How many cars have you owned?

[Hans Deventer]

I used to work on a friend's Opel back in the 70's. I haven't seen one of them in years. Are they still in business?

Oh yes they are. Below the Opel Vectra.

[Joel Merrill]

Oh yes they are. Below the Opel Vectra.

That's a nice looking car. There must not be any dealers around here. Another car that I used to work on a lot was the old Volkswagens. I came close to buying one twice. One was a late 60's Square Back. It had fuel injection and a friend warned me that they were unreliable. Now I wonder if he knew what he was talking about, but oh well, that was 35 years ago. Then I came real close to buying a bug. They were a lot of fun to drive. You just had to keep the valves adjusted. I don't know why I didn't buy that. I had the money. One thing I didn't like was that they didn't have a heater or defroster. Some of them had an optional heater that ran off of gasoline and sat on top the gas tank. That was really safe . You still see though old bugs around some.

Joel

[Hans Deventer]

Hans, you have owned some homely cars. But I still get the prize for the ugliest... a 1969 Renault R10.

Greg, didn't that one have the engine in the back?

[Bruce Carriker]

Okay, according to my insurance company, here are the cars I've owned:

1970 Dodge Dart
1979 Camaro Z28...first new car I bought after being commissioned as an Army officer
1971 BMW 2002
1980 Dodge Mirada...after my fiancee totaled the Z28 (I was very sad!)
1975 Chevy Chevette
1984 Audi 4000
1970 Volkswagen Beetle
1973 BMW 2002
1986 Nissan pick-up
1987 Chrysler LeBaron GTS Turbo Coupe
1981 Honda Prelude
1988 Mercury Tracer (most dependable car I've ever owned)
1990 Honda Accord
1991 Ford Taurus (worst car I've ever owned)
1995 Mercury Mystique (second most dependable car I've ever owned)
1996 Ford Aerostar
1999 Honda Civic

If I counted correctly, that's 17 cars.

[Mike Wooldridge]

http://www.pioneer.net/~mchumor/church_cartoon_7601.gif]Hans[/url], you have owned some homely cars. But I still get the prize for the ugliest... a 1969 Renault R10.

I haven't owned 1 but I think the Yugo is uglier.

[Terry Pinkerton]

38 Ford
58 Ford Fairlane
58 Chevrolet Biscayne
68 Toyota 2 + 2
73 Toyota Corolla
76 AMC Sportabout
81 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme
86 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight
88 Toyota Pickup
88 Toyota F(?)
97 Chrysler Le Baron
98 GMC Jimmy
02 GMC Envoy

[Dennis M. Scott]

55 Rambler
56 Ford
58 Chevy
64 Ford Fairlane 500
68 Chrysler
68 Oldsmobile
72 Mercury
69 VW
71 Gremlin
69 Plymouth
70 Plymouth former state patrol car
72 Dodge
74 Chevy
80 Datsun 510 Wagon
84 Datsun pickup
83 Oldsmobile
80 Ford econoline van
82 Pontiac
86 Buick LaSabre
80 Plymouth coupe
86 Jeep
90 Ford van
84 Volvo
92 Volvo
98 Ford Econoline van
96 Chevy van
94 Town Car
95 Cadillac
03 Nissan Murano
03 Chevy van
94 Ford Boxtruck
03 PT Cruiser
07 Toyota Avalon

I think that's 34.

John Kennedy reminded me: I had an S-10 Chevy pickup, too 1981, I think.
I also had a Dodge snowplow truck. Interesting story with that one. I only owned it less than a year, in which time I became everyone's friend. The year that Bob Dole eventually became the Republican nominee for President, Elizabeth Dole came to our home for a Tea, wanting to meet with New Hampshire pastors. The day of the Tea, we had one of those Noreasters' snowstorms. It snowed about 15 inches. I had the plowtruck, and one of the guys in the church kept using it to plow out our 650 footlong driveway. I had purchased the truck at a state surplus auction, and it was pretty tough. It kept leaking fluid and breaking down. Finally, the guy driving came to the door to tell me it had broken a weld, and would not work any more - and we had Mrs. Dole and all her secret service people coming. Suddenly, it stopped snowing, and didn't start again until after the Tea. I was sure grateful for the snowplow driver. He was a great friend, and still is. His name is Dave Landry, one of the newest Naznetters. He and his wife Charlotte are beautiful people. I never think of Bob and Elizabeth Dole without thinking of them. Welcome Dave!

I think I miscounted, but now have 35 on my list, if I don't count the backhoe.

Also, now I am reminded of an AMC vehicle that Dave and Charlotte eventually bought from us. That must have been about a 1986, or so. That would be 36.

For most of our lives, we have kinda specialized in "disposable cars." I used to get most of my car tires at the junk yard, where they charged $5, mounted, if I took them off the wreck. Mostly they got us by. Charlie, my mechanic, was pretty honest with me. I'd take something in for repairs, and usually he'd fix it. Sometimes, however, he'd say, "Dennis, don't fix this one. Get rid of it and find something else." In recent years, it hasn't been quite so bad.

My eighty two year old dad has just now stopped fixing his own brakes. He's a little ticked right now, because one of his cars needs brakes, and the garage quoted him $800.00. He's going to let the car go, refusing to pay that much when he knows what it would really take. I think maybe dad is the one after whom I have modelled my automobile ownership behavior.

I believe I omitted the 96 Nissan Maxima that we subsequently sold to Jeremy, who is still driving it with nearly 300K. That makes 37.

[Joel Merrill]

I think I miscounted, but now have 35 on my list, if I don't count the backhoe.

I know a guy who lost his drivers license for a while so he drove a Ford Tractor around town. I wonder if he counts that as a car he has owned

jOeL

[Joel Merrill]

I thought I posted this last night but now I can't find it. I must have forgot to click on "submit."

I scanned some pictures of my old 59 Chevy. They were taken with a cheap instamatic camera. I couldn't afford a 35mm when I was in high school. I wish I would have washed and waxed the car first. It shinned up real nice. That skinny long haired guy is me at 17.

Joel

[Gina Stevenson]

'59 Chevy! Cool! Loved that big-V back end. Used to see one sitting in the neighbor's driveway across the street; he had several Chevy's in a row.