Dream Cars
The cars of my dreams. Obviously I never owned them, but my love of cars had to come from somewhere! Thanks TV
Mach 5 What kid didn't want to drive the Mach Five? Speed Racers cartoon car was my first exposure to the thrill of automobiles! Apparently as a small child I had made up my own song about the Mach 5. I will not scare you away with the lame verses, but for a 4 year, I could FLOW!	60's Batmobile Atomic engines to Power, Turbines to speed!! danna da dannna da duh! Hands down the greatest TV car ever, EVER! Black with red pinstripes, dragster wheels, and a rocket engine with Bat Reverse!! The coolest thing was that one button by the steering wheel that changed week by week. This was the first car that I truly wanted to own and drive (still do). Campy or not it is MY Bat mobile, and none of the movie cars come close to it. Honorable mention goes to the Joker Mobile.	Black Beauty I wasn’t aware of this car until I watched a Green Hornet/Bat Man crossover episode. I quickly became a fan of the Green Hornet show, but it was never on! The Black Beauty was probably the first TV car I recognized as a real car (A Chrysler Imperial) also it was the start of a "mopar" thing for me.
Wonder Bug Wonder Bug was a short lived serial on the Kroft Super Show. Basically these 3 teens found a magical horn which they stuck on their crappy dune buggy, Schlep Car, but when they said the magic word and honked the horn it turned into Wonder Bug. I didn’t know anything about "logistics" when I was a kid so the idea of a crappy car turning into a completely different, cool car was fascinating and realistic. I think every plot revolved around the stealing of, or losing of, the magic horn.	The General Lee YEE HAAA! The General! A 1969 Dodge Charger, with welded doors and roll cage. Some how the duke boys figured out a way to make the 2 toner fly like a canary. Another Mopar which I dreamed about at night. I had the model and a poster for a brief while. I eventually changed my tastes toward the Road Runner, I think it has a better body style.	K.I.T.T The Knight Institute Two Thousand-K.I.T.T for short! A smart alecky 1982 Firebird. To quote Michael Knight "The inside looks like Darths Vaders bathroom". HA HA that’s the kind of writing that kept that show on the air for 4 years. My sister and I watched this show religiously. We would talk about owning KITT and driving KITT and all of his excellent features like, night vision and remote driving. We once went to Universal studios and met "KITT" he was rude to us and kept yelling at my sister for trying to steer him and touch his controls. The show never was the same afterward.
1976 Corvette Stingray The Corvette from "Corvette Summer", Mark Hamils first movie, a horrid piece of crap that is only redeemed by some hilarious Cholos, and a chase scene at the end. The Corvette was AWESOME It was totally custom and had right hand drive! I spent months trying to convert a scale model, but turns out I suck at models.	Chitty Chitty Bang Bang What couldn’t Chitty Chitty Bang Bang do? Fly, Swim, out wit those crazy "Vulgarians". I guess the biggest bummer was that it was all a dream... OR WAS IT??	The Love Bug Who didn’t love herbie? He was a race car, A lover, a taxi! He was awesome. My favorite scene is still the hippies in the van "We're all locked in, chickie baby". The New herbie sucked, but the one with Bruce Cambell and "evil herbie" was cool
Childhood Cars
The cars of my childhood. It's kind of like the saying "you are what you eat" You are what your parents drove you around in.
1962 Plymouth Valiant Wagon I don’t have a lot of memories of my mom’s Valiant wagon, but the few I do are great ones! Ours was white with blue interior. We moved from South San Francisco to San Jose in it, we sang the whole way. My mom wasn’t aware that cars required oil so she killed it. Yes, my mom is one of the few people on this planet capable of killing a slant 6. The car spent the rest of its life rusting out at my mom’s boyfriend’s ranch. It was a great toy for us! It was a house, a truck, a submarine, a race car etc...I remember my brother assigning new functions to the push button dash, and that rabbits lived under it. Another mopar in my life.	1974 Lincoln Mark IV The Lincoln! This was my dads 2nd MKIV, the first one was a white 73. My dads looked like the picture except he had big American wire wheels on it. It was a golden anniversary Lincoln, so the paint was a special gold color and the moon roof was tinted gold. I was a young kid when my dad got this car. He had an 8 track in it. He wouldn’t let us wear our shoes in it either, he made us take off our shoes and put them in the trunk. I remember "helping" him put oil in it and wash it. He cleaned the wire wheels with a tooth brush, I never understood that. My dad told me he would give me the car when I was 16. Around that time he traded the car in for a GMC truck, he still owns the truck. I saw the car in San Jose once when I was in my 20's the wire wheels were rusted and the vinyl roof was shredded, it made me want to cry.	1965 Ford Comet 404 This is the car we got after my mom killed the Valiant. I don’t remember much about it. I do remember that it was a 404 because it had 404 on the side. Ours was dark green. I don’t think my mom figured out about the oil thing yet because we didn’t have this car long. We were in an accident with it once. A Volvo hit us, it got a lot of damage, and the comet only got a dent the size of my 8 year old knee, the dent actually made it easier for me to climb up on the trunk.
