I love these posts!! I‘m hoping I have a good pic of my ’modified' corolla somewhere so I can share it here. Gotta dig through the basement.
For no real reason, some pictures of my old car on some rooftops
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@“thebryanjzx90”#p89411 those are some solid rooftops if you ask me
My first car was a 1989 Toyota Corolla that was passed to me when my brother went to college. When the odometer had hit 150,000 miles it rolled back to 140,000 so we weren't sure how many miles were on it. The radiator had a large hole in it but continued to function, puzzling me and mechanics to this day.
I love this car. Because it was so old and junky my dad didn't care if I did anything to it, so I immediately put some rustoleum green racing stripes on it.
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_me and my bud with our sweet rides parked under the cherry blossoms on a spring day (I dropped my fancy camera right after this, breaking it forever)_
The racing stripes were fun and easier to put on than expected. This was in the middle of the midwest and no one was actually modifying their car with racing stripes for real so I didn't get any flak. One of my buds was so excited that he wanted to paint flames on the wheel wells like the Mirth Mobile in Wayne's World. I didn't really like how he did it, but it was still fun to have them.
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_Winters here were 'fun' times_
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_Flames visible here. The rest is just decorations because I decided I wanted to drive in the homecoming parade. Instead of asking anyone I just parked on the route and drove into it. We were wearing an owl costume and threw out candy. It was well received._
Eventually that same friend who painted the flames on upped his game and did better flames to another guy's car. They then pushed it further with a coffee can 'muffler' and ironing board spoiler. It was pretty fun times. Seeing how I had been beat in the painting and exterior game I wanted to make the car more useful on the inside, and I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture but what I did was modify a small portable television to fit into the front console so I could watch TV on the go (Or more accurately my passengers could)
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^ This isn't my car but you can see the spacious hole right below the heat controls. I gutted this TV from its shell, secured it in that hole and then wired the controls through to the glovebox. When you popped it open the knobs were all there so you can power on and tune to the channel you wanted to watch. It was run off an AC adapter in the cigarette lighter slot.
My bro had put a pretty nice cd player in there, so I wired a whole bunch of speakers to it in the backseat and trunk. It did not have the power to really do them justice but it was surprisingly fun to cruise around with them blasting all over the place.
I also wanted to put LED lights in so we could have a little party while driving and had almost got something going but eventually all the brakes went out and when we popped off the wheels it was starting to look like it was more trouble than it was worth so I had to say goodbye to my sweet Corolla.
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_I actually saved the mini tv and ended up using it as a prop in a movie later. Here are a couple of screenshots_
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_This was all pre smartphone so it was kinda cool at the time._
Next up my bro was back from college and was driving around a Honda Accord. It might have been an 87. A guy sold it to my dad at work and it had over 200k miles on it. He talked about how reliable Hondas were and how we could drive it forever. I drove it for a week or two. Compared to the Toyota which felt pretty zippy it was really slow. The headlights flipped up though and that was cool.
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_This is probably it_
My bro and I went to a movie and on the way there the lights just went out and stopped working. My bro was like "Should we go home?" And I was like, "let's keep driving". The lights came back on and we made it but it had some serious issues. Because I was younger I was banned from driving it for safety reasons which was fine with me cause it wasn't that fun. I then got to drive the family mini van.
My other bro had taken the van on a cross country trip to like 25 states in 25 days and beat the shit out of it, so I think my parents didn't want to drive it anymore. I got it and it was pretty dang fun for a highschooler. I could fit all my friends in there, and it had some loud bass!
1997? Plymouth Voyager
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_You can fit a whole lot of stuff in a van_
We used to drive around in empty snowy parking lots and pull sleds around behind it. That was fun and not _too_ unsafe cause we were moving pretty slow (at least I like to think). One time we also pulled a kid on an office chair behind it and the chair wheel broke and he rolled into the grass and somersaulted a bunch of times and was totally fine. I'm extremely thankful he did not get seriously hurt cause that was dumb as heck of us.
