From Humble Beginnings…
I looked back the other day, thinking of all the cars I’ve owned over the years. It’s a bit of a hodgepodge, like I imagine many of your car lists may be as well. Thirty-three cars. More than some, less than others. I’ve had 57 years of driving to accumulate those, remember. So, in that sense, I don’t think the number is that outrageous.
There have been some very fun cars, a couple real uglies, and a few disasters. So, for better and worse, here’s my list:
1963 Ford Falcon Station Wagon
170ci straight six, 3 on-the-tree manual. This is the car I learned in. Looked pretty much like this but without the fancy chrome strip down the flank. I learned to double clutch and shift without the clutch on this baby. Perfect car to learn on. I have no idea why my dad let me, but before it ended up as my sister’s car, I re-painted it (poorly) bright white.
1963 Chevrolet Impala
283 V8 with two-speed automatic. Bought it in 1972 for $300, used it for two years while going to school at Western Wash Univ., then painted it bright white and sold it for $350. Never did anything else to it. That 283 was essentially indestructible.
1965 Ford Mustang
289 V8 with a 3 on-the-floor manual. Gold on tan. Yeah, it actually had 3 on-the-floor. Bought it for $500 in ’74; it was in such good shape I thought I’d stolen it. Naturally, then, it was too good to last – I wrecked it on a negative camber corner coming home from a party on a rainy night in West Seattle. Stupid. I blamed the lousy tires I had just shod it with; never bought that brand again. I had only had it six months.
1967 Ford Galaxie 500
390ci V8, 3 spd auto. Complete with 8-track tape deck. Another $500 bought this to replace the Mustang. Great cruising car. Mine was that nondescript Ford brown, with brown interior. I put up with that. Vivid memories of lying in the gutter replacing the starter during a rainstorm and rebuilding the drum brakes and master cylinder. Ah, those college days…
1972 Ford Pinto
Yes, I had one of the death traps! Mine was goldenrod yellow on brown. I actually liked this little car. 2 liter 4-banger was reliable until I let my musician roommates drive it while I went on a college graduation trip to Hawaii. Came back to no money and an engine seized from oil starvation. $150 later I had replaced it with a junkyard engine that was stronger than the original. Then sold it to my brother for $900 so I could buy my next adventure:
1978 Fiat 124 Spyder
When it ran it was a really fun car; I loved it. 1.8L, 5-speed manual. When my boss at the hardware store saw it, laughing he said, “Ah, Fix It Again, Tony!” He was so right. Although I bought it new for $2,495 I was always working on it. Worst car ever for reliability, and it was jinxed; After four slashed convertible tops, a blown head gasket and 5 wrecks (none of them my fault) I was over it. After the last one, I traded it for the little Ford that came next.
1980 Ford Fiesta
Don’t laugh. 4-banger, 4-spd. For the 124 & $800, I bought this in 1982 brand new off the lot. Mine looked pretty much like this with a black interior. It was great economically. I put a stereo w/box speakers in it and drove it every other weekend the 222 miles from Seattle to Salem to see my girlfriend. She didn’t last and, like any young and dumb guy, I took way too long to figure it out.
1981 Mazda RX-7
In 1983, my then girlfriend was lusting over an ’81 red-on-red Corvette. To ‘help her out’ I sold the Fiesta and took this off her hands. Black on burgundy with gold five-spoke wheels, this thing was a stylish, manual 5-speed rocket. Another really fun car that was Japanese reliable.
1985 Ford Mustang GT
This car was a game-changer. 302 V8 w/225 hp, 5-spd manual, and a 750cfm Holley 4-barrel; top speed 145. It marked the end of the late-70s to mid-80s dull car doldrums. At the time, it was a revelation that cars could still be fun. Mine was black on grey. Drove this non-stop, Seattle to Wichita averaging 105.
1984 Chevrolet S-10 Trailblazer
I was flying high in 1987 and needed an SUV to tow my new boat. This was the economical solution. Although it was a 145hp V6 dog that labored to do the job, it worked. But then kids came along a couple years later and changed that. Mine was just like this, black/red on black.
