QOTD: Man, I Miss That Car
A couple of weeks ago, Steph asked about Great Recession, we were not left untouched, as evidenced by massive layoffs in many sectors. In short order, I found myself freshly unemployed.
Panicking, I embarked on an aggressive — and ultimately needless — fire sale of my possessions. Anything I deemed frivolous, from tools to my John Deere to my Mark VII, were all sold to create some sort of financial cushion for my family and I. It was all unnecessary, of course — the company had provided me with a decent severance package and finding work again was a relatively uncomplicated matter — but I certainly didn’t think so at the time.
Finding another Mark VII in the Great White North is proving to be tough. Most have either been hacked up for Mustang projects or returned themselves to the earth in the form of iron oxide. Most that remain are sticked at gonzo prices. I am bowed, however, and my Google Chrome search history remains littered with Mark VII inquiries. I will find another good one.
Sold, stolen, or wrecked (we’ll open up the criteria a bit there), just about every gearhead has a story of the one that got away. What’s yours? And if you see an ad for a good, clean, ’88 or ‘89 Mark VII LSC, fire me a DM on Instagram or Twitter. I can’t promise a finder’s fee … but I can promise a good story or two.
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I adored my 1997 Volvo 850 T5. Black on black and about the only missing option was heated rear seats. A joy to drive but the repair bills were awful, culminating in a shot A/C that would have cost more than the value of the car to replace at a time when I didn't have the credit let alone cash. If I didn't have my '65 Wildcat I'd probably be watching eBay for an 850 for the weekends -- at least I could put car seats in it. I'll make an honorary mention of the 1985 VW Golf I sort-of owned. My aunt bought it new and when she wanted something different my dad bought it to be my first car until my mom got cold feet about its size (which is how I wound up with the Wildcat to begin with). Manual everything, no A/C, only option was a tape deck. But it was fun to drive!
My (second-hand in 1982) 1978 Ford Fiesta US-spec, which had features such as being orange on orange, equipped with 12 inch rims, non-air conditioned 1.6L 4-speed, vent windows, rear defrost, and single-speaker AM radio. More power than it needed for it's sub-1800 lb curb weight and still got around 29 MPG. After obtaining the optional drivers side speaker bracket and installing a bargain basement six-speaker sound system replete with Sparkomatic booster/equalizer and farmers market grade speakers, I took that car into the woods and used it as a surrogate for a Jeep, hauled kegs of beer, took many road trips, and in general had a lot of youthful fun with it. It drove extremely well, punching well above it's weight in handling and acceleration for it's time. The tin worm was getting to it though it could have been fixed. I wish now I had some way to have kept it mothballed, it would be a fun project to graft a 1.6l turbo from a modern Ford into it. Traded it for a brand new '85 Escort L 5-speed (also without air conditioning) that soldiered on for a dozen or so years. Much more comfortable but terribly boring to drive.