Here is the short story of my automotive history. Its not pretty, but it can be pretty entertaining. Without adieu…
The first entry is this 1990 Dodge Ram W350 4X4 with the coveted Cummins 6BT and a Getrag 5 speed. For Dodge/Cummins first genners, it doesn’t get much better than this.
The Dodge shown above died buried in 3 feet of soft clay. She had 300K on the clock and about $4K worth of new parts, including BFG A/T tires and Rancho shocks. I inherited it from my father and got it stuck in the mud. Before I could retrieve it punks burned and vandalized it beyond recovery. Torched the truck then flipped the body and stripped the frame. At least this is one vehicle that I know for a fact will still be around in 100 years, even if it is just a fossil… At least it isn’t a cube. Its a part of the landscape now. A legend if you will. It will probably never fully get “recycled.”
Next is this. Its a POS 2001 Hyundai Elantra. 2.0L engine with 135 horse and 135 torque. In hindsight I thought way too highly of this car. It had all the bells and whistles, but the transmission was terrible. Seriously cannot describe how bad it was. Plus I drove it like a punk and killed it, but we don’t talk about Fight Club…
I blew one transmission at 60K miles and the dealer gave me a ton of grief. Finally got it replaced and the next one blew at 100,349 miles. That’s only 349 miles after the warranty ended. Dealer threw a fit. Guess I would’ve too if you had seen what it looked like everytime I sent it for “warranty” repair. I sent it to the scrapyard for $500.
After that we have the 1986 F150 2WD stepside shown below, with a 300 cubic inch I6 and a 4 speed stick shift.
I loved this thing. I had an Edelbrock air cleaner, MSD ignition, new fuel pump, straight pipe side exit exhaust, aftermarket tach, steering wheel, and interior lighting with a modest sound setup. Best part was the Nissan Sentra bucket seats bolted to the bed. I have fond memories of eating strawberry shortcake with my current wife, then GF in the back of this truck. The frame on this truck was rotted beyond repair. I tried… I even found another one at a junkyard and ordered that it be cut in half and the rear section delivered to my house, but in the end I wound up having children and this quickly became an irrational project. I had already replaced the spring shackles and shock mounts on my frame, and prepped and repaired the spare frame for transplant, but it just wasn’t meant to be (This photo is prior to being fully prepped)
I kept it for a while before I sold the tires and rims to that truck to my neighbor, the spare frame to a scrapper, and the truck to a co-worker. I just couldn’t scrap the truck itself. I felt like it still had too much life left in it or something.
Next we have a real beater. This thing was fun. Dangerous, illegal, and crappy… But very fun. Its a 1991 Nissan Sentra with the GA16DE 1.6L engine and the notorious 4 speed automatic. This thing was as absolute base model as you could get. Even lesser than that once you really get to know it…
I got this from my aunt. It had low compression, a rotted exhaust and a bad pump in the transmission. It ran on 3 cylinders most of the time and would hardly ever shift into 4th gear. Reverse was almost impossible. I was going to part it out and split the money with my aunt, but out of necessity I registered it and drove it for work. The trunk latch was already parted off of it so I used a Home Depot latch with a Master Lock to hold the trunk down.
The hood scoop came off an MTD lawn tractor and not shown in the pictures was a VW Jetta deck spoiler (Super narrow) bolted to the roof. The rear ride height was jacked up 2" and it had a Cherry Bomb exhaust with a chrome side exit tip. Running on three cylinders with no working overdrive in this thing made quite the impression in ALL circumstances. I didn’t drive this car for very long. The intake hose was so rotted I had to cut it in half and put a chrome breather on the valve cover with plugged vacuum lines to get it to run.
One day I was driving around with my girlfriend and it started to die (finally cutting out from 2 cylinders to 1), so I limped it home and gently “Put her down” softly in my driveway at about 3,500 RPMs. I got paid $350 from the junkyard because the towtruck driver threw his bargaining chips out the window by assuming the car was the size of a Maxima when I talked to him on the phone. I threw in a blown Chevy 9 bolt rear-end when he arrived and he made good on his quote.
Talk about piston slap! Before junking it I parted out whatever was easiest to sell on select Nissan forums. This was cylinder #2. Oddly enough, it looked the worst but always had the highest cylinder pressures when tested. It “carried” the engine in that it was the only single cylinder that when disabled would stall the entire engine.
Next we have my first Subaru. It was the first car I could stand to drive under $1,000 after I had run out of options. A 1992 Subaru Legacy 2WD automatic. Great features, great engine sound, great powerband and super reliable. Plus the engine was jacked with its totally caged crank and semi-closed deck.
So I did. I went on Craigslist, sold the Sentra for $500 because it was loaded with rusty problems of despair and immediately turned around and dropped $500 on the sweetest Go-Kart Craigslist had to offer… Which happened to be this Carter 2 seater full suspension go-kart with a Tecumseh 6hp engine (Soon to be whatever). It runs and drives, and it was totally worth a Nissan Sentra. My son loves it and I’m sure the daughter I’ve got brewing is gonna love it too. Hopefully you guys enjoyed the pictures and the story as much as I love Automation! 
