PAST VEHICLES
There have been so many cars in my past, it's hard to keep track of them all, so I've decided to try and record them all here.
1970 Chevrolet Nova (#1)
Circa 1988
My first car. I purchased it for around $300 if I remember correctly. It didn't have power steering or power brakes, but it was mine! I loved the freedom it brought. It had a huge dent in the rear quarter panel that I painted a big Band-Aid on. It became known as "the Band-Aid car". One night while driving down Deer Park Ave (Route 231) it stopped running... I quickly learned where to put oil in. Amazingly, after I added oil, it started right back up and kept on chugging. Those Chevy 250's are indestructible! Well, almost indestructble; after I made a turn and the motor mount let-go one day, I figured it wasn't safe to drive and drove it to the junk yard. What a dumb ass I was, I should have just replaced the motor mount, but I was clue-less and really didn't have anyone to guide me. I was probably tired of the car too, knowing me. It's funny, because I look back and think that if it was my son, I would have picked up the car with him and towed it home. The motor mount would be easily swapped out by the end of the day. It almost makes me sad.
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1973 Pontiac Grand Prix (#2)
With a 400 cubic inch motor, four barrel carburetor and dual exhaust, you would think that this car could at least break the tires loose. Sheesh was this car slow! I only had it for a few months before I blew the tranny. I left it on the side of the road where it died. Another one bites the dust!
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1973 Chevrolet Camaro (#3)
My first hot rod. God, I loved this car. When the transmission went on the Grand Prix, a girl who I worked with, had a boyfriend, who new someone, selling a 1973 Camaro. Did you get all of that?
So I went to look at the car. It was sitting outside of a house right off of Commack road in Deer Park. It had a brown door and steel wheels. It looked pitiful and drove worse! The owner assured me that it would run great if I had it tuned up. I was so damn gullible and plain old stupid that I bought it. I think I paid $400 for it. I proceeded to drive it up to Deer Park avenue and get it tuned up at "Precision Tune". The guy who did the tune ( I later worked with this guy at Jiffy Lube) told me to take it easy with the car, because it was fast. Huh?! Yeah, right, OK. I get in the car and drive up to Montauk Highway and while driving through West Babylon, it starts to drizzle. Immediately after it starts to drizzle, I see a few guys in a late model Monte Carlo SS from school. The all laughed and pointed at me and the car. I was probably rather upset and wanted to get the hell away from them, so I floored it. The transmission kick-down engaged and the skinny bald tires started to spin. I went sideways, almost into on-coming traffic and then swung back towards the guys in the Monte. Finally I got a little bit of traction and blew past those guys like they were standing still.
It was definitely a sleeper. It had a two barrel Rochester and stock, cast exhaust manifolds! As I drove the car, I found that it MUST have had .411 gears and a shift kit. It wasn't exactly "fast", but I raced and beat a Grand National at the time. So that would probably put the car in the mid to low 14 second range.
One day I was putting gas into the car and decided to find out what the tire valve near the gas filler neck was for. Oh! air suspension. Now that the car could be jacked up in the rear, I needed bigger wheels and tires. I went to a tire and wheel place in Lindenhurst and bought a set of Torque-thrust D wheels with tires, however, my friend Smitty liked them and was willing to trade for a set of four Cragar wheels with N-50's on the back. Sweet.
After plotting and scheming with my friend Donato in 1st period History, we decided that he would put a cam in and do some other things to hop it up. Well, that was the end of that. He knocked the oil pickup off when he put the distributor back in and that turned one of the lobes on that new cam round. The shop that dismantled the motor said that it looked like it had a lot of nice work done to the heads. I parted the car out for like $500. That really sucked!
1980 Oldsmobile Cutlass (#4)
I think my mother felt bad about what happened to the Camaro (she may have had a part in it's demise, but I'll keep that between her and I) and she talked my stepfather into buying me a replacement, a Cutlass. I really should have been more appreciative, but he and I got along like oil and water. I think that it may have been because of this relationship that I hated the car. I beat the piss out of it and then traded it for the '74 Camaro. On a positive note, the car had a (I think) 260 ci V8 in it, and that was kind of cool. Another thing that I didn't like about it was that it had a piece of brushed aluminum that wrapped around the C pillar on the back of the car. You know, where the landau tops usually went. Except this didn't look half as good as a landau top (and I don't particularly like Landau tops). Also known as the Y68 Custom Appearance Package.