1964 Plymouth Belvedere Wagon Yet another Mopar. Yet another car that my dad told me I could have when I turned 16. Like the Lincoln before it, it disappeared before that day ever came. This was my dad’s daily driver for a while. My dads was a faded metallic blue. It was jacked up in the back and had side pipes. That car made a lot of noise. Quite possibly the main reason I have a love for station wagons.	1968 Mercury Monterey The poor mans Lincoln! After my mom killed the comet we got the Monterey. I remember that for us, this car was luxurious, with electric windows and a working radio. It was around this time my mom remarried. My stepfather wanted to use the Monterey in a demolition derby. About a month before he was going to do it, the back axle fell out! We had been driving it all day too! Not surprising that the only photo I could find of one was in a junkyard!	1974 Ford Pinto Squier Wagon My moms husband ditched the Monterey and got our first Pinto wagon, it looked like the one above it was an automatic. We then got another one it was green and also wood paneled it was a stick. Generally the Pintos were garbage. They were always breaking down. I taught myself how to drive in the brown one (I was 13 or so). One summer we went to Yosemite, we drove both pintos up, on the way home the brown one died (I don’t think my step dad knew much about maintenance either). We piled all the stuff into the green pinto and ditched the brown one. After we bought the Vanagon, my brother started driving the green pinto. It quickly fell apart, eventually the doors stopped working. We started calling it "the coffin". While it was still my moms I taught myself to drive a stick, I took the car on a joy ride, with my sister. Someone recognized Her and asked my mom when I got my license, to which she replied "he didn’t!!" I was promptly BUSTED! Even though they sucked I have fond memories of them.
1965 Dodge Dart GT This was my dads girlfriend, Ellens, car. We drove around in it alot snce we had to take our shoes off, to go in the Lincoln. Not too much ever happened in this car, but It was the main reason I eventually bought the valiant (I originally wanted a dart convertible). I loved ALL darts and Valiants. It gets mentioned cause it was a mopar. Ellens, was like the photo above but they painted it a different gold, and put a vinyl roof on it to match the Lincoln. it was cool, a little "pimpy" but cool.	19?? Ford F100 My dad's first Tile Truck. it was a 67-72, possibly a f-100. I sprained my ankle getting out of it once. It was blue, and not particularly memorable, except that this was before seat belt laws so we could ride in the back, which was as close as I got to having a convertible.	1977 Chevrolet Corvette L82 When my mom remarried this was my step dad’s car. It was cool, but I didn't know about the "penis" thing at that point. That car used to beg me to steal it. My parents went away a lot on weekends. After I turned 16, even though I had no license, I loved to drive. At first when I stole the car it was short trips around the block or to my friend’s house. Once I got my license I drove it across town to the El Camino, that car was a babe magnet. I knew that my actions would result in punishment, eventually I think my step father gave up and realized, when I stole his car at least it came back washed! I broke my all time speed record in that car. My friend wanted to see how fast it would go. So we got on 101 and headed to Gilroy. That car was a rocket. I stomped on the gas and watched the Speedo go. the car pegged at 120mph, but the tach kept going I chickened out when the tach got to 7500 rpm (right past the redline) I have no idea how fast I was going. Eventually my father actually let me use the car for a prom date.
