Car Love: Sleds That I've Owned
02 Honda CRV - coming up on 300k miles, still runs great, had it since 40k and except for the CV/struts once (rallying down dirt roads) only a couple hundred dollars in unscheduled maintenance. I'm not kind to it either. Cavernous inside yet still averages 25+mpg, rear tire on the back gives you the best bike carrier design for a single bike (or two). Good offroad-light capabilities, pretty decent in snow. The post-06 ones are garbage though. They totally neutered this vehicle as an SUV-sport utility vehicle. Its now a small minivan like the rest of the small 'SUVs' (except the Forester). Pissed the 02-06 won't be around much longer under 100k.
CAR LOVE: SLEDS THAT I'VE OWNED
Guess I should apologize up front for oversharing, but this thread was chewing at the bone.
Dad was a car guy and went to a diesel mech tech school before joining the Navy. He was pretty knowledgeable and good with a wrench. So the (anything with an engine) exposure was pretty good from a young age.
57 VW Beetle - some funky white/gray - First family car I can remember - used
59 2dr Chevy Impala - Black with huge wings and bright red leather interior – used from an aunt
64 4dr Ford Falcon - Green - new company car
64.5 2dr Corvair - Maroon with the lip over the back window - used
Mom’s dd - I was allowed to sit on the tunnel and shift when Dad drove. The throw was at least 14”.
67 2dr Buick LeSabre - Dark Greenish gun metal gray - new
Traveled for a month from NJ to CA and back (maternal side of the family all live on the wrong coast).Lots of planning went into this adventure and it all focused around the car. (first visit of 21 to Jackson)
69 Buick Electra 225 – New/Dark Green
What a whale – car almost burnt to the ground the first day in the driveway. I was playing with everything you could turn on and off in the cockpit and some how the wiring harness shorted and caught on fire. Car went back to the dealer for almost a month.
63 Ford Econoline telephone truck - 3spd on the column.
Must have driven that thing 20m up and down the driveway. At 15, I would wait for the rents to go off to work (I made out like I was off to school, but walk around the block and then wait behind our garage) and drive it to school. Drove it most of my freshman year of high school until one day (I sometimes drove home for lunch) Dad came home from work to check on some mail he was expecting and we passed each other on the road. It’s pretty funny now, but it wasn’t so funny then.
1966 Mustang Coupe – 289/3spd auto - baby blue with black interior - 7k miles ($2200)
I was allowed to buy my first car a year before I could legally drive. Belonged to a silver spooned distant cousin that was off to college and couldn’t take it with him - too good to pass up. Another 20m 200’ at a time. Had to put at least 10 coats of wax on it. Dad thought I was going to rub the paint off.
A senior citizen ran over the nose of the car and pushed me into a bus while making a left into (me) on-coming traffic. Fixed up the Stang, but she was never the same.
66 Mustang GT fastback 4spd manual – ($450).
Found it melting into the ground behind some weeds alongside of a highway. Clutch linkage had imploded and the owner gave up on it. I did a complete frame up restoration and had it finished with 7 coats of starfire black lacquer.
Two months later while driving on the GSP at 2am, the front u-joint gave way so I pull over to the shoulder alongside a 10’ high concrete retaining wall. Just long enough for me to turn the flashers on and fall asleep, a girl stoned out of her mind hits my stationary car at 70+ miles an hour. My car spun and hit the wall a bunch of times. The girl was so rocked she never knew she hit me and continued to drive another half mile with the front end of her car missing. Nice lawsuit got me off to a good start out of high school.
1976 Cadillac Coupe DeVille – Dark Blue/light blue leather
The car is 3 weeks old and sitting in the single car garage that dad had to extend so the car would fit. Dad is in vegas so a friend and I push the caddy down 200 foot of drive and out into a narrow street without the aid of power steering or brakes. Quietly start the car and motor off. 10 blocks from the house I’m racing down a street with cars parked on both sides and enough road for 1.5 caddies. A drunk with 3 other people in the car backs out of a driveway between two parked cars without looking. I take out his car, a parked car to the right and nose dive into a 30” maple. The steering column went up and over me instead of through me. Next morning, Mom opens the garage door to get the car and take my sister to girl scouts. Nuff said
1975 Ford Series 500 20’ Stake-body 5 ton truck – red/new
I’m moving Dad’s attorney into a new house and I got his two kids in the cab. I’m pulling away from a traffic signal in a rain storm, spinning the dually’s with every slammed gear change and popped clutch. I just grab 4th and out of a shopping mall parking lot and across four lanes of road advances a light green 1963 4dr Buick Skylark with a senior couple in it. The car then comes to a complete stop. I two foot the brake pedal, but it is too late. Truck climbs into the back seat of the car. The elder man behind the wheel suffered a heart attack as the car was coming out of the lot and died on the spot where the car came to a stop.
