Document your Cars

[UtahJoe]

So cars I have owned

Technically my first car....When my grandmother passed not long before I got my license, she left me her 84 Toyota Cressida. However, I had already bought a 90GT mustang, so my dad sold this car....Whats funny is that he sold it the day I got my drivers license....So I took my driving test in this car...then drove it from Coalville Utah, to SLC thru a snowstorm as my first drive with a license....I remember this car was $18,000 new in 1984 which was alot of fucking money...totally 80s digital tho....I dont have a pic of it, but this one is identical.

So in 1992 I bought this 90GT 5 speed. mustang...27,000 miles, $8300...Man this car was in perfect shape...I always hated the color and I still hate it...but when I was 16, fuck it, I loved everything else about the car. Had this car for 2 years, then sold it...this pic is like nov. 92...this was in park city...(this parking lot is now the squatter roadhouse grille) when I was 16 and I fucking hate the 9ers but my mom bought me that jacket for some reason.

the reason I sold it was bc my dad also had a 90 GT mustang that he bought new...in 1994 it only had 3900 miles on it...it was BRAND NEW....I TORTURED him for month before he finally let me but it from him for $10,000......he paid 13k for it new in 1990. This car was perfect, but sadly the same shitty strawberry/silver color. But black interior, 5 speed, god I loved this car....

I dont have many pics of it scanned....this was after I moved back to NJ...the snowtires were shot to I killed them in proper fashion....god I hated those headlight covers, my taste got better with age

You can kinda see alot of orange in this pic where it should be silver...that silver paint started peeling so in 1997 I had the car repainted just solid red

I liked the color, but got I hate how this car looks now....my taste at 18 sucked...in time I learned to appreciate the stock, more subtle look....Anyway, I had the car back from the body shop for 4 days, then it was stolen from the rockaway mall and stripped. The newark impound yard guys actually stole wheels off of....I was pissed at the time, but I ended up getting $9600 for the car from the insurance, which for a 75kmile, 7 year old mustang was ALOT...so whatever.



Then I bought this 93lx that had 24,000 miles on it. This car was mint. Thankfully I only tinted the windows and put some saleen hash marks on it...which well i wouldnt do again, but I dont hate them. This car had a cobra intake, full exhaust, 3.55s...I never put slicks on it but it would run mid 13s @ 103, 104......I was planning on upgrading the rear and a few other things, but in 99 I got T-boned by a drunk driver (who was only 15 and had no lincense) and the asshole totally destroyed the car....that was a bummer, I loved this car.


But by this time I had gotten my 67 back from utah and used to drive both around which was super fun

Then I bought this.....now this car was a mess...but it taught me many good life lessons. 1997 mustang cobra convertible. I didnt want a convertible, but I got a great deal on this car, it had 14,000 miles on it and it was perfect. FIVE lug cobra r's, the only ones that are ok

omg...so I got the idea...LETS PUT A VORTECH S TRIM ON THE CAR!......So I did that, and the car was really fast...Im sure it made over 400hp, which at that time was pretty goddam good...Plus it had the aluminum 4.6 DOHC and reved to 7500....it really screamed...super fun to drive. However, tuning was not so east in 1999 and in time I blew the engine...well broke a ring land off one of the pistons. Well long story later, i rebuit the engine, put it back to stock....Then a tree fell on the car. Got that fixed....This was right around the time I was starting college so I decided to sell this car as it was cursed anyway lol. But after this car....I never owned a nice car again until I bought my 2012 focus....All other cars in between we shit boxes that I paid no more than $2500 for.

 

[bergsnj]

View attachment 142691

Nice progression of mustangs. But this pic reeks of 90's foxbody nostalgia. those rims are period correct but i could never stand when people put the exhaust tips through the GT bumper. Anyway, nice pics and cars.

 

[EJphotos]

First ride I had a 1990 Acura Integra RS. Stock 5 Speed. Added a system (subsequently stolen), crashed the front end, did a rebuild. Sold.

Hey that was my first ride too!

1990 Integra RS in Rio Red. Automatic trans. JDM one piece headlights, Rota Circuit 8 wheels. I almost bought some wheels from @Pearl many years ago for this car. Alpine subwoofer. Had it for four years before electrical system went nuts and I parted it out.



Second car was a 1993 Honda Prelude Si with 4 wheel steering. 5 speed manual. British Blue Green Pearl color. Fun car:



Only had it two months when I got rear ended and crushed between two Ford trucks:



My third car was a 1997 "Honda" Passport. Absolute piece of garbage. Had that for two months before engine fell apart. Literally. No pictures, wasn't worth it lol.

