brylishehers
Active member
Yesterday I was avoiding chores so I wrote the history of the vehicles I've driven. I'm a pretty big nerd so it was fun. Here you go.
1991, bottom end of North Walpole, WA, Aus Grandpa teaches me how to drive in his 1981 Toyota Hilux 2L Diesel.
That thing was a gutless wonder, but it was so light you could drive it over a swamp and it'd almost skate along the top like a water bug :laughing. Holy crap, if you kept it in good nic it’s now worth more than new! I also got to drive his 1960’s era tractor and once raced my friends tractors around the paddock when we were supposed to be bringing the cows in for milking…
1994, Victoria Point, Qld, Aus my brothers and I need to get to school so my mum lets me drive her 1981 Mitsubishi Sigma GJ
when needed. One day when we were on a sabbath school (like Sunday School but for Seventh Day Adventists) outing into the bush my “friend” wanted to know if he could listen to the radio. I said yes but you have to turn the engine on so you don’t flatten the battery. He got bored and took it out of Neutral and started driving slowly. I told him to stop but he didn’t listen. I jumped onto the driver’s side running board because the door was open. I said “Ben, STOP!” He didn’t listen so I reached in and took the keys out. He says “No problem, I’ll just coast!” which works until we reach a bend in the road, the steering wheel locks up, he panics, doesn’t hit the brakes, I dive off landing on the gravel/mud and tear up my “sunday school” best, he and my other “friends” go over the edge of the road and only avoid plunging an extra 10’ into the creek because of a small tree on the edge of the creek.
1996, Grand Terrace, CA, USA My Dad buys us an '83 Mazda 323 DX sedan complete with manual sunroof :laughing
My first car with electric windows(!) with a fading paint job. He's super handy with cars so I help but he does most of the work of sanding it down and repainting it. We finish late at night so don’t have time to put on all the make and model badges or the boot (trunk) lock. To this day I’m terrible about finishing projects so I leave the boot lock off. I have an internal boot release but because I’m that girl I see if I can open the boot with my fingers. If you stick your finger aaaall the way in over to the left then rotate it just right you can do it. This becomes a challenge with my friends, some do, some don’t have the “talented fingers.” One day I open the boot to chuck my bag in and almost throw it onto my friend Huang. “What on earth are you doing in my boot Huang?!” He says “I had a free period and it was chilly so I hopped into your boot for a nap!”
1996, Grand Terrace, CA, USA My Dad painstakingly cleans and touches up his pride and joy, an ‘88 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am GTA
into almost showroom condition so I can take my date to the Junior-Senior Banquet (no dances, as we were Seventh Day Adventist). That was such an awesome ride.
1997, Angwin (Nappa Valley), CA, USA I’m off to college so my Dad helps me buy a car for college, a 1989 Ford Probe GT Turbo.
The muffler needs to be replaced so I get a custom cat-back exhaust put on it and throw on a K&N cold-air intake. Turns out that hatchback can hold a college-dorm-room single mattress in the back of it which I use to full advantage taking my gf car camping at the beach, yayuh!
1998, Petrified Forest, Calistoga CA, I’m driving my ‘95 Galant
with 120K miles on it that I bought because I’m sick of my brother picking up the Probe and leaving it on empty with food wrappers all over the place. I blew the water pump. The college auto-maintenance team took pity on me and showed me how to replace it. I was using two extensions to try to crack the nut on the water pump, I should have used three. When the nut came loose i was putting in so much force I slammed my index and middle fingers against the metal valve cover. They immediately turned black I lost my middle fingernail until it grew back and my index finger was dropping crystals of dried blood of my nail bed for weeks while that grew out!
2001, Fremont, CA ‘00 Impreza 2.5RS.
I listen to my stupid friend who tells me it’s easy to put a Vishnu turbo upgrade kit on my poor little Naturally Aspirated engine. We don’t install it properly, I’m driving it to work one day and I blow the engine, white smoke gushing out of the back of it. I limp it into the customer’s parking lot and have to take a tow truck home. I pay an arm and a leg to have it towed to Subaru Santa Cruz and they cover it for me under warranty after I take off the go-fast parts BECAUSE THEY’RE AMAZING. You’d think I’d learn the lesson to stop messing with engine computers myself....
2002, Los Angeles, CA My first new car! An ‘02 WRX.
I spent way too much money on the audio system with an Alpine pop-out head unit
and two 10” subwoofers in the back
2002 Long Beach, CA I’ve hotted up my WRX, Vishnu Stage II engine upgrade kit (paid a pro to install most of it), JDM Morrettes, Stoptech Big Brake Kit, carbon fiber hood.
