What did you drive back in the day & what do you drive now?

[BUCKY]

I like your list of rides, Beekster! I may do a chronology from my first to last rides, if I have time!! LOL

[Beekster]

I've always been drawn to German cars, I guess. That first Beetle was Dad's commuter until I was a senior in high school, and an ex-uncle owned a '66 Mercedes-Benz 220D and a '76 300D. Naturally I was impressed with those, but it wasn't until decades later that I discovered that under certain conditions I could afford to own Mercedes-Benz cars. Now I don't think I'll ever buy anything else; they just seem to fit my style.

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

My ride from 2003 till 2014.

[JCON]

Beautiful bike Bruce!!!

[jimrichards]

Yes Bruce, nice Bike, this and your current one are nice.


Jim

[jimrichards]

After looking thru all these pages, I decided to dig out some old photos. They are not great quality, but I'm glad I at least have these since (like we all) wish I had so many more.

You guys had some sweet rides. Hey Bruce, check out my second car, LOL

I'm not going to dwell (too much) on some of their demise(s), but like you guys, one led to another. And in many cases the parts from the last one went on the next one.
Before I got my license, I had a Power Dyne mini bike, I built a Monster 6hp engine for, they were the proto types for the Rupp Roadsters. Then I had a 175 Yamaha Enduro that I got from the shop I worked at, that was totaled, And I rebuilt it into a MXer. Then had Suzuki TM 400 (my first, got second one in later years that was built into a flat tracker that I raced).
These are actually photos I took of the photos, they aren't real good, but believe it or not they look better than when I scanned them.

The first is in 73 of my 71 Suzuki TS 125, when I got my MC license when I was 15.


Then 3 months later when I turned 16 and got my car license
A 1967 Caprice, 16 years old..396..400 trans...do the math..LOL


Then 3 months later my second car , a 1963 Impala Ht, 283 w/powerglide, which I actually wanted to buy first from the original owner across the st.
but my Dad talked me into buying the Caprice.

the day I got it

A month later (note the polished rad. tank)




After it's demise came 2 more 63 Impalas (they were all the exact same color, believe it or not)
This was my third one, the day I pulled it into my shop and molded a L88 hood scoop on.

After I primed it, hard to see, but you can sorta make it out.


While I had my 3rd 63, I got this in 1976
A 1972 Yamaha XS650, It was the personal bike of our Harley/Yamaha dealer, when he bought the bike new, he ordered a bunch of replacement parts for it including seat, gas tank, pipes, fairing, back rest, crash bar, which I eventually bought all of.
I rode this bike from Kansas to Ohio and back twice, In the winter.
Here I hadn't taken the fairing back off yet, that I only used for road trips. I liked it when it was stripped down better. but no photos.
(don't laugh at the hair, I was in a band and had an image to uphold...lol)


In 1977 ,I had a 64 Chevelle Drag car, that was sorta stolen, then a 64 Chevelle SS, that I traded for this (only pic) 72 Chevelle SS, it had that 402 BBC, too bad I don't have side shots, it had Cragar S/S (off my Impalas) and Lakewood ladder bars (I still owned my 3rd Impala also) and 69 Sportster

Hey married guys, you can probably guess what's blocked out...LOL


In the background is my Mothers 1970 Dodge Coronet R/T 440. She had a brand new 1969 Charger Daytona, traded it for a 1970 Vette Stingray, then my Dad lost the Vette in a race against this R/T and had to buy it. I was promised it when I turned 16, then again when I graduated High School, but my Dad said I was to irresponsible, which was ridiculous, I could do a burn out as good as anybody...LOL .....and by the way I moved away from home my Jr year, supported myself in my rented house til I graduated, and ended up with a Football scholarship. Then after I moved to AZ he offered me the car, but I had no way of getting back to Kansas for it. In 1973 when I was 15,  before I had a license, I drove it from New Jersey to Kansas, cause my mother couldn't drive that far. When he sold it to (one of my HS class mates after that) the car had 18,000 miles and a new engine.
, he sold it for $1000



After the 72 Chevelle, (that the snow ate) came a 1975 Ford F250, that I converted from 2wd to 4wd, then traded it in on a brand new 1978 Chevy C30 Crewcab Dually. Black, red interior, chrome rims. It went bye bye during Divorce
Had a Baja bug, then 67 Ford station wagon that I moved to AZ in, 1980.