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1974 Chevrolet Camaro (#5)
circa 1989
I traded a guy in Lindenhurst NY, my 1980 Cutlass for this Camaro. The picture was taken before I got the car, in front of his house. It wasn't nearly as fast as the '73 Camaro I had, but it was a lot cooler than the Cutlass with the stupid stainless thing over the roof. It had a ratchet shifter (which I figured out how to operate by accident) and headers, so it was fun. My fondest memories are going down third street in West Babylon, hitting the crown in the road where it intersected 15th ave and seeing a shower of sparks in the rear view mirror. Also, racing down Wolf hill road in Huntington, trying to get my girlfriend at the time, back to her school for the late bus. I really worked the shifter and drove that car on the edge to get her back. If I didn't get her back, I would have to drive 28 miles to get her home. The problem with that was, if her mother or father (who came home about that time) saw my car, they would be very upset and probably ground her. Yup, the trials and tribulations of being a teenager.
One day, I stopped at the Amoco on Route 109 in West Babylon and the guy working there asks if I am selling the car. Always ready for a change, I say yes and suggest a reasonable price of probably about $1700 (damned if I can really remember). He agrees and I tell him that I need to get a ride. So I go back to my friend Jon's house and he follows me to the gas station. We make the exchange and the guy writes us each a bill of sale for $200, this way he would save on taxes at the DMV. I go back to Jon's car and give Jon $1500 and put the $200 in my pocket. Before we could get out of there, the guy runs over to tell me the car won't start. He then threatens to call the cops and does.
The problem with the car was that after a while, the starter would get heat soaked from the headers and would occasionally not start when hot. I had no idea though and thought that the problem was much grander and that is really why I wanted to sell the car.
Well, the cops show up and I say the guy is crazy (Yeah, I was a no-good little fuck). I show the cops my $200 bill of sale and the $200 in my pocket. They then say that everything is in order and proceed to let me go. I really do feel bad about that, but looking back, it wasn't that big of a deal, the guy just needed to put in a $50 starter in and he had a really good car for the money.
1973 Opel GT (#6)
I picked this car up from a guy with the last name Guido. Funny, right? I would pass the car all the time on my way to and from an ex-girlfriends house in Coram. It was primer over a nasty shade of Yellow Ocre (Imagine Gulden's mustard). My memory fails me, but I may have been the one who primered the car, just so I didn't have to look at that putrid shade of yellow. It was a lot of fun that little piece of crap. except for the slush box tranny. I actually had a bad run in with the cops in this car. I was chased by an off duty Lieutenant (I didn't find this out until afterwards) and I almost lost him in his Chevy Celebrity. However, I turned down a dead-end street and the next thing I know, he's tapping on my window with his Glock 9mm. After I got it back from impound, the transmission went. It sat in front of my parents house for a few weeks until it was towed away as an abandoned car.
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1980 Volkswagen Scirocco (#7)
When the Opel left the scene, I was left without a car, so my friend Jon's father sold me this car for a really good deal. Frank (Jon's dad) was a very nice guy. It was forest green with a tan interior. I always admired the car when Jon's father had it. It had wide door saddles with kick plates that said 'Scirroco' and it had a lot of gauges and crap. It just seemed like a nifty little car to me. And it was a fun little car, but it developed a problem where the throttle would stick (open, of course). So rather than go get it fixed, like a person with half a brain would do, what did I do? Nothing, I just kind of worked around it. Well, it flared up one time too many. The last time was on the George Washington bridge in New Jersey on our way back from Action Park. The engine raced and I just kept holding down the brake. Eventually it caused the transmission to blow. After removing the license plates and my personal belongings, my friend Wendy and I had to cram into an already packed Oldsmobile Cutlass and leave the Scirocco to the Jersey DOT. Lucky for us, we were traveling with the four other people in the Cutlass...
