Other vehicles in our lives...

[elcamino1]

I won't talk about the over 200 cars I buy( so I own them) to junk every year!

[Boat Drinks]

Stress Reliever

After sitting in traffic, it's fun to jump on and let a little stress go. Staying on the back roads away from the POPO. Feeding my addiction to speed.

[Amos]

1991 Ford Exporer... complete POS, the gas pedal use to get stuck down and I'd have to reach down and pull it up by hand... Almost killed me twice.

1992 Dodge Shadow, I've seen bicyclists that can accelerate faster than that POS

1989 Festiva L Auto, Driving it right now... A bit of a pain in the ass, but it's good to me.

1992 Festiva GL Sport, "Partstiva" a 200 dollar junker that I bought for the occasional part that I might need.

1993 Festiva GL Sport, Sitting at Sasquatch's house right now waiting to be transferred into me name

[lessersivad]

I remember the thread that Will is talking about. I thought Brenton was starting a thread on cars that are currently in our lives....the yings to our yangs(festys).

OK here's what's in my life now........
'77 Chevy C10
'78 Chevy G20
'82 Buick Regal V6 diesel
'82 Buick Le Sabre SW diesel
'82 Chevy Caprice diesel
'82 Chevette 4 door
'84 Chevy Caprice diesel conversion
'85 Chevy S10 Blazer snow plow vehicle
'85 GMC K2500 diesel
'88 Chevy S10
'89 Festiva automatic
'90 Chevy Suburban K2500
'93 Festiva 5 speed
'94 Aspire automatic

Past vehicles
'29 Model A pickup
'39 Chevy sedan delivery
'56 Chevy 210 4 door
'56 Chevy Bel Air 2 door
'56 Chevy Bel Air 4 door hardtop
'58 Chevy Impala 2 door hardtop
'64 chevy Impala 2 door hardtop
'65 Impala sport coupe (2)
'66 Impala convertible (2)
'66 Chevy Bel air 4 door
'70 Dodge Charger
'69 Impala convertible
'69 Impala 4 door hardtop
'65 Chevy II 2 door sedan
'68 Buick Electra 225
'74 Chevy C10 (2)
'78 Impala 4 door
'66 Ford LTD 4 door hardtop
'79 Ford F150 stepside
'72 Chevy C10
'78 Suburban K10 (2)
'82 VW Rabbit pickup diesel
'83 Ford Ranger
'85 Chevy El Camino
'94 GMC S10 Jimmy
'91 S10 4X4 pickup
'79 Chevette (2)
'76 Chevette (2)
'82 Chevette
'83 Camaro
'66 GMC pickup
'76 Mercury Grand Marquis
'78 Chevy Monte Carlo
'75 Chevy Camaro
'93 GMC S15 pickup
'83 Chevy Celebrity (2)
'83 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera (2)
'82 Mercury Zephyr SW
'79 Chevy Malibu SW
'75 Chevy Caprice
'87 Chevy C10

I'm sure I've overlooked a few....

[Damkid]

these are the only cars in my life right now

[SimonTuffGuy]

Currently...


Casper - My 1990 BP Festiva


My 1995 Jeep Wrangler


My 2007 Suzuki Boulevard S40 from the day I rode it home. Most of those decals came off shortly after...

[shorestiva]

festy project

323 daily

conquest other project

f150 mudtruck

[91blufestiva]

I'm loving the looks of that truck shorestiva

[FB71]

ok, I know I'm late to the party with this one, but, here goes;

Gone, but not forgotten;
1969 Ford Bronco (first car)
1956 Ford F100
1989 Chevy S10 (bought new, traded)
1993 Ford F150 (bought new, traded)
1994 Ford Aspire (bought new, traded)
1986 Ford Thunderbird Elan 5.0
1989 Ford Taurus GL 3.0
1992 Ford Thunderbird 3.8
2004 Ford Mustang coupe (bought new, totalled)
1990 Ford Festiva L Plus (returned to 'qaking')

Still have and driving;
1988 Ford Festiva L (Uncle Fester)
1993 Ford Festiva GL (Hula)
1964 Ford Mustang coupe (Ruby, 260 v8 )
1969 Ford Falcon SportsCoupe
2002 Yamaha V-Star 1100

Projects;
1990 Ford Festiva L (Project Snot)
1967 Ford Mustang convertible
1981 Yamaha XS650 bobber

and at least one other project I have yet to reveal....

[festyxfi]

I just returned from Seattle early this morning with another XFi for summer trading. It's a 94 (last year) white, new tires, rust free and now needs a hood (note to self, ALWAYS check hood latch after closing!!!)

At least white is the most common color. If it was blue I'd be screwed.

Brenton

[jr.fester]

haha i`m 19 and don`t make me scan my car journal. i started buying and selling cars when i was 15 and i usually average 3 a month. i do keep some though, my pride and joy is my sentra se-r that is now turbo charged and ready for some 12 sec 1/4 miles!

***Mods please delete some pics if this is too much!!***

before:


and here are a few other cars i kept for more than a few months

what are those little cabover vans? I lvoe them but have never seen some of those cars before. danm I love them.

[shorestiva]

I'm loving the looks of that truck shorestiva

Thanks me and my cousin got it from a buddy for 400. The body is completely rusted out but the motor is strong and itll go through almost anything even with bald tires.



Thats the only time weve gotten it stuck.

[festyxfi]

wow...looks like it ain't easy to get stuck in that thing!!! You might need a snorkel soon, have you ever sucked water into the engine going that deep?

[bobstad]

Often kept a roof over my head; some of these guys!

in order of acquisition, beginning in '67...

'57 Metropolitan; green and white.($100)

'37 Cadillac LaSalle; black four-door, with rear suicide doors and dual side-mount spares in the front fenders.($500) Great for playing UNTOUCHABLES with great cornering on the two outboard wheels, those inside up off the ground with Eliot Ness on my tail...

'67 Ford Mustang; red, fastback, plain Jane w/289 two barrel & three speed, but fast as hell with Monroe-matic load levelers and Sears steel-belted radials when many people believed radials were too flimsy for heavy American cars and thought they'd disintegrate.($1000, sold with 300,000 miles for $250 needing a clutch and spark plug wires that still only used 1/2 quart of oil between changes every 5,000 miles and got 24 mph at 60 mph if rarely driven that slowly; but, mildly ugly and two inches of water on the rear floor all winter long, a repo when I got the thing with 120,000 miles a soldier in Viet Nam's wife had she let the small children play in when parked idle a long time so covered with French fries on the carpet, a white interior I Mar-Hyded black which worked great!)

'59 Volvo; black, I drove four out of my six years in college, an awesome car one of the best ever built and even more fun to drive than the Mustang if that were possible.(far less dangerous) Definitely safer in winter since those old 'stangs were way too light in the rear as I imagine they all still are.($125 from one of my sisters her boyfriend couldn't get to run I healed by a tablespoon of oil in each cylinder to restore compression after a carburetor fire dried out the top cylinder...profound luck doing that, reading a manual as per always with my very modest mechanical skills; a Canadian car w/single Zenith carb when most had dual SUs, easy 30 mpg, handled like a rally car I've always wanted another of to put a more powerful motor in, like one with fuel injection from a P1800 for instance, or even a V-6 or V-8 from another make though the fi 1800 motor would likely be amazing and perfectly balanced in weight to the 544 sedan which was a 1600 using the same block, basically)

'56 International 1/2 ton Forest Service truck; official red which I confirmed recently when I saw a VW panel bus with an official metal Forest Service tag the same color...mine had an elaborate tool box instead of a pick-up bed that was really cool.($250 in those days of "back to the land/voluntary simplicity" life trying to make homes in often hostile environments with no jobs and very little money, trying to work at orchard work with a bad back)

