It has been a long road from February 1977 and a Lime Gold Galaxie 500 convertible to February 2023 with a Honda Fit and a Kia Sedona. That comes to 46 years and 29 30 cars. Which is certainly less than the 2x/year early on, but far more frequent than the recent practice of buy and hold for a decade+. In his prime, my father did “new every two” and I have certainly averaged a churn rate higher than that.
I like symmetry and order. Too much of my life lacks those things, so I appreciate them (and help make them) where I can. One of those places is here. For example, this Furious Odyssey from a Galaxie far away to a Fitting Sedona began with a prologue, so an Epilog seemed appropriate to tie up some thoughts that have rambled around in my head since this process began.
I began this trek with the idea that there was such a thing as a permanent car. A lifetime of experience in a midwestern climate that requires the use of road salt has disabused me of that notion. And cars that get normal use are a lot like we humans. We may take excellent care of ourselves by eating right and getting lots of exercise, but all of us has an expiration date no matter how much effort we have taken to put that date off. Cars are more or less the same way if used as everyday transportation during periods of life when career and family obligations can push car care down the priority list. I have concluded that a car will serve me for its season and will then move on to serve someone else.
I also had early on the idea of perfection in a car. There may be a few people out there (and even readers here) who, by the combination of temperament and climate, can keep a car forever young for many, many years. I eventually concluded that I am not one of those people. I truly appreciate a car where everything is clean, straight and working as intended. But I have developed patience with those who put up with cars that are not these things. Life is about priorities. and have found that I lack the time (and the funds) to do everything to/for all of those parts of my life that I might like. So I have taken care of my cars so that most of them have had lots of life left when they move on to the next owner, but they are almost always a little older and a little more used than when I got them.
Writing this series has made me notice some things that I had not really thought of. For one, owning cars is not as central to my sense of self as it once was. I love cars and always have, but I also love my wife, my family and my home. I used to want to experience as many cars as I could. Now, I am content to get an occasional turn behind the wheel of something new or unfamiliar, and to enjoy the cars I own.
Hobby cars were also central to my life. But hobby cars have kind of become like my relationship with dogs. I like dogs. As long as they are other peoples’ dogs. I don’t get all of the enjoyment from old cars owned by others that I got from my own, but then again, I don’t get all the time-suck and expense of dealing with their needy natures, either. I have concluded that I have owned two of the best old cars it is possible to own. The Ford Model A cannot be beat for pure visceral enjoyment and simplicity. Alternatively, the Miata is wonderful for being more usable as the occasionally daily driver and still simple and durable for its era. If I ever get another toy car, the list of candidates gets ever shorter. Those still in the running: a Studebaker of some kind, just because. A Fluid-Drive Chrysler. Or maybe a Fox or later Mustang GT convertible, or even a later model Challenger.
I have learned that I have little patience for a car that does not make me feel good – I have driven them and gotten good use from them (GM B/C bodies) but in a very utilitarian way. There are a lot of things we settle for in life, but that is something to be avoided if possible. I also lack patience for cars that I want to like but that irritate me – the ’85 Crown Vic and a certain Buick Lacrosse come to mind. But for a car that makes the cut, I will now keep them around, and maybe for longer than I should.
My current garage is in a state I would never have expected even a few years ago, with cars aged 16 years and 11 years. In truth, I have the most trouble-free fleet of my life. So far, at least. And a fleet that I find satisfying. My grandfather used to say that the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t, and my garage reflects my living under this rule. My quandary right now is that I really don’t know what I would want to buy next. There is so little that really interests me in modern showrooms. Some recent writing here about the Mazda CX-5 has me wondering if one of those could be in my future. Also, I would like to have a relatively new car and no car payment for when I retire, an indeterminate date that is getting ever closer.
Of the cars that I have owned, I have enjoyed almost all of them (with very few exceptions). I have discovered that I have liked big cruisers or fun little zoom zoom cars, with very few in between. The the ’88 Accord (which I am still amazingly ambivalent about, despite what a great car it was) could do a credible zoom-zoom, and the others were even more fun.
The big ones with some utility have really brought out my inner dad, which I suppose was always there. The ’86 Marquis Wagon (the small one, like a Fairmont) did a reasonable impression of a big cruiser (which had been its design brief) and My Sedona (at 4,374 pounds) weighs barely less than the ’77 New Yorker that broke my heart (4,769 pounds). I came late to the minivan party, but then stayed and stayed.
