For an exercise that will interest no one but myself, I've decided to list all the cars I've ever owned. I found my memory to be surprisingly good on this even to the point where I can remember the year, make, model, body style and color of each. With the exception of the first car, the pictures I posted are examples only and not of the actual vehicle. However, most of them do reflect the color of my former vehicle.
The cars are listed by model year, not in chronological order of ownership. Timeframes are difficult for me to recall.
My first car:
1973 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme
This car cost me $1000. I bought it after college, when I was in the Army and had the income to be able to do so.
It had a 350 V8 with a 4-barrel carburetor which gave it a nice growl when accelerating. The previous owner gave it the odd paint job. Originally silver with a vinyl roof, the sides were painted black, the vinyl removed and the roof painted blue.
It was a gas hog and cost $100 to drive it from Georgia to Maine with $20 fill ups per stop. That was a lot back in 1983.
I owned it for about a year. Then I sold it and bought the next car.
1981 Mazda GLC
This car was priced around $4500. I bought it before a trip to Fort Stewart, Georgia where I was stationed. I was home on leave, left the 73 Olds on my parents' lawn with a For Sale sign and purchased this Mazda at Maine Mall Motors.
It had nothing. It was a 4-speed manual with no air conditioning, no power anything and no radio. However, it was much cheaper to drive and the $100 trip down the east coast turned into $35. I ended up totaling it in a freak accident.
1979 Ford Mustang II
I inherited this car when I married. My wife had bought it in North Carolina when she lived there.
It was a 4-speed manual with a 4-cylinder engine. The color in the picture is accurate to our vehicle.
It made the trip from Georgia to Maine when we exited the Army and served us well for many miles. I don't remember what happened to it.
1984 Honda Accord Hatchback
This was a short-lived ownership. My dad gave it to me and my wife. He was done using it and wanted to help us.
We were rear-ended while stopped at a traffic light by a high school student in a larger car. It totaled the Honda.
The color of ours was a sort of burgundy.
1985 Honda Civic
The only things I remember about this car is that it had a sunroof which made it impossible to get out of the mid-day sun.
And the timing belt broke which bent all the valve stems. It cost about $600 to repair and never seemed to run the same after that.
1985 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Brougham
This car cost about $4000. I had purchased a Chevy Corsica from a used car lot in Windham. The Chevy stalled all the way home, so I turned around and returned it and told the dealer I was cancelling my check.
In the meantime, a salesperson I knew and liked in Auburn told me about this car, so I went there and bought it.
It was a terrible car. In the course of 5-6 months we dropped about $500 in repairs in it. My mechanic told me that even though it had very low miles on it, they must have been hard miles given its propensity to break down. The salesperson through whom I bought asked me how we liked it. I told him we hated it and why. He immediately told me to bring it back and trade it for something else. The trade amount offered covered the original cost of the car and all the repairs, so I was happy to do it. That's how we ended up with the next car.
1986 Toyota Camry
Not much to say about this car. We ran it until the clutch failed. I assume we got it fixed, but that's all I can recall.
It was primarily my wife's car. I drove the next vehicle.
1986 Nissan Pickup
Standard shift. Standard radio. Crank windows. No amenities. It did have a cap. Cost us $5000 through a personal classified ad. We had this truck for 7 years. It started rusting out before breaking down.
Ended up donating it to a charitable organization and took the tax benefit.
It was only 2-wheel drive which made it fun in winter. Seriously.
1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera
This, too, was a private sale. We didn't have this car for very long. I don't remember it as being particularly reliable.
1990 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera
I liked this car. It gave us very few problems and for some reason it was fast, much faster than its trim level suggested.
Unfortunately, it had an untimely death in December 1998. I was headed out to do some Christmas shopping and someone pulled out in front of me at an intersection where I had the right of way. I T-boned him and totaled the car.
All I could think at the time was that I had it paid off and now would have to go back into debt on another vehicle. I think the insurance company gave us about $2000 for it.
1992 Ford Aerostar
I called this our butt-ugly pig van which delighted my sons to no end. Despite its ungainly looks, it turned out to be a decent vehicle. It had AWD so was good in the snow. In fact, I took to pushing snow banks back by ramming into them during one particularly prolific winter.
In the end, I donated it to charity when it started requiring too many repairs.
1993 Ford Taurus
This car was loaded with features. Turns out it was also missing some features - two motor mounts, and the head gasket blew which was a common problem with Tauruses at that time.
I traded it for the next vehicle.
1994 Toyota Camry
This car was loaded as well. It became my wife's car while I drove the butt-ugly pig van.
I sold it through a magazine classified ad when it was time to part ways.
1995 Ford Escort Wagon
I bought this from a friend for $1500. He had a relative who kept it in a barn for years. Didn't have it for very long before the crankshaft on it snapped.
