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FotonDrv

Cars you have owned that made you smile

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First car, I owned 1/2, a neighbor kid and I bought it for $50 each and we took turns driving it.

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Second car.

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3rd car, 1937 Ford.  This is a photo of another one but the only difference is that mine had black lacquer fenders.

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4th, 1959 Sprite.  Got broadsided in a parking lot so I cut the front end off, put a frame under it and a small block Ford V8 in it.

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You can just barely see a holley 4 barrel sticking through the hood.

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Although I did not "OWN" it I certainly called it mine.  I was in charge of it and drive it to hell and back.

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5th, 1968 TR4a-IRS after putting 60k miles on it in 14 months I stuffed a 289 Ford V8 under the hood.

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6th, 1971 3/4 ton Ford Van, converted for camping.

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7th owned at the same time as the 6th.  My commuter vehicle Honda 600 Sedan.  600cc air cooled was a great little car to drive until I got run off the road by a drunk.  It was either a headon or take to the soft shoulder and when I steered it back onto the road at 50mph it tripped on the asphalt lip and went airborne!  Pretty dramatic but no injuries for me or my Girlfriend, which was amazing.  The drunk never stopped but I encountered someone who also saw him weaving and speeding on that mountain road.

Mine was white.

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3 days after the wreck.  Amazing what duct taped and convertible rear window plastic will do in place of glass.  I drove it 400 miles home in the rain with the wipers going!

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The we decided to fix it.  We chopped the roof did the bodywork and ran it another 25K miles before selling it.

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8th, 1968 VW Bus in Baja California on a fishing/surfing trip and Santo Tomas Quatras Casas.

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Fun machines to use when taking the VW Bus into the desert.  I had a rack on the rear of the buses to take them.fullsizeoutput_7d2.jpeg

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9th, 1972 VW Van.  Loved driving this but had to sell it to buy a work truck.  Sold this to a sweet looking blond woman that looked very secretary type with pantsuit and all.  Turned out to be Secret Service Agent!!  Always wondered where is was used after I sold it...

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10th, 1970 1 Ton Chevy, converted to utility.

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I also owned this while I had the work truck.  1966 Bug.

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1937 D-2 Caterpillar I owned for several years making trails and hauling firewood.  I came in handy pu;lling neighbors out of ditches :-)

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I traded a 1" drive Proto ratchet wrench and a $100 for the utility bed!  Drove and worked it for 20 years.

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1968 Pontiac.  My $135 roller to get up the dirt road comfortably.  It finally biodegraded..  Had the truck at the same time.

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Road AFTER the phone company worked on it...  More like wrecked it!!

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Had this at the same time since it made getting around in the mountains very easy.

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11th, Pontiac Grand Am, the smile was more a shriek of horror and panic!  It had the second worse brakes of any vehicle I have owned.  It would have made a good target.

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12th, GMC 1994 3/4 ton Suburban 4x4 with all the HD towing stuff.  The worst brakes, ABS allowed me to cruise into vehicles and make a big mess twice!  Unplugged the brake system and it worked fine.  Finally gave up and got a Honda Element which had great brakes!

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Honda was a good car but very noisy interior!

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The current rides.  2009 and2011 MINI's.

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Edited by FotonDrv
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Aussie, Triumph sure has come a long way in 50 years!  Nice ride!!

Was that an ambulance I see in the photos??!!  I can see you appreciate useful vehicles as do I.  My sports cars were/are for just the smile :-)

 

 

 

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6 hours ago, DennisLinkletter said:

When I was in Los Angeles in the 80's I had this '59 Rometsch Cabriolet..
Aluminium bodied on a VW pan with an Okrasa motor..

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Dennis, I can honestly say that this was a car I have never seen nor heard of!!  I can see a similarity to the Karmann Ghia.  How did it handle?

 

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What a bunch of gear heads! 

Here's the only "sweet ride" that I ever owned - '75 Jensen Healey. Internet photo, but mine was the same color. I would have to seriously dig into boxes of old photos to find a picture of mine. 

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Very fun car to drive, but what a serious PITA to work on. Even simple tasks like oil changes and tune-ups were very hard. And, then there was the issue of getting parts. It was basically an Triumph, but with a Lotus racing engine that was designed to be used once or twice on the track and not maintained! 

This car was the quintessential definition of "money pit!" I put as much money into it for maintenance (major motor overhauls - 2 of them!), as I paid for the car initially. 

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A couple stand outs for me ... a short list:   My '85 Saab 900S.   It was great running around 4x4 trucks ... those early Saabs were incredible on snow & ice.   With Hakkapeliittas of course.  

And my highly modified '99 Landcruiser.   

That's it.  

 

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15 minutes ago, dstr8 said:

My '85 Saab 900S.   It was great running around 4x4 trucks ... those early Saabs were incredible on snow & ice

Agreed. I bought my wife a 85 Saab 900S. What a great car. It was like sitting in your favorite recliner...could drive for hours and never be uncomfortable.

So 85 Saab 900S, 58 Willey's jeep, and 92 Ford F350 4x4 with an injected 460. Passes everything but a gas station. I sill have it. only 90K original miles.

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11 hours ago, FotonDrv said:

Charles, that hard tailed Harley sure looks nice BUTT my backside gets sore thinking about the hardtail, but a great around town cruiser!  Very good looking :-)

 

TY FotonDrv - that's what I thought in the beginning. It is a around the town cruiser but I can go out all the day on it without issue.  The riding angle just works. Of course I won't speak for Mrs skreef's back or butt on that pad - LOL 

 

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9 hours ago, mk1 said:

Two of my current machines that still make me smile

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Yea that vette would definitely make me smile all the way to the grave. Maybe one day I'll win the lottery or maybe one day you'll visit the Bistro. I'll cook you a killer meal and you'll let me take it around the block. Of course I'll promise not to do donuts in the front yard like I did with a friends mustang a couple of weeks ago. Yea he should have never let me behind the wheel after a serious night of drinking - hey I didn't smash it into the lawn furniture or flag pole and I didn't leave the yard - a successful DWI adventure - LOL 

 

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I've never been much of a car person. 

I had a Geo Metro in college and it was perfect for me. It got great gas mileage. I went to college in a city and had to pay for parking. The lot right by the school had a 1/2 spot in one corner that was at a weird angle. They guy said, "If you can get it in that spot, you can park there for half price." I made it fit every time.

I can't tell you how many times I needed to haul something in it and the person helping me load it said, "This will never fit in there!" and sure enough, it fit.

Took it on a 1500+ mile round trip vacation. Put 125,000+ miles on it before I sold it and never did anything but routine maintenance.  I probably saved well over $6 on spark plugs ;) with only having to buy 3!

Not my picture, found one on the internet. I doubt I have any pictures of my old one.

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