My 1991 red Mazda b2200 shortbed has gone the way of all vehicles. I'm a broken man. I've driven that little bugger of a truck for 14 years. The kids were crying like it was a relative. No air conditioning, no power steering, no power anything and a radio that only worked if you jammed a matchbook into the tape deck.
Goodbye, El Scorcho. You will be sorely missed. Sentimentality aside I still do plan to sell you for the $350.00 scrap. Sorry about that, old buddy.
"...I would never try to tick Hink off. He kinda intimidates me. He's quite butch, you know." - Maister
Wait, you had a radio?! My vanagon (which is similarly "manual" in every sense of the word) is headed down a similar road I fear. No pun intended. The radio was stolen 7 years ago but that thing is so loud to drive in, I never bothered to replace it. Instead, I glued a picture of a stereo to a piece of cardboard and put it in the hole where it used to be. It works great!Originally posted by ursus
Sorry for your loss!
The purpose of life is a life of purpose
Your vanagon sounds like a beautiful beast, wahday. Hold on to her while you can. It's a wonderful thing to love an old worn out car. It's pure, that love. It hasn't been wheedled out of you by the latest gadgets or beautiful upholstery. It wasn't tricked out of you by slick advertising. It isn't about the torque of the engine (cuz there isn't any hardly). It isn't about the looks you get from people on the street. It's about the look on your boss' face when you pick him up as a favor and he asks you to verify what he's paying you.Oh yes, Sir. I just love this old car.
"...I would never try to tick Hink off. He kinda intimidates me. He's quite butch, you know." - Maister
I felt that way about my old Chevy Lumina. A few bondo patches, no a/c, and manual windows. Bought it cheap from a friend and drove it for almost 80K miles over three years.Your vanagon sounds like a beautiful beast, wahday. Hold on to her while you can. It's a wonderful thing to love an old worn out car. It's pure, that love. It hasn't been wheedled out of you by the latest gadgets or beautiful upholstery. It wasn't tricked out of you by slick advertising. It isn't about the torque of the engine (cuz there isn't any hardly). It isn't about the looks you get from people on the street. It's about the look on your boss' face when you pick him up as a favor and he asks you to verify what he's paying you.
"He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?" Jeremiah 22:16
My Honda CR-V (bought in the year it was pronounced on Cyb as the lesbian car of the year, a few months after I bought it...) is 9.5 yrs old and reached 90,000 miles this week. My favorite vehicle except for the Trans-Am I had in the '80's. Hopefully it'll go a lot more years.
My friend has a '98 CRV with 240K and its still going...yours should last another 10 years easy.
"If you don't like change, you're going to like irrelevance even less" General Eric Shinseki
Your coolness stock just rose like 40%. Tell me it was a T-Top, (or was that just for Camaro?)
"...I would never try to tick Hink off. He kinda intimidates me. He's quite butch, you know." - Maister
Moderator note:
split from RTDNTOTO
The say the flames of First Love never die. I will never forget my silver Jeep CJ-5. Were her life not tragically cut short, I would still be lovingly applying wax to her today. She left this world with a broken axle but left me forever with a broken heart!
People will miss that it once meant something to be Southern or Midwestern. It doesn't mean much now, except for the climate. The question, “Where are you from?” doesn't lead to anything odd or interesting. They live somewhere near a Gap store, and what else do you need to know? - Garrison Keillor
Of course it was. And more fun to drive than any other vehicle I've had. Unfortunately, it was never the same after I ran over the dead cow.Your coolness stock just rose like 40%. Tell me it was a T-Top, (or was that just for Camaro?)
I once owned a 91 Trans Am that I loved dearly. White, hardtop, with an automatic. Had it from the time I was 17 until I was 22. It was fast, beautiful, and completely impractical. My buddies and I would meet up at the car wash in the middle of the night (12 or 1am) and go out and drag race on back roads. We were morons, but it was glorious fun. I finally gave that car up because it was a terror to drive during winter, with rear wheel drive and no weight over the rear axle.
After that, I drove a series of a couple of Hyundai appliances for almost a decade. They were totally reliable machines, I'll give them that. The last one had 180,000 on it when I traded it in due to never-ending repairs. Today, I drive a Mazdaspeed3, which is the ultimate car as far as I'm concerned: rocketship fast, handles like a Corvette, gets low 30s mpg highway, and will hold almost as much as a small SUV due its hatchback shape.
The one that got away was a 1987 Jeep Grand Wagoneer complete with the wood paneling. She had an outstanding body and was showing no signs of sagging in any of the important spots. However, she had developed some incontinence problems and too many issues to list with her wiring - her mood changes were just too much for me to deal with. I acquired her when she was only 14 and with only 87,000 miles on the clock she only had not been ridden hard. When I let her go in 2004, I had only added about 15,000 miles and I regretted letting her go almost immediately.
Now that I have the time and resources to really love a Wagoneer, I am on the search once again. In fact, I almost won one on eBay last week out in near our Fearless Leader's neck of the woods.
