1986 Chevy Cavalier CS
This was my first car that my dad bought for me. Technically he bought it for my sister and it was handed down to me a couple of years later, but who was I to complain. It wasn't the sportiest car around, and it was nothing more than a typical four door econobox, but I loved it just the same.
It had a white exterior and red/maroon interior and originally it came with a AM/FM radio with two speakers in the dash. No tape deck, no rear speakers... just a AM/FM radio. There were no power locks, no power windows, no rear window defrost, and no keyless entry. Heated seats hadn't even been invented yet, and the term airbag was something associated with politicians rather than automobile safety. The Cavalier had a 2.0 liter four cylinder engine that produced a whopping 86 horsepower (thank you Wikipedia), and yet I still managed to get something like three speeding tickets while driving it.
Eventually my father paid to have a tape deck installed and some rear speakers, and I actually felt that stereo was pretty nice. A few years later when CD players became the norm, I installed a CD player and then proceeded to install various amps and speakers to ensure my neighbors hated me each and every time I arrived home.
I was involved in my first accident in this car during a winter storm. The car in front of me lost control on an icy road and slid sideways blocking traffic, and I in turn bumped into the side of their car because I couldn't stop in time. It was a minor no-fault accident and the only thing that was damaged on my car was the plastic bumper... along with my ego. Months later I was rear-ended by a different car while I was sitting at a stop sign and it practically destroyed my car. I still remember it was $2600 in damage which doesn't seem like a lot now, but in the early 90s it was probably about half what the car was worth at the time. The accident blew out my rear window and pushed the rear fenders up into the rear tires along with causing significant damage to the trunk, bumper, and taillight areas. Eventually the car was fixed, but I continued to find little bits of broken glass each time I vacuumed the interior even months later.
At one point in my high school life I ended up foolishly attempting to drive through a puddle out by a lake and the car stalled. The interior filled up with muddy stagnant water and I ended up having to walk to a nearby home and call a friend to come get me. Eventually I was able to tow the car out and it started just fine, but the next several weeks involved a lot of vacuuming with a shop vac to pull the nasty water out of the water logged carpeting, several different types of carpet deodorizer, and a continual need to drive with my windows open regardless of the weather due to the unpleasant smell. I think I eventually got it all cleaned up, but I swear on a hot day there was still a little aura of swamp stench in the air. Good times.
Everyone has a special place in their heart for their first car, and part of me wishes I could find it because it would be neat to own again, however the reality is I'm 99.7% sure this car has long since been crushed and recycled into something a lot whole more useful than a 86 Cavalier.
1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais
The Olds was a car my step-mom drove while I was in high school, and because it was a two-door and had a few extra horsepower on top of what I had in the Cavalier, I thought it was a pretty nice car. When I was in my freshmen year of college my dad offered me a deal that I could buy the car by giving him my Cavalier plus $1000 cash. At the time it was a pretty good deal, so I jumped at the opportunity.
The major issue with this car was the fact it was this horrible brownish orange copper color. Sure in 1987 it was probably ok, but when I owned the car (circa 1994) that copper color was incredibly ugly, and it seemed anytime you saw a copper colored GM car it was probably a 1987, so I'm assuming this particular color was not a great seller since it only seemed to last that one model year. For whatever reason about a year later when I bought my next car, my dad wanted this thing back so I sold it back to him. I think they drove it for a couple more years and eventually passed it on to another relative.... I never heard what happened to it, but I'm pretty sure it is either sitting in a shelterbelt somewhere or it was melted down to make new manhole covers.
1983 Mazda RX-7
Sometime around 1993 or 94 my brother Dean had purchased this RX-7 and he was ready to get rid of it a short time later. I loved the idea of a small sporty car, and I loved the idea of a manual transmission, so we worked out a deal where I traded him a laptop computer and a few hundred bucks for the car. My father thought I was nuts because it was several years older than the Olds, but to a teenage kid there was no comparison between an Olds and a RX-7.
I loved driving this car, and I have a lot of great memories with it. It wasn't the fastest car around, but it handled well so I managed to get into trouble from time to time. I even had a little incident that involved being unsuccessfully pursued by one of Mitchell's finest which looking back upon probably could have landed me in jail. Who knew that driving about three times the speed limit is typically frowned upon? Granted not pulling over when you see flashing lights is even worse, but I'm pretty sure the statute of limitations is up so I can probably admit to it now.
Also, due to the car being so low to the ground I was actually able to drive under the barriers they used to close down the public beach at the lake which meant I could park at the beach at night without ever worrying about being bothered. Years later I was told they modified the barriers and thinned the trees so you could see the parking lot from the road all because of rumors that people were driving under the barriers when the beach was closed... I suppose that is part of my legacy.
One feature of the RX-7 that I always loved was the fact it had a manual choke. This is something that was almost unheard of at that time, and I still remember pulling on the choke in order to start the car in the winter. As the car would heat up you could push the choke in further and further until it was closed, but if you left it wide open and came up to a stop sign, as soon as you pushed the clutch in the engine would rev up. It took a while to get used to, but it was just one of those things that made the car special and unique.
Unfortunately the RX-7 was a maintenance nightmare and it required something to be fixed or replaced about every other week. The AC never worked and was way too expensive to fix, and eventually the car started burning so much oil that I feared OPEC would start sending me Christmas cards. It had some electrical quirks that were impossible to trace down, it was starting to show many signs of significant rust, so I figured it might be time to look into something a bit more reliable.
By the time I traded the RX-7 in, the fuel tank would start leaking if you filled the car up more than half way, the rear bearings were howling and needed to be replaced, the AC still didn't work, the car would not downshift into second gear and would often grind a bit when upshifting, the APEX seals on the rotary engine were all but shot, and I'm sure there were at least 20 other things wrong with it. It was fun while it lasted, and I'm sure I was responsible for many of the things that were wrong with the car simply because I was so hard on it. However all good things come to an end, and I ended up trading it off on my next car. The funny thing was that they gave me $1800 in trade-in value which was far more than the car was worth at the time, and was more than Dean had paid to buy the car a few years earlier.
1989 Chevy Cavalier Z24
I bought this car in 1995 or so and I must say I loved it from day one. It was a two door and it had a V6 which was actually pretty powerful for its day. It had a maroon exterior with some gold accents along with a black interior. I spent a lot of time and money on the stereo and to this day I've never had a stereo that was as loud or as nice as what I had in this car.
For all intents and purposes the car was actually pretty reliable. It wasn't horrible on gas (although my driving style probably didn't help matters), and it was comfortable. This is probably one of those cars I wish I would have kept longer, but I have often been guilty of simply getting bored with my cars and feeling the need to trade for something else. I suspect another reason I ended up trading is because at one point I was stuck in a snowbank for four hours during a blizzard which made me think I should really have something that was 4WD. The day after that little blizzard I was stuck in a different snowbank when a woman in a minivan rear ended me. Thankfully the accident was relatively minor and it was ruled her fault, plus it has given me some good stories to tell, so it really wasn't a huge deal even if I wasn't so impressed at the time.
1995 Jeep Wrangler Rio Grande
I think Jeep Wranglers are one of those vehicles that everyone should probably own once. What's not to love about something as versatile as a 4WD convertible that has a trailer hitch?
The biggest mistake I made with buying the Wrangler was buying the four cylinder engine rather than the V6. I think that engine had something like 115hp, and due to the total lack of an aerodynamic shape, it honestly struggled to hit 75 on the Interstate. In fact at one point I tried pulling a trailer out to Rapid City to deliver some furniture to my sister and brother in law, and there were points even with the pedal to the floor I was unable to hit 65mph.
The other main issue with this idiotic vehicle was the fact I was so in love with the idea of owning a Jeep that I ignored the fact that it was bright orange. Officially Jeep called this "Bright Mango" and it was a very, very rare color. I'd like to think it was rare because it was a limited edition or something, but I'm fairly certain the only reason it was rare is because it was ugly. In the right light it looked orange, but other times it looked red, and I even had someone ask me if it was pink (I'm assuming that person was colorblind, but you never know).
My Jeep did have the hardtop, and I purchased a softtop for summer use. It was also a manual transmission which was perfectly fine for day to day use, but the few times I went off-road it was less than ideal. Of course I soon found out that in the winter time Jeeps are essentially worthless because of the short wheelbase and lack of weight. The other negative was the heating system in a Jeep was superb at roasting a person's feet while they were freezing from the waist up, and even with the hard top installed there were still gaps and cracks that resulted in a cool breeze blowing through the passenger cabin at highway speeds. To make matters worse, the Jeep was horrible on gas at any speed above 35 and because I was commuting about 30 miles each direction at the time, it wasn't exactly efficient.