I do the exhaust work myself, leave the O2 sensor wire touching the exhaust like an idiot. Months later on a long trip to Long Beach the wire finally gets the insulation burned off it, it shorts and my engine dies with three friends in the car 400 miles from home. I rent a car to get back home. My friend and I are barely able to stay awake driving back, I actually ended up scratching my initials into my arm with my fingernail deep enough to leave a scab just to keep myself awake. Never again! Long Beach Subaru charges me $900 to diagnose, says I need a whole new engine wiring harness, the total will be $1,800. I trailer it back up to Subaru Santa Cruz to see what they can do, they take pity on my and fix it for only another $900.
2003, Palo Alto, CA. My “friend” and new boss is taking advantage of me getting fired and needing a job, pays me a pittance to do IT Consulting and makes a mint off me. I need money, start selling off my parts. I don’t do the smart thing and buy a new OEM engine computer, I buy a used one this supposedly reputable seller claims has the stock map in it. It doesn’t. It blows the engine. I have it towed to Subaru Santa Cruz and sleep in the car overnight. They report to me the engine pinged itself to death and show me scoped pics of the cylinder walls. I have to pay to get it repaired.
2005, I trade in my WRX and get a Legacy GT Turbo, man that car was beautiful.
2006 I needed a new car and my wife now ex wanted me to get one with traction control, so i picked up this C350 Sport Sedan 6-Speed. Put a Limo tint on the rear windows and 20% up front, man was that a smooth ride.
2008 got a kid on the way I upgrade to a mommy-mobile.
2015 the tech in my MX is getting pretty old, the Nav system is pretty weak-sauce, I look around for something new and fun. I pick up this little number. Isn’t she stylin :lol
Look at that two-tone upholstery!
2016 My kids hate the small back seat, my wife now ex won’t shut up about how loud it is and how tinny it feels so I do a lot of research and find the fastest SUV I can for the money with the biggest back seat:
That’s a 2016 Ford Edge Sport. Not a super comfortable ride with 21’s but they look sexy as hell, and she’s still mine today! She gets a lot less miles now that I ride bikes.
Looking back at the cars I’ve owned or driven a lot, I realize I’m very privileged. I don’t regret most of them, I wish I had kept the ‘06 C350 but I was a big baby about commuting all the time with a stick. I took a $10K bath in depreciation because I traded in the Focus on the Edge. I’m glad I made mistakes in my vehicle journey it’s made me realize how important it is to do your research, and be honest with yourself about what you really need vs. what you want, and the opportunity cost of what you could do with all the money you spend on your transportation!
1991, bottom end of North Walpole, WA, Aus Grandpa teaches me how to drive in his 1981 Toyota Hilux 2L Diesel.
That thing was a gutless wonder, but it was so light you could drive it over a swamp and it'd almost skate along the top like a water bug :laughing. Holy crap, if you kept it in good nic it’s now worth more than new! I also got to drive his 1960’s era tractor and once raced my friends tractors around the paddock when we were supposed to be bringing the cows in for milking…
1994, Victoria Point, Qld, Aus my brothers and I need to get to school so my mum lets me drive her 1981 Mitsubishi Sigma GJ
when needed. One day when we were on a sabbath school (like Sunday School but for Seventh Day Adventists) outing into the bush my “friend” wanted to know if he could listen to the radio. I said yes but you have to turn the engine on so you don’t flatten the battery. He got bored and took it out of Neutral and started driving slowly. I told him to stop but he didn’t listen. I jumped onto the driver’s side running board because the door was open. I said “Ben, STOP!” He didn’t listen so I reached in and took the keys out. He says “No problem, I’ll just coast!” which works until we reach a bend in the road, the steering wheel locks up, he panics, doesn’t hit the brakes, I dive off landing on the gravel/mud and tear up my “sunday school” best, he and my other “friends” go over the edge of the road and only avoid plunging an extra 10’ into the creek because of a small tree on the edge of the creek.
1996, Grand Terrace, CA, USA My Dad buys us an '83 Mazda 323 DX sedan complete with manual sunroof :laughing
My first car with electric windows(!) with a fading paint job. He's super handy with cars so I help but he does most of the work of sanding it down and repainting it. We finish late at night so don’t have time to put on all the make and model badges or the boot (trunk) lock. To this day I’m terrible about finishing projects so I leave the boot lock off. I have an internal boot release but because I’m that girl I see if I can open the boot with my fingers. If you stick your finger aaaall the way in over to the left then rotate it just right you can do it. This becomes a challenge with my friends, some do, some don’t have the “talented fingers.” One day I open the boot to chuck my bag in and almost throw it onto my friend Huang. “What on earth are you doing in my boot Huang?!” He says “I had a free period and it was chilly so I hopped into your boot for a nap!”
