Here is a list of vehicles that I have owned, driven or worked on for extended periods of my life:
1969 Ford Galaxy
I never actually got to drive this vehicle. My sister drove it as her first car. It was a bomber. Bright red but a 4 door. 390 cubic inches of gas burning ugly. She ran it low on oil and parked it round the side of my parents house. I cut my mechanical teeth on dismantling the engine. Sadly the head gasket had gone and it had antifreeze in the back cylinder on the passengers side. The engine shop said the block was too far gone and that was the end of that car. I had even built an A-frame lift out of landscaping timbers and pulled the engine out using a come-along. A lot of work for nothing but the learning experience.
1972 Cadillac Coupe DeVille
I actually got to drive this vehicle for a while. 1986 my senior year I cleaned up the car and painted the multiple rust spots with various different colors of primer. I distinctly remember the olive colored primer that clashed violently with the light metallic blue that came from the factory. I armoralled the front white leather bench seat once and since seatbelts were not really mandatory, I ended up in the passenger seat on the first left turn! My sister had a hand in ending this vehicle too. She pulled out of a K-mart driveway and stalled the car across 2 lanes of a 4 lane road. The idiot in the VW rabbit made no attempt to go around the vehicle and destroyed her vehicle, crushing the front end completely while only damaging the cover of the rear wheel on the Caddy. It also bent the rim and probably shortened the life of the axle. Since the transmission died the next month we will never know, but she drove it home that day.
1978 Audi Fox
If you have never heard of this vehicle, you haven’t missed much. I purchased this as a bank repo from my best friends Dad who worked at the bank. $500 seemed like it was too good to be true. Two days later when it cost $350 to get the shifter linkage bushings replaced I understood why. This was my first stick shift vehicle, and it would not be the last. It was an awesome little vehicle but really spartan and very much on the utilitarian side of Audi’s product range. It had an inline 4 cylinder engine with mechanical fuel injection. It was reliable after I replaced the battery, flushed the cooling system and replaced the thermostat. It ran beautifully till I took it to the redline racing a motorcycle back from Austin. I ended up blowing the motor by throwing a rod out the side of the block. A good buddy from school had seen another one at an auction that had not sold. He said if we towed it off we could keep it. I didn’t know how legal it was but we went and collected it with the permission of the land owner and towed it with a rope 40 mile back to my house. I pulled the engines. Since I no longer had the landscape A-frame engine puller I ended up standing in the engine compartment and physically picking up the block and putting on top of my toolbox. (possibly the beginning of my lower back issues). After getting it back together I kept it going for another year before selling it to a guy who stiffed me for the last $250.
1965 Dodge Sweptline Longbed
This truck was barely a vehicle. Painted black with a roller, long bed with mostly bald tires. Straight 6 engine, the only accessory was an alternator. No Air Conditioning, no radio, no power locks, no power windows. NOTHING. What it did have was a leaking gas tank behind the seat in the cab of the truck which always made me dizzy when driving. I ended up spinning a bearing in it and replacing it in the parking lot of an apartment complex. Someone offered me $500 because he figured it had a lot of power due to the massive tires it had on it. Actually it only had them on because a friend had given them to me since they were almost bald but still better than the dry rotted ones that came on it. That truck was solid as a rock but not worth fixing. Its only upside was it could carry a 4×8 in the bed between the wheels with the tailgate closed. Unfortunately that mean’t everyone asked me to help them move.
1974 Chevrolet K5 Blazer
I loved this vehicle and still own it to this day! Unlike the subsequent years, this “new body style” Blazer had a removable top that came off from the windshield back. The US gov’t in it’s infinite wisdom (probably caused by self-serving actions of the Me generation) decided to outlaw all convertibles in 1975. They weren’t re-introduced till some time in the 1990’s. When I got the truck it was in pretty good shape but was nothing special. I was working at a parts store at the time and one of the guys said he had a friend who could cut me a good deal on a lift and some wheels. That ended up being a complete circus with the guy almost stealing the truck and when i got it back it had the WORST lift on it, that basically destroyed the front frame of the truck and a Horrible paint job in a crappy color with cheap wheels but nice tires. The steering was dangerous due to not being able to use the sway bar and the angles of the kingpins were way off. I have enjoyed the truck but since that time. It has never been “right” and has always been a project. I tend to finish it in the next 5 years.
1980 Nissan 300zx Turbo
Speaking of vehicles that were never “right”. I bought this car with a re-conditioned title. It was red with T tops, fast and cool as hell. I couldn’t even afford to fix the few things that needed fixing. The speedometer sending unit cost me $250 which was insane for a $3,000 car driven by a college kid. It didn’t last long and the turbo actually let go as I drove it in to trade it for the S10 blazer. The dealer wasn’t happy.
1982 Chevrolet S10 Blazer
I enjoyed this vehicle, it was my first undamaged “reliable” vehicle. Sadly 2 months after I bought it and one week after I had moved out of my home and separated from my newly married soon to be ex. (long story), the transmission gave up. While it was in the tranny shop someone broke in and stole my stereo. In the meantime I was living back with my parents and riding my bicycle 27 miles one way to UTSA and then another 10 miles to my job before returning the 37 miles back to my parents. Once I got it back it was a work horse. I literally lived in it for a few weeks between apartments etc. After buying a boat, I realized it was struggling to pull it. I ended up rebuilding the engine in the garage of our duplex. It ran and pulled the boat easily. Unfortunately it could NOT STOP the boat. Scared the hell out of me. We ended up getting the 1997 Ford Expedition for my girlfriend/soon to be ex #2 (long and painful story) to pull the boat. I sold the Blazer to one of my College room mates for a low price. He ended up destroying it by running a 4 way stop sign and T-boning a minivan.
