I'll do one more - What's your favorite car you've ever owned?

[ChoralScholar]

And what happened to it?

Mine: a 1989 Toyota Camry - Red, just like this one.


It blew a head gasket and warped the head, so I put a used motor in it. It lasted exactly 500 miles when it dropped a lifter and scattered the flywheel. It was towed to a salvage yard in Salem, AR, where it was left to die.

I loved that car. Sunroof - CD Player ... :(

[AlCzervik]

1. 1990 mazda rx7 gtu

funniest car ever. Had a baby and that was that, no room for a car seat. There is nothing like a rwd drive sports car to make driving enjoyable.

[ChoralScholar]

2. That one had a rotary motor in it, did it not?

[AlCzervik]

5. yes it did.

[JCMach1]

40. 1981- RX7 gen 1

one of the sexiest cars ever made...

It would freakin' do handstands virtually!

Oh and the Wankel/Rotary Engine... Makes piston engines seem like clunky antiquities... the word to describe the acceleration would be SURGE.

Beautiful car...


Much sexier in person than this pic!

[SeattleGirl]

3. I had two:

A 1967 Cougar that looked just like this:




And a 1975 Trans Am, that looked kind of like this, minus the bling:

[ChoralScholar]

4. Now, were those cougars two-seaters

like the T-Birds of that era?

My best friend in high school had a black 1978 Camaro that looked much like that.

[SeattleGirl]

6. No, it had a back seat.

Not a lot of leg room back there, though.

Body of the car was basically ruined after one of Texas's famous hail storms. Hail the size of golf balls. My poor car looked like someone had taken a ballpeen hammer to it!

[Archae]

9. Ah yes, the Cougar...

With the "disappearing headlights" that only worked 10% of the time! :-)

[SeattleGirl]

16. Fortunately, I never had that problem with mine, thank goodness.

:)

[ChoralScholar]

20. They operated on vacuum didn't they?

Ford just wouldn't let those go! I had an 81 T-Bird that had them. They would close while the car was running, then as the car sat, and the vacuum bled off, they would slooooowly open. Eventually, it couldn't even pull enough vacuum to close them, and they were irreversibly open.

[Archae]

21. That's because you lived in Texas.

Wisconsin road salt played havoc with that heavy mechanism, freezing it shut open or closed, and rotting the vaccuum hoses.

[SeattleGirl]

29. I lived in Texas when I owned my Courgar.

Interesting...

[Oeditpus Rex]

31. I can't see you in a Trans-Am

Now, the Coug'... oh, yeah. :thumbsup:

[Archae]

7. 1971 Gremlin.

Best thing about the car was how bloody EASY it was to get at the engine!
To change the starter, I crawled into the engine compartment, all 6 feet of me!

[Mojorabbit]

8. Here is mine

Actually mine was two tone green. I bought it in the 1980's and ended up selling it when I had to stop driving due to health reasons in the early 90's. I loooved the car. Edited to say it was a 56 Olds Rocket 88. Hauled ass.

[ChoralScholar]

12. Forgive my ignorance of anything prior to 1965 -

What model and year is that vehicle?

[Mojorabbit]

17. I edited my earlier post

but it was an Olds 56 Rocket 88. I met more guys when I drove that car. :)

[Oeditpus Rex]

37. I once raced an Olds much like that one

We punched off at a light where the road narrowed from two lanes to one in about an eighth of a mile. I threw a late 1-2 shift and still beat him by a length. :7

[bridgit]

10. my triumph spitfire...

that was a fun car :bounce:

[ChoralScholar]

13. I changed a starter on a Triumph Spitfire once....

I had a friend in college who drove one.

[bridgit]

19. they're so simple under the...bonnet...

ah, those were the days ;)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

11. My dear ChoralScholar.......

Here's my favorite car: my new Toyota Camry Hybrid! I've had her nearly a year now....... Complete with me!

[ChoralScholar]

15. Now... CP,

don't let your quiet motor go to your head and start running down shoppers in the Wal-Mart parking lot!!!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

23. ROFLMAO!

:rofl:

Can't do that! I never shop at Wal-Mart....... :scared:

[wildhorses]

14. opal gt was a real kick in the butt--lots of fun!!

also had an '89 lincoln mark VII that was SWEEEEET...

a '65 cadillac sedan de ville was stylin'

'65 tang was fairly awesome, too

[SeattleGirl]

18. OMG! I had an Opal at one point!

Been so long ago, I had forgotten.