Here are some other random thoughts:
I still like effortless torque, something that is going extinct in this new and improved era of CAFE. It killed the enjoyment in big cars of around 1980-90 and is killing it again now. This is why I am so reluctant to part with the Sedona.
The only GM car I have owned that I really took to was the ’63 Cadillac. I really loved that old Cadillac and marveled at the quality and capability that an American company could put into an exclusive car back then. That is an ability that seems to have been lost. The other GM cars were cars of convenience or opportunity, but not cars that I really bonded with.
My Fords have been some of my best and worst, something that fits within my theory that there is Good Ford and Bad Ford. The ’67 Galaxie and the ’68 Mustang were excellent drivers, and there is nothing like a Model A. The F-100 was not built for the life I live and the ’61 Thunderbird could have been a joy but was not because I chose a very poor example. The only one I really hated driving was the ’85 Crown Victoria.
The Mopars were my favorites. There was something about those that made me fall for them and fall hard. I genuinely loved those cars, even when they may have been pestering me with the random failures I lived with in the ’59 Plymouth. I have wondered why that is. Was it the image they conveyed – mostly durable and conservative, built by engineers for engineers? Or was it the way they fit me and the way the controls felt to my hands? I don’t know, but the products from the pre-Iacocca Chrysler make me all warm and glowy whenever I think of them. OK, except for that ’77 New Yorker that still makes my heart ache from disappointment.
Cars built by the Asian companies have become what I have chosen when I am not in a mood to indulge sentimentality but want competent, no-nonsense transportation. It really bothers me that I now consider cars built by the traditional U.S. companies as inferior goods to be avoided unless I plan to trade within the warranty. But that is where I am now. It is quite true that Honda or Mazda could be building really horrible cars right now and those by Ford or GM will become legendary in thirty years – but I doubt it.
I love cars in a good color, and I have owned very few. Eliminate the white, black, gray, brown, beige and red (which I just have no love for) and I have owned maybe 9 – 4 blue, 5 green. My two absolute favorites (deep maroon/burgundy) or varying shades of turquoise/teal) – zero.
I have really enjoyed writing this series. Each week gave me some time to revisit one of my old cars, and to relive the highs and lows that came with it. For those of us who keep coming around here, the milestones of life remind us of the cars of the time, and the cars remind us of the milestones. The conclusion is that the Cars Of (My) Lifetime have provided me with some irreplaceable experiences and a lot of good stories, some of which I have shared with you. It has been a pleasure to share these stories with CC’s readers, and to engage in the comments afterwards. Who doesn’t like sitting down over a coffee or a beer and telling car stories, and your comments were perfect for supplying the other half of these fun weekly conversations. I hope I have not run out of things to say here, and don’t want to be one of those guys who keeps droning on with the same old stories all the time (or did we cross that threshold awhile ago?) I have now told these stories in their fullness and context and look forward to reading your COALs.
In addition to the occasional new CC piece, I would like to offer some pieces about The Cars That Got Away (TCTGA?). Who here does not have a few cars that have burrowed deep into our memories but that we did not come to own, for whatever the reason. I have a few of those and would like to share one from time to time. But I will hand off the regularly scheduled weekly slot to the next guy to come along, and look forward to more interesting lives, interesting cars and the great stories they have generated.
JP..what a great recap. I so enjoyed the Cavanaugh Car Chronicles. I am the offspring of two gear heads. My father was a FORD man and classic car collector. I spent my formative years polishing chrome and handing him tools while he restored a 1930 Model A/1935 Cabriolet/1936 Sedan. When I learned to drive, we would share in the joys of driving his 72 Corvette and 64 Thunderbird on a beautiful Saturday. My mother introduced me to GM. From her 1966 Cutluss thru her 1969/1970 Grand Prix’s/1976 FIAT Spider Convertible to her 1986 Camaro Z28..which she drove until she passed away at 72. Life with Mother was interesting. Cars are important parts of our lives and I agree with your points of ownership. I have had my own loves: 1986 Park Avenue and my current vehicle a 2016 VW Passat with special mention to my 1980 Olds Cutluss Sunday driver. I look at cars as not just transportation but as time machines. I will see one on the road and it will take me right back to the time period it was produced. I look at pictures with my parents and their cars and it brings back wonderful memories. My two favorites: My high school graduation when my father handed me the keys to his Corvette, helped me take the T-Tops off, and said make sure you bring it back in one piece and a full tank. The second favorite was with my mother in the FIAT, top down, starting to teach me how to drive a stick shift. Cars are truly the transportation of our lives, to the past, to the present, and to the future.
