I finally got off my butt and scanned some photos of cars I used to own. So, I thought I'd start a thread where we can share some of the old rides we used to own. All makes and models welcome! I'll start.

I'll start with some of my earliest:

I learned to drive in my dad's 77 LeMans Sport Coupe. This car replaced the 69 Strato Chief. It had a Chevy 350/4bbl, rally wheels, window louvers and a stripe that went over the roof and extended across the hood. My dad had a stroke in 1984 (age 44) which explains the disabled plates on the car. Ironically dad had the stroke about an hour before we were to go out driving (I had just gotten my beginners license)! Needless today I learned to drive pretty quick after this happened as my mom wasn't really comfortable driving and I was in charge of taking her back in forth to the hospital-all in the middle of winter! Dig the neighbors Ford Wagon in the background! He had glasspacks on that car!




My second car (after my 70 Skylark) was this 1969 Dodge Coronet. It was my first "Southern Car" having come from Tyler, Texas. It had it's original Alpine White paint. It was a 318 car that had been swapped for a 360. It had factory AC and must have had an interesting history at some point in Texas. There was a switch under the dash to cut all the lights except the headlights and I found bullets under the back seat! Speaking of the back seat, the car had the wrong build sheet- it was for a yellow Super Bee! I kept the car one year. I still have the build sheet, title and Texas Plates. I wish I still had the car!



After the Coronet I bought this 1965 Ford Galaxie 500xl. Powered by a 335hp 390 from a 68 Mustang, I could barely afford to keep fuel in it. Trans was the infamous Top Loader. When my dad saw it he said "Why the hell did you buy a Ford?!". It was the worse handling old car I've owned. It could leave a good patch however! I was about 18 at the time.




When I sold that car I got a dose of "stupid" (well more so than normal) and bought a new 89 Cavalier. That mistake lasted 6 months and I took a hit and got rid of it. To financially recover I bought a 70 Biscayne. She was loaded with straight 6, powerglide, four door character! It had original paint and was bulletproof. I paid $750 certified for it. I had a plate frame on the back that read "Plane Jane Biscayne". I still have that frame!



During the Biscayne ownership I got a job at Cami which meant I had some cash coming in. I bought a newer Grand Am for the commute. The old car bug set in again and I was on the prowl for a project. I called about a 70 Challenger "Western Sport Special" from Arizona. It was too much of a project as the 340 was siezed and the interior was desert burnt. There wasn't much available for the Challengers at that time. Stupid me. I should have bought it and put it away. It had a Pistol Grip 4 speed! Anyway, the seller also had this 66 Mustang also from Arizona. It was sold new at "Broadway Motors" in Oakland California. The window sticker was in the glove box. The original colour was Tahoe Turquoise with Aqua/white Pony Interior. A co worker at Cami made me an offer I couldn't refuse and I sold it to him. I bumped into him about 3 years ago and he still has it- in pieces. A shame as it was rock solid.


The interior wasn't bad for an Arizona car:




I kid you not. I cleaned the frame rails with Windex! Here is factory writing on the frame rails:



I got bored of the car payments again and dumped the Grand Am. I found an ad in the local "Pennysaver" for a 1977 Cougar. The ad stated it was a BC car with 60000 orig miles. The price seemed right- $1000 certified. I was blown away when I saw the car. Turns out some German tourists bought the car in BC and drove it to Ontario. It had original paint. The non XR7 Cougars were fairly rare. It had a 351 and ran like new. Not a rare or desirable car but the price was right. I painted some steel junkyard rims to match and put moon caps on it. I had an exhaust shop install a Monte Carlo SS style exhaust. I made money on that one:



When I left Cami and got back into dealerships, I was lucky enough to have new demonstrators. It also allowed me access to some really interesting trade ins. An older couple traded in this 1981 Toyota Corolla on a new 1997 Sunfire at the dealership I was working at. It had never seen snow and had about 90000kms. It was rear drive and it ran and drove like new. Not a squeak or rattle. Oh, I paid $350 for it! I sold it on Ebay in 2004 and the buyer drove it to Oklahoma and back! I called it my "Asian Nomad". I really beat on that car-especially in the snow!


The old car bug came back in 1995. I really wanted a finned Chrysler (yes, my tastes are all over the place) and found this 1958 Plymouth Belvedere "Sport Sedan" in the London Free Press. It was a California car. The asking price was beyond my means (I had a newborn son at that time and cash was tight). The seller had a used car lot in Tillsonburg. During the "negotiations" he asked if I had any NHRA memorabilia. At the time I worked at a GM dealer who's owner was actually a sponsor for the NHRA Penzoil Pro Stocker. I asked him if he had anything he could donate to the cause. And donate did he! He gave me a bunch of genuine NHRA team uniforms! I got the Belveder for half the asking price with the uniforms. I really regret leaving that dealership. Sometimes the grass isn't always greener! This Plymouth was easily the best handling old car I owned. Not sure if it was the torsion bar suspension or those fins but she was rock solid at 90mph. Oncoming transport trucks on a two lane highway wouldn't even generate a shimmy! Chrysler called them "Verticle Stabilizers" and perhaps they did help keep the car stable. The undercarriage on this car was amazing. The exhaust note was sweet as well. It had the old style "Poly" 318 with a pushbutton transmission. It had some very old "California Blue Streak" glasspacks on it. I tracked down the guy who brought it back from California. He had two of them and was transfered to Ontario. He could only tow one behind his truck and chose this one. I've seen the car on Kijiji a few times but the seller wants too much $$





Finally the old car I regret selling the most: The 1960 Catalina. This was an original paint car from Texas. If I remember correctly it had 6XXXX miles on it. The interior was fantastic. I only had to replace the front seat foam. We did this very carefully to preserve the original upholstery. It had a 389, 4 speed Hydramatic. It was fairly quick but was only a 2bbl. I had a correct date coded tri power intake but had a hard time finding the correct carbs. They were different from Chevy Carbs. There were lots of intakes, but few carbs as apparently there were many carb fires back in the day from folks using rubber lines. I also had a set of NOS Hedman headers with cutouts found in a warehouse! The original spare was in the trunk. I found the original owner down in Texas thanks to having the original title in the glove box. He was going to buy a Chevy but the lot didn't have one with an 8 cyl in stock. He bought the Pontiac and drove it a couple of years. He got a job at a GM dealer and got a company car. His wife hardly drove the Pontiac as it had standard steering and brakes. It was a bit of an armful. The car ended up being stored at the dealership for years until he sold it in the early 1980's to a guy looking for parts to restore a Bonneville. From what the guy I bought it from told me, someone from Ontario heard the car was going to be parted and bought it and shipped it back to Ontario. I found the car in Old Autos. This was around 2001. I truly wish I didn't sell it. It's been all "blinged out" and resides in BC now.












I had several other cars and they are either not worth mentioning or I don't have photos. Sorry for the long post. I'm in a talkative mood tonight!

Todd