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1977 Datsun 280Z (#8)
This was the first car I ever owned with a manual transmission. I really enjoyed beating on cars and automatic transmissions just didn't seem up to the task, so I learned how to drive a manual transmission and I've never been the same since! This was a really fun car. I loved the way you sit so low in it. It had a really cool dash layout and handled extremely well. It wasn't too slow neither. I raced a late eighties Mustang convertible (with an auto I think) and beat him pretty good. So it was probably a high fifteen second car. Not too bad for a straight six! I found this car in Newsday and had to drive out east to get it. The clutch quit on it shortly afterwards. I was working at S&K Speed in Rockville Centre and a fellow employee helped me replace the clutch (who am I kidding, he did all of the work and I drank beer and watched). Then I traded it for the Granada and maybe $100 I think. I forget. We were supposed to trade back after the guy fixed the vacuum leak, but he told me that it got stolen I think he just liked it and wanted to keep it, whatever.
1980 Ford Granada (#9)
I traded the 280Z for this car plus a $100. It had some big wheels and "GT" badges on it. I guess one of the previous owners had an odd idea of what a GT car is. I drove it for a few months until it blew a head gasket on the Southern State Parkway, while driving home from work. I left it on the median and the state auctioned it off.
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1984 Pontiac Grand Prix (#10)
Once again, Mom felt bad for me; so she lent me $2700 to buy this car. It was pretty nice and served me well for a while. The one thing I remember about this car is that I almost lost my life in it. I pulled an all-nighter with a new girlfriend. We were getting to know each other and at about 4 am she had to get to sleep and I had to get to work. I was snoozing away when I was rudely awoken by what felt like somebody shaking me vigorously. The car was going down the center divider at about 50 mph and the "shaking" was the vibration from the car rubbing against the guard rail. That will wake you up in a hurry! It had a small V6 that was prone to over-heating. I changed the thermostat a couple of times to no avail and it probably needed a water pump. I cured it by just removing the thermostat altogether. One day, while trying to merge onto the L.I.E. BANG!, clacka-clacka-clacka-clacka-clacka-clacka. Yeah, I blew the motor and sold the car for $600 as a rolling chassis. I don't think I ever paid mom back for that one, nor do I think she ever asked for the money back. Thanks again mom!
1991 Geo Storm (#11)
My first new car. What a ton of fun this car was! I rate it 9.5 out of 10 on the "fun factor" scale. I never made a three point turn with this car. What for, when you can speed up a little, drop anchor (the e-brake) and spin the car around? Yeah, I did that a LOT. This car also had a nice limited slip differential. I did a smoke show on a hill once where I went from first into second, then into third, where I started to loose momentum and then dropped back into second. It was the biggest, baddest FWD smoke show that I have ever seen in my life. In fact, I don't recall ever seeing a RWD smoke show that good! The only bummer was that the car was hit in the door eleven days after I bought it. Just my luck! Eventually, I got it fixed. As much fun as this car was, I was twenty years old and dumb with testosterone. I was at a car sale one day with a co-worker and I saw a gorgeous red 300ZX for sale, so I bought it. Now I had two car payments. Then I got fired at work for playing practical jokes. Ugh! As luck would have it, the car got stolen, before it got repossessed. The bad part was that I didn't have gap insurance and had to cover the $2,800.00 difference. Nothing like getting hit when you are down!
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1988 Nissan 300ZX (#12)
As you probably read on the previous entry, I bought this car when I really shouldn't have. It was hot and I thought it made me look cool. It wasn't fast and the handling was mediocre, but I still loved this car. It killed me when I had to do a voluntary repossession. Let me tell you, don't ever do that, because they will auction the car for peanuts and bill you for the difference!
There were two notable days with this car. The first was when I got T-boned doing about eighty by a girl who didn't realize that you are supposed to stop when the light is red. And the second was when I raced my boss Matt down the LIE doing about 100 to 120 mph from exit 62 to exit 49. He was in an '88 Mustang LX, the same one I bought a few years later.