Thank you, and I am happy that you enjoyed this series. I agree that cars can be time machines. It is hard sometimes to think about how long ago 1990 or 1980 or 1970 really was, but old cars can give us a little taste of their time.
JP, Thanks for your series of COALs. I too grew up with some older Mopars. My parents bought a new 65 Dart soon after I was born. My grandmother bought a new 66 Dart after her husband died and learned to drive on it. She drove it until 1988. I hada 66 Dart for my first car then a 1975. Loved both of them. Both were Slant 6s. I wish the 75 Dart had the horsepower of the 66. Your series has been wonderful to follow. Seeing how you still appreciated the older cars when they were 20 years old. You were in the minority of driving a 20 year old car as a daily driver. I loved how you said that either your friends or coworker were impressed about riding in one of your mid 60s full sized Chrysler Corporation cars despite it being an “antique” car at that time. Like many of us here on Curbside Classic, you still like to fix your own cars or tinker with them after getting older. You also have switched to foreign cars from American ones. I have gone from Dodges to a long line of Fords to now Kias. I am on my second Kia Soul and find them to be a practical car. Also still relatively simple and fun to drive. I wish US companies still made cars and not just SUVs. New cars are also becoming overly expensive. Loved your stories and your journeys. Hope to see some articles about those cars that have gotten away. Thanks for a great ride of 45 years of car ownership! :)!
Thanks! I wonder if one of the reasons I liked the Mopars is because they were so exotic in my youth, which was almost entirely centered around GM with a little splash of Ford for flavor.
I had always harbored the idea of maybe looking at a Kia Soul with a clutch pedal, but it seems that those have now been discontinued. Bummer.
Great series! I’ve come to many similar conclusions as you did, especially the idea that a car can or should last forever in one’s possession. Must be a Midwest thing…
I think we midwesterners were bred to be uncomfortable with a throwaway culture, and to keep what we buy for a long time. At least this one was.
This was a great series! Thank you for the obvious time and effort that went into it. I share a lot of your feelings about still loving cars, but, none of it being quite as interesting as it used to be. Still, it’s my primary hobby I would say.
I had to go back and look – I started this series the first Sunday in July. Time flies! And yes, I still have a hard time displacing cars as my main area of interest.
“I have really enjoyed writing this series.” Well, I have enjoyed reading it. “Cars That Got Away” sounds like a good idea. We need more Cavanaugh, or however you spell that.
“More Cavanaugh” is a great idea – and makes me feel better about those extra pandemic pounds I put on. 🙂
Glad you enjoyed it!
Another vote for More Cavanaugh!
+1 on that. Really enjoyed each of these tales.
What a great series, and a fine set of summary observations. Your articles show a tremendous amount of personal reflection that starts with cars, but ranges much farther abroad. That ability to start inward and loop outward (and then back in again) is something that is not always found in much of what I read nowadays…although clearly it’s a strong component of a lot of what’s here on CC; and it’s what keeps me coming back every day for more. JP, your voice is strong here. Thank you.
TCTGA is a great idea.
Thanks Jeff – I have enjoyed your regular commentary here, in addition to your excellent COAL series. I am glad you found something worthwhile here, and I appreciate your kind words.
Thank you JPC for the time and effort you put into to this COAL series.
The epilogue is a great description of the sometimes complex way lives and things are intermingled when some of those things represent needs and wants, or reinforce (or counteract) self perceptions, or offer a hand in just having a bit of fun while concentrating on the main jobs of supporting family, work, and home.
If you ever get serious about a fluid drive car, the newest ones would be almost 70 years old by now so the risk/reward ratio would be daunting. They do pop up on BaT now and then and I have submitted comments there on how to drive them. It’s more than just the interesting drive train; they are softly suspended living rooms on wheels and I suspect you would love using them on fun family weekend drives.
All the best to you and your family as you all ponder the next interesting vehicle.
