Your car history in photos

[Matblack]

I liked this thread idea so much I nicked it















MB

[Jonny69]

First car, 1961 Ford Prefect which I got in 1997:



Wrecked it in 2001 and replaced it with an Anglia. Smoked around in it for a few years and started some work on it. Finally getting there but it still looks like this:



Got this in Sept 2006 for a bit of fun:



Update March 2009:

The Anglia is back on the road.

[vix]

Meh I'd need a scanner or some stock photos

[Darrin]

Mine could get quite extensive. Be back in a bit. I've got some searching to do...

[Darrin]

Revised down below in post #56.

[Darrin]

Ok, to avoid confusion I'm going to add in descriptions here as I know most of you have never seen nor heard of most of what's listed here.

Originally Posted by Darrin

Ok, here goes. Y'all ready??


1982-1984 - 1965 Peugeot 204C. Got it as a complete basket case when I was 14. Did a full ground up restoration on it, to the point I got authorization from Washington State motor vehicles to reset the odometer back to zero and re-register it as a new car. Gutless wonder that couldn't fight its way out of a wet paper sack, but had some interesting features. The doors were counterbalanced, for one. Another was that the hard top went in the boot. Sold it to a collector who promptly loaded it on a flatbed truck, got 20 miles from my house and got T-boned by a semi truck totalling the car completely out. Never actually got to drive it legally myself.


1983 - 1985 - 1956 Stuttgart VW Beetle. Another complete restoration that I did. Was a one of a kind as far as I know as it had the Stuttgart castle in the center of the hubcaps instead of the trademark VW. Also all the handles inside were ivory. Another one I never got to drive legally myself. But I had that little engine ticking like a Swiss watch idling stable all the way down to 300 RPM.


1983 - 1985 - 1965 Hillman Husky. Got this one with a fully rebuilt Vauxhall engine already in it and the back half full of new parts. This one was also a basket case that the only way it was getting home was to be dragged on a trailer. As far as I know it's still in someone's private collection as it was a completely unique version. 12V neg earth 4 speed left hand drive. From what I found out the only 12V versions were taxis, and the only left hand drive were all 3 speed.


1986-1987 - 1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass. The first car I was actually licensed to drive. Thrashed the **** out of it and sold it to a friend for parts a year later.


1989 - 1977 Mercury Marquis. 400cid small block Ford V-8 that produced insane amounts of torque and horsepower. It needed to. That car was HUGE!! Stock tyres were P255/75R15's!! This was the car my first wife slammed into a light pole at what we can best guess was around 60mph (she said it couldn't have been more than 15mph).


1989 - 1977 Datsun 810. This car is a Nissan 280Z with 4 doors and a boot. Same engine, same transmission. As I knew quite a bit about the Z cars, I did a little work under the bonnet. Found out my first wife was taking it out to Spring Street racing for pink slips. How did I find out? She beat one of my coworkers who was driving a 5.0L Mustang GT. Car got hit a few months later by a bank robber in a stolen car. All I had was comprehensive insurance, so the car was totalled on my dime.


1989 - 2001 - 1979 Chevrolet Luv 4X4 pickup. Let's just say I should have my head examined for owning this complete piece of dog crap for 10 years.


1990 - 1979 Chevrolet Luv pickup. Parts truck for the first one.


1992 - 1974 Chevrolet Luv pickup. Bought this one with a blown motor and grenaded transmission for the body after my original one above got totalled out by a guy cutting me off.


1990 - 1992 - 1974 Jeep CJ-5. My biggest regret to this day is ever selling this. I loved this Jeep. Still do. It was loud, obnoxious, uncomfortable, almost impossible to drive above 35 mph, felt like it would flip over on the roof if you sneezed at it wrong, but holy crap was it fun!!


1992 - 1980 Datsun 280 Z. This was supposed to be a full restoration, but my ship transferred home ports before I could do much. Sold it to a collector for $100.


1992 - 1980 Saab 900. Interesting car. Ignition switch in a strange place, the bonnet opens the wrong way, engine's facing entirely the wrong way. But get that thing above 50mph and you'd swear someone had put a JADO assist rocket on the arse end and lit it off. You'd also swear there was a functional wing from a top fuel drag racer on the roof because that thing hunkered down and shot out from under you like it just wanted to eat every bit of road in front of it as fast as you could stand!! Gave it to my sister-in-law when we left Long Beach.


1993-1996 - 1986 Chrysler LeBaron Estate. This was supposed to be a replacement for the Saab. Let's just say it was a complete and utter failure in all aspects. Horrible, horrible car.


1996 - 1981 Ford Escort. I still to this day refuse to even get in a Ford Escort. I don't care if they've been completely redesigned from the ground up and there's nothing in common with the total and utter piece of life threatening garbage I had. I owned it for a month because I had no choice. I took a bible, a St. Anthony's cross and a crucifix with me every time I got in it. I knew for a complete fact that the only way I was going to make it out of the parking lot alive was with 100% of the Lord's assistance. You ever want rid of someone, don't call the mafia hit men. Just give them the keys to one of these.


1998 - 1999 - 1979 Plymouth Volare' Estate. A completely bland and tasteless car. It was a car in the most basic of sense. Nothing more, nothing less. Room mate lost control of it a hung it up on a telegraph pole guywire ripping the entire right rear quarter panel clean off the car and bending the rear axle.

[Nutcase]

Originally Posted by Darrin

1980 Saab 900. Interesting car. Ignition switch in a strange place, the bonnet opens the wrong way, engine's facing entirely the wrong way. But get that thing above 50mph and you'd swear someone had put a JADO assist rocket on the arse end and lit it off. You'd also swear there was a functional wing from a top fuel drag racer on the roof because that thing hunkered down and shot out from under you like it just wanted to eat every bit of road in front of it as fast as you could stand!!

