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Automotive News & Views Cars of My Past
189 messages, Last post on Jul 05, 2007 at 3:53 PM
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how many miles my Mom & stepdad's '99 Altima has on it, but as of Mother's Day last year, it was right around 200,000. Probably over 230,000 by now. Initially I thought the car was going to be a piece of crap because its tranny had to be rebuilt at 35,000 miles, and then around 80,000 miles it left them stranded. Twice. But Nissan rebuilt the tranny with no fuss whatsoever, and the stranding thing was due to the battery going bad prematurely. Odd, back in the old days you could actually pull a battery out of a car while it was running, and you'd be fine. Well, until you turned the car off, that is! I guess you can't do that any more? Other than those two problems though, I don't think the car has needed anything other than regular maintenance stuff. AFAIK, the car's still running fine, but they want to get something new because they travel down to Florida a lot, and with the car getting up in mileage, that could get risky.
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First car 1938 Chev 2door Given me by the next door neighbor when I was 14. He bought it unrunning for the tires and didn't think I'd do anything with it. Had it running in 3 hours but took the next 2 weeks to get the brakes functional. Used to drive it on my grandfather's farm. One winter, I forgot to drain it and it froze and and broke the block. 1937 Chev 4dr Dad bought it for me for $75 when I turned 16. Had to pay him back. It was OK! but had the "knee action" front suspension, and went loping down the road hysterically when you hit a bump 1942 Ford 6 cyl coupe. Didn't run, but it was a Ford. Put in a hot Flathead V8, which would turn 97.3 in a quarter mile. Not bad in 1957. Had some preexisting body damage, and burned valves like a woodstove burns pine. Nicknamed "the Popcorn Machine" by friends. Sold it after blowing the engine in a stoplight drag. 1941 Ford Coupe. Terrific condition drove it several years, all over Cal, Or & WA. 1941 Plymouth, Paid $25. It ran well, but was gutlessl sold it for $150 1941 Chev Convert, Engine was frozen up and it was given to me. Took out the engine, but sold it before proceeding. Made a couple of bucks. 1947 Indian Bonneville. Pd $75 for it all in pieces. Had it assembled enough to run, but lacked the gas tank, so had a jury rigged 1 gallon can. A collector spotted me one day and followed me to work. Paid me $750. 1958 1959 Ford Galaxie 500 Convertibel. My first good car. Purchased in 1960 from Hertz rental. Had the 292, but was reasonably quick and got 20mpg on 30 cent gas. 1961 VW First Brand new car. Liked it a lot, lost it in my first divorce, 1941 Nash (1962)A bit of a step back, but divorces cause such things. Old and beautiful. The rear seats folded into the trunk making beds you could leave in place all the time. It was a lot of fun picking a girl up at her place for a first date and seeing their reaction when you opened the door for them and the red interior lights came on. 1960 Falcon (1963) "THe Tin Tank" It went everywhere without a missed beat. Carried 6 people; never less than 31 mpg. An amazingly reliable car. The use I gave it would destroy nearly car made now and most SUVs 1966 Mustang Conver 6 cyl loaded with options. A beautiful, reliable and economical 30mpg car. Sold it to my Dad who sold it to my Sis who sold it to my Mom who sold it to my Brother who wrecked it in 1984, and got twice the original purchase price from the insurance company. 1968 Mercury Montego 302 V8. Competent family car; decent economy. Sold it after the drum brakes faded in a panic stop on the freeway. 