Every Car You've Owned &………..

First Vehicle - 1967 Suzuki 250c X6 Hustler motorcycle. Fast for a 250 of the day thanks to the six speed transmission.

First Car - 1967 SAAB 96. Truly a weird car. Two cycle engine, so you had to add oil to the gas when you filled the tank. Four speed on the column. Front wheel drive (this was 1970 - a big deal), an overrunning, one way clutch that allowed engine to idle whenever you let up on the gas. Trans leaked oil and being a teenager, I neglected to fill it and toasted the trans.

Kawasaki 500 HR1 motorcycle - Very fast for a 500 and crazy unstable at high speed.

1965 Bug. Bought for $50 with a rusted out brake line, multicolored fenders and no bumpers and, of course, no heat. Battery fell through the rear floor on a big bump.

1966 Econoline Wagon - converted to a camper and did one lap of USA

1972 Duster. In line 6 with a three speed floor shift. Most macho car I ever owned. I know, pathetic.

1972 Econoline Wagon - converted to a camper and drove it to Alaska via Yellowknife, then 1/2 lap of USA (western side)

1972 Karmann Ghia convertible. Loved that car but it rusted out before my very eyes

1975 VW Rabbit - Had a cowl water leak and a different electrical device would fail weekly. Finally would start itself, so I had to disconnect the battery when I parked it. Soured me on VWs for life.

1984 and 89 Ranger pickups. Nice little pickups but with terrible handling.

1995 Explorer, gas hog but comfortable.

A bunch of company lease cars, mostly Taurus or whatever was on special. Most fun was a Taurus SHO with the Yamaha 3.0L and 5 speed manual.

2007 Escape Hybrid. A well executed hybrid in a lousy chassis. Still driving it, as I drive less than 8000 miles a year and can't justify replacing it until something major fails.

You had some really unusual (for loss of a better word) vehicles and seemed to choose ones that wanted to turn into iron oxide quickly. A friend had a similar year Econoline and made it into a quasi camper that we used to go to Watkins Glen in for the Grand Prix of the U.S. race and drinking contest.

I had a X6 Hustler also and it was my 60 mile per day dry weather college ride for two years. Then I bought a 1968 MGB roadster (forgot to put this on my list!) which was a fun car until I spun a crankshaft bearing and also blew the clutch. You had to pull the engine to replace the clutch on that car and I fixed it and ordered a crankshaft from J.C. Whitney for the engine rebuild. Neat little car, but had a Lucas electrical system that had a mind of it's own. I sold it and bought the 1965 Stingray.
 
1981 Mustang - lots of fun 😉, but spent a lot of time fixing the clutch cable
1985 Chevy S-10 - my Dad was right, "Why did you but it'
1991 Cavalier
1986 Volvo - write off
1985 Volvo
1997 Silverado
2001 Chevy Venture - it was an adventure owning this thing
2006 Honda CRV
2004 Explorer Sportrac
2004 Honda Civic
2007 F150
2011 Honda CRV
 
1972 Mercury Monterey - lots of power and big enough to move a dorms room's worth of stuff. Given to me by parents in college
1981 Cutlass Supreme - bought from parents
1987 Mercury Cougar - first new car
1994 Mercury Cougar
2004 Jaguar X-Type - bucket list car with only 48000 miles and plan to keep
Looking to buy a SUV or cross over for future retiree travel. Not sure what yet
 
I figured this would happen.
I forgot one.
A blue 66 chevelle

I had a 67 white with black vinyl top, prepared by Motion Performance. It loved to eat goats for breakfast, lunch and dinner.:D
 
68 VW Bug - Paid $800 for it in 1972 (junior year in high school) from my job flipping hamburgers at the bowling alley snack bar. Driving home from college for Xmas vacation, the fan belt broke and engine overheated and burnt out - I wasn't paying attention.

