Cars that I have owned/own.
1969 Hillman Hunter Royal
Hunter 24-11-1983 Hunter 27-10-1985
My first car was a 1969 Hillman Hunter.  I purchased it in November 1983 from the local car pound for $5.  It needed new piston, rings and bearings.  The man I bought it from couldn't believe it when I asked him for a receipt so I could register it.  It was quite a good car. It got registered in 1985. After driving it for a while it started jumping out of fourth gear, so I just used to hold it in gear.  This was too much for the gearbox one day when I had 4 others in the car and four gear disappeared taking third with it.  I bought a secondhand gearbox and that jumped out of second!  I sold the car to a friend.  He really liked it.

1970 Datsun 240z
240z 27-2-1986
My second car was a '70 Datsun 240z which I bought in February 1986.  It had a rather long 2.4 litre straight 6 engine than sounded like a speed boat.
240z 3-4-1986
I prepared the car for painting and my father sprayed it.  It was registred in December 1986.
I stopped driving it when the diff became noisey, the engine blew smoke and the suspension felt terrible.  It sat in the garage for quite a few years before I finally sold it unregistered.  I still miss not having it.  It was a great car but was too impractical and too hot in Summer.
Datsun 240z 6-12-1986
1979 VW Golf GLD
Golf
Next I bought a '79 VW Golf Diesel in 1991.  A great little car that could cruise comfortable at 100 kph and give me just under 50 mpg.  Much more economical than the thirsty 240z.
It was a stock car when I bought it and I thought it looked a bit too boring so I put a BBS inspired body kit on it and replaced the GLD grill with a GTi one.
The standard Golf wheels didn't look right so I fitted Holden Gemini wheels.
The driver's door handle broke and the 2 front tyres were wearing so I stopped driving it for about 4-5 years.  It sat in the garage and collected dust, as you can see in the photo.
Dusty Golf
In 2001 I decided to put the Golf on the road again.  I fixed the door handle, put new tyres on it and got a wheel alignment.  Having not been driven for a few years the matser brake cylinder started to leak.  I got this fixed then noticed that the engine was running hot.  A radiator flush and refill fixed that problem.  I drove reliably until November when I let the water level drop too low and nearlt cooked the engine.  After that is used heaps of coolant, I suspect it has a blown head gasket.
I drove it until the registration expired in May 2002.  It is currently resting in the garage.
Golf GLD
1983 Mazda RX7 Series II
I started looking around for a car again towards the end of 2000 and in December this ad caught my eye.

Not knowing anything about rotary engines I took it for a drive and was hooked.  The engine felt like a cross between a 2 stroke and a turbine.  It drove very well and never let me down despite reading horror stories about rotary engines blowing seals just after I bought it.  Whilst I owned this car it got broken into TWICE!  The second time my socket set was stolen.  The electric windows/mirrors were cool, but in Summer the cockpit wasn't.  I figured it probably wasn't worth getting the air conditioner fixed and decided to sell the car due to it being impractical.  I sold it in early March 2002.
RX7

1993 Ford Fairmont EB II
By late March 2002 I had driven a few cars within my budget.  Of these I thought this Fairmont EB II was the best.
It has the luxury features (electric windows/mirrors) of the RX7 as well as an air conditioner that works, ABS, cruise control and a trip computer. This was sold a few years later.


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Updated 4th September 2002