Cars!

(If you want, you can blame this post on TOP GEAR & on 1 of my buddy Crabby's most recent posts -- his Aug 19 entry briefly Dscribing his 286,000-mile purple "Frankenstein" with the solar-powered rear speakers: In the daytime all his car-stereo's speakers work, at nite only the front speakers do. Ergo, the rear speakers MUST B solar-powered.... You can read more about this at www.rscrabb.blogspot.com/, or by using the Crabby's Top 10 Site link below....)
I've wanted 2 do a post about some of the off-the-wall cars I've owned 4 awhile now. But my 1st motorized method of transportation wasn't a car at all -- it was a green Honda 250 motorcycle that almost killed me early 1 cold morning in Feb 1977 when its throttle froze-up on my way 2 highschool. Accelerating from a stoplight at Fairview Ave & Cloverdale Rd. in Boise, suddenly the throttle locked up & I went from 0 to 60 in about 3.5 seconds. I think I screamed. I was sure I was headed 4 certain death, & the only question was whether I'd lay the bike down at 75 mph B4 I hit some1.
But luckily -- after scaring the crap outta myself -- I kept playing with the throttle, twisting it back&forth until the throttle-cable finally broke loose & my speed came back down. I pulled over long enuf 2 throw up, stop shaking, check the cable 2 make sure it wasn't all frozen, then kick-started the beast & headed on 2 wonderful prison-like Meridian High School. & I got zinged 4 Bing 10 mins late. The 1st funny piece I ever wrote 4 the school newspaper was an attempt 2 humorize this near-death Xperience....
My 1st REAL car was a blue-green '62 Buick Special with no brakes, which I bot from my cousin Jim 4 $50 & then drove 100 miles back home from Cascade, Idaho 2 Boise, being Xtra careful along the way not 2 back-end anybody. Made it all the way with no major panics, 2 -- until the very last stoplight B4 my house, where I sailed right thru the red light & somehow managed not 2 kill anybody.
My Dad & I got the brakes fixed, but the Buick didn't last long. A coupla months later the clutch went out while my highschool sweetheart & I were in the car tootling around town. The Buick hadda 1/2way Dcent radio -- I remember hearing Orleans' "Still the One" coming outta the speakers shortly B4 I pressed down on the clutch & the pedal went all the way 2 the floor.... We hadta walk 2 the nearest phone 2 beg my Dad 2 come get us, but I thot my HSS took it pretty well -- she'd had her own adventures with an ugly white '62 Ford Fairlane that she could never keep on the road when it snowed....
After the Buick was retired, my Dad & I went car shopping & somehow stumbled over a maroon '62 Chevy Impala SS. It was GORGEOUS: chrome wheels, bucket seats, rockin' stereo, nice rumbly vrooom-vrooom noise when I stepped on the gas pedal -- all MUCH TOO GOOD 4 me at age 18.
I used 2 love washing the car off 2 make it look even better. Driving it was another issue. My Dad knew I was a little shaky with it; he asked me straight-out: "That car scare you a little, boy?" Damn straight it did. I knew I was outta my league.
Here's the weird part: I don't CLEARLY remember what happened 2 it. Possibly the gear-linkage went out (it was an automatic), possibly the transmission fell out -- I just can't remember. But I knew it was TOO GOOD 4 me, a theme which continues thruout this list....
Next car was a definite step down: A beige '62 Dodge Dart, utterly dull & boring in almost every possible way. But I learned an important life lesson while driving it: 1 morning I was running late 4 work at the car-parts store & left the house in a rush, not even 1/2 awake, made a half-hearted attempt 2 brush the frost off the windows, & jumped out in2 traffic. At the 1st stopsign I pulled out in front of some1 (cos I couldn't SEE), & when I realized I was gonna get hit I slammed the Dodge into reverse -- & backed right in2 some1 else. She screamed. She thot I was on drugz. It was ugly. Ever since then (& it was 33 years ago) I will NOT get Bhind the wheel without at LEAST 1 cup of coffee in me, & preferably a WHOLE POT....
