Cars We Grew up With

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Family Cars in order of appearance, I think, and Dad could only afford to buy used:

1951 Lincoln Cosmopolitan (steered like a truck per my mom)
1950 GMC 1/2 Ton (began life as a Pacific Telephone truck)
1957 Lincoln Premiere (with rooftop a/c, major lemon)
1956 Chevy Bel Air (for my sister, an unreliable oil hog)
1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88 (425 engine impressed gas pumpers)
1965 Chevy Biscayne (stripped down 3sp for sister @ college)
1965 Chevy 1/2 Ton with camper shell (dad's work car)
1965 Lincoln Continental (dad's work car--dumped the 65 p/u)
1967 Mercury Cougar (Mom's car, replaced the Olds)
1969 Lincoln Continental Mark III (Mom's car after the Cougar)
1964 Lincoln Continental Covertible (project car, see below)
1982 Buick Estate Wagon (I had long since left home)
1985 Lincoln Continental (Doggiest pimpiest car ever made)

The '65 Continental was retired and sat in the garage for years until it was shipped to my cousin in Indiana. He had it for a while and then turned it over to a collector in Michigan, I think. This was the most faithful car ever, it would start up after sitting for months on end. The '69 Mark III was just sold last year to a collector. The '85 pimpmobile was sold to a young kid who loved its pimped-from-the-factory looks. The air suspension had a leak so the front end would sink down after about 24 hours of sitting.

My Cars:

1950 GMC 1/2 Ton (a spare vehicle around the folks' household)
1970 Opel GT (fun but kind of a dog and kind of a girl's car)
1964 Ford Galaxie (Reliable cream puff but way stripped down)
1965 Ford Mustang (289-that car seemed to drive itself uphill)
1964 Lincoln Continental Convertible (Dad handed off to me)
1981 Honda Accord (nice but boring, sold it to my sister)
1968 Mercury Cougar (uncle's car, sat too long, I unloaded it)
1976 Audi Fox Wagon (Partner's 1st car after we met)
1984 Audi 5000 Wagon (Family car: me/partner/his daughters)
1984 Audi 5000 Wagon (1st one got totalled in a rearender)
1978 Audi Fox Sedan (Tightest car I ever owned, loved it)
1988 Audi 80 (nice but had a chronic rough idle)
1989 MBZ 190E (A beautiful little car, partner totalled it)
1996 VW Passat GLX Wagon (A lease, got out of that deal quick)
1997 Suzuki Sidekick (Wimpy deathtrap, made partner unload it)
1997 VW Passat GLX Wagon (5 speed, I'm still driving this one)
1992 MBZ 190E (He had to have another one)
2002 MBZ C240 (Partner's current car, drives/handles great)

The '50 GMC is parked alongside our driveway and still hauls things now and then. Sold the '64 Lincoln convertible a year ago and heard that it blew up on the guy who bought it. He quickly sold it to a guy in the UK. Gave the '78 Fox to my partner's daughter. She called it a "hooptie" and replaced it with a Ford Ass-pire she bought herself but now she's older and wiser and talks about what a great car it really was. It never had one rattle. One day a while after she sold it to a friend my partner and I were coming into town and saw it sitting abandoned in the highway median. It deserved a better fate.

Once the 240 is paid off, I'll be looking to replace the Passat Wagon (currently at 133K miles) with something that has an automatic. The stick can be fun to drive, but not in stop & go traffic. I'm over it.
 
My cars
94 Olds 88 (10/12/03-05/04/04) got totalled in front of school by some gal that failed to yield, had no insurance, and had nothing worth going to court over
91 Toyota Camry (05/2004-07/08/06) got at most 35 MPGs but it drastically lacked in power to climb up the brutal hills of Mid Missouri
96 Cadi Fleetwood Brougham (06/30/06-present), one owner, first bought 8/10/96 at David Malmo Motors in Sedalia. Bought with 157k miles, now has 178k
PROS:
-Lots of cargo room
-LT1 Corvette Engine
-Soon to be called a "classic"
-Gets at most 23MPG highway under the new EPA testing standards (I guess OK for a large boat)
-Cheap to insure
-Gas tube behind rear license plate (can fill from either side)
CONS:
-Currently has a slow leak in the A/C that the people at Meineke can't detect even with the special dyes
-Paying $45-$50 to fill up @ 1/4 tank but now am learning to only fill up @ $30-$40 even though I really want to have a full tank to see my MPGs
-Would rather have temperature dials instead of Electronic Climate Control

Mom's cars
65 Impala she paid $75 for in 1976
68 GTO coupe
80 Chevy Citation, her first brand new car and made the big mistake of buying it the first model year
86 GMC 1500 van bought by both my parents 5/13/86 at Behlmann, lasted 12 years with 198000 on the odometer
95 GMC conversion van, (03/31/98-05/05/01) called the "Barneymobile" cause it was a garish deep royal purple color
01 Kia Sportage (05/05/01-05/28/07) traded the van for that when gas got up to an all time high of $1.74
07 Kia Sportage (05/28/07-present) in Volcanic Red with the 27MPG 4 cyl. and cruise control that isn't even listed as an option for the 4 cyl's. Traded the first Kia in @ 75000 miles
 
Cars!