1972 Mustang Convertable 351 CJ Brand new in Jan '72 with all the performance options. I still have this car and it still has the original paint. Drove the car near 200,000 miles before rebuilding the engine. With my engineer son doing most of the wrench turning and a Ford specialized speed shop doing the rest, it cost $1000 more to rebuild the engine in 2005 than the car cost new. Prior to the engine rebuild, the only repairs to the car were the carburater, water pump and several clutches. My wife didn't like low on the 4 speed, (371 axel ratio) but loved to drive the car; so she started out in second all the time so we went through a lot of clutches. She could start out from a dead stop on a San Francisco hill in second gear. 1977 Subaru Without question the worst car I have ever owned. Purchased new I traded it with 58,000 miles and there was more wrong with it than it was worth. Jumped out of 3rd gear when you applied power. The windshield wipers would not clear snow from the windsheild. Three of 4 quarter shaft bearings were shot. Engine ran OK, but this little tin box only managed 17 mpg. 1979 Thunderbird. Quietest car I've ever owned. It got 19 mpg with the AC, Auto Trans etc at 75 mph. Put 127k miles on it without a single repair. Sold it 1985 to a friend who drove it at least another 3 years. Needless to say, I don't think much of a Subaru. 1984 THunderbird A stripped model; Only one I have ever seen with roll up windows. COmpetent car; drove it 120,000 in Alaska with only one minor repair to the transmission, a $57 sensor. 1984 BroncoII (1989) Excellent vehicle for Alaska. Much more reliable and capable than the contemporary Subarus. It always started even at 30 below. About 18 mpg, lacked adequate passing power above 55 mph, but was unstoppable in adverse conditions. 1989 Mustang Convert 5L 5spd Sport option (1990) Great car put 120k without a repair; 24 mpg as long as I kept my foot out of it, which was hard to do. Very quick and agile, but light in the rear if pavement was slippery. Sold it to my son's best friend for $2000 less than I had paid 5 years and 120,000 miles earlier. He still has the car and loves it. Has had it restored. 1991 Mercury tracer. (new)I was comuting 120 miles per day and needed max economy so bought a stripped little sedan. It got 40 mpg all the time. At first the cornering was weak, but I changed out the tires and made a sports car out of it. Handling was then superb along with the mileage. Sold it with over 150k without a single problem other than the original tires. 1979 Ranchero Old and battered, but useful in my business. Sold it to a fellow who restored it. 1985 Bronco II (1999) Yep another one, for the business mainly to tow boats around the yard. It had 180k on it, and several times I drove it through the mountains during winter. My new puppy ate the interior, and it wasn't worth fixing, so I pocketed the 800 insurance check. When I sold the business, it was still hauling boats. It pulled a 25,000# boat on a trailer up the ramp, when the owner's Chev 3500 PU wouldn't. 1988 Bronco II (2006) Since so much of what I do involves needing 4WD, towing 3,000# or more and leaving the vehicle unattended in a harbor or trailhead, it would be silly to have an expensive looking vehicle. So I went back to reliability and off road capacity. Found a good '88 for $2,000 last June. It is my principle vehicle and gets 23 mpg most of the time, 24 when I drove to Mexico and back last January. Prior owner was a kid who had way too large a tire for the gearing; you could never get it into 5th. Changed them. Had a minus 9 night in December. It started without a whimper next AM. Well that's it. I now have my old Mustang and my new old Bronco II. Based on driving and riding in many many other cars, I'm sweet. In my esperience, Ford products have been the best all around vehicles considering cost and satisfaction. I'm not luxury oriented, though many of my friends are, and for years traveled on business ane rented nearly every kind of car imaginable; Being single, I have driven many girl friends cars of all makes. Toyotas and Hondas in general deserve their reputation, though they aren't flawless. Nissan, Mitsubishi and Subaru are not equal in quality |
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Replying to: andre1969 (Mar 24, 2007 1:33 pm) |
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Replying to: andre1969 (Mar 24, 2007 1:33 pm) |
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1973 Ford Maverick - kept 2 years 19-whatever Ford Granada (didn't keep it long enough to remember what year) 1982 Mercury LN7 - kept 5 years 1987 Chevy Nova - kept 11 years 1998 Toyota Corolla - 9 years so far With the success I've had from my last two cars, I'll never buy a Ford or Mercury again unless it's got a Japanese engine in it. My preference.
