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The other day I was goofing around on Wikipedia, and for some reason I bumped into the entry for the Ford Pinto, a completely little econo-car from the 70's. Perhaps more significant was that it was one of my very first cars. So I decided to make a list of all the cars that I/Kristie & I have owned. I started looking for pictures, and that's how we got here. 2002 Honda CRV After we sold the Cruiser and I had found our latest Accord, it was time to focus on a car for Kristie. It needed to be ultra-reliable and comfortable, but not a minivan. I think the Sienna had finally exorcised the last of the minivan demons from my body. We both wanted something that was 4 wheel drive, as we'd grown to like that feature in the Cruiser, even if it had been used sparingly. We had given up on the third row seating option, it would only be a dreaded minivan or a big SUV that could satisfy that itch, and with the price of gas beginning to soar, the big SUV was out. So I put all the data...

The other day I was goofing around on Wikipedia, and for some reason I bumped into the entry for the Ford Pinto, a completely little econo-car from the 70's. Perhaps more significant was that it was one of my very first cars. So I decided to make a list of all the cars that I/Kristie & I have owned. I started looking for pictures, and that's how we got here. 1999 Honda Accord LX 4 door While I was going through the machinations to sell the Landcruiser and the Sienna, I knew I had to get a car for myself. As usual, I didn't want to spend a lot of money, but I had a plan in mind. Since the Cruiser was supposed to be reserved for the girls, my plan was to get a decent enough car for me to drive for a few years, and then one or both of the girls would "acquire" it. That would free me up to get another car, and if I get my wishes, a little pickup. I wasn't too picky about what I wanted. It needed to be simple, reliable transportation, with A/C. For some reason ...

The other day I was goofing around on Wikipedia, and for some reason I bumped into the entry for the Ford Pinto, a completely little econo-car from the 70's. Perhaps more significant was that it was one of my very first cars. So I decided to make a list of all the cars that I/Kristie & I have owned. I started looking for pictures, and that's how we got here. 1999 Toyota Sienna XLE The Landcruiser had been our primary vehicle for years, with good reason. It had been amazingly reliable..only in the shop a couple of times for minor little wear and tear issues. It was "comfortable"...okay it was kind of comfortable. The back seat worked great when the girls were in car seats and moved up from little girls. But now that they were lanky high schoolers...it was tough to imagine a long trip in the old girl. We had taken it on a camping trip down to La Veta in 2003, a long trip really, and they did okay. But Spring Break 2004, we did a trip to the Sand Dunes and it was cle...

The other day I was goofing around on Wikipedia, and for some reason I bumped into the entry for the Ford Pinto, a completely little econo-car from the 70's. Perhaps more significant was that it was one of my very first cars. So I decided to make a list of all the cars that I/Kristie & I have owned. I started looking for pictures, and that's how we got here. 1994 Subaru Justy 4WD 4 door I was looking around at all the various cars that I wanted to get. It didn't need to be big, just reliable and inexpensive. I was intrigued with the whole All Wheel Drive thing...seemed like a good idea, living in Maine and all. So as I looked around, I concluded that Subaru was really my best choice. Honda, Toyota and Nissan had some offerings, but Subaru was the leader of the pack. So I started to look in the paper for an Impreza or maybe a Legacy. The Portland paper wasn't exactly teaming with used Subies to choose from, but one popped out that had me intrigued. A 1994 Justy with ...

The other day I was goofing around on Wikipedia, and for some reason I bumped into the entry for the Ford Pinto, a completely little econo-car from the 70's. Perhaps more significant was that it was one of my very first cars. So I decided to make a list of all the cars that I/Kristie & I have owned. I started looking for pictures, and that's how we got here. 1999 Ford Expedition XLT We had made it out to Maine with only the Landcruiser and we had planned all along to pick up another car once we got out there. We didn't really have a "plan" as to what we were going to get, but we kind of agreed that the Cruiser would become mine and we'd get something for Kristie to haul the girls around in. I guess I was thinking minivan, since the Cruiser was the SUV and it seemed logical. For some reason, I was back on the Ford Windstar. Kristie had other plans. We really wanted a third row of seats, our thinking was that we would need it to haul people around when the...

The other day I was goofing around on Wikipedia, and for some reason I bumped into the entry for the Ford Pinto, a completely little econo-car from the 70's. Perhaps more significant was that it was one of my very first cars. So I decided to make a list of all the cars that I/Kristie & I have owned. I started looking for pictures, and that's how we got here. 1984 Honda Accord LX Hatchback In a way, this is the car that started it all. Back in 1984, my dad bought this car and it in turn, spurred me on to buy my first new car. But it was now 1995 and he was looking to get rid of the car and I was fortunately looking for a cheap, dependable car. We were able to get out of the lease on the Contour and I was driving about 8 miles to my job downtown. The Accord was perfect fit. By now, it was not the car that it used to be. It was a little rusty and rattlely, but it was still tight and very reliable. It was an automatic and, since we had the Landcruiser, we now had only automatic...