1981 Datsun 280ZX (#13)
Shortly after High School, around 1989, my friend Jon DioGuardi bought one of these and I really loved it. Approximately three years later, I found this one near the apartment I had in Port Jefferson Station. It ran well, but was rotted all to hell. I was working at the Goodyear in Coram and I was driving somewhere with one of the mechanics, I think it was this guy named Chris. Anyway, I remember going somewhere after a hard rain and when I went through a big puddle, the water shot up through the floor and soaked my passenger. After beating the piss out of it for a little while, I think I may have traded it to another mechanic, named John for the Firebird Formula. Chris, John and I did a lot of trading and selling of cars between the three of us. The 280ZX, the Firebird Formula, and the '68 Mustang all changed hands between the three of us.
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1981 Pontiac Firebird Formula (#14)
Cool car, 350 V8, 4 speed manual transmission, classic F-body handling and I blew the motor on this one too. If I remember correctly, it leaked a lot and I didn't add oil frequently enough. I drank a LOT in the nineties, so my memory is a little fuzzy for that decade.
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1968 Ford Mustang Coupe (#15)
My first Mustang. This car was a rat. It was in sad shape when I got it, but I polished it up and made a shiny turd out of it. I did the body-work myself and it really showed. If nothing else, it was reliable. I don't think that I broke down in it once. I bought it from a Goodyear mechanic who drove a retired ambulance and then wound up selling it to either Chris or John (Mechanics) from the Goodyear store.
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1983 Datsun 280ZX (#16)
I slid this one into a curb and sold it to Chris Murphy for $100. Chris is the guy who got me into motorcycles.
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1980 Plymouth Turismo (#17)
I bought this car for a few hundred dollars. It had a rotted freeze plug and leaked water like a sieve. The guy (Craig) who sold it to me was nice enough, but if you can picture a used car salesman in your head, you'll know exactly what this guy looked like!
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1981 Cadillac Coupe DeVille (#18)
This car was a boat! Leather interior and one of those Cadillac 8 6 4 motors that made a whoping 145 horespower! It broke down and I don't remember what I did with it. I am pretty sure that I left it at a diner in Port Jefferson. I bought it from that same "used car salesman" looking guy, Craig.
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1978 Datsun 280Z (#19)
I blew the motor and sold the chassis to some woman I was working with at the time. I thought the oil pressure gauge didn't work, but it did...
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1988 Ford Mustang LX 5.0 (#20)
My second Mustang. I give this car a solid ten out of ten on the fun factor scale! I had so much fun with this car. I traded my 1991 Yamaha FJ1200 for this car. With this car, three point turns became a thing of the past as I would just cut the wheel and pop the clutch to spin the car around at will. It had an off-road exhaust (no cats) and little two chamber flowmaster mufflers. You could hear me coming from miles away! Unfortunately so could the cops. I got pulled over 1-2 times per month on average. It had 116,000 miles on it when I bought it and when I sold it with 164,000 miles, it was still running like a champ!
1994 Chrysler LeBaron GTC Convertible (#21)
My first convertible. I bought this car to re-establish my credit. Also, the Mustang had 164,000 miles on it, so it was time to move on. I paid some stupid interest rate, like 24%, but it was a necessary thing. You can't live in America without good credit. Fortunately/unfortunately for me, this car got stolen. The problem was that my Geico claims rep said "don't worry about it, we'll take care of everything", "The car will be paid off in a few days because you have gap insurance, so don't make anymore payments.". Then the fuckers denied the claim and failed to tell me. Yeah, a years worth of expensive car payments and it hurt my credit even more. Eventually I had to get a lawyer and we got the fucking assholes at Geico to pay me, but by that time the damage was done. Don't buy insurance from Geico. They are a bunch of lying, cheating, fucking scumbags! Of course, I still use them.
1991 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible (#22)
I bought this car after the LeBaron was stolen. It was a piece of crap, but after I replaced the fuel filter it was finally able to go faster than a Toyota Corolla. Then I gutted the catalytic converter to fix the overheating problem. after that, the performance upgrades came. A full exhaust with a high flow catalytic converter, Edelbrock headers and a Flowmaster muffler. Then I ported the throttle body, made a 3/4" throttle body spacer, installed a 3" K&N air filter and increased the fuel pressure. The transmission went, so I had it rebuilt with Corvette servos (it worked like a shift kit). A year later, the tranny went again, so I converted it from an automatic to a five speed. Lastly, I installed a posi rear and 3.73 gears. It wasn't fast, but it was pretty quick. It also had a nice $2,000 stereo system with a sub, two amps, nice speakers with cross-overs and a nice head unit. The whole time that I had it, I was chasing an electrical gremlin. At one point, I installed a push button starter and that helped keep me from getting stuck all of the time. In the end, the gremlin won and I traded the car in towards the Eclipse. It was terrible, I remember driving to the dealer; the lights where flashing on and off and the wipers were going on their own!
