Your car history

Driving since 1971.

1973 Dodge van
1968 Ford LTD
1980 Datsun King Cab (130,00 miles)
1985 Nissan Sentra
1989 Nissan King Cab (240,000 miles)
2000 Nissan King Cab (126,000 so far, aiming for 300,000)

Driving since the year of our lord 2009 :slight_smile:

'06 Dodge Charger R/T

I got my license in 2003, and I’ve had 3 cars. My current car is the only one I’ve had longer than 2 years.

1986 Chevrolet Caprice (57,000 miles when I bought it in June 2003. 79,000 miles in July 2005 when I trade it in)
1996 Chrysler LHS (74,000 when I got it, 143,000 when I traded it in back in November 2007)
2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee (43,000 when I bought it, 62,219 as of right now. No plans to trade it in.)

Driving since 1986.

I had a few cars early in my driving career, then went a long time without owning a car, mainly because i didn’t need one. Only got one again after we moved to SoCal, where living without a car is pretty much impossible.

Models listed, then years owned and cost in brackets.

Australia:

1971 Volvo 142S (1987-1989; cost $A1,000)
1989 Holden Barina* (1989-1990; free, company car; i was a car salesman)
1990 Holden Nova* (1990; free, ditto)
1990 Holden Apollo* (1990, free, ditto)

UK:

1982 Triumph Acclaim* (1990-1991; £800)
1988 Lada Samara (1993; £650)

US:

1999 Honda Civic (2008-present; $4,100)

  • For Americans:

Holden is the Australian arm of GM, but the Nova was basically a badge-engineered Toyota Corolla, and the Apollo was a badge-engineered Camry. The Barina was a Suzuki Swift with a different badge.

While Triumph is a British company, the Acclaim was essentially a UK-produced, badge-engineered version of a small Honda sedan called the Ballade.

Cars that were mine to drive, but owned by my parents:

1975 Ford F350
1973 Chevy Malibu
1974 Volkswagen Beetle
1978 Ford Mustang II (aka The Disgustang, the low-water mark)

Cars I’ve owned:
1982 Mazda RX-7
1985 Mazda RX-7
1994 Mazda Miata
2002 Honda S2000
2005 Lotus Elise

The motorcycles:
197? Honda CB500
1994 Honda CBR600F2
1978 Honda CB750F
1996 Honda VFR750
2000 Honda VFR800

Cars that are my wife’s, but my name’s on the title I think:
1994 Mazda Millennia
1997 Audi A4
2000 Audi TT (second low-water mark)
2002 BMW 325i
2005 BMW 525i
2008 BMW 335i

Driving since 1985, and the first two years were spent crashing a number of my parents’ cars in interesting ways before I bought my own vehicle.

1977 Morris Marina (owned 1986 - 1987. Regularly voted in the top 5 the worst British cars ever. I agree.)
1979 Mini Marcos (owned 1987 - 2004. great fun)
1991 Accura Integra (owned 1997)
1988 Toyota Corolla (owned 1998 - 2000)
2000 Ford Focus (owned 2000 - present)

I was an expatriate for a while so didn’t have a street-legal car between 1992 and 1997. (When I started to drive again, I could do everything but parallel park.)

Driving since 1976, bought my first car in 1979.

Cars while living in America
1972 Plymouth Duster
1976 Honda Civic
1985 Chevy Cavalier (only car bought new)
1992 Chevy Lumina Z34

Cars while living in the UK
1992 Chevy Lumina (brought it with me)
1997 Fiat Coupe 20v Turbo
2001 Smart (current car)

Next car is likely to be a BMW 1-series diesel

Bikes
Early 80’s Kawasaki GPZ550
1991 Harley Davidson 883 Sportster

I’m a vehicle nut.

Since getting a license in '73…

67 International Harvester (pickup)
69 Camaro
71 Olds Delta 88
73 Buick Electra 225
75 VW Rabbit
78 Cutlass
79 K-Car (My 1 and only Chrysler product)
81 Ford F-250
85 Olds Delta 88
90 Ford F-250
97 Ford Aerostar
00* Chevy C-3500
01* Lincoln Continental
05* Toyota Camry
07* Toyota Corolla

Other vehicles:
75 Palomino (popup camper)
95 Coleman (popup camper
78 Prowler Regal (camping trailer)
79 Prowler 5th-wheel (camping trailer)
03* Prowler 5th-wheel (camping trailer)

66 Chris Craft (twin engine cruiser)
75 Caravelle (ski boat)
79 Caravelle (day cruiser)
81 Bayliner (ski boat)
85 Bayliner (ski boat)
90 Supra (tourn boat)
00 Bayliner (ski boat)
02* Moomba (tourn boat)

66 Piper Cherokee (airplane)
69* Piper Arrow (airplane)

  • = still in my fleet

'84 Escort
'79 Valare
'68 Beetle
'86 Escort
'88 Civic
'79 BMW piece of crap when stationed in Germany
'95 Civic
'94 Bonneville
'00 Bonneville
'01 Ranger
'01 Continental
'99 Expedition
'04 Expedition

That’s purchase order, and there’s some overlap for having two cars simultaneously at times. And I left out the long term company cars 'cos they’re not mine, but they practically are for a year at a time when I’m on the road.