1982 Volkswagen Vanagon The Pinto replacement. Also a giant pile of crap. This thing broke down all the time. I was finally driving by this time and this was one of the spares I got to drive. The car was excellent on dates ;-) . I was once speeding in it, and went over rail road tracks into a left turn. My friend and I could feel the car lift up on two wheels. It’s a good thing the seats were already brown.	1979 Dodge Aspen Wagon My brothers "first" car. My dad gave it to him. Yet another mopar, but this one was a piece of junk. My brother drove it to junior college and I got to drive it as a spare. Eventually my brother moved to San Francisco and left it to me. I let all my friends and hitch hikers write on the dash. I also removed the hood ornament and replaced it with a Gumby doll. On the back in green paint I wrote "Gumby Mobile". This car gave me freedom, my mom never used it so I could keep my smokes in it, and also my brother left his sleeping bag in it for me. Station wagons are great love mobiles! Eventually my brother wanted it back, so I was left driving spares. My brother neglected it and it eventually died. It sat out in front of our house for a while before my mom paid someone to haul it away.	1972 Buick Sport Wagon My mom had the Vanagon, My Step dad had his Vette and needed a daily driver and something to haul his boat. He found the Buick for 300$ Ours looked like the above photo but the paint was faded and some of it was primered. This car had a monstrous V8 in it. This was the last of the spares I drove. It was a love machine too. My friend and I met more girls on the El Camino in this car than we ever did in the Vette. My brother and I nick named it "The Beast"(very original) but unlike most cars it was very beastly. It had this weird "safety" device that allowed you to manually set a maximum speed on the Speedo, if you drove that speed it would "buzz" but the speedometer needle would push the setting needle. Occasionally I forgot to set the needle back to 60 and my step father would yell at me "you were going 75?" One night I was in San Francisco getting on 101 at 4th street. It was 11:30pm my friend told me he needed to be home by midnight or he would get kicked out. I drove that car 120 till I got to the Helyer Exit in San Jose, dropped him off at 12:01am. The Next day my step father was screaming at me "you went 120 mph on that car?" "Ha, are you kidding that hunk of junk won’t go past 80, I was driving 75 and didn’t want to hear the buzz" I told him! I think he believed me till my brother and I got "exhibition of speed" tickets racing the aspen and the Buick in a 40 mph zone at 100+. Eventually my step dad unloaded the beast to my brother, he drove it for a while, he parked it on the pan handle in SF and bums slept in it and broke into it etc. he sold to some one else. It was the end of an era.
1975 3/4 Ton GMC Afectionately known as "the white truck", Before my dad got his 56, this was his 4th child. This is a 3/4 Gmc with 1 ton running gear. Dad put a 400ci Chevy SB in it. This thing is fast! (not that he drives it fast) We have loaded this thing with marble and can still maintain freeway speeds. He has a gun rack in it, and a gun! This thing is what I think about when some one says "truck". Its a mans truck, not a pansy ass land rover or toyota tundra (ha ha). Its frightening to drive, becuase it steers like an airplane. I think the main reason my dad has avoided problems with his colon, is because of this truck. its just really bouncy and uncomfortable. If you dont take a leak before you get in it, you'll be sorry. Especially going 45mph from SSF to Los gatos! believe me, I know! Oh yeah. its loud too. you'd think he was running open headers, hes not, but it sounds like he does. even me with my hearing problems, you can hear him a good 30 seconds before he arrives! Its not as loud these days though (or I am more deaf). Now that its smog exempt, he probably wont sell it, but its falling apart. I accidentally broke the side view mirror, I thought he was gonna cry.	1983 3/4 Ton Ford So it actually happened. My dad sold his white truck, and a few months later.. bam, colon cancer. Hes okay now, but I almost feel like its my fault!! The new truck ridesnicer, has crap loads of issues, and now that dads retired, hes gonna sell it, soon for something that gets better mileage
My Past Cars
1977 Honda CVCC The first car I bought and paid for, well actually my Step father said I had a limit of $1.5k to buy a car, this car was 2100$ my step dad caved and let me buy it (I had 500$). I destroyed IT!! put loud speakers in it, had it painted black, did that pinstripes over the tail lights thing (that was hip in 86) Had a friend cut the springs which dropped it 2" and the subsequent bouncing that ensued probably damaged my colon for life. I ended up putting 2 engines in it, because of my need to drive it at 80mph. I sold it for 500$ needing a 3rd engine. I don’t think I ever finished paying my step father back.	1976 Toyota Corona My step dad was still stinging from the $2k he lent me for the Honda, he gave me a limit of 800$ this time and a tight payback schedule. A friend of his at work "happened" to be selling a puke green 74 Toyota corona, I had no choice, and I had to have wheels. That’s not me in the picture, but I know how that guy felt. I primered this car and had skulls and punk band names written on it, which got me pulled over ALOT. The thing couldn’t go 70 mph on a slope with a wind behind it. Eventually an ex-girlfriend slashed my tires and broke my windshield wipers. I sold the car after that. oddly enough, I got a note from the dmv a year later because it was in a city tow lot and they were going to auction it off, all the owners were listed on the sheet, and it had been sold 2 more times, the last owner was my ex-girlfriend. God only knows what she did to it when she owned it!!	1979 Honda Accord My grand mother bought "George" the 79 Honda accord brand new, she didn’t have a license and it ended up sitting in her garage for 13 years, when I got it, there was only 20k miles on it. I promptly changed that. The problem with storing a car and never driving it is moving things get used to not moving, I replaced almost everything that moved on that car. I sold it because it was draining my bank account