[wildhorses]

25. i really enjoyed mine--handled very nicely in the curves

always heard it referred to as a 'poor man's vette':rofl:

good to see you:hug::hi:

[ChoralScholar]

27. It seems like someone in my family had

an Opel Manta. Tan, as I remember.

I remember remarking that it had GM seatbelt buckles.

On Edit: I didn't really contribute anything but confusion there.. sorry!

[wildhorses]

30. confusion--in the lounge??

:rofl::hug::hi:

just taking a few steps with sg and me down memory lane:pals:

[ForrestGump]

22. 1990 Toyota Camry

White.

It was murdered. :-(

We bought it new the year we were married and nine years later, in 1998, it threw a rod (it was right around 100 000 miles). It was sad. I was in grad school, and buying a used engine ('Japanese take-out') was kind of expensive and, of course, still not a guarantee of serviceability, and we weren't excited about a used car because it was STILL going to cost us a lot at once, so we ended up doing what was about eh only feasible option and leased a 1998 Camry. The new Camry was a beautiful car, but I'm not sure I'd ever lease again and it did cost us dearly, still.

The thing that still makes me mad about the beloved white Camry was that it was almost certainly killed by the service center we took it to (the dealer). We took it in for an oil change and the next day, or a day after that, it died on me. We were told that the rod being thrown could have caused the oil to release OR that oil leaking out (because the dealer did not do the job properly with that oil change) could have caused the rod to go, and that a mechanic could do a postmortem to find out which came first so we could get compensation or free repair from the dealer or just chalk it up to being one of those things. Unfortunately, the autopsy was too expensive for us so we just di what we could -- the dealer wouldn't do anything to help us even though it was almost certainly their fault and they almost certainly knew it. One of the mechanics there, though, wanted the car and bought it from us -- because he didn't ahve to pay labor, he fixed the care for little money and got it back on the road as his wife's car...I was sad to see the Camry go but happy it lived, still. I tend to get attached to things like cars, motorcycles, old tee-shirts -- whatever -- even though they're inanimate objects.

When I finally got a car a couple of months ago it was a Camry or Maxima that I really wanted, but they hold their value so incredibly well that it was far, far less expensive to buy a used Mercedes (even though new retail on them was much more than any Toyota of comparable vintage), a marque blessed with similarly bulletproof engines. I love those Japanese cars, though, and Toyotas most of all.

[ptvet]

24. 1970 Dodge Challenger

If I only new then what I know now...would of kept it!
Sold it in 1993...still runnin around in Spokane I believe.

[ChoralScholar]

26. You bet!!!

What engine? 318? 360? 383? 440?

Come on!!! I'm salivatin' here!

[ptvet]

32. 383

Slapstick auto...double pumper carb. Way too much car for me back when I got it..1987. Of course that didn't keep me from driving it or paying off way too many tickets and one appearance in traffic school :thumbsup:
Spokane cops knew me well!

[ChoralScholar]

34. I could see that....

How much did it have on the speedometer? You ever bury it?

[ptvet]

35. Under 100k

Original engine, original everything ...I didn't treat the car well, but it took it all in stride. I remember scaring the crap out of a few Air Force buddies of mine, pretty "quiet" engine most the time, but when I would bury it...sounded like a whole nother beast.
Ok thanks, I thought I had gotten over that orange car!

[Oeditpus Rex]

28. Don't make me choose!

I can't! I won't! :cry:



I've only owned two cars in my life. Before the El Camino, I had a '66 Bel Air — "The Mule" — that looked a lot like this one, except it was a freakin' four-door. x(





Oh... and it wasn't a 427. Unfortunately.

I loved that car, though, man. Cried when I sold it.

[ChoralScholar]

33. I'm going to add one more, in honor of my dad

1962 Chevrolet Fleetside (his was baby blue with white top)


After he was fired from his job at a regional truck line for union-organizing, he sold it to make a house payment. It tears him up to this day, and that's been 26 years ago.

