Bought my car new in 62’. It was a 62 Chev Belair ‘bubble top’ coupe. Honduras Maroon with a white top. Inside was Fawn color. 250/327 motor. Real nice car. Got the car as a senior in high school. Worked since the 8th grade to afford it, $1900.00. Really a fast ride back in those days.
Good old Alpha 6. It belonged to the taxpayers, but I got to use it. An old Jeep. She had two of those hair dryer heaters in her.
Over hill over dale
We will hit the dusty trail
3 speed stick on the floor.
But the girlfriend made it more than tolerable.
I’ve owned a LOT of cars. Variety is the spice of life.
The smartest cars you can buy:
1988-91 Civic Hatch. Perhaps the 2005 hatch too. Or an old CRX if you don’t need the seats.
The GMT800 truck platform is THE, penultimate, best thing on the road. Not the fastest, not the sexiest, not even the strongest but it’s still the smartest buy out there.
The first generation Mercedes Benz ML (320, 500, 55, etc). Strong, they perform like cars, and they are safe and reliable with a decent AWD system that doesn’t break every damned season.
The faves though do have some quirks. Some personality disorders and even some craziness.
E46 BMW in any trim level.
Second gen Toyota Supra.
Second gen RX-7.
First gen Toyota 4Runner.
The exotics that suck, but no one will fault you for owning..
an air cooled 911.
The 944, the 928 Porsches. The 914, of course but we all knew that was a quirky fun car. No question.
The first gen Lotus Esprit. Also the Europa.
The Lancia Scorpion. No doubt.
the C4 Corvette with the 4+3 trans.
There are others that I haven’t owned, but I look forward to it. My next passion in life are trucks. I haven’t had a truck in my collection for YEARS and I’m so sick of cars that I think it’s time to shift my attention.
I got my driver license in the spring of 1963 and have driven a bunch so this is a lot tougher than if the choice would be what you have owned. Apologies for multiples but here are a few chronologically. #1: 1955 Chrysler 300. My father bought it new and in a few years it sat in the driveway at our farm so I started driving it in our fields when the adults were out. I could get it up to 80 on the upper field tractor path that was about a quarter mile long. It only had two forward gears and the Hemi’s dual quads took a second or two to kick in. The brakes were marginal. The body and leather interior were stunning.
#2: 1964 Pontiac GTO. June of 1964 we went to SoCal to visit relatives and friends. My friend Lee who was a year older had received this Midnight Blue GTO as a high school graduation gift. It was the 389 with three dueces and a four speed, optional “NASCAR” suspension, and rear gears in the 3.70 range. As soon as dinner was over, we took it out to cruise Buena Park and surrounds. The car had 1,500 miles on it when I took the wheel. Negatives being that car was not mine.
#3: 1961 Jaguar XKE. March 1968 I’m home on 14 day leave after finishing boot camp in San Diego. My father’s friend lends me his E-Type for my leave. Gunmetal gray, black interior and rag top. 40,000 miles on the odo. Car has been rode hard and put away wet. I put that car through its paces on the Pennsylvania back roads I’d been driving since I was 12 and this car was the absolute fastest, best handling and sounding vehicle I ever drove. Biggest flaw was it needed a new clutch since when I hit 4th gear at 6,500 that was about 105, it wouldn’t go any faster. In 1968, a clutch job on that car ran about $400. My father’s friend would have sold it to me for $2,000.
Not gonna win too many races, but is a heavy duty car that is tons of fun to drive.
Last body on frame, rear drive V-8 sedan made in North America. Tough as nails and rock solid reliable.
I had a dark green `99 Miata. Classic looks. So easy to work on. Intuitive. Ran like a scolded dog (after my mods) and cornered like a cat on shag. Should have kept it!
1990 Ford Ranger. I loved it and hated it.
No AC. No Radio. No Power ANYTHING (Steering, locks, windows... nothing). 5-speed manual Trans. 4-cylinder dog of a motor. 2 wheel drive no cruse control.
The only mechanical repairs that were EVER needed (beyond normal wear and tear items) include Alternator and clutch (at 150K miles). That is it. It was the most reliable and lowest cost vehicle I have ever owned. It got good gas mileage and I ran the hell out of it. At times, I abused it. I once buried the back end of it in a very large mud puddle on a construction site. It had to be pulled out with a loader. The bumper was in the mud. It made a couple cross country trips. When I sold it, there was a bidding war for it and it was damaged and had almost 200K miles on it. I sold it in 2002 for $1,000. I had it listed for $950.
By all conventional measures, it was a terrible vehicle.
It had no power, the brakes faded fast. When you drove it on a crowned dirt road, it would get this weird diverging occilation that would pitch you into the ditch.
But it was simple, easy to repair with tape and a shoelace, and it would absolutely never ever get stuck. What a great car. I often regret that I did not bring it back with me.
I learned much about car repairs with this one, especially master and slave cylinders on clutches and brakes. Losing half the brakes coming back from Malibu on the PCH was one of the more scary moments with this car.
The car I loved most was a 1999 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera. It was gold, had gold “trim”, leather, moonroof. I drove it for 13 years. It was almost totaled when it was just a couple years old, when I was T-boned by a big/heavy Jeep Cherokee in downtown, Peoria, IL. I was SO HAPPY, when the insurance for the faulted driver, repaired the car instead of junking it.
1980 VW Scirocco Champagne edition, great car, crappy body metal (rusts) and oil burning engine that didn’t last.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiL1Jro-JXWAhXMyVQKHSYPBYUQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fforums.vwvortex.com%2Fshowthread.php%3F5360574-1978-Champagne-Edition-II-s-Here-(yes-I-searched)&psig=AFQjCNGaWUdLUTEqlYPAXTgzh-P0_GKXVQ&ust=1504972291037925
1971 Triumph Spitfire MKIV. You want quirks? Own an older model British sports car. But boy, was it fun to drive!
1971 Mustang, my first car. Blue metallic. Was a tin can but I loved driving it. Had a 302 but not the Boss label. My dad loved it too, but after his second ticket he didn’t borrow it anymore!
I had a 1967 Camaro that was my “baby”. The quirky thing about it was it was shift on the column...three on the tree.
I drove the heck out of it then sold it to my dad when I left for Army Boot camp. He sold it later and made a couple bucks. I had hoped he would keep it until I came home and could buy it back.
My offering is my 2003 Ford Crown Victoria Sport LX but not because of its flaws but rather because it is nearly flawless.
I owned three Mercedes-Benz diesels since 1977. I was planning to retire and in 2002 I exchanged a 1987 MB 300SDL with 380,000 miles for the Ford. My plan was to dump the Ford after I retired.
The Ford turned out to be nearly bullet proof. I still have it and still love driving it. Make no mistake, the Ford is not a Mercedes but it is a lot more maintenance friendly and almost as much fun to drive.
Porsche 914 in bright yellow. Car was insanely fun to drive; like an oversize go-cart. However, if it rained for more than 3 days in a row, the ignition system shorted out and it would not start. You then had to wait a day for it to dry out.
I was probably 7 or 8 when my dad who was an MP in WWII and probably had learned a thing or two about driving while he was stationed in France, had me pulling that boat out of the garage. The narrow ally made difficult enough but my dad had rented the other half of the garage to "The Swede" to keep his 14' skiff. He would watch from outside as it was probably easier for me to get in the car while it was squeezed into the garage. I can still remember turning the key and bringing that great 383 to life, so began my love affair with driving.