When we were young and stupid and full of fun

I think it was Maine Coon who brought up the subject of his early Malibu so lets drift on a new string.
It will be interesting to see what folks had. Sports cars are cool also in addition to muscle cars . Pictures
would even be cooler if you can do em.

Maine Coon

Malibu 283, 4 speed

Zed

Road Runner 383, 4 barrel, 4 speed. Posi
Straight line nothing more, no brakes, no turning, but boy could it grind tires and a very cute horn. This car loved cops. Another time.


Miata MX5
Miata sleeper Fully built down to the putting in Poly bushings, bilsteins, supercharger, Intercooler the size of a semi radiator, 300 horse but to keep
the tranny in one piece you had to wait to push the gas hard til second gear. I use to love to eat 5 litre mustangs on the straight or the curve.
Fun on a curvy road to let them catch up to you on a curve and at the stright watch there eyes as I use to pull away. Body had bad paint and it
looked like a standard your girl friend could drive. Cops wouldn't look twice at it. Put 25K in that car but when I met my wife she put her fingernails
into the armrests so I figured it was time for it to go and sold it to a mechanic friend of mine who wouldn't blow it up. I guess I had the first Rust
rod miata. Didn't do well with the girls except to scare them and not enough bling to attract them other than to say isn't that cute like girls say
about all miatas.



Many of us must have stories like this and we some of us do like cars so let em rip.

Z

Other than the Corvette I had a few others. One of may favorites was my '67 GTX, auto, 440 super commando with the 3:73 Dana rear. That thing could lay down rubber all day long. At 30mph if I dropped it a gear and hammered it, it would start spinning them again. Forget trying to drive it on wet roads. You couldn't leave a light without it going sideways........

I also had a 68 Firebird, 400, 4 gear with 4:11's that was pretty insane however the top speed with those gears was only about 70MPH.....jajaja. Talk about a gas guzzler.

1948 Chevy pick up. Straight six. Windshield wipers worked by vacuum, didn't work well when accelerating up a hill. Cost: $150usd

1954 Jaguar XK 120 that I completely restored including rebuilding the engine complete, rewiring, new exhaust, all body work, new seats, new top. I did have someone else paint it for me.

1964 Ford Galaxie 500 Convertible - Demo - 302 V8

1966 Buick LeSabre Conv - Midnight Blue - White top - Dove Interior

New 1968 Jaguar XKE - British Racing Green - Tan top - Tan seats

1969 Buick Electra 225 - Brown

1972 Buick Electra 225

1978 Ford Thuderbird - Brown - Tan interior - 302 V8

1989 Ford Thiunderbird - 302 V8

1994 Ford Thunderbird - 302 V8

1998 Ford F 150 XLT - 351 V8 - Green - Two tone - 4 WF - Fully loaded - Power everything

Best cars that I ever owned were Fords, no question about it. Little to no maintenance.

Next car: Cadillac SRX - 3 years old

64T-Bird 390
68 F-250 390 just like Mr.Majestyk's and driven the same way.

50 Henry-J...wanted to get a V8 in that so bad....never happened
51 Nash Ambasador....had a bed roll to cover the fold down back seats....wild
2000 Mercedes SLK supercharged.....now that was a fun car to drive...hardtop convertible

seisdedos wrote:1948 Chevy pick up. Straight six. Windshield wipers worked by vacuum, didn't work well when accelerating up a hill. Cost: $150usd

Nice......I would love to have that now a days. I had a few beater Corvettes (mid 70's models) with the vacuum operated pop up headlights. What a pain in the ass they were. The good thing was that the vacuum held them down so if it failed they at least popped up and you could still drive at night. They had a separate vacuum chamber for each light which is why you would see a few "one eyed" corvettes driving around during the day.

johninajijic wrote:1954 Jaguar XK 120 that I completely restored including rebuilding the engine complete, rewiring, new exhaust, all body work, new seats, new top. I did have someone else paint it for me.

1964 Ford Galaxie 500 Convertible - Demo - 302 V8

1966 Buick LeSabre Conv - Midnight Blue - White top - Dove Interior

New 1968 Jaguar XKE - British Racing Green - Tan top - Tan seats

1969 Buick Electra 225 - Brown

1972 Buick Electra 225

1978 Ford Thuderbird - Brown - Tan interior - 302 V8

1989 Ford Thiunderbird - 302 V8

1994 Ford Thunderbird - 302 V8

1998 Ford F 150 XLT - 351 V8 - Green - Two tone - 4 WF - Fully loaded - Power everything

Best cars that I ever owned were Fords, no question about it. Little to no maintenance.

Next car: Cadillac SRX - 3 years old

Love the '68 XKE John. Also known as the "Shaguar"........

I didn't own one, unfortunately. Too poor. I did, however, have a 1953 Harley K Model (the precursor to the Sportster) flat head motorcycle that I restored and rode to college for two years. Prior to that I had several British bikes, a BSA and a Matchless. Both were great rides.

