What's your motor vehicle history?

[putnam6]

Simple thread What's your motor vehicle history? Since I was 16 Ive only had 5 (cars, vans or trucks) Trying to find the exact model, and colors isn't easy. Ive only bought 2 of them relatively new, The Blazer and the Safari. 


Loved my first ride, 1976 Ford Capri II Ghia it was originally white with a red and black interior. Clean it every other weekend

Somebody rear-ended me the second year I had it and  I got it painted black and put a sunroof in new stereo and speakers and it was boss as hell





Next a 1983 Honda Prelude



1992 Chevy Blazer


1996 GMC Safari



2003 Dodge Ram 1500

[FlyingClayDisk]

Gosh, I'd have to sit and think about this for a few minutes.  I think between 18 and 21 years old I probably had more vehicles than I have had in the 40+ years since!  Back then I usually had 1 running 'driver' and 2-3 vehicles and/or engines in various states of rebuilding/restoring.  This rotated on an almost monthly basis.  Mostly Chevy and GMC 'square body' vehicles and a handful of Corvette engines. 

From that point I had a VW Sirocco, Jetta, Accord, DeVille and a string of diesel trucks.  Current rig is a '23 Ram 3500 mega cab Limited Longhorn w/ 6.7L Cummins turbo diesel, and also have a '14 Super Duty F-350 King Ranch w/ built Navistar turbo diesel (which the wife has sort of adopted as 'her truck').  Haven't put a wrench on the Ram yet, other than to install a headache rack, aux fuel tanks and in-bed hitches (oh, and to change out the OEM wheels and tires to Black Rhino's rolling on 12 ply Toyo's).  That thing is a beast!  (pic of the '23 Ram below)


We also have a couple Subie Outbacks ('15 and '19) we use as daily drivers. 

My current project vehicle is a '14 Audi A8L.  Used to be my wife's daily, but we kept having issues with the air suspension, so we got her a Subie to drive.  I've now got it in our shop and I'm procrastinating on swapping out the air suspension for traditional high performance spring-struts.  When running, that thing is a straight-up rocket ship!  Only 6k lb car I've ever known which will hit 160mph...and still have 3,000 RPMs left in 8th gear.  That thing will go faster than you want to drive it (or at least faster than I want to drive it)!  They say the A8 was de-rated to 130mph for sale in the US, but I've had ours up to 158 (radar) on a nearby auto club track.  The original owner was the Audi dealerhip owner whom we bought it from, so I'm thinking they somehow undid the derating because it's the same engine-transmission combo for the Canadian and South American versions which aren't de-rated.  I don't know why I'm hanging onto it really.  It's too heavy and too long to strip it down and turn it into a race car.  Sure is fun to drive though (when the freaking suspension is working properly).

---

Just a side note...I noticed that two (2) of your pictures aren't showing up in your post for some reason.  The picture of the Capri and the van are missing.  I only caught this when I went to 'reply' to your post and noticed they were shown there, but not in your actual post.

Just FYI.

[VulcanWerks]

Upfront disclosure: I have a life-long car problem. It’s a thing. I started flipping cars at 16 and I’ve had a bunch:

1984 Mercedes 190e AMG 5 speed
1988 BMW 325is
1984 318i
1995 BMW 525i
1990 BMW M3
1984 BMW 325e
1991 BMW 318is
1995 BMW m3
Jeep Liberty (forgot year)
2002 BMW x5
2003 BMW e46 m3
Couple of Honda Civics
1984 BMW 318i (Henna)
2006 BMW m5
2003 Porsche 996 911TT
2010 LR4
2017 Porsche Cayenne Turbo
2009 Porsche Cayenne GTS
1999 Mercedes SLK-230 kompressor
1992 VW Corrado
2001 Land Rover Disco 2
1988 BMW e30 M3
1987 VW GTi
2014 Lexus GS450 (I think that’s what it was)
2014 Range Rover Autobio Sport
2005 Porsche 997 911

In current stable:
2024 Mazda CX-90 (highly recommend)
2014 Audi R8 V10
1989 Porsche 911 (930)
1992 VW Corrado VR6
2000 Ferrari 360 Modena Coupe
2017 Subaru STi

Current classic Porsche will be gone shortly. Maybe the Corrado, too.

Next target is an R33 Skyline in RHD.

There are more I’ve forgotten about for sure. My dad was a gear head for as long as I can remember and it’s one of the few things we share a serious bond over. Cars are special in our family.

