 |
PM |  | |
Quote | | |
Reply | | |
Full Topic | |
| Joined: | 09-10-2012 |
| Location: | Little Chute, Wisconsin USA |
| Posts: | 435 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
Also, the first 20 or so on the list had to serve as my daily drivers, so I was kind of limited in how much "restoration" I could do on them at the time. Here's the list, with the price paid at the time I got them (which gives you an idea of condition) and the year purchased in parentheses.
I tried to do the coolness/performance thing but it's a subjective sort of thing (for example I give coolness points for sheer weirdness) so who knows.
I've highlighted the ones that actually have some sort of "classic/cool" value, at least in my mind. Because the majority of them don't.
1. 1974 Pinto wagon. $500 (1981). Nuff said. (coolness 10%, performance 10%)
2. 1971 VW Karmann Ghia ragtop. $200 (1981). It was probably beyond hope when I got it, but I gave it a shot. It always ran though. Found out that timing is important... bought it in October and sold it the following March. In Wisconsin. Do the math... I think I had the top down once. (coolness 70%, performance 30%)
3. 1971 Datsun 521 pickup. $800 (1982). Some people are still into these I guess. Custom paint job and interior... very Cali looking. (coolness 50%, performance 30%)
4. 1976 Chevy Monza with the Vega 4 cylinder (1983). Traded the Datsun for it even up. Nothing exciting. (coolness 20%, performance 20%)
5. 1970 Opel GT. $200 (1983). Now this car was fun. Like the Ghia, it was probably beyond hope from a restoration perspective but it was REALLY fun to drive. I had to junk it when the rear suspension mounts basically rusted off the frame. (coolness 90%, performance 90%)
6. 1971 Ford LTD. $75 (1983). Rustbucket but it got me around for a couple of months. (coolness 0%, performance 30%)
7. 1968 Chevy C10 pickup (1984). Traded the LTD for it. See #6. (coolness 00%, performance 10%)
8. 1974 Renault R12. $200 (1984). Quirky to say the least. Blew the head gasket a couple of weeks after I got it.(coolness 40%, performance 40%)
9. 1973 Chevy Vega. $200 (1984). I have to say that they planned ahead on the mechanical design: it was brilliant to have the fuel pump shut off when the oil pressure got low. Which it did, a lot. It was actually pretty reliable as long as I made sure there was oil in it to the tune of about a quart every 200 miles or so. (coolness 20%, performance 30%)
10. 1975 Chevy Monza with the 262 V-8 (1984). $1200. First "nice" car I owned. Quick little thing. (coolness 30%, performance 80%)
11. 1967 Mercury Cougar. $100 (1985). Another rustbucket, but it was one of the original ponycars so that's worth something. Ended up junking it when the electrical system basically fried itself. (coolness 70%, performance 60%)
12. 1973 Datsun B210. $100 (1986). It ran. (coolness 0%, performance 20%)
13. 1975 Fiat 128 wagon. $300 (1986). My introduction to the world of Italian cars. Quirky again. It was kind of fun when it didn't have something wrong with it, and it came up with some very creative ways to not run. (coolness 30%, performance 50%)
14. 1971 Pinto hatch. $50 (1986). Falling apart, but it ran, which the Fiat wasn't doing at the time. Served its purpose for a couple of months. (coolness 0%, performance 20%)
15. 1973 Toyota Celica ST. $300 (1987 - the first time as explained below). Dollar for dollar, I still think this was the best car I ever owned. It had some moderate rust issues, but it ALWAYS ran. I put about 20,000 miles on it before I sold it to an acquaintance for $350. It will fit back into the list between #17 and #18, when I bought it back from her for $150, put some used tires on it, and drove it for another 6 months before I sold it again for $350. I swear it's probably still out there running somewhere. (coolness 40%, performance 50%)
16. 1975 Fiat X1/9. Bought a pair of them for $400 (1988). Stripped all the parts I thought I'd need off of the non running one and sent it to the junk yard. This was the first car I put serious work into, and the first car that I could afford to have as a project while having another car as a daily driver. I had it for a couple of years, and finally just couldn't justify keeping it any more and sold it for $1000. (coolness 80%, performance 60%)
17. 1980 VW Rabbit. $500 (1988). Bought it to drive while the Fiat was stored over the winter. It was ok, though I spent a lot of time cleaning out the fuel system. Lesson learned... never buy a car which has been sitting without a gas cap. Fun to drive though. (coolness 50%, performance 60%)
17(a) this is where the Celica came back into the picture after I gave up on the Rabbit.
