Have you had a car you've loved for no good reason?

A love letter to my ugly truck:

Of all the stuff that's passed through my driveway I think the Ranger has been my favorite and I can't explain why. It's not the best car I've owned (by far!) The best car to call my driveway home was probably one of the BMWs, maybe the uber-clean 318ti. Somehow, inexplicably, I probably get more enjoyment from a short drive in the crappy Ranger than I ever got from either of the Ultimate Driving Machines.

I shouldn't like it. It's beat, rusty, and loud. I have to get out and wiggle a wire under the hood sometimes to make the blower fan work so the windows will defrost. Thanks to a crappy suspension lift it bounces, shimmys, wanders, and feels like it's going to tip over when I approach a corner. The 2.3 coughs and stutters when it's cold or humid because the previous owner thought ripping the emissions control stuff off the engine would make it run better. The auto journalists write about things like "steering response" and "shifter feel" but this little truck has lived it's life in ignorant bliss, unaware that such terms even exist.

Its one redeeming quality might be that it looks a little bit badass, at least until you get up close. Then the imperfections come into focus and you realize that the Midwestern climate has had it's way with the poor thing. Someone tried to cover up the rust spots at one point but the cancer was persistent. Now there are even bigger rust spots to go with the primer splotches and the patches of brushed-on white paint that don't quite match the factory color.

Corrosion has taken its toll mechanically too. The knockoff 90s-tastic rims are crusty at the hubs, the body mounts are barely hanging on, and there is a fist sized hole in the muffler. The resulting cacophony is, to be honest, a little flatulent. How loud is it? Let's just say my neighbors always know when I leave for work.

And yet I love the thing. Like I said, I shouldn't like it. I just wrote three paragraphs about how E36 M3ty this particular truck is. But, for some reason I'm happy when I drive it. It must have that elusive and mysterious quality we call, "character." I'm in a better mood if I take the truck to work. If I've had a bad day I'll feel better by the time I get home. Our driveway is only one car length wide and my wife's Focus usually gets the end spot so if I want to drive one of my cars I've got to move things around. I find myself moving her car so I can drive the truck more than I ever did when I had the BMW.

Somehow this little piece of mid-90s steel has wormed its way into my my heart and I will miss it when it's not in my driveway anymore. You know how I said the body mounts are rusty? One of these days I know something structural will break and then it won't be safe to drive anymore. I bought this truck cheap, planning to drive it through the winter and then move it on for a profit to some high school kid when spring came. But, now I don't think I'm going to do that. I'm going to keep it as long as I can and the thought that it might not last more than a couple more seasons makes me feel genuinely sad inside.

If you removed the personality from people, they would be a lot easier to deal with.... but not as interesting or fun.

While not my favorite, I've loved both of the trucks that have spent time in my life and my mothers 4Runner. I shouldn't like SUV's or pickups, but I do.

Favorite and best though is the Miata. I miss that car everyday.

Chevy lumina.

/thread

98 ford contour, girlfriend in highschools mom loaned me thr car in exchange for working on it. First car i spent anytime in that didnt want to kill you for turning. No other redeeming qualitys

While other people may not always understand, I can completely explain my love for the cars that I have/had that I love/loved.

Apparently my 200 is unlovable by any sane person...

1991 Escort! I bought it for the gas mileage many years ago and just keep driving. I know why I love it but have trouble explaining to others why I love it. I basically abandoned a 5 year old Mustang in perfect condition once I drove this car. Over the last 291,000 miles I have replaced, upgraded, downgraded, modified or just tolerate its quirks. It has no options whatsoever and lots of things function are far from factory or even logic.

I have options of driving some cool cars, but still end up back in my little Escort.

Bruce

2002 Mazda Protege. 10 years of getting me about without a care in the world or any respect for the rev-limiter.

1966 VW Bus.

I know. You guys think this is obviously cool. But mine had no starter (I parked it on a hill and rolled it to get it started). No brakes (I used the hand brake). It also had no seats other than the driver's. Rust bucket.

I used to ride my friends in college around in the thing. They'd all pile in, and sit on the floor. Did I mention rust? The holes in the floor were nearly big enough for them to FALL THROUGH.

It was a death machine. Man I miss that van.

My D350 is a hopless piece of junk that sucks at most things when it works perfect...but I just had an opportunity to sell it for $3500 and didn't.

In reply to egnorant:

I liked my 94. I spent most of the time wishing it was an Escort GT but I would own another one.

