Cars from your past!

[smark]

This last 5 years, we had a couple Kia Souls....

[smark]

Owned a 2014 500L for only 9 months...

[KellyfromVA]

[Fiat500USA]

Thanks for letting me go down memory lane. I don't have digital images, but these are nearly identical and a good representation of some of the cars I've had over the years.





I scrimped and saved (lived on $1 a day for food and gas.LOL) to save up for a Lancia Scorpion when I was like 21 years old. The red one is what the car looked like, but I had the Verde Metallizzato color pictured above with factory alloy wheels. This was the first car that Pininfarina wholly developed and built in house. It was the ultimate "Fiat" in the US in the 70s and was like a mini- Berlinetta Boxer and loaded with cool design features. In 1976 it cost $12K, a Corvette was like $8K and a 911 was $16K. I bought a mint used one in 1982 with 16K miles on it. A few years later I wrecked it and negotiated with the insurance company to give me $7K for it (about twice their first "book value" offer).Never will get over losing that car...



This is what my GTV6 looks like. Other than the polished lips on the Ronal A1's, late model body side moulding and the European bumpers, my car is identical to this. I bought it after I wrecked my Scorpion in the mid 80s and still have it. It was $20K in 1982, but 3 or 4 years later, I paid less than half. Thank god for depreciation!

It has Sperry Valve Works cylinder heads, Quadrifoglio Verde 3 liter S cams, polished and balanced rods, Shankle ceramic coated headers, full European ANSA exhaust with no converter, and European quick advance distributor. Interestingly, the distributor is the same as a Porsche 911 (with 911 pricing, LOL).

Having Fiats for a long time, the Alfa was different animal. First it is solid like a tank, and back then a GTV6 was a hot car. It is pretty much an Italian hot rod and it was a brutal performer in its day. Bob Wallace, from Lamborghini fame, said these were faster than a good 308. My car would destroy any BMW it came upon. The other thing was GTV6 parts are at European premium pricing. In the 1980s, the dual disc clutch was $1k as was its forged and nitrided crankshaft. Spark Plug wires were somewhere between $125-$150. An oil change was $100 (8 quarts of oil plus and hour labor charge to get to the filter). Definitely not for the frugal. All that doesn't matter though when you hear the exhaust. It's hypnotic and addicting. I could never get an EV after listening to this car. I really should take it out of storage and start driving it....





I've had a couple of Spiders over the years. These look remarkably like the ones I've had down to the color. The white one I had was admittedly not as nice and was a daily driver. It was also a bit newer as the one above has the first series grille and I didn't have the body side moulding. The orange car I had looked mint and is identical to this one minus the alloys. I did have the overriders on both my cars.

The only time I ever broke down in an Italian car was in the white spider. The alternator went bad, and me and a friend walked/hitched hiked 20 miles to get home. LOL. I was like 18 years old and could do those things back then.

[map]

"My" first car (actually dad's) was an Olds F85 Jetfire... one of the silliest cars ever produced. It was beautiful and fun to drive, but 1/4" of snow made it squirrely. It's "remarkable test-driven turbo engine" (GM's line) had less HP than the V8 and when the engines started coming apart, GM's solution was to solder the fluid injector closed. That really PO'ed the owner, who then sold it to dad. (He'd paid big bucks for the turbo option, to find it disabled before he bought the car.)

We ended up replacing the turbo w/ a 4 bbl carb... not a great swap since it had lower compression than the factory 4 bbl... but it ran cooler. IIRC the tank was originally a windshield washer bottle, mounted where the batt is on this engine's pix.

