Car Love: Sleds That I've Owned
List 'em up.
Me?
57 VW bug - classic 6v system that required an extra flashlight for night driving.
62 Chevy Impala - hooked up the winshield wiper pump to dispense liquor in the glovebox. made the Clackamas/coast range/Mt.St.Helens rounds blazing away.
69 Datsun 2000 (sold 1974) source of several tickets and high speed chases leading to bench warrants.
69 Datsun 2000 (bought 1985, sold 1990) commuter car for first job, ran that thing up too many cascade logging roads.
69 BMW 2002 (sold 1986) whee, but sucked bad for snow. kept a down sleeping bag in the backseat for the long drives back from Crustal.
67 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT (sold 1988?) more whee. Lots of tweezing on those cars.
1992 Toyota Corolla AllTrac awesome car, drove all over WA/OR/BC/ID/MT/WY skiing and camping back when Benny was still at the X desk.
66 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT rebuilt the weber carbs, gapped the points and plugs too many times. 1 headgasket so far. pulled the trans myself and took it in for rebuild. Vroom.
1994 Toyota 4x4 Truck (4 cylinder, preTacoma) The tanklette. Horrible in snow. No radio, no power assist steering. the basic.
1999 Audi A4 Avant 2.8 manual Brought my kids home from the hospital in that sled. has 198k on it now. Wonderful car. Everything still works. Daily commuter.
2003 Audi Allroad manual. Main ski sled for many years.
2006 Volvo V70 R manual. Replaced the allroad after the ar went over 120k. OK car, drives like a turbocharged cereal box with wheels.
2006 Audi S4 Avant manual. Oh my - best car I've evah driven. VeeeeROOOOOOOOOM.
Car Love: Sleds That I've Owned
'76 Datsun b-210; what a piece of shit. Paid $50 for it in '82; it lasted one year.
'68 Mercury Cougar; my high-school sweetie loved the back seat. Unibody construction, so as it rusted, it started to twist. It took a lot of strength to keep the wheel from whipping hard left into traffic. It's rusting in a field somewhere in MN.
'76 Chevy Malibu; college car. Burned more oil than gas.
'72 Impala; "the Impaler", college car. We once fit an entire rugby side, 15 guys, into it on the way home from the bars. Total tank; had to start it with a screwdriver in the spot where the key once went. Caught on fire in '86.
'81 Civic (cvcc?) Some asshole punched out the rear window one night, so I replaced it with plexiglass. Had an unloaded flatbed semi cut too close while trying to park; he ran over the front end.
'82 Subaru something-or-other. Great for winters, shitty engine.
'87 Toyota van; awesome for camping, but semis would pass me on hills. Stolen in St. Paul; got it back three days later trashed.
'91 Toyota Previa; loved that thing. All wheel drive, tons of space. Drove it to over 200k, then the weird oil-injector thingy got all fucked up.
2001 Tundra; solid as hell. I miss it.
2007 Toyota Yaris; awesome little commuter, surprisingly fun to drive. If I lived in a city, I would have kept it.
2011 Tundra; total workhorse. Great for hauling shit, camping, etc. With luck, the last pickup I'll ever need.
Car Love: Sleds That I've Owned
This is fun. In order of appearance.
88 Ford Tempo auto: Crimson felt interior. 0 - 60 in 24 seconds. Heavy D's Peaceful Journey tape stuck in the deck. It was the overweight lover or nothing.
85 Honda Spree. Splashed red paint a over it and restenciled the name to The Killing Spree. Crashed it into my friends garage in Bonney Lake and gave it to him as tribute.
89 Toyota Tercel manual: Hammered the eternal piss out if that thing, dropping the clutch on the freeway. Drove it to Mexico straight from Seattle in high school more than once and it never cared. It ran out of gas out in bumblefuck Enumclaw one day and I knew it wouldn't pass emissions so it's probably still where it died. Got a ride from a nice Indian fellow.
2002 VW Passat 4motion V6 auto: put tons of miles on her. Good in snow, seats like lazy boys, big interior, great car.
1972 Bronco, tons of upgrades, 341. I loved her and will get her back. Used to blow the doors off ricers off the line. Rebuilt engine from ground up and only had 35k on the new one. Took it skiing a few times with no doors. Got a little nippy going through the pass, huh Har?
2004 Suby STi manual. 300 horses turbo charged, light as a feather. Few sane upgrades. On railroad tracks. No feel. Faster than greased snot on a hot tin roof. Drove it a year then sold it to some young guy who was going to kill the tranny in 6 months.
2008 BMW M3 4.0L V8 manual. As advertised. Visceral. More fun than I could have on the road as the back wanted to break free and I wanted to let it more than I could.
Currently own:
2009 VW Tiguan 2.0T: This thing was built in conjunction with H&R performance so it's slightly lowered. Still has plenty of clearance but drives like a car. Some electrical gremlins but good little car for hauling shit around. With the rocket box I can move nearly everything but I think this one is going to way of the dodo for a Cruiser, Lexus LX or Sequoia.
B6 S4 Avant 4.2L manual: 69k on the odo. Great mix of practicality (minus the mileage) and fun. Upgraded suspension. Don't need first gear. Going to keep it until it dies, but like Busters Audi's, I expect high miles with few problems on this engine.