Driven by obsession. Fueled by passion.
Past Vehicles
1986 Hyundai Pony 1400 GL
This was my very first car that I bought in the fall before I turned sixteen. It definitely was not the car I was originally looking for and certainly not a cool car by any means. Like any young person looking for their first car I wanted a cool sports coupe. The Pony was everything I didn’t want except for the fact that it had a manual transmission. It was far from sporty and miles away from being cool but it turned out to be a fantastic first car. After months of searching, looking at dozens of cars we spotted the ad for the Pony. In the preceding months we had looked at a 1984 Mazda 626, 1986 Ford EXP, two 1984 Mercury Capri’s, a 1979 Mazda RX-7 and I looked at a 1982 Mazda RX-7 while my parents where in Europe.
My father had not bought a used car in almost 40 years and had never bought one privately so this was all new to him as well as me. Since the Pony was advertised with low mileage and was a 5 speed we decided to go check it out. It wasn’t much to look at. It had a few rust spots showing through, a radio that didn’t work, a crack in the seat and dash, faded paint and was dirty. But it seemed to run and drive well and identical to my brothers’ first car, a red Pony 1400GL with tan interior. The owner was able to prove that it had been maintained and that the 46,000km showing on the odometer was accurate. The price was cheap so after a little convincing from my father I decided to buy it.
We got it home and I started going to work on the car. After a through cleaning the interior was stripped out in order to fix the drivers seat and clean or repair every interior piece and install new speakers. Next was the body work. These cars rusted quickly and if they were not washed regularly or stone chips repaired they would start to rust. Once all the spot repairs were done and spray painted I made a concoction of liquid wax and rubbing compound mixed together and rubbed out the paint. My faded red car was red again. I went on to refinishing the wheels and trim and eventually installing a new stereo and I replaced the steering column that was broken. Once I was done the car looked like new!
This was the perfect first car as it was extremely simple and had reliable Mitsubishi mechanical components. This made the car very easy and cheap to diagnose and repair, plus you could use basic hand tools. While owning this car I leaned how to replace tie rods, shocks, a steering column and a bad clutch that my dad and I failed to notice on our inspection, lesson learned. Not only was the car easy to work on it was fun to drive!
Hyundai Pony’s were not know for being a power house, but when equipped with a 5-speed manual transmission and some creative use of parts it could be fun to drive. With a decent set of wider tires and a set of aftermarket gas shocks (yes, gas shocks was an upgrade!) the Pony handled quite well and was very well balanced. Being rear wheel drive was an added bonus too! Being relatively low powered it would keep a young enthusiast from getting into too much trouble.
1986 Hyundai Pony 1400GL
1985 Mazda 626 LX Coupe
After I sold the Hyundai I bought a 1985 Mazda 626 LX Coupe. It was almost everything I was looking for in a car that the Pony wasn’t. The 626 was a beautiful modern looking coupe with a low roofline and aerodynamic body. My 626 was tornado silver with red interior and was loaded with options. The sleek Mazda was equipped with power windows (even the rear
quarter windows that are normally fixed in a coupe were power operated!), electronic adjustable suspension, headlamp washers, power sunroof, cruise control, 200 watt premium sound system, 10 way adjustable seats and 15” alloy wheels. Even the trunk was fully finished with luggage tie down straps. But the coolest option I have ever seen in a car before or since was the oscillating centre dash vents. With a push of a button the vents would swing back and forth between you and your passenger, to this
very day I miss that feature.
Not only was the 626 loaded with features and good looking, it was fun to drive as well. The ride and handling was firm with the suspension set to sport mode. The cockpit was well laid out and all the features easy to use and all the materials were of high quality. Even with 200,000km the Mazda looked and drove like a much new car and it was still dead reliable. The one fault that car had was lack of power. The 2.0L engine was underpowered and even with the 5-speed manual transmission acceleration was on the slow side. On the plus side it was very good on gas and very smooth with the exception of the computer controlled carburetor that sometimes had poor performance under some conditions. Other wise it was a great vehicle and I was sad to sell it. But I needed the money to finance my trip to Japan.
1985 Mazda 626LX Coupe in Tornado Grey
1991 Ford Escort LX
This car belonged to my mother who sold it to me just before I moved away from home to go to college. My father specially ordered
the Escort from the local Ford dealer in the winter of 1991. The wish list from my mother was simple. She wanted a two door hatch back with a 5-speed, sunroof and air conditioning. When pricing the Escort my father and I realized that for and extra few dollars we could order a fully loaded car with power mirrors, cruise control, tilt wheel, light group, premium sound and might as well throw in the tachometer too. We ultimately choose the Escort because the then new Escort was based on a Mazda platform and mainly Mazda mechanical bits and pieces. It was thousands less then other vehicles out on the market and it drove just as well, in some cases even better.
