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My Cars Through The Years, Part 9

Feb28
2010 2 Comments Written by Jeff Slater

After the demise of our Ford Escort, we were in need of a second car that I could drive to the office and around town.  I really wasn’t sure what I wanted, and I checked out several different vehicles.  I began to look at Jeeps, and the more I looked, the more I liked them.  I did a couple of test drives, and finally settled on one I found at a Pontiac dealership over 30 miles from our house.  They had put some decals on the side to make it look “sporty” but I didn’t like them and made the dealer remove them.

Of all the vehicles I’ve owned, my 1995 Jeep Wrangler was by far my favorite.  It was not the most practical or reliable vehicle I’ve owned (although it was very solid), but I absolutely loved it.  It would go almost anywhere, and I never worried about getting stuck in the snow.  There is nothing in this world like driving a Jeep on a warm summer day with the top down, doors off, and radio blasting.

Because of a job loss I had to sell the Jeep, and to this day I still miss it.  I plan to get another one just as soon as I can!  As we near the end of this series, we’ve finally come to the vehicles I still own.  Stay tuned!

Posted in Jeep Wrangler

My Cars Through The Years, Part 8

Feb15
2010 Leave a Comment Written by Jeff Slater

These two vehicles are “Honorable Mentions” because they were given to us, and we only owned them for a short time.

Chevette

First is a 1985 Chevrolet Chevette given to us by my father-in-law (ironically, it was given to him by his church).  In 1994 I began preaching for the Fort Recovery Church of Christ in Fort Recovery, Ohio.  It is a very small church and they couldn’t pay me very much, so Jill had to go to work.  She worked at a nursing home in Portland, Indiana (about 10 miles away).  This meant I was without a car during the day.  In mid-1995, Jill’s Dad was looking to get a new car, and decided to give his old Chevette to us.  It wasn’t very reliable for him anymore, but it was great for me to drive around our small town.  We ended up taking it with us when we moved to North Carolina.  My salary doubled when we moved there, meaning it was no longer necessary for Jill to work.  So we ended up selling the Chevette shortly after we moved.  It served us pretty well for the short time we had it, and we were thankful for it.  But it was a typical Chevette — a rattle-trap that wasn’t very reliable and always seemed to need service.

Escort

When we moved to the Detroit area in 1999, we again had a need for a second car.  Jill wasn’t working, but having two young kids and living in a  large metro area, Jill needed transportation during the day.  Jill’s sister and her husband had a 1990 Ford Escort that they no longer needed, so they generously decided to give it to us.  It served us well for a little over a year — taking me to the office and back, and all around town.  But the transmission started to go in early 2001, so we ended up donating it to charity.  We were again looking for a second vehicle, and I would find one that would turn out to be an all-time favorite.  That will be the next installment in this series.  Stay tuned!

My Cars Through The Years, Part 7

Feb11
2010 1 Comment Written by Jeff Slater

92-94_Toyota_Camry_LE_V6_Wagon

(Read previous posts in this series here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6)

Our daughter Emma was born in April of 1997, and as much as we loved our Corolla, e knew we needed a larger vehicle for our growing family. We wanted a minivan – specifically the Toyota Sienna – but that was just a bit out of our price range.

One day while driving home from the office, I noticed a 1994 Toyota Camry Station Wagon sitting on the lot at our local Toyota dealer. Jill and I had always liked the Camry Wagon, so we went to the dealer and took a look at it. We looked it over, drove it, and we loved it! It had the the third row, rear-facing seat that folded into the floor, which we thought was pretty cool. We worked out a deal and bought the car. The only downside was that we had to trade in our beloved Corolla.

Like the Corolla, the Camry Wagon served us well for several years and over 180,000 miles. It took us on several family vacations and survived a move from North Carolina to Michigan.

In part 8 of our series, we’ll take a look at two “Honorable Mentions.”

My Cars Through The Years, Part 6

May21
2009 1 Comment Written by Jeff Slater

 corolla.jpg

After our Jetta was totaled, we had to find another car in a hurry (the insurance company provided us with a rental for about 2 weeks).  We didn’t really have anything in mind, but just started looking around at different dealerships.  We stopped at a Toyota dealer to look at a used Camry, but the salesman directed us to a new Corolla that wasn’t much more than the Camry.  We looked it over and did a test drive, but had no intention of buying that night.  But every time we tried to leave, he came down on the price.  After he had taken $2,000 off the sticker price, we decided to buy!

