In beckwall’s MPSIMS thread, zenith said there are advantages to having spare cars. That got me to thinking about the collection me and my dad had. It was like we had a used car lot!
How many motor vehicles (i.e., any vehicle powered by an engine; not bicycles) have you and your family had at one time, and what were they?
I got the '66 MGB from my mom. I got it running after high school and drove it a lot in the '80s. The second MGB was cheap, so we got it as a ‘spare’. The third was cheap and had overdrive. Couldn’t resist. The 100 Enduro was my first bike, and dad got the used Honda so he could ride with me. (The '64 Yamaha 80’s case broke, and it was long gone.) I outgrew the 100, so dad and I got a pair of 250s. Dad had a Toyota pick-up, but I totalled it (and my knees) in a head-on collision so he got the Courier. My uncle had the old T-bird, and it was ‘like new’; so we took it off his hands. Dad and I were in the Civil Air Patrol. They had an auction, and he got the old Plymouth for $123.45. The Air Force Blue paint was faded and the upholstery was trashed, but the body was stout and the doors clicked shut nicely. Too good a deal to pass up. I got the Willys because we lived in the desert, and it was fun to bounce around in on the dirt roads. The Porsche was too sexy for my young eyes, so I got my first used-car loan and had gobs of fun in it. Dad bought the Skyhawk after the moving company smashed the BD-5 he was building. It was six years old when he got it, and it cost $10,200. Good luck finding a decent 1970 Cessna 172 for under $40,000 today! I learned to fly in that plane. The 172 wasn’t fast enough, so dad bought the 182.
So you see, there were reasons (some good, some not so good) for all of the vehicles. They just seemed to accumulate.
Between two and four, depending on how you want to define the term ‘own’. My parents themselves have two vehicles–one for Mom to drive (currently a 2004 Chevy Epica) and Dad’s '69 Buick Century that hasn’t moved from the basement in over a decade. Dad drives his work vehicle (currently a late 90s GMC Sonoma), which is owned by the business, which is in turn owned by my parents. The forth car is what the hired hand drives, also owned by the business. Not sure what the make and model is, not that I care.
So we don’t really have any spare cars, especially when you consider that I don’t have one (not that I need one), but we have enough to get us around. Dad has been fixing up the Buick, so maybe I’ll get to drive it sometime before I finish university.
Ok, not fair, you started this and are already the winner.
My siblings and I were pretty close agewise, so there were 3 of us licensed teenagers living at home with mom and dad in the 80s. At one point, we looked kinda like a P.O.S. car lot, too. It was really brought home the time we hosted a European exchange student for the weekend who was utterly blown away, hey we don’t gots public transportation here in Motor City!
It’s to far back for me to remember specifics but:
1976 Gremlin (non-functioning but I had hope!)
1979 Rabbit (my functioning vehicle)
197? rusted Ford Econoline (Dad’s work van)
1982 Chrysler (Mom’s official car)
197? Ford pickup (Dad’s hunting truck with camper)
197? Nova (sis)
198? Chevy Cavalier (sis)
1963 classic convertible Dad was restoring.
I’m single and bought a new Expedition in November, didn’t turn in my ten year old Ranger or sell it yet. Thru the snow I drove the 4w of course but since it’s warmed up I’ve been switching between them. For what I’d get for a ten year old pickup it seems hardly worth the hassle of selling it, and it’s nice to have a truck around for messier cargo. Considering it’s listed as my primary vehicle and my new one isn’t, the insurance is a pittance more than just having the new one alone. Feels weird owning two, but it’s nice having a spare when someone in the family needs it.
I seems to be gathering a collection. Right now: a '99 Cherokee, a '94 Yamaha XJ600, and a, '03 YZF-R1. Plus the '66 MG, whenever that gets finished. (Not that you really wanted to know. )
I have to disqualify myself. My father has owned a wrecking yard for years so it is possible that when I was a kid we had access to a couple hundred cars at one time. When I drove race cars I always had 20 to 30 cars available for new race cars or parts. My wife and I are down to 3 vehicles now, my Toyota pickup, her Ford Taurus and my, errr, our 66 GTO. Now that the goat is all but finished, I have been eyeballing a 64 Chevelle that a neighbor is selling.
Well, big family , 7 kids.
Including work vechicles hmmmmm
Parents:
62 Rambler
65 Rambler Maveric
65 Bonniville Convertable
59 2 ton trailer puller, Chevy
Ford a tractor
Ford Major diesel tractor
homemade mini-bike
59 Chevy Impalla ( that horid lime green and babby shit yellow ) ( no one wanted to drive it. )
60 Ford Pickup
1965 260B Comanche
1969 Mooney Exective
Older sis:
Just a car as I remember.
Me:1949 80 cu in flat head HD (now have 3 bikes but not the 49 )
66 Chevy Impala
1946 85 HP Swift GC-1A ( later moved up to 1949 145 HP GC-!B Temco swift.
1936 John Deer tractor with both rubber and iron wheels ( hand start)
Brother:
1961 Chevy junker
Cushman Eagle scooter
Sis # 2
Early 240 Z
Sis # 3 American Pacer
Sis # 4 It was rusty…
Sis # 5 Not as rusty but I didn’t pay attention to it either.
Above was all I remember that were all at one time.
Not counting the early years when Dad was a used car dealer.
He brought neet stuff then, 51 Pan Head HD
Something with a ‘rumble seat’
Crosely
Cloth top 32 Dodge panel truck
various sparts cars.
Lots of stuff that makes me cry now that he did not keep but the smae can be said for myself. I messed up and sold a lot I should not have in retrospect.
Aircraft we have owned as far as I can remember
46? Funk ( inverted - converted model b ford engine )( yeah, was a strange one that )
47 Cessna 140
57 Cessna 172
60 Cessna 172
55 Cessna 180 ( Dads favorite )
65 260 B Comanche
69 Mooney Ex.
46 Swift
49 Swift
75 Cessna 172
68 Cessna 184
Boats:
Lots, but I don’t know if you would call then vehicels.
Sail and power and paddle
Inboard and out board
Had a cabin on a lake from 54 to 85
Ok, my father’s place tends to be the repository of vehicles for the family so here’s what he’s got laying around at the moment.
Chevy Impala ( late model, the main car)
Chevy 4x4 pickup (the main truck, has a plow)
two farmall cub tractors (one spare, one for parts, I can’t tell which is which)
Ford short body schoolbus (the party wagon, one sober driver for 15 drunks)
Rambler Rebel (waiting to be fixed, five years and counting)
MGB (waiting to be fixed, ten years and counting)
54 ford pickup (the retired truck)
48 ford pickup (another project, two decades now with no progress)
1980 yamaha 650 motorcycle (it runs, nobody there rides at the moment)
The Jeep (year and model are unkown due to a lack or original parts, this is the retired plow vehicle and has no working lights, no working brakes, [just drop the plow to stop] no doors, no roof, few body panels, and a cable for the clutch.)
On top of this are somewhere between two and half a dozen riding lawn mowers depending on how much of the vehicle has to be there to be counted.
The most we ever had as a family was four. The odd thing, though, was that at one time 3 of them were Toyota Tercels. The Nissan Altima looked decidedly out of place in our driveway when all the kids were home!
Now it’s a Mazda 3 Sport, a VW Golf, a Toyota Echo and my car, the Last of the Tercels. Only the owners of the first 3 live together, I live out-of-province.
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