Your First or most Favourite Car you've had
Yeah I have to say that I've had the worst luck with cars, probably why I've had a few.
Have a rant by all means!
First car was an orange Kombi with pop top, fridge, stove, and a bong never further than arm's length away. Loved that car though wrote it off in a gnarly crash (wasn't stoned). If anyone was in the passenger seat they would've lost their legs, and if the impact was front on I would've lost mine. Opened my eyes to owning a van, that crash did.
Probably the best car I had was the most unlikely - a front wheel drive Camry sedan. I owned it at a time when I didn't see any value in getting cars serviced - like ever. I reckon I had that car for five years and not once did I take it to a mechanics, and not once did it break down either. This despite taking it down the most God-forsaken bush tracks the east, south and west coasts have. That fucker went everywhere, and the look on peoples faces when I bounced into a bush carpark and the only cars there were burly 4WDs was always worth it.
Had to hock a Suby recently cos of a growing family. Now I have a Hyundai Trajet (no shit, that's the name, only seen one other one on the road) and it's a great car. Bought it to fit kids in but if I wanted to bolt up or down the coast every single seat comes out with ease leaving a flat carpeted tray in the back.
Had no luck at all Stu with the VW's, had a 1963 split windscreen Wagon and a beetle, but lo an behold they both blew up, the motors that is.
Ive known a few blokes with the Camry sedan and they also have not had problems, but dare say they probably were not taking it down the bush tracks that you've been on. The bong at arms length was a similar deal in the HK, maybe thats why a lot of memories got lost in the realm.
Is the Trajet pronounced like the swish word pronouncing "Target", like the ad on TV..?
Classic
wellymon wrote:Is the Trajet pronounced like the swish word pronouncing "Target", like the ad on TV..? Classic
Yep, it's pronounced 'tra-shay'. Which sounds all swish and ooh-la-la till people find out it's a bloody Hyundai.
My current Skoda Octavia vRS. A real pleasure to drive, particularly with WOT.
In the 70's you couldn't beat a 64 Holden wagon for surfing trips up to seal rocks, treachery on the headland to save 20 cents camp fees in the so called camp ground. Some of those tracks onto the headland were crazy. At cape st francis / JB it had to be the Kombi to fit the crew from Newcastle. Now after 35 years working and retired it's back to the 2000 model turbo diesel VW trakka with all the comforts for surf trips but the Subaru liberty wagon is great for daily surf checks
Welly, you got me on a subject I love.
First car was a 1.8lt burnt orange, Hilux single cab with an Aluminium tray. Used to love taking that up to Double Is. along the beach.
Worst car, 1980 Toyota Corona, auto.
Had a SWB NH Pajero which was the most reliable and best car, had that for 10 years (bought almost as new) took it all over Australia and gave it to my nephew when he learnt to drive and I moved to Japan. Still going strong I believe.
Currently driving 2010 Subie Outback, black eye-sight model. Brilliant snow car and we bought that new. Put 40k on it and not a blip has gone wrong.
Looking at an Audi A6 Allroad at the moment, just have to convince the wife it's worth it. She wants to replace her Suzuki with a Golf.
When I was 17 I bought this huge black '73 Fairlane 351 V8 from a mate that didn't surf. It was a ridiculous car but petrol was under 50c/litre and I could fit two boards in the boot fully closed. The interior was white leather and with a column shift, so the front seats folded down turning into a huge bed area.
When I turned up at the beach people used to look at me like "what the fuck" when this little 'P' plated gromment got out and popped the boot revealing my quiver.
Yorkes trips were done in record times at an average speed of 160km/hr!
Sweet!
Don what is WOT,
With Off Terrain.?
With Out Tyres.?
When On Terrain.?
Good old Skodas, Rally cars that charge. My mate swapped an old 80's 4 door Skoda for a box of beers and we drove that thing so hard for hours, over 3ft jumps in the forest at such high revs. The thing wouldn't die, x4 doors, bonnet and boot flinging open every time it landed, good old memories.