1971 Triumph Trident T150 750 Triple – imported from Italy (used - $1,270).
My first transportation after joining the Army. Quite the first motorcycle. But I was(again) surrounded with very knowledge types who exposed me to what is now MotoGP and the US version of two wheeled roadracing. I was just a fan at this point. I bought a used Honda Elsinore 250 and tried my hand at motorcross the summer of 77.
1971Plymouth GTX - blue with the 440 slap stick package on Cragars - 50’s in the rear and 60’s up front. ($4700)
Winter was way too cold for the bike and I was living 90 miles from base with a very hot (under-aged) blonde chic with small titties and a nice bumper (her father liked me) who happened to be queen of the multi-orgasm. I picked up another stripe which made me eligible and got the nod into ranger school late winter 78 and was not allowed to take the car. I left it with a bff bunkmate with strict instructions that no one but him could use it. About 3 weeks after I leave, my parents get a phone call from the police asking if they knew where I was (I was not allowed to share, they only knew that I was TDY). The car was used in an armed robbery of a restaurant on an indian reservation in Oklahoma. I eventually get it back and drive it another two years. I ETS in 1980 still driving the GTX, but someone had pulled out the harness while the car was impounded and I was never able to get right. Finally gave up after replacing everything I could think of but the wiring harness itself and sold it for($850).
1968 MGB-GT – blue - wire wheels/hydraulic carburetors/lucas electrics ($675)
Absolutely hated this car. So many bads to list. Nicest feature was that I could bump start by myself. Studded snows made it an okay ski car but lacked ground clearance.
1979 Suzuki GS750 – new – ($2300?)
Crashed it on the street 3 or 4 times and finally wired it up and put number plates on it to go club racing in the NE. Mostly Bryar/Bridgehampton/Pocono/Summit Point.Slowly evolved to a full stage4 Yoshimura East SB. Not the growler you want to learn to go fast on. Was on my head to frequently. But really vied for the“I’ve got a bigger dick than you” category. Truth; there was an open class in that era but a 750 could keep up (and pass), especially at the tighter venues because the bigger pigs could not turn.
1974 FordEconoline E250 SuperVan – light (puke) green/all windows (370k miles)
First race track transportation. I lived in it (from Thursday to Monday) for almost 6 years, 20 weekends a year. A real love hate relationship. What a rattle trap,especially with 1000lbs of tools, gas, spares, bike and the ever present hibachi on board. 3 engines and every other component at least once; I probably could dis-assemble it blind folded.
1971 Ford Torino – Green/2dr - 1st Wife’scar
Very sound mechanically, but everything that could fall off did fall off. Mirrors,door handles, trim, etc..
1983 Yamaha FZR1000
1984 Yamaha RZ350
Listening to some advice from sage journeyman, I did two years in the production classes, running both bikes. The 350 was really a waste of time. I was too heavy to be competitive against midgets. Keeping up with guys weighing 75lbs less than you wasn’t easy. But, I gained a lot of experience on the 2 stroke, which is like a unicycle compared to a bicycle. And I was getting in a lot more competitive miles since I was not constantly turning wrenches (superbike) to keep things running. To add, this setup was much more affordable and I had sponsorship help out of Yamaha of Brookline.
1984 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale – Baby Blue/2dr – new
First ever new car. 3500lbs of real steel – what a beast. I stiffened the springs and put after-market shocks in it. Sprinkled a few goodies in the engine compartment. Four good years and then a senators son hit me with dad’s Cadillac coming around a blind curve. Opened up the Olds like a can opener. A lesser car and I would not be here to tell about it. I could bounce the car off of unfettered snow banks - studded snows and plenty of clearance. Air adjustable rancheros and 4 80lb bags of motarmix - or a full compliment of passengers.
1985 Yamaha RZ500R
This was hard to get; not imported to the US; only 135 made. I didn’t have a deep enough resume to land a TZ500 and this was the next best thing. I was able to keep up at national events and managed to finish in the top 10 in my 2nd year. Waded it up and took it home in a basket from the season finale at the end of my third year.
1986TZ500 OW81
Impressed enough people to score this two year old. If I could pay for the bike ($28k),Yamaha of Brookline would hook me up for the season (slicks/brakepads/tolls/track&travel fuel). I borrowed from every family member and friend I had. I made 40k racing the season of 88. I was broke at the end, but paid everyone back accept my parents.
Badly hurt in 89 and then again in 91 and 93 (skiing). I dabbled in snowmobile and ice racing as rehabs and did a year of Saab Series open wheel and a bunch of weekends in a formula V. Closed out my carrier racing historic bikes for a local gear head with a collection until I blew up everything he wanted to race at the end of 96.