1964 Plymouth Valiant My first "project". 1964 Valiant Convertible 225 Slant 6 with a factory 4 on the floor. First mistake. Paid 3700$. Second mistake didn’t listen to dad when he said I shouldn’t pay that much. 3rd mistake. Attempting a project as a daily driver. 4th Mistake. Keeping a car uncovered outside a block away from the beach for 2 years. 5th mistake thinking a "rare" 4 on the floor would still bring $$ even though car was rusted. Sold the car for 800$. Lesson learned...	1984 VW GTI This was my wife’s car when we met, and she moved in. It was a GREAT car. Zippy, fast. Fun to drive! I bought the Civic for me, but ended up driving the GTI more. The car ran out of water because of a leak in the radiator that only leaked at speed? (Who knew)? We both took turns driving it so I never noticed till it was too late. We sold it to our mechanic, he sold it to someone else. We used to see it on 19th ave for a few more years. If I ever get to the point where I can have a stable of cars, I’ll buy another GTI.	1992 Honda Civic Another Honda, and Civic #2, mine was that hideous teal. I bought this car so I could sell the Valiant, which I didn’t do. I liked this car, but it was a base model, I bought it of my dotcom millionaire boss, who had bought a jaguar, and left the civic rotting in the company lot for 7 months. The only reason he sold it was because we moved to a new building. Guess who "took the car off his hands? Then the GTI died. My wife drove the Civic, and then I went back to the valiant. But not for long! I then bought the Camry, and sold the Valiant. The Camry was so nice my wife wanted a nice car too. So then I bought the Nissan. We decided to sell the Civic. I sold the car to my friend. My friend and his wife still have it! It’s still a great car and they have never done anything major to it. I have a standing offer to buy it back, but it'll go to her kid I'm sure!
1990 Toyota Camry This car was great! It was a V6 and a luxury edition so it had auto everything! Moon roof etc. I drove this car hard! I put 60k miles on it. I however bought it with 137k miles on it. So when it hit 200k the transmission took a crap. Cost of new transmission? $3000. Value of car? $3000. Donated it. Out of all the daily drivers I have had since then, I still miss the Camry.	1994 Nissan Sentra Another car that was "both" of ours. My wife had this car first. She drove it while I had the Camry & the 88. Then she bought her truck. I started driving it again. I liked the car, it had all the amenities. We never did anything to it, and it got 38mpg. As it approached 175k miles I was just worried something catastrophic would happen. It never did but I sold it none the less.	1991 Oldsmobile Eighty Eight This was an in-between car. The Camry died at the exact moment we went to buy our house. Our money was tied up. My wife was planning on buying a truck after we got our house, so we knew I would get the Nissan. But I needed a car to drive while we looked and eventually purchased (which was about 4 months). So we scraped up 2k and I bought the car a few days after the Toyota died. It was a decent car. It had all the amenities and moon roof. I just always felt like I was late for BINGO when I was driving it. I sold it to a crack dealer from Oakland, apparently the 88's are popular low riders. He paid 1600$ in 20's. Yes he was a crack dealer. He didn’t want the pink slip. I had to make him take it. I knew something was fishy so I went straight to the DMV and made copies of the release of liability. Needless to say I ended up having to prove that I sold that car on NUMEROUS occasions.
1996 Honda Civic Honda #4 Civic #3 Mine wass black, and a DX. It was a great car, My wife’s friend bought it new, she moved to NYC, and I bought it off her. It got good mileage. I finally sold this car to a young girl as her first car, she was nice. the car had 110 on the clock too.	1998 Toyota Tacoma My wife’s baby. She loves her truck. It’s great! It’s a sr5 V6 4x4, hers is dark green with a camper shell. She'll probably never sell it.Never Say Never, even with the small commute gas was killing her! She sold it. It had over 200k on the clock
My Present Cars
1962 Ford Falcon Ranchero My Baby! 170 I-6. Standard. Bought off original owner. I am going for an early 60's mild custom look. I’m trying to approach it as if I was a teenager who bought it new. Check out the site!!	1960 Mercedes Benz 190sl My wifes real Jessies baby. Check out the site!!	2004 Honda Accord EX Here it is Honda #5 accord #2! I love this car!, electronic everythings, power this and thats, great milage, sunroof comfy, roomy, 4 doors!!
2005 Honda Civic EX My wifes new car, if you are Keeping Score Honda#6 and Civic#4! 38mpg!!!