72 Datsun B210 - Paid $1000 in 1976? Lots of carburetor problems. A piece of junk!

85 Honda Prelude - Paid $13K in 1986. My first brand new car and first with AC after driving 14 years in the New Mexico heat. Loved that car!

2001 Mercedes C230? - Paid about $25K. Never really liked the car.

2007 BMW 328i - Paid about $33K. Love the car but it is getting old and I need something more reliable. Would like to get a BMW SUV but need to keep saving for retirement. Will probably get a Subaru Outback.
 
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I had a 67 white with black vinyl top, prepared by Motion Performance. It loved to eat stock goats for breakfast, lunch and dinner.:D
FIFY
 
Every Car You've Owned &………..

72 Datsun 510 (great car)
83 Saab 900 Turbo (fun to drive, terrible transmission)
87 Ford Ranger
89 Honda Civic
94 Toyota Camry XLE
99 Chevy Suburban
02 BMW 530i (loved it, mostly)
04 Toyota Sienna XLE
07 Lexus RX350

I miss the Datsun 510 the most!


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'69 Renault R16 - 4-speed on the column; handed down from my mother
'76 VW Rabbit - when the Renault died on the way home from college at Christmas of my sophomore year, my parents bought this for me; stick-shift, AM radio, no A/C.
'83 Nissan Stanza - also stick shift, but FM radio and A/C. First car I bought myself - have paid cash for all of them
'88 Honda Civic - the Stanza blew a head gasket. Another stick shift.
'89 Dodge Grand Caravan - bought this to replace DH's venerable Toyota pickup about 2 weeks before our first child was born. Piece of crap, but practical.
'92 Honda Accord - my parents bought this and then found it sat too low to the ground for my mother's arthritic knees, so they offered it to me at a nice discount and with 2 kids, it was a nice upgrade from the Civic even if I had to give up the stick shift.
'92 Toyota Corolla - when we moved to Germany for 4 years, we sold the Accord and the mini-van and bought cars there. Toyotas and Hondas were scarce so I was lucky to find this as our 2nd car
'95 VW Passat station wagon - we leased this for the 4 years. I do like the German steering/road feel
'99 Honda Odyssey - huge improvement over the Dodge!
'99 Honda Accord - this became the kids car, DS just sold it a year ago when the transmission went out
'00 Ford Focus - this was my parents' RV tow car and when they sold the motorhome in 2006, I bought it from them so the kids could learn to drive a stick. They both did eventually learn, but neither one wanted the car, so I drove it and let the kids have the Accord
'08 Honda Odyssey - we needed a van with a wheelchair ramp when DH was no longer able to walk
'10 Toyota Prius - my favorite car ever
 
My high school car was purchased by my parents and at the time I liked, but didn't fully appreciate it. It was a '66 Mustang.

Next, for college, I had a used Ford Maverick. (I didn't really like it.)

The first car I bought myself was a little Mazda station wagon.

Next a VW Rabbitt, a terrible car!

Then I bought a Ford Escort in 1984.

Next, a 1993 Plymouth Voyager, very useful for kids and trips.

Since then, Mercury Grand Marquis cars - we have 2, a 2001 and 2006

And last, I inherited my dad's Mercury Sable station wagon when he died in 2010. It was a 2001 and had 11,000 miles on it. It now has 44,000 on it. It's what I drive now. It's fully loaded, leather seats and a fast engine. I really like it.






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1989 - 83 VW Rabbit GTI. I see a couple others here drove one, and we were all blessed! So much fun to drive! Sad to sell it after college, but no A/C in SW Ohio wasn't too cool when my job at the time involved a good bit of driving around.

1996 - 96 Chevy S-10. Just sold it a few months ago. Still running great.

Then we had kids, and needed something bigger....
2003 - 03 Chevy Trailblazer. Still have it, runs like new, but it's "in storage" with the in-laws while we are stationed in Europe.

More kids, so.....
2008 - 08 Honda Odyssey. Brought it with us to Europe and the wife drives it primarily.

2015 - 03 BMW 316i. My current go to work car.