The mechanic told me of someone who would buy it, so I sold it as is.
1999 Plymouth Grand Voyager Espresso
I got into minivans after renting one for our annual trip to North Carolina. The Aerostar was the first one we owned. This was the second. It had captain's chairs in the first and second row which gave my two boys their own seats. It had front/rear heat/air conditioning and a slew of other features. It made for grand road trips.
However, the transmission eventually went on it which was endemic among Chrysler vehicles. After spending $2200 on having it rebuilt, we drove it for another 4 months when the oil pump went.
2001 Honda CRV
In 2005, my wife's dad had a stroke. We drove down to North Carolina in the Grand Voyager. The AC condenser on it had failed, so it was a very warm trip with the windows open.
When my wife told me she wanted to stay longer to help her dad, I knew this would be a good time to do some car shopping. We could've flown her home, but she hates flying. And I couldn't stay as my vacation was running out.
So I went car shopping and found this Honda at Watkins Auto in Forest City. I dealt with the owner and he took enough off the price to make it make sense. So when my wife was ready to come home, she would be able to drive. This CRV was an AWD vehicle which made it perfect for her in winter time. In fact, I've kept her in 4-wheel drive vehicles since. It gives me peace of mind. Her too.
When it was time to move onto the next car, we gave this to our oldest son. He drove it to over 200,000 miles and has since traded it for the car he owns now.
2003 Mazda MPV
This van wasn't good at all. When it rained the spark plug coils would short out.
And the windows wouldn't go all the way down, either.
2005 Toyota Camry
My wife really liked this Camry. I found it difficult to enter and exit. Seat and steering wheel positioning made it a bit of a contortionist act to do so. However, when finally in the driver's seat it was fine.
In winter my wife had a hard time driving it in snow. It may have been due to the fact that it was quite fast. Whatever the reason, I had her trade vehicles with my youngest son who was driving our Pacifica (next car)
He was rear ended by a young lady which ended up totaling this car.
2006 Chrysler Pacifica
When I bought this car, I made sure I had a warranty. That ended up paying for itself when the transmission blew. The replacement cost over $5000 and a rep from Boston had to drive up to make sure the replacement went as was supposed to.
Even with that issue, I still think of this car fondly. In the winter it was a tank due to its weight and all wheel drive. It just wouldn't get stuck.
There was a lot of room in the back seat for my sons who were getting quite big. It had a leather interior and I think the driver's seat was heated. It rode well and made for comfortable road trips. A friend bought it and still owns it, though he is looking to sell it.
2003 Toyota Matrix
I drove the Matrix. It is white, just like this picture. I enjoyed it for its fuel economy and the acceleration is quick for a 4-cylinder. It was fairly reliable in the 80,000 or so miles I've put on it.
2008 Toyota RAV4 Sport
My wife's 4-wheel drive for the last year or two. It is a good vehicle and well equipped.
2012 Nissan Maxima SV Sport
This year we replaced the Matrix with this Maxima. It's a nice car, loaded with goodies. But what really grabbed my eye was the less than 20K original miles on it. I can envision some long distance road trips taking place over the next few years.
2012 Honda CR-V EX-L
Well the RAV4 was totaled in a rear ender when my wife hit a pickup that had stopped in front of her. No one was hurt, thank God. But the damage estimate was greater than the value, so the insurance company closed out the claim and sent us a check. As it was her fault, insurance wouldn't cover a rental and we had to return the loaner from the body shop. I got her a rental and had to start looking quickly because the car was going to cost over $300 a week. I test drove four vehicles, a 2015 Toyota Venza, a 2015 Nissan Rogue, a 2009 Subaru Forester and this CR-V. Hands down, the CR-V was the better vehicle of them all for various reasons I won't cover here.
So this is our fast and furious vehicle life. And while I can't boast to having owned any exotic sports cars or rugged off-road SUVs, I can say that we have been able to get where we needed to go with relatively few problems, especially when considering the amount of miles we rack up over the course of a year.
The only vehicles where I couldn't match colors were the Aerostar, the 90 Cutlass, the 85 Cutlass and the Accord.
The first games of Major League Baseball's Spring Training have been played and I find myself curiously apathetic.
I used to look forward to Spring Training as a harbinger of warmer weather to come. In Maine, winter can be quite grueling and may last beyond a reasonable expectation. So Spring Training was like seeing the first robin or the first crocus poking up through the ground. It was a vicarious thrill to watch the players easily tossing a baseball under a yellow sun with palm trees swaying in the background.
However, now I couldn't care any less.
Most professional sports have made themselves inaccessible to those of us who refuse to drop large sums of money on cable or satellite television every month.
When growing up, I used to watch the Boston Red Sox regularly on network television. Now, the only time I can catch a Red Sox game is if Fox carries a Saturday game or if the Sox make it into the playoffs. And that's not even until the ALCS as the ALDS has been claimed by TBS. During the season, the games are broadcast on New England Sports Network (NESN).