18. 1979 Ford LTD wagon. $500 (1989). Bought from a friend to get me through another winter while the Fiat was stored. Caught on fire when the battery worked loose and shorted. Oops.
19. 1973 Ford F100 4x4, 360 V8. $1000 (1990). Bought to pull a horse trailer. Actually a reasonably nice truck for being 18 years old, but was a serious oil burner. (coolness 10%, performance 50%)
20. 1980 Saab 900GLi coupe. $1200 (1990). Oh, I wanted this car to be mine. I tried so hard to get it to be what I wanted it to be, but there was a succession of mechanical issues culminating in a leaking/failed water pump which, if anyone has had the experience, is quite the chore on a 900. I finally threw in the towel and sold it as is for next to nothing. (coolness 60%, performance 50%)
21. 1981 Ford F100, 300ci straight 6 (1991). Traded even up for the 1973 F100. Best damn engine Ford ever made. Neighbor wanted the 4x4 chassis for a project, and I really didn't need 4x4, so we traded. This was my daily driver off and on for a good portion of the time I had it. Kept it for a few years just to have a truck around as a second vehicle. (coolness 20%, performance 50%)
(At this point, my financial situation had finally turned around, so I was able to finally afford to spend more on reliable transportation. So, things get more mundane from here, other than a couple of exceptions, and the prices paid were more "normal" so I'll leave them out from this point forward.)
22. 1981 Subaru GL 4x4 wagon (1991). Loved it. Went everywhere. Met an early demise when I went off the road and took out a freeway sign. (coolness 50%, performance 50%)
23. 1984 Honda CRX (1993). This was the most fun since the Opel to drive. Screamin' pocket rocket for its time, and 40MPG to boot. Unfortunately, by this time I had moved into my second career as an electrician, and I needed to have a daily driver truck (I had finally sold the trusty F100 a year earlier) so it had to go after a couple of years. (coolness 80%, performance 80%)
24. 1986 Jeep Comanche pickup (1994). Plain Jane but it did the job. (coolness 20%, performance 50%)
25. 1992 Ford F150 4x4 (1996). Loaded. Really nice truck. First and only time I ever spent over $10,000 for a vehicle. (coolness 50%, performance 70%)
26. 1992 Ford Mustang convertible (1998). My "mid life crisis" car. I changed careers again and didn't need a truck any more for work. I kept this car as first a daily driver, then my wife took it over as her car for a couple of years, and then it served as a second "fun car" for several years. Only drawback was that stupid 2300cc 4 cylinder, which made it a very cool looking but not terribly exciting to drive car. I finally sold it in 2008 when we moved and I couldn't justify keeping it around for the 200 miles a year I put on it. (coolness 70%, performance 40%)
27. 1989 Plymouth Voyager minivan (2000). Hey, I got married and had a couple of kids, ok? It was a cheap interim vehicle for the winter while the Mustang was off the road. (coolness 0%, performance 50%)
28. 1992 Ford F150 2x4 pickup (2000). Bought to replace the minivan as the daily driver. This served me so well that I kept it around for the next 8 years after new daily drivers entered the picture. It was the extended cab with the 8 foot box, so it was huge, but it was great for those times when I just needed a truck to haul something. Finally sold it in 2008 at the same time as the Mustang, for the same reason. (coolness 20%, performance 50%)
29. 1991 Cadillac Sedan DeVille (2003). Oh, this was a nice car. I drove it for a little less than a year and then my wife claimed it the following winter to drive instead of the Mustang. (coolness 50%, performance 80%... this car was really powerful for its size)
30. 1992 Ford E150 conversion van (2003). As nice as the Cadillac, except it was a van. Lots of cross country trips with the growing boys in the back. This was when we became a 4 vehicle family with the truck and Mustang basically becoming "extra vehicles). (coolness 30%, performance 60%)
31. 2001 Ford Escape (2006). Traded the Cadillac in for it when the A/C died and I didn't want to spend a fortune converting from R12 to R134a. Wifey's still driving it. (coolness 40%, performance 60%)
32. 2000 Ford Excursion Limited (2007). Still my daily driver... replaced the conversion van. Just as nice, but with 4x4. Gets about 13 MPG and it's really not politically correct, but I'll cry when it finally dies. Just turned it over 200,000 miles last month and still looks new. (coolness 50%, performance 70%)
and of course the reason I'm here...
33. 1974 Jensen-Healey MkII. Currently in the garage waiting for me to find time to start stripping the paint off... as detailed in other threads. (coolness 100%, performance 100%!)
Last edited on 01-28-2013 07:50 pm by answerman