My Cars
I have had various cars throughout my life.
1964 Ford Falcon
My first car that I would use was my brothers 1964 Ford Falcon (I had always assumed it was dad's car). It had been bought from Aunt Annie & Frieda and was literally the car that was driven to church and back and that was it. Some time during high school Mike must have moved on and it was given to me to use. I remember putting huge speakers in the rear window and having an 8-track tape player, jamming to a lot of Van Halen and KISS. When the car started to die, dad wanted to get rid of it at the junk yard on Broadway. He used his car to push me down Cormier Road and a some point the car started (not sure how it was an automatic) and I remember him having me pull over and to not shut of the engine. Because it was running, they gave him $50 and not the promised $25.  |
AMC Hornet Sportabout Wagon
My next car didn't happen until I got to Homestead AFB. I worked for SGT Joe Hamm's crew and he sold me his AMC Hornet Sportabout Wagon. I have no idea of the year or mileage, I do know it was brown. I do remember at some point it breaking down in the Cutler Ridge Mall and just leaving it there as I didn't know how to fix it. At some point we figured out it needed a new freezer plug on the engine block and replacing it. One day I was turning at a stop light and I blew out a tire. So I decided to put mag wheels on the back. I had to raise the backend to allow for the tires. With it just having leaf springs, I just bought extenders to lower the back end of the springs. In one of my "not too bright" moments, when I took the bolt out of the spring, I was holding the spring and it trapped my fingers between the spring and the bottom of the car. Didn't break anything, but it took me a get a prybar and remove my fingers. Not sure if I knew I was buying a new car or not, but I sold it to Roy Lock who lived across the street from me when I lived in Homestead.
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1982 Ford EXP
On one of my vacations home to Green Bay, I bought a Ford Exp (my first new car) July 1982. My brother Mike bought a red one and I liked it so much, I just needed one. I bought it at then Van Boxtel Ford on Military Avenue. I had never driven a stick so that was a first too. On the side of the dealership, the driveway to 6th Street was a significant hill and I could not get onto the road, I kept snubbing the car and dad had to drive to get out of the dealership. I then drove it the next day to Homestead Florida, which must have been real interesting.
This car would get me through the Air Force, but between Florida and Georgia the silver paint pretty much went flat. I do remember when I went back to Fort Gordon from Valdosta, I still had the cast on my right leg and had a cruise control added to the car and the control box mounted to the dash. I would shift and get up to speed as fast as possible and then control the speed with the cruise control. Somewhere in the drive I was pulled over for speeding and not knowing if it was illegal to drive with a cast, held my leg as high under the dash to hide it. I really wanted to show the cop my cast and say, "but look I have a lead foot".
When I home with the car, I was driving back from Bay Shore County Park and as I was exiting Highway 41 onto Lombardi Avenue, the engine blew up and put oil all over the road. The good thing, I only had about 34,000 miles on the car and the engine replacement was covered under the warranty.
I didn't take car of the car and on December 1, 1985, while at the apartment on Oneida Street, the landlord needed all the vehicles moved so he could park cars for the game. Well that game is called the Snow Bowl for the 14" inches of snow that day. When I went to move the car, it would move and I found out one of the front tires was completely bald.
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Mazda B2000 Pickup
It was time for a new vehicle and I decided on a Mazda B2000 SE-5 pickup truck, another manual transmission. I put a cap on the deck and was able to use it as a camper. I remember going to a Bay-Lake coworkers property near Lake Michigan during a colder month and not being able to warm up. I thought with a sleeping bag and the back closed, it would be get hot, however I just shook the whole night. On the oppsite end, used it during a camping/scuba diving trip to Potawatomi Park and with two people it suffocatingly hot.
One day I had a brilliant idea (well I thought so at the time) and decided to get a bug shield and put a saying on it. At the time Def Leppard was huge so I painted the whole shield read and in gold letters wrote "Pour Some Sugar on Me". Wow, people must have thought that an idiot drove that truck. I did eventually remove the saying. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a picture of it.
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Lumina
Not sure when or why, but I decided to purchase another vehicle and I bought a used Chevy Lumina from Broadway Auto. I have no record of the year or mileage, but one day while driving to work, my boss Mark Walter was behind me and when I got to work he said he noticed he could see my front tires from behind, my car was "crabbing". I went to Broadway and they did in fact discover it have a bad misalignment. They said sorry and put it off as when the car was attached to the auto transport truck they must have tightened the straps too much. Whatever, I did seems to fix the problem.
This is the car I used for my wedding, with Mike driving us from the church to the reception. It definitely was big enough.
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Ford Ranger
After getting a house, it was decided that we needed something to haul stuff, so I got a Ford Ranger. It was a nice little truck and I did get some nice compliments on the looks. The problem was it was not an extended cab and when Brandon was born, there was no back seat to place his car seat. One day driving, he was kicking his legs and by chance kicked the shift lever, knocking the truck out of drive. That was it, time for a new vehicle.
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Grand Prix
Not sure what she had at the time (may have been the Chevy Beretta she had from her family, but we decided to get her a new vehicle. We settled on a new Pontiac Grand Prix GTP. It was loaded, rear wing, sport package and the coolest thing, a HUD (Head-Up Display) that projected friver information onto the windshield. It was a cool looking car, however the showroom car has 286 miles on it. Two hundred and eighty fucking six miles on it. Well the stupid bitch wanted a new vehicle and one that wasn't test driven, so we ordered one. Unfortunatley, that was right around the time GM went on strike and no new cars were coming out. We waited as long as we could and were forced to take a vehicle off the lot and it was a Grand Prix SE (very boring). I wish I could find out how many miles it had and if it was more than Two hundred and eighty fucking six.