Fourth car was my 1995 Integra SE in Frost White. 5 speed manual. All sorts of mods and different changes. Went for a 97 ITR look with it. Had it for 8 years and then it started rusting away exponentially. Almost 400k miles on it before I sold it off.


Fifth car was a 1999 Integra GSR 4 door in Adriatic Blue Pearl. 5 speed, B18C1, a few different mods, super fun car. Had it for three years until it started breaking every.single.month. Power steering was shot so I just did a bypass and made it manual steering.



Now my current is a 2015 Accord Sport. Slow CVT. Good on gas. Comfortable and spacious.

 

[UtahJoe]

Nice progression of mustangs. But this pic reeks of 90's foxbody nostalgia. those rims are period correct but i could never stand when people put the exhaust tips through the GT bumper. Anyway, nice pics and cars.

I FUCKING cringe when I see that....one of those things I did when i was 17 and majorly regretted it.....really, other than the paint, I hate looking at what i did to that red car.....looks awful, but whatever, i was 18...and pretty much did was every 18 year old thought looked good.

 

[Patrick]

anybody need a book?
sitting in my basement - plenty for sale on ebay.

 

[ekuhn]

Hey that was my first ride too!

1990 Integra RS in Rio Red. Automatic trans. JDM one piece headlights, Rota Circuit 8 wheels. I almost bought some wheels from @Pearl many years ago for this car. Alpine subwoofer. Had it for four years before electrical system went nuts and I parted it out.

View attachment 142718



Fourth car was my 1995 Integra SE in Frost White. 5 speed manual. All sorts of mods and different changes. Went for a 97 ITR look with it. Had it for 8 years and then it started rusting away exponentially. Almost 400k miles on it before I sold it off.
View attachment 142717

Fifth car was a 1999 Integra GSR 4 door in Adriatic Blue Pearl. 5 speed, B18C1, a few different mods, super fun car. Had it for three years until it started breaking every.single.month. Power steering was shot so I just did a bypass and made it manual steering.

Mine was Midnight Blue or something along those lines (stock photo below). It had silver fade decal below the bottom of the mid door molding. I added badges, clear corners/turns, nothing over the top. My home office chair was out of a 91 Integra Parts Car and other than replacing the base a twice, its still quite comfortable.



400k on your 95 is incredible. Always loved that body style, and wanted a GSR in the worst way.

 

[ebarker9]

My dad had a 1973 Plymouth Valiant which, I think, was closely related to/based off of the same platform as the Dart. Not sure I've ever met anyone less interested in cars than my dad. He drove it until 1993. By that point I recall there was enough rust in the trunk area that a basketball fell out as we were driving somewhere. He finally got rid of it after the second time the brakes failed as he was exiting a highway. I also remember that my youth soccer coach in those years, unprompted, bought me the most elaborate/expensive team photo package that year because he assumed that we were impoverished based on the state of the car and couldn't otherwise afford to pay for any pictures. Fond memories.

 

[kdebello]

This was from a post about 5 years ago. I've added a couple since then. One of these days I'll have a fun car again

1974 Chevy Monte Carlo. basically just fell apart. No trunk floor, no floor in the back seat. 1 wiper, no heat.
1970 Monte Carlo. White w/blue vinyl top and interior. Side Pipes. Gold Crager SSTs. Girl ran a stop sign in Rahway and I plowed into her.
1975 Pontiac Gran Prix. Bought for $400 from a girlfriends dad. Car broke down and I convinced him to take it back.
1970 Blazer. Bought it off some bikers in Secaucus. I think it was involved in some sort of crime, murder? Painted spray can flat black. They didn't even mask off the glass. Just painted it and sold it. The paint underneath was almost perfect. They were trying to hide something for sure.
1969 Camaro. Ran high 13s with a little work. Small block
1969 Camaro Indy Pace Car convertible. Another small block, 4 spd car. Total disaster of a car that I thought I was going to restore. Drove it for a while, then it sat for 10 years then sold it when I bought my house
1991 GMC Syclone. Loved this thing. Stock ones were all over the place in 1/4 mile times. I had one of the better ones. Ran 13.5 stock. With just a chip and fuel pressure regulator got it down to 12.56. It did not get stolen. I sold it with 30k miles for the same as I bought it for.
1996 Camaro Z28. Slow. Got rid of it in a couple of years.
1998 Dodge Durango. This one had the 360. Fun truck that was actually sort of off road capable
2001 Dodge Durango. NOT the 360. Not like the 98. Glad to get rid of it.
2004 Dodge Dakota. Just needed a small pickup.
1969 Dodge Coronet R/T Convertible. Life was golden at this time and decided spend some cash and get back into old cars. Bought a car that was WAY too nice to actually have fun in. Should have picked up more of a driver. But this was a beautiful car.
2006 Dodge Ram. Decided I was going to hit the show circuit with the Coronet. Bought the truck and a trailer. Got rid of it when ended up selling the car and trailer.
2011 VW Sportwagen TDI. Nice little car. great mileage. Could haul my bike.
2013 VW Passat TDI. Awesome mileage and that's about it. My 81 year old father calls me grandpa when I drive it.
2016 Outback
Now driving a 2019 VW Atlas to haul the kids and their stuff around to softball tournaments every weekend.