1998 Chevy Cavalier Z24
This Z24 was my first new car. I bought it in late 1997 and at the time I was incredibly proud. I think the purchase price was right around $17,000 which was a lot for me at the time, but I made it work. This was my third Cavalier which probably tells you I had fond memories of the first two, and I honestly have to say this was probably one of the most reliable vehicles I have ever owned. In fact during the time I owned it, the only thing that ever broke was the latch to the glovebox. Mechanically speaking aside from routine maintenance and a couple sets of tires I never had to spend a dime on the car.
The Cavalier was bright red with a gray interior, and I opted for the 5-speed manual transmission. Chevy had started using four cylinder engines in the newer Cavaliers so it didn't feel quite as powerful as the V6 in my previous Z24, but it was plenty peppy and fun to drive. I even drove this car from Rapid City to San Diego and back again only stopping for gas and food... it was over 26 hours each direction and the car never let me down. Note this is not something I would recommend someone do, but I was young and stupid, and there was a girl involved. Enough said.
Anyway the car was very good on gas, it treated me well, and I drove it over 87,000 miles in four and a half years. I owned that car longer than any other vehicle, and I have no regrets about buying it. If anything I probably should have kept it longer since it was such a great car.
1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited
Looking back buying this Jeep was a really, really bad idea. It was fairly expensive to buy, and it was one of the most unreliable vehicles I have ever owned. Within the first month I owned it I had to take it in twice to have issues worked on which thankfully were covered under warranty. Then it seemed that almost once a month I was taking it in to the dealership for one thing or another. It was a very comfortable vehicle, I liked the styling, I liked the color, and it had a large V8 engine that made boatloads of power... so had the thing actually been able to go six months without a trip to the dealership I might have kept it longer.
The truth is I still have a soft spot for Jeeps, but based upon this particular vehicle I haven't been willing to take another gamble. Whenever I see a similar body style Jeep driving along the road I always feel sense of pity towards the owner knowing they are probably on a first-name basis with the service advisor at their local Jeep dealership.
1990 Volkswagen Jetta Wolfsburg Edition
This Jetta was a gigantic pile of crap, and is by far the worst vehicle I ever owned. I bought it from the back lot of a dealership because they were sending it to auction. That probably should have been a clue that it wasn't worth buying, but if I recall correctly they only wanted $1500 for the car. This was going to be a second car for me in addition to the Jeep, and the goal was to just have something I could drive to work without worrying about door dings. At the time I was parking in a ramp where the spaces were very small, and I was do a lot of driving from building to building for work... so the idea of a small economical car was very appealing to me.
I kid you not - after I signed the papers to buy this rolling disaster I was on my way back home when a warning light and buzzer came on indicating low oil pressure. This light would come on at any time the car was at idle, and the only way to stop it was to rev the engine, so you can imagine sitting at a stoplight was less than pleasant. There were a handful of other things wrong with the car too, but for $1500 I thought I could afford to put a little money into it. I paid a visit to a junkyard and picked up a few parts, and then I took it to a local indy mechanic who did a few things for me. However - the more I drove it, the worse it got and it slowly became clear it was going to nickel and dime me to death.
It was nice to drive a car that I didn't have to bother locking the doors on, but it was not nice being worried that you weren't going to make it across town before it broke down.
1996 Ford Probe GT
One day when I was driving the Jetta I drove past a local user car dealer that had a dark red Ford Probe GT on the lot. Years earlier a friend of mine had one (well technically it was his mom's car but he drove it much of the time) and I had always loved those cars. There was something about the styling of them and just the way they drove that I really, really liked.
So there I was staring at this Probe and a saleswoman approached. We spoke about it for a few minutes and she offered me the keys for a test drive. I can still remember to this day being so impressed at how much power the car had and how it seemed to lurch when the RPMs hit 3500 or so. It was such a violent surge of power that I actually opened the hood and searched for a turbocharger thinking a previous owner may have installed one.
The idea of having another manual transmission was a nice bonus, and the overall allure of the car was simply too much. I ended up agreeing to a trade and soon enough the Probe was mine while the Jetta would be retired. At this point I had only owned the Jetta less than two months and I didn't even get the title in the mail yet.... but I knew the Probe was a much better option.