1.jpg 1.jpg

My first foreign car (not including VWs... almost American) was a '59 Hillman. It had unique brakes, where stopping distance was measured in yards; yards being how many house yards you passed before stopping. I think it was about 1 yard per 5 MPH. I bought a wrecked Sunbeam Alpine to swap in the engine; found someone had replaced the Alpine's engine w/ one from a Hillman. Still, I got the distributor driven tach and misc parts.
1.jpg

[MarkL]

My first car was a 1969 Toyota Corolla; bought slightly used in 1971. Always wished it was sportier, handled better, and had more power. I was very hard on it... Same as this one:

post-6047-1271422273[1].jpg


My next car was a 1968 Mercury Cougar XR7. Nice car for cruising on the freeway, and for country roads that weren't too tight-cornered. It was a larger car than thought I liked but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Sold it to help buy a wedding ring. Still have the wife! The Cougar was the identical twin of this one:

C-1968-Cougar-Green-207-e1505504454505-940x511[1].jpg


My girlfriend (future wife) bought a 1974 Mercury Capri, new. I helped her make payments when needed. And it became 'our' car in 1975 after we married. Hers was a 4 cylinder, but looked a lot like this V6:

1974-ford-lincoln-mercury-capri-mk1-5[1].jpg


About 2 years later I bought a 1969 FIAT 850 Sport Coupe to commute into Seattle. Fun Car. Not fast, but fun to drive and to look at! And got way better fuel mileage than the Cougar. I don't have any pictures of mine, however it looked like this one:

fiat-850-coupe-850-coupe-191763097-1[1].jpg

I'll post more later, if there's interest.

[RexS]

Here is my rather large list of vehicles. Lived in Japan from 1985 to 2008 so, a lot of right hand drive Japanese cars.

1	69 Pontiac Catalina 2 door
2	71 Chevy Malibu
3	76 Chevy Nova SS
4	73 AMC Javelin #1
5	73 AMC Javelin #2
6	78 Ford F-150
7	74 Ford Pinto Wagon
8	73 IH scout
9	80 Chevy Monza LB
10	76 Chrysler Cordoba
11	69 Chevy Camaro
12	70 Ford Mustang Fastback
13	72 Nissan Fairlady Z (in Japan)
14	80 Accord (in Japan)
15	73 Nissan Fairlady Z (in Japan)
16	75 Toyota Celica GT Liftback (in Japan)
17	84 Toyota Camry (in Japan)
18	78 Mazda RX7 (in Japan)
19	76 Camaro (in Japan)
20	86 Nissan Langley (in Japan)
21	82 Nissan Skyline #1 (in Japan)
22	83 Nissan Skyline #2 (in Japan)
23	85 Nissan Skyline #3 (in Japan)
24	82 Nissan Gazelle (in Japan)
25	85 Nissan Gazelle Turbo (in Japan)
26	89 Nissan Sylvia (in Japan)
27	87 Toyota Corolla FX-GT (in Japan)
28	90 Toyota Trueno (in Japan)
29	95 Toyota Caldina (in Japan)
30	2001 Honda Stepwagon (in Japan)
31	2005 Dodge Neon (in Japan)
32	2005 BMW 318TI (in Japan)
33	2008 Dodge Caliber SRT-4
34	2014 Dodge Dart SXT
35	2013 FIAT 500 Sport - Own now
	36 2017 FIAT 500C Abarth - Own now

[LegacyCore]

Wow, I envy this list and your time spent in Japan...

Here is my rather large list of vehicles. Lived in Japan from 1985 to 2008 so, a lot of right hand drive Japanese cars.

1	69 Pontiac Catalina 2 door
2	71 Chevy Malibu
3	76 Chevy Nova SS
4	73 AMC Javelin #1
5	73 AMC Javelin #2
6	78 Ford F-150
7	74 Ford Pinto Wagon
8	73 IH scout
9	80 Chevy Monza LB
10	76 Chrysler Cordoba
11	69 Chevy Camaro
12	70 Ford Mustang Fastback
13	72 Nissan Fairlady Z (in Japan)
14	80 Accord (in Japan)
15	73 Nissan Fairlady Z (in Japan)
16	75 Toyota Celica GT Liftback (in Japan)
17	84 Toyota Camry (in Japan)
18	78 Mazda RX7 (in Japan)
19	76 Camaro (in Japan)
20	86 Nissan Langley (in Japan)
21	82 Nissan Skyline #1 (in Japan)
22	83 Nissan Skyline #2 (in Japan)
23	85 Nissan Skyline #3 (in Japan)
24	82 Nissan Gazelle (in Japan)
25	85 Nissan Gazelle Turbo (in Japan)
26	89 Nissan Sylvia (in Japan)
27	87 Toyota Corolla FX-GT (in Japan)
28	90 Toyota Trueno (in Japan)
29	95 Toyota Caldina (in Japan)
30	2001 Honda Stepwagon (in Japan)
31	2005 Dodge Neon (in Japan)
32	2005 BMW 318TI (in Japan)
33	2008 Dodge Caliber SRT-4
34	2014 Dodge Dart SXT
35	2013 FIAT 500 Sport - Own now
	36 2017 FIAT 500C Abarth - Own now