'66 Impala
'73 Riviera
'70s Celica
'80 Kawasaki Z1 Classic
'69 Corvette
'78 Datsun 280Z
'84 Volvo 240 GL
'88 Datsun 300Z
'90 Jeep Cherokee Laredo
'88 Mercedes 560 SL
'97 Lexus LX 450
'05 Porsche Cayenne S

Growing up had parent’s Volvo, Porsche, Cadillacs and Lexus.

1974 Pontiac Firebird - Formula 400
1981 VW Rabbit deisel 4 door
2001 Toyota Corolla CE (bought new)
2006 Honda Ridgeline RTS (bought new)

Driving since 1988

My car history:

My first car was a Chevy Nova, somewhere around a ‘76. It was my parents’ old car and I had been driving it already and I bought it from them when I left home in 1982. It was a really old car (over 100,000 miles when I bought it) and had a lot of problems so I only kept it for about a year. Following this, I only bought new cars (with one exception).

I bought a Chevette in 1983. Thinking back, I can’t recall what I ended up doing with that. I probably traded it in on my next car which was a Ford Escort. That was a lease so I had to turn it in a couple of years later, which I didn’t like - that was the only time I leased a car.

I bought a Jeep Wrangler, which was a mistake. Constant mechanical problems literally from the day I bought it to the day I sold it. I traded that in shortly after I paid it off and bought an Isuzu Rodeo. That one I liked but I wrecked it (the same day Princess Diana had her fatal accident). The Rodeo was the last car I financed; since then I bought my cars outright.

I bought a Toyota Camry (a '97 or '98) which I liked. But I sometimes missed having the cargo space of the Rodeo so I bought a used pick-up, a '83 or '84 Ford Ranger. I later sold the Ranger to a friend because I found I wasn’t using it that much and I traded in the Camry when its mileage was getting high and bought another Camry ('06) which is what I have now.

79 Ford Pinto
85 Chevy Spectrum
86 Mazda RX-7
8? Mitsubishi pickup
91 Dodge Dakota
96 Dodge Neon
02 VW Passat
00 Mazda Protege
04 Honda Odyssey*
07 Nissan Sentra*

  • Current cars

77 Ford Pinto
79 Pontiac Grand Prix
83 Mercury Bobcat
85 Chevy Spectrum
92 Ford Ranger
95 Honda Civic
99 Honda Accord
02 Kia Sportage
07 Ford Mustang

I just really wanted mention the Mustang. It’s so choice!

1982 - 72 Datsun 510
1984 - 82 Cutlass Supreme
88 Grand Am (new)
92 Taurus wagon (new)
96 Toyota Camry wagon (new)
98 Toyota Corolla (new)
90 Toyota Sienna minivan (new)
92 Toyota Matrix wagon (new)
2009 - 62 Corvair monza coupe

Got my license in '81 when I was 16. I drove my family’s cars until I was 18 and got a job that paid well enough to buy my own.

'79 Pontiac Trans Am
'71 Chevrolet Chevelle
'79 Ford Thunderbird
'87 Toyota MR2
'90 Geo Tracker
'91 GMC Safari Van
'02 VW Jetta
'05 MINI Cooper S
'06 MINI Cooper Convertible (current car)

'71 Ford Torino
'82 Toyota Corolla
'86 Toyota Celica
'71 Yamaha 750 (motorcycle)
'84 Honda CR-X
'94 Chevy Camaro
'96 Ford Blazer
'06 Honda Element
'00 Honda Shadow 1100 (motorcycle)

1971 Chevy Impala ( used from father in 1974)

1978 Old Cutlass

1982 Dodge Reliant (K-car)

1991 Toyota Camry

2003 Toyota Camry

I got my license in 1977. The years are approximate:

‘72 Olds Cutlass (my parents’ car, but they signed it over to me)
'83 Honda Civic (first car I actually bought)
'85 Honda Accord
'86 Honda Accord (replaced the first Accord because we wanted air conditioning)
'83? Honda Prelude (my husband’s indulgence. We had to sell it when the kids came along)
'83? Nissan Sentra
'89 Honda Accord
'92 Eagle Vision (I hated this car)
'96 Honda Accord
'99 Honda CRX (This is when my husband started driving SUVs. I stuck with sedans.)
'02 Nissan Murano
'04 Audi A4
'04 Buick Rendezvous
'06 Acura MDX
‘01 Saturn (kids’ car, a real beater)
'08 BMX 335xi (My current car. I love this car!)
'07 Honda Civic (for my daughter)
'08 Honda Civic (for my son)

I think that’s it, but I feel like I’m missing a car or two. Maybe there was another Accord in there sometime; there was only one four year period where we didn’t own a Honda.

1992 BMW M3 (gift from dad, paid the import duty and had the emissions stuff upgraded from EU to US spec, and was then told by my mother I wasn’t allowed to have a car until I was 18)
1996 Honda Accord (gift from mother after she relented when I turned 17)
1994 Nissan Altima
2002 (new) Hyundai Elantra
2008 (new) Hyundai Elantra