As with most of my cars, I spent some time fixing a few things that previous owners had overlooked, and I bought a few parts from junkyards to get things just how I wanted them. I really did enjoy driving the car and for the most part it treated me well. The problem I had was that at this point I had two fairly nice cars... the Jeep and the Probe, and I was considering the purchase of a motorcycle so one of the cars had to go.
I tried to sell the Jeep for quite some time, but had little success, so eventually I tried to sell the Probe and it sold fairly quick. As with most of my old cars I sort of miss having it, and if I ever saw a nice clean Ford Probe GT sitting on a lot I might be tempted to pick one up just for fun... but I doubt that will ever happen.
2003 Volkswagen Jetta 1.8T
This was another new car that I bought when I started to realize the Jeep was probably not the best vehicle for me. I wanted to get into something that was a bit sportier and the idea of a German sports sedan was appealing. I traded the Jeep in on the Jetta and probably came out ok on the deal, but in the end the Jetta wasn't much more reliable than the first Jetta I owned.
Thankfully I had a warranty, but after three or four trips back to the dealership in the first six months of ownership I was less than impressed with the quality. The other major problem was that when I bought it I couldn't get the color I wanted (white, or possibly gray) so I was stuck with what the dealer had on their lot, and to get a manual transmission with the turbo engine and the options package I wanted left me with one color option... black. I hate black cars, and I really hated them after owning this Jetta.
This was also about the same time I bought my first home, and I soon realized trying to haul trees, shrubs, and building materials home in a Jetta didn't exactly work, so I started looking for a pickup. I only owned the Jetta for about a year and although it was a nice car, I can see now it was a mistake to buy it.
2004 Ford F150 FX4
I set out to buy a small used pickup... something like a Chevy S-10 or a Ford Ranger. However after test driving a Ford Ranger, I opted to test drive a full size F150 and the differences were huge. Yes it was more expensive, but at the time I sort of got wrapped up in the moment. I did like the truck and it was reliable, but I never really fell in love with the color (red and gray two-tone). I also regretted not springing for the four door truck and instead I got the extended cab version.
The F150 was also my first (and last) experience with leasing, so after 39 months it went back to Ford and I had nothing left to show for it. I decided at the time that I would never lease another vehicle and I also decided to shy away from buying anything new. I do still like F150 pickups though, and I may own another one someday, but it won't be new, and it most certainly will not be leased.
2003 Audi A6 2.7T
When the lease ran out on the F150 I opted to buy something that was considered to be a luxury automobile. I can't explain why I opted for an A6 or even why I focused on Audi, but I do recall trying to decide between an A6 and an A8. My local VW and Audi dealer is known for bloated pricing (which I learned from trying to buy VWs from them in the past) and I wasn't able to find anything locally, so I ended up buying a car via eBay.
From the moment I got the Audi I loved that car. I flew out to Cleveland, OH to buy it and I drove it all the way back to Sioux Falls. I loved the way the car drove, I love how it handled, I loved the power, I loved the options, and I really loved the color (white) - it was a great car. At first, the A6 was fairly reliable and didn't give me any troubles, and as time progressed I just had to do a few minor things. However this was at the same time that I found out I was going to be a father, and I started wondering if having an Audi was such a great idea.
I weighed the pros and cons of the Audi versus getting something like an SUV, and it was about this time I started suspecting the turbochargers were going to need to be replaced soon. I also knew the car was going to be due for a timing belt, and the front suspension needed to be replaced. All things told, if things suddenly got bad I could have been looking at $4000 to $5000 in repairs, so I opted to trade the car off and move to an SUV.
I do still miss the Audi though, and it was the nicest car I've ever owned. Because of it I have developed an affinity for Audi and fully expect to own another one in the future. I just hope I can find out that is a tad more reliable than the A6 I had.
2004 Honda Civic
I can't really say all that much about this car. My ex-wife (Katie) bought it while we were dating so technically it was never really mine. I only mention it because after my daughter was born I ended up driving the Civic while Katie drove the SUV since she was responsible for getting Tae back and forth to daycare the vast majority of the time, and we both felt it would be safer for Tae. In addition to that, I worked on the other side of town so the gas mileage was also a factor. The Civic was a reliable vehicle and was great on gas, but it just wasn't exciting to drive. In fact it was flat out boring and I almost felt embarrassed to drive it because it seemed like a "girl car" for some reason. After the divorce Katie took the Civic and she put something like 110,000 miles on it before finally selling it, so if nothing else she got her money's worth out of it.
