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In college, a friend-of-a-friend had a Kaiser, made by a car company that somewhat lives on in Jeep (Willys was part of the subsequent line, if I remember correctly). It was an early 50s car that had a hatchback and faux alligator-skin seats along with a LOT of chrome. I drove it most of the summer of '69 and gave the guy, in gratitude, my prized 10-speed Schwinn as payment when he returned.
Next, the boss at my part-time job helped me get a push-button tranny Nash Rambler: cool two-tone green, but it didn't last after a somewhat serious accident.
That winter, a housemate needed to return home to help his Dad with calving, so he turned over to me his new Duster for safe-keeping. Boring, but the damn thing started every day--- and that was one of the coldest ever Minnesota winters.
(I also owned a Cadillac hearse and a Caddy ambulance [the party lights and spotlights worked!], but those are other stories...).
Follow Ups:
Got to drive the company Baker Electric. Neck snapping acceleration to about a fast walk.
steered from the BACK SEAT with a tiller and there were some foot pedals.
Front seats rotated backwards so ALL FOUR persons in the car could face one another and socialize.
Like a crushed red velvet interior.....original.
Company had put a solar panel on the roof and may be put it in a parade or 2 before I joined them.
Jay Leno was an advisor when 'the boss' wanted it brought back into service. Some parts, like the motor, had NEVER been apart or serviced......
Too much is never enough
My coolest cars , my 1974 FIAT 124 Spider , I regret selling it to get a 73 Mercedes Benz 450SL w/c is more of a boulevard cruiser than a sports car . My first ever BMW a 1984 635CSI euro , it's a more sportier car than the 450SL that I had before .
I still have it until now , wanted to sell it to buy a new Mazda Miata , but every time I drive it , the more I don't like to sell it . My 89 Porsche 911 turbo is also a favorite of mine , very terrifying when you take a corner fast , also known as the Widow Maker , this car when they come on boost , when you look at the mirror all that's behind you becomes tiny specks . My 88 Ferrari Mondial 3.2 Cabriolet is also a fun drive , the sound , the smell , every drive is an event . It has the trademark shift gate that makes that clanking sound everytime you do your shifting . It's a car that feels fast even if your driving slow . I still have this car w/c my Dad handed down to me because he can no longer drive it back in 2016 . It's such a joy to drive .
what a blast to own and drive. Certainly the only one in my home town. All aluminum body, leather interior, dashboard looked like a spitfire cockpit.
Leather seats. Disc front brakes (1972!).
Lucas electrics sucked though. And you had to run only synthetic oil, and that was very expensive in '72.
My girlfriend's dad was a surgeon and he bought it for her because of the safety designs. Very advanced for the time.
She gave it to me.
Note that the paint job on this stock photo is not original. I can tell. Mine was red original.
Also it looked better with Mass plates :)
When I picked it up at the shop I had no idea what all the damn cockpit switches did. For example the starter had a push button, no key turn. And the mechanics had not completely closed the hood - and I didn't notice.
So I am driving home doing 75 on I-95 and the damn hood popped up. Completely blocked the windshield, could not see a damn thing except red metal.
All I could do was look out the side windows and glide over to the breakdown lane. Scared the piss out of me.
. I judge any sound system by how tiring it is to listen to.
Linkwitz
is high on the list for cool. Road and Track even agreed in it's "51 coolest cars'"issue a few years ago.
I found it for sale in about 1996 and explained to my car-shopping wife how cool it was. $14.5k, I think it was. Personally, if it were mine, I'd sell it. It's got a lot of issues now. I wish the bumpers weren't so ugly. Victims of US crash test requirements. Look like front/back porches. Only came in schwarz with tan hand-stitched leather. Fastest production 4-door car at the time, but I drove a newer M3 that would blow the doors off that old M5. A lot of newer cars would. But it was solid on a good freeway at 135mph.
I had a '96 Jag XJR I liked to drive. Drove great for a car that size. 'Pace, space and grace'. Last of the supercharged in-line 6 cyl jags, it came out a couple years after Ford bought Jaguar so the problematic Lucas electrical shit had been replaced. I got it used around 2001 or so; referred to it as my used Ford. (Later it was a used Chrysler, I think. Then a used Tata...). Fun car, great drive. The XJRs didn't have the pimpy chrome trim the other XJ Jags used, which contributed to the cool look, vs pimpy. I traded it for a RAV4 after a bottle of garlic olive oil exploded in the front seat.
I had a Mk IV AH Sprite in college. Last model year for Sprites. 1275cc engine. That led to me getting to drive an XJR a local guy had. He wanted to swap rides and we had about the only Brit cars in the county back then. XJR was a dream.
