what is your automotive history?

[ov3n]

I kinda got into cars probably in early 1994... I would occasionally read a car and driver and they kept talking about the Ford Contour an dMercury Mystique, and how these cars were the most expensive-to-design cars ever, totalling over $6 billion because it was all new platform and 2 all new engines and drivetrains.

I fell in love with the 95 contour.. and i kept nagging my parents to get one... at the time my mom had a 86 tempo.
about a year went by... and the 95's were coming to the model year end closouts and we looked at a demo contour with a couple thousand miles on it.. the dealer said they will take off a certain amount for each mile the car had etc..
called them the next day, they decided they would not take anything off the car's price.

so we looked around for 'cheaper' cars, and my parents eventually found a purple 96 SAturl SL1.
i guess it was nice for the 1st couple months.
then it turned into one of the biggest pieces of **** on the road.
it was loud, buzzy, vibrated, squeaky, creaky, the radio sucked, it shifted hard... problem after problem... the insulating strip on the insides of the doors started to peel off...
this car was a mistake to buy, and i pity saturn owners. the ion doesn't seem to be any better.

so we had the saturn for a few years..
then i was like... this car is such a POS lets get rid of it
i was still bitter about not getting a contour, even in late 99..
so i was thinking ...well i still want something contour-based
so i told my parents they should sell the saturn and get a cougar! they agreed.
so they leased the black 2000 cougar in feb of 2000.
i loved it and modded it like it was mine, even tho it wasn't.
i fell out of love with it when i lost in a race with a jeep cherokee. stupid automatic.

so i bought my first ever car, a 2001 cougar, on feb 28th 2001.
chris and vinny came with me to buy insurance and then pick the car up.

[CougarGT]

I've always been into cars, since i was a wee lad. Basically my interest grew in about middle school when i started working on cars. My father and me restored his 1972 Vette, as well the repair work on family cars. Once in highschool i started in the auto's program. I basically took every class possible, and then an independant study. The teacher i had was an amazing teacher, i have never once had a teacher as great as this one (including college). He knew my skills, and chalanged me more. He entered me into a few auto diagnosing competition's locally, in which i took several 1st place finishes. I then took a written test, which i had the 2nd highest score in the state. This enrolled me into the state Ford/AAA diagnosing competition. To sum it up, I took 1st in state, and 5th in nationals. It was a rad experience!

Thats what lead me to today :)

BTW.....
1st car: 89' Grand Prix (5-speed, SUPER rare :))
2nd car: 93' Probe GT (5-speed, fun and black)
3rd car: 99' Couga :):)

and for the record, when i was at a bar a few weeks ago, i saw the guy i sold my first car too. Its dead :( 175,xxx miles

[spacedog73]

Psssst.....ov3n, don't say anything about a Saturn or your thread might disappear.:rolleyes:

Anyways, yeah I've owned a lot of cars.
My first love was a 1973 VW Bug, I was a strange lad and was totally enamored with all things Volkswagen.
I read many books on the "people's car" and its strange history.

So the first car I picked up was a 73 Bug for $600 I believe, it was a POS, but I loved that VW like nothing else.
Rusty floorboards,no heat, the classic BRAPPPP sound of a VW,no radio, no WW fluid pump, and no power.

I'll list the rest as I can remember them.

After the bug, were many other VW's.
2. 1981 Rabbit
3.1979 VW BUS-it was a previously a tour bus for a local band "Morbid Saint or Morbid priest" or something like that
the interior was totally custom with a wraparound couch in the back and lights and mirrors and tinted windows.
4.1984 Rabbit
5.my first foray into the world of American Cars- a 197? Mustang, i forget the year but it was before they became the little underpowered boxy cars that they did in the 80's.
6.1980 something Le Baron-
7.1988 Cavalier
8.1986 AMC wagon
9. 2000 Ford Focus
10. 2001 Mercury Cougar-:banana:

[Estiem]

I'm a relative n00b when it comes to the car world. growing up i had no interest in cars. couldn't tell ya the difference between an escort and a ferrari. basically didn't care. wasn't interested in it. skateboarding was my world! getting down my grinds, learning how to skate vert, and landing a 360-flip was my main goal in life!

didn't even care to get my license until i was almost 17. and didn't even get my first car until i was 19.

my dad found me a decent car for my first. it was a rare 89 plymouth sundance rs 4 door turbo! yeehaaw! it was originally driven by an old lady. only had 36,000 miles on it when i got it. so it was perdy much brand new. a steal for 4g's.

about a year into having that thing my roommate finally decided to sell his car, and remove the cool wheels he had on his spitfire, and sell them to me for 200 bux. plus, since this was cheaper than buying a full new set of tires for the 'dance. i was hella excited.

it wasn't until playstation released a lil game called "Gran Tourismo" that i actually became extremely interested in cars. and ever since then,... i've been a modgeek. yay mods.

89 sundance turbo
99 mercury cougar
00 mercury cougar
98 plymouth neon
03 subaru wrx


one final note, yo brad... VW bugs didn't have WW fluid pumps back then.... they were actually hooked up to the spare tire. the pressure in the tire actually pressurized the spray.

