Just for fun--let's talk about cars

Ok, to look at the lighter side, I've had this thought of something light to talk about...various categories (feel free to add more)

First Car: Came with my marriage, a 1975 Chevy Monza 2 dr hatchback. This was the one with the small V-8 and impossible to change spark plugs.

First car I bought: 1979 Honda Accord 2 dr hatchback. Not a bad car, but it hated to start in cold weather.

Best car: 1985 Chevy Nova (actually a Toyota Corolla), 5 speed. Got 40+MPG, handed it down to my oldest daughter in 1997, and she drove it a couple more years. When she got done with it, it still had the original clutch.

Worst car: 2008 Dodge Caliber

Current car: 2014 Chevy Cruze

I've had cars. Most were the kind with four wheels, engine in front and went faster when you stepped on this foot peddle. The really cool thing was thing called a 'steering wheel' that could make it turn corners, aim the car at pedestrians, and stuff.

My wife says there's a thing called a 'break' that is suppose to slow the car down.

I've not seen the point of using that...

Andrew

I have an almost mint condition 1977 280z with 62,000 miles. All original except for the RetroSound stereo and Polk speakers, floor mats, gear shift nob, steering wheel (Z racer) and door lock nobs - all Z stuff.

I bought it five years ago from the original owner, who bought it for a daughter and kept it mostly in a barn for 20 years, drviving it to his engineering job once every two weeks.

When I was 12, back in '79, a kid in our neighborhood got a Z car just like it and I loved to sit in that thing. I remember him riding me and his brother, who was my best buddy, in it and playing the Eagles on the stereo. I still get the same feeling when I get in it now and smell that Japanese leather.

It hasn't been out in the rain in at least five years. I won a trophy at a local car show as well.

and that plant that built the Nova (NUMMI) - well Tesla is now building electric cars there which is really creating a mess with everyone stretching extension cords everywhere so they can drive their expensive electric cars to work.

and that plant is just down the road from the shopping mall that use to be the Ford Plant. In case you're wondering, Ford is largely responsible for the city of Milpitas. Ford has a lot to answer for...

and do you want to hear the one about Nova or 'no va', being Spanish for "don't go"? hummm???

I have to go. Time for my therapy appointment.
Andrew

Fun to think about all the cars I've owned through the years ... red, blue, red, red, red, now silver ... all have been Chevrolets --- the car dealer in my hometown had been in business for over 50 years and was a family friend and sold Chevrolets to four generations of my family, beginning with my great-grandfather, my grandfather, my dad, and eventually me --- I detect a pattern there ...

The one that still stands out most in my mind, though ... in high school, my dad basically gave me free rein with his red Chevy Monte Carlo --- nice red car, with red interior ... two door, rather sporty at that point in time, for a free car in my life ... any red car in high school seemed pretty cool when you are sixteen ...

Lots of fun and adventures driving around late nights in high school --- country gravel roads, drive-in movie theater, and heading up to the county seat to "scoop the loop" around the square on weekend nights --- those cars back then guzzled gas, as I recall ... on summer nights, you had to wait until sunset for the movie to start at the drive-in movie --- I remember the drive-in, but I wasn't focused on the plot of the movies ...

Back in my hometown, I had to watch my step, though, because my dad was the president of the school board when I was in high school --- and my grandpa published the town newspaper ---and the hometown cop always said it might be fun to catch me or my siblings with any impropriety, since he knew my dad was president of the school board --- and if we got caught doing something, the infraction would have to be published in my grandfather's newspaper, to boot ! Had to keep my adventures on the "down low" in those days ... I can still hear the cop muttering, "One of these days, I'm going to catch you doing SOMETHING !"

Right before senior prom, the tradition in my hometown ... all of us guys washed and waxed our cars in the afternoon, while the girls got all dressed up and ready for the prom that night ---

Went to prom in that red Monte Carlo with my high school girlfriend --- we didn't get home after the prom until sunrise --- I had a fancy blue tuxedo, which got ruined late that night --- that's a story in itself and not necessarily what you are thinking right now --- laughing out loud --- so I had a little explaining to do to my high school girlfriend's mom about my ruined tuxedo --- luckily, she always liked me and trusted me ...