'62 Ford Fairlane station wagon, four-door; w/221 ci V-8, three on the tree w/overdrive.($225 from someone working in a NAPA store in Manson, WA the tiny grapes of wrath Stienbeckian town on Lake Chelan where our communal yoga study group ANTAHKARANA CIRCLE lived in the town's old post office building...a place later pimped out by Reaganomics which seemed to result in significant obesity amongst many I'd known already prone to that there...one of my friends talked me into using one of those MECHANIC IN A CAN "overhaul" kits which consists of pellets I think of a graphite compound that binds to worn out rings that really did greatly reduce the white smoke coming out of the exhaust of an otherwise fine running car, sold without mention of having done this that is the most dishonest thing I can remember doing in my life other than lying to cops, which is really just to save them from their own stupidity since I rarely if ever violate what I consider the intent of the law with an extensive record of "keeping the peace" to prove my philosophy...those phony overhaul kits are supposed to make a rebuild a night mare, so I still feel guilty though perhaps such a fine vehicle otherwise the effects were not too severe...I got $200 for in Farmer's Branch, TX from a guy who moonlighted as an R & B singer in the style of Bobby Blue Bland I remember his mentioning, wanting the Ford for house painting)

'66 VW square back sedan, "desert sand" in color which is really attractive on those cars. $800 and I sure found out the hard way why that book is called THE IDIOT'S GUIDE, even supplemented with every other known source on maintaining what I've seen portrayed in one book called THE WORLD'S TEN WORST CARS. Oh well; I'm a reasonably competent mechanic for the dozen years of tortured living out of the thing, which at the end sported front buckets from a '50 GMC one ton panel truck with the passenger side seat a jump seat which folded up for rear access which was definitely cool since in the rear I had two '67 Camaro buckets...the other way cool aspect of the car was a roof rack I'd found in the woods in southern Oregon that was a long aluminum one that went the whole length of my car I'd bolted on which made the car look like either a custom safari rig or perhaps a special military model since I'd also gotten great front and rear bumpers made from steel stock off another similar VW at the same Brewster, WA wrecking yard the front seats came from on another visit there. Sold for $200 of the most dirty, used ten twenties I've ever seen, I'd insisted on rather than a grocery bag of red marijuana buds soon after an excellent rebuild with all the machine work including an align bore done by the legendary RIMCO of Santa Ana, CA and a never used Ghia III dragster transmission I'd installed in two nights just a few months before that August in Olympia, WA in a parking lot, working with just a flashlight and a kerosene lamp due to 104 degree daytime temperatures.(I often dream of this car; and wonder why?)

'75 Chevy 1/2 ton panel van, the shortest wheel base made, with a 250 ci six that was a rotten motor due to an integral intake manifold that was part of the cylinder head which characteristically cracked due to this faulty design.($600, used about 15,000 miles and stranding me in Eureka, CA nearly a dozen years; given to the wreckers after two years of storage I should've held onto since removed from the smog list while still mine any Chevy six could've been dropped into, I'd gotten 24 mpg with on the open road before the new exhaust w/FLOWMASTER muffler which improved city mileage by about 4 mpg I never had the chance to monitor on the highway...lots of work done on the motor and interior including painstaking insulation everywhere, with sleeping bag closed cell foam ground pads; so a disaster and the only vehicle not running when leaving my possession I've ever had)

'84 Mazda long-bed pickup,($1000) with one bad cylinder I didn't notice when talked into buying the rig by a friend in need he later told me I paid twice what the truck was worth and sold for $50 to a needy couple when the clutch went out; and which likely is still giving service since a sturdy rig and very tough.

'64 Chevy half ton, step side short bed pickup, with a 327 that had a big four barrel carb, granny gear truck four speed and huge nearly dune buggy size tires on white spoke rims.($400 sold to a fool who'd thought he was buying a drivable classic I was lucky to get out from under for $250, later seen dead seemingly forever soon after)

And last though hardly least, the '91 Festiva 5-speed I have had since June of '99 I still drive that is the champ of them all hand's down with many honorable mentions however.($2500 June of '99; repurchased August of 2002 for $740 after a bent connecting rod and selling for a dollar when stranded far from home a profound good Samaritan resold to me after fixing the car, so the obverse of the proverbial bad penny I guess...) I saved the money for the Festiva from a winter of homelessness not paying rent after breaking up with my girlfriend when here sister got killed in a car wreck and I'd been miserable for her in her grief and wanting to give her some space, then had my alternate housing arrangement fall through since with an amazing lunatic friend I'm sure now I was much better off avoiding; if also an interesting character to've known then.