The other day I was goofing around on Wikipedia, and for some reason I bumped into the entry for the Ford Pinto, a completely little econo-car from the 70's. Perhaps more significant was that it was one of my very first cars. So I decided to make a list of all the cars that I/Kristie & I have owned. I started looking for pictures, and that's how we got here. 1989 Toyota Landcruiser With the Windstar out of our hair, we set out to buy another Landcruiser. It was just that simple. We still had the Acura (we went through a lot of cars during this little window of time). I was hoping that we could just trade the dumb thing in, but no such luck and we ended up selling it. We saw an ad for the an '89 with very low miles. I was practically sold even without seeing it. We drove out to the dealership and saw it...it was perfect. It only had 39K miles, an amazing amount for a 6+ year old vehicle. It was in great shape, about the only knock was that it had been smoked in, but we c...

The other day I was goofing around on Wikipedia, and for some reason I bumped into the entry for the Ford Pinto, a completely little econo-car from the 70's. Perhaps more significant was that it was one of my very first cars. So I decided to make a list of all the cars that I/Kristie & I have owned. I started looking for pictures, and that's how we got here. 1995 Ford Contour Kristie and I had a problem...actually a couple of them. For years, my commute had been about 5 miles so it didn't matter really what I drove. So the old truck worked great. But then I got laid off and found a job that had a 40 mile commute...one way! We also had a mini-van that we neither wanted, nor needed, but we were leasing it and were terribly upside down. So we decided to solve both problems: we'd "trade" the minivan for another Ford vehicle, move the lease sideways and work on getting Kristie a car she wanted and I'd drive the Ford to work. Ford had just introduced their ...

The other day I was goofing around on Wikipedia, and for some reason I bumped into the entry for the Ford Pinto, a completely little econo-car from the 70's. Perhaps more significant was that it was one of my very first cars. So I decided to make a list of all the cars that I/Kristie & I have owned. I started looking for pictures, and that's how we got here. 1994 Ford Windstar I'm not ashamed to admit that I've always been intrigued with the mini-van. It seemed like the perfect combination of practicality and comfort that really appealed to that uber-practical side of me. But the biggest appeal of them were (and still are really) the seating capacity. We had owned our Landcruiser for about a year when a friend and co-worker approached Kristie and I with a proposal: would we (Kristie really) be interested in watching his two daughters during the day? His wife was ready to return to work and they were looking for daycare. They'd pay of course. Kristie and I were a...

The other day I was goofing around on Wikipedia, and for some reason I bumped into the entry for the Ford Pinto, a completely little econo-car from the 70's. Perhaps more significant was that it was one of my very first cars. So I decided to make a list of all the cars that I/Kristie & I have owned. I started looking for pictures, and that's how we got here. 1986 Acura Legend We knew we had to replace the pickup with something more kid friendly. We now had the Landcruiser, so we had a truck of sorts. At the same time, a guy I worked with was trying to sell his Acura as he had come into a car due to a death in his family. We put together a deal and bought his Legend. It was comfortable. It was powerful. It had all the toys: cruise, air, locks, windows, sun-roof. Combine that with Acura's legendary quality and you had a winner. Or so it seemed. In all of my years of reading Consumer Reports reviews of cars, I'm certain I've only seen one Honda/Acura product receiv...

The other day I was goofing around on Wikipedia, and for some reason I bumped into the entry for the Ford Pinto, a completely little econo-car from the 70's. Perhaps more significant was that it was one of my very first cars. So I decided to make a list of all the cars that I/Kristie & I have owned. I started looking for pictures, and that's how we got here. 1988 Toyota Landcruiser Shortly after Allison was born, we began to feel that urging that our cars were not right. The Accord was a great car, but a little run of the mill. It was the early 90's and the sport utility craze was a full power, and we got sucked into it. We decided that we wanted, no...we needed a sport utility vehicle. I had brokered yet another deal with my dad and he agreed to take the Accord off our hands. My mom was ready for a better car and this would be perfect for her. So we set out to test drive all of our viable options. We drove the Toyota 4Runner...didn't really like it as it was too na...

The other day I was goofing around on Wikipedia, and for some reason I bumped into the entry for the Ford Pinto, a completely little econo-car from the 70's. Perhaps more significant was that it was one of my very first cars. So I decided to make a list of all the cars that I/Kristie & I have owned. I started looking for pictures, and that's how we got here. 1982 Toyota Pickup For a while, we were content with our cars. Kristie and Kelly tooled around in the Accord, while I got to speed around (mostly to work) in the red Civic Si. Life was good. Except our money supply was not as good as it once was, Kristie had quit her job to be a full-time mommy and we had taken on the expense of the Accord when previously we had no car payment. I was also beginning to work extensively on our house and paying for loads from the lumberyard seemed extravagant as well as cramping my style. So we put our prized little Civic in the paper and sold it to some girl in college. We sold it for $...

