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  1. #1
    Administrator dodint's Avatar
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    dodint's Automotive Evolution

    On my hockey forum we took a diversion and started discussing the lineage of our car ownership. Reading through some other peoples lists jogged a lot of fun memories of cars that I've driven but didn't necessarily own. I thought I'd document my ownership history and then use the thread as my 'garage' thread even though I don't have anything very remarkable at the moment.

    My complete evolution:

    '93 Dodge Intrepid -Black/gray, loved it. As with all my Intrepids it was a great highway cruiser. Totaled it in a single vehicle accident.
    '90 Dodge Daytona ES -Had the Mitsubishi V6. The car was surprisingly well kept and was owned by a Dodge mechanics wife. Unfortunately it was an automatic. Totaled it in a single vehicle accident the summer before my senior year of high school, even made the newspaper.
    '85 Nissan 200SX -Notchback. Bought it from the classifieds somewhere in Pittsburgh for $400. I went to a salvage yard and found the same car and had them tow it to the house for $100 and I cobbled both cars together to make something half decent. I drove it all summer and then it died in a parking lot in Greensburg and never ran again. Scrapped it.
    '85 Toyota Corolla -It was a urine brown color, terrible. First car I owned with a manual. Car was super clean but developed a 'no start in the rain' issue. Traded.
    '98 Dodge Intrepid -The red one. First year of the second generation. I did a ton of work upgrading the interior with 300M parts including in-dash navigation. Totaled it in a single vehicle accident, closest I've ever come to dying on the road. lol at this being the only picture of it that I have handy.
    intrepid.jpg

    '00 Dodge Intrepid -The silver one. The peak of my Intrepid ownership. I took all of the upgrades off of the red car and put it in the silver one. Loved it. The undercarriage rusted out and I sold it to Carmax after buying the M6.
    E24 BMW M6 -Bought it sight unseen on eBay. It ran for about two years and I did some modest repairs and upgrades. Then it developed a no-start issue and I never caught up with the project. Traded it to a better mechanic for the K75S.
    m6.jpg

    '80 Toyota Hilux -Paid about $250 for it and intended to use it as a beach cruiser in NC. I bought a fancy carburetor for it and never could install it right. Drove it from the farm I bought it at to the house and then never again. Scrapped.
    toyota.jpg

    '01 Land Rover Discovery II -Loved this thing, but the 16mpg was atrocious. If I knew I was moving to WI I would've kept it in a heartbeat, though. I blew the motor, had it replaced, and then sold it to a co-worker a few months later who ultimately traded it in on a Nissan Xterra. Boooooo.
    lr.jpg

    E36 BMW 325is -I bought it to prep for BMWCCA SpecE36 and stripped it out shortly after buying it. Then Ashley was diagnosed with cancer and everything got put on hold. It's now my daily driver here in Wisconsin and has truly been an exceptional winter driver with a set of Blizzaks on it. I can't say enough about how well it handles in the snow. I still intend to race it one day but now that we're both pursuing doctorates at the moment it will likely take a few more years. I blew the motor a few months ago and put a used one in and now it pulls strong while getting 400mi to a tank. Great car, no car payment, love it.
    325is.jpg

    '13 MINI Cooper -Still have this car, though Ash took it and it is her current daily driver. (SOLD, replaced by Saab)
    '08 BMW 650i (TRADED on '02 BMW 330Ci)
    '98 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra (SOLD)
    '82 Delorean DMC-12 (SOLD)
    '03 Ford E-350 Super Duty XLT -6.8L V10, 12 passenger interior. (SOLD, replaced by Trailblazer)
    '08 BMW Z4 3.0si (TRADED on M6)
    '05 Dodge SRT-4 (SOLD)
    '03 Chevrolet Trailblazer LT - (SOLD, replaced by X5)
    '08 BMW X5 (TRADED on Chevy Volt)
    '96 Saturn SL2 - Parts car for SC2, ran when parked.

    '02 BMW 330Ci Dinan 3 -SpecE46 build.
    '08 BMW M6
    '10 Saab 9-3 SportCombi
    '96 Saturn SC2 - Streetable endurance racer and TT racecar.
    '17 Chevrolet Volt - PHEV, first EV of any kind for us.



    2-wheels Good:

    '75 Honda XR75
    -First motorcycle, I had it when I was in 6th grade or so. Really fun when it ran. I distinctly remember my Dad trying it out and ending up flat on his back with the bike doing a cartwheel.
    '04 Honda CBR600F4i
    cbr600.jpg
    -Great first bike, had a blast with it for a riding season. Sold it to a Navy Corpsman before going to Iraq, didn't realize I wouldn't have another bike again for 4 years.
    '01 Honda RC-51
    rc51.jpg
    -Outstanding machine, racing V-twin. I really wish I had the space and funds to keep it forever but I sold it on eBay to a gentleman that had it shipped to England. Really glad to have had some time with it but it's in better hands now.
    '92 BMW K75S
    k75s.jpg
    -Took this on trade from the E24 M6 project. A really remarkable bike that never showed it's age, helped Ashley fall in love with two-up riding.

    '04 BMW R1200CLC
    r1200k75.jpg
    -700lbs of cruising absurdity. BMW only made a cruiser style bike for 7 years. This was the top of the line, has integral ABS and had a full sound system with six disc changer but I removed it in lieu of my Bluetooth helmet system. First bike I've owned without a manual choke. Super comfortable and quiet bike. It's too far down the 'comfort' side of the spectrum for me, I have a K1300S in my future still. It does have about 120L of cargo capacity and that's not considering the luggage rack.