The last time I watched the Boston Celtics play was in 1987. Now they are broadcast on Comcast Sports Net (CSN) and I don't even know if our cable provider carries that station.
The Boston Bruins, like the Red Sox, are on NESN as well.
It's not just television. Back in 1975, a group of us attended a Red Sox game at Fenway Park. It was my first time at Fenway. We were able to get box seats behind the home team dugout for only $5. The last time I took my wife and two sons to Fenway, we sat out in the bleachers and I paid almost $500 for the four seats. That doesn't include the cost to get there and back or any food we may have purchased. Grand total for the evening was probably close to $800.
I know prices go up over the years, and I know that businesses have a huge overhead, so they look to make even huger profits. I get all that.
But the common, blue collar experience of going to a ballgame has been replaced with something that's only easily available to those who would be considered elite.
I imagine the same is true for the other sports teams as well. I've heard that the outlay to attend a Patriots game is quite steep.
However.
HOWEVER.
The NFL is still broadcast on network television (with the exception of Monday Night Football). With my little 32" flat screen and antenna, I am able to immerse myself every week in a few hours of rough and tumble competition.
To actually be able to watch in real time the plays that are talked about the next day on sports radio makes for an engagement which is not possible by following a team via internet news wrap ups and video clips.
I don't know if the NFL will ever go the broadcast way of the other sports, but until it does, give me football season over baseball, basketball and hockey.
... the dark ancestral cave, the womb from which mankind emerged into the light, forever pulls one back — but that you can't go home again.
... You can’t go back home to your family, back home to your childhood, back home to romantic love, back home to a young man’s dreams of glory and of fame,... away from all the strife and conflict of the world, ... back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting but which are changing all the time — back home to the escapes of Time and Memory.
From You Can't Go Home Again
By Thomas Wolfe
You can't go home again.
The above quote by Thomas Wolfe is the denouement of his novel, You Can't Go Home Again. It echoes the frustration of unmet expectations that people typically experience when taking a nostalgic journey.
So much changes through the years. Old buildings are torn down, new buildings erected. Long time businesses close their doors, new ones open. New roads are built which redirects traffic from its former patterns. Things change.
People change. The young grow up. The middle-aged get older. The elderly die. This inexorable conveyor belt of life keeps everyone moving along at a pace which becomes dizzying after a while.
We change. What we were ten, twenty, thirty years ago is not what we are now, though inwardly we may not feel any differently.
So in our time travel to past locations and lives, we are met with this burden of change.
And it can be disappointing.
But I think you can go home again - at least in a way that makes it less melancholic, less shocking.
MJ and I celebrated our 30th anniversary late last year. We talked about what we would do for it. The idea of a cruise seemed to be at the top of the list. Hey, that's what everyone does, right?
But a cruise struck me as more cliche than anything else, and MJ wasn't overly enthusiastic about it either.
For the past several years, I had suggested we go to Savannah, Georgia during one of our trips to the south to see family. But the timeframes never worked out for us to do so.
Then one day last year, someone asked my wife what we were doing for our 30th. She, in turn, asked me. On the spot, I answered almost immediately, "We're going to Savannah." It was settled.
The day after Christmas, we boarded an American Airlines flight to take us south.
You see, Fort Stewart, Georgia is where I met MJ. Tybee Island is where I proposed to her. Savannah, Hinesville and the surrounding area were home for a while, both as singles and then as a couple and the idea of returning to our roots was appealing.
We spent a week in Savannah, Hinesville and Fort Stewart checking out old haunts and finding many of them no longer existed. Of course, there were major changes, but we still knew the old ways to get around and they sufficed.
We looked at it all as outsiders now, but strangers with a special knowledge of the area and its history especially how it pertained to us. There was no sadness for any disconnect that we may have felt. We had fun as we pointed out places and talked about them.
And now, a few weeks removed from the trip, I can say that it certainly felt a lot like going home.
Even if it wasn't.
My wife really liked this Camry. I found it difficult to enter and exit. Seat and steering wheel positioning made it a bit of a contortionist act to do so. However, when finally in the driver's seat it was fine.
Well the RAV4 was totaled in a rear ender when my wife hit a pickup that had stopped in front of her. No one was hurt, thank God. But the damage estimate was greater than the value, so the insurance company closed out the claim and sent us a check. As it was her fault, insurance wouldn't cover a rental and we had to return the loaner from the body shop. I got her a rental and had to start looking quickly because the car was going to cost over $300 a week. I test drove four vehicles, a 2015 Toyota Venza, a 2015 Nissan Rogue, a 2009 Subaru Forester and this CR-V. Hands down, the CR-V was the better vehicle of them all for various reasons I won't cover here.