2007 Honda Pilot EXL
I sort of purchased this on protest as I was never a huge fan of Honda Pilots. Katie wanted it and although I had agreed to trade in my Audi, I had my heart set on a white Pilot. For whatever reason, I have had this thing about white cars and felt a White Pilot looked better than any other color. My first car was white, and my Audi was white... it just seemed like the perfect color.
However, after a couple of months of shopping we were never able to find a white Pilot. So one weekend we were wasting some time at the dealership and thought maybe we should take a Pilot out on a test drive. We drove one, and it seemed nice. I hated the color (black) but Katie was really excited about getting a newer car so she pretty much had her heart set on it. Against my better judgement I opted to go for it, and a short time later we were signing the paperwork.
After our divorce I ended up with the Pilot and it was a good car. I suspect there is nothing very exciting about any Honda, and the Pilot was no exception. I never got excited about driving it like I did with previous cars, and I honestly never really cared for it. I hated the color and I was never sold on the styling, but I must say it was super reliable. I changed the oil and put gas in it... that was about it. I did have to put brakes on it, but it also had over 80,000 miles so that isn't unheard of, but aside from routine maintenance the thing just ran. I drove it for over 50,000 miles on it and it never left me stranded... it just worked.
Anyway eventually Katie decided she wanted to buy the Pilot from me, so we worked out a deal and I passed it on to her. It is still going strong and I expect it to have another 100,000 miles ahead of it if she really wants to keep it that long.
2003 Chevy S-10 ZR2
When Katie decided to buy the pilot, I was sort of under the gun to buy something quick, so I started shopping. I had been thinking about trying to get a pickup although I still liked the idea of driving a car on a daily basis and just having a truck for when I needed to haul something or when weather required four wheel drive. Therefore I opted to start shopping for a less expensive truck along with a nicer car.
After a bit of shopping and narrowing down my choices, I settled upon the S-10 with the ZR2 off-road package. I always liked the S-10 trucks ever since I was a kid, and I have memories of my grandfather buying a new GMC S-15 (the GMC equivalent of the S-10 at the time). The S-10 was discontinued in 2004 and the ZR2 package was last available on a 2003, so I knew in order to get one it was going to be a bit older and probably have higher mileage.
Thus the search began. This time around I knew I wasn't going to settle for black, and I really wanted a white one. However, finding a white S-10 was more difficult than I had anticipated, and finding one that wasn't entirely rusted out or that was in need of major repairs was difficult. I eventually found a one-owner white 2003 with zero rust, but it was up in St. Cloud, Minnesota which is about four hours away. I made the deal over the phone, and my brother and I drove up to get the truck.
Thus far I'd have to say I really like the truck. No it isn't the most powerful vehicle around, and it doesn't handle like a sports car. It had 125,000 miles on it when I bought it so there were a few things that needed to be cleaned up and the normal Chevy squeaks and rattles here and there, but overall the truck is in fantastic condition for its age, and I think I got it for a fair price.
The Next Vehicle??
Now that I have the truck to get around in, the search has started for the car which eventually will become my daily driver. I'm focusing my search on RWD or AWD four door sedans, and ideally I'd like to find a vehicle with a manual transmission. I'm looking at something that is probably about five years old because I don't want to pay depreciation of a new vehicle, and I don't want a run-on-the-mill Toyota Camry or Chevy Malibu, so it will take a little hunting to find the right vehicle.
I would consider an automatic transmission if it were a dual-clutch / sequential transmission to allow manual shifting, but I really don't think I want to go for a straight automatic. The problem is finding a sedan that happens to have a manual transmission is very, very difficult and generally limits me to only a few cars such as select vehicles from Audi or a Subaru. I also am about 90% sure I want the car to be white, although for the right car I would consider silver or gray. I can say for certain that I won't be doing black however... that much is a given.
15 cars seems like a lot I suppose, but what can I say - I just like cars. If space and money weren't an issue I'm quite sure I would probably have a dozen vehicles to suit my needs and desires on any particular day, but since space and money are always issues I suppose I'll have to limit myself to perhaps no more than two vehicles at any given moment... not counting motorcycles of course. That is very much a different topic for a different day.
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