It turned out to be a great decision.  That Corolla was the best car we ever owned.  Solid and very reliable — it never developed a single squeak or rattle, even after 180,000 miles.  The only service we ever had done on it was normal maintenance (tires, brakes, oil changes, etc.).  The engine had no oil leaks — again, that was after 180,000 miles!

As our family began to grow, we had to move up to a larger vehicle.  Unfortunately, that meant trading in our beloved Corolla (to this day, I wish we could have found a way to keep it).  That will be part 7 of our story.

My Cars Through The Years, Part 5

May15
2009 2 Comments Written by Jeff Slater

 jetta1.jpg

Jill and I were married in June of 1989, and we moved into our little apartment in the suburbs of Detroit.  The little Dodge Omni was going strong, but since we both worked in different parts of the city, we needed a second car.  So, after visiting a lot of dealerships and test driving several cars, we settled on a 1987  Volkswagon Jetta.  It was a great little car with a 4-speed manual transmission.  It became primarily Jill’s car, and she loved it.  It was quick and reliable — which was important since she worked as a Social Worker in some bad areas of Detroit!

Unfortunately, our relationship with the Jetta was short-lived.  In late December of 1990 we decided to go down to southern Ohio to spend the Holidays with Jill’s family.  It started snowing along the way, and by the time we reached Dayton, Ohio there were several inches of snow on the ground.  On I-75 in downtown Dayton, a car spun out in front of us, so I swerved to avoid it, and stopped on the left-side shoulder against the guard rail.  It was then that I heard the frantic blasts coming from the air horn of a fully-loaded tractor trailer.  I looked in my rear-view mirror and saw the tractor trailer sliding sideways toward our car.   It smashed into the back of our Jetta and the trailer came to rest on top of the passenger side of the car (right over Jill’s head!).  Thankfully, we were not hurt in the accident — but the same could not be said of the poor Jetta, as you can see in the pictures below.

jetta2.jpg

jetta3.jpg

So once again, we were in the market for a car.  This time we would find a rare gem.  That will be part 6 of our story.

My Cars Through The Years, Part 4

May06
2009 1 Comment Written by Jeff Slater

 omni.jpg

After working as an intern with a church in Muncie, Indiana, I headed back to Harding in the fall of 1986 driving the big Buick.  I was traveling alone because I had to get there early (I was going to be a Resident Assistant in the freshman dorm).  My first problem came somewhere between Lima and Dayton, Ohio.  Something didn’t seem right with the car, so I exited the freeway, pulled into a gas station and looked under the hood.  I couldn’t see anything wrong, so I got back in and tried to start the car.  Click-click-click.  The battery was dead.  Thankfully, the gas station sold batteries and I had some tools with me.  I replaced the battery and continued on my way to Harding.

The next problem came about 45 minutes later.  I was driving along just south of Middletown,  Ohio when all of a sudden, the engine just quit.  Just like that.  I was going about 65 miles per hour, and the engine just stopped!  Thankfully, I was right in front of a rest area.  So I pulled to the side of the road and looked under the hood.  It didn’t take me long to find the problem.  The bolts that hold the fuel pump in place had somehow come out, and the fuel pump was just hanging there.  I called a tow truck, had the car towed to a service station, and they quickly bolted the fuel pump back on, and I was on my way once again.  Thankfully, I had no more trouble that trip.  But my Dad and I agreed that the Buick was going to have to be replaced as soon as possible.

So when I came home at Christmas break, Dad and I went to Oakland Dodge and found a nice, clean and affordable 1985 Dodge Omni.  It was bare bones — vinyl seats, no air conditioning, and an A.M. radio.  But after 3 and a half years driving the big Buick, that little Omni was beautiful!  The first thing I did was install an AM/FM radio.  On my way back to Harding, I was happy to discover that it got outstanding gas mileage.  I could drive from Detroit to Harding (900 miles) and only stop for gas one time.

The Dodge Omni served me well for many years — including my first few years of married life.  But the time came when Jill and I needed a second car.  That’s  part 5 of the story.

My Cars Through The Years, Part 3

Dec12
2008 8 Comments Written by Jeff Slater

 78arrow.JPG

The Big Buick served me well — getting me from Michigan to Arkansas a few times a year, as well as getting a date and me to Little Rock and back on occasion.  But it was starting to show it’s age.  The rear brake line burst and I only had front brakes to stop that two ton beast, the window defroster didn’t work, and it was slowly rusting out.   So on one break from school, I rode home with a friend and came back driving a 1978 Plymouth Arrow (remember the ad campaign “Me and my Arrow…”?).