    Ashley's complete evolution as well, I taught her to drive when she was 18 so she's owned these during the time we've dated and married:

    Dodge Aires
    Oldsmobile Alero
    '05 Dodge Neon

    -Bought brand new, ended up being a really great car actually. Though it's the only car I've ever seen that had power windows up front and crank in the rear.
    E46 BMW 330xi
    330xi.jpg
    -Photo taken on the Tennessee side of the Tail of the Dragon.
    E60 BMW 535xi
    535xi.jpg
    -Nice enough car, she loved it. Turbos have a nasty habit of shutting off when being worked hard like driving in 100F heat or driving over mountains. I think it's a fat slushbox pig but she makes the payments. It was t-boned in December but was not totaled and drives well.

    Other cars I've had an affiliation with but didn't own:

    Mercury Bobcat -I don't even remember it first hand, my Dad totaled it and broke his back. I'm a chip off the old block.
    Honda Civic-Late 70s or early 80s. Significant in that the first word I ever spelled was "H-O-N-D-A." I vaguely remember riding in it from NC to MN and back to NC when I was 4, we got caught in a snowstorm in MN and it was the first time I ever saw snow.
    Ford EXP -Crap. One popped up on BaT recently, though.
    Chevy Citation X-11 -Crap, also. Was miserable on cold PA mornings.
    Ford Escort -First car I ever drove, at about 12 years old. Had that funky fault indicator that I thought was cool because I was young and dumb.
    Isuzu Trooper -Rode from Boston to Denver in the back of one when I was about 8 years old. Awesome. My Dad kept it until one of the rear wheels fell off while going down the road. Traded it in on a...
    Ford Ranger -First vehicle I ever drove stick with. Not sure I had a license. My Dad pulled over near Mt. View Inn and I drove the rest of the way to Whitney, no warning or anything. Fun day.
    VW Beetle -My Dad's project, rarely ran.
    Ford Bronco II -Gas guzzling fun, rebuilt the motor with my Dad when I was 9 or so, first real experience wrenching. He traded it on a Nissan pickup for the gas savings.
    '65 Ford Mustang -My Dad's current project, except now he can afford it so it's actually progressing.

    I'll update this thread as I find more pictures of the older cars. I know I have them in deep storage on my NAS drive but not 'in the cloud' anywhere.
    I don't expect much ownership change. I love not having a car payment. My DMC hunt will start in April 2017 after I'm done with my first year of law school. Too much happening right now, and winter is looming, so I'm not looking to do all the legwork to buy something like that and then put it directly into storage.
    Ashley has said she wants to switch to leasing next, so I'm sure she'll start a 2-year cycle of likely German mid-line luxury leases in the next few years. Not necessarily BMWs, not sure what the company is doing, they're lost.

    Feel free to discuss your experience with anything on here. They weren't all pretty but they all had a part in my automotive upbringing.
    Last edited by dodint; July 23rd, 2020 at 07:34 AM.

  2. #2
    Corvette Enthusiast Kchrpm's Avatar
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    I slept in two of them
    Get that weak shit off my track

  3. #3
    Bad Taste novicius's Avatar
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    I love them M6's.

    Time to try out Audi? Or even VW?

    Quote Originally Posted by dodint View Post
    I love not having a car payment.
    I concur.

  4. #4
    Administrator dodint's Avatar
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    She likes Audi so we'll probably go test a few when the time comes.

    Personally I'm trying to push her toward a hybrid. I don't think she'll go full-Prius, but we rented a Prius for a few weeks when the E36 motor went and she liked the idea of it. I figure if she's already driving appliances anyway it might as well be one that has a super low operating cost.

    The BMW ActiveHybrid 5 is the only thing that ticks every box, I think. But I imagine the lease on that will be in the $600-800 range. So she'll have to wait until we're done with school to even consider it. I'd like to drop her into an i3 but it has the same problem as the Prius, it has horrendous styling. And the i3 doesn't work anyway because her car is traditionally our long range car.

    I'm so out of touch with new car stuff that I'm sure there is a real solution right in front of me. I'm just surprised at the lack of 1/2/3/4 series hybrids on offer from BMW. Given the model bloat a hybrid 3 series might be the next logical step from the E60 5-series.

  5. #5
    Corvette Enthusiast Kchrpm's Avatar
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    She needs a Cadillac hybrid.
    Get that weak shit off my track

  6. #6
    Administrator dodint's Avatar
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    She grew up in Cadillacs and her Mom still drives one. That's a legit suggestion.

    Do they make an ATS Hybrid?

  7. #7
    Corvette Enthusiast Kchrpm's Avatar
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    Nope. The only Cadillac hybrid right now is the overpriced Volt coupe. I thought she had said a big no to any and all Cadillacs.

    Correction: that car isn't sold anymore, the CT6 hybrid is on the way, though.
    Get that weak shit off my track

  8. #8
    Administrator dodint's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kchrpm View Post
    I thought she had said a big no to any and all Cadillacs.
    I don't know in what context this was said but I'm willing to bet it was before she bought and drove the E60. Now she's a pro at parallel parking a 5-series in city traffic so as long as the Caddy isn't bigger I'd be shocked if she didn't go for it.

    She swears off of the 7 series too but I bet if I bought one for myself she'd love it. She just won't park it.

    Tangential, but the seventh generation Impala SS is still on my short list of things to buy if the DMC thing goes tits up.

  9. #9
    I'm gooder. Phil_SS's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by dodint View Post
    Tangential, but the seventh generation Impala SS is still on my short list of things to buy if the DMC thing goes tits up.
    Thumbs up to either. A good friend of my cousin owned an Impala SS back when they were new and man was that a fun car.

    If you wanted something in that vein that is a little newer with a bit more technology and more refinement a 2009 Pontiac G8 with Bluetooth would be a smart buy as well.

  10. #10
    Bad Taste novicius's Avatar
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    2017 Ford Fusion Hybrid: 43 City, 42 HWY.

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