Somewhere in there was a Kawasaki GPz550 with a leaky gas tank.

 

[EJphotos]

Mine was Midnight Blue or something along those lines (stock photo below). It had silver fade decal below the bottom of the mid door molding. I added badges, clear corners/turns, nothing over the top. My home office chair was out of a 91 Integra Parts Car and other than replacing the base a twice, its still quite comfortable.

View attachment 142719

400k on your 95 is incredible. Always loved that body style, and wanted a GSR in the worst way.

Nice. My stock seat in the DA9 was trashed. I stuffed it with stuffed animal stuffing, duct taped it, then stitched on a cover. It was comfortable surprisingly.
I still have those stock 14" hubcaps.

 

[ebarker9]

Relatively short list here.

1996 Honda Accord LX. Got this in college with high miles. Not tremendously exciting, but learned to drive stick on it and it was always solid. After a couple of years in my first job I decided that I wanted something more interesting. Don't think I have a picture anywhere.
2007 VW GTI. Bought this new and, as I recall, was part of the first of the MKV generation sold in the US. Really fun car. Had a few issues with it, but nothing major, and planned to keep it until it completely died, right up until I got rammed from behind on the Mass Turnpike, slid across 3 lanes of traffic, and thankfully came to a stop without getting hit again. Driver didn't stop, no idea who hit me. Sucked.

2008 Suzuki SV650. Ok, not a car. Always curious about motorcycles, but definitely not something I grew up around. Did the MSF course and bought this as my first bike. Have a blast whenever I ride it, but that's basically never. It's the hobby that tends to get de-prioritized and, honestly, I'm still super nervous about making a mistake riding (or getting taken out by someone else) and seriously injuring myself. Also let it sit for an extended time after breaking my thumb and had to re-coat the gas tank and replace the fuel pump following that and have some kind of air leak that I haven't been able to figure out ever since. Not sure about my future in motorcycling.
2009 Porsche Cayman 2.9. Bought this in the summer of 2017 from a private seller just down the road from me. I'd been casually looking for a 911/Cayman for years, but never really came close to pulling the trigger. Randomly came across this car on Rennlist while my boss was searching. 2009 was the first year of the 987.2 generation which addressed a lot of the concerns of the earlier cars. Did a PPI locally, all good except for some relatively minor cosmetic stuff. So...bought it. And it's been awesome. Has a Tarett Engineering adjustable sway bar kit and wheel spacers on it. Handling is hilarious. Picture is from a rare moment when it's been presentably clean.

2017 VW Golf R. Got this after the GTI was totaled. Didn't really want to spend the money, but also didn't want to buy a car that I "sort of" wanted. I have a list of minor things that annoy me with this car, but overall it's fantastic. Fast enough to be fun, great in the snow (with winter tires), comfortable, and enough space for most of my normal activities. And I like that it's fairly discreet looking.


Additionally, my wife drives a 2017 Tacoma TRD Off Road. One day I'll convince her to actually take it off road, but it's been great hauling stuff around and generally making you feel like a poser tough guy driving around. I always feel like I belong when I get to take it to Mt Creek.

 

[shrpshtr325]

damn you guys make my list short, and for the most part very boring

2007 bought my first car 1998 dakota club cab, v6 2wd, just under 200k miles on it. (crappy picture, but w/e it was probably the day it came home)

2008 my mom got a new car passed me her 2002 durango since she didnt trust the 200k miles on the truck :/, drove that till 2013





2013 bought my first new car, 2013 dodge challenger r/t 6 spd track pack, still have it and it enjoys toy status




2017 i got tired of driving the challenger in the winter so i needed something i could drive and not worry about, bought a 4x4 ram 1500 with the hemi.



also have my wifes 2013 hyundai genesis coupe 2.slow premium, which is already falling apart, she bought that in 2012 when her old saturn blew up on her

 

[mfennell]

Noone's going to read all this but it was a fun trip down memory lane for me.