One snowy winter day I was getting ready to drive back home for the holidays. My tire was flat so I went to three different gas stations to get air for it. None of them had air, and by the time I tried to get home the tire fell off and I had to get it towed.
Eventually this thing died a few years later. Luckily my bro's neighbor was selling a 1999 Saturn SL with like 108,000 miles on it. It was in super condition and I drove it for about 80 or 90,000 miles. It was manual which was nice and I drove it cross country and back without much trouble. The only thing I really had to do was replace the muffler twice.
I shot a terrible independent film and this car was prominently featured in it.
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_here is the car being prepped for a green screen scene._
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_z_ghF9lhY
_Here you can see some stunt driving in action._
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_Those big black bumpers on all my cars made parallel parking easy_
This is another shot from the movie. Looking back now I actually love how much footage I have of this car. There's a bunch of benign shots of just getting in and out and from the dashboard and it's cool now that I can see it now that I no longer have it.
At one point I was pretty worried that the thing was leaking exhaust in the cabin and I was starting a new chapter in life so I upgraded to a 2001 Ford Ranger!
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_This thing was a money pit_
This truck had seen some action, and my dad and I sunk a lot of money into it. Not a good deal! But it was cool as hell to drive around in the winter with 4 wheel drive. I felt like I could go anywhere in a blizzard, and I pretty much could.
_If you watched the stunt video, that truck is the same one there too._
Eventually it was totally shot. A mechanic 'fixed it' for $700 dollars and destroyed the thing. I didn't know what to do with it but some guy picked it up and hauled it away. Thanks guy! Don't go to Chet Motors in Madison.
Now I drive a Hyundai Santa Fe. It's pretty nice and gets me where I need to be. My partner has a Honda Fit and I drive it sometimes and it's real fun. It'd be sweet to have a little manual Honda Fit and speed around. I used to really want cool cars, but now I'm just like utilitarian about it and I think about it environmentally too. Maybe someday I'll get an electric truck or something. I dunno! Until then, I think it would be cool to have an Isuzu NPR truck one day.
While making this post I went through a lot of old photos and discovered I have lots more shots of my buddy's many cars. Here he is trying to drift in a parking lot in _his_ old Carolla hatchback.
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He even races and stuff, maybe I can get him to post sometime.
-D
@“DavidNoo”#p95830 this was a great read!! Thanks for sharing it!
Since moving to a walkable city for the first time, I‘ve been taking a break from cars. It’s been nice to not need one. But, I definitely love driving them for fun! I even kinda miss it! It's time for a brief car retrospective!!
**Car 1: 1976 Toyota Pickup.** This was my first car. I got it as a trade for shoveling and wheelbarrowing a metric heck-ton of rocks out of a new rental property. I named him Frederick. I would go on to name my other cars, but I'm not gonna tell you those ones. I installed a little stereo and would frequently end up stuck in the snow, as it was not equipped for... any weather. I listened to a lot of Black Keys and Mac DeMarco in it.
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**Car 2: 1988 Toyota Camry.** In my hubris, I told my dad I wanted a vehicle that could go over 55 mph and sold the old truck (many regrets). I inherited my sister's Camry, which had a vaguely red interior, automatic seatbelts that didn't work, and a manual transmission that had a good year left in it. I listened to a lot of Future Islands and Disclosure in it.
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**Car 3: 1998 Subaru Impreza.** My Camry finally decided to stop shifting, so it was time for a new guy: the red-patch special.
This was my first highway-safe car, but only barely. It was a manual-transmission with a custom remote start, which required a complex setup process to arm it each time I parked. The previous owner, a family friend, sold the car and a Thunderbolt Display to me for $500 because he was moving out of state and was absurdly charitable. The car included a stupid-big subwoofer in it. This photo features my Pembroke Jess, aka my own stub-woofer. I listened to a lot of Queens of the Stone Age and Run The Jewels in it.
