First car - 1983 Olds Cutlass. Started out with the 3.8 Buford plant under the hood, had plans to swap engines, and acquired a '78 350 out of a K10. Pulled the engine down to the short block, gave it new head gaskets, new stock replacement camshaft ( had a few dead lobes ) a set of lifters and double roller timing chain.
One day while driving to work, the 3.8 flung a connecting rod cap through the oil pan, and smashed the camshaft in two, oiling down the pavement. On the buick V6, the distributor was in the front of the engine, so it sort of ran on a couple cylinders for about a minute, enough to get up to speed and coast the last mile downhill to work.
Out with the engine and transmission, in went the 350 with a dual pattern TH350, a home built trans cross member. ( for headers and dual exhaust ) Had to get some parts like a fan shroud at the wreckers, and swap the fuel line over to the passenger side of the car. The engine pulled 21 inches of vacuum at an idle, and ran strong. On the highway, I could get 30 mpg, of course in town the economy dropped considerably when the secondaries were open..
She got a coat of metallic purple BASF Miracryl over the stock paint that was sanded with P320 and sealed with an epoxy primer. The stock 14" wheels were swapped out for the 15" off of the full size cars with a P205/65R15. ( Plus 1 ) Pirelli P600's made the car handle like a dream, at least until the stock rubber bushings ( long since petrified ) got loosened up in the control arms. Heavy coils from a diesel equipped wagon and HD shocks gave a decent ride and cornering.
Drove the car for several years, the only real issue with the car was keeping header gaskets in it, they were good for a few months at a set, since the exhaust system torqued with the motor. Put close to 150,000 kms on this car.
2nd car - 1993 Chevrolet Caprice, ex Police car. I obtained this 4200LB 'whale' from a friend, he had bought it a year previously at an auction. Flogged this like a red-headed step child. One year shy of the reverse flow LT1 engine, it was equipped with a throttle body injection system. Tossed the stock rims in the dumpster, and installed a set of 5 spoke 15" aluminum rims from Superior.
I had a friend that worked at the police station in the maintenance dept, so I had an 'in' for good used half worn Goodyear tires off of the police cars. Smoked tires off left and right. The body wasn't in great shape, but repair parts were expensive, so I decided to put zero dollars into it and beat the snot out of it. Pulled the engine when I was done with the car, sold it for $ 375, scrapped out the rest. A bit over 4 years and I had put close to 200,000 kms on it.
3rd car - 1991 Olds 88 auction special. Gave it a new lease on life with a coat of BASF Limco alkyd fleet white and some intensive sandblasting and patching. Flung the differential cross-pin out of the 4T60 case one night when I was attempting a "rockford". Guess it wasn't wet enough out, and I had 4 other people in the car. Engine was bouncing off of the rev limiter, and smoke pouring out of under the hood from the oil on the hot exhaust when we came to a stop. Pushed it to the curb, went into the pub and had a beer.
Well, actually a bunch. Laughed about it, ad-libbing to songs about wrecking the tranny... LOL. Good times. Swapped out the transaxle that weekend with one from my parts car. New cooler, and good to go. Car was good to me, had to repair the rotten brake lines and fuel lines once though in it's life. Drove for a lot of years on used parts.
4th vehicle - 1989 Honda Accord EX-i This car was a free vehicle.... no seriously, it was free. The previous owner was driving through from Toronto, and had issues with the clutch, and decided to abandon it with the signed ownership. ( he had gotten a quote of 8 hours labor to change the clutch and figured it wasn't worth it ) I changed the clutch, sanded the flywheel with an orbital sander, changed out the power steering rack and cross member. Cheap.... yea. $ 1300 on the road including the cost of a new Pioneer CD player and a set of door speakers.
Acquired the car with about 247,000 on the clock, it was up over 374K tonight. I had to remove some items this evening before it's voyage to the scrapyard. Power steering rack crapped out on it, needed tires for winter, the exhaust was noisy, etc, so it wasn't worth fixing up again.
5th vehicle - 1997 GMC EX-Cab 4x4. Not on the road yet, but working on it, slowly doing bodywork, skinning the lower doors, rocker panels, cab corners, etc. 247 on the clock. This will be an occasional driver, fixed up nice, but still a driver. Vortec 305, 4L65E, F44 HD chassis and 3.73 gearing. Gov't issue auction special.
6th vehicle - 2012 Honda Civic LX Brand 'spankin' new. First new vehicle ever.
This list doesn't include vehicles I have fixed up for the other halves', family, or to re-sell.