Zenagain just get it, break her arm then your the only one you can drive it. :)
borgwald Isabella ts
WOT= wide open throttle
the worst odour to ever come from a vehicle........freeride's VW baitbus- absolutely disgusting
udo wrote:the worst odour to ever come from a vehicle........freeride's VW baitbus- absolutely disgusting
Fuck me, you've seen it?! It's an amazing sight and smell, eh? When I first laid eyes on the inside of that car I thought he was having me on; like there's no way a car could get that dirty. Things grow in there; they live a full life cycle of sprouting, blossoming, then death and decay. So much decay.
Bag ladies wouldn't sleep in there. Bag men either. Bag men and bag ladies would rather take on sleet and ice and driving snow then spend a night inside that car. Yet Steve jumps in there free and easy, exposed skin touching mould-covered vinyl, and jabbers away as if there's nothing wrong, and the thing scurrying around in the old newspaper down there doesn't even cause comment.
first car to ever fail N.S.W pink slip on odour alone.
62 vw split windscreen kombi, top speed 60mph on a down hill run, classic car, classic trips
First crash, parents car. The road to Pigeonhouse Mountain after a particularly heavy downpour. Mates clearly thought it was a hoot. I cleaned it up, bounced all the way home with a bent axle, fixed that and a few buckled panels, then told my parents a grand old porky about being run off the road. "No Dad, I didn't get the guys number plate."
Thought I'd pulled off the perfect crime till a mate went and spilled the real beans in a speech at my 21st. When I went to apologise to my Dad he said, "I knew all along."
^classic photo
I started with an EA falcon wagon that ended up also being blown into smithereens on the Brand highway.
Three cars that have permanent soft spots in my memories are;
HZ panelvan that had been painted with blue house paint and was an ever evolving canvas, completely covered in friends and strangers artwork and obscenities. That thing also never saw an ounce of mechanical attention and managed to find itself in and out of some of the 4WD only tracks.
1970 V8 international dual axle truck that wouldn't do over 90km an hour guzzled fuel like a jumbo jet and sounded like one as well. Massive bench seat for road trips bowling over a couple of emus (the liquid type) in the summer sun. Was nicknamed the "cow"
Havent been able to go past the Toyota Landcruiser though for its ability to take constant offroad abuse and still manage to hold itself together in some kind of respectable condition.
That photo is a classic.
I suppose you were bound to crash with that many blokes in the car.
What is it? Corolla? Datsun Sunny?
Looks like a Corolla, and yeah where did all the guys come from?? Like a clowns car haha!
My first car was an 84 Corolla sedan and it made the weekly trip down to Victor Harbor from the north-east suburbs easily. I wrote it off after hitting a parked car in the city (another story) and then got a Camry Wagon which survived tens of trips to Yorkes and hundreds of trips down to Victor.
Like many above it just kept going no matter how hard you drove it or where you took it. Home serviced over its liftetime and I had to give it up when moving to Sydney as it wouldn't have passed the safety checks.
Since then had 2 Suby wagons, and the latest one is going strong, 1999 Outback Limited. Got it fully decked out with swag permanently rolled out in the back.
Can't go past wagons for the simplicity of chucking everything in the back and hitting the road over the weekend.
Have had numerous hire-cars for trips West launching from Adelaide which have faired really well. If only the hire car companies knew where I was taking them! Gotta detail each one whenever I return home from my trips as they're usually caked in dust inside and out.
Mustad colored Datsun 180B, dubbed the Snot Rocket... looked like Snot, went like a rocket.
Wrote if off on a herd of cows.
First car think it was 78(or 79) 4x4 1600 wagon, full of rust did me well though beach driving down the west coast of Tassie most weekends.
Ive had about a dozen cars, blown the motor up in two and a few others have ended up at the wreckers or scrap metal, one written off in a head on with a drunk driver.
My fav sounds a lot like stunnets a late 70,s burnt orange Kombi also with pop top, fridge, stove, was in mint condition even had annex did a six months surf trip in it, although like all kombis it was gutless and ate petrol, wouldn't want it now, but along with my first car would have to be my fav just for the memories.
