Lesson #1: NEVER sell a car with plates on it. Leave it in your driveway, take the plates off and let the buyer put on his onw new plates. That way you are sure the title has changed.
Some years ago I was rear ended by an out of state driver. He said he would park his car by the road side to get it out of the way before exchanging information. Instead he drove off, but I got his plate number. The police tracked down the car and arrested the poor previous owner, who had made the same mistake. I had to testify to the police as to the appearance of the driver (not the previous owner ) and verify the car’s identity.
Needless to say the “new” owner did not have insurance, and my compnay had to pay the damage done.
Doesn’t that make you feel old, when you see a car you once owned on the road as an antique?
I still think of a “new” car as a car made after World War II. No new cars for civilian use were produced after February of 1942 until late in 1945. These cars produced late in 1945 were registered as 1946 models. At any rate, my Dad had a 1939 Chevrolet which he purchased new that it seemed to me as a kid he drove for an eternity. My family went through some lean financial times, but the Chevrolet seemed to just keep going. I remember thinking that one had to be rich to own a car made after WWII.
You have a 1994 Chrysler WHAT that won’t give up? They did actually make a few cars that weren’t bad. Regardless, you’re in rare company, having a non-slant-6 Chrysler with that kind of mileage on it.
Cavaliers actually got pretty good engines and decent transmissions through much of their run, particularly near the end. It was the fact that they were in such an abysmal chassis, with terrible driving dynamics, an an interior that was like riding in a vegetable crisper…most people who knew anything about cars and how to care for them knew they could do better. Most people who bought Cavaliers didn’t know or care enough to take care of them, so they didn’t. And the Cavalier doesn’t exactly do anything to make its owners care.
AFAIK, the Gremlin was just awkward looking and economically didn’t really fill a viable niche.
I know of one good example of an American car soldiering on despite all odds. I once looked at a Olds Cutlass Ciera owned by a Chinese grad student, in Alaska. It ran fine…he drove it daily. I checked the coolant, and saw it was a swirling mix of oil and coolant. I saw the same on the oil dipstick. He’d driven it all winter without plugging in the heaters. He’d probably cracked the head. It had probably been more or less like this all summer. But to see it run you’d never know.
I didn’t buy it, and I expressed my condolences that no one had informed him of how to care for a vehicle in that climate. But I didn’t want it to be my problem.
Anyhow, the A-bodies were pretty good in their last few years.
That’s an interesting name you have, but some would say the same of mine. 94’ LHS. Took it on a 100-mile trip today. I wouldn’t hesitate to drive it across the country if necessary. But I’ve always had good luck with Chrysler cars.
In response to Docnick: My Chevette did not have plates on it when I sold it. I had already transferred them to the vehicle I replaced it with. I guess I wasn’t clear about that, I was trying to summarize so my post wouldn’t run too long. It was sitting in my parents front yard without plates, gathering bird droppings. When the guy gave me the ca$h, I handed him the keys and a signed title. He asked me if he could pick up the car the next day, so he could get a temporary tag, and I said sure. When I got home from work the next day the car was gone. Obviously, in retrospect, he just put on stolen or misappropriated plates and drove off into the sunset. I don’t know what else I could have done short of handcuffing myself to the guy and taking him to the Motor Vehicle Bureau myself, and I wasn’t about to do THAT! The police had traced the car to me via the V.I.N. “plate” on the dashboard. I guess it all worked out in the end, because I never heard from the police again regarding that car. Hopefully my post can serve as a humorous and cautionary tale.
In response to Triedaq: Your post reminded me of a car my late father often spoke about; a Chrysler limousine he bought in 1946 when he was discharged from the Army. He worked construction at that time, and that must have been an odd spectacle, a limousine parked at construction sites. But, as he told it, cars were hard to come by in 1946, and he needed a car to get to work. I don’t recall what year it was, but I’m sure it was old in 1946. It was probably a deal he found, much like today some people buy old hearses, police cars, or postal vehicles to drive.
A 1979 Toyota SR5 Pickup. It burned oil like a smoke screening Navy destroyer. I never changed the oil, only added it… once in a while. Even after having been rear-ended and then pushed into the car in front and crushed front and back, it wouldn’t die. I gave it away to the maintenance guy at my apartment complex. He fixed it up, mounted a toolbox and still drives it. Still won’t die.