2001 Mitsubishi Eclipse GT Convertible (#23)
My second new car and my first leased vehicle. I put in a cold air intake and a "down pipe" (an exhaust pipe that eliminates catalytic converters) on it and it was pretty quick for what it was. It did a 14.9 in the quarter mile. I think this is the only car that I actually took to a real race track.
I was doing 135, but got ticketed for doing 100 in a 55. (Allegedly) Thank god my brother assisted in getting me cleared of the charge.
1995 Isuzu Pickup (#24)
I bought this from the owners of Gulf Coast Motorsports where I worked at the time for about $1,000. I sold it a year later for $1,500. 4 cylinder with a manual five speed transmission. During a hurricane I submarined it through a huge (maybe 3 feet deep) puddle and it kept on going. It was a good little truck!
1999 Chrysler Sebring Limited Convertible (#25)
I bought this from a Pontiac dealer by the name of Dick Norris. No, really! It had sucky brakes, so I put drilled and slotted rotors on it and it served me well for a while. Then I needed to get rid of the payment book, so I sold it. Someone at work called it the "Slut car", which I find kind of amusing.
1991 Mazda Miata Convertible (#26)
I found this on a website called tamparacing.com and bought it from a kid in Sarasota or somewhere near there. It was fun as hell. It was easy to work on and fun to drive. I enjoyed it, but then sold it because I got a job as a consultant and they gave me a Honda CRV to use. I needed the space more than I needed a third vehicle.
2006 Ford Mustang (#27)
My third Mustang and my third new vehicle. I was really sad to see this one go, because I immensely enjoyed chirping second gear. This was by far the easiest car in the world to do it with. it had the 215HP V6 with a 5 speed manual transmission and skinny tires.
2004 Mercury Monterey (#28)
It was my wife's minivan, but I bought it and it was in my name, so technically it was mine. It looked identical to the one pictured here. It had all options, including leather, power doors, distance sensors on the bumpers. It was a really good truck until the warranty ran out. We bought it "Certified pre-owned" and rolled the negative equity from my wife's 2004 GMC Envoy XL into it, hoping that we could dissolve that. Unfortunately, when the warranty went out on it, the power side door quit and it would have cost thousands to repair it. So we traded it in on the 2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring.
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1988 Ford Mustang LX (#29)
My fourth Mustang. I bought this car for $2,000, put $2,500 into it and then traded it for the 2004 Jeep Wrangler. I remember that I fixed the A/C, installed an H-pipe and mufflers, got a Maaco paint job and put on the Pony wheels. I was trying to save a few bucks by buying this car, but in the end, it cost me almost as much as the 2006 Mustang in up-keep and fixing it up. The damn thing kept snapping clutch cables and I don't know why.
2004 Jeep Wrangler (TJ) (#30)
I traded the Mustang for this thing as it was worth more money. I did well. I had $4500 into the Mustang and couldn't sell it for $3900, but the Jeep I sold for $7300! Woo-Hoo! I really miss having a convertible and this reminded me of that. I'd love to get another one some day. I've also toyed with the idea of restoring an older CJ3 (or any flat fender) Jeep.
1992 Mitsubishi Eclipse 2.0 (#31)
I got this for free and flipped it for $300. I made a little over $200 for basically towing a car to my house and putting an ad in the paper. it was sitting in the lot of my job at the time (MagicTilt Trailers) and the boss wanted it gone. The owner gave it to me for free.
2005 Factory Five Roadster (#32)
I always wanted to build a replica or a kit car. When we sold our first house, we used the proceeds to pay bills, put a down payment on the new house and buy this. I worked on it for about three years. I got it running and driving. It needed the bodywork done, but the recession hit and I lost a third of my salary and all of my benefits, so I had to sell it. My wife cried when I sold it. I have a video of my son popping rivets into the car. Such a shame. Unfortunately, I had to sell this one before it was 100% complete.
