12/5/09 - Car History...1997 Chevy Tahoe (green)

The next entry in my Car History series is a 1997 green 2-door Chevy Tahoe. I don't think I have any pictures of this truck. I'm not sure if I never took any, or if I just don't know where they are. Here are a couple of pictures to give you an idea of what a 2-door tahoe looks like.

This truck was purchased not long after the red Sierra was totalled. I remember buying it at Car Wars which is held I think every year at War Memorial Stadium. The same guy that sold me the red truck (and my parent's explorer) was able to find the 2 door tahoe I had always dreamed of. I bought it on the spot, I don't think I even test drove it.

A few things that happened with this truck:

1) I installed the stereo system in this truck as well. I took this one a step further though as I tore out the interior and ran cable under the carpet so I could install my disc changer in the console between the front two seats. I also added a toggle switch that would allow me to turn my sub woofers on and off depending on what mood I was in. Sometimes, I just didn't feel like having a headache after driving. I also had straight pipes on this truck...you can imagine how loud it was.

2) After getting everything installed, my truck was broken into and they stole the deck and disc changer. The cool thing about this is that insurance paid for everything but my $100 deductible. Since my stuff was pretty old, I got upgraded equipment for a very small price tag. At the end of the day, I was happy. The downside is that the day my truck was broken into, I went to a friend's house that night to help him with his homework (if he reads this blog, he knows who I'm talking about). While I was there, it started raining. I thought nothing of it until I went to leave and realized that my seats were soaked. Since one window had been broken during the theft, I rolled the other down. That sucked pretty bad because my seats were cloth. Luckily, it never molded or stunk the truck up, I just had to drive on a wet, cold seat.

3) This truck nearly caused me to kill my middle brother. I had it in the garage working on something. I don't remember what it was, but I remember I was under the hood and I had my back doors opened. My brother was in the process of cleaning his truck (Pathfinder at the time, which my dad currently drives) in the driveway. He was using the vaccuum cleaner and instead of moving the vaccuum, he attempted to back his truck up closer to the garage. He hit the gas hard and wound up slamming into the back of my truck and jacked up the rear door. It still closed and was rainproof, but there was a serious dent. I was pissed beyond belief. Ask him about it sometime, he will explain the level of anger and complete violence in my eyes at that moment.

4) The ending of this truck was on a trip back from Branson, MO. It was a rainy weekend if I recall correctly. At the very least it had rained most of the day between Branson and Little Rock. I should have seen this all coming and pulled over, but I didn't. Here are the events on my way home.

- About 30 minutes out of Branson, I passed an overturned semi that had traffic at a crawl. It appeared that accident had happened probably 45 minutes before I got to that point.

- About half way home, I passed another accident where two vehicles had collided head on. As I was passing this accident, emergency vehicles were just pulling up, so I estimate that I missed this accident by about 10 to 15 minutes.

- About 10 minutes from Conway, I passed another accident, only this one happened in my rear view mirror as I was passing an intersection. You see how this progressed...I should have known.

- Sure enough, as I got to Conway, I came to a stop at a stop light, looked in my rear view and saw an old 60's or 70's model Ford in my rear view...moving fast...and not slowing down...and getting very close very quick.

Of all my accidents, this is the only one that I was ever injured in. On impact, I was looking in my rear view mirror with my head kind of tilted to the side. The hit resulted in my head going forward and hitting the steering wheel. I don't think I went unconscious at that point, but I got out of the truck and checked on the other vehicles. The Ford had pushed me into the car in front of me and them into the next car. Everyone was okay, and the next thing I remember is the cops pulling up and me doubled over. Regardless of whether or not I blacked out for a period of time, I had a pretty good mark on the side of my head.

Of all my wrecks, this was one of my favorites and here is why. As I mentioned, this was an older Ford. It was an older F-350 (I think), and it was built like a tank. I was moving at probably about 40-45 miles an hour when it hit me. The result of the collision left the Ford's drivetrain and other major parts lying in the middle of the road. It was not driveable and all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't have put it back together again. On the other hand, I drove home. Granted, the frame was bent in the wreck, but it was still very driveable. This is one more reason I'm a chevy truck guy for life.

Although I had this truck for a while, it is the last vehicle that I would ever total (knock on wood). Also, although I do have memories of this truck, none of them really stick out other than the final days of owning it. I would also decide that the stereo system was no longer needed. I had the insurance include that in the final check I received from them.