It belonged to a customer at a independent VW shop I worked at in the '70s, she was drop dead gorgeous in hip hugging bell-bottoms and tube-top.It was great fun to leave traffic behind instead of the VW Bus norm.
Later a ride in a '70 914-6 with a 2.7 in it was memorable, and finally a '70 Dodge Challenger 440 six-pack automatic with aftermarket pistons and cam could spin its tires at freeway speeds.
The last really impressive car I got to drive was a '95 Porsche 911 and I remember feeling stunned at how nice it was to drive compared to the Mazda's I was working on at the time.
The dealership had purchased the car at auction and sent one of their detailers to drive it back. He was on 280 between San Francisco and San Jose when he got a flat tire.
It was flat-bedded back and I got to check it out. A 7/16 x 2 1/2" bolt had punctured a rear tire, and the rim then dented the edge of the brake rotor.
I asked the detailer how fast was he going and he said "I'm not saying".
Edits: 04/09/21
I see a VW bus here on Northern Sydney's beaches with a radiator hanging off the front and a Ford V8 inside.
But the owner is definitely not as nice as your one ;-)
Keep Your Hands Clean,
John K
I also had a Volkswagen Thing/Safari. Loved it but it did have its quirks. The cabin heater pulled gasoline from the tank and ignited it with a spark plug. So you had a blow torch going behind the firewall but with no fan, ducts or cabin insulation there was no heat reaching the cabin while you were in motion, the only noticeable effect was lower gas mileage.
I don't know how he got it started at work to come home without a six year old like me to do it.
Two engine rebuilds? Yes, needed.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
My FIL always referred to it lovingly as "The French revenge". They should have left it in the UK rather than ship it back here when he was transferred back to the States. It was basically a POS.....
My FIRST car, gifted from my brother, was a '56 Chrysler Windsor.
2-doors. 331 Wedge Head with a WCFB 4bbl. And a 2-speed push button auto trans.
It even had one of those 'air scoops' at the base of the windshield to direct air to your feet.
Last of the Powerflite 2-speed and PRE Carter AFB, 4bbl.
My dad put on a new dual exhaust system with glass packs and redid the kingpin front end....we got the LAST kingpins in the western Hemisphere, I think.
Giganitc 12" drum brakes were so-so....and could be cooked......
Power steering and GENERATOR (pre alternator) SHARED a common shaft and the whole underhood required matched pairs of belts.....'double belted'. The PS reservoir even had a FILTER which we found and changed.....
People I didn't know would come up to me at school at tell me how cool that beast was. It was the 'Nassau Couple' in light blue over white. And was HUGE....
Similar to the photo......
Too much is never enough
House I grew up in was on a steep hill, too steep to for us to ride up on our bikes.
Guy next door had a 1960 Dodge that he parked in front of the house. It was always rolling down the hill into somebody else's yard. My dad told me it was because the parking brake was on the drive shaft.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
True......
That's why I was always TRAINED to pull 'into' the curb.....going down and 'out' going UP.
Also? I owned the care when I lived in Florida which has a hill.....somewhere.....
Too much is never enough
my sister-in-law had a Dodge Daytona, the front-drive Daytona based on the K-car. They were out in in brother's car one day, came home, and the Daytona was gone.
They reported it stolen. Several days later, the neighbor knocked on their door to ask, did they know their Dodge was in the woods over the hill behind the house?
Yep. Parking brake wasn't working--rust-frozen cables were common on that car--it had a manual transmission, and my sister-in-law forgot to put it in gear when she parked it.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
a co-worker gave it to me with 50k miles. it was funky, drove poorly, etc. I kept it for a few months and gave it away to a stranger.
P
'69 champagne colored Camaro with white Naugahyde interior, Uniroyal red lined wide oval tires and Krager slotted dish mags. Motorola 8tr with Jensen 6x9s hung under the back deck. Sold it for a p.o.s. redesigned Chevelle
----------------------
"E Burres Stigano?"
Mate of mine had a 1955 SWB Land Rover, no wind screen, no doors with a 2.5L motor from a TR6 fitted.
It was...scary.
1951 Henry J
1952 Kaiser Deluxe 4-door
1965 and 1966 Renault R8 (yeah, 2 of them)
1968 Renault R16
ALMOST bought a 1969 Citroen D19 and a 1974 Alfa Romeo GTV
A university buddy had R8, R8 Gordini, R10, R12, R16.
Another had an R4 with R12 running gear - weapon ;-)
Keep Your Hands Clean,
John K
Edits: 04/09/21
I used to drive the service manager's R16 when he was working on my R10. Loved that car.
We had two R8s but were smitten by the R16. I was a model maker at the time, saw an R16 scale model at the model shop and had to have it. But when I got it home I discovered that all the instructions were in French!
