A History of My Cars 2002 - 2006

1988 Pontiac 6000 LE

After selling the 300D, I lived in BC, moving myself by foot and bicycle. I felt better doing so as it fit my politics better. When I moved back to Eastern Canada, I brought my bike along with me, and tried my hardest to do Ontario "car free". This however did not last long, as any one who lives in the unsustainable suburbs of Burlington and Oakville know, you need a car to get around Southern Ontario. I made it a point to never have to pay for a car again. This at first was no easy task. It was not until I started to work for B and D Auto Recycling that I found what I was looking for. My boss at the time sold me this 1988 6000 for $500. The money that was supposed to come off my pay check never did, and when I became General Manager, all my cars were company cars, and for the record, I never paid for any of them.

The Gooolie as it became known, was your basic P.O.S. The name is a reference to a joke that I will not repeat here, but any car person will get. This car was supposed to be sold to a yard monkey named Tiny, but since he had been put "on vacation", the car came up for me. It had your basic GM 2.8 under the hood, and was very simple. It did however make it to Montreal and back, which impressed me to no end. After that trip the word "l'incroyable" was written in hot pink on the back window. After I gave up this car for the next one, it was given to Tiny. It did not last long, and the engine died a couple of months later.

1989 Dodge D50

The D50 was a truck made for Dodge by Mitsubishi. It had the infamous 2.6 engine under the hood, and the records in the glove box showed many a head gasket had been changed on her. I don't really know why I picked this truck. Two reasons come to mind. It was a 4X4(winter was fast approaching) and it had the coolest red bed cap on the back. I was also diggin the yellow marker lights on the roof. This truck made it Ottawa and back, and the above picture is from that trip. I quickly traded this truck for a Volvo that came to the yard and caught my eye, like a red head on a bicycle.

1989 Volvo 240

I will never forget the day when a little old lady drove the gold coloured Volvo in the picture above into the yard. She could no longer drive and wanted to get rid of her car. The scrap yard I worked at was in Oakville, Ontario, and the funny thing about having a yard in a rich city like Oakville is you get really nice cars coming in for dirt cheap. I took a quick look at the Volvo and when my eyes locked on the 121,000km on the odometer I immediately called the boss. 120K! That is un-heard of for a Volvo that year. She wanted $900 for it and I almost fainted. The boss came around and we started making deals. Two customers came up and asked the lady if the car was for sale she said "yes", and they wanted to make an offer. This ticked off the Boss to no end and he turned to the customers and said "You guys are here to buy used parts, not cars, that is our job, now bugger off". He then with a silky voice said to the little old lady "Sorry about that, how about we give you $1,200 for the car since you seem like a nice person". The car was sold and by the end of the week it was mine. All it needed was exhaust to pass a safety.

Having access to a lot of scrap Volvos, my 240 became a "moders" dream. I had all the extra gauges installed, plus I converted the clock over to a tach. I also picked up four turbo rims(which you can see in the picture). In a very short time I put 20,000km on it and when my next dreamy Volvo came up I put her up for sale. We sold it for $2,500, to a man who had just written off his 240 a week earlier. On a geekier side note - the day I sold the 240, a scrap 240 came in with the last gauge I was looking for, the rare outside temp. gauge that was only found on Volvos sold in Australia.

1968 Mercedes-Benz 200

This car was gift from the Boss to me. I only drove it on the road once. Unlike times in the past(think 81 Datsun) I had a every car guys wet dream at my disposal - a dealer plate. The car was purchased for $2,000, and it never saw the road again. The front frame was rotted and would require a lot of work to be safetied. I tried with not success to sell it for the rest of the time I worked at the yard.

On a historical note. Only 332 of these cars were made in 1968. It was also the last year of production for the 110 body, or Fintail body as they are sometimes called.

1989 Volvo 740

This Volvo replaced my 240. It came in as a car the Boss purchased from a local car dealer. It was a one owner, highly maintained 740, and I had the hots for it. It was a beautiful grey on black leather interior. It had all the toys, and drove like a dream. There was not a speck of rust on the entire car. It ran well, and leaked or burned no oil. It was an excellent example of a 740. It was purchased for $1,500 - eat your heart out Volvo lovers! Hint - if you love Volvo's go work at a scrap yard, you will be in heaven.

After giving notice at the yard I asked the Boss if he wanted his Volvo back. He said no, and gave it to me as a good-bye gift. This 740 took me on the longest road trip ever. From Ontario it drove to the N.W.T. and the Yukon. After that trip, I went to Texas and back to BC. All in all I put almost 30,000km on her in 3 months. Only once did she let me down. Somewhere near Provo, Utah the fuel pump relay blew. Good thing I had 3 in the glove box, even though it took 3 days to figure it out.

After settling in Vancouver, BC, I decided to sell Hero(the name it became known by). I sold her for two reasons. First, at 350,000km she was going to need some money put into her, money I didn't have. Secondly, my conscience started to bother me. We are still at war with Iraq for the very resource that Hero needed to run. As much as I have enjoyed my various cars, I know that they will be the ruin of us all. Every time I went to fill the tank with fuel I couldn't help but think the gas was tainted with the blood of innocent Iraqis and young US soldiers. Hero was sold for $1,000, and with that money I bought the laptop I am using right now to make this web page.