'85 Honda VF500F. My first vehicle was a bike. I bought it between freshman and sophomore years of college. I actually wanted to buy my buddy's '69 Chevelle with a 396 but the parents said 'no'. So, I bought something easier to hide. Much mayhem ensued when I met a bunch of crazies at the local motorcycle dealer. That we are all still alive is a miracle. Many memories with that bike.
- First crash, of course, chasing the crazies. Stuffed it under a guard rail.
- First bodywork and paint.
- Decided I wanted to race like my friends (my friend JT was almost-national-caliber but never had the money to really give it a go). So I did. Came in 4th in my first race in the rain because I was too stupid to realize how dangerous it was!
- Rebuilt the engine in the kitchen of our rowhouse in Baltimore
- Spent way too much money on it and did stupid things like strip out all the wiring "to make it lighter".
- Eventually truly destroyed it on a twisty road north of Baltimore, ending up in the hospital. I was living in CT with my Aunt and Uncle, working an internship at IBM. I spent a coupe weeks surreptitiously changing my dressings and smuggling the blood-soaked ones out of the house!

'86 GSXR750. The story of how I ended up with this one is twisted. A friend - also a crazy - at school had agreed to do some work on Vic's GSXR. Vic subsequently disappeared. Alvin ended up storing this perfect 3k mile GSXR for years until moving back to CA. It's all a little fuzzy at this point but I guess JT got it and my roommate Dyon was riding it somewhere (for reasons) when it locked up and ventilated the block. We later realized the crankcase was full of gasoline.

This was after I had destroyed my VF500F. I was riding some shitheap un-registered Yamaha twin that JT had given me. I put a superbike bar on it and beat it senseless, pissed at the world. Somehow I end up with the title-less, blown up GSXR. JT and I found a crashed bike with a title somewhere to donate the engine and let me get a plate. At some point, we actually got ahold of Vic but I never got a title, nor do I remember any money changing hands (I didn't have any). Someone gave me $500 for the title-less Yamaha. I remember marveling that a fellow college student could write a check for $500. LOL.

That's the bike that made me fast(ish). It was slower than the latest stuff, so I had to push that much harder.

'84 Chevy Celebrity hand-me-down w/130k miles on it for graduation from college. Towed my GSXR to the track on a little landscape trailer. Eventually sold it to a buddy for $200 w/180k on it. It was still running past 200k when the idiot he sold it to crashed into a bus in Baltimore

'86 Honda VF500F. JT called me up. At this point I had a job. I was living in some dude's basement to afford motorcycle racing. "Are you liquid?" "I guess, sort-of." "Come get this Interceptor for $300. It runs like crap but you know them pretty well." It was pretty clean except where they put duct tape over "Honda" and wrote "Yamaha" because the plate they were using was from one of JTs FZR600s. All the clearcoat came off. Eventually sold to racing buddy Danny for his girlfriend which he instantly regretted.

'80ish Dodge pedo-van Dannny gave me because it was broken down at the condo he had moved out of. We once ran it down 4+ qts of oil driving to a race in Georgia. It still ran but a film of oil would form on the rear windows. He was kind of annoyed when he wanted it back almost a year later and I asked for $200 to cover my expenses! He's the one guy still killing it on track out in New Mexico.

'91 Honda CBR600F2. Finally, a modern, competitive bike! My first race (Roebling Road, in GA) I got knocked down while leading but the two of us were so far ahead, I still got 4th. I really thought it was my year but some other dude in our region started racing that season and he was just better than me. A lot better. So I have a bunch of 2nd and 3rd place trophies. That year marked the end of my racing 'career'. I broke an elbow early in the season, but bounced back fast. Later in the season I had a massive crash that I don't remember a thing about. I do remember the helicopter ride, vaguely. The bike was barely damaged and I actually raced it once more because I had to. A guy crashed in front of me and I was pretty sure I was about to kill him for a split second. Somehow I missed him and his bike, bouncing through the run-off area. That felt like a pretty strong sign that I might investigate other interests. It turned out MTB was that other interest and a couple racing buddies followed suit. We figured we were probably more likely to get hurt but less likely to get dead, an assessment that has proven accurate to date.

'94 Ford Probe GT - 1st new car. Moved to NJ shore from Baltimore right after I bought it. The first person I met outside of work was Mike Schiavo (The Peddler), who gave me directions to Hartshorne. Met ChrisG and SmooveP a week or two later. Started autocrossing.

'92 Honda CBR600F2 from my old buddy JT. It had been a race bike so there were holes drilled all over it but it looked nice enough with the '93 bodywork he had scrounged up. I finally sold it 6 or 7 years ago after not riding it for close to 10 years.

'95 BMW M3 - graduated from autox to track events

'89 Subaru Justy - starting my pattern of 1 nice car, 1 beater

'83 RX7 - turned into a SpecRX7 race car. I didn't even have a garage at the time

'89 GMC 2500 pickup with bad paint - Sold mint BMW M3 so I could spend all my money racing a crappy old RX7. A local officer stopped by when I was working on it in our new house and looked around at all the janky. "So...are you renting this house?"

