Vehicle History
From "The Silver Bullet" to "The Yellow Dart"
All this buzz about The Yellow Dart has set me to reminiscing. Working on vehicles with Dad and Tim has been a tradition in my family for a long time. I have decided to use this blog entry to chronicle all of the vehicles I have owned. It should be fun for those of us who remember all of these vehicles, and for those of you who haven't known me long enough to remember "The Silver Bullet," you are in for a treat. Like it or not, the vehicles we drive say a lot about who we are, or at least were at the time we were driving them.
I must of course start at the beginning with (drumroll please) "The Silver Bullet". (AKA "The Gray Ghost) What a truck! If there ever was a truck I could have jumped Hazzard Creek in that was it. There were many lessons learned from that truck, the most important being this, "No matter how much money you sink in a vehicle, it is never worth more than it was when you bought it, especially when you try to sell it." Case in point, I bought the truck for $2,500. I then spent the next four years improving it. New radio, new tires and rims, new engine, new paint job, and a new transmission were all added. Then I sold it for $2,500. But I do not consider it a loss. The amount of fun that truck brought me was worth all of the time and money I put into it, and I got a lot of use out of it. It took me to high school and college, not to mention all of the social events I went to where it was the center of attention. I still have dreams that I find it somewhere and buy it back, much to Tessa's dismay, but I must move on.
The Altima. This is what I bought after selling my truck. It got good gas mileage, had a smooth shifting 5 speed, freezing cold air and quickly warming heater, not to mention a fair amount of "giddy up." Looking back it was the perfect car for a college student or young married couple and it served me well in both capacities. I put 70K miles on it in the 3 years I had it. When we traded it in it had 130K miles on it and still ran like a dream. I have no doubt that it is still running the roads.
Oh how we loved the Forester. We traded the Nissan Altima in for a brand new 2002 Subaru Forester. Mistake. As much as we loved the vehicle, it was too much payment for us. I'll never buy another new vehicle. I'd like to have another one just like it and maybe some day we can but it won't be new. But enough negative, lets talk about why we loved it so. It had a 6 disk in-dash CD player, was an all wheel drive SUV, could haul tons of stuff, drove like a dream, made little to no noise even at freeway speeds, and got 27 miles per gallon. Yeah, someday we'll get another one, or maybe an Outback.
A moment of silence please...The Corsica. Died in my arms, under my torque wrench. This was a good car though. That's probably why I fought so hard to save it. We didn't pay a ton of money for it and got over 70K miles out of it. It had the most comfortable seats of any vehicle that I have ever owned, bar none. Good heat and air, power to spare, quiet running, plenty of space. I'm going to have to quit talking about it or I'll get all emotional.
The Jeep. What else can you say? Okay, lets try. Tough, versatile, practical, extremely powerful, comfortable but no fluff. We like the Jeep. It is a 1999 model and has at present 77K miles. I only have two gripes with the Jeep. It is noisy on the freeway and it only gets about 18-19 miles per gallon. That being said, I feel that I can count on it to last a long time and it does what we need. The Jeep is primarily a Tessa and the kids vehicle presently but I wouldn't mind it if we get something else for them and it becomes my own. It is a fun vehicle and I am proud to have it.
"The Yellow Dart" AKA "The Sube." What can I say, except that it is still in Bee Branch awaiting more surgery. It looks like we're going to have to put a torque converter in it. The part is only $20 but I have a feeling it will be every bit as much trouble as any of the things we have fixed on it so far. You can save a ton of money on vehicle repairs if you are willing to make them yourself. But I'm getting off of the subject, here's what I expect to get out of The Yellow Dart. I expect that I will get a couple of years of good use out of it as a commuter vehicle. It has been fun working on it with Dad and Tim, I've learned a great deal about Subaru repairs. It is really a simple design, from the drivetrain to the engine. These old cars are everywhere so parts aren't that hard to find. If the torque converter fixes it I'll start driving it. If something else goes wrong with it I'm not ruling out trying to fix it, even if it means a "new" engine or transmission. Based on what we've already done to it I feel confident that replacing either is no great leap. I have already found several just like it in junkyards with lower mileage that were wrecked. Those engines/transmissions ought to come pretty cheap. Okay this is getting way too long winded so I must end it. Enjoy whatever vehicle you currently have, remember those who have come before, and above all, drive safely.
Posted by
Matt at
15:23
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Comments (16)
Comments
As an interesting side note, check out this google search. First, second and third. If you ever forget how to get to this website just type in "Matt Subaru Yellow Dart" into a Google search.
What about the 87 Blazer. You cant forget a gas drinkin big American Made SUV like that. A whoping 8mph. Remember those days?