[Skywalker]

I think I was like 13 - 14, I used to get a ride home from school every once and a while from my neighbor/friend he had a Mustang and we used to race people home from school sometimes, the person was actually Jim's Brother (John) After that I saw the movie Menace II Society and always wanted a car that stood out in a crowd, Gold and Chrome shinny stuff on it. "Bling Bling" Then I got a job at Bumper to Bumper where I could act like I was doing something while looking at Performance Catalogs all day, I always made list of parts I was going to buy, I think in one Saturday I had a Mustang, F150, and an Expedtion Full Modd list all done in detail, with prices all totaled up, All I needed to do was Buy the Vehicles and hand in the order form to my boss, Its funny how I could make my $4.40/hour daydreaming about all the money I was going to make when I graduated and all the cool stuff I was going to own,
:cry:But now Reality set in and well:cry: I'll always have my order forms :rofl:

Here they are

1987 Pontiac Grand am - (Gold painted-Rims,Trim & Exhaust)
1991 Pontiac Grand Prix -(POS!)
1993 Dodge Daytona
2000 Cougar-To be fully modded by 2004 or Repoed which ever comes first!
1991 Ford Probe w/ a little rice added :shrug:

[sonza68]

I know I'm not in WI NECO, but I have met some of you, and check you forum, so I'll share. I was into supercars in junior high, but I didn't really get into cars until college. My Motor Trend subscription started in Sep '96 and Car and Driver in Jan '97 (yes, I know those dates off the top of my head).

94 - 96: The first car I drove was an '87 Plymouth Horizon (2.2L I4, 3 spd auto) which my parents bought for me to drive. When I left for college the Horizon stayed behind for my sister to drive.

98 - pres: The summer between my 2nd and 3rd years of college I picked up my first vehicle for $100. My '68 Bronco (289cid V8, 3-in-the-tree) which was by no means roadworthy (it was my dad's friend's parts truck). I started restoring in the spring of '01, and it is progressing very slowly. I have learned more working on this truck than I would have ever imagined possible.

98 - 00: When I realized I'd never get my Bronco on the road by the end of the summer, I went looking for another vehicle. My grandfather owns a loandscaping company, and they had an '89 S-10 Blazer (4.3L V6, 4 spd auto) they were getting rid of, so he gave it to me. I got it with 176,000 miles on it and drove it until I graduated from college in '00. It was finally retired with 2 dead cylinders and 197,000 miles.

00 - pres: Bought my Cougar 3 weeks after I started my real job. Been modding it ever since.

02 - pres: After lowering my my Cougar and adding GFX I decided I wanted a 2nd car to use as daily driver and winter car. I found my '95 Mark VIII (4.6L V8, 4 spd auto) for cheap and couldn't pass it up.

[SeanfromShawano]

the first car i drove was my moms 86 ford tempo (****box) :-)
and then a 89 bronco and then i bought my first car $2500(ciizzzaasshh)
89 chev beretta (wit da thumps in da trunk)
and then
99 cougar( alot faster,pretty,etc.etc)

[Crispy]

I never really got into cars until I got my Coug and attended my first meet... the minute Estiem and ov3n installed that intake I was hooked... I sorta think I am hitting some sorta second childhood and this is a hobby... I'm not sure if I will always be so into the scene but for right now I am havin a blast and want to learn and do as much as I can... infact I am really seriously considering school just to follow my auto dreams at the moment.. I'm just in love with the idea of changing something cosmetically to make it somewhat unique.. too bad the hobby is so damn expensive... heh!

My Ride History

1975 Pontiac Ventura Sprint (Chevy Nova rip-off)
1980 Ford Mustang (4 banger of Fury)
1985 Pontiac Grand Am (bought from an offical race car driver... that baby was tweaked inside and out)
1992 Saturn SC Coupe (only car I ever bought brand new.. and it was before they became a SC2)
1999 Mercury Cougar (bought a prior lease vehicle)

I love my cat... only regret is that I didn't research the car as well as I thought... I was unaware of all the packages.. I just knew I wanted one and even rented one from Budget for a weekend to make sure it was the car for me.. I went by color and appearence only... I actually liked the fanblade wheels better than the 16 inch alloys... doh!... I passed on a sweet 2000 Tourmaline Green with every option available cuz of the color... it was even MTX :banghead: I regret it daily... but still like the color of my car better....

edited due to my POOR spelling skillz

(Edited cuz blatant swearing is naughty.)

[MoparAvenger]

My first car was a 1992 Plymouth Sundance Duster. 4-door hatchback. That car was the begining of my world of cars! That tiny little car had a V6 3.0 in it! That car was pretty quick. I had alot of fun with it. It seemed like it was never gonna die no matter how much I beat the piss out of it. I ended up selling it after hitting a deer. the old girl had 163,xxx miles on it when I sold it. I miss it :(

#2 was a 1996 Dodge Intrepid ES. This car was a pimp family cruiser. It has every option available. leather, sunroof, nice sound package. And my fav. option a 3.5L engine with autostick transmission. I added a straight pipe on it and I swear it sound like a 5.0 under the hood :). The transmission ended up going and shortly after a $1800 rebuild, I decided I couldn't trust the thing anymore. I sold it with 123,xxx miles on it.

#3 and my curent 1997 Dodge Avenger. I-4 with a 5speed. It is white with side graphics, exhaust, intakes, stereo system, painted interior, and dropped. I love the car and just wish I had more money to play with!!!

[SeanfromShawano]

get a job keith!:biggrin::beer:
sorry el presidento of i]"The Disturbance"[/i]