My next truck would be very similar (it was the same truck, different color) but it would have a lot more personality.

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11/14/09 - Car History...1996 GMC Sierra

The next entry in my Car History series is a 1996 red GMC Sierra extended cab. This was the first vehicle that I ever purchased with my own money. The previous cars had been given to me by my parents, and I'm very grateful for that. In fact, after the Bonneville was totaled, they allowed me to use a portion of the insurance claim money as part of the down-payment for this truck. Here are a few pictures of my actual truck, including one of the speakers in the back.

This truck was definitely my baby. When I purchased it, it was completely stock with only the addition of a Tweety Bird air freshener. As you can see by the pictures below, I added quite a few items. I tinted the windows, added security/keyless entry, I added the bed rails, bed liner and tool chest. I also modified the exhaust to make it sound awesome, straight pipes coming straight out the back with what I believe was 3" chrome tips.

I eventually added the stereo system that was originally in the caravan. It definitely sounded the best in my truck above the other vehicles. The downside is that I no longer had the use of the back seat of the truck. On the other side, it's a pretty tight fit, so not many people ever sat back there anyways.

Over the course of owning the truck, I also fixed the truck several times. Although not a big deal to most, I fixed door handles, the tail gate multiple times, switched out the battery and alternator and I'm pretty sure there were other things that I can't think of right now.

I'm not positive of all the places this truck went, but I know it made several trips to South Arkansas, several to Central Oklahoma, it made it to Houston (to pick up a Soloflex, that's a pretty good story) and it might have been to Memphis a couple of times as well.

I can't describe how much I loved this truck. Needless to say, this truck also got totaled. I was on the way to south Arkansas to visit some friends from church camp, talking on the phone with my future wife, when the rush hour traffic came to a pretty quick stop. The reason for the quick stop? A police officer, who appeared to have an individual in the back of his car pulled attempted to pull into traffic traveling at about 65 miles an hour from a complete stop. The first car had to slam on their brakes, the car behind them stopped in time, but the next car, a silver SUV did not. I slammed on my brakes but slammed into that truck pretty hard. A split second later I was rear-ended and I think one more vehicle was involved after that. Luckily no one was injured, but my poor truck wound up looking like this.

Strangely enough, you will notice I'm wearing the same ACE hardware t-shirt in both pictures. I forgot how much I loved that t-shirt. Apparently, I wore it a lot more than I realized.

After the insurance wrote me a fairly sizable check for the loss of my truck, I began looking for my next truck. This time, I knew what I wanted and had the funds to buy it. My search for a 2-door Tahoe had begun. Oh, the police officer who started the accident, and then left the scene of the accident to my knowledge was never ticketed for his involvement.

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10/31/09 - Car History...Dodge Caravan followup

Well, I was going through some old pictures and came across a picture of me in front of my beautiful shaggin' wagon. This was taken right after it rolled over 100,000 miles. I was on the way to pick up my future wife for a date, and wanted to commemorate the 100k mark with a picture.

Look at that picture, I mean even back then I had awesome style. Those socks...the shoes. It's amazing that I didn't have more women beating down the door to get dates with me. I mean, on top of the look I was going with, I was driving that sweet van.

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3/31/09 - Car History...1991 Pontiac Bonneville

The next entry in my series of Car History is a 1991 Pontiac Bonneville. I got this car after the van caught fire. Once again, I received my mom's old car and she got a new one. This is only fair, they were paying for the things, so who am I to complain about what I was driving. It's so easy to say that now...well over 10 years after the fact. This time however, my mom did upgrade pretty well. She went from the 91 'ville to a brand new, straight off the lot 1998 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer Edition. At the time, it had pretty much everything there was to have in a vehicle. She actually still drives that to this day which is impressive for a Ford vehicle (yea...you will soon find out that I'm a chevy guy). I think this vehicle was purchased in either late 1999 or possibly 2000, I really don't remember. Come to think of it, if my mom was driving a brand new 1998 Explorer...we must have purchased it in late 1997, so I have no idea when the Bonneville was purchased. I do know I was in college...that's about it though. In fact, from this point forward, the year I became owner of this vehicles gets fuzzier and fuzzier.

