Image via Complex Original
Nigel Sylvester perfectly remembers the first day he "drove" a car. He was about eight years old, sitting in his mom's long driveway with his uncle talking him through. He couldn't even see the wheel, but that didn't stop him. He slid the car into "D," and let the tires slowly roll forward a few inches. It was the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
Nigel's always been surrounded by cars, whether it was his brother's Acura Legend, or a friend's Nissan Maxima. Off his usual two-wheel ride, he's always been infatuated with cars. So much so, that he even gave up biking for a year to pursue his Fast and Furious dream of owning a tuner. Luckily for many, that was just a phase that he grew out of. To Nigel, cars provide a type of joy unlike any other.
"Just being able to drive around and stunt, maybe pick up a girl or something [Laughs]," he said. "Even sitting on your block on a summer day washing your car or blasting your music really loud on some "I don't give a fuck" shit is great. It's just the attitude that comes with having a car. Each vehicle can tell a story about that person."
The Nike BMXer sat down with us to give us a few stories about the type of car person he is. Check out Nigel Sylvester's 10 Favorite Cars.
10. 1993 Honda Civic Hatchback
"After Fast and Furious came out, I got into little super fast tuners. My cousin had a Honda Civic hatchback, and I would go over there and help him fix it all the time. That was right around the point when I quit riding for a year. I was going to get a tuner I was going to just drive around. I quit riding for a year. It was right before I got my license, so I was maybe 14 or 15, and I quit. I was like, 'Whatever, as soon as I get my license, I'm going to get a hatchback, and I'm done.' But right before I did get my license, I got back into riding. I needed to get around, and something just clicked, and that's why I ended up getting the Honda Accord, because I didn't care about the tuners anymore.
But my cousin had that red Civic, and he had that turbo in there. That thing was fast, man. You would hear him comin' down the block like, 'Bap, bap, bap, bap, bap, bap, bap,' like bounce! [Laughs] I used to love driving with him. There was that one day that he finally got the turbo in. 'Vewwwwwww, pfff!' That shit was so ill, dude! I couldn't drive, but just sitting in the passenger's seat, I still got that rush when he hit the gas and I just sunk in his bucket seats. He tried to teach me stick in that car, but it didn't really work out too well. I only had like one lesson, and it stopped after that."
9. 1995 Nissan Maxima
"This was another car that my brother and his friends had. They would put rims on it and tint the windows. Those four-door joints were ill. I remember one day, one of his friends pulled up and he'd put TVs in the headrests and I was like, 'This is so dope!' They were watching pornos in there. [Laughs] It was just one of those memories where that car was so dope. It was the first time I'd ever seen a porno in my life, it was like, 'What?' [Laughs]. I was young, but things like that just stick out in your childhood. That car goes hand in hand with that moment in my life. It was the first time I'd seen a TVs in the headrest that didn't come with the car."
8. 2012 Range Rover Sport
"Out of all the SUVs out there right now, that's one of my favorites. I like the boxy feel to it. I just got one a few weeks ago. I'm still getting used to it. I've always had smaller cars, so there's a little bit different feel to it. There's more space for my bike. So many decisions are based on if my bike will work with this. It works pretty well for that."
7. 2012 Mercedes-Benz CL63
"This is another big coupe. The shape of it is great. The lines, how they cut in that car, are just ill. That's a car that I really appreciate. I love the big coupes. Another car that I considered was the BMW 6 series, the older models. That was such a classic. It was definitely a one-of-a-kind coupe. It had that sporty and luxury feel to it. You're going really fast, and it feels like you're in a race car on the West Side Highway, but if you want to chill out and roll around with your music blasting, you can do it. It works, but if I had to choose between the 6 Series and the Mercedes, it'd have to be that CL. It's just right."
6. 2012 Jaguar XJ Super V8
"The reason I say this car is because that's my mom's dream car, and it's a goal of mine to get her that car one day. That one means so much to me, because it's the one car that she loves. She just likes the shape of it. I don't know why, the shape is okay to me, but whatever she wants to make her happy, I'm down for it. I'm hoping that one day I can buy it for her."
5. 1991 Honda Accord Sedan
"The four-door Accord was the first car I ever had, so I can't do a car list without naming the first car owned. I got my license when I was 16, saved up like two grand, and bought a used one. I was working at Pathmark or something like that and saved up some bread. I was 16, so I just wanted a car. It didn't matter what it was, I just wanted a car to drive to cribs, school, whatever. I just wanted a car that I could put my bike in the back and do whatever I wanted to do. Whatever my money could afford, I got.
It was a white joint with maroon mesh interior. It was crazy. It had no CD player, just that little tape with the wire that comes out and is hooked up to the discman with the CD spinnin'. It was dope, though, because it got me from point A to point B and I was happy about it. A bunch of my friends didn't even have cars, so to have a car, it was winning."
4. 1966 Mustang
"That joint is so hard! For a minute I was like, 'Yo, I gotta get a Mustang!' I was so into that car. A nice clean, 'stang? Oooh."
3. 1999 Ferrari F355 Spider
"These is one of my dream cars that I want to get one day. The shape of it is just dope, it had a boxy look. It was just one of those cars that you'd cut a page out of a magazine and post the picture up on your wall, like, 'I'm going to get that one day.'"
2. 1994 Acura Legend Coupe
"I think that's one of the illest cars ever made. If you have a clean '92 Acura Legend coupe right now on the streets, it's still hard. My brother had one. I think that was his first car, and he had it rimmed up. I didn't have a license yet, but I was still sneaking some drives. Hands down, it's just a good looking car. I think it's one of the best coupes visually. It's strong, too. You can put 200,000 miles, and they're still running. Those cars were built well."
1. 1994 Porsche 911 (964) Turbo 3.6
"That black Porsche in Bad Boys that Will Smith had. That car is just dope as fuck. I was always into Porsches, but after watching that movie, they made the car look so cool. After I saw that, I was completely hooked."