Another car thread - "Hey Astro!"

B

Bill Marsh

Joined
Mar 26, 2002
Messages
1,861
Having had exotic pain-in-the-butt high-maintenance cars (and pain-in-the-butt high-maintenance wives) and having passed the age of 60, I have gone the three vehicle route:

2002 Chevy Astro van - hauls everything including an Airstream 16 foot 1967
Caravel.

2002 Cadilac Eldorado - black, black black - like a hole cut in the night.

1988 Honda VLX Shadow motorcycle - handles great - runs reliably - nothing gives the wind-in-the-face zen feeling like a good, reliable scoot.

I have had

1954 Jaguar XK 120 roadster. "build up arms as big as legs steering it, build up legs as big as trees pushing it."

1957 Pinstriped Chevy - (replaced three engines, four transmissions and lost my driver's license for a year. Hey, I was a hot-rod teenager!

1962 Thunderbird convertible got about 7 mpg around town, but an awesome car.

1965 Shelby Cobra (bought second hand in 1966 for $3700, sold 1966 for $4500) Yeah, I know bad move. Today it would be worth more than a duplex. BUT then, it had no heater, no glass wondows, no radio.... I remember sitting in a snow storm with the snow blowing right through the side curtains and settling down inside the car, thinking "WTF am I doing here?")

1967 Jaguar XKE one of the two best handling cars I ever had. INcredibly unreliable and expensive to maintain.

1970 Jaguar XKE thought it would be more reliable than the 1965, it wasn't

1978 Mercedes 450 SL two seat convertible. Good car, but began to get unreliable. Had a lot of rubber tubing that started leaking.Also weighed 4600 lbs! Poor mileage. Manual top. Got stolen.

Thought seriously about a Ferrari 308 Spider, but decided against it when I found out that a minor tune-up in 1985 was $1500 and a major tune up could easily run $5,000 or more. Also bumpy ride and not that powerful with a 3 liter V8.

1982 DeLorean. the other best handling car I ever owned. Like the XKE, an absoulte show-stopper. But also unreliable. Worst egine ever made by Volvo. Also really underpowered at 120 hp.

ALL the above cars really attracted women. That's how I wound up with the several pain-in-the-butt high-maintenance wives. Good looking, but unreliable.

The sweetheart I am now married to, Anne is both good looking and reliable.

Got the Astro van because I also tend to drive fast and had a lot of people yell, "Hey Astro!" At me. They may have been saying something else, but I have a slight hearing problem.

While I sure appreciated the manual trans when I was younger, I now like to just put it in drive and go. The Cadillac does shield you from the wind, bumps and rain, but that is ok with me. Not only does it turn on it's lights when it gets dark, but it also senses rain and turns on the wipers. Love the Onstar system. When it senses rain and the weather is cold, it warns you that "icy conditions may exist." Smart car.

The 300 hp Northstar 32 valve engine is a technological marvel and you would be surprised at how many other cars it will leave in the dust.

I get 24-25 mpg on the highway and that is ok, too.

I do have one other favorite ride, a Yazoo-Keese zero turn 48" cut riding mower with a 19 horse Kawasaki engine. I can cut my three acre yard in less than an hour!

http://www.nhlawn.com/yazoo_kees/yazoo_kees_commercialriders.htm

Anybody like to talk about any of these 'exotic' cars, let me know.
 
Bill Marsh said:
1982 DeLorean. the other best handling car I ever owned. Like the XKE, an absoulte show-stopper. But also unreliable.
Click to expand...

I remember those. I vaguely remember something happening to the owner of the company or something. The problems were all related to the flux capacitor.
:rolleyes:
 
Bill Marsh said:
Worst egine ever made by Volvo.
Click to expand...


Guess again, that is actually a Renault or a Pugeot engine. I am a Volvo tech with 20 years experience and even I am trying to forget who made that darn thing. It was a French contraption and you are right about one thing, it was the worst thing somebody built. Funny thing is though, the Swedes went through it and redesigned it in 1988 and then it was a fantastic motor but by then there was no loosing the reputation it had made for itself and they scrapped that motor after 2-3 years. Too bad as it was a really nice, dependable motor at that point.
 
Geez, Bill! Talk about a collection! I am 49 and have had a grand total of 3 cars, and didn't even own a car until I was almost 27 years old. No $ in High School and my Dad wouldn't have let me buy one anyway. He used to say at that age that the car owns you, you don't own it. I walked everywhere or hitched or took the bus until 1982. That year a mechanic friend of mine helped me fix up a 1970 Plymouth Satellite. We found the car in a junkyard wrecked back to the firewall. We put a MOPAR LA 318 4 barrel engine into it, and then rebuilt the front end using parts from a '70 Dodge Charger. It actually looked pretty cool, and it had the original air grabber air induction hood. Another friend sprayed the whole car with blue primer and that was the paint job. Total cost was $750. I drove that car for 10 years, and then donated it to the local High School and took every penny I had put into it fixing it up off my taxes.