In 1982 met my current wife and we built this
1972 Camaro, it was a plain jane and I added everything. It had a white vinyl top I dyed black.


In 1986 I was taking my wife to work, then was heading to the chrome shop to get an extra set of hood hinges chrome plated, when a drunk driver left turned us at 7:30 in the morning, and I was the one almost arrested I was so mad, (the other driver got a ticket for failure to yield) I wasn't there when they towed it, had to ride with my wife in the Ambulance, she was severely injured. When I went to retrieve the Camaro from the towing yard they were in the process of stripping it, second time I almost went to jail that day.
Never got the chance to rebuild it but I still have it, here it is deteriorated courtesy of Tucson City Gov. that made me tear down the building I had it in.(3rd time I almost went to jail over this car)  ps: I still have the hood hinges...unchromed...LOL

Here I am experimenting with a high flow velocity stack for it.


After the Camaro got wrecked, I put it's 350/350 combo that I built into this 1966 GMC Crewcab, that we drove for 16 years, it needed a rebuild
so I sold it, to do a frame off restoration on my wifes 1985 C10 PU. (that we still have)
This was the day I sold it



That (finally) brings us up to date
This is my 1985 C10 longbed work truck


Current project, a 1985 C10 Silverado shortbed. It came with these 20" tires and wheels.


I love chrome,but I didn't like the way they ride, so got these



I have a tire machine, and mount all my own tires.
So restored a set of stock wheels


I like the stock look better, I have white mirrors to replace shabby stainless ones
It dropped down to the mid 70s today, I don't take it out in that nasty weather (LOL) so these are so so shots of it in one of the carports.



My wifes 2000 S10, we bought it in 04 with 33,000 miles, today it has 75,000, for 14 years she only worked 6 miles away. Now she works at home and I drive it three miles round trip once a week to the groc store. and yes I mounted those tires also.


1942 Harley WLA 45, that I started with just a frame (almost runs)


My Wifes 06 West Coast Chopper replica mini cycle.


My Three Sons


And in closing, here we are today, with our 2005 Harley Softtail FXST that we bought new in 04.


I actually had a few more vehicles such as a 72 Dodge pick up I dropped a 383 into, a 380 Suzuki Drag Bike, a 1 year old Kawasaki TRi Star 750 ( the fastest production bike in 1972) it did fourth gear wheelies (whether you wanted it to or not...LOL)  a Chevelle 2dr station wagon, a Vista Cruiser wagon,  and a host of parts cars (they were very clean cars, complete except no engines and trans) they were a 63 Impala SS convert., a 64 Impala SS ht, and two 64 Chevelles, the son (10 year old) of the guy I had the cars stored at busted out all the (perfect) glass in them and jumped up and down on the roofs , and since I was mad and wouldn't move them after that, he shoved them all over a cliff into the side of the river bed with his bulldozer.  For years you could drive over a bridge and see various parts of them sticking out of the side of the hill.  But no pics of all of these.

Thanks for taking this trip with us

Jim & Leslie Richards

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

Wow! You have had and still do, some very sweet rides. Thanks for sharing.

[JCON]

Some very cool rides there!!!

[Dukemaddog]

Oh man, you've been living the Life! Wow! Man all those look so incredibly amazing!

I have to wonder though; how does a car get "sorta" stolen?

