Cars I've Known Revision Date 03.13.2024

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I've always loved cars.

Join me for my stories of cars I've owned, loved, been acquainted with, and/or coveted throughout my life.

In chronological order... [more will be linked to stories in the future...]

• 1954 Chevrolet Bel-Air: [drove] 4-door, "Solid Horizon Blue," Straight-6 "Blue Flame 120," PowerGlide 2-speed automatic. Learned to drive in this car, sitting on my dad's lap.

• 1963 Chevrolet Impala: [drove] 4-door, "Ermine White," red interior, V-8, 283 cu.in., 180 hp, PowerGlide 2-speed automatic. Got my license in this car. Could back it into our garage. Dad never could.

• 1952 Ford: [rode in and repaired] flat-head V-8, automatic... Roy's Dad's car, then Roy's. Taught ourselves how to replace a blown head gasket ourselves. [I figured out we could actually do it, and we did!]

• 1959 Volkswagen: [rode in] flat-4, air-cooled, gray, Roy's Dad's, then Roy's. Lots of things wore out on it, but it almost always got us where we wanted to go, and got about 35 mpg, too.

• 1963 Volkswagen Bug: [rode in and drove] flat-4, air-cooled... The Wagner's car, Burkhardt and Wilfreid's. Three guys and a camping trip into Canada.

• 1963 Chevrolet Impala Super-Sport Convertible 2-door: [coveted, drooled on] 327 cu.in., white, red interior, 4-speed manual. On a used-car lot in Troy, NY.

• 1947 Plymouth: [rode in, drove a little] gray, 4-door, 3-speed on the column. fraternity car. a.k.a., the Shit-Box. It was. Could see the road through the floorboards. NOT a chick-magnet.

• 1952 Buick: Alex Teslik's car; 4-door, straight-8, automatic. [rode in]. Built like a battleship. He was once involved in a minor fender-bender on an icy road in Troy, NY. Least damaged of three cars.

• Back to the 1963 Chevy Impala at college... [drove for a year or two]

• 1969 Chevrolet Corvette: [first car owned] 2-door coupe, blue/blue, 427 cu.in., 390 hp, [10.25:1 compression, 3.08: rear axle,] 4-speed. 42,000 miles on original clutch and brake pads. Really! 12 mpg when premium could be had [for a while] at 29.9 cents per gallon [Getty Gas]. 20 gallon tank... $6 from empty to full! Those were the days!

• 1967 Pontiac LeMans: [rode in, drove, owned] 2-door, dark green/black, Overhead Cam 250 cid Straight-Six [wife's car... many stories... ]

• 1963 BMW Bavaria: [owned] 4-door, Burgundy/brown leather, 6-cyl, "stealth car." The faster it went, the smoother it drove. But expensive to keep!

• 1969 Fiat Spyder: [owned] 2-door convertible, 4-cyl, twin-Overhead cam. Piece of Crap. Large Mistake, but a fun drive for a few months.

• 1973 Mazda RX/2: [owned] 2-door?, two-rotor Wankel engine, 90hp at about 7,000 rpm. 15 mpg bat-out-of-hell car, just before the 1973 gas crunch. Oops...

• 1977 Pontiac Ventura: [rode in, co-owned] 2-door car for wife. GM "uneven-fire V6 piece-of-crap engine. Optional handling package provided really fast steering and really flat cornering.

• 1982 Isuzu I-Mark: [owned] 4-door, 1.8 liter Diesel. 60hp at 6,000 rpm. 33 mpg in rush-hour commute traffic. Hauled tons of camping gear on roof rack. 72,000 on original clutch.

• 1969 Chevrolet Corvette: [owned] 2-door hardtop, "arrest-me orange," black interior. Mid-Life/Post-Divorce car... 350 cid engine, 350 hp, close-ratio 4-speed, [11:1 compression, 3.70 rear axle], rubber in four gears with power-shifting. Rock solid. Production Prototype engine [discovered by the guy I sold it to...] extremely powerful and bullet-proof engine. Sold at 72,000 miles or so in late 2003.
  [See also:] "Dan started looking for a nice original chrome-bumper C3 to use as a driver. He found an ultra-clean low-miles '69 350/350hp coupe in Monaco Orange over black vinyl." (That was my car!)

• 1977 Pontiac Taurus: [owned] 4-door sedan, 3.0 liter engine, automatic!, full power. First commute car I ever had with a/c and power windows. Sold at 33,000 miles in late 2003.