This is why I love my Saab

[Darrin]

Revised below in post #57.

[Darrin]

Originally Posted by Darrin

1999 - 2000 - 1986 Chevrolet Celebrity. Another totally bland car. But couldn't complain as I got it for free. Engine finally gave up the ghost and I put it out if its misery in the Bremerton wrecking yard.


2001 - 1984 Mazda RX-7. They aren't called Rotary Rockets for nothing. For only having 1200cc in an engine most people can pick up by themselves, it had unbelievable amounts of power. I had no problem breaking the rear tyres loose at 35mph with it bone stock. After quite a few mods to the turbine that was the engine, I got kicked off of Bremerton Raceway. They had a rule there that anything over 12 seconds in the 1/4 mile could run stock, but anything under 12 seconds needed to have a full roll cage, fire supression system and you had to be wearing a full racing suit including helmet. I left four black skid marks across the 1/4 mile mark with the brakes locked and pulled in a time of 11.96 seconds. I slammed on the brakes because I knew I was going to come under the 12s mark by quite a margin and I had none of the required safety equipment. Wish I'd just gone for it so I could have gotten an accurate 1/4 mile time out of it before getting ejected from the track. Blew the third engine up in it in a row within a month of each other and gave up on it.


2001 - 2003 - 1979 Toyota pickup. You folks know it as the Hilux. I bought it for $200 and the uy handed me the service records for it. They were in a 4 inch thick three ring binder. He was more religious about changing the oil at the 3,000 mile mark than I've ever been. And the same odometer reading on said oil change receipts came up 7 times. I got it it had 705,000 miles on it. I took it over to the Toyota dealership and asked them what was original on it. They said the only thing that wasn't was the alternator. The valve cover hadn't even been off the engine. Ever. It was all original. Beat the snot out of that thing for two years and then we moved to Oregon where they had emissions testing and it failed. Gave it to the guy who got stuck with my RX-7 as a consolation for putting up with it.


2000 - 2003 - 1987 Dodge Caravan. I was NOT looking forward to the time in my life where I'd have to buy a minivan. Then I drove one. Wrote the guy a check and drove home a happy camper. No, they won't win and Grand Prix. No they won't win any style awards. But OMG was that thing comfortable!! I've driven BMWs, Mercs, Jaguars, Cadillacs, you name it. Nothing has compared to the total Lazy-Boy recliner on wheels comfort that old mini-van achieved. And the TOYS?? Damn, there were more buttons and levers and switches on that thing than there are in some airplane cockpits!! It wasn't worth taking to Minnesota, so donated it to the Salvation Army on the way out of the state.


2002 - 1980 Subaru GL 2WD Estate. Holy Crap what an underpowered piece of ****!! Bought it for $100, sold it for $100 a month later after just about getting run over on the Banfield freeway in Portland because I couldn't maintain 55mph up a 5% grade!!


2002 - 2009 - 1995 Dodge Neon. I shouldn't really lay claim to this one as it was Tina's car, but since we inherited it from my father when he passed away, I figure I need to put it in here.


2002 - 2003 - 2001 Dodge Neon. I loved this little car. It was agile, it was quick, it sipped fuel (I could push it over 40mpg if I kept my foot off the firewall). It was reasonably comfy. Great all around car. Had to sell it in Minnesota when I lost my job at the airport. We needed several thousand dollars and we needed it quick. The only way was to sell my car. Paid $7K for it and a year later had to sell it for $4K. I'm still mad about that.


2002 - 2008 - 1981 Chevrolet K15 4X4 pickup. Bought it originally as a winter crash barrier. I lived in a college town where there was snow and ice on the ground 6 months of the year. 99% of the colege students had no idea how to drive in the snow. If one of them had hit my little Neon, I would have ended up in prison because I would have beat the **** out of them for their idiotic driving. 2 months later it paid off as exactly what I was afraid of happened. But the truck came out unscathed. My Neon would have been totalled. Owned this thing for the entire time we were in Minnesota. Beat it senseless and never did a single bit of maintenance to it. 5 years and over 35,000 miles on the same oil I bought it with. 1/2 ton truck that routinely hauled 2.5 tons of firewood around in 3 feet of snow. Bulet proof reliable old truck. I'd own another in a heartbeat.


2005 - 2006 - 1986 Toyota Tercel 4WD Estate. Bought it for the mileage as my new job was 45 miles from home. It was gutless, slow (had trouble getting to 80mph), noisy, uncomfortable and completely rusted out. But it never once faltered in the snow and ice. Even at 65mph on a flat sheet of 2" glare ice from an ice storm. There were TRACKED vehicles slipping and sliding and I was driving around like I was on dry blacktop. It finally rusted to the point the rear suspension was in danger of coming out on its own. Sold it to a fellow Tercel 4WD owner that needed a new transmission and a couple other small bits and bobs. He stripped it of everything that could be unbolted.


2006 - 1990 Chevrolet Silverado 4X4. Initially bought it to replace the aging 1981. Big mistake. Sold it and kept the older truck.


2007 - 2008 - 1993 Chevrolet S-10 Blazer 4X4. Reasonably good vehicle, but had to leave it behind in Minnesota when we moved away. Wish now I'd left the Neon there and brought the Blazer instead.

I know there's several I'm forgetting about, but you get the picture (pun intended)...

2008 - Present - I now have my 1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I absolutely love this thing. All the good points of my old CJ-5 and the minivan all in one vehicle.

[Jonny69]

Dude, that's more cars than I've had hot dinners!