This reminds me of the M998 HMMWV our Executive Officer drove in OIF I. It threw a rod on the way from Kuwait to LSA Anaconda. Pursuant to Army logic and efficiency, there were no connecting rods available, but there were whole HMMWV engines sitting on pallets in a hangar. We couldn’t get the engine fixed, but replacing it would have been a snap, but we couldn’t get a new engine because the old one was still runing - albeit poorly. We drove that vehicle all year, but couldn’t ship it home because it was deadlined, so we left it and transferred it to our replacement unit’s books. That was in 2004. Fast forward to tour number three in 2007. A familiar-looking HMMWV drove by me as I was passing through LSA Anaconda. It bore the same distinctive bend in the grille guard and I heard the familiar clackity-clack of a broken connecting rod. There’s no way of knowing if it was the exact same vehicle, or even the same defect, but I do know that we drove it all year with the hope of killing, but it wouldn’t die.
My dad had a 1953 Chevy panel truck that he bought when he returned from Korea. He drove that truck for over 30 years before he finally parked it. After he passed away my brother drove it for another 10 years. It must have had over a half a million miles on it before it was destroyed in a neighbor’s freak grass fire. I cannot remember a time that it failed to start. They don’t make them like that anymore.
Thanks for the detailed explanation. Where I live the ownership has a form on the reverse to sign over the title. Once that is done, the new owner has title to the car. No bill of sale is needed unless it is a commercial vehicle.
My younger brother once sold his old Gremlin that way, but the guy paid by check and it bounced when he tried to cash it later. Unfortunately the car was sold already, and he had no real easy recourse to get his $500 back. I once bought a car from a retired police detective. He insisted on a certified check or bank draft, so we went to the bank together to get the draft.
Yeah, my dad bought a brand new bare bones Chevy S-10 in 1982. He drove it until 1997 with 314k miles on it. That truck always started up and it was rarely in the shop for anything other than an oil change or other preventative maintenance. Since that S-10 was with me growing up all the way thru high school I shed a tear when he finally traded it in for a new Nissan pickup.
My dad had a 60 something dodge van with the slant 6 in it that would not die. He thought he killed it when he dropped the 1/4 inch nut holding the air filter on down the carb, but nope, it coughed and spat it out the tailpipe I guess. 10 years later he saw the guy he sold it to and he said that his son was still driving it (with the same engine and everything, no rebuild)
1980 Ford Bronco, 351M .
Cruising home from Albuquerque, a 2 hour drive, 15 miles from home, 9 at night.
Cruise control set to 75 just watching the traffic and not checking the guages.
No forewarning then ;
cackle, cackle, cough, sputter, jerk, lerch, steam, guages pegged ( oil pressure down, temp up ) pulled to the side of the road, steam percolating from under the hood.
Wife asks " what the he-- just happened ?"
"just blew the engine. "
Let it cool 20 minutes, cranks, no start, no sign of life.
Walked the remaining 10 miles, got a ride from a friend and towed the carcass the next day.
Upon disassembly the tech shows me just ONE piston with a hole clean through the top.
Got one USED piston, $ 10.00, and…bzzoom ! it starts right up and purrs like a kitten !
When I sold it to get my 92 Explorer, I sold it to…
the mechanic who fixed it with a used piston ! ( he trusted his work that much )
AND
this is my lesson in fuel octane selection.
I had heard that low octane cackle often in the past but stuck with “el cheapo” gas.
Never again.
I had an 87 Celebrity that I unofficially called the “Job Mobile” as in the biblical character. Job had all he had taken away from him like family, riches, livestock, health but he kept his faith and praised God through it all. My Celebrity lost its a/c, the headliner was falling in, 4 of the 6 speakers were out and the power windows were on the way out but the engine (2.8L second design) just kept on going and was bullet proof.
I also had a 98 Taurus that had 300,000 miles on it when I let it go. Other than brakes and tires the only things I put on it were a starter, alternator and a stat.
'54 Plymouth Savoy, I called it “my flameing half-dozen”, 4 door, college car. I have no idea how many miles I put on that wonderful car. It was always full of guys 5&6 going to NC,SC,GA.Fla, this was in '60 -66 never but one problem, a water pump went out outside of Myrtle Beach one Sunday evening, Just our good luck a junk yard was just across the road, with a pair of plyers and adjustable wrench the four of us stole a water pump from I think was a 53 plymouth out of the junk yard, made a gasket out of a shoe box laying side of the road. It lasted about 50 mile, but it got us home. Traded it for a corvair in Atlanta Ga. Bad mistake. I’m 68, and I tear-up thinking about that car.
