherwise, it’s as reliable or more so than any other car I’ve had.

What made you decide to start adding mods at 200k?

Adding mods at 200k was something that just came about with the failed turbocharger. I figured that, if I was gonna slog out a turbo replacement, which involves removing it from its nest between the engine and the firewall, I’d do an upgrade from stock.

Since I was doing that, you have to bump up the intercooler to take advantage, same for the tune. By the time the dust had settled on my give-a-mouse-a-cookie-style upgrade spree, I had the set of mods I have now. Plus, the car was paid off with many miles behind it, and thus was much less of a liability if I ended up grenading the engine. Had I done that earlier, I’d be a lot more pissed with a dead new car than a dead old one.

What’s the full mod list now?

I’ve got a Garrett PowerMax turbo, a 3.5″ Depo Racing intercooler, cp-e alpha intake ram air box with dryflow air filter, a turbosmart BOV Kompact Shortied Plumb-back from an RS, and a cp-e xFlex 55 durometer rear motor mount. And, of course, a custom tune.

What mod made the biggest difference?

Performance-wise? The tune and turbo combo. Before, it was a sporty car that could overtake in 6th, but now, you put the hammer down, and it absolutely moves. Fun-wise? The air intake. It probably adds only a nominal amount of performance, but hearing the pshhhhhhh and the whine from the turbo when it spools? Absolutely the most fun thing and worth every dollar.

What additional plans do you have for it?

Probably replace all the motor mounts, but that’s more of a maintenance task than anything. It’s my daily driver, so I have to keep it a little within reason, and I functionally have to keep my repairs to a single shift of work, since I do not have a garage and would rather not piss off my landlord keeping the thing on cinderblocks while I work.

Given the chance, would you swap this for an RS, or what does the ST do better?

When I bought it, probably not. The ST will run fine on regular 87 gas, but the RS needed premium, and I wasn’t in a position to feed that with a lengthy commute at the time. Now? I can swing the premium, so if I could magically make my car an equivalent RS, I’d probably do it. That said, I drive all my cars until I can’t anymore, so probably won’t happen anytime soon.

Any fun stories of your time with this?

Really, anytime I drive it is fun. But most fun driving would probably be driving the backroads in Kentucky in 2019 with a few buddies doing the Bourbon trail. They’re real windy country roads, beautiful scenery … just an enjoyable drive.

What’s the best thing about this car?

It does fun driving and routine driving really well. I can use it as a daily driver no trouble, but if I wanna be more spirited and have fun with it, then I can, and without having to have a separate car. It’s just fun to have.

Anything you don’t like about it?

How much plastic is in it, which is admittedly more an indictment of the modern automotive industry at large. Anytime I have to work on it, and it involves unplugging or removing anything, I know I’m going to have to buy a new one because that plastic will be brittle and will break when I touch it.

If you had to replace this tomorrow, would you get another ST?

I would get another ST, but Ford sadly stopped making them a few years after I got it. So the future plans involve something similar, but from another manufacturer. Something in the Civic SI or Corolla GR range. We’ll see, I suppose. But I also keep my cars for a long time, so unless something catastrophic happens, it’ll be a bit before I need to think about it in earnest.

Now tell me about the Scrum!

The Scrum (or as we call it, “Big ‘Zam”, or “The ‘Zam”, for short) is great. It drives like a go-kart since it’s so narrow and just everything on it is manual.

What made you want to snag this?

Well, me, my brother, and a friend of ours wanted to do the New England Lemons Rally a couple years ago, and we had a short list of types of cars we wanted, and a kei van was one of them since they’re kinda weirdo cars, which gets you good points in Lemons, and they came up pretty regularly on BaT. We’d actually struck out on one or two prior to this, if memory serves, before seeing this one and like … just look at it, how could that not be a Lemons car?

How much attention do you get driving this around?

All of it. There is no subtle way to drive this car. It’d stick out even if it didn’t have the paint job it does, but with it? Pedestrians and other drivers double-take at it, people shout how they like it from the sidewalk or roll their window down to tell you at the stoplights, or catch you and tell you in parking lots. And, admittedly, I think it makes me drive better – you kinda have to, since people will remember that car driving like an asshole!

Do you like the paint job?

Absolutely. We got it because it was silly, but it’s also neat and colorful. I’ve said this to folks before, but next time you’re out driving, count how many cars on the road are gray, silver, white, black, or some other dark and dull color. Then count how many have bright paint jobs that pop. It is, in my opinion, kinda a dreary look for car enthusiasts. I regret not having sprung for the “Tangerine Scream” paint job on the Focus ST when I got it. I like to think that this bright, happy-painted car can help be something fun and sort of fight against that dreariness.

How did it do in Lemons?