[jimrichards]

Thanks Mark
Appreciate the compliments. Just the life of a gearhead, (amongst other things)

Glad you asked that question. It's one of my (least) favorite stories.
I was hanging out at College Bar at Kansas State, when I got word about a student having a race car for sale.
I tracked him down and he said he had one, (he wasn't even quite sure what it was) so we left and went to his house, and it turned out to be a 64 Chevelle, former drag car.
It had been a pretty nice car at one time. But it had worn out paint, no wheels, and the makings of a pretty potential engine in pieces in the trunk.
So we settled on $1200. with one catch, Even though I had the cash on me (we were Fooseball hustlers, LOL)He wanted $100 a month for 12 months, Because as a student, he was afraid he'd blow all the money, this way he'd have an income. ($100 went a little further then) so I reluctantly agreed and went home got my tow truck ( I owned a service station)
put a couple tires on it and towed it to my shop. I spent the next couple months, building a race engine, painted it black and lettered my name on it in Silver Flake.New Cragars, with big slicks.
all the while making my payments. Only took it down the track a couple times. On the 11th payment he showed up at my shop, which was unusual cause I always went to him.
He saw what I had done to the car (after several $1000) and sorta was shocked. so the following month I went to make the last payment and get the title., and couldn't find him. this went on a couple more months. Then one day a Sheriff pulls into my station and has a repo court order. I told him the story and he was plenty mad, he also was into cars, and he knew me.
So he asked how long do I need to take my parts off, I told him about 3 hours. So he said get all your parts off and then take the car to him,(he made me promise not to shoot him)
So I did, I towed it to his house then took off the back wheels then spun it around his yard a few times, unhooked it from the truck, and dumped two gallons of paint remover on it.
Morale of the story, get things in writing (I didn't learn my lesson there, 20 years later got swindled same way on a house) and never sink money into something before it's paid for.
I always expect people to be as honest as me, but I set the bar to high I guess, LOL.

Thanks
Jim

[JCON]

Being a Realtor I always get things in writing, signed, dated and keep all receipts for everything...

[jimrichards]

Nov 12, 2020 14:49:10 GMT -6 JCON said:

Being a Realtor I always get things in writing, signed, dated and keep all receipts for everything...

Even when you were 21?   LOL

In my Music business everything was with a contract because Club owners would burn you in a minute.
Plus we had a good Music Union that would stand behind me. It was usually the School proms and dances that would try and burn us the most.

But makes for fun stories 40 years later.

Jim

[JCON]

Even back then... I worked for an attorney process serving in high school...

[DPNM]

I can't count how many vehicles I've had. I would guesstimate somewhere over 70. They'd come and go. I will post up a few of the ones I miss the most and wish I still had. Along with a few of you I no longer have pics of them. I will post the ones of what I do have but some are pics of pics. I've probably posted some of these pics elsewhere here but this is a good thread to put them on, again.

My first car was a 1967 Mercury Cougar. 302/auto. Yellow with black interior.

1967 Corvette coupe. 350/auto. Bought used. The original owner had blown up the 427 so I was told. My daily driver for 3 years. Sold it for what I paid for it. $3000!

1978 Dodge Warlock. Black/black (natch) 318/auto. Sweet truck.

1966 Corvette convertible. 396/4 speed.

1967 Dodge Charger. 318/auto

My daily driver now is a 1992 Buick Riviera. My 2nd one of these. IMO they are beautiful cars.











I have been able to count and keep track of the motorcycles I've owned. The one I have now (1973 OSSA SDR) is number 24 and I've owned it twice (incredible story). The list includes street, dirt and dual purpose. Amongst them are several other Ossa's, a couple Maicos, Kaw KDX200, 4 Harleys, a Buell, an Interceptor. Got my first mini bike in 5th grade. My first MC in 9th grade. It was a Bridgestone 90. Dual purpose and had a plate and Pa. inspection so I rode it some on the road at age 14. No DL. Small town/few law types.

