Stargazer's Garage @ istargazer.ca

Stargazer's Past Vehicles

This is a listing of vehicles I've had since my driving career began many years ago. I haven't always owned a digital camera so most of these pictures are representations and not the actual shots of the cars I owned. It's difficult finding exactly the same model but they're pretty close. 

1976 Pontiac Le Mans

Ownership: 1986-1988 (r.i.p.)

Acquisition: Purchased new in 1976, I took it over from my parents in 1986. 

History: For some reason, the only pictures of the correct year I could find were cop cars. Ours was a 2-door coupe and looked similar to this one but did not have the same accessories. My dad traded in a 1971 VW Beetle to get this new "smaller, mid-size" car. He didn't get the 4-door model because he was worried my brother and I would open the doors and fall out. It was a light blue colour called Athena Blue which was neat because it's the same name as my mom.

The Le Mans was a great road tripper and we traveled through all the western United States on family vacations. It was also built like a tank because, in Nevada, it survived hitting a deer while we were cruising at highway speeds. All that needed to be replaced was the radiator and some minor body work. My brother and I got to ride with a state trooper because there wasn't enough room in the tow truck. It was the first time I saw real shot gun.

I inherited it when I went to UBC and used it to commute to school and work until it died. A guy in a van thought he'd turn into the intersection and failed to see that the beast was coming down the highway. It was impossible to avoid the collision and although no one witnessed the accident, a lot of people in homes nearby came out because they heard the crash. Luckily, because I was in the tank, I was unhurt. ICBC said the Le Mans wasn't worth fixing and gave me $800 instead which was way less than what it was worth to me. 

I had a summer job at a paint store and had wanted to buy some spray cans of silver paint and re-colour the Le Mans. I still have in my garage one of the rubber floor mats I saved before it was scrapped.

Fate: Scrap metal

1988 Toyota Tercel

Ownership: 1988-2000

Acquisition: Purchased new in 1998

History: This was the replacement for the Le Mans. It was my first purchase and my first bank loan. Since I was a just a poor student I had to get the base model no options and it cost about $10,000 CND. It was a 4-speed manual and didn't even come with a passenger side mirror. As soon as I got it home I noticed all the things that Toyota left out to save money. 

It pretty much looked like the one above (same colour) except there were no hubcaps. Once day, driving over the Second Narrows, a rock landed on the front edge of the hood and made a major dent. I tried to fill it in and paint it myself but it looked like crap. I finally went to the Metro Ford (?!) body shop and had them fix it for me. Unfortunately, they did a crappy job too and didn't clear coat it so that years later the hood faded and turned orange.

Modifications:

• Passenger-side rear view mirror (didn't come stock)

• Radio antenna (the Tercel did not come with a radio)

• Plastic wheel cap with custom white-painted "Toyota" logo

• Tinted-windows I did myself with film from Canadian Tire. The side windows were fine, but the rear eventually turned purple and bubbled.

• Super-glued plastic Looney Tunes Road Runner hood ornament.

• Tennis ball shift knob cover

• Black wide-plastic body molding with chrome accent (as in above picture... except wider).

• Blue General Motors rubber floor mats (from the Le Mans)

• Original engine died because of lack of oil and was replaced with a re-built one (apparently the clanging noise and metal shavings were bad).

Fate: Used as a trade in 2000.

1991 Dodge Caravan

Acquisition: Purchased new in 1991, gift from parents in 1996.

History: Our van looked like the one above except it was burgundy and had tinted windows. I called it the death machine because I was never confident about it's brakes. I hated it because the ABS light kept coming on and the dealership could not fix the problem. They charged a fee for diagnosis and repairs numerous times but the problem never got fixed.

This is when I first discovered the power of the Internet. In the US there were many documented cases of this ABS failure in Dodge Caravans. In some cases, there was a total loss of brakes. Chrysler at first denied there was a problem and tried to pay out some owners to keep their mouths shut. Finally, they gave in and issued a recall for the Bendix ABS system on a large number of Caravans.

