While sitting under an oak tree in our fancy, schmancy Gander Mountain camping chairs last week, I used my beloved iPhone to read y’all’s blog comments.
My favorite Mother-in-law, Jean, left a comment with a bunch of ideas for upcoming Thursday Thirteen posts because as you may recall we finished up the Alphabet after 26 weeks of Thursday Thirteens starting with A and making it all the way to Z.
When I casually mentioned the idea of a Thursday Thirteen post of the thirteen vehicles we’ve owned, McDaddy came alive.
I hadn’t seen him that excited since Alex was born back in 2005.
Oh, I kid.
Sort of.
I began writing down each of the cars we have owned since we each started driving 19 years ago, and McDaddy went and got all technical on me, grabbed the note-pad and began putting the vehicles in order of their appearance.
Because McDaddydoesn’t play around when it comes to vehicles.
Remember, he does not hunt, fish or watch sports, but he likes his vehicles the same way he likes his women.
Fast.
And Cheap.
Oh, I kid.
Sort of. *smiling*
I had the daunting task of scanning and then editing all of these pictures for a post. Then, I had to upload the images to photobucket. Just before scanning the pictures, McDaddy spouted off specific instructions to “be sure and include before and after pictures of my Jeep” because it was “stock” before.
Stock, as in how it looked when we bought the thing. You know, normal.
As opposed to how it looks now since it’s been modified. Modified to the tune of thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours spent working on the thing.
And, as of this writing he is currently under the Jeep in the garage. Working on that thing makes him all kinds of happy!
So, without further fanfare, may I present thirteen vehicles we have owned.
And then some.
1. 1981 Buick Regal - This was my very first car. My parents bought it for me in 1992 when I was a senior in high school. When we went to look at it, I immediately knew it was the one. I spent many a wonderful hour in this car with The Crew – which included me, McDaddy, and our friends, Jodie, Tommy and Shawn rockin’ out to Bell Biv Devoe, Garth Brooks, Firehouse, Bobby Brown and Motley Crue.
2. 1981 Buick Electa -This was McDaddy’s first car. It actually belonged to his PaPa and then to his parents. Here is McDaddy back in the day when the car rolled over 100,000 miles.
At one time the car’s license plate read “1BIGBUIK”
Surprisingly, (to everyone except for those who know McDaddy personally), he still owns this car today with some sort of emotional attachment I cannot explain.
3. 1993 Chevy Corsica – My second car. Not a lot to say about this car except that it was a good one. Oh, and also it had a kickin’ stereo because McDaddy installed a Kenwood stereo that had a removable face plate and a car phone that was mounted on a pole. Remember those?
4. 1995 Chevrolet S-10 – This was McDaddy’s first new vehicle. It was also a standard which meant it endured lots of abuse as McDaddy taught me to drive a vehicle with a manual transmission. A requirement for anyone planning to become his wife.
5. 1996 Dodge Avenger – Sweet mercy, I loved this car from the first time I laid eyes on it. Much the same way that I loved the Saturn Sky when I first laid eyes on it. This was my first new car. It had a chronic oil leak that the sorry saps at Nitro Dodge were not willing to fix. Sadly, it spent more time in their service department than it did in my driveway.
This was the Avenger when we sold it. “Never smoked it” and “Lady Driven.”
A great car for anyone looking for a good used car with a chronic oil leak.
6. 1996 Honda CBR 600 F 3 – McDaddy’s first motorcycle. Remember I said, fast cars and fast women.
McDaddy actually traded that bike for his current one.
7. 1997 Suzuki Intruder 800 - This is McDaddy’s current motorcycle.
8. 1996 Toyota Camry – We traded the oil leak Avenger for this car. And as I sit here 11 years later, I cannot remember why we traded the Avenger, except for maybe the oil leak.
9. 1997 Pontiac Bonneville - I think buying this car had something to do with the fact that I was pregnant with Stevie and this car had 4-doors. Our neighbors across the street now own this sweet ride.
10. 1996 Jeep Cherokee – Ah, the Heap (ahem! I mean Jeep) – This vehicle was originally purchased becuase we live on a big, honkin’ hill that requires a 4-wheel drive in the Winter time.
Shortly after that, McDaddy began modifiing this vehicle to its current state – A Beast.
As per instructions from McDaddy, here is a before….
And here is the after….
Meet, The Beast
Seriously?
11. 2002 Toyota 4-Runner -My beloved 4-Runner. I absolutely love this vehicle. Sadly, I am afraid it is on McDaddy’s radar to trade for a truck. We use the 4-Runner to pull our summer home camper and McDaddy fed me some line about the camper “being a little much” for the 4-Runner.
