Wish I still had that one...

Well yes, there are a lot of things I wish I still had, but right now I'm thinking about all the cars and trucks I ever owned...So I thought I might try to list them here...I may not have the exact chronological order correct, but it will be close...

The first two weren't mine, but I did learn to drive in them...A 1954 Buick Special 4-door sedan was my Dad's company car that he bought when the company assigned him a new one...It was rock solid just as you might expect from a mid-fifties GM product...I remember at 264 CID it had one cubic inch less than the popular Chevy V-8 of the time, and it was called a "nailhead" engine because the tiny valves looked more like ten-penny nails...

The old cast iron Dynaflow transmission featured a rear oil pump which you won't find in modern gearboxes...It allowed the clutch packs to stay engaged while the engine was not running if the car was rolling, which meant it could even be push-started...It also meant that if you turned off the ignition while rolling downhill still in Drive in an attempt to save fuel, it could backfire through the two-barrel carburetor causing a young driver to become instantly alert...I won't explain how I gained that knowledge, but in today's technology it might activate the "Check Underwear" light...

Driving suddenly became fun when my uncle tossed me the key to his 1955 VW one day, and said to go take a drive and learn how to shift a four-speed...For a kid with a license that didn't even have dry ink yet, this was the ultimate confidence builder, and he was a master mechanic who could fix anything I could screw up anyway...To my relief, I never wrecked it or broke it, and my love affair with manual transmissions began that day...

To my parent's regret, I spent most of my savings on a white over black 1955 Chevy BelAir two door hardtop with a 235 CID six-cylinder and Powerglide...Naturally, being afflicted with a terminal case of the high school stupids, I tried to turn it into something it could never be, a hot rod...It was eventually sold for scrap...I should have kept it the same way I bought it from the little old lady schoolteacher...

In my senior year in HS I drove a showroom-new 1965 Corvair home, and proceeded to make a liar out of Ralph Nader by not killing myself in it...I made the payments and bought the gas from my after school job as a door-to-door Fuller Brush man...In Regal Red, with the 110 HP engine, four-speed on the floor, 3.55:1 gearing and 6.50X13 tires, it was a pretty good car for a high school kid...I sold it when I enlisted in the USAF, and got my first lesson in depreciation...

When I got to my first permanent base in Germany, I bought a 1952 VW from a GI who was rotating back to the States...After a few months the engine cratered, and with it's other problems, I decided to just junk it...

Next came a 1956 VW (there was only one model in those years, the Beetle), and I kept it a while driving it over the Swiss Alps, down as far as Naples, Italy and on to Monaco to watch the Gran Prix in 1968...There were of course several weekend trips to Holland, Luxembourg and Belgium, as well as all over West Germany...It was black, and I added a pair of red leather Porsche seats which barely cleared the four-speed shifter...It had no fuel gauge, but when it ran out of gas, all I did was move the lever, and the reserve gallon dumped into the nine-gallon tank...The trick was to remember to move the lever back when you filled up, otherwise the reserve wouldn't be there when you needed it...

I sold it but later bought a 1956 Opel just so I wouldn't have to walk to the bars downtown when I went off base...Those last two were bought on the partner plan with pooled money which worked out well since he and I usually went to the same places together...

Returning stateside, I bought a 1966 Chevelle two-door hardtop with 283 and three on the column, and drove it to my final base in New Mexico...I wrecked it before separation, and the Chevy dealer installed an unvented fuel tank reusing my unvented gas cap...This problem didn't show up until I was on my way home in the West Texas sun when the engine quit from fuel starvation...

After a while it would restart only to do it again down the road...A fellow in the next town was smart enough to figure out the problem and fix it by drilling a small hole in the filler cap to relieve the vacuum...It ran fine then except the fuel capacity was reduced by five gallons due to the collapsed tank...

After a couple of years in civilian life I fell in love with a 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner, complete with 383 engine, four-speed and Sure-Grip differential, one of the fastest cars I ever owned...Mag wheels and big tires made it perfect...

Then after marrying the first time, I was reduced to average grocery-getters, a 1964 Plymouth (no model designation, just Plymouth) with slant six and three on the column, then a 1965 Chevelle four-door station wagon with 283 and three-speed on the floor plus overdrive...

