46;
'80 Chevy Citation
'77 Pontiac Grand Prix (First car I modded)
'84 Honda Civic (Least reliable vehicle I ever owned)
'88 Toyota Corolla
'92 Mazda Protege
'91 Honda Civic
'94 Jeep Wrangler (Seriously Modded)
'01 Mustang (Mildly modded)
'05 Saab 93 (First new car)
'11 Hyundai Genesis Coupe GT (3.8 mildly modded)
'15 Camaro SS (1LE Suspension, sub frame bushings, Z/28 CAI, Ported TB Tuned, and much more planned)
So, eleven cars in 30 years, not bad, but it looks like I've got some catching up to do.
The Honda, Toyota, Mazda, Honda series are all things I purchased when in the Army or in college, when cheap reliable transportation was the goal. While each was a soundly logical decision, good Lord if I had it to do over again...
The Toyota was a great car, put 140k miles on it, and the only thing that ever broke was a leaky brake reservoir. $40.00 fix. The Hondas I hated. The Mazda was hit three months into owning it. I liked it for those three months.
Every other one of those cars I loved to one degree or another. The Citation was my first car. How could I not love it? The Grand Prix, if I could find that exact one today, would be lovingly restored, more from the memories created in it than any other reason. The Jeep was awesome in all the ways that Wranglers are.
The Saab and the Mustang were ok. They were the right cars at the time. I would probably still have the Saab if a girlfriend hadn't killed it. It was simply too typically a Saab to ever have disposed of. It worked. It was quirky. It had character. For a daily it was hard to say no to.
I don't think I've ever loved a car the way I do my Camaro though. The Pontiac was close. In a straight line it was quick, high 13's in the late 80's, and for the car I drove through the majority of high school, I could have done far worse. I spun three bearings in it within a month of owning it, and the engine rebuild was what really set me off. It was fun in it's own right, and the opportunity to improve it as I was doing so just made it more so.
The Camaro is sort of the same deal. It's a heck of a place to start making the car I really want out of it, enough so, that in addition to the rest of the modifications, I'm already planning on how to compliment it when it's no longer my daily, and purely a toy.