A Sprinkling Of Short Owned Cars

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– Posted on January 26, 2025

1979 Caprice Classic image from the Cohort by Foden Alpha.

I decided to count the total number of vehicles I’ve owned in my life and was not too surprised that they reached the number of 75. And some of these were short-lived, either a flip or a flop! So here’s a sample of those.

Cindy and I have owned about five Chevy Caprice Classics; one, a 1974 that was a gift and wrote about here. We also owned two 1979 ones, they were bought a runner and a parts-only car. The driver was a good runner that got the 350 from the parts car. The daily driver didn’t have a tilt wheel, but the parts car did. So, without any help or advice, I decided to switch steering columns. Success! Cindy came out to the garage as I was finishing.  Her comment? “Only my husband would do this!”

1978-1980 Toyota Celica image from the Cohort by Roshake.

A 1978 Toyota Celica liftback. Our neighbor owned this car and was never going to part with it. Until he hit a curb and bent the left front “something”. I offered him $25 for it, which he took.

I had a local shop heat up and somewhat straighten the front end. With my overall investment of $50, I sold it one week later for $250.

1982-83 Honda Accord image from the Cohort by canadiancatgreen.

A 1982 Honda Accord. This one was a partial trade for our 1986 Mercury Grand Marquis (which I wrote about a while back).

Cindy’s boss wanted that M-G-M because his wife had owned the same car and had lost it in a divorce. His offer was $300 cash and the Accord, plus we were asked to deliver it on Christmas Eve a few blocks from their home. The Accord was a 6-month car when we realized that the brakes were rusted in place. I sold it for $450.

1997 Dodge Ram image from the web.

In 2009, my employer, Lowe’s, decided it simply didn’t need me anymore. I was 46 and could not find work anywhere. So, remembering that I was the one who promised to provide, I took a job painting trash dumpsters. We needed a vehicle and traded in our ‘93 Park Avenue and our ‘78 Thunderbird Diamond Jubilee for a ‘97 Ram truck that was well-worn.

My daughter, always a trooper, told me painting wouldn’t be so bad and set off with me. We were paid $20 per each and kept in a 20 mile radius. Five a day was the norm. Then, on our second trip, the compressor on the Ram locked and threw the belt. The company, knowing my situation, paid to have a shorter belt installed.

Once I finally found a job at Walgreens in 2011, the Ram was to be sold for my new job. That brings us now to…

1986-89 Honda Accord image from the Cohort by canadiancatgreen.

An ‘86 Honda Accord. The new job needed me to drive much more than before, so the Ram had to go. On the dealership lot we went to they had this Accord but were having difficulties with the true –or even close to true– odometer reading. I offered to take it, as is, without hassle as an even trade for the Ram.

They sold the Ram to a lot attendant (who was still driving it 8 years later, although with the parts from two other trucks!) and I drove the Honda. Where we go from here is a story for another day.

Oh, I later discovered the Accord needed the key inserted into the ignition to reset all of the maintenance lights. If you didn’t do that, occasionally the odometer would stop. Once I figured that out, and went through all of the paperwork the one owner car provided, we figured out that it had 289,900 miles!

Update:  I’m loving my recently acquired Fleetwood. I’ve put just under 1000 miles on it due to cold weather, but we are driving it in the long haul Hot Rod Power Tour in June! Maybe I’ll meet some of you all.