1996, Grand Terrace, CA, USA My Dad painstakingly cleans and touches up his pride and joy, an ‘88 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am GTA
into almost showroom condition so I can take my date to the Junior-Senior Banquet (no dances, as we were Seventh Day Adventist). That was such an awesome ride.
1997, Angwin (Nappa Valley), CA, USA I’m off to college so my Dad helps me buy a car for college, a 1989 Ford Probe GT Turbo.
The muffler needs to be replaced so I get a custom cat-back exhaust put on it and throw on a K&N cold-air intake. Turns out that hatchback can hold a college-dorm-room single mattress in the back of it which I use to full advantage taking my gf car camping at the beach, yayuh!
1998, Petrified Forest, Calistoga CA, I’m driving my ‘95 Galant
with 120K miles on it that I bought because I’m sick of my brother picking up the Probe and leaving it on empty with food wrappers all over the place. I blew the water pump. The college auto-maintenance team took pity on me and showed me how to replace it. I was using two extensions to try to crack the nut on the water pump, I should have used three. When the nut came loose i was putting in so much force I slammed my index and middle fingers against the metal valve cover. They immediately turned black I lost my middle fingernail until it grew back and my index finger was dropping crystals of dried blood of my nail bed for weeks while that grew out!
2001, Fremont, CA ‘00 Impreza 2.5RS.
I listen to my stupid friend who tells me it’s easy to put a Vishnu turbo upgrade kit on my poor little Naturally Aspirated engine. We don’t install it properly, I’m driving it to work one day and I blow the engine, white smoke gushing out of the back of it. I limp it into the customer’s parking lot and have to take a tow truck home. I pay an arm and a leg to have it towed to Subaru Santa Cruz and they cover it for me under warranty after I take off the go-fast parts BECAUSE THEY’RE AMAZING. You’d think I’d learn the lesson to stop messing with engine computers myself....
2002, Los Angeles, CA My first new car! An ‘02 WRX.
I spent way too much money on the audio system with an Alpine pop-out head unit
and two 10” subwoofers in the back
2002 Long Beach, CA I’ve hotted up my WRX, Vishnu Stage II engine upgrade kit (paid a pro to install most of it), JDM Morrettes, Stoptech Big Brake Kit, carbon fiber hood.
I do the exhaust work myself, leave the O2 sensor wire touching the exhaust like an idiot. Months later on a long trip to Long Beach the wire finally gets the insulation burned off it, it shorts and my engine dies with three friends in the car 400 miles from home. I rent a car to get back home. My friend and I are barely able to stay awake driving back, I actually ended up scratching my initials into my arm with my fingernail deep enough to leave a scab just to keep myself awake. Never again! Long Beach Subaru charges me $900 to diagnose, says I need a whole new engine wiring harness, the total will be $1,800. I trailer it back up to Subaru Santa Cruz to see what they can do, they take pity on my and fix it for only another $900.
2003, Palo Alto, CA. My “friend” and new boss is taking advantage of me getting fired and needing a job, pays me a pittance to do IT Consulting and makes a mint off me. I need money, start selling off my parts. I don’t do the smart thing and buy a new OEM engine computer, I buy a used one this supposedly reputable seller claims has the stock map in it. It doesn’t. It blows the engine. I have it towed to Subaru Santa Cruz and sleep in the car overnight. They report to me the engine pinged itself to death and show me scoped pics of the cylinder walls. I have to pay to get it repaired.
2005, I trade in my WRX and get a Legacy GT Turbo, man that car was beautiful.
2006 I needed a new car and my wife now ex wanted me to get one with traction control, so i picked up this C350 Sport Sedan 6-Speed. Put a Limo tint on the rear windows and 20% up front, man was that a smooth ride.
2008 got a kid on the way I upgrade to a mommy-mobile.
2015 the tech in my MX is getting pretty old, the Nav system is pretty weak-sauce, I look around for something new and fun. I pick up this little number. Isn’t she stylin :lol
Look at that two-tone upholstery!
2016 My kids hate the small back seat, my wife now ex won’t shut up about how loud it is and how tinny it feels so I do a lot of research and find the fastest SUV I can for the money with the biggest back seat:
That’s a 2016 Ford Edge Sport. Not a super comfortable ride with 21’s but they look sexy as hell, and she’s still mine today! She gets a lot less miles now that I ride bikes.
Looking back at the cars I’ve owned or driven a lot, I realize I’m very privileged. I don’t regret most of them, I wish I had kept the ‘06 C350 but I was a big baby about commuting all the time with a stick. I took a $10K bath in depreciation because I traded in the Focus on the Edge. I’m glad I made mistakes in my vehicle journey it’s made me realize how important it is to do your research, and be honest with yourself about what you really need vs. what you want, and the opportunity cost of what you could do with all the money you spend on your transportation!
it was super trippy changing gears with my right hand instead of my left
.