Cars. I’ve always loved cars. It shows too. Below, you will find reasonable versions of the vehicles I’ve owned in my life. Some were with me for a while, some were passing fancies… All of them spoke about who I was when I drove them…

So pull up a comfy chair, fix a hot mug of some warm love (Maker’s Mark for YOU Hot Toddy’s Toaster Oven), and reminisce with me about my life… so far.

1982 Chevrolet El Camino

my first car was the El Camino. Mine was light brown and given to me by my Father when he upgraded to the GMC version. Sadly, on a drunken evening in my senior year of high school, this car was marooned on a bolder in a friend’s front yard.

1980 Ford Mustang

The Mustang started as my sister’s car. It was maroon, and she sold it to me for $300.00 and a promise not to smoke pot. Sadly, this too ended up marooned in a drunken excursion into the city of St. Louis from my dorm on the Illinois side of the river. The drive shaft fell out as I drove across some railroad tracks.

1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme

The Olds Supreme was fun. It was my first car with power windows and Air Conditioning. My Dad bought it for me from a friend of his. We had a real bonding moment together when we spent the weekend painting it with rollers and left over aircraft paint from work. My Dad worked for US Airways and they were repainting their fleet that summer so they had a good deal of paint left over. It had a badly rusted bumper that was easily replaced with a body color matched piece of 12×1 lumber. Sadly the bumper didn’t last long. I was trying to turn around in the alleyway next to the Powerhouse in San Francisco during, ahem, yet another drunken evening and backed into a dumpster, severing what little rust remained holding the wood onto the car. I drove off leaving the 12×1 wooden piece in the dumpster as a left souvenir.

1976 Honda Civic CVCC

After arriving in San Francisco and losing my bumper to the dumpster demon, in addition to feeling like complete white trash, I didn’t feel safe driving a car with no bumper and an exposed gas tank. so I sold it off for $50.00 and bought the above little Civic. Mine was white but because of some unfortunate rusting on the roof and hatch I was forced to make do with a little white trash fix all. Yup. Duct Tape. I liked to tell people that the tape was offset for that Euro look, but it was really covering up the rust holes. I sold this car when it needed a new clutch. I should have probably kept it longer… This would be my first, of many, financial mistakes.

1990 CRX

I replaced my older Civic with a new CRX(My first brand new). This car was a blast to own. It was fast, sporty, great on gas and fit anywhere. I went thru 2 major accidents with the car and both times I walked away without a scratch. My first break-in was one of the most memorable nights of my life, and the second was the night Bill Clinton won the election the first time. There was partying in the streets of San Francisco (and a homeless man sleeping in my car). During one of the repairs to the CRX, I toyed with the idea of a convertible… ok, I bought one.

1968 Fiat 850 Spider

I never officially owned this car, because I sold it off to my roommate within 4 days of buying it, but was still given full driving privileges. This was a fun car. The seats were not attached, the top was shredded and torn and the wheels needed air daily (at least). The exhaust didn’t match the engine, didn’t match the body, didn’t match the seats, didn’t match anything. But it ran and it was fast and it was fun.

The CRX lived on another year or two until I tired of my car payments. I sold it off and bought something cheap.

1980 corolla

This helped me save money and get my life situated. Around this time, I met TL who would turn out to be a major influence on my life. We became quick and passionate lovers. We fought, we cried, we played and we shopped. Oh how we shopped. We bought this together…

1995 Jeep Wrangler

Hard Top, 6 cylinder, loaded. This was a great car…but alas, the relationship was doomed by myself and my youthful indiscretions. I learned the hard way about honesty and trust… He got the free and clear exit, and I became saddled with the debt of 4 years of uber-shopping. I bought his half of the Jeep out by absorbing his part of the credit card debt.

As the payments climbed and my finances stayed the same, it was obvious that I needed to do something… I tried to get rid of the Jeep and downsize again…

Well it worked before so why not try again. I bought this.

1987 CRX

It was a good plan. But I neglected to think about selling the Jeep. I couldn’t. It didn’t help that I bought this with a cash advance from a credit card. I sold the CRX a few weeks later, and took the remnants of that money and filed Chapter 7.

The debt was gone, but the Jeep remained and worse yet… the maintenance issues were just arriving. I managed to unload the Jeep on an unsuspecting Ford Dealer when I traded it in on my first VW.

1994 Jetta

I had this car for several years and it took great care of me. I rebuilt my credit, traveled the Bay Area and got a good little amount of work done in the meantime. I was rolling in money from my commissions. So much so, that I went and bought my dream car…

1996 Volvo 850 R

This was a monster! It was FAST, it was SEXY and it was EXPENSIVE. I was in heaven. I bought it used. Mine was white with a tan interior. The seats were heated SUEDE. Yes that’s right Suede BABY!. The rims were titanium and the wheels were z-rated. This sucker hit 140mph on the freeway before I even felt the speed hit me.

I drove her cross-country with my Mother from the Bay Area to Chicago when I relocated in 2000. The trip was another that will live in my memory because my Mother and I had a great trip and a chance to clear the air about me being gay. ( well some of it anyway) The R racing-tuned suspension was no match for the ripped up, pot-holed streets of Chicago and after replacing several of my tires at $220 per tire, I got fed up with the cost of this car and bought…

2002 VW GTI

I was feeling old and wanted to spruce up my life so I bought the GTI. Fun little car. Little the key. 2 doors and hatch. I drove this car almost 2 years until last week. I’ve had a love/frustration feeling with this little beast. Loved how fun it was to drive, hated the small parts breaking regularly. It was with semi-sadness that I recently… ok VERY recently, said goodbye to it.

Why??? Cause I bought myself a BMW!!!!!

2001 325i

This is the beast I’m driving now. Its great for Stella… Its even better for me!

I feel like an adult again. It was a long journey to my first BMW, but I made it, and I thank you for joining me as I drove down memory lane.

*** please note that the photos in this post are NOT my cars, but pictures I found on the internet. I’m sad to say that many of my cars never had photo ops with me. I really wish I’d have taken pictures of my Fiat most of all. That was a rare car and I’ve never seen another in person since.