As OCD model makers will confirm, my model HAD to be an exact replica so ... I bought the car. To serve as the ultimate research source, you understand.
The yellowing pages of "The Renault Guide" (1st quarter 1970 issue) carry my story of what ensued. I think I even got paid for the article.
I learned to drive a stick shift (before I got a permit) on my dad's R10. What a cool, lightweight, simple car. But I never got to drive it alone, so I never experienced the deadly drop-throttle oversteer!
upholstery. Do you remember yours very well, well enough to describe?
Afraid I don't know from "fold down back window," but our 4-door was much loved and sold (in 1960) only because Kaiser-Frazer was long gone by then and so were the dealers. Ours was "Caribbean Coral in color, three-speed with overdrive, extremely comfortable and not bad in the handling department (compared to other sedans of that era).
'63 Renault Dauphine.
White with red leather interior. It was on its last legs when I bought it for 150 bucks in 1969. If it was raining and at night, you had to shut everything off , even the wipers or the lights were too dim to see where you were going.
Kept a squeegee handy for that situation. Bucket seats and a floor shift 3 speed. It was my first car, pos, but I loved it.
Finally had to Junk it, because I was too broke to fix it when the engine went south.
Looked like this one pretty much.
mg16
Later 'morphed' into the R10.....
And I think they made a racer out of this 'base' at some point.....
Too much is never enough
Owned--probably my "collection" of 5 Pontiac Fieros that I owned at one point. All were 2M6 (2.8L V-6) SE or GT models, but I had one converted to a Cadillac Northstar V-8 drivetrain (basically, a direct "drop-in", since the mid-engine layout Fiero was just a GM FWD drivetrain mounted in the back).
Driven--a 1971 Plymouth Cricket--tiny little Euro-car marketed under the Plymouth nameplate. A 60's (don't recall what year) VW MicroBus with a Porsche 916 drivetrain swap--it actually would hold speed on the highway. Any number of my cousin's "sleepers"--stupid stuff (big luxo sedans and station wagons) with built to the ass racing drivetrains in them.
My '64 Ford Econoline Van was kinda cool/weird too. Engine between the two front seats in a box, three on the tree, and manual steering and manual drum brakes on all 4 corners. Giant "school bus" steering wheel. Seating on the front of the front wheel housings--totally vertical face--zero crash protection.
"So I talk to the night, I head for the light, try and hold it on the road. Thank God for the man who put
the white lines on the highway"--a very dear friend for decades Michael Stanley (Gee)--RIP
I had a 61 Econoline in highschool.
Ex Ma Bell Telephone van... was a rolling party.
idlers and tubes....life is good
stereo in it (8-track, of course!). It was fun riding with the road just before you. We also installed a large hook in the back where a hookah could often be found hanging...
My Datsun 120A, in this colour. The 120Y was a popular car in the UK, but I didn't see too many of the A's about.
Ugly as sin....
d
Something like this:
Edits: 04/08/21
2004 360 Spider--only the engine is in the "right" place... Last year for the 6-spd stick--then only the F-1 tranny available.
Engine under glass in the mid-ship. Pics taken at Lakefront Park when I first got it last year. Lake Erie is on the other side of that tall hedging (Russian Olive), that serves as a break-front for storms coming-in off the lake.
"So I talk to the night, I head for the light, try and hold it on the road. Thank God for the man who put
the white lines on the highway"--a very dear friend for decades Michael Stanley (Gee)--RIP
1969 Fiat 500F.
Painted Guards Red (Porsche red). Chicks loved that car, all 17hp of it.
I modded it with VW barrels and pistons to take it to 650ccs, port and polish, extractors, cam, SU carb.....
It went pretty good by the end for maybe 25-30hp ;-)
Keep Your Hands Clean,
John K
Drove -
VW Thing - The pedals were waaay too the side and it was a stick
Dodge Dart - with three on the tree - had to pull over once in a while to untangle the linkage.
Had -
76 Triumph Spitfire - did lots of mods - all with duct tape, street sign floor boards, staples and rivets.
80 Fiat Spider 2.0 - the stick could be separated from the linkage and put in the trunk for security and for a short distance you could shift with a finger stuck in the linkage (until it got hot)
Gsquared
Love the "street sign" floor boards. Guys gotta do what a guys gotta do and signs are heavy gauge and don't rust
d
The car I most wish I still had was a 1970 BMW 2002 I had when I was in my early 20s. I bought it from a GI who'd brought it over from Germany. The performance was a revelation after growing up with American cars and pickups. I'd owned a '69 1600 before that and liked it so much I jumped on the 2002 when I saw it for sale. Getting it serviced required driving 200 miles to Houston where there was a small shop staffed by what I came to believe were former Luftwaffe mechanics. Fortunately, I'd taken a couple semesters of German in college and while they were amused by my attempts to communicate when English wasn't working, they treated me really well.
