How many cars have you owned?

[Joel Merrill]

Technically my first car was a 59 Ford with a 292 and a 3 on the tree. Dad paid $35.00 for it and I think I was able to drive it 5 or 6 times. It was a pile of junk.

My first usable car was my 59 Chevy Biscayne with a 235 6 cylinder powerglide. It is still my favorite of all the cars I've owned.

Then I had a 66 Ford Galaxy 500 2 door hardtop with a 352 automatic. It ran great and I liked the styling. Fords always have had nice styling. But it kept rusting out. I fixed the rust and painted it twice. Then the frame started rusting out and I got rid of it.

Then I got a 62 Chevy pickup with a short box. It was rusted out and I shouldn't have bought it. I fixed the body up and painted it but I didn't keep it long.

Then I got a beautiful green 72 Mercury Marquis Brougham with a 429 that would pass anything but a gas station. Once again, I loved the styling but it was hard to work on, expensive to work on and always needed worked on. It was 5 years old with only had 70,000 miles on it and it was ready for the junk yard.

I got married while I had that merc and I bought a 64 Plymouth Valiant with a sleepy 6 and type writer drive for my wife to drive around town. She never got her driver's license and after the merc died, we drove that old Valiant for several years. I only paid $35.00 for it.

Then I had a 64 Chevelle with a 283 and a 63 Chevy half ton pickup, also with a 283. We heated our house with wood and the engine died on the truck. So I pulled the engine out of the car and put it in the truck. A couple years later, I put a 6 cylinder in the Chevelle from a 75 Chevy and drove it a couple more years.

In the mean time, the 283 I put in the 63 Chevy Pickup was using a lot of oil and the truck was rusting out and I needed a heavier truck for hauling firewood. So I bought a 66 Chevy 3/4 ton truck. It had a Posi rear end, overload springs and a solid body. Someone had replaced the wood bed with steel deck plate. It had a 250 6 cyl in it but I bought the truck cheap because the engine was about to blow. I drove it until it blew and then bought a junk truck with a good 283 and I put that engine in it. The previous owner had also put a 4 speed transmission in it out of an old school bus. He did a real sloppy job and I had to redo that. Then it was a very good truck. I had it for 13 years! I drove it to Chicago several times and way up into Wisconsin many times. It is probably my next favorite vehicle. But the upper midwest winters took it's toll on it and it rusted too. I fixed it up a couple times and painted it once. I put 3 sets of doors on it and they were getting hard to find. After 13 years, I couldn't keep up with the rust anymore. I lived in town by now and didn't need it to haul wood. A guy offered me a good price for it and I sold it.

Then I bought a 63 Plymouth Valiant with a sleepy 6 and a 3 on the tree. It was a nice little car but Pat was interested in getting her license and she wanted a car with an automatic transmission.

Then I bought a 75 Ford Granada with a 351 and only 45,000 miles. It was by far the biggest lemon I ever owned and most of that was the design of the car. I've hated Fords ever since.

Then I bought a 77 Pontiac Catalina. I had it for quite a few years. It was an extremely good car and I would still be driving it but I hit a deer with it.

Then my sister-in-law got into some money problems and couldn't pay for her 95 Ford Escort. We bought it for just taking over the payments. It was a fairly good car. It was very uncomfortable to drive for very long and it was just too small for us.

My oldest daughter was driving by then so I bought a 62 Ford Falcon because I thought it would make a cute car for her. It was a fix & repair daily Ford. Parts were hard to get and expensive when I did find them. It too was rusted out and it was a waste of time to try and fix the rust.

I gave the Escort to LeAnne and bought the 2003 Pontiac Grand Am I have now. It has been a super good car.

Joel

[Hans Deventer]

59 Ford with a 292 and a 3 on the tree.

Joel, I don't have the faintest idea what you are talking about. The 59 refers to the year, I presume, but what is a 292 and what is "3 on the tree" ???

[Hans Deventer]

Before I met her, Hannie bought a Fiat 127. 900cc engine and still the thing drove up to 90 mph. Crazy car.

Next was a 1978 Peugeot 304 sedan diesel. 1350cc and sounded like a truck.
Became too expensive and we bought a Hyundai Pony station car. We enjoyed that one.
Next came a 1981 Peugeot 305 station 1550cc diesel. Drove like a charm, costed a leg and an arm in repairs and was the very last Peugeot I'll ever buy!

Came a Hyundai Pony again, sedan. Cheap car, not too many expenses. But small. You could only sit behind me in the back seat if you happened to have both of your legs amputated.

So the next was a station wagon again, a 1987 1400 cc Nissan Sunny. Good car! I still like Nissans.

Which meant that the next was a Nissan again, a 1992 Primera sedan. 2 liter, 16 valves. Very good car. After we sold it, my brother in law took it far above the 200.000 miles.

But I wanted a station wagon again. Entered the 1995 Volkswagen Passat. I had better expectations of that car, to be honest.

So right now we're driving a 1998 Nissan Primera Station diesel. Not a fast car, but I like it. It isn't this one, but looks exactly like it, same model, same colour, same year.

Oh yes, none of these had an automatic gear box, they were 4 speeds and from the 1992 Primera on, 5 speed gearboxes.

[Joel Merrill]

Joel, I don't have the faintest idea what you are talking about. The 59 refers to the year, I presume, but what is a 292 and what is "3 on the tree" ???

LOL, Our engine sizes went by cubic inches instead of liters back then. It had a V8 that had 292 cubic inch displacement. The 3 on a tree is a 3 speed manual transmission with the shifter on the steering column.

The 64 Plymouth with the type writer drive was a transmission Chrysler products had in the early 60's that had push buttons on the dash instead of a shifting lever.

Joel

[Hans Deventer]

Some pictures:

The 2nd Hyundai Pony (just the same model)
The Fiat 127 (it actually was red)
The Peugeot 304 (same colour and model again)
The Peugeot 305 (just the same model)

[Joel Merrill]

I don't have many of my old pictures scanned. Here is a picture of my with my 66 Chevy 3/4 ton pickup and a picture of that 62 Ford Falcon parked at an old looking gas station.

Joel

[Hans Deventer]

I don't have many of my old pictures scanned.

Neither do I, Joel! I just searched the internet for cars of the same model and year. I presume most of you wouldn't be too familiar with a Fiat or a Peugeot.

[Hal Paul]

11 cars counting the three I own now.

72 Pontiac Ventura
73 Ford Maverick
?? Mazda B210
?? Ford Tempo
76 Datsun 610
87 Toyota Camry
78 Ford F150
93 Ford F150
92 Jeep Cherokee
98 Dodge Neon
02 Jeep Liberty

I don't think I have any pictures, of them, If I do, I have no idea where they might be.

[Bob Evans]

13


1960 VW Bug
1972 ford Pinto
1979 Chevy Chevette
1981 Chevy Chevette
1984 Chevy Cavileer
1986 Chevy Chevette
1987 Chevy Cavileer Wagon
1992 Cheve Cavileer Wagon
1995 Chevy Cavileer Sedan
1997 Chevy Caviler Wagon
1999 Dodge Mini Van
2004 Dodge Mini Van
2001 Plymouth Neon

[Alisa Stoll]

When we got married Ken had an old Doge Aspen Wagon on loan from his parents. Shortly thereafter he got a used Nisson 210B. When I graduated from college, I got a 82 Ford Escort which I replaced with a 87 Mazda 323 and Ken replaced the Nisson the folowing year with a 88 Mazda 323 station wagon. With kids, we added a '95 Quest van (used). I finally replaced the 87 323 with a '98 Neon. Ken replaced the wagon with a '99 Mazda protege (spelled wrong). When the van was about to give up the ghost, we bought a '05 Honda Civic. The '98 Neon was totaled in an accident and was replaced with a '99 Neon. So in 26 years of marriage, we've bought ding ding ding

9 cars (8 if we hadn't been in the accident) and currently own three. It would be nice if the '99s lasted another three years in order to get the kids out of college and daughter married. Then we will go back to being a two car two people household.

Alisa