To get you started, here are two pictures that really don't give the car justice. In real life, it doesn't even come close to looking as cool as these pictures

Mine had a "luggage rack" on the trunk, bench seat for the front seat (the thing could seat 6 comfortably...how cool is that?) and it smelled like an old lady (previous owner, not my mom...the one before that). We purchased it with I think 100,001 miles on it and my mom didn't put too many on it, so I once again was driving a vehicle with over 100k. I don't remember if I mentioned it or not, but the Grand Am also was over the 100k mark when I started driving it, this will be come a recurring theme.

I don't really have any good stories with this car except that the sound system that was previously in the van? You remember the one...big 12" subs, big ol' amp...yeah, it got moved to the bonneville. The speaker box took up well over 75% of the trunk space and although it sounded like a dream on the inside, if you were on the outside, you would have thought it was going to fall part movie-style where the wheels just fall over and the whole chassis hits the ground.

The only wreck this vehicle was involved with was it's last. I was leaving work one evening and pulled out of the parking lot only to be hit head on by a lady who I still say was going well over the speed limit. I will also mention that there were several vehicles illegally parked that obstructed my view of the road. This is also the only accident I have ever been in that I was found to be at fault, although I still argue, as noted above, that I was not truly responsible.

The one thing I remember about this accident is talking to the police officer as he was writing up the paper and him making a bit of an off color remark about the size of the other driver's breasts. As a 19 year old, I had to agree with him, but looking back, it was a little uncalled for.

A bit of a lame update, but of all the cars my family has ever owned, I think we would all agree that this was our least favorite. It had no character or charm. It was simply a tool used to get from one place to another.

The Bonneville did mark a huge change in my vehicle history. It was at this point that I was no longer given vehicles. This also meant that I got a say in what I was going to be driving. This brings us to the first vehicle I ever purchased: a 1996 GMC Sierra.

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3/24/09 - Car History...1986 Dodge Caravan

The next entry in my series of Car History is a 1986 Dodge Caravan. I got this van after my first car got totaled. It was actually my mom's and she gave it to me so she could get a new (used) car. We'll get to that vehicle in the next entry because it eventually became mine. My parents purchased the car new and I got it in 1998, my senior year in high school. It had just under 100k miles on it, and after a few months, I rolled it over to 100k as I pulled in to my future wife's driveway. Oddly enough, she still dated me even though I was driving a pimp wagon.

Here is a picture of the stylin' van I was driving and an ad from back in the day. Unequaled indeed.

Since I was style driving when I graduated, my graduation present request was for a sound system. Not just a new radio or new speakers. I wanted the real deal. I wanted boom...I wanted bass...I wanted speakers so big I had to take out the middle seat and move the back seat forward to make room for the speakers. I got a new radio with a 6 disc changer, new speakers throughout the whole van and two 12" speakers with a 400 watt amp. (pretty weak for today's standards, but for me, back then, in the van...this thing rocked).

It sounded great inside the van and I used the snot out of it. I loved it. It wasn't until later on that I realized that it sounded so bad from outside. The whole thing rattled like crazy, but it still didn't matter to me. It was everything I wanted.

If I ever have some extra money (several hundred thousand extra dollars with nothing else to spend it on) laying around, I would so by another 1986 van and just pimp it out. I'm talking more than just big speakers. I'd put a bigger engine, tiger print interior, custom paint job, massive speakers...so on and so forth, and of course fuzzy dice.

The van lasted me a good long while. I don't remember exactly how long I drove it, but few people can say they drove their vehicle until the wheels came off. Well, not exactly, but it did catch on fire before we decided it was time to send it to the salvage yard. I don't remember what the beginning of the end was, but I can remember one time specifically being at the bottom of the hill with three friends in the van doing about 40 miles an hour, flooring it, and creeping over the top of the hill at just below 5 miles an hour. I truly believe we were going to go all cartoon on it and get to the top only to stop and slide right back down to the bottom.

I think it was not longer after this, it would just die. It usually wasn't all that big of a deal, I'd just put the thing in park and start it back up. Of course, this also was typically happening at stop signs and red lights. The worst situation was when it happened in rush hour on a busy interstate. I had to get over one more loan that was at a complete stop and as I was switching lanes, the van died, the semi truck behind me did not and clipped the end of the van. Luckily, only shattering one of my brake lights. I told him not to worry about it because...well....the think was a piece of junk already.