'95 Lotus Esprit S4s - realized I could actually own a really nice car for what I was pissing away racing a crappy old RX7.

'86 BMW 528e - limped Justy to junkyard with 30/60/90 psi compression

'04 Factory Five Cobra replica - finished paint the week before our wedding

'94 BMW 525iT - did some bodywork and the instructor at the votech bodyshop class I was taking shot it in the booth at the Volvo dealer where he worked. The color didn't match so one side of the car and the bumpers were a different shade of green. Drove SmooveP, his GF and my wife to Pittsburgh for a wedding. 99F and the AC died. The mood was dark. Drove it into the ground. Eventually traded for $200 off a bike part order at CAGS. I still feel a little guilty about it.

'04 Porsche GT3 - objectively awesome but I got tired of driving what is essentially a track car with a carpet. The guy who bought it had equity in a company that was about to be purchased and thought it would be fun to have a track car. Scared the shit out of me test driving it ("please don't lift, please don't lift"). He now co-owns a Porsche performance shop somewhere in North Jersey.

'00 Jaguar XJR - started out nice, eventually sold for $2200 'cause I got sick of fixing it

'01 Ferrari 360 - awesome with an awesome filling

'11 Chevy Volt lease - great car but too small

'04 Volvo V70R - replaced bumper covers and wheels at purchase so it started out really nice - pattern! - now it's all screwed up. AWD dead, hood dented up, windshield cracked, bad rear wheel bearing, cruise doesn't work. I have no idea why I still have the thing but I drove it to Allaire this morning.

'15 VW e-golf lease - was going to buy it but someone ran a red light and my wife tagged him a few days before lease was up

'19 VW Sportwagen - upgrades chronicled in the other thread. 2nd new car purchase

 

[Carson]

1985 Honda Accord LX. Manual, of course, so my mom couldn't drive it. Thank God it only had 86hp. It was harder to get into trouble with it. Carb and rear drum brakes FTW. My parents split the cost with me. $2300 from each of us. It was mint with 60,000 miles on it. This wasn't mine but I had the identical color/options.



1986 Mazda RX-7. Manual. 45,000 miles. I learned a valuable lesson. It was only $5500, which was too good to be true. It was either a theft recovery or the wheels were stolen off it as once I got underneath it all 4 brake backing plates were horribly bent. So I just took them all off. Second gear syncro started to go, so I sold it off before it needed a rebuild. I was nervous as hell about the dreaded cold start/quick shut off which would flood the motor and require a tow. Never happended but scarred me for life. I still don't like starting a cold car and shutting if off before full warmed up.



1989 Mazda RX-7 Turbo II. Manual. 50,000 miles. $10,300 from Crystal Mazda after I was initially thrown out of the dealership when the sales team lied about how much they paid for it on trade in (I came back the next day and bought it from the other sales manager). This car was WAY too quick for a college kid. I learned about summer tires in the cold and turbo lag after I spun and backed it into a guardrail in PA and pancaked the driver's side of the car. Really fun car. I remember doing 135mph on I-180 near Williamsport with the windows down and sunroof open.



1995 Nissan Pathfinder SE. Manual. First new car (I think it was $26,000 in 1996, which was a big sum). First car loan. Slow as shit but drive pretty well. I put 70,000 miles on it driving back and forth to Mass every other weekend (GF from college lived there after school). It was fantastic in the snow.



1999 Honda Acord V6. My first automatic. Nice car, comfy, quick.

2004 Honda Accord V6. Big upgrade from the 1999.

2007 Acura TL. Auto. Ordered and purchased new after I started making decent money. Gray leather, best stereo I've ever had in a car. Probably the first carI regretted selling. Sold to a co-worker for $17,000 in 2011. I think it had 45,000 miles.



While I had the TL, I started with the beater truck as a second car. I liked the 2007 Ranger but it was a POS. The 2004 Tundra I should have kept.





Then I got a new Frontier. 2011 I think. They had crazy deals on them; I think I paid $19,500 brand new. I should have kept this as well LOL.



Then I dumped both the TL and Frontier and bought a 2011 Infiniti FX35. Very polarizing looks but I loved the way it drove. 20 inch wheels in 2011! VQ35 motor was awesome.



2014 Mustang GT with Track Pack. My first real performance car. Ordered for $29,500 jsut before the 2015s came out. Sold 3 years later for $26,500 with 12,000 miles on it. I miss the exhaust note.

 

[Carson]

2015 Mazda CX-5. Sporty for what it was.



2014 Ford Focus ST. Fun car. More fun than expected but I was never fully comfy in the seats (but this was the height of my back issues/surgery as well).