1988 Saleen Mustang
This car represented the beginning of realizing dreams. #86 of only 543 built that year, the Saleen was the next step up the ladder. It’s a collector car now, so naturally, I no longer have it to collect on. After only 14,300 miles kids came along, derailing my car lust. I traded it back to Van Cleve Ford in little Morton, WA for the then-new 4-door ’91 Ford Explorer. I would love to have this back. It’s classic. Mine was red on grey like this, but with the grey Ronel, 5-spoke wheels.
1980 Toyota Tercel Hatchback
Life is full of contrasts. This one you can laugh at. Don’t know where it came from, could care less where it ended up. Flat out the ugliest car I’ve ever owned. I hated this thing, but for a short time it served a purpose until my pregnant wife was rear-ended by an uninsured dumbshit. Totally stove in the rear end. We thought we were doing a friend a favor by selling it for $300, but two weeks later the clutch failed.
1978 Mercury Zephyr Z-7
This 5 liter automatic dog appeared in the driveway in 1990. How does Ford dress up a sow’s ear? Start w/crap brown, add a baby-puke tan interior, then add a two-part, puke tan vinyl top and a cool name – the Z-7! Lean times w/kids and a big new house meant cutting on cars. This baby came from the in-laws. I was thankful, but the only “highlight” was it had an 8-track… sigh.
1978 Volkswagen Dasher
Yes, to continue the torture, next came a short stint with my grandmother-in-law’s estate Dasher. It surprised by being reliable, making a trip to Wichita and back. Ours was Kermit the Frog green. It ain’t easy bein’ green…
1991 Ford Explorer XLT
4L V6, 5-speed manual. Four doors for kids! This was the trade for the Saleen. Not fair, you say? This is what happens when life and family meet your dying bachelorhood. Nice try. Great vehicle. We taught 2 boys to drive clutch, took great snow ski & boating vacations, and had 225k miles on it when my oldest son sold it to get a low-mileage 2000 Mercedes C230 Kompressor. Not bad.
1993 Ford Taurus SHO
On the surface, a great buy. A fun, sporty, family car with grunt. In reality, an electrical gremlin nightmare. My wife talked me into this green monster, and openly admitted she would be providing no more vehicle input after this.
1987 Ford Mustang LX 5.0 Notchback
The rebound from a bad date w/a Taurus turned out fantastic. I bought this silver beauty off a 30s-something car nut who kept it immaculate; she was too good to be true. After only a couple years it was stolen and never recovered. Typical Fox-body 302 Mustang – great car & tons of fun.
1998 Chevrolet Suburban
Our first Suburban didn’t disappoint. Great road car with lots of room for all the stuff 3 athletic boys collect to drag around to various sports fields and vacations. This was to be the first of a long line of Suburbans and GMC Yukons for the Morgans. And we still had the ’91 Explorer. From sports cars to SUVs; my transformation to family man was complete.
2002 GMC Sierra 1500 Pickup
This truck marked a milestone – it was the first vehicle bought by the company we had started three years ago. Now we had the two SUVs and this truck. Things were looking good. I felt I could start breathing again.
2004 Chevrolet Suburban
The only lemon I have ever owned. After over six weeks at the dealer in six months and no cure, we gave up. The Lemon Law doesn’t really favor turning a vehicle back in, so we went to the GMC dealer and traded it for a similar YukonXL. Sorry to do that, but we were working the options we were given.
2006 GMC YukonXL Denali
No lemon here. Traded my company truck for a company SUV. Ours was white. Just another great full-size SUV. Carries 8 people and all their stuff. Put a rocket box on top and you can bring your couch. Sometimes it seemed like we did.
2008 GMC YukonXL Denali
Another company vehicle update in white. We still have our 2006 Denali. Business is booming. The Explorer moves on to our oldest.
2008 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster
Now here’s a change! Times are good at work. After months of agonizing, I finally decide to reward myself with a sports car. And what a car! With the top down, this is an exhilarating ride. Life at its best. After buying this in 2009 and selling it on when things weren’t so great in 2014, I bought it back in 2024 after seeing it by chance in the dealer’s service lot. Serendipity!
