Dream Cars and not so Dream Cars

I love cars.  I love to own them, to modify and work on them, and to make them mine.  I'm going to talk about a few of those.  Disclaimer....  Guns, girls and cars are most guys interests.  Guns I'm obsessive about, girls are fascinating and I'm only concerned with how the fictional ones resemble my wife and cars well, they'll be the death of me. Metaphorically speaking.  I'm going to talk about some of my favorites.  Quick side note guys.  The whole "I've wanted it since I was a kid" bit became laughable to my wife pretty quick.  I wanted a lot as a kid.  Now that I have grown older my hobbies have become more expensive.  So when you really want something make sure that it is a something that is important and that you will keep for a while.  Spouses tire quickly of confrontations over your interests.

The first was an original H1 Hummer from 1992.  It was the Desert Storm edition.  My dream model is a later year turbo charged military model with a slant back, but I don't have $30-$60k tucked into my mattress, though, I may have $1.57 under my couch.  This truck  was massive.  Perfect for the military and very tough.  It had leather interior and a brush guard.  The diesel engine didn't have much get up and go as it wasn't turbo charged, but when I got behind the wheel, I realized on thing.  This awesome truck was uncomfortable.  I'm 6'1" and you can't move the seat back.  I'm not joking.  It goes up and down, but not back.  I ended up selling it because despite the awesome factor it sucked to drive (forgive my language there).  There is a scene in the new version of Gone in 60 Seconds when they are stealing a two door Hummer and just watch how much they are crammed in there.  Here's a photo of the type that I owned.

Another dream car was my 1970 Dodge Challenger T/A in go mango with black interior.  I think the first thing that you should know is that Mopar parts are around 3 times the cost of Ford or Chevy and much harder to get.  The one that I found was up in Nebraska.  Susan and I flew up there and drove it home.  It was a blast.  I never finished it as the cost was too high to complete, so I sold it.  Here is what the finished one would have looked like.  Mine was in primer when I sold it.  I did have the correct wheels and tires, spoilers front and rear and the snorkel hood.  This is one bad looking car.  Mine was a clone as the originals cost $20-$120k.

Something a bit more in my price range is the Mitsubishi Eclipse.  I have owned three generations.  The first generation is a product of the time it was made so it is ugly.  The second however, is much more attractive with the exception of 95-96.  97-99 are my personal favorites.   I only ever owned the non-turbo GS and RS versions.  I had two black and one purple that was a bit more custom.  The purple, which was my favorite look almost identical to the one from the first Fast and the Furious move.  My dream version would be the GSX which was a turbo w/all wheel drive.  The next two pictures are of the one from Fast and the Furious and the other is a GSX.



I also purchased a 1975 Mercedes 300D.  It has become know of that car that shall not be named.  I drove it to the junk yard to be crushed.

I bought an 04 Crown Victoria P71 Police interceptor.  Cool, fast and 13-18mpg.  Sold it back to a police department ironically enough.

My first car was a 1979 Chevy Nova because I couldn't afford a 1972 or earlier.  Still can't today.  I actually grew really fond of that car.  Here's a photo of one.  Not mine though.  It is pretty much the same color and style of the one that I purchased it 1995 for $500

I have to admit that one of my all time favorites was one of my other high school cars.  It was a 1972 Buick Skylark.  Black interior and black exterior.  Beautiful.  I miss this one a great deal.  I wanted a GS, but I found mine for a $1000 and to a high school junior, that's a great deal. Here's what it looked like.

There's one other.  Nothing makes you think of classic America like and old Chevrolet truck.  I bought a 1966 longbed stepside not running and in primer.  It was a piece of crap, but don't tell my wife I said that.  I'll see if I can find one that looks as bad.  Can't.  You'll have to imagine this one in gray primer and with rust.

One other traumatic experience with one of histories greatest looser cars.  I'm actually surprised that this wasn't of the bad guys in Cars 2.  This is a 1964 Chevrolet Corvair.  It was the answer to the Volkswagen.  Air cooled rear engine drive.  I totaled mind in a head on collision and I think that was my first concussion.  Hopefully this is a close image.  Looked like this without the bad hubcaps and it had faded paint.


The last previously owned car er.. truck uh.. whatever that I'm going to mention is a 1979 Chevy El Camino.  It drove like a car and had a truck bed.  Mine looked about as redneck as you could get.  Imagine this paint faded and scratched huge tires in the back and little ones up front.  Just to identify the crowd that mine appealed to, I sold it for $900 and a hand gun.