First, '67 HR holden sky blue, white roof, 3 different coloured doors. I think it was the 173(??) 2 speed auto Powerglide gearbo.x Bought for $800. Lost count of the amount East coast runs up and down. Cop magnet. Everywhere I went would get pulled over and searched.
Fav would be the HQ, 3 on the tree, 202. Bob Hawkes surf team. Park out the front of DY CES, boards stacked 2 wide 4 high, all of us bolting in, drop off the form, toss a coin as to whether we headed North or South for 2 weeks. Back to fill out the forms and do it all again. Ah those were the days....
zenagain wrote:Looking at an Audi A6 Allroad at the moment, just have to convince the wife it's worth it.
Bugger me, that's some serious coin being thrown at a car!!! Have you considered the Skoda Octavia Scout or Passat Alltrack? Very similar cars at more than half the price!!!
All of the people that I know who own Audi's are not happy with them at all. All had problems with their cars, and given the premium price tag on Audi's, you don't want to be having problems with them within the first 3 years!!!
zen what is the audi a6 price in japan ?
My first trip to Yorkes was when one of my older school mates was old enough to drive, and he convinced his dad to lend him his immaculate FB holden wagon. They were Italian, and the car was his pride and joy, and represented his years of struggle and hard work. Dad was a classic super strict, super conservative, really old fashioned guy, but doted on his son Joe, an up and coming Southern Plain's wanna be. So Joe got sucked in to taking some of the Southern Plains 'heavies' as well. None of us knew anything about cars, and with the Southern Plains 'heavies' constantly screaming at him to go faster, it boiled over just past Port Wakefield. Still we motored on, until a cockie rescued us half way down the peninsula, pointing out that the radiator was almost empty, and we were going way to fast. The motor was pretty much fucked, but we managed to surf all weekend, and grovel home. Under the 'heavies' onslaught and with the ever tempting promises of becoming a 'Plainsman', Joe had backed into a fence post, scraped the shit out of the side panels in the scrub, and the car was full of limestone dust and fucked. Needless to say, Joes old man was devastated, and went bunter and his surfing career was put on hold for a while. It was made worse as the Southern Plains 'heavies' were Greek.
My first car was an FB, (the giant slabs of chrome had won me over), and my dad 'helped' me get it. The sleazy salesman worked us, and the one we test drove and bought, was some how replaced with a different car on pickup, which was a heap of shit. My dad was useless at getting cars, and 'pressured' the salesman into giving me a portable car radio to make ammends... which didn't work, as it had no cradle, which they used to have back then. If we made it up O'halloran Hill, without cooking, we got to the surf, hit and miss. Another salesman did me an awesome favour and Iet me trade it in on an upmarket EK wagon, in a refinance deal, which saw me with a huge debt on yet another lemon. It was good in a way, as from then on I vowed to find out all about cars and never get ripped off again. Mark Ward the Adelaide kneeboarder was a car freak that gave deluxe advice. Merrick Savage was the super mechanic, one of Adelaides top Mercedes/BMW etc mechanics, but he used to revel in the average grommet dimwit's plight in getting stuck with lemons.
It started with the Kingswoods. HJ sedan, then beige HZ wagon, then metallic purple HJ wagon with white roof. Fantastically easy to work on to keep running so could get to the surf: I remember 202 fanbelts in lunch bars. Ate boards and camping equipment - memories of night drives up, sleep in car in dunes, first ones to paddle out while the sun made water gold in the offshore. The missions down south. Purple wagon was (inadvertently) used in armed hold-up, not me doing it.
Then the XW Fairmont 302 wagon. What a car. AM radio and that beautiful V8 note. Refined ahead of its time, all original. Not as good offroad as the kinga's, but who cared?
The HJ60 cruiser, took care of our family and surfed all over Oz, sweet FA went wrong with it too.
Special mention of others' cars: the Nuclear Kingswood, the Chemical Weapons Kingswood, the HK panelly we hit a 3ft deep excavation at 40mph on a dirt track, Mum's Renault 12 offroad beast - surprisingly good in the sand and later learned it was designed with French North Africa in mind.