Believe it or not, the tuxedo shop didn't charge me a dime for the ruined tuxedo --- cost of doing business with the rental fee, they said ?!! I didn't ask questions ...

Sunday morning, when you got home from prom --- my town ALSO had the notorious tradition at church where all the seniors were honored at CHURCH on Sunday morning ... right after prom ... so all of us had to drag ourselves to church right after we got home from the prom ... and the seniors had to sit in the front row of the church to be "honored" by the minister ... talk about sin and then salvation, all wrapped up into one weekend ?

My high school girlfriend's mother's bedroom window directly overlooked the driveway to their house, so I had to watch the curfew limits pretty closely --- perfect vantage point, wouldn't you say? At my house, my parents' bedroom was at the very top of the staircase, so they could hear me creeping up the stairs whenever I got home late --- do parents PLAN these things, I wonder ?!! Conspiracy theory, perhaps ...

After graduation, my brother and I eventually ended up at the same college and we took the red Monte Carlo to college --- we were supposed to "share" the car --- which he proceeded to crash and ruin one night after a college party --- and thus ended the days of the red Monte Carlo in my life ---

Still think of that red car sometimes ... still think of that girlfriend ... and I wonder if her mother STILL wonders about my ruined prom tuxedo after all these years ?

Just for fun,
Iowa State "Cyclone"

Post Edited (ISU-CycloneFan) : 12/13/2015 11:34:49 AM (GMT-7)

First car was a well-used '56 Chevy. Current cars are a Prius and a Ford F150 truck. But in keeping with the Nova - Corolla thing, one of my best cars ever was a Dodge Colt that was actually a Mitsubishi with a Dodge label on it.

In the early 1980s I was between marriages and working in Cambridge, Mass. Thanks to public transportation I saw no point in paying for a car and insurance and parking in addition to child support, rent, night school tuition, etc. It was a much better deal to rent a car a few times a month when I needed to go outside the bounds of the bus and subway lines.

The best deal on rental cars was a place in Harvard Square, right next to the (then) end of the subway line. They used to rent VW Beetles, but when VW stopped making Beetles the rental company started renting Dodge (Mitsubishi) Colt hatchbacks. I could pick one up cheap for an overnight rate if I just wanted to go shopping, or for a bit more if I wanted to keep it for a day or two. They were great little cars -- 4-speed stick, great visibility all around, and one of the best snow-handling cars I've ever had (way better than the Volvo 850 I had later). So when I finally decided it was time to buy a car, I bought a new 1985 Colt. I drove it for nearly 10 years and then gave it to my daughter when she graduated from college. She drove it for another couple of years, with no major repairs over the car's lifetime other than tires, brakes, and exhaust system, and I think at some point after my daughter had it I may have bought her a new radiator.

Jim

Post Edited (Bohemond) : 12/12/2015 8:51:58 AM (GMT-7)

yes, the monza was the one that you had to pull the engine to get at the spark plugs.

I've never had a "cool" car. Always wanted a mid to late 30's Model A coupe. Maybe someday.

Being a life time motor head, this is my kind of thread.

First car: 1957 VW Bug, bought from original owner in 1971 with 20k miles on, for $200.

Worse cars - a tie, 2000 Jeep Wrangler and 2001 VW New Beatle, hard to say what was worse.

Best Luxury car - 2010 Lincoln MKS, wish I had never gotten rid of it

Current daily drive - 2014 Fiat Abarth, heavily modified, running about 230 HP or more, bright red

Newest toy - recently bought a 1984 Alfa Romeo Veloce Spider, metallic black with tan top, and hazel nut leather, all original

Some odd ones - 1970 Porsche 914, 1973 VW Thing, 1995 Saab 95 (station wagon) with V-4 engine and 4 speed shift on the column

Our other current rides - wife's new 2015 Fiat 500L (like the Pope rode in) and 2003 Ford Sport Trac truck

Owned dozens of other cars and motorcycles over the years.

