MissMuffins
New member
I drive a 2007 Subaru Forester w/automatic transmission because its use was given to me. After it was "totaled" due to hail damage, my parents took the insurance check and the car to the local dealership...who valued it at $0 as a trade in on a new Outback.
Prior to that, I drove a 1992 Subaru Legacy wagon w/manual transmission purchased new in 1992 with 6 miles on it. One can be seen here: 1992 Subaru Legacy wagon. #5 is the same color as the one I had. Although Subaru is a Japanese make, mine was built in an American plant.
I loved that car, and drove it until March 2009...when I was struck in the rear passenger door/wheel by a newly licensed driver while I was making a left hand turn. The car was totaled. I traded the seats for towing & storage, sold the engine for $500 and used the $500 to buy a 1985 Toyota Corolla w/failing automatic transmission off craigslist. I drove that for about a year, until the use of the Forester was given to me. I then sold the Toyota for what I paid for it, and it was on the road for another 6+ months until the transmission finally gave up the ghost. It would have been worth it to replace the transmission.
I prefer manual to automatic transmission.
Subaru and Toyota are notoriously reliable.
When I was a child, my parents drove Fords. My dad had a 1966 Ford 4x4 pickup with short box & standard transmission w/ floor shifter. Here's a link to a 1966 Ford pickup with a long box, that's been repainted in the same factory colors as Dad's.
We had a 1966 Falcon XP or Futura that was marine blue w/a white top. Here's a left-hand drive version: 1966 Ford Falcon. My dad had it repainted a metallic brown (even at age 8 I wondered why) and then traded it in on a vinyl top '76 Granada. I wish I had the Falcon.
Ours was a sedan, but in the same colors as this coupe 1976 Ford Granada coupe. The Granada had an automatic transmission with a column ring shifter. When I was 17 the shifter broke while I was driving, and I got in so much trouble for it. Turned out there'd been a factory recall on the ring, which my dad couldn't be bothered to follow up on. Do you think he apologized? No.
They traded the Granada in on their first Subaru after I left home.
I learned to drive, beginning at age 12, in the '66, the Granada, and a 1950's-era Chevy grain truck that looked a lot like this: 1950 Chevy Farm Truck. It had all kinds of "extras": dimmer switch on the floor, floor starter, dump bed, choke, a floor shifter with hi/lo gears and a funky emergency brake that worked kind of like the release on a pair of Vice Grips. Speaking of Vice Grips, the window crank on the passenger side was a pair of Vice Grip pliers.
Oh, memories!
MM
Prior to that, I drove a 1992 Subaru Legacy wagon w/manual transmission purchased new in 1992 with 6 miles on it. One can be seen here: 1992 Subaru Legacy wagon. #5 is the same color as the one I had. Although Subaru is a Japanese make, mine was built in an American plant.
I loved that car, and drove it until March 2009...when I was struck in the rear passenger door/wheel by a newly licensed driver while I was making a left hand turn. The car was totaled. I traded the seats for towing & storage, sold the engine for $500 and used the $500 to buy a 1985 Toyota Corolla w/failing automatic transmission off craigslist. I drove that for about a year, until the use of the Forester was given to me. I then sold the Toyota for what I paid for it, and it was on the road for another 6+ months until the transmission finally gave up the ghost. It would have been worth it to replace the transmission.
I prefer manual to automatic transmission.
Subaru and Toyota are notoriously reliable.
When I was a child, my parents drove Fords. My dad had a 1966 Ford 4x4 pickup with short box & standard transmission w/ floor shifter. Here's a link to a 1966 Ford pickup with a long box, that's been repainted in the same factory colors as Dad's.
We had a 1966 Falcon XP or Futura that was marine blue w/a white top. Here's a left-hand drive version: 1966 Ford Falcon. My dad had it repainted a metallic brown (even at age 8 I wondered why) and then traded it in on a vinyl top '76 Granada. I wish I had the Falcon.
Ours was a sedan, but in the same colors as this coupe 1976 Ford Granada coupe. The Granada had an automatic transmission with a column ring shifter. When I was 17 the shifter broke while I was driving, and I got in so much trouble for it. Turned out there'd been a factory recall on the ring, which my dad couldn't be bothered to follow up on. Do you think he apologized? No.
They traded the Granada in on their first Subaru after I left home.
I learned to drive, beginning at age 12, in the '66, the Granada, and a 1950's-era Chevy grain truck that looked a lot like this: 1950 Chevy Farm Truck. It had all kinds of "extras": dimmer switch on the floor, floor starter, dump bed, choke, a floor shifter with hi/lo gears and a funky emergency brake that worked kind of like the release on a pair of Vice Grips. Speaking of Vice Grips, the window crank on the passenger side was a pair of Vice Grip pliers.
Oh, memories!
MM
Last edited:
