Here is a list of cars I have owned over the years and a brief comment about each. Only the most dedicated (or bored) readers need proceed...1963 Valiant - 6 cylinder, standard, column shift, blue. This was my first car, no more needs to be said except that you could do basic service on it with a wrench. The famous slant 6 engine is still a legend of efficiency and reliability.
1966 Impala - 8 cylinder, automatic, blue. A step up but I missed the best Impala (1965) by one year. My father still had connections in the used car business so trading in was as easy as changing your socks.
1967 Beaumont - 6 cylinder, auto, blue. A step back down and it had no gas gauge and the gas tank leaked. It had a hole in the floor where you could see the road, but other than that - a nice little car. It got me to Montreal and back running on fumes and sheer luck.
1973 Gremlin - 8 cylinder, standard, purple. Not only was it a Gremlin - it was purple and had white, woolly seat covers! It got us all the way to the west coast pulling a U-Haul. Absolutely useless in snow, maybe that is why it headed for Vancouver.
1975 Dodge Monaco - 8 cylinder, auto, 2 tone brown/beige. A real beast. I used this car to travel throughout Alberta and BC as a salesman. It was so big it felt like you never left home. Needed a cardboard cover tied over the radiator in winter or there was no heat. I drove it back east in the middle of February and sold it to my sister Sandra for $50.00.
1982 Lada - 4 cylinder, standard, yellow. I bought it brand new but it was quite a step down from the grandeur of the Monaco but they were so cheap that I swear to God they were giving them away in Halifax, where I lived at the time. It was taxicab yellow, had an AM radio, standard shift, steering and brakes. It felt and drove like a tank - and what would you expect, it was from Russia.
1980 Citation - 6 cylinder, auto, red. This was a great little car. I bought it from my boss for literally nothing. I drove it and was paid mileage - each month when I received the cheque, I sent it back as a payment. Plus they paid the gas - those were the days. This car would go anywhere.
1984 Horizon - 4 cylinder, auto. Ugly monkey-shit brown piece of crap. Caught fire driving through Skowhegan, Maine. I should have let it burn....
1986 Celebrity - 6 cylinder, auto, blue. I bought this from Clarks and not a word of a lie - it broke down before I got it off the lot. It was trouble from the start and would never stay in alignment. Repairs cost me a fortune. My first car with cruise control and my last Chev.
1990 Volkswagen Jetta - 4 cylinder, auto, black. This was a definite move up in the world and it was back when VW still meant German quality but high maintenance. It was also my last car without air and power everything. It had a sunroof that had to be cranked open manually - those Germans were not big on frivolous extras.
1993 Taurus - 4 cylinder, auto, blue. Now we are talking! I loved my Taurus and it was a car made for a traveling salesman. Lots of room for samples and suitcases, power windows and locks and seats - my first car with air and the only one with a remote starter.
1996 Taurus - 4 cylinder, auto, burgundy. My second Taurus. I drove my '93 on to the lot and asked the salesman if he had a '96. He pointed to one on the lot and I said "I'll take it." The whole deal took 5 minutes and I never regretted it.
2000 Mystique - 4 cylinder, auto, mist green. This was a downsize from the Taurus and although it was a nice car it just didn't have that mid-size feel. I didn't really have it long enough to develop any sort of an opinion good or bad.
2000 Neon - 4 cylinder, auto, red. This was really my wife Julie's first car but it became the family car for seven long years. It was too small and low for my comfort and cost us $700.00 for a head gasket mere days after the warranty expired. Julie would tell you she loved it but she will have to get her own blog. This was also our first lease.
2003 Kia Magentis - 4 cylinder, auto, silver/grey. I really can't say anything bad about the Magentis. The '03 was a beautiful looking car and could easily be mistaken for a BMW.... from a distance. I liked it so much I leased another one.
2008 Kia Magentis - 4 cylinder, auto, red. This is my current car and I like it a lot - very comfortable and roomy and nice looking. Not as nice as the '03 but I am not complaining and I will be seriously considering another one in a few years. First car with heated seats!
I can't even guess how much all these cars have cost me over the years - I do know that they have ranged in price from $300.00 up to about $20,000.00 and I can tell you honestly that the car I had the most fun with was the one that cost $300.00 - life is funny that way.
Well,that is my car blog - a lot of gas guzzled and a lot of rubber burned. Hope you enjoyed it. If you read this far you are either a car nut or just plain nuts - but thanks for reading. Comments?
3 comments:
I remember when you and Julie came through Kemptville ON, on your way out west and we got to admire the purple Gremlin - with all the glass!!! And we had a Lada in the early 80s also - the first new car we ever bought - the only one now that I think of it!!I am not particularly interested in cars, but I was very interested in reading your blog ...it was kind of like a walk through your life - some things I knew and some I didn't ...that made it very interesting. I enjoyed it all!!
Did I ever pay you that $ 50.00 ?
Hi Mac,
It's Mariann from Peterborough. Sandy sent me your blog and after reading it, some good and not so good memories came back to me.
I, too, had a Gremlin. It was the first car I ever bought for myself (I shared one with my brother but sharing meant he drove it all the time). It was all I could afford, which wasn't much....and as they say, you get what you pay for. Aside from being in the garage on a regular basis, when you stepped on the brakes, it would pull to the right, the passenger side door would fly open when you turned a corner and I would pray every winter morning that it would start. Your first car is like your first love......you never forget them.
Thanks for sharing your blog.
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