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Ford F-150
Decided to stay with a truck and got a Ford F-150 (Extended Cab). It was a great truck, I still remember driving around Appleton and came up to a stop light besides a car that the guy was so big, he literely was outside the car and little ol' me had enough room for ten me's. Well it lasted until I took the Earth Tech job in Sheboygan and just couldn't afford the gas it used, so I took the boring Grand Prix and she took the truck. That was fine until she came home one day and said she had no idea where the right side of was while dhe was driving. Time to get her something else.
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Minivans
Her next two vehicles were minivans, a Pontiac Montana and a Chrysler Town and Country. They were great vehicles, held a ton of stuff and the sliding side doors were great for getting the boys in and out. The Montana you had to dislodge and remove the back seats, but on the Chrysler they just folded into the floor. We were able to move kids to college and do it in one trip. Besides, it didn't matter what I looked like driving a minivan.
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2003 Monte Carlo
When I had enough of the Grand Prix I bought a Chevrolet Monte Carlo, a car that I really loved. It wasn't the SS model (v6 engine) but I did get the "NASCAR Inspired" rear spoiler, which was cool for the boys since they had recently gotten heavy into NASCAR. It was such a fun car to drive and it was a bigger car. Then one day I was driving and a thin stream of smoke started coming out of somewhere on the steering column. Not sure what it was and it didn't happen all the time. We decided to trade it in and not try to get it fixed in case it was something serious. So goodbye cool car.
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2008 Chevrolet Impala
Keeping up with the NASCAR theme, bought a Chevy Impala which had a spoiler similar to car NASCAR switched to the previous year the "Car of Tomorrow" (CoT). It was an okay car, drove okay and was big enough to haul the boys and their things.
One day, the boys and I were heading to the zoo and Brandon was pokey as usual, so with Adam in the back seat and Brandon having to go back into the house, I decided to pull a prank and back out of the garage and him not finding the car. Well, I forgot when he got out, he left the door open, hence I tried to rip the door off. Went through some bad thoughts and "what an idiot I am", to how am I going to explain this. Got it fixed and moved on. At some point, the boys needed a car and they got the Impala and I got a new car.
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2012 Chevrolet Cruze
On from the Impala, another Chevy and this time the Cruze. It was a fun car, in fact, was given the nickname "Fun Bug". It was a smaller car but did have a 1.4L Turbocharged engine, so it could get going, with my drive to Keshena every morning and it took a few Florida Spring Break trips.
It was the first car that I had "accidents" with. I was in the Milwaukee area when some girl hit me from behind, not rough, but enough to crack the bumper. Well her dad owned a repair shop so I agreed to have him replace the bumper instead of calling the police. Then while backing out of a spot at Walmart, three dingy broads backed into me. They tried to explain it wasn't their fault, but they hit me on the side behind the rear wheel. They were having a "girls shopping trip" and were so prissy, so I took the driver info, but it was so minor just never dealt with her insurance.
As I had the long drive, with a lot on HWY 29 and in the winter, I found out it sucked in the winter conditions. What it was, narrow wheelbase, light weight or something mechanically wrong, I never found out. I even took it for new tires and said please look for something wrond and I will pay for it, but they never found anything. It was so bad that I nicknamed it "Death Trap" and dreaded when I would see the weather the next day called for snow. I have memories of doing 35 MPH and other cars flying past me and being so mad I could not, not matter what, not being able to go any faster. I do remember driving back from work one day and my left side tires went into the shoulder and the small "lip" caused me to start sliding and I can still see the cars in the right lane OUT MY BACK WINDOW. The funny thing is, I corrected the car without crashing AND I didn't lose my spot in the traffic.
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2015 Jeep
When it was time to move on from the minivan, you know loose women need to look cool, she decided she wanted a Jeep (during her affair, she noted how she would take Jeep rides with him). So it was logical, I guess.
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2018 Chevrolet Equinox
I do believe it was the anxiety from driving the Cruze in winter, but whatever the reason I decided to see if I could get a new Equinox late in 2018. It took a lot to convince her to let me get a new vehicle, it was at this time she had already started the divorce stuff with the lawyer I knew nothing about, so surprised she allowed it. The worst part is when I was picking the car, I didn't get any additions (like a sun roof and I absolutely love sun roofs) so I could keep the price down. What an idiot I was as I still have this vehicle today, but I did make her pay it off with OUR money before the divorce.
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2011 Ford F-150
After I bought my new house, I needed something to haul all the stuff (grass, wood, kayaks,...) so I bought I used 2011 Ford F-150 Lariat. It is a big truck and has come in handy many times. I do remember when looking for a used truck, Covid had been going on for a couple of months and I didn't have much to choose from. I would look online and have some picked out, get to the dealer and gone, gone, gone. When I found this one a Broadway Used on Military, I wasn't exactly thrilled about it, but didn't have much choise and it turned out okay.
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2014 Chevrolet Corvette
The best for last. I had always wanted a "hot rod", ever since young. I envisioned the blown late 60's-early 70's Camaro as I read a lot of car mags my teenage years. Through the Air Force and later life it was always a dream. However, not being a "car guy" (always thought it was funny, I could work on a jet engine but not the car in my driveway) I finally realized it was never going to happen and moved on. Then one day, I took the Equinox in for an oil change at Broadway on Ashland and in the showroom was this beautiful red 2014 Corvette Z51 AND an automatic transmission (too old to be shifting) and it had only 3,700 miles on it. Had some you punk saleguy come and say things like "that color looks good on you" and "you look good i THAT car". I sort of knew I was going to buy the car, but decided to wait until the next day and to get a saleperson out of puberty. I did buy it the next day and have not had a doubt since that day. It has a targa top, so under latches and place hardtop into the "trunk" and enjoy the weather.
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