Also; a fine Aermacchi 350cc motorcycle, a four cycle single built in '73 the year before the American importer,(a perverted bowling pin/cum joke manufacturer) sold the Italian concern.(still surviving as a business entity producing their insults; bailed out of bankruptcy by fascistic Reagan era political shenanigans)

And all my pedal power companions.(all get the full treatment of fenders, racks front and rear, generator and lights, toe-clips, etc.)

A black 24" Schwinn racer 3-speed my first bike I got at about eleven years old which took me through high school.

'73 Windsor Carrera Sport, bought new for $150; identical model to another Windsor Carrera Sport I have now I got for $20 after my previous bike was stolen.

Raleigh Colt three speed, purchased for $15 at a thrift store and fixed up for about $100 total, that was a way cool bike.

French BALLIS ten-speed, frame $2 from Berkeley's URBAN ORE; the one eventually stolen I'd had about $100 into also.

Well, I'm heart broken I don't have any photos to share other than of the Festiva, since all these were great classics of the bargain basement sort. None with any rust except a little cancer behind the wheel wells on the Chevy van; and under the battery on the VW. Wish I had a computer camera now since developing 35mm film is so expensive.

[festyxfi]

Bob,

I use to voluteer for Food Not Bombs in Arcata Cal....

...and that reminds me a of a story. Once back in the mid-90's, I was hitch-hiking down from Cresent City to Grass Valley. It was dead of winter, rainy, foggy, dark, when a blue 4-door domestic POS stopped (all those 80's heeps look the same to me) I could tell something wasn't right about the fella, but my desire to get home and out of the rain must have muted my instincts. Before the car started rolling again, a 5th of Jack Daniels was thrust into my hands, "wanna drink!" he yelled, his eyes bloodshot, his breath smelled like stale Shlitz. I smiled, already looking for a way out of the car (why did I throw my pack in the back seat?!)

Needless to say he was wasted; over correcting his over corrections. I once reached over and grabbed the side of the steering wheel to keep us on the road. As you probably know, highway 101 is curvy around those parts. Many times I gazed out the fogged up windows, wondering if the crashing white breakers below would soon be resting in my lap. Between full throated swigs, he reached below the seat, pulling out a tupperware container full of swag weed. "Here, roll us a fatty..." he burped my way. I opened the box and pretended to savor it, running my nose across the surface, "uummm, good stuff. Pull over so I can roll that fatty."

There must have been something telling in my voice, uncontrollable fear perhaps, "ah come on maaaann, I'm not drunk! I'm fine." He was now turned sideways in the seat, no hands on the wheel." I continued to steer stealth-like, unnoticed by him. "I know man..." I replied, "but I also have to take a leak. Just pull over for a second, I'll drain the main vein, then roll away". He must have believed me, and pulled the car off into the gravel--not even bothering to find a safe place to do it. The car was still parked half-way on the freeway. I jumped out, pulling my backpack over the bench seat, "Thanks for the ride man!!!" I yelled, backing quickly away from the car.

The door was still swug open as he peeled out, throwing gravel into my knee caps. Feeling like I dodged a bullet, I started walking south. It was nearly dark by that time, and the rain was falling heavier by the minute. I walked a couple more miles along the highway, looking for a grove of trees to pitch my tent. As I rounded a bend, I could see blue flashers elluminating the mist and trees. No more than two miles further down the road from where I jumped out, the guy had run his car into a six foot deep colvert on the mountain side of the highway. A state patrol officer must have been driving northbound right after it happened. I walked up to the scene cautiously, "officer, my name is Brenton, I was just hitch-hiking with that guy (pointing my figure toward the ditch) I normally don't go ratting people out, but he's stone drunk, and has a box full of weed under the seat." We both walked over to the edge of the ditch, his car was still running, sending white exhaust and steam into the air. The fella was laying against the drivers window (since the car was now at a 90 degree angle) rolling a joint, covered in swag, and a drunken smile on his face.

I gave a brief statement, not having much more info than any blind man could gather is twenty seconds. About a mile further down the road, I darted up into a nice grove of redwoods, over-looking the pacific ocean. As I crawled into my tent, I could hear the tow truck speed by, on his way to that evening's payday.

Happy Holidays Everyone!!!

Brenton