Past vehicles...what have you had? - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

The Warden · #1 12-02-2002, 12:27 AM

Seems as though there are quite a few posts surveying people on various things. I don't remember having seen anything like this one, so here's another one.

What vehicles have you owned throughout your lifetime? If possible, some specs would be appreciated. Also, under what circumstances did you buy and/or sell the vehicles? And how long did you own them?

Here's my list:

1) 1974 Volkswagen Beetle hard-top - was given to me by my dad in April '98; engine blew up on the Pacheco Pass (CA 152 between the 101 and the I-5) on July 1st 1998 and it sat dead in the garage 'till I sold it in April '99. Total mileage - maybe 1,000

2) 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle 4 door sedan with a 230ci straight-6 and Powerglide 2sp auto - was given to me by my great-great aunt in August '98 after she decided to stop driving (she was 96); after about 6 months I gave up trying to figure out what was wrong with the engine and wound up selling her in May '99 (I miss that car; as much as I dislike GM's, she was a beaut). This, to date, is the last g@$$er that I've owned. Total mileage - about 10,000

3) 1980 International-Harvester Scout II with a 3.2l Nissan SD-33T turbo diesel - the first vehicle I paid for, in April '99 after I stopped being able to trust the Chevelle; I cracked a piston (previous owner had modified engine) and sold it in October 2000 toa guy who parted it out. It's scrap metal now. I miss that rusty ol' beast. Total mileage - about 25,000

4) 1984 Ford E-350 with a 6.9l International-Harvester diesel - I bought it in October 2000 when the Scout died; the van's maiden voyage was to tow the Scout halfway to Oregon; I sold the van in July '02 after I received the truck (below) and decided I needed a more fuel-efficient primary driver. Except the 300D, the van was the most reliable vehicle I ever owned, and I still miss her. Total mileage - about 30,000

5) 1984 Ford F-250 with a 6.9l International-Harvester diesel - My saddest vehicle acquiring; it was an inheritance I received when my uncle (and one of my favorite people in the world) died in April 2001. My uncle, in that truck, taught me how to drive a clutch when I was 15.

I don't drive it much now, but I still own it and plan to keep it (as a 2nd or 3rd vehicle) for an indefinite amount of time. Total mileage to date - somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000

6) 1985 Mercedes-Benz 300D - When I received the truck, I had two heavy-duty vehicles (I need one, but only one) and decided to sell the van and get a Benz diesel. I found one that a member on here was selling and, on selling the van in early July 2002, flew out to Dallas to pick the car up and drive it back. So far, she's fit the bill perfectly, and I've put about 10,000 miles on her to date.

Okay, so I was a bit long-winded, but what are your stories?

4NDELIT · #2 12-02-2002, 12:53 AM

1) Audi 1986 5000CS quattro 5 speed - I loved this car, because it was a peppy, quick sports car that handelled amazingly. I have never lost traction in that car, and it was fun to drive. When I moved to San Diego from the bay area, my parents gave it away because they didn't want to fix it.

2)Mercedes 1978 450SL - AKA The Tank. This is my replacement, and a good one at that. A former weekend driver, the 450 is in excellent condition [64K miles now] and it runs well. I often wish it got better gas mileage, and that it handelled a bit better [billsteins provide more stiffness, but there's still a lot of body roll because of soft springs]. Love the looks tho.

and of course, everyone thinks I'm a spoiled brat, becaue I dont' want to put miles on the 450!

Gary Ganaway · #3 12-02-2002, 10:09 AM

Trying to remember them all but I bet I miss a couple.

1954 Chev belair-1'st car

1962-Chevy II Nova Conv.

1965 Ford Galaxy 500XL Conv

1968 VW bug

1968 Mustang GT coupe

1969 Old Toronodo

1964 TR-4

1964 MG midget

1970 Opel GT

1976 Olds Cutlass

1978 Cadillac Seville

1973 Triumph Spitfire

1976 TR-6

1988 Honda Prelude

1987 Honda Accord

1993 Honda Accord

1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee

1995 Mercedes E420

drbrandini · #4 12-02-2002, 10:27 AM

1979 Buick lesabre limited First car..grandma bought it new*

1972 VW super beetle

1973 VW beetle

1961 VW Westfalia Split window van

1986 Honda Prelude

1989 Saab 900S

1976 450SLC

1961 200E Euro

1975 300D

1978 300D Euro

1982 300SD

1983 300D Turbo

1972 280C

1989 300SEL

1990 300E

There are more but can't seem to think of them at the moment.. Did I mention I'm 26

#5 12-02-2002, 11:54 AM

1991 Honda CRX--Write off in accident, not my fault

1996 Volkswagen Passat GLX--Write off in accident, not my
fault.

Both were very well made cars and both had a lot of features that cars in its class didn't. Handled very well at high speeds too.

rickg · #6 12-02-2002, 11:56 AM

You asked for it!