2000 Mustang GT (#33)
My fifth Mustang. I almost bought a car like this back in 2001. However, the cost of the car was a little high and the dealer didn't want to haggle, so I bought the Eclipse Spyder instead. Having owned this particular example makes me believe that I did the right thing back in 2001. That may not be fair, because this car wasn't cared for, but it was a piece of shit. I hated driving it, because it paled in comparison to my current daily driver, a 2008 Honda Civic EX. It was nice when I had the top down, but what convertible isn't? The brakes sucked, the shifter sucked, as did the clutch, even after I replaced it with a new one! It didn't drive well at all. It is amazing that Ford went so far downhill when you compare this to either '88 Mustang I had before it. Thankfully, they regained their ground, as the 2006 model I owned was stellar.
2008 Honda Civic EX (#34)
Solid little four-banger with a 5 speed manual, mag wheels, moon roof, nice stereo and more. This was the first time that I purchased a car for practicality and not because I NEEDED a car or WANTED it. It was a fun little car and it handled great, however it was prone to skidding to a stop. I suppose it was just a little too nose heavy. The aforementioned issue resulting in two accidents. One being someone else's fault, they side-swiped me because I couldn't stop in time to avoid it. The second time there was a bump and a dip in the road followed by sand which cause me to slide into a sign on a median as I was braking in the turning lane. Regardless, it left before it's time due to financial issues of the 2009 depression.
2003 Ford Taurus SE (#35)
This was a very enjoyable car to drive, big, roomy and comfortable. I bought it with 101,000 miles on it and sold it six months later with 108,000 miles. I paid $3,000 for it and put about $100 into it, then sold it for $3,000. Free car for six months! I really liked this car and didn't want to sell it, but it started leaking like a sieve. It probably would have cost $1,000 to fix the oil leaks and such and after I took a deposit on the car I regretted it. I was hoping the lady would back out of the deal, but she didn't.
2002 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor (#36)
I had a lot of fun with this car. It made driving a pleasure, because everyone steers clear of you! Inevitably, a design flaw and finances caused me to sell it. I have wanted a pickup ever since I got rid of the Isuzu, so now I have one again. It's part of my master plan. I am hoping to have a project in the garage next year and this will allow me to pull it or move parts, or whatever. Not only that, but I can use the pickup for home improvements and I can throw my mountain bike in the bed to go riding.
2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring (#37)
Meh, this one I bought for my wife. It was economical and reliable, but had no soul. On the plus side, we were still carrying the negative equity from the GMC Envoy XL and this allowed us to erase that, finally. It didn't give us any issues, it was roomy, comfortable and reliable.
2000 Ford Ranger (#38)
This was the Trailhead Edition. Which means that it comes with a factory 3" lift and a torsion beam suspension that the other Rangers didn't have at the time. It also had fog lights. I bought it with 109,000 miles on it and it was treated really well before I got it. Then I used it like a truck... Honestly, I took pretty good care of it. During my ownership, I replaced the radio, tires, front ball joints, rotors, drums, axle bearings, radiator and alternator. When I sold it four years and four months later, everything worked (except the gear indicator) and it had 173,000 miles on the clock. My neighbor bought it for $2,500, which is pretty nice considering that I paid only $2,600 for it.
2013 Hyundai Sonata (#39)
Another souless family truckster for the wife.
1976 Chevrolet Corvette (#40)
I got this project car from my neighbor who gave up on it. He only wanted $500 for it! So I bought it and flipped it in a few days for over $2,200.
1988 Ford Mustang GT (#41)
My sixth Mustang. I bought this car hoping to make it into a nice little runner. In a fit of passion, I overpaid for the car and bought it for $2,000. The problem was that it needed about $8,000 worth of work and you could buy one ready to roll in mint condition for about $6,000. I quickly sold it for a slight loss.
Click the image for more information.
1991 Ford Mustang GT(#42)
My seventh Mustang. I bought this car from a coworker. One day at work he emailed me and asked if I wanted to buy it for $1,000. Umm, Yes Please! I flipped it in 24 hours for $2500. Easiest $1,500 I ever made! I wished I could have kept the motor as this car was a beast! 302 with a Ford motorsports cam, Edelbrock heads and intake, 3300 stall speed converter, line lock, 4:10 gears, BBK headers, Fluidyne Radiator and so much more!
1991 Ford Mustang GT(#43)
My eighth Mustang. I drove all the way to Orlando for this one. I thought I would finally start with a good car and fix it up as I drove it. Unfortunately for me, this one developed transmission problems on the way home from the sale. That's just typical for me. So after replacing the transmission, clutch, flywheel and a few other things, this car tried to kill me. So onto the next owner it went!
Click the picture for more details.
2015 Hyundai Sonata Sport (#44)
We brought the 2013 Sonata in for service and of course, a salesman comes and tells us he can give us a new car for less money per month. Of course we bit. It was two years newer, it had dual exhaust, bigger wheels, nicer interior, it was a completely redesigned new model that just came out. We bought it in 2014 and it was a 2015 model. It drove nice, fit a lot of crap in trunk and the kids had a lot of room in the backseat. The only problem was the lack of torque made the car a bit jerky, so the kids would get car sick ion the back seat. Other than that, not a lick of trouble and it was a good, comfortable, solid car. No complaints from me.
2002 Dodge Ram 1500 (#45)
When the Ford Ranger got a little old and started showing it's age (slipping transmission and holes forming in the seats) and because it was a regular cab and I wanted something a little roomier and beefier to tow motorcycles and other crap, I decided it was time to upgrade. I bought this one for $5000 and it had about 116,000 miles on the odometer. I drove it for two years and put another 50,000 miles on it and sold it for $4800. Not a bad investment. However, I did take very good care of it and it drove like new when I sold it. I still regret selling it. I should have kept it and bought a clean used viper instead of keeping the Miata, selling this and buying the WRX. Not that I don't like the Rex, but I liked this too and I have wanted a Viper since I was a teenager...
1990 Mazda Miata Base (#46)
I got tired of repairing Mustangs and then they try to kill me. So I thought let's try something that will probably start every time and something good for autocrossing. I had a 1991 Miata in the past and it was a shit ton of fun, so I bought another one with the proceeds from the Last Mustang sale and insurance payout. As I hoped, it was reliable and fun, but the lack of horsepower gets boring after a while, so of course, I bought another Mustang...
1988 Ford Mustang GT Convertible (#47)
My ninth Mustang. After two years of enjoying this beauty, the original owner called. I wasn’t planning on selling the Mustang, it was the 5th fox I’ve owned and the nicest, lowest mileage one (even compared to the 88 LX I had in ‘93), but the previous owner called and said that his son came back from college and confided in him that he was really upset that he sold the car. He was hoping that it would go to him one day. I have two sons of my own and I can imagine how bad this guy must have felt. I heard it in his voice over the phone, so I agreed to sell him the car back for a very fair price. With the way Foxes have been on the rise, maybe too fair, but the guy was so excited, it made me feel good and I am hoping that the good karma will come back to me in my finding the next car or project that I can't live without.
2017 Subaru WRX (#48)
New job = new car. I got a new job January of 2017 and I bought this car a month later. This is a pretty cool little car, it's faster than a 2017 Dodge Challenger R/T (with the V8) and has a usable back seat. I leased it and in the end, I am glad I did that. As you know, I like to try different vehicles, but this car started to show signs of issues as I got to the end of the lease. In the cars defense, I really thrashed the hell out of this thing, I red-lined it regularly and went around turns about twice as fast as most people. So much so that I wore the first set of tires out in a year and a half. My son hated this car because I drove it so aggressively that it made him even more car sick than he normally gets. I will definitely miss this little hot rod, but I am glad that I can now use this car payment money to fund the Viper, the car of my dreams. To replace it, I bought a real beater of a pickup, a 1998 Dodge Ram in shit brown. Definitely a top 5 car on this list.
2017 Subaru Forester (#49)
All wheel drive, leather interior, it's a nice ride, but still lacks emotion. My wife loved it though and that's all that matters.