These days? Bonnet high snow drift eating AWD Territory, room for the boards of all kinds. Still love the old 302s.
From brown eyes, smooth styled "borgwald Isabella ts" never seen those udo, awesome, the "Snot Rocket" ,..freeride's VW baitbus..? ,the"cow", the "clowns car", "wagons", "sleazy salesman", "cop magnets", "Bob Hawkes hand me downs", the "Purple armed hold up Wagon" which reminds me of my next door neighbour. "302's" not the rifle though!, the "HK panelly", what memories we have all had in those various cars.
Before I moved across the ditch, I brought an awesome CF150 Bedford Camper, decked out, Square top pop top raised raised roof with 2 bunk stretchers, 6 seater fold out double bed, gas stove, 100l water tank and pump with sink, skylight and a thumping 302 fully worked Ford Windsor with 3 speed auto. This thing sat on the highway cruising at 150k no worries like a concrete block that did not budge. I was never into motors at all, but would pull up at servo's or lights and bogan car heads would always question me on the motor just from the awesome fat arse sound it pumped out. Was a pretty fat wagon to drive for sure.
Spend a whole season living in it at Mt Olympus, plugging into the bottom hut stealing the power for the fan heater. Couldn't sell it when I was on the move, so left it with a good mate, it ended up getting stolen from his property in Wanaka while he was in Canada for the season. Ha never to be seen, but one day I will find it, feel sorry for the poor cunt whose driving it..?
I can always remember certain music with different cars Iv'e had, i.e. the old HK68 about mid 80's (Pink Floyd all the time, Bob Marley, The Doors, Marion Faithful, George Thorogood. The The ).
CF150 Beddie days late 90's ( NOFX, Suicidal Tenancies, Daft Punk, White Zombie etc genre )
Now days (phat minimal Tech, Dark Prog Psy or full on Psychedelic ).
The journey of cars and sounds.
Don, I like the Passat but am not familiar with the Skoda. We will probably replace our Subie in the next year or so, so we've been looking at upgrading and getting something a bit flash. I have a mate who's onto his third A6 Allroad at the moment having put 150k on the last two and not a thing has gone wrong. Still as tight as when he bought them new. He has a 2013 now and it's brilliant.
I looked at a VW Toureg but it was so thirsty so discounted that (and it's kinda ugly). I like the X5 but after riding around in the Audi, I fell in love.
I'm in a bit of a quandary at the moment as we can afford the Audi but common sense would tell me to buy another Outback. An Audi is twice the price but is it twice the car?
The current A6 runs at about 75k brand new here but I saw one the other day with 5000k on the clock for 62k, that was the 3.2TFSI. I talked to the bloke and with our car as a trade in, he reckoned he could get us in it for less than 40k. A new loaded Outback will set you back about 32k on the road. Not bad when the A6 is 100k+ in oz and a new Outback is in the high 50's. Aussies are screwed on the price of cars. We need to do something by 2014 year end to minimise our tax for the following 3 years.
For example, new Landcruiser ZX diesel (VX Sahara in Oz) about 75k here. Over 100k back home. Don't know how they justify it.
Anyway, I don't lead an extravagant life, I just like to have a nice ride and as a snowboarder I prefer AWD cars.
By the way Welly, our cars are the 'Ninja car' because the Subie is black and the other one is the 'Squirrel car' because it's small and zippy. My wife chose the names, not me.
occy - is / was sponsored by skoda ?
I'm hearing you on the prices Zenagain, your lucky to be in a country where cars a cheaper than here.
All new cars these days are really top notch, too drive, sound systems, air bags as well as safety systems etc.
I suppose when we look back at our past the old classic cars that are icons now, will always be the great memories.
Seen those Audi 6's on the road, a nice looking car, bet they go like the stink, would love to drive one from my place down the back tracks thru Numinbah Valley to Nimbin, not so many cops that ways.
You'd love Japan.
No speed cameras, no red light cameras and few radars.
The cops are of the mind that it you're driving safely to the conditions, there's no probs. Of course if you're an idiot you'll get pinched real quick.