My '89 caprice classic wagon. After many thousands of dollars worth of upgrades, it still bump steers, is underdamped, is rusty, doesn't really look all that great, leaks water inside, etc. It's also rusty and currently doesn't run. I have four cars, and Humphrey the caprice is the most logical to sell...but I don't know if I can do it. I'm just too attached. I'm so concerned about what to do (keep/sell) that I haven't tried to fix it for about 5 months now, because I'm avoiding having to make that decision...

My focus zx3, rip little buddy. I loved that car and would still have it if I didn't smash into someone.

I still sorta miss the 94 escort wagon and it didn't do anything very well except rust and keep running.

I am falling into this trap with my rusty Miata. I have owned prettier ones, lower mileage ones, and better modified ones. Heck, i have the STS car right now as well, that is all three of those things, and a mazda3 that is a phenomenal daily. But I keep getting in the squishy underpowered rust bucket Miata each morning. It was supposed to get either sold or caged after one winter. Now finishing it's second winter, I am supposed to sell it again and keep car shopping, but can't pull the trigger on dumping the little guy.

96' Tercel.

It was a first car for my little sister but I would use it from time to time as well. For being a subcompact, it had room inside for four adults to sit comfortably and the greenhouse was bright and airy. Power was lacking with a 3-spd auto but at only 2000lbs with 13" tires it was still a hoot to huck around on curvy back roads. I'd totally drive another.

BlueInGreen44 wrote: In reply to egnorant: I liked my 94. I spent most of the time wishing it was an Escort GT but I would own another one.

Ha! That's the same exact (literally!) car I had in mind! Is your brother still driving it? It served us well for four years or so.

And regarding rangers, I had a 1994 until the other day and I really liked driving it. I think it drives better than my 2001 duratec. Obviously much less power but more comfortable. I think that I beam from suspension really sucks up a lot of road imperfections.

I couldn't get into the 94 Ranger I had for the last 18 months so when an offer came along for it I sold the creature. And it was the big engine/4x4/low mileage version. Just didn't feel the love there.

Beyond all reasonableness I loved my Allroad. Yeah, it was crappy German engineering, sucked gas, and had reliability issues but it was COOL! And I got a kick out of driving it. When I bought it in '08 i sold my previous DD which is still going strong today (a '98 Corolla).

If I could afford to keep one on the road I'd love another Allroad. Twin turbo, air suspension and all.

I don't remember the year, it was the first year of the square headlights; $3600 included tags, title and tax out the showroom. I made removable uprights for each bumper and strapped a hang glider to the roof. That car went all over the east coast, three trips to Cape Cod and saw some cow paths while retrieving a wayward hang glider.

It was silver with russet stripes and red interior.

joey48442 wrote:

BlueInGreen44 wrote: In reply to egnorant: I liked my 94. I spent most of the time wishing it was an Escort GT but I would own another one.

Ha! That's the same exact (literally!) car I had in mind! Is your brother still driving it? It served us well for four years or so.

Yep. He still drives it 45 minutes to work every day. The green wagon refuses to die. He's got a newer Saturn wagon he's trying to fix up so I don't know what he's going to do with the Escort when that car is done.

surprisingly, one of the most fun cars I had was an 1988 Hyundai Excel, all 62hp of it. It was actually fairly rare too, monocolour black from the factory with the "sport" 14 inch cross spoke rims in black with a polished lip. Never saw another one like it.

Once I removed the front swaybar, it actually handled pretty well too. Great snow car

Two cars I miss a lot. One was actually my wife's Mercedes R350. Didn't work as a mini van replacement since it could either haul all 5 of us or a ton of stuff, but not at the same time. It had the typically temperamental self leveling air suspension that I eventually ripped out. But damn could that thing cruise... it was also great around town as well. No Ohio snow storm could stop it. Many times if we were driving somewhere at night when the highways were clear, they would all be sleeping and I would constantly have to catch myself because I would suddenly find myself loafing along at 100. It was that nice and composed. My wife likes her brand new Altima, but it just feels like an appliance to me. Why we leased it. Cheap to own, and give it away at the end of the warranty. LOL

The personal car I miss the most was my tank of a Chrysler. A 2007 300C. Rebuilt the notoriously crappy front suspension with high quality components. Did a computer tune on the 5.7 V8... and that thing was a beast. Nice and quiet just driving along... but jump on it and it turned into 2.5ton muscle car. I loved that car but thought I would be practical and get a Jeep SUV... biggest mistake I ever made.. lost over seven grand dumping it and now drive the Honda egg in my avatar. A good practical hatchback that I like a lot... but I loved that silly Chrysler..

I can't say as I have. I have, however had some perfectly good cars that I hated for no good reason.