About me and my passion for cars

I would say my love of cars began at a very young age. I was probably about 5 when I saw and wanted a 63' split window Corvette toy in a store. Then as the years went on me and my buddy had quite a Hot Wheel collection with tracks & loops. Not to mention all the car models I put together as a kid from 4th grade to jr. high.
I bought and sold 8 cars between the age of 18 and 22, that averages to about one every 6 months, which was crazy, but fun.
Car number 1 was a 67' Chevelle. It was a nice car, but I sold it so I could purchase a 70' Camaro. I had it very nice, but my passion had always been Corvettes, so it went for a 70' Vette. I can't remember what I was thinking, but I sold the Vette to a friend & purchased a gold 78' Fiat X-19 off the show room floor. I also purchased a 69' MG Midget. I didn't have the X-19 too long as I ended up wanting to purchase a house, so I sold the Fiat and purchased another 70 Camaro.
The Camaro didn't last much longer than the rest as I sold it and purchased a 78' Triumph TR7. Then by 1980, the end of that 4 year run on cars I sold the TR7 for a 74' Corvette. I also sold the 69' MG Midget about that time too. I was happy with the 74 Corvette for quite a few years.
In 1986 we ordered a new Trans-AM. It was very nice, but after a two years and two small children it went the way of the Mini-Van.
My wife had a 69' Mach I Mustang that she had received (used) for her 16th birthday. I had that car for quit a few years. But for the most part settled down into more family type cars or mini-vans.
I did eventually sell the 69 Mach I to a body shop owner who was going to restore it. I'm sure it turned out beautiful. I ended up with a 89' Lincoln Continental, a lemon by Consumer Report standards & my personal experience only helped justify their rating. That was the biggest money pit I've owned.
I did end up owning three Merkur XR4Ti's over the years, no more than two at once. They were nice little peppy cars with their 2.4L turbo engine. Not the best looking, but you could find them cheap.
I purchased a 86' XR4Ti with 36,000 original miles in Baltimore, MD for $2,800. I thought that was kind of crazy, the car was still in almost new condition. It was probably the best deal I have made on a car. Nobody really knew what they are & probably never received the recognition they should have. They were all very good dependable cars for me. Add an intercooler and you could get some very high performance out of them.

Going back a few years, probably around 1978 or so, I had a friend who had a 67' Camaro Z28 that he sold for $3,300. That is the one car, I wish I had purchased and still kick myself for not doing so... super missed opportunity there. I believe they only made 621 of them, if that. It was the first model year of the Camaro and the first of the Z28's. That car now is worth way more than $3,300.

Back to current day... the kids are out on their own. I had been looking at purchasing another toy. I was torn between a late model Corvette Convertible or an Acura NSX. I finally decided I wanted something a little more unique than the Corvette, so the NSX won out.

It took a few years of saving and looking. I had been watching autotrader, cars, eBay, etc. for some time. In March 2008 I saw an NSX on eBay that I thought looked like a very nice low mile NSX for a great price. I thought I would put in a bid $100 higher than the current bid, fully expecting the current bidder to have a higher maximum bid set, to where I would be immediately out bid, but I wasn't. That was on Good Friday. The bidding closed ~3:30 PM that Sunday (Easter). As it turned out nobody else had placed a higher bid. I ended up being the high bidder and next thing I knew I had to figure out how to get to Reno, NV and get the car home.

That was kind of an scary process, purchasing something that expensive off of ebay, especially after all the scams I had run across while looking for an NSX. But everything turned out wonderful.

I consider it a blessing from God as it all played out over Good Friday and ended on Easter. I try my best to remain thankful and enjoy it. It seems to bless others too. To see the grins on the faces of those who I've told they can sit in it.. is priceless.

I still love looking at all the beautiful cars there are out there. I have sure enjoyed that the car companies are bringing back the muscle cars.

You are all wonderful (Psalm 139:14),

- Rod

My first car

1967 Chevelle.

Car I wish I still had

Humm... wish I would have purchased a 67' Z-28 Camaro years ago.

My dream car

Acura NSX, 1958 Corvette or almost any year of Corvette.

Favorites

• Driving song: Radar Love - by Golden Ear Ring

— Profile last updated: Sep 10, 2012