So, smooth and steady in built up areas and on clear days on the expressways you can get away with keeping it under about 130-140kph. Of course there's some exceptions but I havn't come close to being pinched.
touch wood.....
The weirdest thing about the cars saga, and pretty hard to comprehend today, is that there was once no DUI, no breathalysers, zilch. We, like most people, used to drive around, young numbskulls, totally blotto. I can remember a night with Marty and Terry Ryan, too pissed, stalling on busy North Terrace in a Kombi trying to get out of Adelaide to Port Wakefield Road, and when we got out of the car to try and push start it, all the apple cider bottles were rolling out and smashing all over the road. The police pulled up behind us pissing themselves, and told us to get the heap of shit over to the side of the road and clean up our mess, before driving off ridiculing and laughing at us. Ridiculous wake ups at the surf, not even remembering how, or when you got there. When Alcohol limits came in it was ludicrous. My whole drafting office, me included, at the Highways Dept lost their licences one by one, as did so many. Amasing to think that so many survived.
Those Bedfords were deluxe, along with the 200/250 Transits, the ultimate campers. So roomy and solid, so easy to work on. Nothing like blasting by helpless, frustrated Kombi owners, 40 shetland ponies stuttering and grovelling up hill, with their terrified owners paranoid eyes glued on the temperature gauge, all sorts of snorkels, vents, oils coolers and paraphenalia stuck all over the shit heaps, desperately trying to cool Dr Ferdinand's cruel joke on the western world down. To no avail. Hey, put the heater on, they work great... what's that smell... just a direct blast of carbon monoxide, that's all.
I didnt get my car licence till i was 27 but got my motorbike licence when i was 16 went through two xt yamaha motorbikes and a kwacka on my surf trips all around portlands coastline ,those bikes got me into places even 4wd struggled to get , and if the surf was shit , ripping up the beaches and huge dunes provided endless fun for me and all my mates who had bikes at that time ,. Recently I had just finished setting up a wr yamaha for the dunes and checking a very remote part of the coast for surf potential , but sadly i will have to sell it because of the blood thinners i am on after my heart attack .. My first car was an xb ford it was a great surf car, big bench seats all vinyl no carpet , perfect for going home in a wetty for a shower , the bonnet was big enough for getting changed on , huge boot as well , its downfall was rust , the holes in it became so big i had to get a heap of foam off cuts from a shaper and bog over the top , eventually it started to become more surfboard than car , when it rained water would fill up in the back and if you breaked hard old big m containers and trash would flood alll around your feet and pedals , the cops got it off the road eventually , but after 7 years that was the best two grand i ever spent , i got a 100 bucks at the wreckers for her , the engine was still good it went straight into a speedway car , i salute you ford xb ..
When I was a little fella my uncle had an original HK Monaro, green with cream interior. Would be worth a fortune these days.
As I got older my bro' and I would argue for hours on the merits of Holden versus Ford.
I was a Ford man and the car of my dreams was a Ford Falcon XC Cobra, the ones that went 1/2 at Bathurst.
To this day I'd love to have one of those bad boys parked up in my garage.
I worked alot from a young age . so first car was a decent xd wagon on gas . " silver sovereign " with pump up rear shocks and a total disregard for the car like Stu and his camry . the same tracks i got down in that , i would struggle in later 4wds or friends cars . One mate sweared by his front wheel drive camry in sand . Another gem was a 4 cyl. swb jackaroo , that motor was unbreakable and like the subi's would skid through any mud at speed . ( admittably on its belly ) again on gas .
The jackaroos' achilles heel was it was too light to tow anything decent . Which brings me to a 94 land rover disco ( 12 years ownership ) still strong . Early on swapped the crap v8 out for a VS 5.0 again dual gas tanks and dual fuel sill tanks , tows houses , goes anywhere . Smooth ride , comfortable seats to help with those 20 hr desert stints . and bonus aluminium panels so ya can tie ya wetty to the bonnet and dry them whilst driving between surfs .....
'The big steal' is a classic movie about grommets and cars.
