This is a list of the cars I have owned, which includes cars that my wife owned as well. The pictures included are those from the Internet with a few pics I have on file myself.
The list is as complete as I can remember, and the age of the cars in some cases are approximate as my memory is not as good as it used to be.
This was my first car. It was imported from England and had a tiny 4 cylinder engine with 4 on the floor. My buddy had a 1953 Austin and we used to race them back and forth from college. Fortunately normal traffic flow would bypass us as we could hardly do the speed limit. It was a real challenge as the rear brakes were cable and a change in the weather would either cause the brakes to seize, or not work at all. It was pretty exciting driving in the winter in Thunder Bay.
1953 Mercury Meteor
I got tired of the low power of the Austin and traded it for a 1953 Mercury Meteor. It was completely rusted out, but I fixed it up welding new floor panels in and painting it a bright yellow. I got a great deal on the paint as it was the same colour as the city work vehicles and they had some left over. Sold it to get money for my second year of college, but had a great summer.
I got this car to keep busy during the summer during college. Actually I bought the car while at college in Toronto as I missed driving so much, and wangled an extra student loan to buy it. When I got it back to TB in the summer it was a real wreck of a body, full or rust. I found a used one in TB that was in beautiful shape, but had the engine out and basically abandoned. Bought it cheap and put the good motor and transmission in it from the original car. Drove it the rest of the ssummer and sold it to my Dad to get money to go back to college. My Dad drove it for years.
I got this one upon graduating from college. It was a real boat. I felt I was just guiding it places. In spite of a huge engine, it took off very sedately, did not stop very well, and it was always a surprise it made it around sharp corners. The ride was super smooth though.
This was my first new car and I got this so Lori and I could go on a nice honeymoon to Florida. Loved this car. Had the V8 engine so went fast and handled fantasitc (compared to anything else I had ever driven).
Don't remember a lot about this car, but it had a long hood and I kept bumping into things with it. It was parking by touch for sure! Lucky it had a sturdy bumper that went right around the front of the car. Oh yeh, it had shit for brakes as well.
Looking back, I have no idea what possessed me to buy this car. Did not have many problems with it, but was not one of my favourites. I think it was one of the worst cars ever built!
This is one of my favourite cars I ever owned. The Capri II had a German made V6 engine that was bullet proof. In fact the whole car was bullet proof. I was rear ended by a buick and only suffered a broken tail light lense, a scrape on the plastic bumper, and my steering wheel was bent around from me hanging on upon impact. the Buick had its whole front end smashed. There was a real following with these cars and you would flash your headlights when approaching other Capri's on the road. I ended up years later buying another one to use during the winter so I could keep the Corvette tucked away.
This was Lori's car. She loved that thing and keeps talking that we should have kept it. haha. Not a chance. In the winter she had to drive with a windshield scraper in her left hand to clean off the inside of the window to see. When a neighbour was selling his 1966 VW, we bought it and sold the bug.
Not much of an upgrade over the Bug, as far as Lori was concerned, but it was a much better vehicle.
1977 Chevy Monza Spider
This is one hot car. It had a V8, 4 on the floor and a few other gizmos. There were three of us in the neighbourhood with these. One of the guys, put a 350 V8 in his. He needed to put big slicks on his so the wheels would not spin.
1980 Oldmobile Cutlas
Was a good car, but nothing too special. Sold this car to my brother-in-law when we went to work in Saudi Arabia for 2+ years.
This was a real workhorse for us and was decked out pretty good. Spent more $$ than I should have given having some extra cash from coming back from the Saudi contract.
This was purchased at the same time as the above Oldsmobile, for Lori's car when we came back from Saudi Arabia.
This was another hot car. It was somewhat of a status symbol at work. Quite a number of us were promoted to middle management and I am not who started it, but an inordinate amount of managers bought them. Quite a site in the parking lot at times. Alas it was sold so Lori and the kids (OK, me too) could have a swimming pool in the back yard. I had tears in my eyes when it drove away!
This was a good people mover and when it wore out, my son took it over. I warned him that he was getting a headache, but he would not listen. Eventually it was towed to the junk yard.
This was a great little car. I beat it up, then my daughter beat it up and then my son beat it up. Ran well, with little maintenance and repairs. Eventually had to repait it (myslef) due to rust. Even drove it to the junk yard when we were all done with it.
This was a nice little car with 4 on the floor. Kids loved it too. Got beat up a bit as they learned how to drive.
I bought this one when I went back to work after retiring. I had a healthy car allowance and needed it to keep it on the road. Nervertheless, it was a great car. None of the other cars I owned, drove like this one.
This has been a fantastic car with low repairs and great performance and value as well as great gas milage. We still have it with no view of trading it in. Lori drives it mostly and it replaced the BMW as it was starting to cost too much money to keep on the road.
2004 Dodge Dakota, 4.6l, 4x4
This was my first truck and loved it. I bought a small travel trailer and would put the motorcycle into the back of the truck, hook up the trailer and head out mostly to Florida and other local points. On one trip to Arkansas, I did not like the high revs the engine had to do to get up the huge hills, so wanted a bigger truck......what else. It gets in your blood.
2008 Dodge RAM 1500, 5.7l hemi, 4x4, SB
Loved this truck. Served me very well, however it did cost a bit on some well known repairs, and scheduled maintenance. When I upgraded to a larger travel trailer, this truck (again) was not big enough. do you see a pattern here?
Well, its going to be hard to get a bigger truck than this! This is a REAL truck. Rides like one and you have to plan ahead to turn around. Pulls well, but will test it out more on the trip south this fall.
