Cars that I have owned/own.
1969 Hillman Hunter Royal
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
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.
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.
1979 VW Golf GLD
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.
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.
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.
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