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**Car 4: 1990 Volkswagen Golf.** I always wanted a Golf or a Rabbit. Today, I'd still love an old, boxy one from the 70's or 80's. I found this one in a friend's backyard, and sold my Subaru right away. This car didn't even run, and I towed it to a new apartment before finally getting it fixed up over time. I wouldn't have it for long, but it drove me to the most band practices out of any of my vehicles. My dog didn't like it very much. I listened to a lot of my own and my clients' demo mixes in it.
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**Car interlude: Dad's Golf.** My father was the car guy of the family. A lot of VW's went through our back yard. This was his custom-vinyl'd favorite project car he ever had. It was wrecked in an accident shortly after completion. We ended up rehabilitating it, but sold it to make ends meet. I still see it driving around my hometown from time to time. My dad listened to a lot of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden in it.
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**Car 5: 1984 Chevrolet G20 Camper Van.** One day, suddenly, I decided I want to sell all of my things and live in a van, to tour as a musician. I sold the Golf to a friend who could afford to actually fix it. I moved out of my apartment and eventually found this goofy old champion. It was not fast and it was the first non-manual transmission I ever had. I spent the whole 2020 pandemic era, as it would turn out, sleeping in this box alongside my dog and playing a lot of my 3DS. I never did take it very far out of my home town. I listened to a lot of podcasts in it.
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**Car 6: 2014 Volkswagen Beetle.** After getting my spine fracture by a car at the end of 2020, I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to live in a stiff, tiny van very comfortably. I moved back into an apartment, and the van became a project for another day. Luckily, besides paying for hospital bills, the money leftover from the accident would be the first time I could afford anything made after the 90's. I decided to follow my gay little heart and get that funky "New Beetle" that I had inexplicably fixated on.
This car was _fast_. And surprise, it would be the harbinger of my first and only speeding ticket! Whoops! It also was the first car I had that could take me anywhere. I drove to California and back twice in the same year, and made every excuse I could to get over 100mph on the Nevada freeway. It had an automatic tranmission (boo) but it also had a Sport mode (woo). I listened to a lot of The Beths and Jeff Rosenstock in it.
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**Bonus car: 197x Volkswagen Beetle.** Eventually, the day arrived where I decided to move somewhere bigger, somewhere with subways and busses. I sold my Van & my Beetle to afford the down payment and rent for my new apartment. In the meantime, I'd drive my mother's convertible Beetle, which my dad built brand-new out of a box.
This car didn't have a stereo in it, but I sang a whole bunch of my favorites with my friends in it before I left home.
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@“jordanthornquest”#p121514 This is a good post, these are good cars, welcome to the forum!
I had a friend who had a New Beetle and we once drove all night to the Oregon Coast and back. The thing I remember about it the most is that if you are above 6ft. tall, the door handle intrudes into the passenger seat in a really weird way!
@“antillese”#p121568 Thank you! And oh, for sure. That car had a lot of awful ergonomics for me. I'm nearly more torso than leg (think Rauru proportions) and getting a good seat height felt impossible.
@“jordanthornquest”#p121514 I appreciate the musical touchstones, that's a really nice way to ground each car in a specific time
Cool Thread! I have a very not exciting car history but the first care I drove frequently and was “mine” at least part of the time was a 1996 Audi Cabriolet Convertible 4 seater. I'm a bit taller than average so it was a bit clown car like when I got out of it, but I have fond memories of it. I also rode for 6 hours in the backseat to the beach once and lost all feeling in my legs for like 15 minutes lol.