Next car was a big step up: Baby-blue '72 Chevy Nova, jacked-up in the back, with foot-wide back tires & a ROCKIN' 8-track tape-player(!), on which I usedta play Caravan & Boston & Journey & the Rollers & others at top volume & would screech along in 2-part harmony with on my way 2 work at the record store each day.
This car was also MUCH TOO GOOD & it made a lotta nice rumbly noise. Felt pretty cool in it, 4 perhaps the only time ever. But this 1 also didn't last long: The transmission fell out after 2 months -- & I swear I was BABYING it!
We cannibalized the tape-player & speakers 4 the next car, a red '66 Chevy Impala stationwagon, big enough in the back 2 sleep in. It was HUGE, like a boat 2 drive. & it wallowed around just like a boat, 2.... It also didn't last long -- bad U-joints? Transmission went out? Can't remember. It was over 30 years ago....
If I thot the Chevy was huge.... Next vehicle was a black&white 1960 International Travelall, huge enuf 2 LIVE in -- & at 1 point I thot I might have 2. It was a huge freakin' beast, but it moved. Until the battery started dying every coupla days. & it was impossible 2 push-start cos it weighed 50,000 pounds. You coulda pushed it off of a cliff & it wouldn't've started....
Somewhere in there was a cute white '72 Toyota Corolla that kept boiling over, usually late at nite when I was MILES from home.... & if that wasn't the problem, then it would die every time I turned a corner....
Then there was a white '66 Mercury Comet with doors that wouldn't open. It Bcame my bedroom when I couldn't get enuf privacy in my parents' house. I also got married while still driving it, so when we went off 2 R honeymoon, me & the bride both hadta climb in thru the windows while the attendees laffed their asses off....
The 1st car the X & I bot was an '82 Chevy Citation, the newest car I've ever owned (we bot it in '83). The Citation held up pretty well & got us thru sevral epic trips across the American West (including 1 endless 2-week vacation/moving trip from Texas thru New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Idaho & Wyoming), but was totaled-out when we got back-ended in downtown Cheyenne, Wyo., in the summer of '88. My 6-month-old son was in the backseat at the time....
I'm sure there were others I can't even remember now. The next car I remember was a brown '82 Toyota stationwagon that probly woulda gone 4 300,000 miles if it hadn't been totaled when a teen who'd been fighting with his parents smashed in2 the side of it while trying 2 get away from home in his parents' car. The proceeds from the insurance bot me a replacement car & got my X her 1st Internet-hookup computer....
The replacement was a gray '82 Toyota Cressida, a supposed "luxury" car that at least got me from Wyoming 2 Washington, & probly woulda gone a lot farther -- but my X totaled it on her 1st nite in Wash when she hit a deer. 6 years in Wyoming, a state filled with deer & antelope, a state she logged 1,000's of driving miles in, & she never got CLOSE 2 hitting any wildlife....
Later on I had a maroon '87 Nissan hatchback (with a nice stereo) in which the driver's-side window shattered 4 no known reason, & which suddenly started dying every time I made a right-hand turn....
Awhile back I hadda black '86 Ford Ranger pickup which held-up pretty well 4 about 6 years, but which finally died last Halloween when the clutch went out. It had been a long time in going: months B4 I'd lost reverse, & there wasn't much left of 2nd gear. The heater had stopped working LONG B4. When it finally died it at least had the grace 2 break down in my driveway....
Currently I'm driving a blue '87 Cadillac Sedan DeVille, which is -- let's face it -- like driving a Chevy Monte Carlo, only with a Cadillac badge stuck on it. I've learned in 9 mo's of ownership that the Cadillac badge just means that everything on the car is gonna B more Xpensive & more difficult 2 fix.
It was a little beat-up 2 begin with, but it might look better if some1 hadn't backed in2 it a coupla months ago while I was working -- AND THEN LEFT THE SCENE WITHOUT TELLING ME. I heard the BASH! when they hit the car, I'm sure they did too -- I just wonder how big the dent in their car was?
...So what R U driving these days, & what R yer favorite motorized beasts from yer past...?