The very first car I have any memory of was our powder blue 1961 Ford Galaxie 500, 4-door, bought new. Auto tranny, no A/C.

When we got a "second car" it was something of an oddity for South Texas: A 1954 Vauxhall! I'm pretty sure it was a 1954. Black. Very odd. 4-door, Three on the tree. Finally got rid of it sometime about 1968.

Sometime in 1969 the old Ford sounded like a rod was goin' so my dad traded it in on a brand-spankin' new 1969 Toyota Corona 4-door sedan. Auto, no A/C (wah!) This was before Toyota even became "big" over here. That car lasted something like 180,000 miles before it conked.

For the second car, they traded the Vauxhall in on a used 1966 Ford Mustang, deep Moss Green, auto tranny, and finally...A/C...not MUCH of an A/C, but oh, the joy!

My older brother was always getting a different car every few months. His very first was a 1960 Chevy Impala 4-door Hardtop (no center post! so cool!) It was copper and cream 2-tone, fins out to here, chrome everywhere, and it had that crazy "non-shifting" automatic tranny. Then he had a '68 Impala two-door for a few months, then a brand new 1971 Ford Torino, special edition with a funky leather roof that didn't go all the way down to the windows. Then came his "Rockford Files" days and he bought a 1975 Firebird new. Traded that when it started rusting a few months later for an old '71 Chevy Caprice 2-door, then came a new 1977 Pontiac Bonneville...that was a TANK! Maroon w/white opera roof, plush, killer old pimp-mobile.

My very first car was a different 1969 Toyota Corona 4-door, this one blue with standard tranny. Then I got the love of my teenage years, a 1969 Mustang Fastback w/a 302 V8, three on the floor, great hood scoop. Tricked that baby out with every penny I made at the grocery store! After that, I had a couple of old Ford Trucks, the first a 1968 w/a Straight-6 that I rebuilt in a friend's garage, then a 1971 F-100 w/auto and 302 V-8 and a camper top.

Eventually traded the second truck for a 1961 VW van w/double doors on both sides of the van, and then I found the love of my young-adulthood: a 1963 VW Beetle. 6-volt, original 1200cc motor. Rebuilt it from the bottom up. Lasted me seven years, got 75,000 miles out of the rebuild I did on the motor. Then came a hand-me-down from the brother, an '85 Chevy Caprice Wagon (read P.O.S.!), and now we have a sweet old 1988 Toyota truck with 171,000 on it, and our favorite car that either me or Char has ever had, our 2001 PT Cruiser.

We love that PT like no other car either of us has ever had. It's such a killer design, and it can haul SO much more than anyone thinks. We took the two back seats out of it, and have a large rubber mat that covers the entire back end, so it's like having a killer little panel van. Trying to keep it in as good a shape as we can, so it will last as long as possible.
 
My Dad & Mom had a '60 Chevy Bel-Air 4dr. sedan w/3 speed tranny,'64 Chevy Impala automatic, a '68 Impala auto., '73 Impala w/ 350 cu. in. motor & 4 bbl. carb., '77 Impala, '81 Caprice Classic 2-tone light and dark green, '87 Dodge 600SE, '91 Plymouth Acclaim, '96 Dodge Caravan, '99 Plymouth Voyager, '05 Dodge Grand Caravan.

I've had a POS '79 Plymouth Horizon, '78 Ford Granada Ghia that had 10,002mi. when I bought it in '89 from my great-aunt. I gave the Granada to my youngest sister when I bought a new '91 charcoal grey Plymouth Acclaim, then after we got married we traded that for a '98 Chrysler Town & Country, traded in the wife's '90 Olds wagon when we bought our other Town & Country-'03, also purchased new.
 
Leyland P76 (for Hydralique)

The engine in the P76 V8 was based on the Rover V8, which was originally based on a Buick design. The Leyland P76 engine was 4.4 litres, the Rover engine at the time was 3.5 litres. The Leyland version was heavily re-engineered to make it more durable and less prone to overheating. It was fully made in Australia. Car enthusiasts will argue all day on whether the P76 was a diamond or a dog, but you will get little argument about that V8 aluminium engine - it was a gem. Unfortunately many a P76 was scrapped as its heart was transplanted either into a speedboat, or to give a transplant into a Range Rover where the extra capacity really helps. The Leyland engine was also often fitted to Triumph Stags, as the original Stag engine was an unreliable monster. The same engine was also used in the Leyland Terrier trucks.