I've got this weird thing with the Blazer. I guess I never really considered it mine. I got to drive it but I always felt like it was on loan from Mom and Dad. I did enjoy it though, with it's 8 mpg, and a 305 with no power. I also didn't include Tessa's S-10 pickup. I never felt like it was mine either but I did like it. Handy little truck.
Hey Matt, do you remember the "after basketball practice runs" up to McMahans'/Circle S. to get Snapples? Especially the one where you started to try and pass that car and we got beside it and it took like 3 min. to pass it. It was like it was happening in slow motion. I'm pretty sure that was before the new engine. That was cool.
Yep I do remember. That was with the old straight-6 that had 140k on it and used about a quart of oil a week and smoked on top of that. At least we didn't give up on passing that guy, that would have been embarrassing. Hey, do you remember when we were being tailgated in your vehicle (I don't remember if it was the Dragster or the Honda) so you slowed down and the lady flipped us off when she passed? That was cool.
I am so privileged to have you and Tim as brothers. Great post. -Betsy
What a great post. I think everyone should do a post like it.
This brought back so many memories! I remember how proud you were of your truck and how hard you worked on it. It was really awesome! I wish you still had it. I'm going to start taking pictures of all my vehicles. Do we not have a picture of the blazer? I really loved that blazer. I'm so thankful we've all been spared from serious accidents in all our vehicles so far. Be careful out there. Love ya, MOM
We were surely in the dragster to conjure up that kind of emotion from some ol hag. She was probably thinking about her old man.
-Jeff, Glad you liked it. Can't wait to see your vehicle history post.
-Mom, I couldn't find any of the Blazer. Except for the gas mileage it was the perfect traveling vehicle. I still remember sleeping all the way to Gulf Shores in it.
-Betsy, yes I remember. I was (and am) proud to have you as my cool sister. We can spare the gruesome details on the hair experiments though. Back then it was sooo important how your hair looked. How silly.
Ahhh, Matt, the Silver Bullet. You know, the funny thing about vehicles is only the ones with personality receive names. Our senior year at SSHS, the parking lot was filled with Lil' Mudder, Lucy, the Silver Bullet. We may have gotten terrible gas mileage, but we had style ( or so we thought). Since Lucy SS, I've had the red truck and the gray truck.
By the way, what about the brown farm truck ya'll had? I seem to remember being able to write my name in the dust on the dash since the windows were never rolled up!
Ahh yea, the brown farm truck Brooke, that would be known as "the 79". Never before has one vehicle evoked such compasion in two people "Matt and I" and such deap hatred in another "Mom". I can remember the first time I drove it. I couldnt reach the pedal but Dad just said pull the shifter all the way down and push on the brake when you want to stop. The idle was so fast that I didnt have to use the gas. Matt and I learned to drive in the 79 and one day Malachi and Logan will do the same. The 79 has a way of taking you under its wing and saying let me do the driving kind of like the "Love Bug" no better yet "Kit", without a flashy red light. By the way, the reason we call it the 79 is when we used to change oil or filters in Matt and Dads trucks, we would say I changed the oil in the 80 model, silver bullet sounded better, or Did you change the filter in the 79. Heck yea what a good name. I think that will be my first son's name. The 79 Wood, kind of has a ring to it.
hey Tim, thought you might need reminding that you have another sibling--my name is Betsy and i learned to drive in the 79 too :-) i will never forget how it felt out in the field the first time dad let me take over. i could reach the pedal, but just barely. i must have looked so retarded. yes, it was like the 79 taught me how to drive it just by the feel. i love the 79 and cannot understand why anyone wouldn't. it brings back warm memories of spending time with Dad on the farm.
Sorry what was your name again Oh Betsy. Sorry I left you out the 79 taught Betsy, Matt, and Daniel how to drive. Daniel even learned how to climb the silage pit and run into round bales in the 79. But Mom really hates it. I dont know why maybe she should have learned to drive by the 79. Maybe then she would'nt have grab the dash when she rode with us in highschool. Remember when Dad used to drive it to church when he was late and Mom was so embarrased and wanted him to park in the back. Long live the 79.
I still hate the "79" but I love all of you!!!! Thanks for bringing back memories. Oh by the way I've driven the "79" plenty myself back in her better days. Love, MOM
hey, just realized that I took these pictures of you and the silver bullet. I remember feeling like I was your "agent" or something...it was my job to make sure you looked as cool as possible at all times. Remember when I used to "experiment" with your hair?? I'm pretty sure I even made suggestions on how you should pose in these pics!! Okay, just giving credit where credit is due (ha) -Betsy
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As an interesting side note, check out this google search. First, second and third. If you ever forget how to get to this website just type in "Matt Subaru Yellow Dart" into a Google search.