Of all the cars, what’s my favorite?

The 2014 R8 is the best overall car by miles. Daily drove it in the PNW for a few years. Amazing piece of machinery.

The F360 has headers/full exhaust and sounds like Michael Schumacher in 2001 when revved to 9k RPMs. That tiny V8 is amazing - that sound is distinctive and intoxicating.

My e30 m3 with the s14 and DTM carbon intake was just insanely awesome. Best handling car. Sounded so unique.

The Mazda CX-90 might be the best family SUV on the market. We love it. And despite having owned lots of “premium” branded cars, Mazda service and sales experience was 100% the best we have ever encountered.

I used to turn all of my own wrenches but I don’t have time at this stage in life. Find a good INDEPENDENT shop. I have a guy who has a shop at his house - Bosch Certified Repair Center - who isn’t “fast” but he does it right. Services both my mid engine cars and wouldn’t trust but maybe one other shop to touch it. Find a mechanic who views cars as art and their work on them as curation. Worth their weight in gold.

[FlyingClayDisk]

 

Wow, that's quite the list!

Question for you...how much of a headache (i.e. PITA) is it to get work done on the F360, like dealing with Ferrari for parts, etc?  I've heard they can be very difficult to deal with (like in the jerky sense).  One of my favorite cars is the 308GTBi, and I had a line on one a while back for a 'decent' price, but got scared off by all the stories the guy (and others confirmed) about what a royal PITA it was do deal with Ferrari on just about anything.  Not really too familiar with the F360 as it came much later, so might be a completely different experience.

[VulcanWerks]

Wow, that's quite the list!

Question for you...how much of a headache (i.e. PITA) is it to get work done on the F360, like dealing with Ferrari for parts, etc?  I've heard they can be very difficult to deal with (like in the jerky sense).  One of my favorite cars is the 308GTBi, and I had a line on one a while back for a 'decent' price, but got scared off by all the stories the guy (and others confirmed) about what a royal PITA it was do deal with Ferrari on just about anything.  Not really too familiar with the F360 as it came much later, so might be a completely different experience.

I’m pretty new to the Ferrari game. Picked up my 360 about two months ago (thank you Semiconductors!).

I happened to be in Scottsdale earlier this year and stopped by the Ferrari dealer to take my young son to see the museum there. I had been considering a 488 but the people at the dealership were prentitous A holes. I’ll never go back. I’m not Bill Gates or a billionaire but if I wanted a 488 I could buy it. Because I’m there just stoked out on the cars they acted like I was just some fanboy who didn’t belong. Also, Ferrari gets super pissed about modifying their cars. I modify all of my cars. So consistent with my street racing (yes, I was young), track day, autox, You Tube certified mechanic past I decided I’d stick to my plan and find my dream - a clean 360 - and modify it to make it mine.

It’s low, loud AF, carbon cup mirrors, challenge magnesium wheels, titanium lug nuts - aggressive.

Since I like to modify I’m also an independent shop fan. Find a good mechanic or two you can trust and take your cars there.

I just had the 360 gone through so I can drive it a bit before digging in to the rest of the stuff to address. Yes, even these cars fall behind on maintenance and you can’t have that. Parts are readily available and to give you a sense of cost I just had the following done for 3.3k:
Oil change
Coolant flush
Transmission service
Fixed exhaust springs
Replaced passenger door latch
Adjusted the window regulators
Full inspection
New tie rods

That’s a load of work on an F car for a little over 3k. Done right, photo documented service, all proper Bosch parts (or other OEM bits).

Ferrari’s are rare cars and finicky (older ones). Purely hand built and each has their own personality.

I’m not that far into my ownership but I can tell you that the 25 year wait was worth it. I literally cried when it was delivered (had a poster of it on my wall when I was 14!) and the sounds it makes can only be found in something with a prancing horse on it. It’s not new, I’m needing to somewhat restore it, there’s work to be done, it’s not flawless (though pretty good/getting there), I intended to drive it and it’s my Ferrari so despite its flaws it’s perfect to me.

I loved my Porsches and my R8 is 100% hands down the best car I’ve ever owned.

But nothing stirs the soul like the sound of that tiny V8 wrapped in an artful packaging where you can literally feel that human hands put it together. Pure art with the soul moving symphony to match.

If you love cars like I do, go find the one you want. The soulful experience is worth every cent and minor PITA that goes into making all of those feelings possible. Nothing that makes you feel like that or stirs that kind of emotion is going to be without some labor of love to keep it going. Worth it.

