1998 Chevrolet Corvette

1998 Chevrolet Corvette

As I've previously mentioned, I've owned a lot of Corvettes, and four of them were 98's. This was the 2nd one I ever had and I think probably the least driven of them all.....and all of the pictures I have of it seem to be distorted for some reason so I'm going to keep this brief and just check another one off the list.

I bought this car in, I believe, 2002 after selling my 2000 model that I had really enjoyed. The 2000 was an automatic coupe and I decided I wanted to try a manual convertible. One out of two is what I got. The car had a lot of miles for being only four years old at around 60K so it didn't cost me an arm and a leg. It was also in really good shape so I was happy with it when I got it home.

This one was very similar to my 2000, but it didn't have the HUD system. The manual gearbox in these Vettes is pretty smooth. The clutch is a bit heavy, but the shifting action is a breeze. The car had an annoying 1st to 4th option. It would "decide" when you might want to just skip 2nd and 3rd and go directly to 4th in order to conserve fuel. It was rather bothersome until I learned to just not fight it.

The black interior was virtually identical to the 2000. The only difference was that this one had a few less options, and thus a few less buttons. There was a small tear in the driver's seat but my interior shop made it good as new for $80.

This is still the most impressive feature of these cars.

I have to admit that the C5 has grown on me a bit. It's still too uncomfortable to be a car you'd want to drive everyday, but it sure is fun to have one around.

I think I prefer the automatic in these cars to the manual. You really don't notice any appreciable speed difference, and it's not a fun car to shift. 

1949 Hudson Commodore

1949 Hudson Commodore

Taking my former neighbor Warren for a spin.

This is one of the most interesting cars I've ever owned for a number of reasons. For one, it's just kind of cool - it's a Hudson! It's also the oldest car I've ever owned to date. It's also basically the same iconic car that was used in the movie Driving Miss Daisy, as the seller was keen to point out.

It showed up on the list for Mecum Houston a number of years ago and I kind of got enamored with it. Something about it just kept pulling me back as I looked over the list of 1000 or so cars leading up to the auction. The color and condition had a lot to do with it, but I also got it in my head that it was the same car my father had once owned when he was young. I might have overpaid a bit, but I wanted it to come home with me.

I later discovered, after doing some research on this only picture of my father's old Hudson, that his car was in fact a Hornet and not a Commodore. Regardless, they're very similar and it still held quite a lot of sentimental value for me.

Unfortunately, it also had a 3-speed on-the-column clutch that I hated. Branelle drove my brother and me up to the auction to pick up my new toys and dropped us off. He drove a newer Mercedes that I had purchased and I took the Hudson. I made it about a mile before realizing that the clutch just wasn't going to make a 30 mile trip across Houston. I called a wrecker and had it towed to my mechanic.

The clutch, seen above, had to be rebuilt. It utilized cork as the pressure plate. I'd never even heard of that! This clutch cost me $5000 and it still was a pain to drive.

Clutch issues aside, this car had been expertly restored by the previous owner and was gorgeous to look at inside and out. I'd like to post about 30 pictures of it and call it a day but I'll just pick a few and finish up.

The interior was better than new. Ah, the old metal dashboards. Back in this era, car interiors were basically all metal, leather, and wood - no plastic bits.

The restorers had done a great job refinishing all of the parts in and out of the car. The chrome refinish bill alone must have been huge! There are some parts on old cars like this one that can't be replicated though. On the Commodore most of these parts had little ships on them, like this ivory shift handle with the ship inlaid in the ivory. If you're restoring an old car and you don't have these parts, or they're not salvageable, your only option is to search around or hit the swap meets at places like Hershey or Carlisle.

No worries about being able to stretch your legs out in the back seat of this one. 

Driving Miss Nelly (and miss Samantha)! Unlike some of my other purchases, everyone loved the Hudson. Nel, my friends, and even my neighbors all thought it was a pretty sweet ride.

The previous owners had even done a great job restoring the engine compartment. This car had the inline-6, which was the smaller engine option for a Hudson in '49. It was extremely slow, but I don't think it was supposed to be anything but a cruiser.

I owned this car during what I like to refer to as "The Dark Ages" of my car collecting history. We moved into Brook Forest and had only a three car garage. That doesn't sound that bad but the house we moved from had garage space for 30+ cars. Everything basically had to go into a warehouse that I owned, which means things just sat around. I would keep three "fun" cars at the house at a time. We've moved since and now have a comfortable eight garage spaces and options close by for storing more cars. I would imagine at the time that there wasn't another garage on earth that had this exact combination of cars in it. My tastes are rather eclectic.  

I kept this car for a while, but I didn't really enjoy it while I had it. It just wasn't a fun car to drive in modern traffic. The clutch was iffy and finding gears was a challenge. You would sort of dread missing lights and really fear getting stuck in heavy traffic. I finally parted with it and the buyer was an older gentleman from Kentucky that drove down with a trailer to pick it up. The trailer wasn't wide enough for the car, and I told him that, but I helped him load it up creatively and wished him well on his journey. I hope the car made it and I hope it's still cruising around somewhere putting smiles on people's faces.

2000 Porsche 911 Carrera

2000 Porsche 911 Carrera

It concerns me a little bit from time to time how technology works. I get that when I'm looking through Facebook and see ads for bras and princess dresses it's because my wife has been shopping on her iPad and we share the same WiFi. Fine. But when I asked my random selection program (not internet based) to pick a car for me to blog about this evening and it spits out this red 911 I start to worry. Tonight we went to dinner at Craft 96 and we drove our current 911, which is red, and I happen to have sitting on my desk right next to me a 1/18 scale model of our red 911 that just came in the mail today. Skynet - We're all going to die.

Anyway, on to the car. I bought this sharp little Carrera back in 2004 and it didn't really cost me much because it had about 100K miles on it. It was in great shape though and it never gave me any trouble. 

 
It was pretty basic as far as 911s go, being a two-wheel-drive model with the narrow body, but the upgraded wheels added a little something. The car was fast, but not crazy fast, and handled great. It was a 6-speed and had a clutch that was a little heavy for my taste, but was still okay to drive on a daily basis. 

I've never been crazy about Porsche interiors. Unless you custom order your car (which about half of buyers do) they are almost always monotone in color. This one was a light grey everywhere. It needed something to break it up. Still, it was in remarkable condition for the mileage. 

The 996 version of the 911 makes for a great weekender for the enthusiast on a budget. They aren't race cars, but are great looking and driving sports cars with classic lines and every day practicality. There are some potential issues to be aware of  (IMS bearing), but generally these are reliable rides that come in a variety of packages, all unmistakably 911. Don't be afraid of higher mileage examples as long as you know the history of the car. If cared for these things will go forever.