Karl Kelman's Vehicles
Big old piece of junk that got from a guy who owed me money - figured the car was better than nothing, which was probably the alternative. Leaked tranny fluid badly, but they had some sort of close-out deal on low quality tranny fluid at Jax Surplus, so I got 24 quarts and stuck 'em in the trunk. Needed to put a quart in every 20 miles or so. As you can imagine, it was terrible on gas mileage also. Wicked vibration at around 50 mph would start on occasion if you hit a bump, and continue for quite some time - never really felt comfortable driving it faster than 40 or so. The whole vehicle, due to the soft factory ride, shot shocks, bald tires, and loose steering and bulk had the feel of a collection of loosely associated parts that you were herding down the road in a vague direction. Definitely a car that you'd want to stay in town with - I don't think I ever had it out on the Interstate. Only good point is that it was immune to parking tickets, since I never registered it in my name. Only kept it a month or two. The Parking Authorities at CSU got wise to the fact that the Beast didn't observe parking regs, or pay tickets, and left a nasty sticker on the windshield threatening to tow it the next time they saw it. I think that, combined with getting to the bottom of the last case of cheap tranny fluid caused me to decide to have it put out of my misery. Got fairly decent money for it at the junkyard, due to it's bulk and value as scrap metal. Other vehicles I, or my family, have owned: Circa 1970-2: Honda 50 Mini-Bike $185 ($125 sale) Circa 1972-3: Kawasaki 75 Mini-Bike $295 ($185 sale) Circa 1973-4: Kawasaki 120 Dirt Bike $200 m/l ($100 m/l sale) Circa 1975: 1963 Chrysler 300 $250 ($150 sale) Circa 1977: 1972 VW Super Beetle $600 ($650 sale) Circa 1977: 1971 Saab (Saab Story) $1200 ($1250 sale) Circa 1977: 1966 Travelall Free ($50 m/l sale) Circa 1978-84: Honda Trail 90 $125 ($100 sale) Circa 1979: 1960s Lincoln Continental $125 or Free ($50 m/l sale) Circa 1979-80: Honda 500-4 $900 m/l ($700 m/l sale) Circa 1979: 1969 Chevy Bel Air $600 ($275 sale) Circa 1981-90: 1980 Ford Courier (Home, Sweet Home) $5000 ($300 sale) Circa 1985-86: Honda Silver Wing $800 m/l ($600 sale m/l) Circa 1985-92: 1969 Chevy Camper Utility Box Alaskan Camper $2000 m/l ($1000 sale m/l) Exactly 1990-93: 1985 Chevy Celebrity (BEN) $2800 ($2800 m/l sale) Exactly 1990-00: 1988 Chevy Celebrity (AYN) $3700 ($900 sale) Circa 1993-98: 1988 Subaru Justy (Little Red) $2600 ($800 m/l sale) Circa 1998: 1988 Toyota Camry (Camy) $2000 ($1100 sale) Circa 2000-1: 2000 Toyota Camry V-6 (Otto) $2900 ($2800 sale) Circa 2001-3: 1993 Toyota Corolla (Dex) $2000 ($2000 m/l sale) Exactly 2002: 1996 Oldsmobile (Dino) $4200 ($1500 value) Exactly 2002: 2000 Toyota Corolla (Cedrick) $7000 ($4000 value) Exactly 2007: 2002 Toyota Corolla (Lancelot) $6800 ($6500 value) If you don't mind driving really ugly, you can drive really cheap! |