My brother was the real motorhead. He took an old Crosley station wagon, put it on an Olds frame with a tricked out Olds V8 which I think was bored out and sleeved pretty close to 400 cubes. Six dueces on top and an Isky cam, ported, polished, oversized valves and straight pipes. That mother could really run! I got to help work on it.

The fifties and sixties before that stupid war in Vietnam were the best of times for me. Not a lot of money but a lot of fun.

Ok, I'm still young, but when I was younger - 21-24 years old, I had a 1954 Chevy 2-door sedan with 3 on the tree. Bermuda green with chrome and white wall tires.

I loved that car.

seisdedos wrote:1948 Chevy pick up. Straight six. Windshield wipers worked by vacuum, didn't work well when accelerating up a hill. Cost: $150usd

My '52 cost me $65 off a used car lot with payments. I was on the GI Bill going to the U of Oregon in Eugene about 1967

Favorite was a 1955 Chev Sedan Delivery w/409 tri-power, B&M Hydro and 411 rearend. Cruz the drive'ins and challenge GTO's

I had a GTO, it was FAST! Four speed, burgundy with black interior, had it in Tahoe, except for the low clearance it was killer in the snow. Great car, motorheads constantly stopped me to try to buy it, finally sold it to one of them. Got about 3 mpg.
Also had a beautiful MGA that never started. But when it did, it was a blast to drive.

saege007 wrote:Ok, I'm still young, but when I was younger - 21-24 years old, I had a 1954 Chevy 2-door sedan with 3 on the tree. Bermuda green with chrome and white wall tires.

I had one but a 4door (not as cool). Took the engine out to put in my '52 GMC window van. I sold the body to a scrap yard (not a dent on it) and they came out with a fork lift, forks thru the side windows ... and threw it in a crusher

MC - My '68 Jaguar XKE was only $ 6,800.

sparks wrote:

saege007 wrote:Ok, I'm still young, but when I was younger - 21-24 years old, I had a 1954 Chevy 2-door sedan with 3 on the tree. Bermuda green with chrome and white wall tires.

I had one but a 4door (not as cool). Took the engine out to put in my '52 GMC window van. I sold the body to a scrap yard (not a dent on it) and they came out with a fork lift, forks thru the side windows ... and threw it in a crusher

Yep, that's what we did with the 4 doors too...........jaja.

First car was a 1965 Beetle while in high school and first years of University - painted it plumb crazy with a flat black hood.

Once working, bought a 1971 240Z and became hooked on Japanese sports cars. Started participating in local slalom (solo, gymkhana) events which led to a long term involvement in endurance and sprint road racing, ice racing, performance and endurance rallying. Some notables during that time was a Mazda RX3 in the Champion Spark Plug Series at Daytona (road circuit), Molyslip Endurance Series in Canada with a race prepped 240Z, Datsun 510 in the Targa Newfoundland (2005/2006).

Most relative to this area, my first trip to Mexico was in 1986 as a competitor in the CanAMex marathon car rally - an official event of the Expo 86 in Vancouver, BC. The event covered 23,000 km. in 21 days and basically followed the mountain chains from Haines, AK to Mexico City - and back to Vanouver, BC. Looking through my old notes we had a checkpoint stop at a Sheraton Hotel in downtown Guadalalara then raced down through Jocotepec through the mountains to Morelia (on the old Hyw. 2 I think), then cross country to Acapulco (and got terribly lost!!). Mexico was an interesting experience in 1986 with all of the Federales and Military out on the roads in those days trying to block the transport of guns along the Pacific Hwy. to support the war in Nicaragua.

Still have the Datsun 510 and a 1995 Nissan Skyline GT-R track car, neither of which will likely make the trip here when I move here in the fall. So it would be fun to hook up with some other motorheads and have a project to work on!! I'm still young and stupid after all these years.

God, when I was young and even more insecure than today, it was so important to have a hot car. My first car was a chopped and channeled or what ever it was called supped up 1940 Ford, moved on to 1960 Corvette, then MG-B when I live in NL and later when I lived in Bavaria (That’s an independent country between Germany and Austria, at least that’s what we told everyone) I owned a hot looking car that none of you would recognize.

Now my"NEW" car is a 2001 Ford Explorer Sport with more dents than you could imagine. And in today's climate, I am happy to have a low profile car

When I graduated from the University of Denver in 1954, my folks gave me a new Chevy somethigorother which I promptly traded for an MG-f. But it was not powerful enough for the Colorado mounties, so I traded it for a brad new Triumph TR3. Very fun car.

Years later I bought a new 1966 Corvette -- Even more fun

1963 Karmann Ghia red convertible. Made mechanics happy. Live and learn, but what a blast when it was actually running.

I didn't realize the Karmann Ghia was unreliable. Not good ole VW engineering???

Not my first vehicle but the most fun I had ~ A 1988 Bronco that I popped the back off of and drove as a convertible during the summers in the late 1990's around White Rock BC. Fabulous tailgate beach party vehicle and did I mention fun? Wish I had a pic handy. Makes me smile remembering driving it.