The Arrow had been my sister’s car when she was in high school and when she came home from Harding for the summer (she never took it to school).  But she was now married and living in Texas, so the car was available.  The Arrow was a sporty little car made by Mitsubishi in Japan (ours looked exactly like the black one in the picture above).  But it was seriously underpowered and not very well made.  It was difficult to maintain speed on big hills on the freeway, and it burned oil. It soon became apparent that the Arrow was not the answer to my car problems.  I now had two cars at Harding and had to make a decision. I decided to go back to the Big Buick.  I wasn’t sure what to do with the Arrow, so I just left it at Harding when I went to do an internship with a church in Muncie, Indiana the summer of 1986.

I was about to experience a few bumps in the road before things would get a lot better car-wise.  That’s the next chapter in the story.  Stay tuned!

My Cars Through The Years, Part 2

Sep09
2008 12 Comments Written by Jeff Slater

 1970buicklesabre.jpg

When I came home for Christmas break during my freshman year at college, it was clear that I had to do something about my Duster.  The driver’s door was bashed in and did not open, the window leaked, and the cooling system was beginning to act up. My grandfather was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease and could no longer drive.  My grandmother hadn’t driven for years, but they still had their 1970 Buick LeSabre just sitting in the parking lot at their apartment building.  My grandmother said I was welcome to it, since they had no use for it, and the big Buick became mine.

Despite it’s big size and the fact that it was incredibly uncool, it was a really good car.  It had a 350 c.i. engine that was very reliable, and we could squeeze a lot of people and luggage into it.  The summer after I got it, I had it painted bright red, so it didn’t look quite so lame.

The door handle on the driver’s side rusted out and fell off, so I had to keep a screwdriver handy to open the door (or reach inside if the window was open).   This caused a problem on one occasion.  I was driving in traffic when I ran out of gas.  There was a gas station at the corner, about 1/4 mile ahead, so I hopped out and started pushing, steering the car through the driver’s side window.  I didn’t notice that the road went slightly downhill to the gas station.  Yep, you guessed it — the car started picking up speed and I had to run to catch up with it, while trying to reach in the window and open the door.  Somehow I managed to do it, jump in and steer it into the gas station.

The big Buick served me well for the next 3 years.  But I had a bit of trouble with it during one semester at school and I ended up driving another car briefly.  That will be part 3 of our journey.

My Cars Through The Years, Part 1

Aug15
2008 10 Comments Written by Jeff Slater

I’m going to try to get back to writing here on a more consistent basis — we’ll see how that goes.

Borrowing an idea from Patrick Mead, I’d like to share with you the vehicles I’ve driven and owned through the years.  I’m a car guy through and through.  I love looking at cars, reading about cars, talking about cars, driving cars, working on cars, etc.  Perhaps I should have chosen a career in the automotive field!

74duster.jpg

I got my Driver’s License on my 16th birthday (March of 1980).  At that point I began driving, almost exclusively, a 1974 Plymouth Duster.  It had been our second car that my Dad drove to work.  I had to share it for a few months, until my sister went to college in the fall, then it pretty much became my car.   When I started driving it, it was the white color seen in the picture above.  After a couple of years, I did some body work and had it painted a medium blue color, which looked much better.  I also added fog lights, a Thrush muffler, wider rear tires, and lifts for the rear end.  Yes, it was a sweet-looking ride at that point!  It had a 318 c.i. engine, and would get up and go pretty well (I once took it up to 100 miles per hour on I-75 in the suburbs of Detroit — on worn out tires!).

It was a great car, and I will always have fond memories of it.  Unfortunately, I wrecked it 1 week before I left for college!  My friend Dave and I were going up to Michigan Christian Youth Camp to see our girlfriends and I wasn’t paying close enough attention when we wrecked.  We weren’t hurt, and the car was drivable (I still took it to college that fall), but it’s days were numbered.  We got rid of it when I came home for Christmas break.

At that point I was able to inherit another car from a family member.  That will be part two of our journey.

The Best Vehicles

Apr12
2008 Leave a Comment Written by Jeff Slater

This is why I’m a Honda man:

Honda Makes The Best Cars

Here’s a great quote: “Only two automakers, Honda and Subaru, earned the distinction of having all of the models we tested make our Recommended list.  Because we have not yet tested the redesigned Subaru Impreza and WRX,  Honda is the only automaker whose entire model lineup is currently recommended.”

Posted in Consumer Reports, Honda