"Thunder" (Thunder)
08/26/2013 at 10:30 • Filed to: None
0
10|
"Thunder" (Thunder)
08/26/2013 at 10:30 • Filed to: None | 0
| 10 |
Hello, Jalops.
I'm sure we have each had a long and varied series of cars in our time; here's mine.
(For a pretty lead pic, here's a Model A like my next-door neighbor had when I was growing up. He said he spotted it sunk in a pond by just the top 6" of the roof; got it out, got it home, and got to work. It had 36 HP IIRC; he took me for many rides in it over the years.)
Here goes:
Sometime before my time, my parents owned a VW Beetle,
an indeterminate Volvo,
and (before I was of driving age) an appropriately lemon-yellow Ford Maverick.
The Volvo was their first and last new car, and was enough of a piece of crap that they never even considered new cars again. Therefore, everything listed hereafter for my family cars was purchased with 50K to (more likely) 100K miles on it.
1978 AMC Concord Wagon
Running on maybe 4-5 of 6 cylinders by the time I got to drive it. Fenders held on by four colors of duct tape. Had the much sought after feature of the floor-mounted high beam switch.
1980 Chevy Caprice
Spent two years with no interior on the driver's door because my father couldn't care enough to put it back together. Was fun at toll booths.
1985 Chevy Celebrity
Former rental car. Never buy a rental car.
1985 Buick LeBarge
Two-tone light and dark green, with green velour interior. This was "Puff".
Had upgraded rear springs; it would stay perfectly level over high-speed railroad crossings. Ahem.
1983 Chrysler LeBaron
The 1-2 shift occurred at 44 MPH at WOT, which was the only way to make it actually go. I made many trips in this from Utica, NY to Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY. Many of those were made in the dead of winter with a busted radiator. That means no heat, BTW, except for the poor engine. See its demise below.
1989 Mercury Grand Marquiche
Battleship gray, nicknamed "USS Impedence" by a friend of mine in honor of my electrical engineer father. Was very interesting in upstate NY winters, since they believed snow tires were for the weak.
1994 Mercury Grand Marquiche
1/4 turn of the wheel before steering begins. Fun? Not so much.
1994 Buick Regal
This car hated me. I swear it knew me - it would lock the doors so I couldn't get out, rev wildly on its own while driving through town (fun), fail to shift for me...
1999 Lexus LS400
This was the one time my dad took my advice. I said he should get a early LS400, expecting a 1992 or so at their usual $4000 cap or so. Instead, he got taken to the cleaners with a $20K note on a ten year old car.
2000 Lexus ES300
Neighbor down the street was reconditioning his wife's car, and my mom pounced on it.
Those are basically all variations on a theme of "big car with minimum of performance or feel". Put another way, couches with wheels.
On top of that, my father is a private pilot. Since he hated to drive, I grew up knowing things within roughly a 30 mile radius of home, and outside a 200 mile radius. The former was drivable, the latter was far enough to justify flying.
My first car was the '83 LeBaron as a hand-me-down. Three-speed automatic, of course. It ultimately died when a bump on the Whitestone bridge punctured the rusted-out oil pan while leaving NYC (on a trip to see a girl - that may have been a sign). That led to smoke, and fire, at 38.3 miles up the NYS Thruway. Thereafter, I began my own progression of cars:
1985 Mercury Cougar LS V8 - automatic rear-drive V8 as directed by my parents.
It was great in snow... since I believe in snow tires. :-) I put American Racing AR-39 mags on it (not quite what's in the pic) which did a lot for the look, as well.
1985 Mazda B2000 pickup - stick shift
Died of a broken timing belt after I repaired it enough to actually run pretty right. That is, top speed had been 58 MPH and 5th gear couldn't hold it; after my work, top speed was somewhere over 85.
1991 Eagle Talon TSI AWD - stick shift
The little jellybean that went like stink. I had the timing belt replaced when I bought it with 80K on it; 60K was the replacement interval, and it appeared original. It lasted to 96K; warranty was for 10K. Every piston met every valve, and I paid half of my original purchase cost getting the top half of the engine rebuilt.
