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| 1964 Opel Kadett Station Wagon Purchased in late 1970 Totalled in December 1970 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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? |
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 |
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? |
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. |
| Ford Taurus SHO Bought new in 1990 wife totalled it in 1996? |
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! |
 Mercury Capri XR2 bought new in December 1993 sold in early 2007 |
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 | |
| Kia Sedona Van | |
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