1978 Plymouth Sport Suburban (Fury III
Woody wagon): 383 c.i. V-8 9-passenger "Land Yacht" a.k.a. "
The Beer Wagon" Teenage car shared with my older brother and mom. My high school friends STILL ask "What happened to The Beer Wagon?" 40 years later. Lasted 100,000 miles of brutal teenage boy bashing until it died in the hands of a fraternity brother.
1975 Chevy Impala Caprice Classic (used): My dad insisted I buy an American car since he had to co-sign for it (I just graduated from college). Absolutely the
WORST car I've ever owned. Valves and transmission gone at only 30,000 miles. ~ 12 mpg
1980 Audi 5000 S diesel: 5-cylinder NON-turbocharged diesel with 5-speed manual transmission.
SLOWEST CAR SOLD IN THE U.S. in 1990. Only 90 hp = 0 to 60 in 19.5 seconds YES that's correct. Start counting in your head "Thousand One, Thousand Two" and picture yourself getting on every freeway offramp doing ~ 30 mph at full throttle... BUT it got
30 mpg city and
35 to 40 mpg highway. Belched black diesel soot like crazy under full throttle (think smokescreen). Vanity Plate "
Zoom By" as a joke. BULLETPROOF for
170,000 miles in 5 years, although it needed an 8 quart oil change every 1,500 miles (
110+ Arco Graphite oil changes). Sold to a friend of mine who drove it another 100,000 miles before selling it to his friend.
1985 Mercedes 300SD Turbodiesel: 190,000 miles of pure driving pleasure. First car sold in U.S. with ABS, airbags and diesel "trap oxidizer" (= no black soot exhaust). Amazing power for a diesel, especially up hills and at high altitude from it's enormous "truck size" turbo which had lots of "turbo lag" if you lifted off the throttle. 20 mpg city / 25 - 30 mpg highway.
1990 Jeep Cherokee Limited: ex-wife wanted one as a "grocery getter" so I agreed to buy one IF I got to take if 4-wheeling. OMG this Jeep could go anywhere once we lifted it 6" and put on bigger 33"x12.50" tires. Took it to all the knarly trails in Moab UT, Rubicon Trail in CA, and Sledgehammer at King of the Hammers (Johnson Dry Lake) CA. 15 MPG downhill with a tailwind but WOW the places it took us.
1995 BMW 740iL: Great car, especially for my commercial real estate client tours. Gobbled Premium fuel like millennials gobble FakeBook, InstaSpam and Fake News.
1999 Corvette convertible: Triple black. Lots of fun but would run out of fuel due to faulty dual fuel tank / transfer pump parts. Chevy refused to install updated parts so I made them buy it back under CA Lemon Law.
2001 Corvette convertible: Red with black top. Much better car with the new fuel parts so it didn't run out of gas. Unfortunately got T-boned by a truck at 40+ mph... then insurance company and Chevrolet dealer insisted they could fix it by disassembling the front HALF and cutting out & replacing the driver's frame rail and entire front clip. $28,000 later it came back with the frame twisted and the Chevy dealer told me to sue them if I wasn't happy. Fortunately this car was leased through GMAC so I turned it in tweaked... and there was nothing they could do about it because I'd had the repairs done at a Chevy dealer.
2000 / 2003 / 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland: Fabulous 4WD SUV that was unstoppable in snow and survived two teenage kids who bought them from me. 15mpg city / 19 mph highway with 32" tires and 2" lift. Put 4" lift on the 2000 and it survived two teenage boys. Tried to lift the 2003 and 2004 4" but got the dreaded Jeep "Death Wobble" so lowered them back to 2" lift.
2003 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Tomb Raider Limited Edition: Kenne Bell supercharged + Currie Enterprises built with 35" tires, 4" suspension + 1" body lift to go on all but the most insane trails... and drive on the highway. 12 mpg with a tailwind going downhill but OMG so amazing rock crawling or floating over rough roads. Still have it but probably going to sell this year since we've driven all the fun 4WD roads... and the Wilderness Area designations have closed most of the ones our family loved and frequented. Google "Surprise Canyon" in Panamint Valley and "Lemoigne Canyon"in Death Valley. https://JeepSpace.JeepForum.com/BrokerDon
2006 Corvette Z06: Street legal track car. 505 hp 7.1 liter V-8 super-light carbon fiber / aluminum / titanium / magnesium construction = 3,100 lbs. = 0 to 60 in 4.0 seconds and 200 mph Drove like it was on rails (think rollercoaster). LOUD, rough ride. Stupid FAST and dangerous if you didn't know how to drive it. Took a 3-day professional driving school at a race track so I could drive it fast AND safe. LOTS of GM quality control issues: MULTIPLE Active Handling System FAIL (6 weeks in service), valves / intake / exhaust improperly machined requiring the ENTIRE "top end" of this race motor to be replaced. Absolutely a blast to drive fast but a PITA to drive around town (6-speed manual transmission with a HEAVY race clutch) 19 mpg city / 26 mpg highway Sold to a GM engineer from Michigan who wanted a relatively low mileage one-owner Z06 that already had the "top end" replaced.
2011 Winnebago View 24K RV (Mercedes Sprinter 3500HD chassis): Amazing "condo on wheels" 2nd home that has taken us to remote places including two EPIC road trips: 12,000 mile / 75 day) SoCal to Alaska / British Columbia and 19,000 mile / 127 day SoCal / Trans Canada (westernmost point on Vancouver Island to easternmost point of Newfoundland). 14,000 GVWR 327W solar 3.2Kw diesel generator sleeps 6 15 MPG... same as our Jeep Grand Cherokee !!! Tows our Jeep Wrangler effortlessly too.
2012 Toyota Prius Four: Great vehicle. Wife loves it because it is so small and nimble. 50 MPG but S_L_O_W and sounds like a "leaf blower" when you ask it for more power. Reliable & cheap (bought it used in 2012) but SOUL-LESS. Replacing with a Tesla Model 3 or Y when we sell our Jeep Wrangler that's occupying our 2nd charging space.
2015 Tesla P85D+: Replaced BOTH our 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland SUV and 2006 Corvette Z06 sports car. AbSoFreakinLutely LOVE it since it's MUCH faster and ~ 85 MPGe. CRAZY. Free Supercharging probably makes my actual MPGe > 100+ MPGe. It also allowed me to drive in the HOV lanes and still provides FREE 91 Express Lanes (toll road) access. Had the relatively rare sporty Plus Suspension... and then I got Tesla to upgrade from Insane to Ludicrous. 0-60 in ~ 2.9 seconds and LOTS more power 30+ mph.