Oh - and
pop-up headlights FTW
(
when they worked
)
Bought back the '85 Cougar - in no small part since my girlfriend (now wife) just loved it.
Sold the Cougar again in mid 1999. She eventually resumed talking to me sometime thereafter. (In my defense, the Cougar had an exhaust leak and the frame was rusting away - not the place for a pregnant wife to be.)
1990 Ford Probe
As replacement for the Cougar, I flew (privately) from Utica to Laconia, NH, twice, to buy this beautiful car. Three weeks later, it saved her life when she was hit broadside and knocked end-on into a guardrail at 50 MPH, while 8 months pregnant with our son. Unfortunately, she has 8 herniated discs as a result, and cannot modulate her left leg due to that. She may not have enjoyed driving my stick-shift cars, but until that point she was capable of doing so.
With the rare fully-digital dash, sunroof, and trip computer.
1994 Ford Thunderbird V6
Total bomb. Sold it in 3 months.
1999 Dodge Avenger V6 (auto)
I came back from a camping trip and my wife said "guess what - I bought us a new car" - it was our first new car, and 0.9% financing was astounding at the time.
2002 Lincoln Navigator (new)
This was a delayed reaction to my wife's 1999 accident. A false sense of security, yes, but she needed that at the time.
2001 VW Jetta 1.8T (stick)(new)
All I was looking for was 4 doors, 5 speeds, and enough power to be fun. This was my time to get taken to the cleaners.
2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee V8
Was apparently a prior flood car. Its brain was fried.
2006 Mercedes C280 (new)
AWD was excellent in upstate NY
1998 Plymouth Neon Expresso
Hand-me-down 3-speed auto with unlimited warranty as I was driving 1060 miles per week for about a year. (ugh.)
2007 Honda Civic Si (stick)(new)
I so miss this car. I flew from Raleigh to Boston to get this car - paid $19,900 for it including destination. Sold it later as part of trade for the QX56; they put it on their lot for $19,985, with 60K miles on it. The ask went UP $85 in four years and 60K miles.
2009 Mercedes E350 (new)
We had purchased a 2001 BMW 330Ci convertible from a local dealership. On the test drive, we raised the question of heavy steering; they said they'd fix it. The car turned out to not work at all for my wife's back; the heavy steering was too much for her to do. They refused to accept the car back (no cooling off period)... until they got the bill from THEIR BMW place for replacing the non-factory steering rack, etc, to the tune of $5K. THEN they let us out of the deal... and we found this E350 instead. We had actually test driven it 6 months prior, so we got a great deal as we fell into it.
It's been a really great car for us; the only issue we had with it were very poor low beam headlights, fixed by a HID conversion.
2012 Infiniti QX56 (new)
This was another response to her back in an accident, as she was rear-ended at a stoplight a year or so ago.
On the plus side, she does give me some really cool gearhead gifts, like the Countryside Drive I did in Charlotte in an M3, C63 AMG, Aston Martin Vantage, 911 Turbo, GT-R, and Gallardo, and the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! I did a few months back.
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
I will have a new stick-shift toy sometime, though.
minardi
> Thunder
08/26/2013 at 10:47 |
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Mine were:
1. 1967 Beetle (used)
2. 1974 Honda Civic (New)
3. Laguna S3 (can't remember the year)
4. Fiat Spider (can't remember the year)
5. Datsun 240Z (can't remember the year)
5. 1979 Fiat X1/9 (new)
6. 2001 Chrysler Sebring LX (new)
7. 2004 Chrysler Sebring Limited (new - still have it)
8. 2012 Abarth 500 (new)
Z_Stig
> Thunder
08/26/2013 at 10:50 |
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So far, in my young automotive career:
1. 1987 Chevy Suburban
2. 1997 BMW 328is
3. 1996 BMW M3
4. 2003 Nissan 350Z
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Thunder
> Thunder
08/26/2013 at 10:55 |
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How dare Nibbles eat my lead Model A coupe with rumble seat pic!!!!