This car was not fast and felt heavy despite it's small size, but you could cruise around in it and feel pretty damn cool. Eventually we had to sell it when the transmission stalled out at a red light on a steep hill and I almost crashed into the car behind me. anyways RIP. I haven't looked at one in a bit and it looks even cooler than I remember it. Mine was tan with blue seats like the first image
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I am a boring family guy, but I really really love my Honda CR-V. For an SUV it actually has quite a peppy little engine (if you turn off Econ mode). But I also really enjoyed my old Mazda Protege (Familia in Japan). The engine was a little on the small side (only 120 HP) but it had very tight handling and was fantastic in the mountains. And then my alternator went out and the car was haunted for the final few years of its life. The alternator killed so many other random things in the car. Electrical issues suck.
So a little update. Awhile ago i was browsing and came across an ad for an AP1 S2000. Looked it over, thought about it for a bit and went and did it. Sold the GR86, and bought something much, much older.
2003, 85k, all stock.
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Car 1: Second generation Mitsubishi Montero
This was a hand-me-down from my step dad that I drove until his lease was up. Honestly, it was a solid car, but I’m not really a fan of SUVs. Still, I thought it was funny to refer to it as “my truck” and fill it with “truck stuff” like rope and a CB radio. The 90s were a simpler time.
I don’t think I have any pictures of my exact truck, but I’ll update if I can find some.
**Car 2: Third generation Mitsubishi Eclipse (totaled)**
This was another one from my step father. Looking back, I don’t think it was a great car, but I had a lot of fun being a dumb high schooler in it. The fun ended when I was on the way home from my girlfriend’s house at 2 am and was t-boned by a drunk driver who ran a red light. The car flipped, but I walked away from the accident. I guess I can’t be mad at the ol’ Eclipse.
I know I have pictures of this one, but I’d probably have to find and scan them.
**Car 3: 2002 VW GTI 1.8T (totaled)**
This is the first car I picked out for myself, so I have a great fondness for it. I always loved hatchbacks and the Mk4 VWs were as nice as any of the entry-level cars BMW or Mercedes were building at the time. I went with the 5-speed manual 1.8T because it was an open secret that a $500 ECU tune would add 50-70 horsepower. I worked a lot of shifts at Blockbuster to make sure that extra horsepower would be mine.
I absolutely loved this car. It went with me to college and law school. I’d probably still own it if it wasn’t cruelly taken from me.
When I lived in DC, a police chase ended abruptly in the back of my street-parked GTI. The accident accordioned my car and insurance declared it a total loss. Still, the tow truck driver offered to buy the car. The man had taste, or maybe he we just intrigued by the prominent boost gauge.
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**Car 4: 2004 BMW M3 (still own)**
I bounced around between major cities for years and didn’t have much need for a car after my GTI. But I eventually got a nice-sized place in San Francisco with a garage and decided it would be fun to drive again. I ended up buying an E46 M3 because, in my opinion, it was the last great M3. It’s such a communicative car and the S54 engine under the hood is the ultimate version of the inline 6 that BMW spent decades perfecting. I really didn’t like the look of the E90 that followed, and every M3 since then has been ugly and increasingly boring to drive. I’ve owned 3 BMWs, but I’ll likely never own one newer than this.
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**Car 5: 2013 Audi Q5 (still own)**
This is a weird one. I ended up buying a house in Los Angeles and decided we probably needed a second car because my wife and I could no longer walk everywhere. I was talking to a friend about it and he asked if I wanted his Q5 with roughly 40k miles on it. His wife was going to buy another car for their growing family and he no longer needed it. So, yeah, I got this one for free.
I still don’t think I’d buy an SUV, but this car has been incredibly reliable and great for the _many_ Home Depot runs I’ve made as a new homeowner.
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**Car 6: 1991 BMW 3-series Touring (sold)**
This is where things start to go off the rails.
I’ve always loved E30 BMWs — they’re truly incredible to drive and I love how they look — but it never made sense to buy one. But, as a new owner of a garage and large driveway, I figured it was time. My love for hatchbacks runs deep and I’ve always wanted a station wagon. Unfortunately, the E30 wagons never made it to the U.S. Fortunately, E30s are now old enough to legally import.