The other day I was goofing around on Wikipedia, and for some reason I bumped into the entry for the Ford Pinto, a completely little econo-car from the 70's. Perhaps more significant was that it was one of my very first cars. So I decided to make a list of all the cars that I/Kristie & I have owned. I started looking for pictures, and that's how we got here. 1990 Honda Accord LX 4 Door Before Kelly was born, we had decided that we needed another car, since we had sold my Civic even before we moved into our house. Naturally, the car was to be a Honda...but we did look at other options. Subaru had just introduced the Legacy, and I was intrigued with the AWD. We drove it and it was nice car, but in the end it wasn't a Honda and I couldn't convince Kristie that she would look "cool" driving a Subaru wagon (neither of us liked the Legacy sedan). We also drove the Civic AWD Wagon, but it was very gutless and wasn't much bigger than the Civic Si, except for 4...

The other day I was goofing around on Wikipedia, and for some reason I bumped into the entry for the Ford Pinto, a completely little econo-car from the 70's. Perhaps more significant was that it was one of my very first cars. So I decided to make a list of all the cars that I/Kristie & I have owned. I started looking for pictures, and that's how we got here. 1984 Honda Civic LX In the spring of 1987, I had grown very tired of the good old EXP. I was suffering from "Civic envy". The bottom line was that while the EXP was a fine little car, I had convinced myself that it was a mistake to buy it and I needed a Honda...right away. Which was a spectacular revelation coming from someone who worked for Ford. As much as my co-workers tried in v ain to convince me that Ford was the best, I simply wouldn't let go of my affection for a car from Honda. So I brokered a deal that my dad would take over the lease of the EXP, which he in turn gave to Cindy so she could have a...

The other day I was goofing around on Wikipedia, and for some reason I bumped into the entry for the Ford Pinto, a completely little econo-car from the 70's. Perhaps more significant was that it was one of my very first cars. So I decided to make a list of all the cars that I/Kristie & I have owned. I started looking for pictures, and that's how we got here. 1986 Honda Civic Si When Kristie and got married we had my EXP as "my" car and she was driving her parent's lovely white Ford Granada. This car just simply would not do for a young and thriving couple, just recently unleashed on the work place. At the time, she was looking for the career job, but working a department store. Then the big event happened and in October of 1986, she got her job with the I.R.S. and big bucks were rolling in. So naturally, we "had" to buy a car. The sting of mistakes that had happened a couple of years prior were still fresh in my mind. The EXP, while a nice enough car...

The other day I was goofing around on Wikipedia, and for some reason I bumped into the entry for the Ford Pinto, a completely little econo-car from the 70's. Perhaps more significant was that it was one of my very first cars. So I decided to make a list of all the cars that I/Kristie & I have owned. I started looking for pictures, and that's how we got here. 1984 Ford EXP I had gotten the bug to get a better car sometime at the end of the school year. The Pinto was okay, but I got bit to do it, to have a "real" car, including a car payment, and now because I had a job (nights & weekends at good old Standard Brands Paint), I felt I could do it. Even back then, I was uncharacteristically practical. For a brief second I looked at a sweet '63 Vette...needed some work but it was a VETTE ... but I decided that wasn't going to work. I then decided it needed to be new. You know, that new car smell. My dad had just bought a new Honda Accord and that was cool, ...

The other day I was goofing around on Wikipedia, and for some reason I bumped into the entry for the Ford Pinto, a completely little econo-car from the 70's. Perhaps more significant was that it was one of my very first cars. So I decided to make a list of all the cars that I/Kristie & I have owned. I started looking for pictures, and that's how we got here. 1972 Ford Pinto Hatchback This thing was light blue and a total piece of junk...but it got me from point A to point B in college and back home to Broomfield (but not on I-25, I don't think it could go 50 mph!) My parents bought it from a friend of my grandma. He apparently took old clunkers and made them run, and then sold them cheap. He was a retired guy that liked to keep his skills tuned I guess. It burned oil like crazy and left a big cloud of smoke behind it...thus it got the nickname of "the Blue Fart". Kristie and I had our first date in this car. It only had an AM radio and sweet vinyl bucket seats...

The other day I was goofing around on Wikipedia, and for some reason I bumped into the entry for the Ford Pinto, a completely little econo-car from the 70's. Perhaps more significant was that it was one of my very first cars. So I decided to make a list of all the cars that I/Kristie & I have owned. I started looking for pictures, and that's how we got here. 1966 Chevrolet Impala 2 Door This car became mine when Greg went off to college. In turn, it became Keith's when I went to school as well. I think my dad bought it for $100 or something like that. It was very basic, not nearly as nice as this one. It did have a decent 327 V8, but a 3 on the tree transmission. The interior was pretty shot, but during my tenure I significantly upgraded the stereo system. One night coming home from school, I was dropping my friend Russ off at his house. I pulled up to the curb and we both heard a clunk from the engine compartment. Then big flywheel looking thing rolled down the street ...