• 1978 Toyota Camry: [ride in, drive rarely] for new wife. 4-door, V-6, full leather and power everything. Super smooth and quiet, but geared to accelerate like all get-out. Taurus got slightly better highway mileage at the cost of lower acceleration [it had a longer final gear ratio.]

• 2004 Toyota Prius: [own] 4-door hybrid drive. 4-cylinder engine plus two motor/generators and a big battery. 42-44 mpg around town. Towed a small trailer across the US five time at about 33-35 mpg!

• 2012 Toyota Prius V: [joint ownership and driving] 4-door hybrid drive. A bigger 4-cylinder engine plus two motor/generators and a bigger battery. 40 mpg around town. But can it tow a trailer??? It's Claudia's daily driver and 'only' 12 years old, as of 2024...

• Update Time!... as of 'today,' 03.13.2024... Last summer, I had an accident, hitting another car at an intersection. The other car was scraped up on its right-rear bumper and quarter-panel, but my '04 Prius took the harder hit.
  
  While my car was driveable (it made it home and to the body shop a few days later, with no noticeable problems, other than having to tie-wrap some of the front bumper up to the frame to keep it from dragging on pavement...), there was apparently enough damage to the frame to make the insurance company deem it to be 'totaled.'
  
  So, while it didn't make it to its 20th 'anniversary,' as I'd hoped, it got pretty close, and I'd been thinking/planning to trade it on a new model on that anniversary, anyway. Just on "General Principles," as we used to say. The car was in great condition, still turned about 40 mpg, cornered like it was on rails and NO major parts or systems had failed or shown any signs of wearing out, so that's why it wans't even a slam-dunk decision to trade it in.
  
  Previously, the only time I ever wanted to trade or sell was when a car became unreliable or too expensive to maintain or just wasn't fun to drive any more. That was not the case with the '04 at all.
  
  But the collision was. So,now I needed/wanted a replacement. Consider, too, that this year, 2024, I turn 79 in November, and since I drove and enjoyed my last car for nearly 20 years, we discussed the chances that the '04's replacement would, most likely, be my Last Car that I ever buy. So, we agreed that, money permitting, I would be authorized to go upscale on my selection of the replacement. And I did.
  
  So, I trotted down (up) to the dealer where we've had both our cars serviced since 2005 and I collected info on the newest models.
  Turned out, that in the post-Pandemic era, parts shortages, particularly system control chips, really impacted manufacturing, hence deliveries of new models, so putting in an order came with a 'prediction' that delivery could be anywhere from 1-2 months up to 6 or more.
  
  But, hey, I was not interested in any other make or model, so I put in an order for a new Prius. Hilariously, depending on actual manufacturing scheduling, I might get a 2023 OR 2024!
  
  I compared models, options and features and selected the Limited version with 'only' 2-wheel drive. 4WD was available, after a fashion, but the extra weight cost some mpg's, so that choice fell off.
  
  So, the XLE Limited paperwork went in and the waiting began. Oh, one other thing... the choice of exterior paint was a consideration, and due to the hot summers here, I chose a near-white color. Soon after, we began to notice how many other cars on the local roads were white, too! There were so many that that game wore out quickly.
  
  The car finally arrived around September, I think, and after some dealer-upselling of features and services, the new Prius was ours and on the road. With an 11-gallon tank and estimated 52 mpg, its driving range was about 570+ miles! Since, in retirement, my yearly driving was nowhere near the 'national average of 12-20,000 miles per year, it looked like I'd be visiting gas stations about 4-5 times in the next year.
  
  Then I damaged my right shoulder, requiring a complete rotator cuf replacement, and post-op the doc's rules were 'no driving for two months.' I let my insurance company know that, and I think it knocked my premium down a bit, too. Now, since a few weeks ago, I'm driving again, with no problems, other than noticing that the steering effort for MY car is a Lot Less than that for the Prius V that Claudia drives!
  
  Well, I don't know if there will be any planned updates to this file for a while (barring you-know-whats...) but, hey, I love the new car. ps... the Owner's manual is 600 pages thick and the manual for the display screen on the dash is "only" 200 pages. I think it'll take a few thousand miles before I understand half of each. Happy Motoring, all!

• Who knows what's next... plug-in hybrid? Jet-ski? Watch this space.