1973 SuperGlide. Bought as shown in 1975.
1973 Ossa SDR. Pic is fresh from the shed I found it in.

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

Like your 73 Super Glide! I had Drag style handle bars on mine.

[RLFoster]

Wow! I'm almost embarrassed to list my lifetime of vehicles...

1982, I bought a 1972 Mercury Montego 400 with rusted out quarter panels and nearly bald tires for $500. Sold it 18 months later for $500 as I entered the USAF.
1984, (Germany) I bought a second hand Opel Rekord (year unknown). Drove it for 3+ years and sold it when I moved.
1988, (England) was a right hand drive Ford Escort Sport (year unknown). Again, sold that after my 2 year tour was done.
Moved to Turkey where a $5 bill would take you literally ANYWHERE in a taxi. So there was no vehicle for the next 4.5 years.
1994, (Okinawa) I got a Mitsubishi Galant (year unknown) and drove that for just over 3 years until finally returning to the U.S.
1997, I bought my first semi-new car...a 1995 Pontiac Grand Am. I drove that until the driver's side door jamb leak (and trunk leak) was so bad, I had to bail out the floor board every time it rained. In the trunk, I drilled a 1/2" hole through the bottom of the spare tire well. I "gave" that car to the dealership in...
2009, bought a brand new, 2009 Chevrolet Malibu and still own it with only 53000 miles.

So, 58 years old, 32 driving, and 6 total vehicles.

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

Now that's frugal.

[Dukemaddog]

Hey Robert, you have nothing to be embarrassed about! Those are some good cars! My list is as follows:

First car: my dad's '73 Super Beetle. He bought himself a better car and gave that to me. When we moved to Minnesota, we had to sell it and leave it behind. When we got there, we bought a very rusted '68 Beetle from the neighbor that ran exceptionally well. After I moved to Florida; I bought an AMC Hornet from my roommate who helped me rebuild the tranny since it had no reverse. After awhile the reverse went out again and I couldn't afford to get it fixed. Our efforts to do it again failed. So, parking was a challenge for while until Hurricane Elena came along and wrapped it around a steel pole. After that I got an old Ford Courier pickup until the transmission went out on that as well. Then my mom came up with some extra cash to buy me a 1980 Chevy Citation. I drove that to California and used it until the engine failed. I couldn't afford the valve job it needed so I ended up abandoning it at the apartment complex I was living in and moved out of. Then I got married and my wife used her mother's wedding present to buy me a 1986 Nissan Sentra. I drove that for 18 years and put 697,000 miles on it before the head blew. It was far too expensive to fix on a car that only had a Blue Book value of $180.00 so I donated it to a local charity that paid me $200.00 for it and hauled it off. I gotta admit, I cried when I saw her go away. Here it is when they loaded her up:

After that, my wife and I bought a 1993 Nissan hardbody pickup which I still drive today. We paid $2600.00 cash and then later paid $200.00 to add a ladder/lumber rack to the bed. I'm still driving that today.

Here it is loaded up with material for one of my past jobs:

If you look close, you'll see the pallet of stucco mix I brought in for this job. Total weight of that stucco mix was 1890 pounds; yet my truck with her little four-banger engine got it all there, even traveling over a hill!

Yeah, no muscle cars, no fancy cars; my automobile life is the most boring compared to all you guys!

[DPNM]

Nov 13, 2020 12:56:42 GMT -6 dogfish7 (R.I.P.) said:

Like your 73 Super Glide! I had Drag style handle bars on mine.

These 6 bend bars were cool. Put them right back at you and I could put my feet up on the highway pegs and lean back.


The FX is the reason I learned to airbrush. I have a 1/6 Tamiya kit about half finished. I had painted the tank and front fender once but wasn't satisfied. When I can get my spray booth setup in the basement I may try to do some more work on it.




BTW, the female in this pic is my step-sister. She is the one who had written My brother Jim on the Corvette coupe pic.

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

The 1200s ROAR!