2014 Raptor. Cool-ass vehicle. Got more looks in this that any other vehicle. MERICA! It took me 2 full months to get the dealer to drop the price to $46,000. They hold their values like Harleys. I sold it after I doubled the mileage for $42,000 to a guy in San Diego who bought it sight unseen.



2017 BMW M2. Fantastic car. Just sold last month. Lost $10,500 in 4 years of ownership. Can't do that with a M5!



2019 GTI Rabbit Edition. Had it a year, ripped the bumper off the car in my driveway, traded it in wrecked for KBB book value somehow and got the GLI below for $1500 out of pocket.



2019 Jetta GLI. Current DD. Very happy with it. More room in the back seat and trunk than the GTI and a slightly softer ride. A ton of car for $21,000.



2002 Acura RSX. Purchased on MTBNJ.com. Great beater but the size really made my GF nervous (and I drove it like it was a go-kart).



2014 Chrysler 200. Current beater. Comfy, reliable so far, and heavy enough to be decent in the snow. Purchased from a co-workers neighbor who was retiring to SC and had a car or two down there already. I think it's been washed 3 times in 15 months.



I hope to have an M2C/718 GTS 4.0/Carerra T/GT3 sometime next year. We shall see.

 

[A Potted Plant]

Today happy election day

 

[ChrisG]

Noone's going to read all this but it was a fun trip down memory lane for me.

'85 Honda VF500F. My first vehicle was a bike. I bought it between freshman and sophomore years of college. I actually wanted to buy my buddy's '69 Chevelle with a 396 but the parents said 'no'. So, I bought something easier to hide. Much mayhem ensued when I met a bunch of crazies at the local motorcycle dealer. That we are all still alive is a miracle. Many memories with that bike.
- First crash, of course, chasing the crazies. Stuffed it under a guard rail.
- First bodywork and paint.
- Decided I wanted to race like my friends (my friend JT was almost-national-caliber but never had the money to really give it a go). So I did. Came in 4th in my first race in the rain because I was too stupid to realize how dangerous it was!
- Rebuilt the engine in the kitchen of our rowhouse in Baltimore
- Spent way too much money on it and did stupid things like strip out all the wiring "to make it lighter".
- Eventually truly destroyed it on a twisty road north of Baltimore, ending up in the hospital. I was living in CT with my Aunt and Uncle, working an internship at IBM. I spent a coupe weeks surreptitiously changing my dressings and smuggling the blood-soaked ones out of the house!

'86 GSXR750. The story of how I ended up with this one is twisted. A friend - also a crazy - at school had agreed to do some work on Vic's GSXR. Vic subsequently disappeared. Alvin ended up storing this perfect 3k mile GSXR for years until moving back to CA. It's all a little fuzzy at this point but I guess JT got it and my roommate Dyon was riding it somewhere (for reasons) when it locked up and ventilated the block. We later realized the crankcase was full of gasoline.

This was after I had destroyed my VF500F. I was riding some shitheap un-registered Yamaha twin that JT had given me. I put a superbike bar on it and beat it senseless, pissed at the world. Somehow I end up with the title-less, blown up GSXR. JT and I found a crashed bike with a title somewhere to donate the engine and let me get a plate. At some point, we actually got ahold of Vic but I never got a title, nor do I remember any money changing hands (I didn't have any). Someone gave me $500 for the title-less Yamaha. I remember marveling that a fellow college student could write a check for $500. LOL.

That's the bike that made me fast(ish). It was slower than the latest stuff, so I had to push that much harder.

'84 Chevy Celebrity hand-me-down w/130k miles on it for graduation from college. Towed my GSXR to the track on a little landscape trailer. Eventually sold it to a buddy for $200 w/180k on it. It was still running past 200k when the idiot he sold it to crashed into a bus in Baltimore

'86 Honda VF500F. JT called me up. At this point I had a job. I was living in some dude's basement to afford motorcycle racing. "Are you liquid?" "I guess, sort-of." "Come get this Interceptor for $300. It runs like crap but you know them pretty well." It was pretty clean except where they put duct tape over "Honda" and wrote "Yamaha" because the plate they were using was from one of JTs FZR600s. All the clearcoat came off. Eventually sold to racing buddy Danny for his girlfriend which he instantly regretted.

'80ish Dodge pedo-van Dannny gave me because it was broken down at the condo he had moved out of. We once ran it down 4+ qts of oil driving to a race in Georgia. It still ran but a film of oil would form on the rear windows. He was kind of annoyed when he wanted it back almost a year later and I asked for $200 to cover my expenses! He's the one guy still killing it on track out in New Mexico.