The funniest car I had was the "Baked Bean" burnt orange colour, living in Ulladullah for 3 years I purchased a 899 cc, 3 cylinder Suzuki, 2 door hatch back. Run on the smell of and oily rag, cost $18 to fill up, which lasted all week till the next dole payment, travelling every day from Mollymook beach down to Bawley. The best hand brakes by far, the little girl would just spin around in circles once hitting the gravel car parks with speed,pretty tight for room tho, would only just fit in x2 6'3"s with 2 people. Pretty funny driving it , made you look like a giant until you got out.
Scored fucken unreal waves down that part of the coast, by far one of the nicest pieces of coastlines on the East coast with great stonking waves, do miss Ulla"s for sure. I would have to say some of my best waves Ive had in Oz to date.
I had an 85 Ford Laser - The Silverfox! She used to float over Ilfracombe rd like a dream - three shorties through the middle!
Everyone said she looked like a pig, but she was a true beauty in my eyes!
I agree Udo that coastline between gerringong and batemans bay is pretty amazing. I would agree ive had my best surfs (in oz) along that stretch.
My mates all had cars before i did and friends in years above at school. Would travel down there a lot with them jigging school etc. One mate had a yellow kombi another had a ford falcon wagon and panel van with hand made cabinets so you could stash boards underneath ,food and all sorts with three person beds on top. So much room.
My first car was a misterbitchy L3OO van 1978-1980 or something not sure. Everyone called it "the shaker" as going past 60-70km's an hour it would rattle real bad on the highway.
Slept in it everywhere- at parties, at the snow, on surf trips where ever. it was such a shit box.
I bought it off a Pakistani guy near Liverpool who had another one just like it and i should have known he was underneath when i arrived, probably swapping out all the good parts into his other one. It went well for 6 hours.
I ended up leaving it in a certain surf spot bushtrack one night bogged with a friend near Wairo beach.
We both had to get to work by 6am and it was already 7pm. Chucked our boards in a mates caravan and walked 20kms to (4 hours or so) to the other side of milton. No cars would pick us up and the buses had stopped.
We stopped at Milton pub worn out where a local regular older lass seemed keen to take us both back to her lair. However we still needed to get to sydney CBD by 6.
Anyway a trucky ended up stopping (near the abattoir) and gave a ride a lot of the way, speeding and talking our ears off. Got to work at 5.45 am.
Went back a week or so later and a nice young girl with a little suzuki and bullbar lukcily came along Which easily pushed the van out.
Driving it into town (Ulladulla) the engine blew up. Got $50 from wreckers for it. Its still there now in his backyard.
First car I bought was an XW Falcon ute, 4 speed top loader gear box, original 12 slot wheels, 221 ci. It endured my driving for a few years. It saw a good bit of white gravel down at Yorkes before the Park was sealed. I'm sure those roads didn't help the already conspicuous suspension squeaks.
I had a lump of foam that lined the tray, boards, sleeping bag, towels etc resided there. The ute was great, but due to a number of holes in the tonneau cover, I always wanted to get a panno. (fixing the cover never crossed my mind).
@ Groundswell, wouldn't mind getting confused with Udo, as he's a lot more literate on the computer than I. As the code of conduct for SN speaks for it self I wiill name a few great waves I participated in whilst driving to in the "Baked Bean" down in those parts of Smokamullah.
All being puns of course.
The "Dark Home" or the (chiefs of the clan MacLellan), an awesome right hander one of my favourites when not so many people out. Another right but quite fickle, "Mull"holes" great barrel. South of there the "trench" great beachie that fired so often, scored that at 8 ft solid NE swell one Christmas day I think 2000 or 01, absolutely firing. "Cut ya" Head Off" a nasty round wave with a locale small take off, where you mentioned some more foam on the board might come in handy (in another thread)? Good old "Yes Feet",Ive been pretty freaked out there a few times, thats a trippy wave over 8ft. Remember the old Billabong? comp there awhile back, nearly took Tom Curren's life, in amazement of the spectators...? Big that day 15-18ft, I think Shane Dorian won riding a 6'8' / 6'10". Puns galore :)
Haha, nice puns indeed Welly.