Apparently that site doesn't share. :-(
Here's an alternative.
youshiftem
> Thunder
08/26/2013 at 10:57 |
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I can't remember the order I owned them in so how about arranged by year? (With a few explanations for the out of place ones)
1938 studebaker
1964 mazda (race car)
1966 mustang
1966 chevelle
1967 mustang
1969 cutlass
1969 bonneville
1970 monte carlo
1972 torino
1973 mustang
1979 corvette
1980 riviera
1984 regal
1986 F150
1987 mustang
1987 tercel (bought to sell and make a quick $100 to go to a Metallica concert)
1992 F150
1992 probe
1993 metro (Free)
2000 mustang
2000 F150
2000 F350
2000 lincoln LS V8
2001 mustang
2003 murano (inherited and sold immediately)
2004 cavalier (bought for my sister to use and learn stick shift)
2005 mustang
2008 mustang bullitt
CobraJoe
> Thunder
08/26/2013 at 11:31 |
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'79 Mustang I4 4 speed
'84 Mustang V6 Auto
'86 Mustang GT 5 speed
'77 Cougar V8 Auto
'90 Thunderbird V6
'96 Crown Vic PI
'95 Thunderbird V8 Auto
'04 Mustang Mach 1 5 speed
'93 Lincoln Mark VIII
'02 Mazda Protege5 5 speed
'88 Thunderbird V8 5 speed
'99 Mercedes C230 Kompressor
I love RWD, I love V8s, and I love manuals. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy the occasional offbeat vehicle...
Makoyouidiot
> Thunder
08/26/2013 at 11:38 |
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In order, 8 years so far....
2000 Jeep Wrangler 2.5
2000 Chevy Silverado 1500 5.3
2002 Chevy Silverado 1500 5.3
1996 Nissan Maxima (engine unknown, only had it for a week)
1991 Alfa Romeo 164S 3.0
1982 Oldsmobile Delta 88 5.0
2001 Volkswagen Passat GLX 2.8
2002 Land Rover Discovery SE7 4.0
2013 Dodge Dart Rallye 1.4T (current)
1992 Dodge Daytona SE 2.5
2003 Mazdaspeed Protege 2.0T (current)
Chase
> Thunder
08/26/2013 at 12:10 |
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2002 Ford Ranger XLT (4.0l v6)
1972 Saab Sonett III (65hp v4) not even remotely running
McSchmalex
> Thunder
08/26/2013 at 12:35 |
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1) 1993 Mazda Mx-3 - bought for $1,000, put in a terribly installed aftermarket mini-disc player and a home theater subwoofer... sold it for $900
2) 1998(?) Nissan Frontier - bought for $2,000, slammed it into a tree, but it still ran so I gave it to my Dad who continued to drive it for another year...
3) 1998 Subaru Outback - Forrest Green, stick, hoooned like a boss on the backroads of Vermont. Sold it to the same guy that bought my MX-3.
4) 2007 Honda Civic - Bought it certified pre-owned with 26k miles as my first non-beater because I was out of college and needed an adult car, drove the piss out of it all over the place, sold it to my Dad for $4,000 who put Subaru wheels on it because he was too lazy to take the snow tires off his beater Forrester, so he just switched the wheels. 8 months later and he still has the same wheels on it.
5) 2014 Audi S4 (en route from Ingolstadt)
I have pretty much skimped on cars most of my life in favor of boring things like keeping my student debt low and the like. Not carrying credit card debt, etc. Two deployments with the Army = two year's tax free salary in the bank, decided after the second one it was time for something nutty.
Enter Audi S4, Monsoon Gray with sport diff, manual transmission.
I. Am. So. Excited.
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Thunder
> McSchmalex
08/26/2013 at 12:37 |
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Awesome conclusion to your automotive history.
Enjoy the S4 (as I'm sure you will), and BTW, thank you for your service.
GTCL
> Thunder
08/26/2013 at 13:33 |
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In order of driving. I did not include my parents rides.
1987 ford country squire
1991 Honda crx
1999 Honda civic/2005 Honda odyssey. Van for the wife and I inherited the more reliable daily driver. Crx sat unused for about two years, then sold when I got my next car.
2006 VW GTI. Glad I had it, but glad to nake it leave.
2013 Honda odyssey to replace the wife's 2005
2013 mustang GT to replace the POS VW