Thanks RL, I have looked forward every week to the regular early commenters, and you are in that group. I must acknowledge your COAL series as one of the ones I looked to for inspiration in trying to find a good mix of car and non-car material in these weekly chapters.
What? You mean those Fluid Drive Chryslers aren’t 35 years old anymore? Oh wait, I guess it’s 2023 and not 1983. Funny how that happens. And thanks for the good wishes!
I will echo the commentary – excellent COAL series JPC. Over the years of reading your comments and articles I always thought you and I were further apart when it came to our automotive preferences and experiences. There has been more than one occasion when we have strong opposing opinions. However, this series have given me much insight to you and your automotive love, and your life experiences. With this, I realize that despite our different automotive interests and experience, along with being of different generations, we have more in common then we do in difference. I also agree that TCTGA would be an interesting series. Thank you for taking the time to write this COAL series.
Thanks Vince! One of the great thing about this place is that we all get the chance to learn from the experiences of so many other people about both their cars and their backgrounds. I have learned an awful lot from your contributions here, and have appreciated them a lot. I agree that we have a lot in common, and those things help us understand where or why our opinions have differed sometimes.
This has been a great series. The only disappointment has been you’ve had 30 weeks to buy more cars and you haven’t done so! :).
Yet saying 30 weeks prompts the realization of the amount of time you have dedicated to this series. That is something to not be overlooked.
You bring up so many good points about life, cars, and priorities. We are shopping (slowly, in the beginning stages) for a different ride and, like you, have found the domestic branded offerings just don’t entice us as strongly for various reasons.
Looking forward to reading about The Ones That Got Away.
“The only disappointment has been you’ve had 30 weeks to buy more cars and you haven’t done so!” Yes, I must admit that I am a total failure in this! 🙂 That would be an interesting concept – the perpetual COAL. Though it would be hard to buy, experience and write about a new car every week. I remember a story from my old car-mentor Howard. He said that one year when he was young he owned six different cars during a year. When he registered the 6th, he was told at the BMV that if he bought one more he would have to get a dealer’s license.
I look forward to reading about the Shafer new-car search. I still love the idea of shopping for a new car, even if it is someone else doing the shopping.
Jason, that second sentence had me laughing! 🙂
You were right when you said you should buy a Studebaker of some kind, just because. Let me nominate a GT Hawk or maybe a ’63 Lark of some sort. 🙂
On the other hand, V8 Fox/SN-95 Mustangs are good cars if you find one that hasn’t been too hammered on (which is not easy). I have a lot of time behind the wheels of those, and their drivelines are tough and they’re very reliable.
Not that I’m pressuring you to do something you don’t want to do… 🙂
Late model Challengers are probably going to be expensive from here on out, since they have announced that ’23 is the final year for that platform. One of my few “I didn’t buy that” regrets was a new (but two years old) 2018 yellow R/T at a dealer down by Detroit. Who knows why it hadn’t sold, but they were asking $23,000 for it, and I had a sleepless night or two about that one.
I will confess to a lot of fascination with the Hawks (all of them, really) because it is the one 60s Studebaker I never got any personal experience with as a kid. And I agree that those 80s-90s Mustangs have become very rare in the kind of well-kept condition I like in an older car.
I did not mention one other choice – a Model T. But one of those would probably be a lot more practical if I lived out in the country or in a small town somewhere. There is a guy who has driven one around my area, and I salute his bravery. Yes, let’s call it bravery.
Thanks for sharing, JP! Been an enjoyable Sunday morning read these past several weeks. Take care, Sam
I am happy that you have enjoyed this series, and thank you!
Strongly would recommend a CX-5, as I recommended a first generation model to my father.
They still have the six speed automatics. And so far my experience with CVTs is they are torture compared to a four cylinder four speed auto of the 1980s. Although I haven’t yet driven one on a Honda.
Yes, the CVT is something I’m not eager to experience.
Thanks for a great series. Your eclectic collection has been complemented by a distinct perspective that’s different from many COAL-ers. One thing that jumped out at me in your epilogue: no mention of the GTI. As a current Golf owner plus three other VW’s in the past, that stings. Especially as the recent 1.8 and 2.0T engines have effortless torque at low rpm. Try one!