LOL, this totally made me laugh. I had a 1988 Cadillac Sedan Deville that would not die. Unfortunately it got stolen a mere 2 weeks before an international trip (passport in envelope for the Vietnamese visa was on the seat) and the crack-heads jacked it up (yes, they were verified to be crack-heads because they literally left crack in the car, which was not confiscated by police incidentally, and stole another Cadillac while placing a big order of Kentucky Fried Chicken). Anyway, the car was “all tore up” when it was recovered, but it had my passport still in it. I drove it from Atlanta to Miami to drop it at home before the big 2-month trip, for which I was supposed to be departing within 18 hours of my Atlanta departure. Unfortunately the car died en route, along the turnpike at Yee-Haw Junction. My Grandpa had my brother and a mechanic friend drive up and fix the alternator and the rest is history. What was destined for the junk-yard is now Grandpa’s daily driver. It seems like there’s always something going on, from bald tires to a bad starter to tie-rods to motor-mounts, you name it. Yet he refuses to let the thing go. He’s 85 and a WW2 veteran, so I guess he’s used to tough conditions, but my goal is to buy him a new Caddy one day. Or at least a new-used one. I have fond memories of the Caddy, and apparently my Grandpa does too (despite all the issues).
76 Ford F100. Dad’s only new vehicle. He’s been gone 26 years but the old Ford is still going with 700,000+ on it.
70 Plymouth Fury III battle tank with a puny 318 and 130K miles. Was a big block guy back then and tried and tried to blow up that 318 so I could change engines. One day it dawned on me ‘Hey Stupid - this is a great engine!’ Put rings and valves in it and plopped it in a 69 Valiant 2dr. Drove it over 400k until the frame crushed when I tried to change a flat. Figured it was just too risky to drive with that much rust. Even a sideswipe with terdy point buck didn’t kill it. Still have the engine on the bench - waiting…
Best one: A friend’s daddy bought him a brand new 1976 Dodge Ram 1500 with a 225 slant six. He wanted a V8 - and a BIG ONE! He drove the crap out of that truck every time he got in it and it never phased that little 6. After a year or so he finally decided enough! and drained the oil. He drove that truck for a week without any oil in it. Enough was enough so he busted a hole in the block with a sledge hammer - still didn’t kill it. You could see the crank and rods working thru the hole. Finally he drained the radiator. That started taking its toll pretty quickly. After a couple of days it was screeching and groaning and it finally seized. Too bad for him - the dealer was a little smarter than he thought and refused the warranty replacement and Daddy didn’t buy him a new one either. He was sure sorry to have tortured that great little engine - he didn’t own a decent vehicle for several years afterwards.
'63 Ford Falcon with the rip-roaring 170 cubic inch 6 cylinder. My dad bought it in 1968 as a commuter car and put a ton of miles on it. I helped him rebuild the engine when it had somewhere around 150,000 miles on it (my first rebuild, I was 13).
Eventually my older brother wound up with it- this was somewhere around 1974. 5 years later he bought a Mazda RX-3 and sold the Falcon to me for $1; my first car after years of riding a motorcycle.
I drove the little Falcon for about 5 years and then traded it back to my dad for a set of tires for my newly-acquired '68 Mustang. My younger sister then inherited it and drove it off to college. Five years later (detecting a pattern, anyone?) I traded a scooter to my sister for the Falcon.
When I finally sold it at a garage sale for $400 in 1993 it had 450,000 miles on it. The floor boards were getting a tad rusty and it was on its third engine, but it still was a dependable little car.
That’s probably a world record for a Falcon. I recall that around the Great Lakes Rust Belt these cars lasted a maximum of 7 years or so before they expired.
The car I learned to drive on was a 20 year old 1969 Dodge Dart with a slant 6. It never gave me problems, but after I moved away from home, my older brother got it. When he sold it about 8 years later, it was still running, but I wouldn’t say it “wouldn’t die, against all odds.” It needed pretty much constant attention to keep it from dying.
The Taurus actually became much more reliable by the time you would have received your 06 or 07. But what Ford SERIOUSLY neglected was upgrading its refinement. It was stuck in an early 90s era of refinement in the mid 00s. So they rattled, they banged, they sagged, and they squeaked… but they were actually pretty darn reliable. Still, from the consumer’s point of view, it was a pretty undesirable car because for just a little more than it cost for a new Taurus you could get a new Camry or Accord… used it was somewhat more desirable, though, as it came at such a HUGE discount to a Camry or Accord in the 1 or 2 year old used car market.
Thankfully the 2008 Taurus was a quantum leap forward, bringing it to a respectably refined, albeit stale-feeling design. The 2010, IMO, finally fixes that stale feeling to make it truly competitive.