Whenever the coin was tails we based ourselves down that way. More often than not Bendalong or Wiero beach.
Welly....maaaate...those puns.
Ooppss, was that out of order..?
Can edit no worries !
Nah, you're right. It's more the cheesy quality of the puns.
Classic Welly :)
I think that Curren, Sunny and Dorian footage is on Nine Lives. I thinks its better a bit smaller though. One local says he made it all the way from the outside point on a MASSIVE day, made it past cut your head offs, into the bull-ray beach. The amount of bullrays there is amazing. Kind of spooky but they are friendly and curious it seems.
The old boy (Dad) had a classic "72" XA Ford Panel Van, 3 speed on the floor.
He was a painter all his life, the in between window had been taken out so he could talk to all the other blokes who worked for him that sat on the double mattress whilst driving to and from work, all 6 of them:). No seat belts in those days. As well as all the nasty oil paints, brushes and turps which violated the whole van with toxic fumes.
I can always remember the drive as kids stuck in the back for 3-4 hours, sniffing in those fumes on our journey to go deer and pig hunting up to the farm. Always at some point along the winding gravel roads into the middle of nowhere, one of us would chunder over us all, four kids, so always 3 of us got hammered with spew:(
But as long as we counted how many possums we drove over and killed on the way in, it kept our minds at ease. Quite often 35-40 possums on an hour 's winding gravel road was common.
The good old hunting times with the old boy, he loved his journeys which was easily passed on too me.
@Groundswell, ha ha just read your story, cool story had many similar experiences and also done the stupid thing of buying a car from a person who has two of the same cars.
When i was young I bought an XE panel van from a guy who had two of them, looked awesome mags and new spray job, but was a complete lemon always breaking down, then less than a year after buying it the motor blew up, I replaced it then a the bog filled rust started coming back and disnt stop, then some chick reversed into the side of it, and off course the door handles all broke they always broke in those fords i got so sick of repaving them, so i just left the window down i think they ended up jamming also because i remember driving it around and the passenger floor was full of water and watching a coke can floating, I started out with a good looking panel van for $5,000 and ended up only a few years latter with a rusted out trashed car and sold it for a few hundred bucks....story of my car life.
First car was a blue 84 Ford Falcon XE that was handed down by brother zen. Bullet proof but not rust proof. Spent many a trip travelling between the Sunshine Coast and Ulladulla, down many a dirt track (and some not really even tracks), looking for surf. Towards the end, was starting to be the full Flintstone car with holes in the floor and windscreen barely hanging on by only the most solid of the rust. In fact, the holes in the floor did prevent the car from filling up with water when it rained (mostly). One particular trip, was camping down at Trial Bay (just around from South West Rocks), it was pissing down rain, and the car was filling up quicker than the rain could exit. Too full on to sleep in the swag so camped in the back seat. The neighbours were the full Flanders clan (from The Simpsons). They were kind enough to invite me to sleep in their caravan but as three Christian families already appeared to be camped in there, thanked them but gave it a swerve (due to the cramped conditions, no other reason). Later that night could hear them playing the full on Christian Trivial Pursuit "Which Christian slayed the lion?", "How many nights was Noah's arc afloat?" etc etc. Would have made an interesting night showing my ignorance of religion in front of the Flanders crew had I accepted their kind offer.
Having owned and trashed 24 cars through my journey in this life, My first car I brought was an HK 1968 Sedan, teal green like the colour here on SN with a white roof, 186hp, 3speed on the column, without a doubt I had the best surf trips and memories in that wagon to date. What a laid back cruiser she was.
Subaru's would be my most favourite, having 4 different models to date, my first Subaru was a 1979, 1600cc, Brumbie ute, one speed 4x4 range and fanged up to Treble Cone days on end like a little rocket on steroids.
Now I own a Subaru XV 2.0is, great little SUV thingy, economical on gas, heaps of room, kick arse sound system and goes like the stink for a 2.0l, what a great little wagon to drive.
Yeah I have to say that I've had the worst luck with cars, probably why I've had a few.
Have a rant by all means!