I keep hearing tempting things about modern VWs. One hurdle is that Marianne spent so many years in VWs and associates them with some less pleasant parts of her life that I would expect trouble getting some buy-in. But I should keep them on my list.
Thanks, JP for a wonderful series, I look forward to seeing your perspective on cars you’ve owned that I’ve been interested in but never drove let alone owned.
I’m within a year of your age (older) and next year I’ll have been driving 50 years. My Dad was kind of like your Dad, maybe not quite so extreme in that the only time he kept a car 2 years was when he briefly leased them, still he had a much more cavalier attitude towards them…he’d wake up one day, decide he needed a different car, and have that car bought before he went to bed (i.e. didn’t spend too much time thinking about it). He had some very popular cars (’59 Beetle, a series of Ford wagons starting in ’69, 3 Mercury Sables in a row, 2 Chevy Impalas in a row) and an unusual one, a ’68 Renault R10 he bought new. A couple of Ramble wagons, a ’76 Subaru, a Dodge Omni and 600 rounded out his list. He liked cars but I would say really wasn’t into them, he saw them more as necessary to other aspects of his life rather than just enjoying the details of what makes them different, and like your Dad, he’s gone now.
I’m just the opposite…I’ve been interested in cars since I was a child, I have no idea why People probably would challenge me on liking cars, as I’ve only owned a total of 5 cars my entire driving life…being a bachelor, that explains a lot of it, also I worked for Hertz in ’77 and ’78 and got to drive some of the last of the older cars, it was a time of transition, but it was enough to scratch my itch of outright owning a car vs trying one out, or having one owned by a friend or relative. Even more odd, in the last 42 years, I’ve only owned VWs (all watercooled, all manual) including my current ’00 Golf I bought new.
Even at that, I’d have a hard time recommending a VW to someone who isn’t like me….they are fun and interesting cars, but they respond well to attention and sometimes have rough edges that most people wouldn’t like to deal with. They give me some of my funny stories….I had the same A2 generation GTi as you, (mine was an ’86) and the door weatherstripping is attached to a really long rubber piece that goes from the A pillar to the rear hatch and looks like a long hockey stick. I live in the sunbelt, and all the cars in nearby wrecking yards had this piece in worse shape than mine (the sunbelt does a number on rubber or plastic pieces). I sent away to a northern wrecking yard willing to ship the piece to me, so I could get my door seal working again. Similarly I found a source of seat fabric (the seat foam deteriorated causing the fabric to stretch and eventually tear especially on the bolsters). And my current car lost ability for me to select gears from the passenger compartment…I had to put the selector shaft on the transaxle into 2nd gear and nurse it home while slipping my clutch to get going. Or replacing the brushings on the Motorola alternator of the GTi multiple times (also had integeral voltage regulator) to keep the headlights from pulsing.
To me it was part of the package, taking the bad with the good. If one needed an ultra reliable car that’s one thing, an ultra durable car, that’s another, but I’ve been able to keep them going and mostly they’ve kept my interest in them. You mention not finding any other cars that you’re drawn to, and that’s the same with me, except for maybe older cars. The problem for me being single and older and having few people able to drive my car (1 family member, maybe 1 friend) I reluctantly am going to need to grow up and buy a car I already know I won’t like with an automatic. No, I’m no great shifter, what I dislike is torque converters, I really like the control you get with a clutch, and I know I’ll miss it…even though I live in the same city for 40 years, it has 10x the population so maybe the writing was already on the wall if I stay here…but I want what I want, independent of reality (getting older, traffic, and maybe not being able to do as much with cars in the future as I’m used to).
What I miss is cars having the function of cars without much adornment and lacking the compromises I think that impedes that function. Yes, I’d like a spare tire…no, I haven’t gotten a flat lately, but I have picked up nails and other debris in my tires, though I belong to an auto club I don’t intend to use them to change my tire (maybe this will change with age) and prefer to do it myself. My Dad’s last Impala had no lock cylinder in the trunk, and no fold down rear seat….so if the battery dies, you have a hard time accessing that jump box you store in the trunk. I’d trade the woodgrain and entertainment system for a lock cylinder that allows me to access the trunk despite having a bad battery. Does this happen a lot? Again, probably not, but I resent elimination of capability of a car that diminishes my ability to be self-reliant when I want. And I’d forgo a multi-speed transmission or CVT not ready for prime time just to be able to brag about higher gas mileage…repair of the transmission would likely dwarf any fuel savings I’d otherwise be able to get.