Edits: 04/08/21
It wasn't cool. Paid 85 bucks for it. Air in the brake lines, all the bleeders frozen and rounded by rust, so pump the brakes up before you might need them.
Pumpkin-sized rust holes in the cowl, front footwells were full of water after it rained.
My favorite out of the 25-odd cars I've owned was a 1984 Rabbit GTi I bought from a friend for $300. The car was on its last legs (and I didn't have it long), but I did love driving it.
Favorite motorcycle, and IMO it was cool, 1978 Yamaha SR500. Four-stroke single cylinder road bike. Kick-start only.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
Got to drive a '67 Monza once, I thought it drove very nicely .
Cracks me up that they're still seen on the road.
Had the two-speed automatic.
Despite everything that was wrong with it, not the shittiest car I ever owned, that's for sure. Everything could have been fixed if I had been patient enough to learn how. My dad wanted to help me but I didn't want any parts of it.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
ankle trying to turn it over but I was med-averse so never had an x-ray. Ankle still, occasionally, reminds me...
And yeah, the Corvair counts, if for no other reason than for the Ralph (the God) Nader thing.
There was a manual compression release and I had to let go of the lever at exactly the right time.
Oh, and if I fucked up and didn't get it started by the second or third kick, it took twenty to finally get it fired up.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
better just go smoke a doobie and wait...
The ankle problem occurred when you mis-timed the release and all tension dissolved: Wham!
When the guy in the bike shop started it, the engine vibrations caused it to do a 360-degree spin on its center stand. And I had to have it.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
My most fun to drive was a 1975 280Z, silver. I bought it new and drove it for 10 years. I reluctantly parted with it when we had our first son.
My wife had an early Honda CRV. The cover for the back deck could be taken out and folded into a small table for car camping and picnics.
Especially with a manual transmission.
They've gotten uglier and uglier over the years and of course, the uglier they get them more they sell.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
My wife had a Camry. She wanted something with more ground clearance for driving through our occasionally flooded streets. The trigger was spending two hours in a parking lot waiting for the water to recede trying to get home from work. I didn't have any appreciation for the CRVs looks. She thought the CRV was cute. I have always let her drive whatever she wanted. Most cars are ugly. The CRV was a good practical vehicle, and served us well. We gave it to our youngest son with 40 K miles on it in great shape. Six months later he totaled it. Vehicles come and go.
" The cover for the back deck could be taken out and folded into a small table for car camping and picnics."To this day Honda is very creative at maximizing space and utility. The Ridgeline truck has a trunk under the bed as does my Passport SUV.
The trunk space in the Passport allows me to store tools, air compressor, flash lights, emergency battery booster, folding shovel and traction ramps for getting unstuck in the snow, quart of oil, emergency food and water, blanket.... and it stores the spare tire and jack, all under the load floor w/o taking up any space in that are. But no picnic table ;-)
Edits: 04/08/21 04/08/21
I have a Ridgeline truck with the trunk under the bed. It will hold a good amount of stuff. Of course the spare and tire tools are in there, but those are arranged on a tray which slides forward and out of the way. I keep jumper cables, an air compressor, tire repair kit, gloves, flashlight and a couple of clean rags in mine, but there is room for much more. On one trip, I managed to get luggage for three in there. It's water tight and it locks and unlocks along with the doors. It is also a good place to store secret stuff temporarily like Christmas presents. No one expects there to even be anything under the bed.
Coolest was my 1971 Datsun 240z and 1970 Datsun 510, both purchased several years old after high school. The 510 was totaled in a wreck. I drove the 240z for a couple years and sold it later for what I paid.Most fun driving was my 2008 BMW 135i 6-spd, inline-6 twin-turbo with M-Sport package, performance exhaust, and Dinan Stage 2 tune for more power. Looked totally stock on the outside and easily smoked BMW M3's of that era.
But I would argue that I had the most fun IN my father's 1969 Ford Torino Squire station wagon on Friday nights during my high school years ;-). I consider it to be a weird car with its fake wood panels. On the other hand my H.S. buddy drove an awesome Chevy El Camino.
BMW 135i
Edits: 04/08/21 04/08/21 04/08/21 04/08/21
I know what you mean about the Ford station wagon. My high school GF's older brother had a 60 something one. It was top of the line. He played for the Rams. I have no idea why he let us borrow that thing. There was a lot of room in the back and it was outfitted for his kids with a pad and blankets.
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