my P76 was actually the humble 2.6 litre 6 cylinder version, still a great car.
When the model was developed Leyland was already in severe financial difficulty and they didn't do enough pre-release development. The whole model cost about $20 million to develop, today they would spend that much on a door handle. Many parts on the P76 were already in production for opposition models - the door locks were Ford Falcon, the steering column was Chrysler Valiant, brakes were all off-the-shelf PBR brakes, and so on. This kept tooling costs low. The parts were not sourced from the opposition, but from independent parts manufacturers who already supplied under contract to the other companies.
The Force 7 coupe was never sold, they had made an initial batch of 50 cars when Leyland Australia was closed down by the parent company in England. Eight were saved and auctioned off, stipulated at the sale that they were collectors items only and could never be registered for road use as they were officially still prototypes, though most have now been registered. Another was sent back to the parent company in England, another was sent to a museum. There was also the single P76 station wagon ever made, which was used around the factory for a few years before being sold to a collector. The balance of the 50 brand new Force 7s were crushed!

I admit I am a bit of a P76 tragic. I can't get enough info about them and like to go to display days of the P76 club, though I haven't owned one in over 20 years. When I was a kid in primary school I had a friend, Wayne, whose Dad worked for Leyland and they had a lime green P76 V8 Executive. Wayne and I were both mad keen on them, we collected a heap of brochures, cut out pictures and stuck themin a scrap book, ruled up lines under the pics and wrote our own captions. We called the book, "the P76 Story." We gave it to Mrs Tart, the school librarian (I was a library monitor) and she kindly catalogued it and it went on the shelf in the school library. Was I proud!
Not long after Leyland Australia closed up, Wayne's dad lost his job and his car. The remaining stock of P76s was sold off at half price, my Dad nearly bought one (you can imagine how much I pushed him...) but in the end he decided that he needed a wagon (P76s were all sedans) so we kept the Falcon.
"But dad, you can fit a 44 gallon drum in the boot of a P76...) [44 gallon AU = 50 gallon US]

Eventually I got my P76, which later I gave to my Dad. He really liked it, though as usual he totally neglected it and it slowly fell to bits.

Chris.

http://www.webtrade.com.au/p76/archives/History.htm
 
Let's see, I was born in 1951 so....

1951 Plymouth
1954 Chevrolet Bel-Air (my parents claimed this was the best car they ever owned!)
In 1957, my parents finally got two cars after my mother learned how to drive
1952 Oldsmobile (Dad's Car)
1958 Plymouth Belivdere (Mom's Car)
1961 Corvair (Dad's car)
1962 Chevy II wagon, (Mom's Car)
1965 Corvair (Dad's Car)
1967 Chevy Caprice (Mom's Car)
1970 Lincoln Mark III (Dad's Car)
1972 Buick Electra 225 (Mom's Car)
Then I got my first car which was a 1963 Chevy Impala SS, followed by a 1967 Chevy Impala SS. Then a 1966 VW Squareback.
(I learned the value of a dollar!) and then a 1970 Cougar XR-7 (my favorite car of all time!) Then I fell on hard times, so I ended up with a 1975 AMC Gremlin. Then we got into current times after I got married.
 
Whoops! I forgot, my sisters first car was a 1960 Plymouth Valiant. What a piece of crap that was! She got it in 1969. There was nothing wrong with it, but it never really ran good. It was noisier than hell (slant 6 engine) and was very weird with that push button transmission and very recessed dash board. And it rattled worse than a rattle snake!
My Dad & I tuned it up for her and even though we set all the things like timing and spark plug gap and new spark plug wires and new points and condenser, it still ran like crap. She later traded it in on a used Datsun 240Z. Now THAT was a car! It fit like a glove when driving it. I think she bought it in 1971 for $2,500. or something like that.
 
Okay, let's see:

I was born in 1963..... and for the life of me, the first car I ever witnessed my family buying was a 1970 Chevrolet Nova (the two door coupe) in Sky Blue.

The other cars I grew up with after the Nova were:

1972 Chevrolet Vega (in Cactus Green, and what a piece of shit it turned out to be....... the motor went "kuput" three years later)(1972-75).
1970 Mercury Montego (the first Big Luxury Car we've ever owned, and then, it was totalled in an accident)(1974-76).
1968 Pontiac LaMans (in Green)(1974-76).
1970 Chevrolet Chevelle Coupe (in Baby Blue)(1976-79).
1979 Chevrolet Nova (this time, it was a Sedan)(the first New Car we ever bought(in Lt. Blue))(1979-83).
1983 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Coupe (in Navy Blue with a White Vinyl Top)(1983-88).
1988 Oldsmobile Cuttless (in Black)(after that, I was approaching my 30's for much of the time they owned this car, so this is where I will cut things off).

--Charles--
 

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