In 1992 I bought a Toyota 4X2 truck and drove it until last July. It ran great and after 12 years I was still able to sell it for above Blue Book.

Now at this age I am finally able to get the kid's car I should have had 30 years ago! I have always liked the Crown Vic platform (Ford's Panther platform), and got a 2003 Mercury Marauder. First production of the Marauder since 1970. Ford-Lincoln Mercury didn't know how to sell it, so sold only 7000 units in 2003, and then cancelled it mid-year in 2004. Fewer than 10,000 were made. It has the Ford Cobra 4.6L 32 Valve V8, a special suspension, 18" aluminium wheels, etc. It had sat on the lot for 22 months marked as a Grand Marquis, they didn't even know what they had, so I bought it new as a 2003.

I had the engine dyno-tuned with a Superchips tune, added underdrive pullies, a 180 degree thermostat, Denso iridium plugs, delete tips pipes, bigger front and rear sway bars, upper and lower control arms, a metal matrix composite drive shaft and loop, 4:10 gears with a differential stud & girdle kit, a cold air intake kit, etc., etc. It weighs a full 4200 lbs. but will still do 0-60 in 5.5 seconds and is up to around 350 HP now. I have had it up to 125 and there are still 2 inches of pedal left and it's barely breathing hard at about 4000-4500 RPM!

Anyway, forgive me for being overly enthusiastic, but I had forgotten how much fun driving could be after 12 years of driving a 120 HP little truck. The hardest part now is keeping my speed down. Luckily, it looks like a cop car so I have been given a pass a couple of times now!

Here is a pic of the car off FLM's web site. Mine looks like this except I also have stainless steel letter inserts inset into the rear bumber where it spells MARAUDER.

Regards,

Norm

(Pics at home system; maybe I'll post it later. Thanks for the neat thread!)
 
that's a nice assortment of rides. Here's a list of my prestigious cars... :rolleyes:

'80 Mercury Monarch, faster than it looked (302 v8), got pulled over constantly (car- plastered with band stickers, me- long black hair and nose ring) go figure :footinmou .

'81 Toyota Celica, I loved the hatchback and the sunroof but it was already clobbered when I picked it up for a grand.

'78 Continental Town Car, my buddies called it "the herse". 8mpg out of a 400 v8, could only u-turn on a 6 lane highway, hell trying to park the thing but plenty of room to sleep or make love ;)

'97 Chevy S-10, my first NEW car. Good little truck. Got hit twice (hit & run of the 5 north and while parked in a parking lot) and kept on chugging. Picked up a delivery job and racked up 42,000 in 8 months. Killed it. :(

'65 VW Baja Bug, presently my daily driver. Fun little car...but what the hell was I thinking? No interior room, pogo stick-like ride with the off-road shocks, 205/75 R15's up front prevent a short little car from u-turning like a short little car, roof mounted oil cooler/air scoop might as well be a sail in the wind, loud motor just hangin' out in the open, god awful road noise. Why do I love this wierd little car?

Frank
 
Rule .308 said:
Guess again, that is actually a Renault or a Pugeot engine. I am a Volvo tech with 20 years experience and even I am trying to forget who made that darn thing. It was a French contraption and you are right about one thing, it was the worst thing somebody built. Funny thing is though, the Swedes went through it and redesigned it in 1988 and then it was a fantastic motor but by then there was no loosing the reputation it had made for itself and they scrapped that motor after 2-3 years. Too bad as it was a really nice, dependable motor at that point.
Click to expand...

They called it a PRV engine for "Puegot, Renaut, Volvo."

http://www.volvoadventures.com/delorean.html

Apparently we are both right. I did get engine parts at a Volvo dealer, but they would not work on it. :grumpy:
 
My first car was a 1978 Mercedes 450 SL two seat convertible. Good car, but began to get unreliable. Had a lot of rubber tubing that started leaking.Also weighed 4600 lbs! Poor mileage. Manual top. I bought it really cheap from this teenager in Georgia. I ended up filling it with gasoline and setting it on fire.
That was fun.
I charged amateur filmmakers 30$ apiece to film the explosion with their actors standing in front of it..
 
DannyinJapan said:
My first car was a 1978 Mercedes 450 SL two seat convertible. Good car, but began to get unreliable. Had a lot of rubber tubing that started leaking.Also weighed 4600 lbs! Poor mileage. Manual top. I bought it really cheap from this teenager in Georgia. I ended up filling it with gasoline and setting it on fire.
That was fun.
I charged amateur filmmakers 30$ apiece to film the explosion with their actors standing in front of it..
Click to expand...