The Escort arrived at the dealer in May 1991. It was a good looking car at the time and it was finished in titanium metallic with matching interior. It didn’t look or drive like any other Ford available with the exception of the Probe which was a Mazda based product as well. We probably could have bought a Tempo for less money but the Escort was miles ahead of the older Ford in every respect. The car drove exceptionally well. It had fantastic low end toque and amazing handling and road holding. We all loved driving the Escort and with the removable sunroof we had installed just after we took delivery it became a fun summer vehicle as well.
1991 Ford Escort LX Coupe in Light Titanium
1996 Toyota Tercel Sport
By the time the fall of 1997 rolled around my Escort had pretty much seen better days. It was time for something new (or newer). My friend Tracy who worked at a Toyota dealer suggested that I look at a 1996 Toyota Tercel Sport that they had on their lot. The car had 23,000km on it and was in mint condition. The pervious owner was moving out to western Canada and did not want to take the car so he sold it to the Toyota dealer whom he
had purchased the car from new. It was red with a basic grey interior with a Toyota sport three spoke steering wheel and AM/FM/Cassette/CD stereo with premium sound.
The Tercel Sport was a one model year limited production vehicle conceived by the product planning department for Canada only. Only 800 were produced with a choice of only 3 colours and offered in the 2 door body style. Unlike most “Sport” packages offered by manufacturers the Tercel Sport was more then a graphics and spoiler package. Sure the Tercel had a rear spoiler, “sport” graphics, 14” alloy wheels from the Paseo, even side skirts and painted bumpers but Toyota wanted the car to perform as well. Since engine modifications were not possible due to cost and emissions restrictions Toyota modified the suspension. Toyota’s performance parts division (TRD) provided new shocks, struts, bushings and springs along with a sticky set of high performance Yokohama
tires made the little Tercel feel like it was attached to the road like crazy glue. To round out the package Toyota equipped the car with a tachometer and three spoke sport steering wheel that was thicker then a standard wheel.
The entire package transformed the boring Tercel into a BMW 3 series look a like with handling to match. New the car was not cheap, with a few options the price tag came very close to $20,000. But it was loads of fun to drive and because of the light weight of the Tercel it really wasn’t underpowered with its standard 1.5L 16V DOHC engine and close ratio 5-speed transmission from the Paseo.
The big bonus was that the car achieved some amazing fuel economy
numbers. Ask any one who has driven a Tercel Sport and they will attest that it’s a blast to drive. Aside from the most uncomfortable seats I have ever sat in, lack of air conditioning and horrible ventilation I loved that Tercel and put many, many kilometers on it. Honestly if it wasn’t for the lack of A/C and those seats from hell I would have kept that car longer.
1996 Toyota Tercel Sport
1999 Mazda B4000 4x4 SE Cab Plus
Sick of not having air conditioning in my Tercel and after one of the hottest summers that I could remember it was time for something new. At the time I was doing contract work for Toyota and Mazda so anything I would buy would be from either manufacturer. Neither manufacturer had a car that I was interested in at the time but I did like the compact pick-ups they offered and I figured a pick-up would be a nice change. The Tacoma was a great truck and I loved it but the B4000 offered a 4-door cab (a massive plus) and way more features for a lot less money, so the choice was easy.
The black B4000 I picked out was fully loaded and in my eyes, beautiful. It was a 4x4 SE Cab Plus with Plus Package and 4-door option along with a 4.0L V6. For the first time I bought a vehicle with an automatic transmission, but at least it was a high tech and rare at the time 5-speed. Features on the SE Plus Package were quite extensive with only a few options available. On the exterior larger 265/75R15 white letter tires on alloy wheels gave the truck an aggressive look. Chrome bumpers, grille and side window trim was standard on the 4-door model. On the inside comfortable bucket seats with lumbar and a centre console with armrest replaced the bench seat from other lower trim lines. Other luxuries included power windows with one touch down feature and deep tinted glass for the windows behind the driver. Power locks with keyless entry, cruise control, leather wrapped tilt wheel, sliding rear window, air conditioning and a killer cassette/CD stereo. Options on my truck included the automatic transmission, carpet floor mats and bed liner.
The 4x4 system was an electronic shift on the fly part time set up with low range operated via a rotary knob on the dash. The front hubs were a then new automatic vacuum actuated system. Mechanical features exclusive to the SE Plus were Bilstein shocks, a slightly higher ride height and a limited slip rear differential. As an added bonus a trailer towing package was also standard that was prewired for small trailers. The rear chrome bumper was also rated as a class II hitch. The mechanical components on the SE Plus along with the 4 door cab made the B4000 a very practical and capable 4x4. Best of all it had the comfort that my previous car had been lacking.