'91 Honda CBR600F2. Finally, a modern, competitive bike! My first race (Roebling Road, in GA) I got knocked down while leading but the two of us were so far ahead, I still got 4th. I really thought it was my year but some other dude in our region started racing that season and he was just better than me. A lot better. So I have a bunch of 2nd and 3rd place trophies. That year marked the end of my racing 'career'. I broke an elbow early in the season, but bounced back fast. Later in the season I had a massive crash that I don't remember a thing about. I do remember the helicopter ride, vaguely. The bike was barely damaged and I actually raced it once more because I had to. A guy crashed in front of me and I was pretty sure I was about to kill him for a split second. Somehow I missed him and his bike, bouncing through the run-off area. That felt like a pretty strong sign that I might investigate other interests. It turned out MTB was that other interest and a couple racing buddies followed suit. We figured we were probably more likely to get hurt but less likely to get dead, an assessment that has proven accurate to date.

'94 Ford Probe GT - 1st new car. Moved to NJ shore from Baltimore right after I bought it. The first person I met outside of work was Mike Schiavo (The Peddler), who gave me directions to Hartshorne. Met ChrisG and SmooveP a week or two later. Started autocrossing.

'92 Honda CBR600F2 from my old buddy JT. It had been a race bike so there were holes drilled all over it but it looked nice enough with the '93 bodywork he had scrounged up. I finally sold it 6 or 7 years ago after not riding it for close to 10 years.

'95 BMW M3 - graduated from autox to track events

'89 Subaru Justy - starting my pattern of 1 nice car, 1 beater

'83 RX7 - turned into a SpecRX7 race car. I didn't even have a garage at the time

'89 GMC 2500 pickup with bad paint - Sold mint BMW M3 so I could spend all my money racing a crappy old RX7. A local officer stopped by when I was working on it in our new house and looked around at all the janky. "So...are you renting this house?"

'95 Lotus Esprit S4s - realized I could actually own a really nice car for what I was pissing away racing a crappy old RX7.

'86 BMW 528e - limped Justy to junkyard with 30/60/90 psi compression

'04 Factory Five Cobra replica - finished paint the week before our wedding

'94 BMW 525iT - did some bodywork and the instructor at the votech bodyshop class I was taking shot it in the booth at the Volvo dealer where he worked. The color didn't match so one side of the car and the bumpers were a different shade of green. Drove SmooveP, his GF and my wife to Pittsburgh for a wedding. 99F and the AC died. The mood was dark. Drove it into the ground. Eventually traded for $200 off a bike part order at CAGS. I still feel a little guilty about it.

'04 Porsche GT3 - objectively awesome but I got tired of driving what is essentially a track car with a carpet. The guy who bought it had equity in a company that was about to be purchased and thought it would be fun to have a track car. Scared the shit out of me test driving it ("please don't lift, please don't lift"). He now co-owns a Porsche performance shop somewhere in North Jersey.

'00 Jaguar XJR - started out nice, eventually sold for $2200 'cause I got sick of fixing it

'01 Ferrari 360 - awesome with an awesome filling

'11 Chevy Volt lease - great car but too small

'04 Volvo V70R - replaced bumper covers and wheels at purchase so it started out really nice - pattern! - now it's all screwed up. AWD dead, hood dented up, windshield cracked, bad rear wheel bearing, cruise doesn't work. I have no idea why I still have the thing but I drove it to Allaire this morning.

'15 VW e-golf lease - was going to buy it but someone ran a red light and my wife tagged him a few days before lease was up

'19 VW Sportwagen - upgrades chronicled in the other thread. 2nd new car purchase

That was fun to read.

I totally remember that Probe, haha. And being mightily impressed by your motorcycle racing history.

 

[Jmann]

This is just going to bring up memories of all the cars I passed on, not knowing the classic car market would eventually explode.
First car: ‘84 bronco II. This was my dads before me. Was on its second engine and tranny and third crankshaft. Total lemon. Never got the carb set up right and it wouldn’t idle if the barometer dropped below 30. Left me stranded several times, but I did get it up on two wheels around a few corners. That truck hung around a long time and I ended up driving it over the years when I was between vehicles. It would set off all the car alarms in my parking garage at work due to its lack of a real exhaust.
1988 Isuzu trooper II. Bought it from a friend, had a bad head gasket. Fixed the head gasket but realized it had a different engine swapped in, was supposed to be a 2.5 but had a 2.3. The truck was super roomy with a giant cargo area and barn doors, but was so anemic. I would have to keep downshifting on the highway if there was any hills. You don’t see many of them these days, I always liked their look.
1994 4runner. Great truck, had leather and the manual. I doubt there’s any left out there with that config. Totaled it into a tree. Would never have sold it.
2001 Audi a6 2.7t 6 speed. This was my nice car faze at age 25. Car had an exhaust and chip, was really fun.
1969 bronco. 302 with 3 on the tree. Gave up on restoring as it was too far gone. Frame had too much rot. The dumb thing was I passed up on one with barely any rust for $1500. Nobody cared much about these 25 years ago, my things have changed.
1990 Chevy 1/2 ton 4x4. Paid $500 for it. Had the 350. Sold it because it was a second vehicle I barely used. Would love to have it now.
2001 Ford Focus wagon. I paid $1700 for it, just wanted a cheap car in the city. It smelled like buttered popcorn when I bought, and smelled like buttered popcorn when I sold it. No idea why.
Subaru wagons: 96,00,01 and ‘11. To be honest I’m not even a big fan, but they do what I need out of car.
‘06 vibe. Got it cheap from my bro-in-law as we needed a second car. Really impressed, over 200k and not even a hiccup. Just keeps going.