You must remember the good old Sand Castle contests in White Rock. Some great times at those.......

I'll probably always remember my 1994 Ford Thunderbird, not for fun, but for how strong it was. I rolled it over at 60 mph after tapping the back of two other cars. It flipped across 3 lanes of traffic ending up off the road upright, into a gully after hitting two trees. The airbag popped. The State trooper opened my door asking if I was OK. I got out of the car without a scratch and was taken to the Hospital to be checked out. I asked for my drug levels to be checked so they couldn't say that I had a seizure. They were perfect. Everything was OK. It was totalled with 31 K miles on it.

After the next couple of days, I went into the Ford dealer that I had been doing business with for 13 years. There on the wall was a newspaper picture of the car. And I was greeted by my salesman and Sales Manager whom I knew for years. They said hello "crash".

CanuckBob wrote:I didn't realize the Karmann Ghia was unreliable. Not good ole VW engineering???

It was not a Bug. It had bugs. Consider this: You see the Bugs on the road even today. How many Ghia's?
Maybe it was the Italian accents. I've always been a sucker for those. I even deliberately bought a FIAT convertible in the 80's. Also red. Also a cutie and fun. Also a mechanics' dream. Fool me twice.........aww, why not?

HOO BOY ....here we go ....
1937 dodge pick up in the Marines to take my bikes to the race track.....love it so much that when I graduated college , I bought a newer one ,....a 1940 for my bike shop AUUUUUGAH !
A '57 dodge (tank) in college
'62 falcoon station wagon for work
'63 $ 100 heavy chevy station wagon for work
'60 el camion 3 on the tree for work
when I stopped getting dirty and needed a classy car to impress clients I couldn't afford a BMW , or other status cars necessary to impress anyone in Fla , I started buying restored antique cars or restored them my self .....I would tell the clients that anyone could buy a 70 k Porche and see himself coming down the street ( when it wasn't in the shop)
So in the 37 years I was in Florida I owned the following
A '68 caddy convertible powder blue w/ white top and interior
'65 Buick ALL WHITE Skylark convertible ( Snow White)
'72 Buick electra convertible ALL black
two '69 442 Olds mo bomb convertibles (last year of the curves)
'67 Triumph TR6 w/Joe Lucas don't go out after dark Lucas electrics
'72 Ford Ranchero ( total crap)
And then the mustangs ....when I got out of the crotch in '66 , I didn't have $ 2300+ for a new Mustang so ALL my "rustangs" were 66 ers
I had 7 ....when the IRS caught me I had 5 ....the registrations all said "2 door fords When they asked me why I said " well , when one won't start , I get a part off another and get to work "
at the time , I had 2 convertibles, 2 coups, and a "re-bodied 350 GT Shelby I made from a genuine crash and burn Shelby and swapped all the Shelby parts to a good fastback body ....that was in the parking lot when the IRS asked me " didn't I own anything worth polishing " ...to them they were just old worthless cars ....of them all , My favorite was "Cindy the 6 pack " 250 k miles with one tranny re-build , 2 starters , one carb, two radiators , 3 sets of breaks and 5 sets of tires and 6 batteries .....23 mpg at 80 mph on regular gas .... NEVER broke down ....love "stone age engineering"
only new car I owned was a Pontiac Ferro ....piece of crap from the start but cool looking
Now to bikes ....had a thing for British bikes so here's that list ...Thumpers first
' 58 BSA 500cc goldstar (first bike )
'55 Matchless
"68 441 BSA
R 27 BMW ( gutless)
And Pedro is helping me buy a NEW Royal Endfield 500cc in Mexico city
TWINS
'68 MK 1V spitfire special BSA
'64 Honda Super Hawk
'71 Norton ( HOO BOY)
'68 R69 BMW .....real lady
59 Royal Endfield 750 ( would launch you over the handle bars if you didn't have the spark and choke right)
2 Harley D's .....a 45ci war machine ALL olive drab except the tires w/ rifle scabard, saddle bag "boxes ?" and the "black out headlight cover "
and a '55-56 ? knuckle head " POS that I offed within the month
And a Honda 750 ...fast and decent
Jesus , just looking at the list it's a wonder none of my relationships lasted that long .....I remember after the divorce that all the new gals would bitch " What about my hair , it's too hot , etc ad nausium " with the top down
the oldies were great .... if you knew where to kick them , they always got you home
There was a movie company that used to call me to see what I had ....they didn't care if they ran , they would park them on the street for street scenes and I even got a couple of cheap paint jobs out of it
Thank you for a trip down memory lane .....I now drive a Ford Windstar ....and love it ....no problems and I cruised through DUI check points .....get no respect but with the seats in , it's a bus , seats out , it's a lockable truck ....perfect for Mexico and an old fart
I had 7 cars to sell when I came down but the economy had bombed and no one had money for toys so I basically gave them away .....except "Shelly" the Shelby That I sold with a framed ticket from the FHP for doing 120 ....another story for another time