12. 2006 Dodge Caravan – While the Dodge Caravan may not be the coolest ride in town, you cannot beat its versitility. We hauled our double-bowl bathroom countertop in it without a problem. The cargo area makes a better bed than a tent does, especially when its raining outside. Our boys love that it has a media package. In other words, a DVD player and wireless headphones. The van has heard more than its share of Tom & Jerry episodes and the movie CARS. If I were a member of the Jeep club, I would call this my “daily driver.”
13. 1996 Jeep Cherokee - I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that I have made a mistake because I have already mentioned the 1996 Jeep Cherokee.
This 1996 Jeep Cherokee is a different heap. And, yes, I mean heap!
One day while McDaddy was in Cuba, I happened to be rambling on about how bored I was with deployment, or how badly I needed an iPhone or probably something about my latest checkbook mishap when he casually asked if he could buy a Jeep. The question was actually rhetorical because its not as if he needs my permission to buy a Jeep. It was more of a feeler. He was feelin’ me out to see if I would take the roof off of the house or just calmly say, “I don’t care what you do.” Instead, I said something along the lines of “What in the name of Pete do you need another Jeep for?”
Now, I’m not sure who Pete is or what line he’s in, but McDaddy launched into some detailed tirade about buying the Jeep, switiching out the rear end (as if we don’t have enough rear end around these parts) and various pieces and parts for his Jeep, selling some parts off of it to other suckers fellas in the Jeep club and ultimately selling the finished product to some Jeep freak that looks at the thing with a loving heart and a gleam in his eye.
What I heard him say was, blah, blah and more blah.
At any rate, he made an international deal all the way from Cuba.
The next thing I knew the Jeep showed up at our house one weekend while I was gone.
Meet The Beast – Part Two
As you can see, he is in the midst of some sort of trading out. While I was writing about the Buick Regal, he came inside, looked at me with puppy dog eyes and asked if I was bored. Like the dutiful wife that I am, I quickly placed the laptop on the floor, got my Croc flip-flops and followed him outside. He asked me if I had ever helped him bleed brakes before.
Dumb question.
No, I am not well-versed on brake bleeding.
I spent several minutes pumping the break pedal while waiting for his cue to stop or start again.
I was happy to help.
I’d be even happier if we had a Saturn Sky sitting amongst our list, preferably somewhere near the end.
I am still waiting for someone at Saturn to get a whiff of my blog here at From Inmates To Playdates and send me one of the extra ones sitting on a lot somewhere. Surely, they could use it as a tax write-off and can you even begin to imagine the advertising I would do for them.
All eight of my readers would read daily about my experience in this sweet, sexy ride. Heck, I might even rename my blog.
Something like “The Sky’s The Limit”
Or “Me and My Sky”
Oh, and I could have included pictures of the company cars that McDaddy has had throughout the years. I decided against doing that because I don’t want to bore you any more than I already have.
There would be a chevy Cavalier, one Chevy Lumina and three Chevy Impalas added to the list. In that order.
How ’bout you?
Tell me about your first car.
Your favorite car.
Or your daily driver.
I’m sure it would tickle McDaddy to no end to read all about y’all’s vehicles.
{ 8 comments }
Wow – Bel Biv Devoe…now THAT brings back some memories! I think I actually have their cd in storage somewhere. Anyway. You asked about cars. I learned how to drive in my step-dad’s full size Dodge Ram pickup. I even took my driving test in it – and passed! He works for public transportation, so he installed one of those back-up-beepers on it. It went over well at the MVA as an added safety feature, but it wasn’t quite as cool on the high school parking lot. For my senior year in high school, my parents bought me a ’71 VW Bug convertible. Oh how I loved that car! But it was tough to learn to drive manual transmission on a 4-speed with a bad starter. I learned how to pop a clutch better than most guys I knew. I also learned many alternate routes that did not involve stopping on uphills. Just in case. In college I bought something more reliable, a used 1993 Mazda Protege. It served me well. So well in fact, that I replaced it with a 2002 Protege that is my current my daily driver. It’s got something over 160k miles on it and still going – I bought it brand new and will drive it until it dies. Or until I have another baby. Because really, a ten year old stepson and two car seats in the back of a four door sedan is just a bit unrealistic.
.-= Melanie´s last blog ..Thoughts on Breakfast…and a Giveaway! =-.
My first car was a gift for my Sweet 16. It was a 1972 VW Squareback. The neat thing was, that my Dad had driven this specific car off of the truck when it was 1st delivered to the dealership (He worked there at the time) and knew who had bought it… So I had a car that was made the year I was born and that Daddy drove 1st (not including whoever put it on the truck in the 1st place! haha)
BUT it had been in storage for several years, so anything rubber on it needed to be replaced. So it sat for a while. and I didn’t have my license anyway, so couldn’t have driven if it did run.