2005 Dodge Viper "Copperhead" Edition (#50)
I have wanted a Dodge Viper since the concept came out in 1989. I finally got it.This one is a 2005, which is a 3rd generation car. It has 505 horsepower stock and this particular model is a Copperhead edition with only 19,882 miles showing on the clock. They made 300 Copperheads in 2005 and this is number 79. Car & Driver published the following stats: 8.3 liter V10, 500 hp, 525 lb-ft of torque, 0-6 in 3.9 seconds, 100 mph comes in only 8.5 seconds and the quarter mile in only 11.8 seconds at 123.6 mph. Though your (and my) results may vary.
After 4 years and 4 months (the longest I ever owned a vehicle), I sold the Viper. They say that you should never meet your heros and this was the case for me here. It was definitely a special car and a LOT of fun, but just a little too special for me. I created a list of reasons why I sold the car so that when I get reminiscent, I can review the list and remember why I sold it.
1998 Dodge RAM 1500 SLT (#51)
I was out looking for a replacement vehicle (The WRX lease was up and my "car payment" money went to the Viper). After looking at a lot of other trash, this one seemed like a solid buy. It was ugly sure, but I thought that it would be nice to have a vehicle that I didn't care about, that I can bang up, scratch and let the dog ride in. it had a 5.2 liter V8, only 92k miles on the clock, a bunch of new parts in it and the transmission shop owner said that it had a rebuilt transmission and he would guarantee it for year. Great. After a while I got tired of driving a shit box and the dash sub structure was disintegrating. There is no replacement for that substructure and I wanted something else, so I sold it.
2020 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL (#52)
This one is done in Platinum Grey Metallic with a black interior. It has a 8-speed Auto with Tiptronic. Our favorite features are the dual zone automatic climate control and the configurable dash! Its still a souless appliance, but again, my wife loved it and that is what matters!
We decided to sell it and end the lease early because it was plagued with issues, from the sun roof leaking and creating mold inside the car, to colant leaks in the engine compartment, to a bad shifter that was "serviced" 3-4 times, we had enough and sold it. Luckily the market was good to us and we made $2k which we used as a down payment on my wifes Hyundai Tucson Limited. We bought that under her name, so it won't show up here. Great little SUV though.
2005 Nissan Altima 2.5S (#53)
I bought this for my teenage son. It was in my name until he sold it to buy a new 2023 Hyundai Elantra. When we gave it to him, he loved it. He would rather drive this than either of our new vehicles at the time. It has a fuel saving four cylinder that didn't have enough power to get him into trouble, an automatic (because millenials hate manuals) and lots of leg room, which he definitely needs. For Christmas we got him a bluetooth transmitter for his cell phone and that completed the package for his needs and likes.
2007 BMW 328i (#54)
I was sick of the Dodge Ram falling apart around me, so I decided to sell it before it was too late. After a lot of looking, I found this 328i. It was a private sale, which is usually better than buying from a dealer. I knew it needed a few things to make it right and UI enjoyed fixing it up. I replaced some interior trim, window regulators, fuel pump, etc. But then the transmission started acting up and since it was an automatic, it would have been expensive to fix. So instead of unloading it on some unsuspecting victim, I traded it in on a new 2021 Toyota Tacoma SR5.
2021 Toyota Tacoma SR5 (#55)
The transmission seemed like it was about to let go on the BMW 328i, so I traded it in on a 2021 Tacoma. I really NEED a pickup truck in my life. It suits my busy lifestyle, between home projects, landscaping, kayaking, biking etc, it just works for me. This is the SR5 double cab with the 278HP V6 engine and 5 foot bed (it slots between the base and the TRD Sport). It comes with alloy wheels, keyless entry, dual zone climate control and bunch of other stuff. The color is Magnetic Gray Metallic. I added a tonneau cover that my friend Eric gave me and installed TRD wheels with bigger tires. Even though I planned on buying it afterwards, the economy went to shit and I needed to reduce my monthly spend. So I let it go back to Toyota and I replaced it with an old Jeep. Hopefully the Jeep can do all the stuff the truck did, otherwise I may have to buy another trailer...