1984 Nissan 300zx non-turbo
I bought this vehicle from one of the owners of the software company I was working at. While it was pristine when I bought it. I know for a fact it had been wrecked more than once by an old drunk guy coming back from a strip joint high on cocaine. I never really liked the color but I loved the car. I just got it back from my parents. I ended up give it to them because my mother was so mad that one of my “friends” from high school had sold them a vehicle and never given them the title because he hand’t paid it off (long and expensive story). It is currently sitting in front of my house waiting in line to be worked on like the rest of the non-running group.
1992 Nissan 300Z non-turbo
This was my only real sports car. It was a complete rocket sled! If it even smelled like rain the back end would spin out. I loved this vehicle. I bought it from a college buddy, he had added sound dampening and a CD changer. Cutting edge sweetness. I would drive it down 410 at ridiculous speeds while on the phone and looking up crap on my laptop, all while shifting and trying not to spill the long neck. No cup holders, ridiculous. I enjoyed it for many years until reality caught up. After realizing the baby seat could not go in the passenger seat because of the airbag, she had to go (car not baby). After changing the clutch and the timing belt, about 40 hours of my slow ass labor; I sold her at a great discount to one of my developers. Unfortunately he spun out of 410 and was hit head on by an uninsured illegal alien. He got so much more money from his insurance than he had paid for the car, he even gave me some. Good dude.
1999 BWW 735IL
This was my “family car”. Since the baby seat could not go in the passenger seat of the Z. I found it on Craigs list from a home based used car dealer. It was pretty worn down and didn’t have the perfection it once had. What it did have was absolutely amazing sound deadening and a smooth ride. Within the first month I had replaced the Battery, a massive tractor like think under the back seat and the fuel pump which BMW was kind enough to make a panel for to access without removing the fuel tank. I had a good life. I drove it to Houston, to Edinburgh and managed to horrify my friends by actually installing a tow ball ;-). It died like many other vehicles from neglect. The transmission started slipping after my ex decided to lend it to the pizza delivery drivers. (Huge surprise). After then it sat in the front yard for 4 years while we got divorced. She even decided she wanted it in the divorce. So it sat there for another 3 years until I donated it to KLRN.
1998 Ford Expedition Eddie Bauer Edition
This was actually the vehicle I bough the girls mother when we sold her 300z and needed a new tow vehicle for the boat. Sweet ride with leather interior all the options including a power sunroof. My sister killed it the first time when I lent it to her while she was in town and she ran it out of oil. I pulled the engine myself and had it rebuilt. I ended up putting a 3 inch body lift on it just so I could reach the back bolts on the engine to re-install the engine. My eldest daughter drove it for about 3 years to high school and taking her sister places. The engine mysteriously locked up and the mechanic said there was no oil in it. I still have it and it is in line for another rebuild.
1997 Mercury Mountaineer
I was able to buy this suv for a song from one of my band mates. He really did me a favor. It had a Ton of power in a small package. 5L engine in a small bronco size suv. Almost nothing wrong with that vehicle. The paint was a little worn and the rear windows needed the motors rebuilt with new plastic rollers but that was a quick job. I thoroughly enjoyed that truck. When Yvonne’s sons were turning 16 she wanted to offer it to them, which we did but their dad bought them trucks so they offered it to their cousin who managed to kill the transmission in about 6 months.
1999* Chevrolet Silverado K1500 Pickup
* This vehicle was built and sold as a 1999 vehicle but it is in the “old” body style which supposedly was only built till 1998. The new body which started in 1999 did not include this vehicle. Therefore anytime I am looking for parts I need to list the vehicle as a 1998.
Mileage 241,345 as of 9/29/21
I got this vehicle as a gift / payment from a friend that I did a favor for. One of my college room mates moved from Texas to Idaho and I drove the contents of his storage compartment up to him in a rental truck. He was originally selling the truck but after I managed to bend the bumper and passenger fender by driving into my house (long story) he told me I could keep it after I fixed it. A very kind offer, I gladly accepted. I have always wanted another truck, I had one for a few months after high school and I have missed having it. I really love it.
I’ve kept it going over the years. I replaced the starter with the previous owner but that ended up being a problem with the battery cables. I had to replace the passenger front fender, grill, and front bumper from misjudging just how wide the turning radius is when turning around the oak by the garage. I have replace a leaking A/C compressor (twice) and need to do it again. I changed the rear brake shoes and cylinders. I replaced the rotors and pads up front. Two expensive tires and a battery needed replacement, and all the lights changed out to LEDs. Numerous oil changes have been done. I added a touch screen, bluetooth, double din, stereo, removed a single din worthless stereo and a separate cd player and replaced it with a cubby hole. I added new speakers and a powered sub. I put a tool box in the bed. I have replaced the pins and bushings in both doors, the bushings on the lock mechanisms on both doors and the passenger sided needs it again. The inner door panel has been replaced once on the drivers side, but it still gets stuck and is breaking again. I am going to replace it with some sound deadening backed aluminum blacked out diamond plate. The huge project was when after 240k miles the transmission exploded. It took me 10 months and probably $2000 but I learned how and rebuilt it myself from scratch along with the transfer case and the drive shafts. As you can tell I like this truck. I will continue working on it, and hope to get “ahead” of maintenance and into some upgrades with engine, paint and interior projects.