Good job DIJ. Got me enough bucks to buy a DeLorean! Thanks!
 
Yeah, see, I WANTED the DeLorean, but what do you expect buying a car that has a screwdriver for a key?
 
Hell I don't know if I can list 'em in order but my first car was a.....
1950 Hudson Pacemaker 6 :D Damn nice car and wish I still owned!!!!
1948 Plymouth Coupe. :D Same here
1952 Nash Ambassador :-)
1957 Ford Custom 300 :cool: 312 ci. 3 sp tranny, won't talk about the 4 engines and countless trannys.

Here it gets dicey for a few years....
These were the rough years, divorce, drunk, fights, y'all know the drill.:grumpy:

1949 Ford
1955 Studebaker Commander V-8, one of the few cars that ever scared me.:cool:
1951 Chevy Torpedo, fastback to you youngens. ;-)
1955 Studebaker Commander Coupe.:D

Back on track.. ;-)

1953 Ford I gave $85.00 for, wrecked on one side, good car, souped up 6 that would out drag lots of '55
Ford V-8's.

1958 Ford Custom 300 6 cyl, a real dog until I put the dual carb Edelbrock manifold on it with two big Chevy carbs, but still wasn't a hotrod. :-(

1965 Chevy Corvair, nice little car. I put a ring gear from an 18 wheeler semi in the front, laid bricks around it and filled it with sand, cornered really good then. <VBESEG>
Out ran a big Chrysler with it on Oklahoma 59 going south out of west Siloam Springs Ark, he'd catch me on the straights, but I'd lose him in the curves. <VBESEG>

1968 Opel Ralle Kadet. The car I most enjoyed driving although the little 1900 cc 102 horse engine wouldn't do much past 110 it was pure hell in a city block.
I beat a lot of V-8 Chevy's, Mopars, and such but do have to admit they were catching up quick or almost even with me. <VBESEG>

B28398.jpg


Mine was just like this one except mine had the Competetion Orange paint.:cool: :D

1968 Chevy II
1967 Buick Skylark
1965 Chevy Impala Super Sport, wish I owned it now.
1975 Ford Courier
1970 Dodge Dart 2dr hardtop.
1981 Olds Cutlass LS
1966 Chevy long wide small window with gauge dash, Small blk 400 with a 350 Turbo, headers into 4" dumps and twin Walker glass paks. :-) Barbie loved this old truck! She'd blow the rice racers away and then cut back on the throtle and blow their ears out. ;-)
1978 Gremlin
1967 AMC Ambassador. :-)
1981 Ford Courier with the Pinto engine, nice truck. :-)
1977 Dodge Aspen
1991 Geo Prizm, basically a Toyota Corolla, had to go to Toyota to buy dash lights and such.
1986 Ford F150 Lariat, still own.
1996 Dodge Stratus
2005 Toyota Camry SE, bought last November. :-)
We put no more than 3500 miles a year or so on the Ford so we should be good for the rest of our lives now.:D
 
Yvsa said:
1986 Ford F150 Lariat, still own.

We put no more than 3500 miles a year or so on the Ford so we should be good for the rest of our lives now.:D
Click to expand...


Gosh Yvsa,

A ford that old Still running?

I hope you aren't planning on leaving us That soon!?!?!?
 
Here's my list:

1971 Dodge Dart (225 straight-six, 4-door granny-mobile)
1973 Pontiac LeMans
1974 Mustang II
1974 Monte Carlo
1968 Cougar (Boss 289!)
1977 Olds Cutlass Supreme
1973 Dodge Dart (318 dual-carb, 2-door ticket-machine)
1979 Datsun 510 Wagon
1992 Plymouth Voyager minivan (gave to ex-wife in the divorce, kept the Datsun)
1989 Ford F-150 (current ride)

Edited to add: Must not forget the 1977 Triumph Bonneville 750!
 
First car was a 1979 Ford Courier (Mazda B2000) that I bought in 1984 for $2100 and drove until 2001! Couldn't kill it, it was like a lepper, parts would fall off and it still would go! :D Next car was a 1979 Mazda GLC I bought in '88 from my sister with over 200k on it for $500. Cracked the head after 6 months, put a used engine in and drove it for 2 more years till the tranny pooped. Bought a '89 Isuzu trooper in '90, and drove it until 2002. Another unbreakable car. Bought a '97 Olds POS in '98 and traded it in 2000 when I bought the wife a BRAND NEW Astro van. Loved it for 6 months until EVERY F!@#$%^ thing started to go wrong. I owned for 3.5 years and it was in the shop 27 times!!!! Chevy would NOT take it back under the lemon law. It broke the day we were leaving on vacation 2 years ago. I had it towed to the dealer and traded in on a 1 year old Suburban. The 'Burb has been great so far, no hick ups. Fits all 4 kids and both big dogs. And the wife :footinmou :D The one I drive is a Honda Accord I bought new in 2001.
 
