My Vehicles | Friar's Ride

[Updated with Photos, stored in this gallery--JB]

Inspired by, but not copying, this post on TTAC, here’s a list of all the car’s I’ve owned, running or not. My basic criteria is whether or not they had a title, but not even if I’ve titled them. Organized roughly by acquisition order. Maybe I’ll add a brief note and even a picture if I can find one. Also, this is about rides of the four-wheeled variety. I’ve only ever owned the one motorcycle, no ATVs, no trikes, no watercraft, etc.

1965 VW Beetle (Billings, 1982, $265): Bought with paper route money when I was a sophomore in high school, running gear trashed.
1967 VW Beetle (Billings, 1982, $300?): “Pan” only. Ended up not using in the project, but we had the title.
1971 VW Beetle (Lockwood/Billings, 1982, $?): Roof was chopped off by previous owner who wanted to make one of those BGW Speedsters. We discarded body and put the ’65 body on the ’71 chassis and made a baja bug out of it. The ’71 also came with a bigger motor, 1835cc.
1985 VW Golf (Helena/Bozeman, 1985, $0/gift): High school graduation gift car. Good car but I hated the manila beige paint. Only caught air (all four wheels) once. Once was all it took. Convinced my Dad to trade back the baja bug we built when I was in high school. A few years later a friend of my dad’s had a nice a stock bodied Beetle, so I traded him for his…
1974 VW Beetle (Helena, 1988, Trade): Car I had when I moved to Denver with my family in 1988. Still amazed I made it. Mom and Dad convinced me I needed something more reliable, so…
1989 Chevy S-10 (Aurora, 1988, $8900): Stripped down basic 2wd truck. Only new vehicle I’ve ever purchased (albeit with help). Job change caused me to hand it over to the co-signor (Dad) and borrow a little money from Grandma Jo for…
1971 Karmann Ghia (Westminster, 1989, $1300): Couldn’t stop running into things with it. Great little car, though. I still love the design.
1969 Karmann Ghia (Denver, 1990, $300): Body and pan only, had planned on swapping all the running gear into it from my poor beat up ’71. Ended up selling both Ghias before returning to college and buying a…
1981 Scirocco (Littleton, 1990, $1500): Loved. This. Car. Added Kamei spoiler, external oil cooler, Momo wheels, GTI seats, but then I fell in love with…
1973 Porsche 914 (Fort Collins/Helena, 1993, $4500): Customized to look like as a slant-nosed 916. More than any other, this car was an albatross around my neck. It broke down right after I brought it back to Colorado from Montana and I had nothing but trouble with it until I got rid of it last year. Had always planned on putting a Chevy 302-350 V8 in it but I could never get the money together.
1967 VW Baja Bug (Fort Collins, 1993, $300+trade): When the 914 broke down I bought this from a neighbor for some cash and the car stereo out of the Porsche, just so I could get to school (CSU). It was so cheap to maintain but there was virtually no heat in the thing. I only mention that because contrary to the stereotype heat was never a real problem in my previous air-cooled VWs.
1981 Rabbit Automatic (Wheat Ridge, 1995, $500): What a pig. turns out it had a bad headgasket and rather than fix it I unloaded it for…
1988 VW Golf (Arvada, 1995, $4800) Decent car. Had lots of weird things break down. I think it had been in a wreck before I bought it. Eventually the headgasket went and I bought…
1994 VW Golf (Englewood, 1998, $9950): Great car. Still have it as a back up when the Daily Driver Du Jour™ breaks down. Hit a deer in 1999, had it fixed and then repainted the whole thing in 2000.
1988 Mazda B2600 (Helena, 2000, $50 and a web site): Got it from a friend. Did a web page for a friend of hers who was running for County Commissioner. Lots of potential but lots of problems. When the clutch started going out I was at my wits’ end and traded it in on the Yukon.
1965 Ford Mustang Fastback (Helena, 2003?, $-I could tell you but you’d cry): My grandmother’s car; she bought it in ’69. Yes, she was the coolest grandmother ever. In 1998 the engine started knockin’ about the time she started running into things, so we parked it to save the car, my grandmother and the citizens of Helena. If we hadn’t she might eventually have driven it through a condo or something. A few years later my mom was sick of storing it so they gave it to me. It’s still parked, but I’ve been itchin to tear into it finally.
1972 Super Beetle/1971 Super Beetle (Helena, 2001-ish, $400/$300?): For some reason, even with my non-running 914 and Mustang, I felt the need to get back into air-cooled VWs. Never said I was smart! The former SB was a light wreck, but otherwise in excellent shape, purchased from my mechanic-buddy Eric. The latter SB was a dismantled but complete project from a former co-worker. Eventually I came to my senses and off-loaded both.
1995 GMC Yukon (Helena, 2003, $7500): Wanted something larger and more comfortable with more amenities. Great vehicle but the payments tapped out my cash flow and I wanted to build a garage. Thankfully I hadn’t sold my ’94 Golf.
1974 Porsche 914 (Helena, 2006?, $100): Rusty parts car. Complete sans engine. A price I couldn’t resist. Sold with the ’73 914 in 2009.
1975 Jeep J-10 (Helena, 2007, $1200): Felt like I needed to have a 4wd truck around. This one didn’t suit me. Got about 7 mpg. Lost a few hundred on the deal.
1984 FJ60 Toyota Landcruiser (Helena, 2008, $0/Trade): Sold both Porsche 914s to a guy from Livingston for some cash and this Landcruiser. Sold it almost immediately to a guy in Havre.
1989 Dodge Dakota Shelby Edition #1295 of 1500 (Turrah, 2008, $1800): My current daily driver. Neat little truck. Fairly unique. Not worth much, though, at least not until the economy rebounds and/or Carroll Shelby dies. In fact I’m already irredeemably upside-down in it, having rebuilt the transmission, replaced the alternator, cooling fan, two sets of tires, one set of rims, etc. But it’s a kick to drive and even looking like hell it turns heads. All I have to do is paint it, as it’s got that late 80′s Dodge peeling paint malaise.

