> I really got interested in cars about 1946. That was when The War was over and you could get things like cars, gasoline, tires, sugar, coffee, and bananas again. Our family had some interesting cars and begining about 1955, I had a few interesting ones myself.
> 1946 Hudson (new) six cylinders, three speed stick
> 1948 Ford (new)six cylinders, three speed stick
> 1937 Ford (used) eight cylinders, 3 speed stick
> The Hudson was a big comfortable high performance car. The '48 Ford was an uncomfortable, no performance car. I learned to drive on the '37 in 1949. It only had 60 hp.
> 1939 Nash (used)six cylinders, three speed stick
> 1941 Lincoln (used)twelve cylinders, 3 speeds
> 1951 Crosley (used)four cylinders 3 speeds
> The Nash smoked. Smoking kills cars, too. The Lincoln was a great cruise-around-town car with four doors, fender skirts and push-button doors.
> The Crosley was....well, interesting. It was a station wagon with two doors.
> 1949 Kaiser(used) 6 cylinders 3 speeds w/overdrive
> 1954 Ford (new) 6 cylinders, 3 speeds, green
> Those were the family cars that I drove until I started buying my own cars. I started with:
> 1946 Ford Club Coupe(used) 8 cylinders, 3 speeds
> 1953 Packard Clipper(used) 8 cylinders, automatic
> 1960 Volkswagen(new) 4 cylinders, 4 speeds
> Three great cars! They had nothing in common except that I really liked them all.
> 1965 Volkswagen Microbus(new)4 cylinders 4 speeds
> 1954 Chevrolet(used) 6 cylinders, automatic
> 1968 Chevrolet(used) 8 cylinders, automatic
> The Microbus had room for a growing family. The '54 Chevy made us a two-car family. It looked good, but conked out a lot. We blew the engine on the Microbus in Colorado and traded it for the '68 Chevy. A very fast car!
> 1971 Chevrolet wagon (used) 8 cylinders, automatic
> 1974 Ford Maverick(new) 6 cylinder, 3 speeds
> Two terrible cars. Cured me of Fords and Chevys.
> 1978 Subaru(new) 4 cylinders, 5 speeds
> 1980 Subaru wagon(new) 4 cylinders, 5 speeds
> Two great cars. The '78 sedan was wrecked and we replaced it with the '80 and drove it 17 years!
> 1984 Nissan pickup(new) 4 cylinders, 5 speeds
> 1989 Toyota Camry(new) 4 cylinders, 5 speeds
> 1995 Toyota pickup(new) 4 cylinders, 5 speeds
> 1999 Toyota Camry(new) 4 cylinders 5 speeds
> The Nissan rode rough but drove great. Rusted. Unfortunately it had the carburator from heck, so At 130,000 miles and 11 years,I sold it. Toyota cars and trucks ride and drive great and you can not wear them out.
> I have learned that with fuel injection and electronic ignition, cars are on my side. Otherwise they are against me all the way.
> You didn't need to know all this stuff, did you?
> Howard

I just wanted to say that you've had way more than the average person. Then again, that *is* your way. The most interesting car I've had was a 1965 Jaguar Mark II. Inline 6 with dual overhead cams, automatic, right-hand drive, red leather interior (in desparate need of re-upholstering), and an oak dashboard that could also use a little TLC. It had a map tray, and most every control was a toggle switch, lights, wipers, the ignition was a push button.

Tra "Since it was right-hand drive, it was fun to be driving down the road leaning over to the side squinting my eyes looking like I was asleep, and for my girlfriend (at the time) to be sitting backwards facing the rear. We got some concerned looks." nio