Following the inevitable divorce, my Dad found me a cherry 1971 Chevy C-10 longbed...With a 350, TH350 transmission, P/S and P/B, it was not only my first truck, but my first vehicle with factory A/C...With a few personal touches such as chrome wheels, giant tires and a Koenig tool box it was a great truck...

Next came a bone-stock 1958 Chevy DelRay two-door sedan in white over red with original 283 and three on the column...After the addition of mag wheels and white-letter Goodyears, I rebuilt the front end and replaced all springs and shocks...A Holley four barrel, headers and duals completed it...

Somewhere in this period I acquired a 1973 Pontiac LeMans two-door sedan...These were the years of the "corporate GM engines" and this one had a 350 Olds/TH350 trans combo...Naturally wheels, tires, headers and duals were de rigueur...

I decided I needed a truck again in addition to a sporty car so out came my checkbook for a brand new 1985 Chevy C-10 shortbed in black with 305/Auto...Even with wheels/tires and bed cover I was not completely happy, so in a few years, I traded for a 1990 Chevy 454 SS, which I eventually sold to my favorite niece...

At some point in this whirlwind of time and tire smoke, I decided I liked the look of the late seventies two door Impala with the three piece rear glass...I bought a 1977 model with 350/TH200...I added bucket seats from a 1978 Monte Carlo which matched the upholstery and a floor shifter...Then came the Edelbrock manifold, Holley four barrel, headers and duals...And of course the chrome Cragar S/S wheels and white letter Goodyears...I really enjoyed that car...

Then came the romping, stomping beast, the 1978 Buick Regal which someone had replaced the original V-6 with a 455 CID Olds monster...It barely fit under the hood, and I never found headers that would work with it...But it did get dual exhaust and big tires/wheels of course...My SnapOn tool dealer found he couldn't live without it, so a tool/car trade was arranged...

At this time, Chevrolet had reintroduced the Impala Super Sport, so I bought a brand new 1995, and as you guessed replaced the wheels and added a true dual 2 1/2 inch exhaust...

By this time, I had also acquired a 3/4 ton 1973 Chevy pickup with camper top, 350 V-8 and granny gear four speed...It had a 2X12 oak front bumper, dents, faded baby-puke yellow paint and the coldest A/C in Texas...After adding headers, duals, white spoke wheels and 10-ply 9.50X16.5 tires, it became my favorite truck to date...

At this point, the timeline grows a bit fuzzy as I made a serious error in judgment, choosing to marry a woman who could not be satisfied with anything she acquired, including husbands...Her vehicle list during our marriage included a 2000 Impala, 1976 Blazer, 2003 Buick Regal, 2003 Pontiac Montana, 2006 Honda Odyssey and a 2001 GMC Sierra...

At the same time, she managed to talk me into selling my beloved 1973 Chevy C-20, and buying a black 1998 Chevy K-20 crewcab...And then a black 2000 Ford diesel crewcab...

Finally, I realized what was missing, the standard transmission...Then I traded for a new 2003 Dodge D3500 4WD dually quadcab, with Cummins diesel and six-speed transmission...After 13 years and one divorce, I'm still driving it today with no intention of ever replacing it...Naturally, I had to add front and rear Tough Country bumpers, headache rack, running boards, Warn 15K winch, gauges, Smarty programmer, Weatherguard toolbox, Line-X bedliner, chrome exhaust stacks, XM radio and 19.5" Rickson wheels and Michelin tires...Other than that it's stock...

After retirement it fell to me to take my Mom wherever she needed to go, and when she could no longer climb into my truck, I bought a black 2008 Chevy Impala...Of course the mag wheels, bigger tires, tinted glass and XM radio personalized it a bit...

But later I decided I had to have a stick shift instead of the automatic Impala, although I barely drove it anyway...That brings us to the black 2013 Dodge Challenger R/T with 375 HP Hemi, six-speed, traction control and factory XM radio...All I had to do was add the American Racing Torq-Thrust wheels, big tires and tinted glass, and now I have the two vehicles I can drive to my grave...

The most ironic part of this trek through personal history seems to center on the fact that I've always been a proponent of American-made transportation...And now I might be down to my last two vehicles, a truck made in Mexico, and a car made in Canada...

If I managed to forget any vehicles in this list, it's probably because they were really forgettable...But I still wish I had them all...

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