I used to wonder what my finances would look like if I had just kept that ’85 Golf for a couple decades and skipped all the automotive shenanigans, but where’s the fun in that?

So I’m currently down to the bike, the Mustang, the Golf and the Dakota. Tempted to roll the Golf, but I won’t get much for it and it’s a good backup car, even in the winter. The Mustang is a family heirloom so it’s not going anywhere (indeed, it may just end up supplementing my retirement income since I have no heirs of my own). The Dakota might get replaced someday, probably by another truck. It’s nice having a pickup around.

Due to a death in the family, I just completed an unplanned 2290mi round trip excursion to Riverside, CA, and back in a week. My average mileage for the entire trip was 18.76mpg, with a single-tank high of 19.78mpg. This was driving my little brick-shaped V8 truck with the AC on at 80mph most of the way. Given the type of engine and the poor aerodynamics I’m pretty pleased with the performance. Of course, passing and maintaining speed up hills is no problem. From 80 the truck rockets past 95 and beyond in a heartbeat (heh).

This trip was a quick and dirty affair. My grandmother died the morning of Thursday, September 10th. My dad called around 1-2pm. I left work at 3pm and was on the road at 4pm. That night I stopped at 11:30pm in Lehi, UT. I arrived in Riverside around 8pm PST on Friday the 11th. On the return trip, I left 6:30pm PST, Tuesday, September 15th. That night I stopped in St. George, UT, at 1:15am Wednesday the 16th. Later that day I pulled into my driveway at around 10:30pm.

The only real problem occurred on the way down. I stopped in Fillmore, UT, for gas only to hear a horrible noise coming from the engine. “Here we go,” I thought as I pulled into the gas station. Popping the hood the problem was immediately diagnosed. The air pump pulley was coming off. One bolt was missing, another was loose leaving only the third to hold the thing on. Having left in a hurry I brought no tools. I bought a cheap crescent wrench from the gas station store and tightened up the loose bolt, then headed into Fillmore to find a shop. Upon closer inspection the pulley was trashed and a replacement would be virtually impossible in that locale with any alacrity. Since the air pump is only used for emissions control, I decided to have it removed and I was on my way.

I still dig this truck. The vanity plate will be some variation on “money pit,” and appropriately so, but I like it. However, for long trips cruise control would be a welcome addition.