"Where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost." - 1980 Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan
My love was a late 70s Jeep Cherokee that I took to college. I finally had to get rid of it when it had completely rusted though.
When did I go from Luke Skywalker to Obi-Wan Kenobi?
Ah, my 1984 Volkswagen Scirocco! We had a torrid affair in the heat of a Jersey summer or two. It was love and lust on a two-way street. Alas, it ended badly when she died tragically due to medical malpractice.
I have seen
old ships sailing
like swans asleep
My first was a 1966 Volvo 122. Man, what a beauty! Her curves, her ripped upholstery, an engine bay so large and an engine so small I could practically crawl in there with that 4 cylinder motor to tickle her spark plug wires. Sure, we fought and I even had to leave her on the side of the road a few times. But she taught me how to drive stick and how, really, you don’t need windshield wipers that work. Just stick your head out the window and keep driving.
My father had a 1984 Scirocco, too! I loved driving that car. So peppy! We also had a 1983 sh!t brown diesel Rabbit. We sold it to a friend for $150 with over 250k on it! In fact, just last week I found a pic of it with an 18 foot aluminum canoe on the roof and a ton of gear. It wasn't fast, but it did go the distance!
The purpose of life is a life of purpose
1964 Chevelle Malibu two door hardtop with 327 c.u. engine. Metallic blue. Sigh...
“Death comes when memories of the past exceed the vision for the future.”
I've never been one to get emotionally attached to vehicles. I've had great memories involving my vehicles, but it wasn't really about the vehicles.
"I'm very important. I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany"
My first rig was a 1988 Isuzu Trooper 4 x 4 with stick. Thing was fun to drive, but it had a big-time rollover risk (especially the way I drove the thing)
My favorite was my 1979 Chrysler New Yorker Fifth Ave. It was a tri-tone creme with wire wheels and a half vinyl top. This car was huge and the epitome of why Chrysler went bankrupt in 1990. Way too much car for the time when gas prices were increasing.
Thick white walls, 360 engine. I felt like a pimp! I kept it immaculate and drove it from about 1985 to 1990. The engine seized up one day, I guess I had developed an oil leak that I was not aware of.
We hope for better things; it will arise from the ashes - Fr Gabriel Richard 1805
A 1968 Chevelle was my first. I had so much fun with her, many dates, rally fun with my friend (he had a 72 Satellite) through the city, I saved enough money to have it painted and she was a beauty. Alas my dad would not let me take it to college my first semester and when I came home at Christmas break, she was not the same. I guess she thought I had abandoned her. My dad had not started it since August, her painted was faded badly in the sun and she had pine sap drops over her top. She was never the same and when the starter and her tranny went out, it was time to let her go. I still think of her occassionally and sigh.
"Whatever beer I'm drinking, is better than the one I'm not." DMLW
A 1973 Porsche 914 is my first love, and I still have it. The motor is pulled out and I'm rebuilding part of it right now, actually.
Some day when I can afford to, she'll get a full restoration and look better than new. Until then, I'll just try and keep her as a functional date car.
And that concludes staff’s presentation...
I drive a 1996 Honda Accord. She still runs like a top. But I have to admit that in those early years of owning the Honda, I still kept a Subaru 4WD wagon on the side.
Her name was Ruth. I couldn't let her go. You guys know how it is - it was hard to quit her because on a cold morning, she would always turn over
Finally I sold her to a nice fellow who took her to live on the Blackfoot Reservation. I hope he treated her well and she likes life on the Rez.
"I am very good at reading women, but I get into trouble for using the Braille method."
~ Otterpop ~
The Scirocco was so much fun -- 5 speed manual -- it was perky indeed and cornered like it was on rails. The insurance company bought the VW and I bought a 1985 toyota corolla gts coup.
Later we had a 'Safety Green' VW Rabbit. Dad painted it flat brown (
I have seen
old ships sailing
like swans asleep
Lucky you, you didn't have the one my dad bought for me brother in maybe'77? Dad brought the Scirocco home and I took it out for a test drive, and it blew up and burnt to a crisp a couple blocks from our house. Then Dad got him a really tacky Dodge Charger that looked like it belonged on the Dukes of Hazzard.Ah, my 1984 Volkswagen Scirocco! We had a torrid affair in the heat of a Jersey summer or two. It was love and lust on a two-way street. Alas, it ended badly when she died tragically due to medical malpractice.
Ah yes, how I do recall the many fun times I had with my old '93 Nissan Sentra SE-R, "Serena". She had a simple, boxy elegance, and I had so much fun driving her over railroad crossings at 80mph and catching 4 feet of air during my wan-tan days of 19 year old silliness. So sad that she was lost after a mere year and a half and nearly 50,000 miles put on her (mostly from trips halfway across the country). She carried me and all of my personal possessions (not many) home from the Army once my time was up. She only lasted about a month, a couple weeks of which was spent delivering pizzas, until she rolled over with me and once of my friends in it after sliding off a slippery off ramp one day. I still love her, though.
"When life gives you lemons, just say 'No thanks'." - Henry Rollins
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