I picked this car up from a guy in Phoenix, AZ who imported it from Germany. He listed it on OfferUp on a Friday night. I messaged him within minutes, drove to multiple ATMs throughout the night to pull cash, and flew out the next morning to buy the car.
I am extremely mistrustful of law enforcement and my suspiciousness grows when there’s money involved. As you can imagine, I had some concerns about going through airport security with tens of thousands of dollars on me. So, I woke up early on Saturday morning and began strapping cash to my body like a drug smuggler knowing that my TSA PreCheck meant I wouldn’t have to go through a body scanner. Thankfully, everything worked out and I bought the car that morning. Driving the wagon back to LA through the Arizona and California deserts was some of the most fun I’ve ever had behind the wheel.
Oddly, I met two different people at rest stops who recognized my exact car from OfferUp and said they had reached out wanting to buy it.
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**Car 7: 1988 BMW 3- series Touring (still own)**
OK, so you know that E30 Touring I just described? It wasn’t my first choice. A few weeks before I had been talking to someone in Washington state who had another E30 Touring that was imported from Italy.
This car was my first choice for a few reasons. First, I’ve studied Italian for years and am in the process of applying for citizenship. I love that all of the gauges, manuals, and maintenance stickers were in Italian. Second, the car was well-specced (AC, power windows, limited slip differential, inline 6, 5-speed manual, slicktop). Third, I loved the story behind the car. The prior owner bought it from his mechanic who originally bought the car and had his shop guys work on it during COVID when they would have been otherwise closed. Every bushing had been replaced, it got a fresh Bilstein suspension, it got a new short shifter, and the interior was redone. The car was sorted and meant I would have one less project to work on (a blessing!).
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Unfortunately, the seller suddenly stopped responding to me and I didn’t hear back until two days after I bought the other wagon. It turns out the seller had blown the head gasket on a spirited drive. He initially didn’t know what the problem was and wanted it diagnosed before selling the car.
I told him I was still interested despite the mangled head gasket and he didn’t need to repair the car. I had other plans.
So, this 1988 320i Touring now as an M54B30 from an E46 330i in it. This is a nice 100 hp upgrade while keeping the exact same weight as the original engine.
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**Car 8: 2002 VW GTI 1.8T (still own)**
This is not a typo. I bought a clone of my high school car. The way this came about was also strange. I was out having beers with a friend — the same one that gifted me the Q5 — and mentioned that I had always wanted to run the 24 Hours of LeMons. He hadn’t heard of it, but was immediately on board when I explained the rough contours of the race: $500 cars racing for 24 hours straight on real race tracks.
A week later a listing for a 2002 VW GTI 1.8T popped up on OfferUp for $500. The car didn’t run and had been sitting in the Nevada desert for 5+ years. The owner had to move the car from where it was parked and it ended up in his apartment parking lot a couple hours outside of Los Angeles. I rented a trailer from U-Haul, drove out to see the car, and drove home with it for $200. His apartment complex was giving him grief about leaving the car in the lot and he needed it gone at any price.
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After one week, three trips to the pick-a-part, and a couple hundred dollars in parts, I’ve got the car running beautifully! Oddly, it already had a bunch of expensive go-fast parts on it (KW coilovers, APR diverter valve, 034 Motorsport engine mounts, ECS Tuning suspension rebuild kit, drilled and slotted rotors, a lightened flywheel, etc.). This car was truly a deal and I could probably sell it for substantially more than I have invested in it. Still, I can’t ignore the call of motorsport!
Next step is to get a roll cage installed and get the car prepped to race in December.
**Car 9: 1994 Honda Beat Z (still own)**
Oh man, I took delivery of this one last week.
A few weeks ago, I had a really rough weekend. One of our dogs, Enzo, was having trouble breathing and ended up spending two days in the hospital on oxygen. After a wallet-lightening series of tests, we learned he has an aggressive, inoperable cancer and there is nothing we can do. After draining fluid from his lungs, he could breathe a bit better and we were able to take him home. We’ve been trying to spoil him as much as we can ever since.