I like to fix them all myself as much as possible, and keep them running as long as I can.
 
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'69 Austin America 4 speed auto
'68 MGB (before I burned up the Austin)
'71 Toyota Corolla
'80 Toyota Tercel (1st new car out of grad school)
'81 Dodge Omni
'85 Toyota MR2
...and then I got into cars as a hobby...
'80 Triumph TR7 convert
'66 Triumph TR4a IRS (still have it)
'70 Triumph TR6
'70 Triumph Spitfire MkIII(still have it)
'67 Ford F-100 (still have it)
'96 Camaro
'82 VW Rabbit Diesel Pickup (still have it)
'83 Mercedes 300D
'82 Mercedes 240D stick (still have it)
'80 Mercedes 300SD (still have it)
'77 Mercedes 240D (still have it)
'65 Citroen DS19 boite mechanique
'85 Mercedes 380SL (still have it)
'91 VW Jetta Diesel (still have it)
'81 VW Rabbit Convertible , converted to diesel, (still have it)
'89 BMW 535i (still have it)

....and just bought a '15 Nissan Altima 2.5S for the wife from years of saving , staying AWAY from professional mechanics and dealers, commuting mostly in the VW and MB diesels. Personally, I hate the new appliance, but it is hers.
 
Cars I loved/hated

Couldn't afford car unitl out of college (yes, was brutal getting around for 4 years):

- 1982 Ford Fairmont Futura ... a family sedan for a single guy. I felt like an idiot at times:facepalm: paid $2K thanks to a generous graduation gift form my grandparents. Drove it until about 90K - it was using 2 qts. oil a week.
- 1987 Chvy Monte Carlo - this is the only new car I ever owned (bought it with my (1st wife) in 1987. V8, power everything, aluminum mags,
awful mileage. Nice riding car though. After we owned it a week, someone stole it(probably ofr the mag wheels). FOund it across town with no tires, but otherwise OK. Paid deductible and drove it 8 years. Sold it to my SIL and got a:
- 1995 Saturn SL2 ( paid $11K used only a month): 900 miles on it. Drove it almost 8 years. Decent car. Really small, but hanlded OK. Felt like I was climbing out of a manhole when getting out of it .... Cost me $13 to fill the tank back then. Started needing some costly repairs by the end. Traded it for a (got $400 for the Saturn)
- 2003 Toyota Camry SE - BEST CAR EVER. Except in the snow - slid all over the place. BUT, Extremely reliable, good mileage, quiet. Very few bells and whisltes. In 8+ years, the only significant expense I had was a converter at about 200K miles. Would get another Camry in an instant. Gave it to my DIL and bought a:
- 2012 RAV 4 - AWD. Small SUV, about 27 mpg... nice utility - not a lot of extras. Paid $21K in 2012. It's our only vehicle so we're grindng out the miles. Rear-mounted spare kinda ugly, but got over it... So far, so good (recent plugs and battery).
 
Where do you keep 'em all?

I have 5 acres. A three car garage with a lift with the Spitfire hanging in the air. A pole barn with 5 under it. 3 outside. I need to get rid of at least 2 of them to transition from w#rk to play, but they are blocked in....things to do. Oh, and I just inherited my moms old car...
 
1966 dodge charger - high school during the gas crisis which sucked
1982 honda cr-x college
1990 Mitsubish gallant vr4
1992 Mazda RX 7 (owned for 6 months and decided it was too impractical)
1991 Ford explorer (used)
1996 mercedes ML320
2006 mercedes R320
2014 BMW i3 Rex
 
1966 dodge charger - high school during the gas crisis which sucked
1982 honda cr-x college
1990 Mitsubish gallant vr4
1992 Mazda RX 7 (owned for 6 months and decided it was too impractical)
1991 Ford explorer (used)
1996 mercedes ML320
2006 mercedes R320
2014 BMW i3 Rex

That Mazda doesn't look nearly as impractical as the last three on the list!:D
 
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