Among the hundreds of cars on campus, few stand out as much as Tyler Behboudi’s 2013 Scion FR-S. The sound of his engine echo’s a powerful growl throughout the parking garage every time he arrives at school.
A Fairfield native, Behboudi, a junior business marketing major, has come a long way from driving his old Volkswagen Tiguan SUV. He has been the proud owner of his FR-S for nearly two years.
“This car was actually my first car that I bought with my own money,” says Behboudi. “I remember I was saving for a long time. I was working at a hot dog shop.”
After seeing his friends’ cars and experiencing the car culture, Behboudi set out to find his own ride.
“My friends were all into the car scene, especially in high school. They had the beater ’89 Civics, Infiniti G35’s all of those really nice cars that you have as your first cars and I didn’t.
“However, after high school, when I was always driving with them and going to car meets, I was like, ‘wow, I kinda like cars.’ Going to car meets and actually seeing the cars, and actually feeling what they can do is just a whole different experience.”
Behboudi scoured the internet for months and answered ads looking for “the one.” His search led to many cars, and during one test drive, he even had to deal with a smoking engine on the side of the highway.
“They were all just a mess of cars,” says Behboudi.
He found the silver 2013 Scion FR-S on a web search. It came with a manual transmission, which Behboudi did not know how to operate, and was located in New Jersey.
Behboudi did not care. He wanted the car. He went to New Jersey the next day, with his dad and a friend, hoping to return with the prized car.
The three-hour drive home was a team effort. Behboudi would let his friend drive every time they hit traffic. Behboudi’s lack of experience with his new car did little to dampen his mood.
“The first time, it’s always like you’re just blown away. You’re like wow. It’s kind of like [you’re] in disbelief. ‘I own this car; I can’t believe I have the right to drive it and to be able to park it at night and just look at it.’’’
Shortly after, Behboudi began to modify it. He bought new wheels and tires, swapped out engine parts and tuned it. As a result, his car was now not only different in looks but in sound. With a quick tune and a “straight pipe,” he could now produce pops and bangs from his exhaust that would almost deafen those nearby, and the color of his car makes it stand out even further.
“If you see, it has a nice blue tint to it almost,” says Behboudi. This special silver color was on only 2500 cars at that time.
Being a car guy is a labor of love, and Behboudi plans to keep his car forever.
“You treat it as something that you love. You can’t drive it until it warms up. You want to baby it, but of course, you want to drive the car hard. When the engine blows, I’m just tarping it and leaving it in the driveway,” says Behboudi.
By Tyler Fisher