I couldn't have been more than 4 or 5 years old. I remember getting in the bathtub, and when I got out, Daddy's truck was gone forever.

[Broken_Hero]

36. my current

van actually...big, roomy, comfortable, strong...it sucks with the MPG, but its a work horse, and a traveling van...:D My only other cars were a 68 vw bug, and a 77 ford truck....

[chknltl]

38. '72 Duster and my girlfriend's '72 Scamp

318 with a 4 barrel and rear air-shocks so she could stick her butt in the air a bit...really nothing special but....

Car started out as a junker and ended life as a junker and I loved her all the same. When you turned the engine on...well she just sounded like raw power. She loved the freeways, when you stepped on the gas she threw you back in your seat even if you were already doing 60, there was always plenty of power to spare. My girlfriend had one too, well not an identical one but pretty close, we would head out on I-5 together and create mischief as a team. Sure ruffled the feathers on those rice burners and p.o.ed a few Novas as well, took our lumps too but we survived and nobody got hurt...better yet nobody got any tickets either...well except for the time I was testing out the new carb on the Scamp..., cop informed me that I beat that goat,('70 GTO) fair and square and he was there to present me with the booby prize! Cops have a strange sense of humor...Girlfreind was not impressed that I got the ticket in HER lil babe either... Thirsty bitches though and I am sure they contributed their share to Global Warming...I ended up giving mine to my girlfriend's little sister, she and her boyfriend had admired the car long enough... I miss her, miss the old girlfriend too, but now that a lot of water has run under that bridge I know that those days will never happen again. Probably a good thing.

Just sharin a piece of my own Americana if anyone was interested.
c

PS: any kids who may be reading this: Please don't be inspired by the stupid stuff I did when I was younger...it really was not safe and contrary to what you might think you are not going to live forever...hopefully you will realize this someday...just make it past 40 and you'll understand, trust me.

[auntAgonist]

39. now don't laugh ......

My 1975 AMC Pacer.

[mockmonkey]

One of the first cars I had ever driven

The Pacer was one of the Drivers Education cars at my High School along with a HUGE Ford LDT and a AMC Ambassador. My then Girlfriend even owned one. I much preferred the cute Pacer to the others.:thumbsup:

[Kutjara]

41. SMART car.

600cc turbocharged 3cylinder engine. Six speed sequential gearbox. Leather, A/C, the works Only 5' wide and shorther than a Merc S-Class is wide, yet with more legroom.

Best citycar ever.

I sold it when I moved back to the States last year. Damn, I miss that car. Nothing else compares.

SMART cars are coming to the US in 2008, but I don't know if I feel the same about driving them in the land of the bloated SUV. One nudge from a Lincoln Navigator, and a SMART would be in orbit.

[krispos42]

42. 1987 Thunderbird

255,000 miles on it until the head gasket finally blew.

Everything in the engine and tranny was factory-original. Had to replace two alternators, one water pump, one master brake cylinder, two or three sets of front rotors, one windshield, one heater core, two batteries (one dislodged and was chewed up by the alternator), one radiator, two distributor caps and rotors, and one ignition coil, IIRC. But everything in the engine was original. Rings, pistons, connecting rods, valves, valve springs, rocker arms, pushrods, camshaft, crankshaft, timing chain, oil pump, torque converter, planetary gears, rear differential, and fuel pump were all original.

And that car survived hitting (or being hit by) a Chevy Blazer, an Audi, a Volkswagon Jetta, and some sort of Mazda, I think it was. Hard to tell the way steam was boiling up from the crushed front end. Hell, the combined damage to the T-bird after slamming into the rear of both the Audi and the Jetta was a piece of silvery plastic trim on the front bumper had some starred cracks in it. The Audi and the Jetta didn't get off quite so easily, although they did drive away.

Comfy seats, too. Once drove 14 hours non-stop each way to Illinois. Book on tape, cruise control, and a cooler full of Pepsi. No problem!

<edited for clarity>

[TommyO]

57. 1987 Turbo Coupe here!

I absolutely loved that car. 2.3L intercooled turbo that made the car go very well, yet still got over 32mpg on long highway trips. It didn't survive a tussle with some black ice. sniff, sniff...