 

[EJphotos]

@mfennell I have always liked the Interceptors...such neat looking bikes. If I ever get a bike, it'll probably be an interceptor.

 

[don]

This will be a long one as I'm so old.

Highschool:
- 1970 something Chevrolet 3/4 ton plow truck - squarebody - SBC 350, manual gearbox that was my dad's but I drove it for a while.
- 1964 Chevrolet Impala - 4 door, 283 V8 with powerglide
- 1970 Chevrolet Monte Carlo - my dad found it in an Ihop parking lot abandoned with a broken ball joint. He was a cop so was able to get a title for it and was going to use the SBC 350 for another project. The dad we went to go pick it up I was skating my backyard ramp with some buddies. I ended up falling and popping my shoulder out of the socket. My dad being an EMT got me on the kitchen table and popped it back in. Drove down to the Ihop, got the ball joint in and got it home. By buddies were still at the house so I got some painful carves in. Ended up using the Monte for the summer after HS graduation. I sold it at the end of the summer for $600 and bought a Specialized Rockhopper Comp to bring to college.

College rides:
- 1984 VW Jetta Mk1 - my dad found it at the junkyard for cheap as it needed a rear quarter. I drove this sophomore year. Great college ride but automatic
- 1978 Jeep Cherokee FSJ 4 door - 360 V8 with a manual
- 1974 Mercedes Benz W115 250 - was a diesel that my dad swapped to inline 6 gas engine. 4 speed manual. These cars weren't much money back then but wow they were impressive. Still one of my favorites and I have pie in the sky dreams of buying one and slapping a modded OM617 and manual in one. I had a hell of drive up the hill to the house during a snowstorm with my girlfriend in Stowe after hanging at the Rusty Nail where Vanilla Ice was playing. 30 years later I still think of hanging the back of that car out on every turn trying to keep momentum.
- 1980 Saab 900 5 door Turbo 5 speed - Being in Vermont Saab's were the car to have and I wanted one dearly. Good ones weren't cheap but we found it for under a grand locally in Mass. Great rig in the snow and the highway. I'd like to get a classic Saab one day.
- 1974 Dodge Ramcharger - 318 auto with headers - green and white top. It sounded amazing with the headers and I'd get on it on early mornings to mess with my roomates that were asleep. I had to drive this for a while when the Saab needed a turbo back home.

Post college/Boston:
- 1984 Jeep Cherokee XJ - crappy 2.8 V6 with the Peugeot 5 speed. Good little rig that I ended up taking to Boston to move in with my girlfriend (now wife). I ended up getting T-boned and used that insurance money to invest in a Fidelity fund. Years later I cashed out that fund to by my wife her engagement ring.
- 1987 Saab 9000 Turbo 5 speed - this was my girlfriend's mom's "hand me down". Once the XJ got roached we needed a car. Ended up delivering food with it as a second job in Boston. I got really good at navigating that town. That thing had some turbo lag. Great driver and drove all over New England in it. On one trip from Mass to NJ we lost the clutch and I had to learn how to drive without a 3rd pedal. The tolls were tricky and any time I stopped I had to start it in gear. And it was the first car (and hopefully last) that I took a Thule rack with 2 bikes on top clear off. Luckily just a small dent and broken saddle was the only damage.
- 1975 Volvo 242 auto. Hand me down as the Saab 9000 blew a head gasket and needed something and that was the only extra at my parents house. Actually had a super rad burnt orange paint and looked great with a Thule rack on top.
- 1984 Volvo 244 4 speed with OD. I bought this right before I moved to NJ. It ended up being rusty but I welded all new floors and finished with POR15. I ended up smashing it in the nose running late to the Matawan train station one morning.

Attached are photos that are close to the some of the actual ones I had. I never took picture of my cars back then.

 

[icebiker]

My first new car. 87 Escort GT 5 spd. Took it up to Canada for some snowboarding a few months after I got it. Great little car if a little underpowered.