---

Some fun shots:

[putnam6]

Gosh, I'd have to sit and think about this for a few minutes.  I think between 18 and 21 years old I probably had more vehicles than I have had in the 40+ years since!  Back then I usually had 1 running 'driver' and 2-3 vehicles and/or engines in various states of rebuilding/restoring.  This rotated on an almost monthly basis.  Mostly Chevy and GMC 'square body' vehicles and a handful of Corvette engines. 

From that point I had a VW Sirocco, Jetta, Accord, DeVille and a string of diesel trucks.  Current rig is a '23 Ram 3500 mega cab Limited Longhorn w/ 6.7L Cummins turbo diesel, and also have a '14 Super Duty F-350 King Ranch w/ built Navistar turbo diesel (which the wife has sort of adopted as 'her truck').  Haven't put a wrench on the Ram yet, other than to install a headache rack, aux fuel tanks and in-bed hitches (oh, and to change out the OEM wheels and tires to Black Rhino's rolling on 12 ply Toyo's).  That thing is a beast!  (pic of the '23 Ram below)
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/fYTDA5sl.jpeg]

We also have a couple Subie Outbacks ('15 and '19) we use as daily drivers. 

My current project vehicle is a '14 Audi A8L.  Used to be my wife's daily, but we kept having issues with the air suspension, so we got her a Subie to drive.  I've now got it in our shop and I'm procrastinating on swapping out the air suspension for traditional high performance spring-struts.  When running, that thing is a straight-up rocket ship!  Only 6k lb car I've ever known which will hit 160mph...and still have 3,000 RPMs left in 8th gear.  That thing will go faster than you want to drive it (or at least faster than I want to drive it)!  They say the A8 was de-rated to 130mph for sale in the US, but I've had ours up to 158 (radar) on a nearby auto club track.  The original owner was the Audi dealerhip owner whom we bought it from, so I'm thinking they somehow undid the derating because it's the same engine-transmission combo for the Canadian and South American versions which aren't de-rated.  I don't know why I'm hanging onto it really.  It's too heavy and too long to strip it down and turn it into a race car.  Sure is fun to drive though (when the freaking suspension is working properly).

---

Just a side note...I noticed that two (2) of your pictures aren't showing up in your post for some reason.  The picture of the Capri and the van are missing.  I only caught this when I went to 'reply' to your post and noticed they were shown there, but not in your actual post.

Just FYI.

I have no doubt most people have had more rides than I have had. I have mostly had jobs where I drove for a living, and most every one of my vehicles I had 250,000 plus miles. The Prelude, Blazer and Safari had well over 350,000. 

FWIW I did have 2 mobile show vans over the years I practically lived in too,loads of miles of those as well.

Only the Blazer and the Safari were newish but all of them were low mileage when I got them. 

I left off we had a Honda Civic for many years as my wife's and our "family car", and a Ford Continental loaner that was temperamental AF and tried to leave me stranded in Germantown TN one trip.

Miss my truck, though I had to sell it during COVID, it had 287,000 miles kind of beat up, had limbs fall on it during the ice storm a few years back. 

I still see it occasionally sold it to a guy down the road. 



Links are fixed

[Coop]

1983 Dodge Omni
1985 Dodge Ram pick up
1980 Mercury Bobcat
1976 Pontiac Grand Prix
1987 Isuzu Impulse
1993 Honda Civic VX
1988 BMW 325is E30
1988 BMW M3 E30
1988 BMW M5 E28
1987 Chevy S10 Blazer
1985 Honda Civic sedan
2002 Mazda Protege
1990 Mazda 626 coupe
2004 Ford Taurus
1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee
2007 Chevy Trail Blazer
2007 Grand Cherokee Laredo
2007 Grand Cherokee Limited Hemi
2008 Grand Cherokee SRT
2018 VW Passat SE
2020 Audi A5 coupe


The ones I miss and wish I'd never parted with? The M3 and the M5.