My parents did want to take it in and see what it would take to get it fixed, so they took it to the local dealership to get an estimate on the damage. What they came back with was pretty funny. Basically, the van had a 4 cylinder engine when it was purchased. When we took it in, it was hitting on only 2 and a half of them (meaning that one of the cylinders was intermittent). On top of that, to get the brake lens replaced was going to be something like $250. We just left the thing broke and decided to start looking for a new car. Not much time passed before my dad went to start it one day and sure enough smoke starting coming up from under the hood, he checked it straight away only to find a small electrical fire. He was able to put it out and I believe he immediately called a two truck to have it taken away. The van was sold for roughly $200 to a salvage heap not long after.

After a short spell of sharing a vehicle with my mom, I became the primary driver of a 1991 Pontiac Bonneville.

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3/19/09 - Car History...1989 Pontiac Grand Am

This will be the first in a 9 part series. Roxane, over at her blog, went through a list of her past cars, and I have always thought the stories based around my cars were interesting. Some more exciting than others, but still, most of them are interesting.

I'll start with my first car, that was "mine" which I believe I got when I turned 16. It was a beautiful 1989 Pontiac Grand Am. It was dark red color with two doors. It was four-cylinder, but based on the speeds at which it could reach, I would have sworn it was a V8. We bought it with over 100k miles on it, and if it were up to me, I would have driven it until the wheels fell off. Instead, I only had it for about a year and a half. The images below show the basic color of my car and the 2 door gives a basic idea of the style. The link above gives a more accurate idea of the body style.

It was just about a daily occurrence that while I was on the way to work, me and my car pool partner would cruise down the interstate at typically 100+ miles an hour. My proudest moment was doing 106 miles an hour down I630 during rush hour traffic. The weaving and maneuvering I did that day was beautiful, poetic, and most importantly really stupid.

During the course of owning that vehicle, I was rear ended at a stop light, blew a tire when I took a turn too sharp and slipped into a sewer drainage thing, ran out of gas several times because the gas gauge was broken (I started using a post-it with the mileage of my last fill up to let me know when I needed gas again), and basically just destroyed this car. One of my favorite things to do was get up to about 40-50 miles an hour on back roads and slam on the brakes to see how far I would slide. Like Roxane mentioned, this is the perfect example why parents should NEVER buy a nice car for a teen's first vehicle.

The end of the Grand Am's life came one evening after a night out with a bunch of friends. A group of about 8 of us had gone to the ice skating rink off of Bowman in Little Rock just to hang out. When we left, we had to stop by a gas station to fill up. While we were pumping, I was talking with the other guy driving and he basically challenged me to race him back to North Little Rock. Considering that I was all about driving 100 miles an hour during rush hour...doing 100+ with no one else on the road seemed like a cake walk.

We hit the interstate where Chenal Parkway turns into I630 and the race was on. Although he was in a brand new Chevy Malibu, I blew him out of the water and might have been as much as a mile ahead of him pretty quickly. I continued at roughly 80-90 all the way down 630 until we got on to I30 at which point I slowed to probably 65 or 70...just enough to speed, but not too crazy like. I figured I had it in the bag because we could not see him at all behind us. As I was merging onto I40 though, we were all shocked to see him flying in behind us and before I could do much about it, he was basically in front of us, so all I could do was floor it. In all honestly, it's amazing my foot didn't go through the floor because there was no way he was going to beat me.

I was wrong. As soon as I hit the gas pedal, the car jerked, sparks flew, smoke billowed out from under the hood and it no longer reacted to anything. My car was dead. I was able to get it to the side of the road, just in front of the Lakewood Exit and the other guy stopped and came back to see what was going on. Since I'm no mechanic I called my dad and he said he would come get us. Of course, he didn't get the whole story of what happened.

While we were waiting we were standing off the interstate about 20 feet. My dad got there as they only lived a few miles down the road and went back to the house where he immediately called a tow truck and left to meet it. Before he could get there, the tow truck called and said he couldn't find the car he reported, but that there were several fire trucks, ambulance and police vehicles in the general area.

In that short time period, maybe 10-15 minutes, apparently a drunk driver had slammed into the back of my car at full speed thinking the shoulder was another lane at which point he sent my vehicle flying into the very spot where me and my friends had just been waiting. Needless to say, my car was destroyed, and amazingly no one was injured. After I dropped my friends off using my mom's van (more on that in a later post), I went by the scene of the accident and I can honestly say that in my life I have never felt so helpless, scared, emotional and guilty all at the same time.

I know this was a long opening post, but this kind of sets the scene for the life of the rest of my other cars. Stay tuned for the next vehicle in line - 1986 Dodge Caravan.

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