The night we brought Enzo home, I was laying in bed next to him and scrolling through car auctions. I came across this lovely green Honda Beat. The tiny size, zebra interior, and Ferrari steering wheel made me smile for the first time all weekend. I showed the car to my wife and she also chuckled. We agreed that the Ferrari steering wheel was a sign — our dog was, after all, named after the curmudgeonly Enzo Ferrari — and I placed a bid.
Much to my surprise, I won.
The Beat has been an absolute blast to own and I’ve got big plans for it.
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@“arp”#p130921 Incredible history! The Ferrari wheel on the Beat made me chuckle
Found this thread via the Cars! ? thread, so here’s my mostly unremarkable but interesting-to-me car history.
First car was a 1996 Ford Falcon (GLi if I remember correctly), in manual.
This thing was lowered by the previous owner so I dreaded going into shopping centre car parks for fear of getting beached on a large speed bump. Its 4L inline 6-cylinder engine had power for days though, which got me close to in trouble a couple of times but thankfully never in actual trouble. Almost slid it into a river learning in real-time about RWD traction on gravel roads. Oops.
Ended up having some issues with it. Just lost power in an intersection on the way to work once, as well as getting some clutch related issues in the middle of a 2 hour intercity drive. All fixable, but 19 year old me didn’t feel confident in it anymore so I got the issues fixed and traded it in for my next (and favourite so far) car.
A 2000 Mitsubishi Lancer VR-X in manual.
I loved this car to bits. Bright red, a little powerless compared to the old Falcon but it got me where I needed to go with a minimum of fuss. I was in the grips of The Fast and the Furious at the time so it was nice to imagine I had an econobox equivalent of an Evo 6. This one got written off thanks to a hailstorm in 2009, otherwise I’m reasonably confident I’d still be driving it.
Regardless, I loved my little Lancer so much that I replaced it with the car I still have to this day, a 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer VR (this time automatic, which I loved when I bought it but have been finding myself pining for manual again in recent years).
This thing’s been my reliable companion for 15 years now, it’s just never let me down. I’m seriously considering replacing it in the next year or so with something manual, something sporty since I don’t ferry friends around in it like I used to, but part of me wants to drive it into the ground just to see how long I can make it last.
That said, when I see a nice Subaru BRZ or Mazda MX-5 out on the road, that thought disappears and is replaced with ‘I want that one’.
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About a year ago I came into this thread to complain about the lack of available cars for purchase, and I think I was also worried in general about my nearly 20 year old car suddenly failing when it’s subzero temps around here.
What a difference a year makes! As of Friday I can add to my car history as follows:
1980 AMC Eagle Sport–> 1985 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme → 1995 Ford Ranger → 1999 Ford ZX2 → 1999 Nissan Sentra → 2005 Toyota Matrix → 2025 Honda CR-V Hybrid
In other words, in one day I took a 20 year jump in car technology, something of the equivalent of going directly from a PS2 to a PS5 overnight. It’s really wild since there is a dizzying amount of tech in the thing! For context, for my Matrix, my partner and I were the original owners, it was a manual transmission from when we could save $1000 by having it be a manual, and it had just a hair under 100K miles on it.
Also, it seems as though Toyota is still having serious distro problems, unless of course you’re looking to buy a giant pickup truck, in which case they have like 10K of them sitting on the lot at all times.
