Cars I've owned and some I still have

I've always loved cars, even as a little kid I could pretty much identify what kind of a car was driving by with nothing more than its headlights or taillights in the dark to go on.  I know - I actually did lead a pretty sheltered life, growing up in Utah after all.  My love for cars extended into my hobbies as well, as I would spend countless hours drawing them, building models, working on or making them cooler, or just reading about them from books or magazines.  I was definitely a car guy from the start, as one of my first memories from childhood had something to do with the neighbor's '69 Firebird and my thinking it was a cool car (which it was, of course).

This page is an experiment in blending my 'Car Stuff' and 'Off Road Stuff' pages, so changes will be happening without notice until I get it exactly how I want it.  But for now it's just a collection of the vehicles I've actually owned (or at least claim to have had ownership in), on-road AND off-road.  Enjoy.

May 2018 - I've begun updating all of the individual car pages to what I think is a better format.  We'll see how long it takes for me to give up on the new look and go for something else.

The Present
	Here's my new project - a 1971 Ford Mustang Mach 1. Someday soon, I hope it will be my daily driver. One of my Mom's friends from college had a yellow '71 Mach 1 and since I was 14 at the time, it was the coolest car in the world - I knew I would have one of my own someday. Well, here we are - "be careful what you wish for" seems applicable in this case.
	Here's my daily driver - 2021 Ram 1500 Limited LongHorn 4x4. After doing the math a realizing that I would need a new truck going into retirement, we decided to get this one for the payments to finish up before I'm finally done with work, and it won't be too old, either.
	Here's her new daily driver - 2015 Camaro RS.  She picked it out herself after losing the gray LT1 to an accident and is very happy with it.  It's a cool car and a blast to drive - an awesome upgrade from the 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix GT we had since 2002.
	I picked up the Jeep from the Auto Skills Development Center at Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas, in March 1995 while my wife was stationed in Korea. I was afraid when I called her and told her that I had ditched my Blazer and bought a Jeep, that she would be upset. But quite to the contrary, she was almost ecstatic, since she really hated my Blazer - another story.
The Past
	Here's my former daily driver. I also bought this Ram 1500 LoneStar online. It was 'only' a 2WD, because I'd discovered that I don't 'need' 4WD as much as I've always 'wanted' 4WD.  After 15 years with the '97, we figured it was time for a 'new' truck.  I had this one for 6 1/2 years, and decided to trade it in for something that would be 17 years old when I hit retirement.
	This was her daily driver - 2015 Camaro LT1.  She picked it out herself and is very happy with it.  It was a cool car and a blast to drive - an awesome upgrade from the 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix GT we had since 2002.  But, it got totaled getting onto the freeway just 6 months after we got it.
	Here's my former daily driver. This is the 1997 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 I bought online in 1999. I loved it and can't imagine how I got by driving the Nissan all that time. I had the Ram for 15 years, before my wife decided I needed a new truck. This was supposed to be the last truck I would ever own - I was gonna drive the wheels off it, but I caved and got the 2012.
	This was my daily driver until I picked up the Mach 1.  It's a 1995 Honda Civic VX Hatchback.  I wanted a small econo-box to beat around in and save wear and tear on my Dodge Ram, and wound up getting this car for only $800 with a blown head gasket (along with some other minor problems).  The car's a trooper and fun to drive, and I anticipate it having paid for itself with money saved on gas within 2 years of purchase. I drove it for just over 3 years and sold it to a co-worker in August 2010.
	This was my daily driver til I got the Ram: 1985 Nissan King Cab 4x4. Some would say I didn't learn my lesson with my first Nissan, another 1985 4x4 (Check the Nissan page for the story), but actually I did. Unfortunately, I got to learn a new lesson about a year after I bought it - how to rebuild an engine.
	I bought this truck after giving up on trying to fix the First Nissan - sometime around August 1994. My pal Dave and I decided to check it out. Once we popped the hood and discovered the Edelbrock'd 350 and then fired it up - I was hooked. Never mind that it had a major lean, the brakes didn't work for crap, or that the entire front end of the driveline and air conditioning system were in the bed of the truck - I had to have it. Of course, my wife was not happy in the least about this whole deal.
	1985 Nissan 4x4. This is where it all began for me - my first 4x4. I learned a lot from working on this truck. The big confidence building was installing the 3" body lift properly - without instructions. I had lost them somewhere before installation. Oh well, it worked out for 2.5 years. Still miss that truck.
	This was my first car.  A 1982 Mustang GL - nothing special when I bought, in fact I was convinced that 'GL' stood for 'Grandma Luxury' package.  It had 14" wire-wheel hubcaps mounted on Western Auto white-walls, and the stock AM/FM radio mounted in the simulated woodgrain trimmed dashboard.  The car was transformed into something pretty cool in the short time I owned it... kind of a weird habit of mine.