My first Driver Car, I “borrowed” from my mom for a 2 month period of time my Senior year (1990) because I had a class that I needed to leave school early for. I kept that 83 Honda Civic for many years. That car (Louise) was the best. She didn’t have dash lights, so I carried a flashlight so I could see how fast I was going. Then I got where I could tell how fast I was going by the sound of the engine and what gear I was in. I couldn’t kill her..and believe me I tried. During a 6 month period in 1992, I rear ended 3 different cars with her. (I don’t tailgate people anymore! at least not as much as I did!) By the end if that year, both headlights were held in with bungee cords. the front grill was replaced with a refrigerater grill and the Honda emblem was a bicycle reflector. The muffler fell off one day in the garage at the College of Charleston. (um, word of warning, those get hot quick…don’t try to pick it up off the ground bare handed). So I just kept a straight exhaust because as a *poor* college student, I couldn’t afford to get another one.
In 1994, Louise went to the back yard for a few years when I *for some reason which to this day I know not* I bought my first car – in my name – a 1987 (?) Plymouth Voyager. This was the only minivan that I ever saw that was a stick shift! And it only had 1 back seat rather than the standard 2. There wasn’t even a place to put one if I wanted too. But I drove it for several years…until the engine caught fire in 1996. Then, we got Louise out of the back yard and I drove her again.
In 1997, I finally graduated college (after squeezing my 4 years into 7) and with the money that I received as graduation presents, I put a down payment on my first brand new off the lot car. a 1997 Honday Civic. And that car is in my driveway today… still going strong. (Oh, and my sister drove Louise for another 2 years before she sold her to some one who delivered pizzas! We often saw her around town for several years after. She just wouldn’t die!)
I want a CRV, but that will have to wait until Tim and I are working again…..
My first car..Frank the Tank. A 1977 Pontiac Bonneville…older than me! It was MINT GREEN with MINT GREEN interior. I could fit 7 people in it comfortably, not legally mind you. It died a swfit death on the 494 Clover Leaf when I was 17 years old and decided that playing pin-ball between two cars was a GREAT idea.
http://fritzfacts.blogspot.com/2008/03/frank-tank.html
Currrent car…black Blazer sport. Good for now, but not when we have another kid, only two doors and seats 4. BUT, we love it for the room for the dog in the back, just don’t look at the dog hair okay…lol
.-= Kellyn´s last blog ..The Room Switch Part 2 =-.
My first and favorite car was a 1990 Celica, Red of course. That little car could go anywhere or do anything it had almost 300,000 mile on it when I sold it. Boy do I miss my Celly.
My first car was a 1968 Chevelle Malibu. It was the summer of 1968. I was fresh out of high school and had landed my first full-time job. Dad actually chose this car, then took me to see it before he closed the deal for me. I was still 17. Didn’t go to college. He paid a down-payment; then gave me the payment book for 3 years of $49.00 per month. That’s right!! But, keep in mind, my gross pay, working as the secretary to the district manager at Western-Southern Life Insurance full-time, was $64.00 per week. I lived with my parents until 1970, when Steve and I got married.
The car was white with a black vinyl top, which was a bear to keep clean. Black cloth interior. Bench seats; automatic on the column; 200 hp; 107ci engine. I drove it about 2 years; then, put it on blocks in my dad’s driveway while my hubby and I did a 2-tour of AF duty in Germany. We returned home in 1972 and drove it for another 4 years. We built a new house in 1976. Steve was driving the car to our new house — about .7 of a mile – when – bam! An elderly man on medication for something hit him head-on. We fixed it up a bit, then gave it to my sister-in-law, who drove it a while, then junked it. End of story.
My first car was a 1976 “sky blue” Chevrolet Chevette. We called it “sky blue” because it was such an odd color of blue…as, apparently, all Chevettes were required to be. It was about the color of blue that your hyperlinks show up as on my monitor…good for hyperlinks; very odd for a car.
But it was a good car–a hand-me-down from my brother AND my mom, bought for $500 as my brother’s first car 5 or 6 years before I started driving it. I hydroplaned in it and totalled it, but I was perfectly OK even though I landed upside down in a ditch. Seriously. Oh, and it was a stick-shift. Not a cool car, but really fun to drive…except in Atlanta…
Now I drive a 1996 Toyota 4Runner. We will drive it until the wheels fall off, at which point we may have that fixed and drive it some more.
GOOD vehicle. And it has air conditioning, something I can’t say about our other car we currently have. Or my first one, for that matter. 
.-= Amy @ Cheeky Cocoa Beans´s last blog ..You Capture: Peace =-.
I really miss that truck
The Electra is a great vehicle! You get like 4 gallons to the mile? LOL.
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