Anyway, here’s a terrible photo of it in my junked up garage:
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I am not a car person so my memory of exact models, when I got them, that sort of thing is a bit vague, and the details I remember are mostly about whether the air conditioner worked or not, but I’ll give this a go:
My first car was a Toyota Camry station wagon, I think maybe ‘89 or somewhere around there, that had been my mum’s car but she gave it to me for my 18th. I named it “The Falcon Uptown” after a line in a Mountain Goats song, completely neglected its maintenance, bottomed it out going over the side of a ramp into a carpark once (had to get passers-by to help get all the wheels on the ground again), drove terribly (I used to put it in neutral to roll down a big hill on the road that supposedly inspired AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” and pop it into gear as I made a sharp right angle turn at the bottom of the hill, miraculously never killing myself or anyone else), and it served me well for many years. Great car for taking a drum kit and several amps to a show. Unfortunately the air con didn’t work, so I had to drive around with the windows open in summer and my arm on the sill to get a breeze up my sleeve (I don’t do this any more because I’ve seen what happens when you roll a car with your elbow outside of it). I used to go to uni early and leave late just to avoid being in the car on hot days. Also had no cupholders. Sadly, it eventually developed a problem of stalling really easily, often just as it had moved enough for me to be in the middle of the intersection with traffic oncoming. My mechanic couldn’t replicate the issue so maybe it was driver error on my part but I couldn’t drive it safely so it had to go. Still, that problem aside this was a great car and I’ve been very loyal to Toyota since on the basis that I treated it very badly and it treated me very well.
My next car, which never actually belonged to me and was used concurrently with The Falcon Uptown, was my mum’s (previously my great-grandmother’s) Ford Fiesta. I think late 90s? Not sure. I had a pizza delivery job at uni and this car was cheaper to drive around in than the Camry so I made more money if I used it. It also had semi-functional air conditioning: the air con didn’t work if the fan was on, but did if it was off, so while the car was moving I’d leave the fan off and the movement would push enough air through to keep cool, and when I was stopped at lights I’d turn the fan on and push out the cold air that had accumulated in the pipes. I think this one wound up with my sister.
After my first Camry died, I got another one, though sadly a sedan rather than wagon. I went to the place that auctioned off former government cars and bid on every Camry until one sold for a price I could afford, perhaps because the car dealers buying the rest of them wanted me to stop pushing up the prices. As an ex-govvy car this one was white, but its service up north somewhere had left it permanently marked with red dust (maybe I should have vacuumed it more). It had working air conditioning, a cup holder, and a CD player (CDs are undoubtedly an upgrade from cassettes, but don’t have the same romance). I got several good years out of it but when my eldest kid was born Mum once again stepped in and gave me her car, which was a bit bigger, newer, and fancier than this one. I in turn passed the Camry on to my brother. Some years later he hit a roo driving down south, which sadly killed the animal and totalled the car, but he survived I believe ininjured, so I will always have some gratitude towards this car.
Next up was Mum’s (previously my grandmother’s) Toyota Avalon, basically a fancier Camry. There’s not a lot to say about this one, that I recall anyway. It fit the kids pretty well and performed reliably. Once I got a new car again I passed it on to my brother to replace the previous Camry.
The reason I moved on from the Avalon was I went to a trauma conference where several speakers mentioned how much safer newer cars are than older ones, and the phrase “five star car” got in my head and wouldn’t go away. I got worried about my kids (I realise this sounds like I don’t care about my brother’s safety, but in my defence it was almost certainly much safer than what he would have bought otherwise). I also wanted something with minimal fuel consumption. I wound up with a 2018 hybrid Corolla, which is probably not the top choice for safety just because it’s fairly small so likely to get crushed by bigger vehicles in a crash, but this one is mainly for going too and from work in. We also bought a 2020 hybrid Camry, the only brand new car I’ve ever owned, as the primary vehicle for taking the kids places. It is also not a huge vehicle but it’s bigger than the Corolla. I am not a fan of big vehicles for environmental reasons and because they make the roads less safe for everyone who isn’t in them, but probably our next one will be larger because we do push up against the limits of what a Camry can fit from time to time. I’d like to get another station wagon but options for those seem pretty limited these days.
My other main vehicle is my pushbike, which I try to use for commuting as often as possible. I’ve been having problems with my right arm for the past year or so though, which I think is exacerbated by riding, so I’m considering getting a recumbent bike. Everyone I talk to (most crucially my wife) thinks it’s a bad idea though, and I have no experience of actually using one or any easy/affordable way to get one so not sure if it will happen.
