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1964 Opel Kadett Station Wagon
Purchased in late 1970
Totalled in December 1970
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Sometime in late 1970 I purchased this car.
For a young guy, any car is kewl if its your first car. This one belonged
to a friend of mine, who was going to trade it in on a used Camaro. Bet he wishes
he'd kept it! Anyway, this thing set me back $200. I learned a little bit
with it, and probably would have done more except I totalled it. Turned left
in front of a Chevy Nova. Big mistake. So it left to rot in a junk yard, and
likely was shredded many years ago. |
1964 Opel Kadett 2 door sedan
Purchased in early 1971
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Virtually identical
to the wagon, it was another great little car, but lacked the "First Car" karma
of the wagon. Not sure how long I kept it, but ended up selling it because after
having had an accident (totalling the wagon) it caused the insurance to go way up
and my father just had me drive his car. |
1973 Plymouth Duster
Bought new in December 1973
Abandoned in Champaign Urbana, IL, in March, 1978
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After being carless for a while, I made honor roll my second semester in
college. That would have been fall semester. My father had promised me a
car if I did that. Although that may have been a high point for grades in college,
it was definitely a high point when it came to automobiles. Although my dream
car was an Alfa Romeo Spider, I ended up with a the Duster. Basic
American transportation, with a floor mounted 3 speed. In retrospect, it was
a good candidate for an engine transplant, but that was not to be. Drove this car
for a number of years. The end came when I changed the oil right before a big
trip, but because of bad design the dipstick ran into the crankshaft and got shortened.
Thus I didn't realize how low the oil was, and the car threw a rod in Champaign Urbana
Illinois. We stripped the car and left it there. |
1954 Chevy 210 4 door sedan
1978
sold it within a year
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The next car to grace my "garage" was the 1954 Chevy 4 door sedan. Cute car,
but all that much fun. Had to replace the rear oil seal and a few other things, plus
I think there was something basically wrong, probably with the tuning, because it only
got about 12 miles to the gallon. A straight six should do much better than that!
I finally realized I needed reliable transportation and sold it. |
1979 Chevy Monza
bought in early 79
traded it in 1983?
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This 1979 Chevy Monza was a great car! With the V6 and 5 speed transmission,
it was actually kind of fun to drive and almost sporty! I drove the heck out of
it, taking it on several extensive road trips. It was good solid reliable
transportation and one that I regretted selling. |
83 Pontiac Fiero
Bought in early 83?
traded it in within 11 months
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This was the car from Hell. I owned it for 11 months, in which time I spun it
180 degrees on the freeway, had a flat tire, damaged the front wishbone, was keyed,
and a board was kicked up by a car in front of me which scratched the front bumper,
the hood, and took off the passenger windshield wiper. Then it was stolen like
most Fieros were. I traded it in as is, sitting in the impound lot, along with the
settlement check from the insurance company. |
1984 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z
bought in mid? 84
traded in in 1990?
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This car was ferocious; it had skirts, spoiler, nice interior, power everything
and a 5 speed transmission. Killer torque steer, but it was fast and front
wheel drive. Fat sticky tires - I loved that car. Perhaps one I might
regret letting go. After a few years the car leaked; I should have just
replaced the rear window gasket; I'm sure that's all it was. Oh, well.
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Ford Taurus SHO
Bought new in 1990
wife totalled it in 1996?
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great car! fast, fun, comfortable, and stealth. Looked like a mom car,
but it could run! Road & Track tested it as faster than the 300ZX!
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Mercury Capri XR2
bought new in December 1993
sold in early 2007
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I was going to keep that car forever! Drove it as a daily driver for
about 7 years, then bought another car (2000 Ford Contour SVT) and
kept the Capri as a weekend car. Since I was self employed, it really
helped with the taxes - I was running my business car at about 92%
business use! But, eventually, scared, needing interior work, the radio
was marginal, and
with broken air conditioning here in Texas, plus, I needed the parking
space, I sold it to some kid. We still see it around every now and
then. Funny thing - I don't really miss it. |
Kia Sportage |
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Kia Sedona Van |
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Drop me a line! |
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