[KellyfromVA]

Some of the more unusual cars I've owned/built:

1956 Chevy 'Shorty' Wagon. (Cut the middle door and frame out myself)

1957 Chevy Belair 'Shorty' Wagon (Previous owner cut the middle door and frame)

1968 Chevrolet Camaro RS 396.

1965 Datsun "Fairlady" Roadster (1500 engine)
1966 Datsun SPL-1600 Roadster (1600 engine)
1969 Datsun SPL-2000 Roadster (2000 OHC Engine)

1967 Ford Mustang California Special convertible with a factory 390cu/4 speed manual. Had to unbolt the drivers-side motor mount and lift the engine with a jack, then go through the wheel well to replace two spark plugs. The alternative was to remove the brake master cylinder.

1967 Austin Healey 3000 Mk III. I loved that car. Parts would literally fall off at stoplights, but I'd just pull over and put them back on.
1963 Austin Healey 'Bug Eye' Sprite. Had an MGB 1600 engine retrofitted. I got to the point where I could pull the engine and transmission, replacing the clutch in an hour and a half by myself.

1977 Lamborghini Countach. I bought the repossessed car after it had been damaged in a fairly minor accident. The previous owner (son of a Saudi family), had abused the poor thing. With the help of an old semi-retired Italian mechanic that used to work for Ferrari, I rebuilt the engine, transmission, and repaired the body damage all in a storage warehouse. The less successful part of the project; was getting the awful cologne smell out of the passenger seat foam. I needed money for college, so had to sell the car. At least it was for a good profit! Always made an impression when picking up a date in that car. Had the windows tinted (probably too dark for the crappy headlights) but that car looked so badass! Black with dark-tinted windows. Would love to have that car back. All the engine noise, gear whine, stiff steering, and so-so brakes made the car a chore to drive in a commute, but get it out on the open road? Nothing like it ever.

1971 Jensen Interceptor British style with a Chrysler 440 V8.

What's in the garage(s) currently:

1971 Triumph TR6 (with Moss supercharger kit)
1954 MG Magnette ZA
1988 Saab 900 (non turbo)
2012 Fiat 500 Sport
2014 Jaguar XF (supercharged)
2017 Volvo XC60-R
2007 Pontiac Solstice GXP

[Fiat500USA]

My first car was a 1969 Toyota Corolla; bought slightly used in 1971. Always wished it was sportier, handled better, and had more power. I was very hard on it... Same as this one:

post-6047-1271422273[1].jpg


My next car was a 1968 Mercury Cougar XR7. Nice car for cruising on the freeway, and for country roads that weren't too tight-cornered. It was a larger car than thought I liked but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Sold it to help buy a wedding ring. Still have the wife! The Cougar was the identical twin of this one:

C-1968-Cougar-Green-207-e1505504454505-940x511[1].jpg


My girlfriend (future wife) bought a 1974 Mercury Capri, new. I helped her make payments when needed. And it became 'our' car in 1975 after we married. Hers was a 4 cylinder, but looked a lot like this V6:

1974-ford-lincoln-mercury-capri-mk1-5[1].jpg


About 2 years later I bought a 1969 FIAT 850 Sport Coupe to commute into Seattle. Fun Car. Not fast, but fun to drive and to look at! And got way better fuel mileage than the Cougar. I don't have any pictures of mine, however it looked like this one:

fiat-850-coupe-850-coupe-191763097-1[1].jpg

I'll post more later, if there's interest.

Cool cars. Post some more. Love these stories.