[krispos42]

58. I had the old 3.8L V-6

I got 27mpg on one long trip, but usually only got about 20. Towards the end it barely got 15mpg.... oh, well. I loved the lines and proportions of the car, though.

[dysfunctional press]

43. 1969 white Buick LeSabre Convertible.

i loved that car.

[bigwillq]

44. The one I have now.

2006 Nissan Altima

[flvegan]

45. 1987 Buick Grand National or 1980 Corvette

The Grand National was badass. High 13-second quarter mile times off the dealer floor.



My 'vette was exactly like this one:



These years were ungodly slow, and I modified the hell out of her.

[WCGreen]

46. My 63 chevy Impala....

It was a boat, I could stack in about ten people and it only cost $ 50.00....

[PVnRT]

47. Ghetto cruiser

That is, a 1985 Chevy Monte Carlo. I wish I'd kept that thing, I loved that car.

[mockmonkey]

48. 1983 Rabbit Diesel

It was red and I had never owned a Diesel before or since. It was the first car I had ever driven that had a manual transmission. I sold it a few years after some guy driving his brother's awesome El Camino smashed into my car.
This is the closest picture I could find.

[youthere]

49. An 84 nissan maxima.

Looked a lot like your Camry. I loved that car.

[GoneOffShore]

50. 2000 Saab 9.3 coupe

5 speed manual, heated front seats, sunroof, CD changer and way too much fun to drive.

[jpak]

51. 1972 VW Squareback

30+ mpg

Seated 5 adults

lotsa cargo space with the back seat down

awesome offroad performance

what's not to luv????

[bicentennial_baby]

52. My '73 Dodge Dart Swinger

It looked like this:

[Left Is Write]

53. Mine was a 1989 and blew a head gasket also.

A 1989 silver Chevy Cavalier, the first brand-new car I ever bought. I was 22.

[ileus]

54. 1981 AMC Jeep CJ-7

[Hand]

55. 1994 Ford Escort LX!

Which is my current vehicle. Bought it used seven years ago--it's got around 135K on the clock and still runs like new. No wonder Ford stopped making them.



"Short on frills, long on guts." :toast:

[CottonBear]

56. A brick red metallic 1976 Camaro with a huge V-8 dual carb engine

and the little wing thing on the trunk lid. It had white pinstripes and a red and black vinyl interior. It was freaking awesome. The top speed was about 140 MPH. It used up so much gas that you could actually see the gas gauge move as you drove around. Oh yeah, it used leaded gas.

Man, I loved that car. It was a classic. My dad gave it to me the summer before I started 12th grade. I got my first speeding ticket in it! I wish I'd never sold it. :cry:


It looked like this one except the top was not white and it had a tail on the trunk lid.

[m_welby]

59. ' 67 dodge dart.

2 door, slant 6 engine. '3 on the tree' loved that car. It ALWAYS ran.

I'd still have it if it hadn't rusted out (that was after I'd had the floors repaired once).

My wife's grandad bought it new, drove it for a few years, passed it on to his daughter (my M.I.L.) and then she gave it to me when she got tired of it (in the early 80's). Every summer the Voltage regulator would die and I'd have to replace it (cost all of 2 dollars). that was all that was ever wrong with it.Even if I didn't I could just start it by popping the clutch, as long as it was moving 1MPH it'd start. When I finally had to get rid of it, the odometer had turned over TWICE and the engine was still running great.


Can't kill them old slant six engines, and those chrysler lug nuts that all 'loosened to the front and tightened to the back' of the car (once side of the car was LH threaded lugs and the other was RH threaded lugs).

[Gidney N Cloyd]

60. '74 Capri

(Mine was yellow)
The V6 leaked a lot of oil, right on the steering rack where it dissolved bushings pretty frequently. Still, a fun drive and I actually have dreams about it once in awhile where I pull it out of mothballs in my parents' garage.

[Blue-Jay]

61. My first car. 1972 Dodge Challenger:

[Kali]

62. 83 1/2 Nissan king cab 4x4

still have it but it's in pretty bad shape, engine and tranny are still good though I should post a pic of the poor thing, but I'm too lazy.

[gbate]

63. 1977 Toyota Celica. Like this one but silver.

Great little car, 4 speed. I miss it.