'56 Ford PU (1st vehicle)
'63 Mercury
'67 Pontiac Catalina
'64 Falcon Wagon
'71 Pinto(I can hear the laughter:p )
'67 Ford Van
'73 AMC Hornet (more chuckles!)
'50 Chevy 2door(Cool

)
a bunch of VW squarebacks
'68 Ford LTD
'67 Chrysler 300(more cool

)
'66 Lincoln
'63 Rambler Wagon
'71 Chrysler Imperial
'63 Chevy PU (a freebee)
'71 Dodge power wagon
'83 Audi 5000
'86 Audi 5000 (POS!)
'82 Audi Coupe
2 '68 MB 220D's
'67 MB 230 sedan
'95 Chrysler Cirrus
'84 MB SD
I know I've missed a few.

TTaM · #7 12-02-2002, 12:11 PM

'86 Buick Electra. Good car, it was a family handme down. Was my Great Grandma's, then Grandma's, then mine. Hmm, maybe it was a grandma car, but it suited me just fine. Got me through HS, died this past summer w/ bad bearings. Guess Grandma didn't check the oil.

'93 Suzuki Katana 600. My first bike, a Rat bike. It was fun, but an encounter with a bad driver and some gravel made it no more. Parents still don't quite know about it

'89 Ford Bronco II. Great little truck, rusty, but hopefully will last me through college.

'76 Mercedes-Benz 240D. Just got this little gem. Planning on having it for a loong time

#8 12-02-2002, 01:05 PM

Mine....

1983 Saab 900S: 110 hp 2.0 liter four, 5-speed manual. Floor the throttle at 40 mph in 4th gear and literally NOTHING would happen. The car ran fine, just was pretty underpowered. Since Saabs didn't have anti-roll bars until 1985, cornering in this car was achieved with a lot of body roll (ok grip though). Once, it engaged its starter motor through an electrical short and proceeded to back down the street for a ways. Put maybe 7,000 miles on it.

1987 Volvo 740 Turbo: A turbocharged rocket ship compared to the Saab. 0-60 in 8.3 seconds vs. something like 13 (probably). Lots of NVH right now, but a new transmission crossmember will cure that. I've put maybe 10,000 miles on this one.

the 380SE is in my parents's name, but I drive it frequently. Not as much passing power as the Volvo, but it's very very smooth. I've maybe put 3,000 miles on it all told.

-Sam

jcd · #9 12-02-2002, 01:15 PM

1971 Ford Galaxy 500. "The Queen Mary". Given to me when I graduated high school, sold for $50

1970 Volkswagen Fastback: Bought for $600, sold to junkyard for $35 and took my wife out to dinner

1980 Subaru - bought used, sold

1976 Jeep CJ5 - bought for $1,500, sold for $1,600

1984 Honda Civic - bought used, traded in on the Toyota.....what a great car

1980 VW Rabbit: Paid $1,800, gave it to the manager of the motel where I stayed when I was stranded with a bad tranny

1980 Nissan B210 - Paid $1,000 and gave it away. My favorite car of the 4 above

1987 Toyota Mini Van - Bought new, driven over 170,000 and donated it to charity

1992 Mitsubishi Expo - Bought new, driven 170,000 miles and on the donation block

1999 Nissan Quest - bought new, wife's van, runs great!

1977 Mercedes 300D - bought from my dad, PO, my daily driver.

Funny when you put this kind of lists together how many cars I can add up. My philosophy on cars, either buy a good one and drive it til it drops, or "buy a bic lighter", buy a cheap car, use it up and throw it away.

JCD

jcantor · #10 12-02-2002, 01:29 PM

For a while I was in the Mopar or No Car club:

1973 Plymouth Satillite - first car. Got with 70K and sold with 175K. Pulled and rebuilt the engine myself more for fun than necessity.

1973 Dodge Dart - Bought for 1st wife (she took it with her when we split). Great car but it proved that low mileage is actually worse than high mileage.

1967 Dodge Monaco - my toy which I still have

With the 383 Magnum it passes everything but a gas station.

1987 Chrysler 5th Ave. - best and most reliable car I've had to-date. Got it with 95K; sold with 250K. Only major repair I did was to replace the timing chain at 230K. Never burned or leaked any oil!!

1996 Chrysler LHS - seemed like a good car for the 8 months I had it. Certainly did its job when another drive ran a red light and T-boned me -- I walked away without a scratch.

