Resolution #84: Track Down A Replica Of Every Car I Ever Owned And Build A Shrine...
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Date: 3-25-2014
Due Date: 3-25-2015
Resolution: I wouldn't necessarily say that I was a car person but I've always ended up with some pretty interesting vehicles. I think it started when I was a kid and I fell in love with my mom's 1954 Mercury Comet. If it wasn't given to her, she bought it real cheap because she needed something to drive and had no other choice.
At 6'4" I was blown away by how roomy this vehicle was. I couldn’t care less about how many liters or cylinders the engine had. I could fit comfortably in this thing even with the bench seat all the way forward so that my mom could drive.
Ever since then, the majority of my cars have been either my age or older. I love the way old cars look. I'm not sure how much their rarity for the time factors into it, but old cars have personality and my old cars had downright charm.
That said, even the newer cars I owned had personalities as well. Thought these characteristics stemmed from a strange combination of loving neglect. Since I'm not a car person… I ended up letting a lot of maintenance issues slide. Any flaw becomes an adorable quirk to me. These quirks included a spider-webbed windshield on my Jeep Wrangler and a lake and waterfall in my Buick Park Ave.
I've loved each and every one of these freaks and they deserve a shrine.
Here's what I'll be looking for.
1954 Mercury Comet (even though this car was never mine… it’s the one that started it all)
1989 Nissan Truck (with AstroTurf interior not too exciting but it was my first vehicle. It was given to me by my grandparents. I totaled it in a car accident that wasn’t my fault and eventually bought the same exact truck to replace it.)
1994 Jeep Wrangler (This was one of those young dumb purchases that came with my first job and misunderstanding what it means to be stuck with a car loan. After I moved to Seattle it stopped being able to drive up hills. I drove it for about a year with a spider-webbed windshield. I fought with the bank for months to finally repossess it after leaving it in Seattle when I moved to Delaware.)
1962 Ford Galaxie (I bought it to drive from Seattle to Delaware. I drove it around Seattle for about a month and then hit the road. It was an interesting drive. As long as I stayed on the freeway it seemed to run fine. Whenever I had to stop for gas I feared it would explode. It made it but didn’t last all that long once I got there. I ended up abandoning it when no one knew how to fix a generator anymore.)
1969 Lincoln Continental (This was the same type of car that was in the Matrix. It had suicide doors and everything. I bought it from a dead person and then ended up driving it to death. I drove it for a couple of years until it blew a seal or something that caused it to pour smoke all over the place whenever I started it. I sold it for next to nothing after trying to give it away.)
1998 Buick Park Ave (This was the most expensive car I ever owned. It wasn't old, but in my eyes, it was a modern version of an old car. I drove this thing to the ground. Right away I did something weird and messed up the sunroof leading it to leak. That didn't affect the driveability so I just let it go, even though I live in Seattle where it rains year-round. There was a lake in the back and when I step on the brakes a stream of water would shoot down from the sunroof. The driver’s seat was stuck back so you had to drive with a gangsta lean. After not driving the thing for a little over two years, I brought it back to life with the bare minimum of a tune-up and oil change. It never drove the same after that. That didn’t stop me. I continued to drive it for about four years until it gave out.)
1976 GMC Sierra (This is my latest vehicle and I love it like all the others. It has its quirks but that's what makes it special. You can see the brush strokes from where my friend’s grandfather painted in by hand back in the day. None of the gauges work and you HAVE to use the parking brake or else it rolls downhill into other cars (I learned that the hard way.) It starred in the TV show Stolen Voices, Buried Secrets, and the movie Scrapper. I don't look forward to the day where it's no longer in my life.)
I wish I was a picture person who had photos to share, but you’ll have to wait for the replicas to see these characters in my life. I can’t wait to share.
Result #84: The Hunt For Toy Cars Will Continue On...
Update #1: The Conclusion…
Date: 3-25-2015
I still really want to build this shrine to the cars that I've owned throughout my life. The only problem is that it's so hard to find model cars these days. When I was a kid it seems that they were sold in every drug store and grocery store in town.
Being that a majority of the cars I've owned were from this era of recreational replica making, I figured it wouldn't be all that hard to at least find model kits for the classics.
Nope...
Though I was able to find similar model vehicles I couldn't find one exact match. A lot of times I was able to find models for years that were either older or newer than the cars I owned. The years being off wouldn't bother me all that much if they still at least looked the same as mine, but nope they looked too different.
The other problem is that I owned a lot of four-door vehicles. I found tons of two-door matches from the same year, or convertibles but couldn't find any matches.
I'm not going to give up though.
