Nice ride, man

I am not a "car guy". I have never really been into them (I didn't even get a driver's license until I was 17, about a year and a half after I could have), and for the most part when it comes to vehicles in my life utilitarianism has trumped style and price trumped all. Perhaps that's a strange outcome for a mechanic's son, but then Dad never wanted me twisting wrenches, for a living or otherwise, and I grew up pretty car-ignorant as a result. But even so, I was thinking the other day about the cars I have owned and thought I'd drag you down memory lane with me.

[Note: To make things easy this excludes cars that were primarily driven by spouses current or former. These are "my" cars. Also, some of the photos that follow aren't mine, and aren't used with permission, but most were snagged off of "car for sale" sites so I figure the copyright owner isn't too into the image rights, since they were trying to get rid of the thing in the first place.]

1962 Oldsmobile F-85 Cutlass (1977-1978)

[Not my pic, but mine was white like this one.]

My first car. My father found it for me. It cost a whopping $135, which even in 1977 was pretty cheap for a used car. Real high mileage. The kid that had owned it before me had taken out the stock automatic transmission and dropped in a standard shift four-on-the-floor racing transmission like he was going to make it into something, which was ludicrous because the car had a 215ci aluminum block V-8 (you read that right - there's a whole story just about the engine in my car, but I won't go into it here). The net result was the difference in gearing between the grafted transmission and the original rear differential made it so that during the time I owned it only my dad and then me could drive the thing without killing it (and it took me "a bit" to learn how to drive it, a story that can bring my dad to tears of laughter).

Red tuck-and-roll upholstery - sweet! (and sticky in the summer). It had an 8-track stereo in it and I put two house stereo speakers in the back. Yeah, I know - classy. But it could rock. I have many fond memories of speeding through the mountain canyons west of Boulder at night with the music cranked to Heart, Styx, Head East ("There's never been any raisin...") and Pink Floyd.

It finally died when the front passenger wheel fell off right outside my friend Mike's house where I was staying at the time (the result of a frozen ball joint). This was the first car (but not the last) I had towed away for free by a salvage yard.

1976 Datsun B-210 "Honeybee" (1979-1987)

[Not my pic, but mine was yellow like this, but with a different,
bigger stripe and an actual honeybee with wheels logo on the side.
A manly-man's car all right!]

This actually started out as my first wife's first car, but then I inherited it and drove it a long time - until it died and was hauled off for free by the salvage yard. Some asshole actually stole the Pioneer SuperTuner cassette deck out of it ca. 1984 or so, but mercifully (mercilessly?) left the 8-track. By this time I had a lot of Bob Marley and Neil Young on 8-tracks I had picked up real cheap when that format was in its death throes. I have always been an aficionado of "hi-fi". :o)

As with all 1970s-era Japanese cars it suffered body cancer really badly. At one point we riveted a metal realtor's sign to the floorboard under the mat on the passenger side, because otherwise their feet would go right through the floor. Classy.

1978 Chevrolet Chevette (1987-1989)

[Not my pic. Mine was maroonish-red.]

My Dad found this for me when the Honeybee died. It was in decent shape and I drove it for two years until it died and was towed away for free by a salvage yard - classy (the last note in that theme, I hope). A good car, and it was fun to tell people for two years that I drove a "little red 'vette". :o)

1989 Dodge Colt (1989-2007)

[OK, this is my pic. Here it is just a few years ago
after a backpacking trip to Colorado (hence the dirt).
A much younger Erin is in the passenger seat.]

This is the first car I ever bought new. Even so I got a great deal on it because it had hail damage (which ended up all popping out over the next couple of years). I think the sticker on it was $7,200. I drove this car until about 2001 and then Les drove it until about 2006 and now my friend Mike is still driving it in Colorado, with somewhere over 200,000 miles on it. Which matches up with what I heard when I was looking for a car in the summer of 1989. At the time I had about three people tell me they had Dodge Colts that went a quarter million miles or more - "All you have to do is keep the oil changed!" And it's true. You almost can't kill them. Still gets 40MPG, too.

Mike and I have bounced this car into more high-elevation back country than you can believe. If I showed you some pictures of the places it's been you wouldn't even believe it. It's been through a few blizzards, too. All that and it was a fun car to drive. It could do 65MPH going uphill at 10,000' on the west approach to the Eisenhower tunnel on I-70 (I know - I've done it). A huge chunk of my adult life is somehow attached to this car and the travels I've made in it. I am glad it is still providing my friend Mike loyal service.

1984 Ford F-250 (1993-1994)

[Not my pic. Mine was white but without the red.]

One of the many less-that-bright ideas I've ever had was buying a used 4WD to turn into a "plow truck" the year I lived up in the mountains in Colorado. The first problem with that idea was finding out snow plows cost more than what I paid for the truck. The second problem was the truck itself - it broke down constantly. The third problem was the gas mileage, or lack thereof. The joke I had at the time was that it was good the truck had two gas tanks - one for the drive into Boulder and one for the drive back! At least when this one broke down I didn't get it hauled off by the salvage yard, but instead actually got someone to pay about what I had paid for it, but not the thousands I had put into it after that.

Still - I miss the respect I got in this truck at four-way stops and other intersections with iffy right-of-way situations. That's because besides being just a huge truck, the company's name I had bought it from was still dimly visible on the sides - "Explosive Fabricators, Inc." Nothing like having people think the bed of your truck may be packed with explosives for them to just wave you on through ahead of them! Except the company didn't make explosives - they made things with explosives. Which is even cooler.

1994 Plymouth Voyager (2000-2005)

[This is my pic. The "family truckster" is shown here
behind the family it trucked. Pinata optional.]

When I moved back to Missouri from Colorado in 2000 to be with Les it quickly became apparent that two adults and three small children needed more than just a Dodge Colt to be out and about in, so we bought a dreaded minivan. Les figured the Colt was going to be way more fun to drive and glommed on to it and I ended up with the mom-mobile. But here's the thing - I actually loved the thing! It was great. I would drag the heavy rear seats out (this was long before there were the disappear-in-the-floor seats) and haul things in it. We even car camped in it a few times. Until its miles started catching up it was a fine drive, and I didn't mind it a bit. I guess I am secure enough in my masculinity to be able to talk up driving in a minivan. :o)

And no, it didn't get hauled away. It got traded in when I bought the...

2005 Dodge Dakota (2005-present)

[My pic. Taken the first day I owned it. :o) ]

The second vehicle I've ever bought new. I wanted a truck because sometimes as a homeowner they're just handy to have. But I needed a four-door so the kids didn't have to ride all smooshed up in the back on jumper seats in an extended cab. I also wanted 4WD for any trips to Colorado that may happen plus the occasional snow and ice storm around here (where it has come in handy). So with perfect timing I bought a the truck just in time for gas to go up about $1.50. (BTW, this Dodge doesn't get 40MPG!) Ah, well - I love it anyway. It has a silver aluminum shell on it, now.

Well, that's the journey down the used car lot in my head. Hope you enjoyed it.

What have you driven over the years?