1987 560SEL - Fun car and easy to work on. It had 200K on it (100K on engine) when I got it. The only thing I'd do differently next time would be to get the diesel.

jlc

The Warden · #11 12-02-2002, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jcantor
For a while I was in the Mopar or No Car club:

Ironically, I've always had a special place in my heart for Mopars, bet Chrysler is the ony major American manufacturer that I've never owned anything of. I'd like to get an early '90's Dodge Cummins truck, though...but I still can't bear to part with the F-250, so I'd either have to put her in storage or have 3 vehicles (at 21

)...besides, no $$ as of yet...can still dream, eh?

list thus far!

rickg · #12 12-02-2002, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jcantor
For a while I was in the Mopar or No Car club:

1967 Dodge Monaco - my toy which I still have With the 383 Magnum it passes everything but a gas station.

jlc

I used to belong to Mopars Nortwest. Was a fun bunch! Got rid of the '67 300 after I couldn't get premium gas at the pump anymore. The 440 didn't like unleaded regular too well. Wish I'd kept it and stored it away. Had only 70k origional miles on it. Was a real cream puff!

#13 12-02-2002, 03:29 PM

My list of veejicles!!!!

First: 1965 Pontiac Bonneville. Bought from neighbour for the whopping sum of $150. I "learned" how to drive in that car. Too big, too thirsty for a high school student.

Next: 1980 Mazda B200 pickemup truck: Ugly, underpowered, noisy and rough. It was at least relatively cheap to ddrive.

Next, 1986 Hyundai Excel 4 door sedan. Bought after graduating high school. Wrecked the car when I fell asleep at the wheel. Thankfully it was a single car affair

Next, 1976 Datsun pickup. Temporary junker to drive untill I was able to replace the wrecked Hyundai.

Next, 1988 Ford Festiva. Fun little car for what it was. Got 50 mpg, and was surprisingly well built for the microbox that it was. Totalled by vandals

Next, 1988.5 Suzuki Samurai Convertible. Fun little jeep, HORRID daily transportation. Sold to my Dad after 9 months.

Next, 1990 Hyundai Sonata GLS V6. I LOVED this car!! lots of power, and loaded to the gills. Honda Accords, Toyota Camrys, and Ford Taurus's went for twice the dough. Lost this one to repo after losing job.

Next was a 197something Toyota Corolla. Belonged to the girlfriend at the time, and it died of old age.

Also in this period there were: 198something Mazda B2000, that I refused to allow the gf to buy. It was waiting for an excuse to quit.

1987 Hyundai Excel sedan. Project car that never ran right.

1988 Hyundai Excel 5 dr hatchback. g/f took this one when we split up.

1994 Chevy Pickup. This was a POS that literally fell apart.

1989 Hyundai Excel that a friend let me drive while he was overseas. I later bought this car after we though another friend of his killed it. It's still on the road today, but no longer owned by me.

1996 Dodge Ram 1500 long bed truck. Bought this one to replace the self disassembling Chevy truck. Sold this when my needs outgrew the truck.

1988.5 Suzuki Samurai Hardtop. I bought this one from my folks when they bought a Geo Tracker. I only recently parted with this one. I do miss the car.

1999 Dodge Ram 2500 Club Cab truck. Still own this one, and it currently has 92,500 miles on the odometer.

1976 AMC Hornet. This was a freebie that I played with untill it quit. It became a high school donation.

1983 VW Rabbit turbodiesel. My first foray into passenger car diesels. What I thought was only an injector problem was much worse. It never ran right, and never again after I tore the engine down. It also became a High school donation.

1981 Datsun diesel pickup. This rare little beast was a blast. It had an oil consumption problem that I had intended to fix, but never got around to. My neighbour now owns this one, and I have first refusal if they ever decide to sell it.

1980 Mercedes 240D. Another Ebay car, and my first attempt at MB diesels. It also had an oil consumption issue. I was too spooked about tearing down the engine, so I sold it to another Mercedesshop member.

1975 Mercedes 240D. Still have this one, and am undecided what to do with it. It needs MAJOR work with it.

2002 Saturn SC2. BIG MISTAKE!!!! I never fit into this car, and when I injured my back last summer, I was unable to drive it at all. Took a BIG loss on this one.

2003 Saturn VUE. Current ride. Awesome SUV that fits me like a glove. I'm hoping that it lasts a LONG time......

1959 Mercedes 190Db. Bought from another Mercedesshop member, and drive out to West Virginia to pick up. It's a long term restoration project. Words fail to accurately describe the driving experience with this car.

1980 Mercedes 240D. Another Ebay car. I at least go to look at this one before buying. Still needs work, but is mechanically sound. Will need paint. It is leaking enough oil to show at the dipstick, and driveway. Prepping to get busy on this one. It will be my commuter car.

OK, that's all I can think of.......