Another car I enjoyed was this one:
Unfortunately, I had to get rid of it when I moved to AL (long story).
Posted on 09/08/2017 7:58:09 AM PDT by Army Air Corps
And now, for something a bit amusing for a Friday. This is a call to all automotive enthusiasts, motorheads, car nuts, etc.
I ask the following question: Of all the vehicles that you have driven, what car (or truck) have you owned that you loved in spite of its faults, quirks, and foibles? As a follow-up question, what made that flawed vehicle so endearing to you?
A 1955(?) Dodge step side truck. Retired from the railroad.
Flat head six, three speed on the column.
Only thing I did not like was the fluid clutch.
I bought it in 1973 for $100.
I could haul more with that flat six than my dad could with his fleetside Chevy with a small V8.
I drove it for six years before it threw a piston on my way home.
I heard a loud bang, pulled over and popped the hood.
Engine had a hole the size of a football.
Closed the hood, put it in gear and drove it another 16 miles to the house.
I looked for two years but couldn’t find a flat six to replace it.
I still miss that truck.
Mine was a 1967 custom built one ton, eight foot bed Ford Crew cab.
Ford went to production of the crews in 1972, and at that time reorganized the parts books for all their previous “custom” trucks. What a zoo trying to get parts that became! A 1967 truck I had to tell the parts/service personnel to go to 1972 catalogues to find my parts. It took me a long time to find out about it myself. SHEESH!
I had the old truck for twenty years. I bought it used in 1981, and unfortunately sold it in 2001. Yes it was still running. I got too old to muscle it around anymore (no power anything, steering, brakes.), plus I lost my eyesight that year, and didn’t know I would regain it the next year.
To this day I still watch as we go different places to see if maybe the old truck is still out there. I really miss that truck. Couldn’t drive it if I had it, but I still miss it.
I had a yellow 1974 1.8. It had a brown leatherette interior which was unusual. I got stopped by radar cops twice during my ownership on interstates near Baltimore. Both times I was cruising in a 20+ car line in a fast lane cruise at 15-20 over the 55 mph limit. Both cops admitted that they pulled me over because the 914 was yellow. I put a set of Weber carbs on it because the fuel injection would go tits-up every time the sun split out some coronal phlegm earth’s way which was frequently. The last straw was the clutch cable breaking right after I got the carbs synced up and it was running good. I soon traded it for a new Audi Fox. A decade later I bought a ‘76 two liter that had been painted a dark maroon that looked black in the twilight. After a friend rebuilt the heads on it, I was driving south to home at dusk on an interstate taking two mile’s worth of gentle sweepers at 6,000 on the tach which was about 135 and when I hit straight after the last corner there was a Maryland State trooper in the bushy median. I had an extractor exhaust system on this car that was loud on acceleration but dead quiet on the decel so I gently got out of the throttle and coasted by the cop around 120. He never even looked up from what he was staring at. Yellow’s good for cabs and school buses but the shite for Porsches.
1971 1/2 BMW 2002, Colorado Orange. Bought new for $4300 (out the door). Used to race it against a Mini Cooper S out Sunset Blvd (Dead Man’s Curve). Great, fun car, but temperamental. Had to give it away when we moved to Nebraska, and couldn’t get it serviced.
1934 Ford Fordor. Wasn’t mine, but I loved the room.
0 to 60 in 5.3 seconds, 18 plus mpg around town and 27 mpg cruising at 72MPH; rock solid and glued to the road at 149 MPH.
Pristine, "show room condition", 7 time "Best of Show" winner. 64,000 original miles, NEVER driven in snow or rain. The finest car I have ever owned or driven.
I had absolutely zero problems, zero "quirks": Mobil 1 from day one changed every 4k miles, followed all scheduled service maintenance to the letter. The car had timeless styling and was an absolute joy and dream to own and drive.
Sadly, taken while parked in our driveway under its custom car cover in a freak golf-ball sized New England hail storm lasting 20 solid minutes July 2006.
I thank God for the privilege of owning it. There isn't a day goes by I don't miss that car. Oh well, Job said it best;
"The Lord gives, the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord."
My dad did over 30 years on the Ford assembly line and I think he’d disown me if I drove anything else. From a 1999 Ford Escort in college up through Ford Focus shortly after graduation and upgrading to a Ford Fusion five or six years later I’ve always had good luck with my cars. Current car is a 2016 Escape 4WD, which I like a lot, and I also have a 1991 F150 that my father gave me and which I use to haul stuff.
‘93 Mazda RX-7. Literally a pocket rocket!!!!
I have had many cars in my life and all were purchased new. The Corvettes I owned were really fun and I loved them and the three different 5.0L Mustangs were also great but the car I miss most was a 1980 Volkswagen Rabbit Diesel C.
I bought that car right off the truck while I was stationed in Kansas and it had arrived without air conditioning so nobody wanted it. All the other Rabbit diesels were purchased before they got off the truck but it was 100 degrees outside and the lack of AC made this car a pariah.
I moved to Michigan a few months later to finish college and that car was great. I got about 45 mpg in town and at least 50 mpg on the highway. My usual fuel cost for a month was between $10 and $15 as I lived eight miles from campus and worked five miles further.
I loved that car and should not have traded it in.
Another car I enjoyed was this one:
Unfortunately, I had to get rid of it when I moved to AL (long story).
I had a tan one with a Porche 914 motor in it.
I once spent $200 on a ten year old Chevette.
I wuz robbed!
It is truly a member of the family. For well over 50 years!
It has been in the family longer than I have been. :) No, my parents were not the original owner. Third owner. Classic story of an old couple who drove it to church on Sundays. They sold it to my uncle who sold it to my dad.
I learned about engines on this car — as a two year old kid, my dad would ask me to point to the distributor, coil, etc. I remember this. :)
My grandfather rebuilt the engine with my dad. I remember my grandfather telling me how to adjust the spark just so.. so that you could distinctly hear each cylinder fire (but not to run it too long that way otherwise it would over heat).
My mom drove it to school activities and grocery shopping. It was a second car for us. We got in an accident with it once. A bus's brakes failed and it rolled down the hill and struck the car. Surprising since our little car stopped a bus moving down a hill!
Had yellow paint on the back side and window after my brother decided to paint is truck in the garage. Needless to say, he got paint all over the floor, driveway and of course the Model A. There was still yellow paint on the cement 30 years later.
I replaced the brakes on it when I was in High School during Spring Break. Before that, stopping was always a thrill since the brake pads were of the wrong material.
The underneath was home to some feral cats (two of which we adopted) and place for our dog to hide whenever he was in trouble.
I drove my first girlfriend, my best friend and his girl in a St Patricks Day parade many, many years ago.
It was our wedding limousine. It shuttled us from the church to the reception.
sweet.
HaHa...Paid 600 for mine...Drove it back and forth to work 40 miles each way for over a year until someone turned in front of me...
Well, there is always Auto Trader...and Hemmings...and E-Bay Motors... :-)
The scheduled maintenance was really
costly but that all-wheel drive would crawl through anything a New Hampshire winter could throw at me!
then I "inherited" my dad's used Camry...larger car, but actually better gas mileage and enough power...NO PROBLEMS at all until its death at 227,000 miles...the camry btw, had an accident when my dad was driving and basically broke the frame....it still was a fantastic car for me....
I had a ford Fairmont that I absolutely hated, and a Plymouth voyager that we put 3 transmissions in....words don't describe how I felt about that lemon....
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