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The conveniences of modern cars are just too much for me. I really couldn’t enjoy an older car any longer. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t driven them… Automatic only. I don’t have the attention span for manual.
I learned to drive a 1980 (?) Datsun 210 wagon, blue with woodgrain wrap, automatic. The car lacked power steering and power brakes, so I’m one of the few people my age (40s) to know how to back-steer. I lived on a mountain so certain long stretches up the mountain I couldn’t go faster than 30 MPH without thrashing the engine or a good head of momentum.
I also spent a decent amount of time driving my parents two minivans, a 1986 Dodge Grand Caravan (base model, but with a V6) and a 1984/6 Plymouth Voyager with a L4 (?) and a power driver seat, which added a ton of extra weight for the tiny engine to haul around. I called it the big gray box, and on several occasions the engine died due what turned out to be a clogged fuel filter. Once I was doing down the mountain and had to pull over to a carveout and stop the beast without power breaks. Sometimes it’s good to be overweight. Move to put on the brake pedal when trying to stop a sloshy boat van. These vans were the cars I drove most in high school and the ones I was most likely to accidentally drive down to GA in because I went the wrong way on the highway. I really sucked at navigation and paper maps and smartphones are my saviors. My parents were constantly having to repair, rebuild, or replace transmissions on those things. Apparently Chrysler was using Mitsubishi transmissions and, well, that should tell you everything you need to know.
When I graduated college and needed a car I adopted my grandmother’s Gran Fury because she was no longer OK to drive. It was probably a late 80s model, brown, salon-style, bench front seat with velvety upholstery. I was constantly locking my keys in the car. Engine had a little grunt to it, at least, though it really didn’t steer any better than the minivans. Also had some issues with the starter so sometimes I’d get stuck for a while until it decided it wanted to cooperate.
A few months after getting a decent job out of college I decided I needed a car, and since 2000 was a massive year for compact budget cars I decided to get a loan on a new car. I settled on a 2000 Mazda Protegé sedan, ES trim with the slightly nicer engine (still only 122 HP). It wasn’t the best at getting up to 60 on the highway, but driving up and down the mountain took on a new level of fun. It had stiffer suspension and a lot of road noise but could carve it up. Within a month of buying it my grandmother (of Gran Fury fame) died and so I had to make a long drive to New England with my father (my mom flew up ahead of us). I drove back alone afterwards so I could get back to work. But it was crazy that my month-old car made a two 12-hr days drive up, and same back. I drive the car to death. Once it was long paid off the alternator died and damaged the electrical system. Only one of the radio channels worked, antenna reception sucked, and the car couldn’t make it more than 6 months on any of the replacement alternators. AAA saved my bacon. I drove it with electrical problems for WAY too long because I couldn’t afford new.
So finally when it was toast due to an accident (and should have been retired long before) I bought a used Suzuki SX4 as Suzuki was exiting the market. Cheapest used AWD car I could buy. My Mazda had taught me everything I needed to know about driving in winter with FWD and low-profile summer tires… The dealership was run by a major local name with dealerships all over but boy was that a questionable experience. I guess they got that big by using sleazy sales tactics. At one point, after only a year or so, the car just died and wouldn’t start and my mechanic told me it probably wouldn’t be worth fixing. So I donated it and it was apparently restored to good graces and sent off to a new family.
Thanks to an unexpected financial windfall my wife and I were able to both get new cars (not outright, loans are your friend), and knowing we were interested in starting a family I got a Honda CR-V. This thing has been the most reliable and comfortable car I have ever drive. I wish it got better mileage, but the power is decent, the ride is decent, and the stupid thing is incredibly easy to stay on top of with maintenance. As much as I love Mazda’s Zoom Zoom, Honda’s reliability seems to have proven its worth.
And that’s my way-too-long car story.
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