what's the best car you've ever had and why?

36 responses total.

 My 1963 Buick Skylark, because it was the first car that I bought with
MY own money, and after I fixed it up, ran really well. Of course, I owned
it in 1981, so it was just a little old, but what the hell!

A friend of mine had a 63 skylark.  This was GM's first attempt at a small

car and it was cute but stubby.  My friend had the v8 convertible.  I believe
others had a v6.  

V6's were unusual technology in 1963.  A straight 6 would be more
likely.

You're right about unusual technology, but I think the baby buick had a v6.
The Pontiac tempest had a slant 4 which was a bank of a v8, and the olds had
a small v8 plus some other base engine.  I don't know of a reference to 
look it up to be sure, though.

 I think my car had the V8, can't really be sure of that, but it did
run well after the muffler was replaced

The tempest had a flexible drive shaft and a transmission/axle in the rear.

Yup... Buick had a V6 in '63..previous to that, the Specials had that sweet
all-aluminum V8, displacing 215ci. (which Rover's since adopted and uses to 
this day).  GM actually had a clue back then... Turbo'ed Corvairs & Oldses,
too.  I don't know what happened...I think the bean-counters took over. :)

The Turbo baby Olds was called a jetfire (sort of "son of starfire")
The Turbo Corvair was a Monza Spyder.

I've got something at home that will say what buick had, at least in
1961.  I'll have to look.  But I do remember that Buick had V6's first,
so you could well be right.

If you find the info - send it along - by the way, my first car was
a 47 Nash.  Wow!

volvo 760

1979 Ford F250 4X4.  Best vehicle ever made.

Bdunn - great choice - I had a 1962 f100 and loved it.  It had a 57 v8
and a hurst shifter.  Very little rust and everything worked.  I was 
stupid and sold it for $150 more than I paid for it.  

'69 Ford Falcon.  Paid $35 for it and it was almost worth every penny.
Sold it 2 yrs. later for $150 which about paid for the oil it consumed
while I had it.  It would quit whenever it felt like it but would always
start up again.  Cold starts were encouraged with a can of ether but the
cork in the air cleaner cover made that pretty easy.  (That must have been
back in the days when Ford really did have a better idea ;)

69 was the last year for Falcon, right?

what is a volvo 760 ?  What year & what body style?

r.e. #15.  Yes, I think it was the last year they were made.  Pretty
decent cars.  I've heard good things about them from others.  The one
I had was abused by the previous owner/s.

I guess I would have to say my Toyota Camry.  It has been my best car, 
if only because it has been my only car.  8*)  Really though, I always 
feel that I can depend on being able to get where I am trying to go 
without any car trouble.  That means a lot to me.

I'd have to say the same for our '86 Chevy Nova aka Toyota Corola.  It's
been our famlies only car for the last 5 years.  Well designed and it just
keeps on going.  (I selected the Falcon because I got it for $35, put about
$20 worth of parts into it and sold it a year later for $150.)

Heh, I used to know a person that had a 1981 Toyota Corolla with, get this,
*700,000 miles* on it!  That's like driving to the moon and back, and then 
driving to the moon again!  The car had a little rust on it, but the 
owner said that it ran fine.  

700,000 miles?  That is difficult to belive.  If you were told that in '95
it would meane that it was driven about 139 miles *every* day! 

It's what the odometer said.  I can only conjecture about the rest.

Hm.  If you had an SO in chicago, and a day job 60 minutes away (troy?),
that might fit.  I just met someone whose dad was a tire salesman in the
UP, and put 50K miles a year on his company supplied vehicle.

What I find amazing is not the fact it runs fine (although I imagine
it's gone through several sets of CV joints and all that), but that it's
fairly rust-free.  The toyota's I've seen on the road that are only a
little newer than that seem to be well on their way to rusting out.

Well, it did have some rust-through.  This was, however, on the same order
of many, much younger pick-ups that I have seen.  

Also, keep in mind that this car was probably not driven as deep into
the rust belt as most of the cars you see.  We only see salt on our roads
a half a dozen times a year here.  

1947 Nash Super 4 Dr
1953 Mercury 4 dr
1953 Dodge V8 2 dr
1957 Desoto Firedome 4 dr
1961 Valiant 4 dr
1964 Pontiac Tempest 4 dr v8
1967 Mustang 289 4v Convertible
1970 Mustang 351 Grande  
1963 Falcon futura Hardtop "miniscule" 6 cyl, 2 speed auto. (Got married, 
     my wife got the 1970 Mustang)
1971 Maverick 302 V8 grabber (hot car, they only had hi-compression engine
     for 1 month & I got that one)
Those were my first 10 cars.  Total investment, 1st 5 = $1200, 2nd 5 =
$11,000..

ssold it 2 yers later it had 173000 miles on it and the mechanic said it only
had 15% engine ware.

Hunter1 - somehow your message got clipped - we only received 2 lines.

hunter1, you have to use the return key on this system.  It's sort of
like an old typewriter in that the typing on the platen can't be
read by others ;)

back in '91 I found super clean '80 Cutlass Supreme and bought it for $900.
I drove it home from Virginia feeling good. Well, I gave it the once over
again when I got home and decided that it was destined for the track.
I popped open my bank account and made a budget for this thing. 3 years later
and about $2700 over budget, I had an eggplant purple comp-class '80 with a
RHS 415 HP Chevy 427, race built TH400 tranny, narrowed Ford 9 inch rear end
ladder bar rear suspension, wheel tubs (that took care of my back seat! It
disappeared!), roll cage, and a pro-stitched interior with all the safety
goodies required by the authorities at NHRA. It runs low 12's in the quarter
mile on 19*33 MT DOT's in the rear. It is not my favorite because it is 
definitely the fastest thing I've ever had, It is my favorite because it so
damn cool to drive! This is the car I always wanted in high school but couldnt
have.

How much $$$ total investment?

I'll guess 12700.

I'm digging my 1989 Mercury Sable.  It's got 129000 miles on it and it's
still going strong.  The most major thing we had done was a replacement
of a leaking head gasket (that number 2 cyl sure was steam cleaned....).
Most recently we inaugurated our new garage by replacing both rear
struts.  Very interesting failure mode there -- the bearing plate
bushing had worn to the point where there was an oval hole for the shock
piston to sit in, causing a really annoying squeak & rattle.

The best car I ever had and still have is a 1964 Corvair Monza with a high
preformance 110hp engine. One of the reasons why it is my best car is
its high horsepower for the year. The other reason is its top speed is
somewhere around 140 mph.

My best car is a 1986 Subaru GL wagon, for very different reasons than
mlj for his choice. It is fuel efficient, small, and useable for
medium off-road use, and the 4WD greatly increased safety in winter.
I just retired it, but I wished I could buy another (updated). 

My best car is a 1996 VW Jetta. It was my first new car. I really really 
love my car. It is fuel efficient, small (but not too small). I like the 
way it handles. It is comfortable and dependable. It doesnt have 4wd 
which would be nice but then in the 5 years that I have owned it, I have 
only been unable to drive it two times due to snow. 

I'd have to say that my best car was a our T86 Chevy Nova (Toyota
Corolla). Great on gas, very reliable, needed few repairs after the 14
years, 150K miles, we had it.   The most fun to drive was my mom's '72
Opel Manta (The German version.)

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