Am I a special interest…absolutely, if I leased cars and got them much more frequently, maybe I’d feel differently. Again, not everyone is me, so my opinion should count little except maybe some of my perspective that might apply to other drivers.
My current car has its warts of course, the key job on my back hatch back when it was new, a dent I caused when I dropped a portable bbq grill part in my garage on the side, and some sun crazing (mostly on the plastic or rubber parts, fortunately the steel still looks fine). I waxed the car this week, something I’ve done twice a year since I’ve owned it….15 years ago I was waxing my car in front of my parent’s house when I found out that my youngest sister who had Ovarian cancer wasn’t likely to make it (she died, age 37)..it kind of makes the car part of me, warts and all. Funny things (the bass on the radio is permanently set to max…just the thing to help pick up girls?) and the power locks in 2 of the doors has bad solder such that they don’t work (and my car also lacks lock cylinders in all but the driver’s door). I’ll probably never get it fixed, I don’t want to risk breaking the delicate window regulators (which already have been replaced in an early recall) to get to the circuit board. There are bunches of lights inside the headlight cluster that don’t work (I think are used in Europe but not necessary to pass inspection) that I could repair, but the insulation is so bad, I don’t dare start….and I don’t want to pay $200-$300 for a new headlight unit on a 23 year old car. But those very flaws are part of what makes the car my own.
I’ve enjoyed every installment of this series – thanks for taking the time to share your experiences here with your huge number of cars. Naturally, while reading about your experiences, I saw many parallels to my own car-ownership, even though I started driving 12 years later and have had owned only 9 cars. This epilogue helps to put everything in perspective. Just a few comments here:
Yes! I’m being hounded (get it?) by my daughters to buy a dog, but I just don’t see the net benefit when taking the “time-suck and expense” of routine maintenance into consideration. Same with hobby cars. I went down the hobby-car route twice, once as a teenager and once in my 20s, both with the same results. For someone with my finances and (lack of) mechanical skills, it just wasn’t worth it.
Definitely. I’ve become far more utilitarian in recent years as far as cars are concerned. 25-year-old me would be shocked that I’d be content with owning two bland, silver minivans. Priorities change.
My wife and I talk about this frequently. We actually dread having to buy a new car. Since we use our Sedona for several long-distance trips per year, we put on a lot of mileage, and in a few years it’ll need replacing. I honestly can’t imagine what we’ll get next. A decade ago I realized that new cars generally don’t excite me. Now, I realize that it’s gone a step further, and I just dislike most new cars. OK; grumpy rant over.
Hey, you’re doing better than me – I’ve owned none! Of my 8 cars (excluding the one that never ran), three were silver, two were gray, one was black, and one was red. The “best” color belongs to my wife’s beige Thunderbird. Yawn.
And finally, I love the idea of “The Cars That Got Away”!
Again, thanks for several months of great Saturday reading!
Thanks Eric. I figured that my thoughts on car ownership as I have aged/matured might sound familiar to some others.
I’m at the other end of the mileage spectrum now, with maybe only 5k/yr going on the Sedona. It is used lightly enough that it should last another 15 years, except that it’s already over 10 years old now So I find myself both needing a new car and not needing one at the same time.
A well-crafted series of recollections over these last 30-odd weeks, and lots of gaps and potholes in the road of knowledge to Cavanaugh filled in and smoothed over now. So full speed ahead to the next purchase!
In regard to effortless, smooth, silky, creamy, and rich torque without constant maintenance, well, that’s easy, pure EV, especially for someone with their own garage and an additional car.
I walked right into things with my effortless torque comment. You are right, of course, that an EV might work for me these days. A Tesla is one US car that appeals to me.
30! Wow, that’s a lot of cars! I just counted my own tally: since 1984, 6 “daily drivers” and 7 “antique/collectibles”. So that’s 13. Of those, I now have 1 daily driver (a 2005 Jaguar S-Type in Radiant Red–I especially liked it because it was red, LOL!); and I still have 3 of the antique/collectibles, and they all run and drive. I never bought a car new.