Bill Marsh said:
...ALL the above cars really attracted women. That's how I wound up with the several pain-in-the-butt high-maintenance wives. Good looking, but unreliable.

The sweetheart I am now married to, Anne is both good looking and reliable.
Click to expand...
It sounds as if you found one of the very valuable models. Congratulations!
 
Svashtar said:
Geez, Bill! Talk about a collection! I am 49 and have had a grand total of 3 cars, and didn't even own a car until I was almost 27 years old. No $ in High School and my Dad wouldn't have let me buy one anyway. He used to say at that age that the car owns you, you don't own it. I walked everywhere or hitched or took the bus until 1982. That year a mechanic friend of mine helped me fix up a 1970 Plymouth Satellite. We found the car in a junkyard wrecked back to the firewall. We put a MOPAR LA 318 4 barrel engine into it, and then rebuilt the front end using parts from a '70 Dodge Charger. It actually looked pretty cool, and it had the original air grabber air induction hood. Another friend sprayed the whole car with blue primer and that was the paint job. Total cost was $750. I drove that car for 10 years, and then donated it to the local High School and took every penny I had put into it fixing it up off my taxes.

In 1992 I bought a Toyota 4X2 truck and drove it until last July. It ran great and after 12 years I was still able to sell it for above Blue Book.

Now at this age I am finally able to get the kid's car I should have had 30 years ago! I have always liked the Crown Vic platform (Ford's Panther platform), and got a 2003 Mercury Marauder. First production of the Marauder since 1970. Ford-Lincoln Mercury didn't know how to sell it, so sold only 7000 units in 2003, and then cancelled it mid-year in 2004. Fewer than 10,000 were made. It has the Ford Cobra 4.6L 32 Valve V8, a special suspension, 18" aluminium wheels, etc. It had sat on the lot for 22 months marked as a Grand Marquis, they didn't even know what they had, so I bought it new as a 2003.

I had the engine dyno-tuned with a Superchips tune, added underdrive pullies, a 180 degree thermostat, Denso iridium plugs, delete tips pipes, bigger front and rear sway bars, upper and lower control arms, a metal matrix composite drive shaft and loop, 4:10 gears with a differential stud & girdle kit, a cold air intake kit, etc., etc. It weighs a full 4200 lbs. but will still do 0-60 in 5.5 seconds and is up to around 350 HP now. I have had it up to 125 and there are still 2 inches of pedal left and it's barely breathing hard at about 4000-4500 RPM!

Anyway, forgive me for being overly enthusiastic, but I had forgotten how much fun driving could be after 12 years of driving a 120 HP little truck. The hardest part now is keeping my speed down. Luckily, it looks like a cop car so I have been given a pass a couple of times now!

Here is a pic of the car off FLM's web site. Mine looks like this except I also have stainless steel letter inserts inset into the rear bumber where it spells MARAUDER.

Regards,

Norm

(Pics at home system; maybe I'll post it later. Thanks for the neat thread!)
Click to expand...

I've always wondered what people use to get 0-60 times? Ever run a 1/4 mi? You say a cobra engine... it is the 03 supercharged?

I'm a college boy who just dumped out his savings and bought his pride and joy, a ls1 trans am. Being a GM guy, I'm going to give you a hard time ;). My car is faster than yours!
 
munk said:
The gist of your post is we can't get an Anne very easily.




munk
Click to expand...

Annes are more rare if you drive an exotic car. Others cloud your vision.

However I would gladly trade you ten Virginia Damerons (last name probably changed several times by now) and ten more Jane Alyns (same with last name) for one Anne.

For every beautiful, skinny woman you see, there is at least one man that is tired of putting up with their crap
 
Let's see, I started with:

A little yellow toyota coupe (drove it till it died)

Then,

a grey mini station wagon (drove it till it died)

Then

A beat up old VW microbus with a camper top and "natural" air conditioning. (Sold it to some tourists from Australia who wanted to see America. I bet they had fun)

Then

A big blue van with stove, fridge, table, beds, etc.

Then

A Dodge caravan, (my ex wife drove it off into the sunset)

Finally, like Bill, I decided to take the advice of my highway friends. They kept yelling at me "TRUCKER." Sometimes they seemed to be saying "ANOTHER TRUCKER." This puzzled me as I never drove a truck. Finally I figured out their advice, and got my current wheels,

A beat up Chevy S-10 pickup. I really like this one. A big thanks to all my freeway friends for the advice.
 
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