First car I ever drove (true story) Mercedes 600 Limo, at age 12, while living in Morocco. Long story.

Car I would love to buy (but no $$$) 2015 Alfa Romeo 4C coupe, in black with red leather, about 68k

David

Ahhh, a VW bus. A buddy and I drove one on across the US after graduating college in 1982. about 7K miles on that trip. I don't know the year, but would have been late 60s/early 70s. Yeah, that stock engine was not much, but then again we weren't in a hurry back then. Glad you still have yours and are having so much fun with it.

MDNative said...
Hey, Bohemond. I've actually been to Harvard Square! Even as a Marylander, I get around!!! Actually, my sister-in-law lives in Arlington, Mass. She's a transplant from MD after attending Harvard and meeting her husband there in the early '80s. Thank God we don't have to visit her anymore, LOL!

MDNative:
I also lived in Maryland. I spent my last 2 years as a Navy radioman, after a year in 'Nam, back and forth between Patuxent River Naval Air Station in MD and Bermuda. As for Harvard Square, I used to love the place, though these days I hardly recognize it. I'd often eat lunch at "The Tasty" which had all of about 8 or 10 stools at the counter, postcards from all over the world on the wall, and a short-order cook who called everyone professor. I'd also often eat at Cardells
cafeteria where you could most days share a table with a Harvard professor and someone just released from Walpole state prison. There was one table in particular that no one sat at near lunch time because it was owned by a group of regulars--turf protecting septuagenarian women. The daily special was sometimes macaroni and cheese, sometimes chicken fricassee, or whatever, but I always called it the "yellow paste of the day." I figured it was always the same thing from the same bucket, but they just changed the name. And if you ate it you weren't inclined to eat again for a day or two.

My other favorite hangout was The Idler where I could nurse a pint for an hour or more and read a newspaper while waiting for my girlfriend (now my wife) to turn up. The back room at The Idler was the place to be for local blues or rock on a Friday or Saturday night--i.e., Paul Rishell playing slide on a National steel guitar. The Idler was sold and became a sports bar with TVs everywhere -- the beginning of the end of Harvard Square as I knew it. My wife is a transplant from Liverpool, who I guess couldn't write tunes like John or Paul, so had to come to Harvard and end up with a non-Harvard Boston mutt like me.

And, though I worked in Cambridge, I, like your sister-in-law, actually lived in Arlington -- Bartlett Ave - about halfway north between Arlington center and Arlington Heights and a bus ride straight down Mass. Ave. to Harvard Square.
Jim

Bohemond, I know where you were stationed well. I lived in St. Mary's for a couple years and grew up in Charles County. My stepfather was USN from '57-'77 and grew up on Cobb Island in Southern MD, served mainly on carriers (AE), and unfortunately lost his PC battle earlier this year after 6 years. My sister-in-law is on Ashland Street, off Mass Ave, right at the Arlington Heights border.

So as not to be accused of hijacking this thread, I must be hitting my 'mid-life' crisis. Those new 'Vettes are starting to catch my eye!

Have owned many cars, but my two favorites were both purchased while I was in college and grad school, 1961-67. Both were in my price range, roughly $100, and I wish I had either today.

'56 Chevy. My first. Loved this car. Put about as much oil into it as gasoline, would buy oil from Monkey Ward in five gallon drums. Never gave any thought to environmental part of this, or absence of seat belts. Still have photos. Just had a great time.

'51 DeSoto. Weighed about 5000 lbs, and had an early "automatic" transmission. Went 0 to 60 in about 4 minutes. Tons of room for making out. My girlfriend called it "Brown Car." Only gave it up when I moved to the Caribbean out of grad school.

No car has been as much fun as these first two. Best wishes!

NewspaperLover

Owned a lot of cars, but my favorite vehicle was a 1960 36' International school bus my Ex and I lived in while in the Sangre de Cristo mountains of New Mexico. Had to hotwire it everytime as we were too poor to buy a new ig switch.

Good times!