When you buy used, you can’t choose the color. I actually like a lot of colors you like, and I had a ’91 Chrysler Imperial in Black Cherry (i.e. Burgundy) which looked really sharp. I took matters into my own hands and repainted my gray ’60 Dodge Dart Aqua Blue Metallic and White. On 50s-60s cars I also really like turquoise and certain shades of green. Also many of the factory two- and three-tone combinations.
When I was a teen I asked my maternal grandfather, William Connelly (1915-2005) to list all the cars he had. It spanned the 1930s to the ’80s with maybe a dozen cars. Sadly, I can’t find that list now. If I ever do, I was thinking of using it to create a CC post.
Thanks for sharing all your great stories and observations!
Thanks Stephen. I remember that black cherry color on those Chryslers, and liked it a lot. As for numbers, what you have lacked in quantity, you’ve more than made up for in quality.
Jim, this has been an epic ride with you in your cars; well yes, ideally it would have been in person and not virtually, but then your ability to convey what these 30 cars were really like has made it feel like it was real.
Your changing feelings about old cars (and new) mirrors mine to a significant extent, although our histories are different. I didn’t act on my desires for so many different cars back in the day, except my Peugeot 404 phase. In retrospect, I wish I had acted on some of them. But then I still do have my old F100, and I still like working on it every once in a while. And I’ve enjoyed transforming my xB into a semi-off roader. I actually do more work on my cars now than I used to, but then I don’t have a 9-5 job either.
My only disagreement is about dogs. 🙂
Thank you for being one of the key foundation stones of CC. I’m not sure we’d all still be here if it weren’t for you and a few others who’ve stuck it out, through thick and thin. I feel very privileged for that, and for the opportunity to get to know you personally as well as for how much we’ve learned from each other over these 12 years. And this COAL series is sort of a capstone on that. I’ve really enjoyed it, and appreciate how much you’ve shared about your life, cars, family and yourself in it. Very touching.
Thanks Paul! CC has been a great ride and I have had a blast all along the way. I am really glad I finally tackled this project. And if there were any doubts about continuing to contribute, the CC forces in the universe put in the fix with a great CC find in a store parking lot just today. 🙂
Don’t quit trading cars now! You’ll be depriving us of great stories that weave vehicles and their part in your life experiences together.
All of us have such stories, but you are great at capturing and relating those tidbits. Get that Studebaker, Challenger or whatever and give us at least one more posting – PLEASE.
I get what you mean about life priorities. A car will never love you back. All the same, narrative talent like yours should not go dormant.
Thanks much! I don’t think I could quit writing about old cars even if I wanted to.
I always enjoy your insightful comments, and commend you on a life of automotive eclecticism, and for your manifold contributions to CC. May you enjoy at least another 30 or so!
Thank you for your good wishes. And I hope you will be here to read and comment 30 years from now too. 🙂
My change in relationships to cars over decades mirrors your own quite closely. What is different is Ive owned very few cars. Every point in this epilogue has struck a chord with me. With every new purchase I expected it to be my forever car and did my best to keep it in showroom condition. The big winners in that game were the new owners of my traded in car. I will be relaxing my standards going forwards and enjoying the car owing experience more! Thank you for putting on paper what many of us think we go through alone. Looking forward to reading your new writing endeavors.
Thank you! It is true that the one who follows a careful 1st owner is the real winner.
I thoroughly enjoyed all 30 cars that you have chronicled here. Fully understand the feelings toward the Mopars, as I driver trained on them in the late 60s and grew up in a house where Mopar or Nopar was the guiding principle of life.
Since my cars were generally purchased for practical uses, I never had too many that fit the TCTGA category. It would be fun to read your account of the agony of decision and subsequent regrets on those. My closest effort would be to chronicle the 20+ cars that I bought, fixed, and flipped during a certain period of my life. Regrets on those would be centered on “why did I buy this in the first place?” Maybe someday in the future.
Thanks again for the series. Always looked forward to a great Sunday morning read.
Thanks for coming back for more every week!
Thank you JCP for a great and enjoyable series. Your summation in the epilogue really caps it off. The time frame encompassed by your chronicle spans a lot of years, 46, if my math is correct. I might be a few years older than you, my car ownership spans from 1975 to the present, at least a couple dozen, add into that over a dozen motorcycles that started with my sophomore year in high school, and that’s a lot of wheels in my past.
I’ve thought about contributing to this series, it seems easy when I read your posts, but I know how much work you put into your commitment.