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Replying to: irismg (Mar 26, 2007 10:54 am) I'm not defending Ford, just stating the facts. |
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I agree with nvbanker. While it goes without saying that irismg has every right to his preference, it's unfortunate that bad experiences frequently act to deny consumers of good choices, long after the products that caused them problems have been replaced by totally reengineered models. Indeed, one of the great challenges for the domestic car brands is that many people won't even consider a domestic brand because of problems they had 20-30 years ago, even though the successors to the cars they once owned are now competitive in the marketplace. And, in many cases, the perceptions of the children of these people are the same as their parents'. They may buy more youthful models - a Scion, say, instead of a Camry - but its from the same manufacturer as the one that sits in their parents' driveway. To their credit, Toyota and Honda, in particular, have built up a tremendous reservoir of good will, just as GM, and to a lesser extent Ford and Chrysler, had done in the '30s, '40s, '50s and '60s. The upshot is that the domestic companies will have to offer better and more exciting products, at a competitive price, to win back market share. Their best hope is if Toyota and Honda make some mistakes, as GM did after it had reached the pinnacle. It will be really difficult for the domestics to thrive if Toyota and Honda, and now Hyundai, stay on top of their game.
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Bought my first car in '87 while in college. My brother and I go to a used car dealer and he gives us the keys for a test drive. I CAREFULLY take it out of the lot and get on the interstate. My brother asks me "when did you learn how to drive a stickshift," and I tell him "this is my first time, but don't worry, I've read a book on it." Amazingly, I did pretty good and only stalled it once at a stoplight and ended up buying the car. It had about 80K miles and I think I paid around $2K. This little truck was very basic with no A/C or power steering (took a bit of effort to parallel park). The rear end was so light that I once pushed it sideways on ice to get unstuck. I put a camper shell on it and took canoes everywhere. I put a trailer hitch on it and pulled small sailboats to local lakes. It had a small 2.0L or 2.2L engine and 5 spd. tranny. It got me around the country after college, but the clutch did give out on a trip to Canada at around 110K miles. It had warned me though, with a subtle higher pitch drone sound from the gearbox. Live and learn! Funny, I don't ever recall it slipping prior to failure. I sold the Sundowner in '91 with 123K miles when I got a new job. I saw one in great condition a couple of summers ago at a local library. I now live further south, and most of those era Japanese cars/trucks rusted out up north. |
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Replying to: hpmctorque (Mar 27, 2007 5:20 am) One thing that hurts Ford more than most cars is their longevity. One study of cars in one state (Ohio?) took the registrations of all brands in a given year, and then looked at what percentage were still registered in ensuing years. At 12 years, Ford moved into #1, and each year thereafter, the margin got wider. Why does this hurt Ford? Well there are a lot of old cheap Fords still running, and usually become a persons first car. Since they are old, the teenager longs for that newer other brand with less rattles and problems. And the old Fords with their $30 starters and $50 alternators are kept running while the $300 alternator on the old Toyota is too expensive to keep the old junker running, so they are scrapped out. Looking at the list of first cars on this Forum adds evidence to this When I was a kid, this same situation used to work against Chev and for Ford, but that changed in the 60s. |
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At 12 years, Ford moved into #1, and each year thereafter, the margin got wider. Interesting - I thought I was the only person who knew that. For some reason, Ford Bigots bother me the most, because 90% of them have never had one. They just know someone who did in 1957, and couldn't keep the back doors closed or something.... Young Adults are fascinating - I hear all the time, "I don't like Fords" from them, but they have no idea why. Ford has some real repair work to do to their image. In the 60's, they had some terrific advertising, where they actually showed the car!! (Gasp) instead of some lifestyle ad where only the liftgate and a headlight are featured, but the girls inside surf. It showed a Mustang driving in the mountains, the music was upbeat with a message that Ford was winning the car war. It inspired me to get one, and old used one, but I liked it and stayed with Ford mostly, for years. And most of them treated me well. They were the cars of my past by and large. I still think they were the best cars in some models and years. But though they may run forever, the company doesn't, and stalls frequently, runs with fits and starts and the transmission slips often in the Board Room. I sincerely hope ARM can put this old company back on the road again. But he won't be there forever either, and who knows who will come after him, if there is an after him..... History of this company is fascinating - but inconsistent. |
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