You’ll be perhaps unsurprised to hear that our silly van, which functionally cannot do highway speed while laden, did not hit as many checkpoints as other teams did. So points-wise, we did not come close. That said, at the closing ceremonies, the Rallymaster did give out a dishonorable mention to our team “Initial Deez Nuts” for driving a wildly impractical van with three not-very-small men crammed inside.

What was the best thing about the rally?

I mean, the whole thing is fun. I really encourage anyone who loves silly things, cars, and road trips to give it a shot. My personal favorite though, was our running joke that we never overtook anyone. Being pretty slow and heavily laden, we often were overtaken ourselves! But notably, we did get exactly one overtake done during the rally!

We saw a horse and buggy going alongside the road ahead of us and made sure to record our one single overtake of the only lower-powered vehicle we could find. The other teams were ribbing us about it, but it was certainly all in good fun. That, or perhaps us all getting back together to film, months after the rally, the odometer ticking over to 69420km.

Think it will go on another Lemons rally?

Probably not, or at least not in the near future. We decided, especially after this last year with our ’66 Volvo Amazon, that we were done with cars that have trouble with highway speeds. It’ll have a comfortable retirement here in Rhode Island driving me around town.

So with the three of you buying this together, how did you end up with it?

When it came time to see where it’d end up, we surely didn’t want to sell it, and I had parking, so after we talked it over, it ended up here. That said, the other two team members know they’re more than welcome to borrow it anytime.

How do you like driving it?

It is super fun to drive. As I said, it is very go-kart-like. No power steering, no automatic transmission, no power windows, and everything is reversed … you really feel the road driving it. I particularly like taking it around the city, since parallel parking is super easy, being so small. And people smile when they see it, so that’s just an added bonus. That, and the incongruously bumpin’ sound system it came with, makes it pretty nice to cruise with and listen to some tunes.

Go-kart? I always pictured these being super top-heavy with how tall and narrow they are

The Zam is absolutely more top-heavy than other cars. Or rather, it is bottom-light and very tall for how narrow it is. You feel it going around corners at speed. There’s a set of sharp-ish curves that go through downtown Pawtucket on I-95 that are marked 55mph, but most take much faster, and while I don’t notice them at all in the ST, taking them in the Zam is much more concerning.

That said, I also have gotten in the habit of declaring that it is mid-engined “like a Ferrari,” so perhaps my perception of its performance in the bends is biased. Either way, I’ve not come close to tipping it, but I also wouldn’t whip it around corners ’cause I don’t wanna find out the limit the hard way.

Has it given you any issues?

Honestly, not really. The brakes probably need to be done soon, and there’s a clunk in the steering rack I’m actively working on at the moment, but other than installing the radio, which was difficult on account of the unusual electrical system, we’ve had no trouble. Starts up every time I need it to. Hell, I’ve even used it to jump a car before with its teeny lawn mower battery.

How’s the parts availability for something like this?

Not great, but not as bad as you’d think. The Autozam Scrum was an oddball car to begin with. It was far less well-known than your Honda Actys or your Suzuki Carry, so I’ve found that you can’t search for parts for it specifically because they just won’t exist. What I have had success with is that there’s some commonality between it and a number of more popular Kei vans, and I just buy those parts, which usually come from Japan or the Philippines.

What are the long-term plans for it?

It probably gets less than 3000 miles/year, mostly as a function of its low speed, but I plan to keep it until it cannot be driven anymore, or more likely, something fails that I can’t find a part for.

How often do you drive this beauty?

I’d say about 3-4 times a week, I take it out. Mostly to do errands or other short-distance things. Fortunately, nothing is terribly far away here in RI. So it gets some frequent use. Aside from taking regular gas vs. the Focus on premium, it’s just a fun little nugget to drive around.

What’s in the dream garage?

• 1990 Mercury Colony Park
• 3rd gen Plymouth Barracuda
• Corolla GR

What do you love about each of these?

I like the Colony park ’cause we had an old Woody Wagon just the same growing up, and it’ll always be an overly luxurious car in my mind. Velour seats, chrome or wood on everything, space for days, bench seats… It’s all nostalgia, I suppose, but I’d unironically drive one today if I could, though I suspect not many were kept nicely. Family-haulers like that don’t tend to get preserved, I don’t think, so I doubt I’d be able to get one regardless.

Plymouth Barracuda, I like based almost entirely on looks. It is, in my mind, the quintessential pony car. If I could get one mint, which is nearly zero-chance on account of price, I would. That said, especially having done a ton of work to get this year’s Lemons car (the aforementioned 66 Volvo Amazon) roadworthy, I’m not sure I have it in me to do it again on a fixer-upper, especially since I don’t have a garage to work on.

I like the GR since it’s a slick hot hatch for today, now that the ST and RS no longer exist. I’d get an RS if they made them, but they don’t anymore. That said, of this list of three, this is the most likely one I’d add.

Thanks David!

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