I’m currently organizing and writing my own list, I want to have them all written before I even start. I think that I would want to separate them into different periods: Cars of my Youth, Cars of my Dad years, Cars of my Dotage! My current phase.
Thanks again, I’ll admit that it would be quite the feather in my cap to be a published contributor to this august journal of the Internet. Enjoy the SuperBowl,
JP your series was very insightful, and reflected deep thoughts on your many cars. I’m sure we all appreciated the time you spent chronicling your experiences with your cars, and gave us something extra to look forward to each week.
Well done!
I really enjoyed this series and looked forward to it every week. Thank you so much for this lifelong chronicle!
30 cars — that’s a lot! I started just a little before you (1975), but my wife and I have had only 13 over the years since (not counting the 2 she owned and sold before I met her).
I like your tallying of colors and other car characteristics — I’ve lately been mentally doing the same thing, such as fwd vs. rwd, body styles, and even locations of the fuel filler doors.
Your telling of the struggles with winter, road salt, and rust reminds me of my relative good fortune of not dealing so much with these since we moved to Virginia in 1979. This partly explains why our fleet has not turned over so much, and why the current occupants of the garage are 8 and 25 years old (Toyota Camry Hybrid and Nissan Frontier, respectively).
But we never had hobby cars, which I’ve always wanted, and it’s still not something I see for the future. Better to admire others’ cars and take photos.
What a wonderful series this was. To learn about the cars, life and life thoughts of someone far away in a very different country. Thank you for the very well written weekly chapters, and hope you continue to write. I was always happy to find, and will be looking forward to read anything written by JPC.
Thank you very much for this well-written series of reflections on your COALs. I have learned so much about the individual cars, the reasons behind the purchase and ownership of each vehicle, and, of course, about you, the author.
I should also add that I appreciate your writings elsewhere on CC, including some excellent articles recently re-published that I missed the first time, including the ones about the 1961 Impala and the 1972 fuselage Chrysler.
Our tastes and choices in cars may be different, but I feel I have ended up in the same place in life as you with respect to:
1) no longer feeling that my car is central to my identity
2) not finding much of interest among current automotive offerings
3) not having owned cars in preferred colors (since 2000, most of my cars have been either black or white)
Some might call it a case of automotive ennui, while others can see maturity in that evolution. In the end, we like what we like, and those preferences end up being expressed almost subconsciously in our car purchases.
Thanks again for making Sunday mornings enjoyable!
@JP: I have truly enjoyed reading about your auto collection during your COAL’s! I feel a somewhat kinship due to the fact that you have favored Mopars, as I do, since that was what my Dad had when I started driving. And, I had an 89 Accord, (which was my first Honda, and first car that I bought w/ over 100k on it!) I bought my first new car, an ’07 Fit Sport, which was totaled in an accident, and replaced w/ a 2012. Seeing as how it only has 23k on it now, I guess it’ll probably be the last new car purchase; as there is nothing out there now that interests me. Looking forward to whatever/whenever you take to keyboard to post again! BTW: The one regret that I have is that I didn’t buy the V-6, manual Accord coupe that I really wanted instead of the second Fit Sport! 🙂
Thanks for this great series, it sure filled in a few gaps in your history such as the Model A. Taken as a whole that sure is a varied stable over the years. I too hope you can take on a Studebaker at some point, if so your purchasing will definitely be more cautious and thoughtful and successful than my own purchases…
I dislike dogs as a whole, but make exceptions for some dogs that I know well. My life might be less complex if I also thought of motorcycles and old cars like that.
This has been a great series, and there is nothing quite like someone explaining their personal subjective choices in a way that makes sense to them, or did at the time. Each one was a voluntary choice, and you explained each, and none of them were wrong, even if others would have chosen differently. Perhaps I need to start an eCOALI (Euro-Car of a Lifetime, Incomplete) of my own.
I’d go for the Bullet Bird and Miata, but that’s me. C
Very, very enjoyable reading.
It’s interesting how we get to know each other more through our writing. Although I’ve only owned four cars myself, I’ve always been a car nut, and love enjoying cars by proxy, reading of others’ experiences with them. You have a very entertaining style. Another vote for More Cavanaugh!
»Thundrous applause« Well done, JPC! Thanks for the stories; I enjoyed every one of ’em.