---

[putnam6]

Upfront disclosure: I have a life-long car problem. It’s a thing. I started flipping cars at 16 and I’ve had a bunch:

1984 Mercedes 190e AMG 5 speed
1988 BMW 325is
1984 318i
1995 BMW 525i
1990 BMW M3
1984 BMW 325e
1991 BMW 318is
1995 BMW m3
Jeep Liberty (forgot year)
2002 BMW x5
2003 BMW e46 m3
Couple of Honda Civics
1984 BMW 318i (Henna)
2006 BMW m5
2003 Porsche 996 911TT
2010 LR4
2017 Porsche Cayenne Turbo
2009 Porsche Cayenne GTS
1999 Mercedes SLK-230 kompressor
1992 VW Corrado
2001 Land Rover Disco 2
1988 BMW e30 M3
1987 VW GTi
2014 Lexus GS450 (I think that’s what it was)
2014 Range Rover Autobio Sport
2005 Porsche 997 911

In current stable:
2024 Mazda CX-90 (highly recommend)
2014 Audi R8 V10
1989 Porsche 911 (930)
1992 VW Corrado VR6
2000 Ferrari 360 Modena Coupe
2017 Subaru STi

Current classic Porsche will be gone shortly. Maybe the Corrado, too.

Next target is an R33 Skyline in RHD.

There are more I’ve forgotten about for sure. My dad was a gear head for as long as I can remember and it’s one of the few things we share a serious bond over. Cars are special in our family.

Of all the cars, what’s my favorite?

The 2014 R8 is the best overall car by miles. Daily drove it in the PNW for a few years. Amazing piece of machinery.

The F360 has headers/full exhaust and sounds like Michael Schumacher in 2001 when revved to 9k RPMs. That tiny V8 is amazing - that sound is distinctive and intoxicating.

My e30 m3 with the s14 and DTM carbon intake was just insanely awesome. Best handling car. Sounded so unique.

The Mazda CX-90 might be the best family SUV on the market. We love it. And despite having owned lots of “premium” branded cars, Mazda service and sales experience was 100% the best we have ever encountered.

I used to turn all of my own wrenches but I don’t have time at this stage in life. Find a good INDEPENDENT shop. I have a guy who has a shop at his house - Bosch Certified Repair Center - who isn’t “fast” but he does it right. Services both my mid engine cars and wouldn’t trust but maybe one other shop to touch it. Find a mechanic who views cars as art and their work on them as curation. Worth their weight in gold.

Wow, I get it though, my Dad had a fleet of cars, trucks and vans over the years. LOL from a Vietnam-era mini jeep, that I learned to drive, to a BMW he won in a raffle. 

Nothing like your collection

---

1983 Dodge Omni
1985 Dodge Ram pick up
1980 Mercury Bobcat
1976 Pontiac Grand Prix
1987 Isuzu Impulse
1993 Honda Civic VX
1988 BMW 325is E30
1988 BMW M3 E30
1988 BMW M5 E28
1987 Chevy S10 Blazer
1985 Honda Civic sedan
2002 Mazda Protege
1990 Mazda 626 coupe
2004 Ford Taurus
1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee
2007 Chevy Trail Blazer
2007 Grand Cherokee Laredo
2007 Grand Cherokee Limited Hemi
2008 Grand Cherokee SRT
2018 VW Passat SE
2020 Audi A5 coupe


The ones I miss and wish I'd never parted with? The M3 and the M5.

That's a helluva fleet too,

I got started thinking about all the vehicles my father had.

[Coop]

I actually forgot a few, but technically they were the former wives cars. Lol!

[FlyingClayDisk]

I have no doubt most people have had more rides, FWIW I did have 2 mobile show vans over the years I practically lived in. Only the Blazer and the Safari did I get newish 

I left off we had a Honda Civic for many years as my wife's and our "family car". 


 I don't know why the pics aren't showing, will look at the links when I can

I hope you didn't take my post as criticism, it wasn't at all.  One car I always wanted back in the day was one of the Ford Capri's.  I remember when they first came out back in the 70's.  My mom got a Mustang II instead of a Capri, and I knew from the start that was a mistake.  That thing couldn't get out of its own way, but the Capri was a much better car (I thought anyway).  When I turned 16 I was into old Jeeps and Chevy's.  I had about 2.5 Jeeps back in the day, but never really got one restored satisfactorily.  And I just realized I left (2) vehicles off my list; I also once had a Jeep CJ-8 and a Jeep Wrangler (YJ series).  Those were much newer than my 2.5 Jeeps in my teens (which languished in the shop before being sold).

I'm not really motivated with the A8 project, and probably should just sell it; it's more of a project I feel like I 'should' do, more so than I 'want' to do.  The project I'd really love to find is an old mid to late '50's Dodge Power Wagon.  I've got my feelers out for one of these, and if I find one I'm going to do a 5.9L Cummins DI swap into it.  This would be my dream truck.