1999 Mazda B4000 4x4 SE Cab Plus
1991 Nissan Sentra E Sedan
Very simply I bought the Sentra because I needed a very cheap car that was great on gas to commute with. During the summer of 2000 I was working a long distance from home and I didn’t want to pile the mileage on my B4000 or my RX-7. Our next door neighbor owned the Sentra and he used it for long distance commuting since it was new. The car was very basic, no air conditioning, no power steering, just a basic vehicle with 493,000km of highway driving. Our neighbor decided it was time for something new that had some goodies on it to make his drive more tolerable. Normally I would be a wary of mileage that high but I knew that car was very well maintained and had a complete history from new, I had no concerns about its reliability. It did have some minor rust issues which I addressed and once that was cleared up and the car thoroughly cleaned inside and out it was very presentable.
That car was very reliable and you could take it anywhere. The 1.6L DOHC 16V engine with variable valve timing was smooth, reliable and excellent on gas and never ever burned a drop of oil. Since I paid next to nothing for it, I could park it anywhere and not worry if something happened to it. In fact one night it was spray painted red and back over the white exterior by some vandals while staying at a friend’s house. No worries, we called the police filed a report and then cleaned it up with some gasoline and went about our day. My friends felt much worse about it then I did. That’s the beauty of a cheap car like that Sentra. If something happens you just don’t stress since you have very little invested! In 2002 my uncle bought the car and just recently it was hauled away for scrap because the rust finally got the best of the body and not worth the repairs.
2002 Ford Focus ZX5
By January 2002 my life had taken many twists and turns and my beloved Mazda pick-up just wasn’t the vehicle for me any longer. At the time I was working at the local Ford dealer and I could get a pretty good deal on a new car. The Focus suited me perfectly at the time. It looked great and drove even better and a new very European looking 5-door body style was being introduced. After taking a red 2001 Focus Street Edition out for a test drive I was sold. The 2001 Street Edition sedan had the same mechanical and suspension set up as the ZX5 that I wanted to order so it was a good benchmark to drive.
After my test drive I sat down with the order book and ordered myself a 2002 ZX5 5-door in black with 2 tone tan interior. I wanted something different and I really didn’t like the grey interiors offered and besides that is what everyone was getting. I choose the ZX5 because of the practical body style and the fact that it came with the upgraded 2.0L DOHC 16V Zetec engine, 16” alloy wheels, close ratio 5-speed manual transmission, sport seats and all kinds of power and convenience features as standard equipment. As for options I ordered the side air bags, the power moon roof and the newly offered Advancetac option. Advancetac is Ford’s antiskid stability and traction control system. This is something that you would normally find on high end luxury cars like Mercedes-Benz and Lexus. In the past I had driven cars with this feature and knew it was a fantastic thing to have.
Since I ordered such a unique build combination it took Ford 6 months to build my car. At one point they had asked if I would change my order so that they could fit it into the normal production cycle! By June my car was built and finally it arrived in July. Since I worked at the dealer I got to see it come off the truck! The colour combination was stunning. I had never seen one like it, the 2 tone tan interior with black door handles, switches, gearshift and parking brake levers and boots and the aluminum trim in the centre dash had a luxurious look to it. The whole car looked and felt more European than American. Best of all it was fun to drive! Unfortunately it wasn’t very reliable and had several quality issues. It is a shame because I really did love that car but it also left me with a bitter taste and will make me think twice about buying an American car as my primary vehicle.
2002 Ford Focus ZX5
1992 Ford Tempo GL Sport Coupe
The Tempo was bought from a co-worker of mine at the Ford dealer in October 2002 as a replacement for my ’91 Nissan Sentra. Like the Nissan the Tempo was bought for basic transportation used mainly in the winter months. Even though it was for basic running around it was a pretty nice car. Being a black 2-door coupe with the optional sport package and tinted windows sure helped the mundane look of the car. My family seems to gravitate towards Tempos for some reason. My father ordered a new ’84 5-speed Tempo, my sister and niece both had 2-door Topaz’s, my nephew had 2 Tempo’s, all were good cars. My Tempo was no different, a good if not exciting car.
The car I bought was equipped with the 2.3L 4 cylinder engine and manual transmission. The Sport Package consisted of 14” alloy wheels, rear spoiler, and side skirts on the outside. The interior had power mirrors, air conditioning, sport instrumentation with tachometer, AM/FM/Cassette stereo with clock and a centre arm rest. Everything worked and the car looked like new. Although it looked sporty, it was still a Tempo and drove like a Tempo. That is, it was slow, rode well but didn’t really handle all that well, had numb steering and brakes and a lazy engine with a very wide ratio transmission. But it was a great, relaxed highway car that was comfortable and dead reliable. Once my time with the car was over I sold it to a 16 year old girl who I found out later had been eyeing the car for some time and bought it as soon I put it up for sale.