2008 Mercedes CLK350 Convertible
With two full-size SUVs, I talk my wife into trading the one we own for a fun car. Beautiful. She loves convertibles. All is good. Then, she develops a conscience, deciding she feels self-conscious driving around in an MB convertible. She trades it in for… you guessed it, another GMC Yukon. I tried.
2011 GMC Yukon Denali
With two boys in college, this time the wife opts for the smaller version of the Yukon. And it’s not white! She likes sitting up high and she likes the room. Decision made. Another Yukon it is. Brotherton Cadillac loves us.
2005 Mazda 3
Somewhere in this mix the Mazda 3 appears. I think it’s where our fleet of cars grows to six, what with the boys and their cars. This was a simple car for commuting. Too little sound deadening for long drives, but fun to drive.
2006 Dodge Charger
HO 200hp V6 automatic. This was my middle son’s car. Found this in Portland for $11k. A good buy and a nice car. Too bad he wrecked it one night and dad had to tell him, “Dad only buys you one car.” Damn!
2012 Aston Martin V12 Vantage
Now here’s a car with drama, thrills, luxury, presence, style – everything you’d ever want as a James Bond wannabe. I love, love this car. I can’t imagine ever selling it. Incredible vehicle. Adrian Newey owns one and has called it the greatest road car ever made. I’ll second that! I feel so lucky to have nabbed one, as only 207 were sold in North America and only 1,199 were built. This pic shows my car chumming up to an Aston Martin DB5.
2012 Cadillac CTS-V
This is a work car with style! Too bad the back seat was useless. A Cadillac coupe with a supercharged, 556hp, 550 ft-lb Corvette engine. Paddle shift automatic was a disappointment, as was the quality of the leather and the general lack of drama when driving. It was too insular, although I managed to scare the crap out of the salesman when I hit 110 on the test drive.
2014 YukonXL Denali
The CTS-V didn’t last long as a work car. Despite the dealer saying otherwise, that back seat was useless, making it useless as a work car. So, it was back to another YukonXL Denali. I think you could say we like these.
2002 Ford Explorer Limited
Yup, another Explorer. To cut business costs, we gave up the company vehicles and I opted to find another one of these great SUVs. This one had only 83,000 miles on it when I bought it in 2015. I spruced it up a bit, got it mechanically perfect and now my middle son uses it regularly with over 210k on the clock.
2002 Honda S2000
I had always lusted for one of these, and in 2023 one came up in an online auction. It happened to be in Snohomish, and it was my wife’s favorite color of blue on blue. I knew I wanted it. A great example I got for $35k. The following year I traded it to get back the black Aston convertible I sold ten years ago. When you only have so much garage space, something has to give. This was a great car.
2020 GMC YukonXL Denali
What can you say – these are great vehicles. In 2023, my wife decided it was time to trade in the 2011 Yukon. I found this one at a dealer and we ran down there to nab it before anyone else. Good thing we did; people were looking at it as we were writing the paperwork. Love this car and its lovely 3 tone brown and tan interior.
So that’s the up to the minute latest on my journey through the world of cars. My wife likes Teslas; I’m stalling, hoping she will see the light they are not the long-term economical, environment-saving car people want to believe.
I sometimes get asked, of all these what are my three top favorites. That’s tough, but for the times and the moments, I would say:
1 – The Aston Martin V12 Vantage. Just a beast full of life, adventure and luxury. Incredible vehicle.
2 – The Saleen Mustang. My first really exclusive car and a wonderful vehicle that just builds on the solidity of the Fox body Mustang. It beats the other Mustangs simply because it’s a Saleen.
3 – Well, since I traded it for the S2000, I have to go with the Aston V8 Vantage Roadster. There’s nothing like a convertible and this one is terrific and drop-dead gorgeous. A close forth is the S2000, followed by the Fiat 124 Spyder, if only because it was my first convertible and those days in my mid-to-late twenties were made all the more glorious by having that car.