Knowing about this recall, I approached the dealership again and told them about the problems with the Bendix system. Unfortunately, the recall was in the US only, and the dealership wanted to charge me $900 to fix the problem. I said forget it--I'll wait for the recall and drive the car with my life in danger . I ended up waiting another year before the recall came to Canada.

During that time, through Internet mailing lists, I was contacted by CBC Marketplace because they were going to do a show about the problems of Dodge Caravan owners in Canada and Chrysler's refusal to address the problem. I did a telephone interview, but I could tell they weren't that impressed with my story because they wanted to do a story of how people paid so much money on repairs when they shouldn't have. I definitely wasn't going to spend unnecessary money on repairs, so when the show aired they focused on someone in Ontario who had paid their dealership thousands of dollars to ineffectively fix the ABS system. Shortly after that, Chrysler issued the recall in Canada.

I had repairs done under the recall, but I never trusted the vehicle.

Fate: Used as a trade in 1999 for VW Passat. Good riddance.

1993 Jeep Cherokee

Acquisition: Inherited from father-in-law in 1997.

History: I have great memories of this vehicle. My father-in-law didn't drive very far every day so there were very few kilometers on it. It looked just like the one pictured above except for the gold bumpers and fender flares and the fog lights mounted on top of the bumper. I was driving down Marine Drive one day and someone actually stopped and asked me what colour it was. I didn't know, but he liked it.

In the summer of 1998, my wife and I took it on our first back road vacation. We drove from Vancouver to Williams Lake over to Bella Coola and then took the (13-hour) ferry ride to Port Hardy and down Vancouver Island back home traveling only on forest service roads and avoiding pavement and all major highways as much as possible. My wife was about 6-months pregnant with our first daughter at the time and being close to facilities was a major concern, so camping was out of the question. We were able to plan our stops to make sure there was a motel to rest in each night. I found out months afterwards she didn't have as good as time as I did on the trip--she didn't complain (much) at the time. That's one of the reasons why I love her: she puts up with my silly whims .

For the trip I had the back bench folded down and the cargo area filled with supplies and emergency equipment. I had also recently put on a brand new set of Big-O tires on it. I was prepared for anything! Luckily, nothing major happened. I just learned a couple of lessons.

Lesson #1: If the engine is overheating, pulling over to the side of the road and letting it idle can help it cool down faster than shutting off the engine completely. The V6 engine overheated while getting over a mountain--a common problem with Cherokees. My mistake was turning off the engine. The coolant started to bubble over and spill after I turned it off. (Actually, I didn't know until afterwards that I had stopped just before the crest of the mountain--I would have been home free if I had just gone around a bend a few hundred meters more. 

Lesson #2: Check the torque on your wheel nuts frequently. After the first day of rocks and gravel washboard roads, we arrived at Williams Lake and found a restaurant to have dinner. Walking back out to the Cherokee I noticed that one of the wheel nuts was missing. (Hmm...so that was what that bang must have been...) Upon closer inspection, the other nuts were also loose and on their way to coming off. It's something that I check all the time now.

I actually have pictures from the trip (pre-digicam). I'll dig them up and scan them in one day.

Fate: Used as a trade in 1999 for VW Passat. I got a call one day a few months after I traded the Cherokee. It was someone from Vancouver Island. Even though I thought I had cleaned up the car before hand, in the glove box was an oil change record that had my name and number on it. The guy had seen the car on a lot and was curious about its history and wondering if the mileage was correct. I miss the Cherokee and it's one of the reasons why I decided to go with the real 4x4 capabilities of the Toyota Sequoia I have now.

1999 VW Passat

Acquisition: Purchased in April 1999.

History: Everything changes when you have children. I didn't like the fact that the Cherokee was a truck and therefore not required to meet the same safety standards as a passenger car. There were no head supports for the rear bench and think that my wife would be sitting in the back with a newborn most of the time,  I started looking for a safe "family" vehicle in the fall of 1998.

I was surprised to find that Consumer Reports #1 rated family sedan was the Volkswagen Passat. It didn't take me long to convince my wife how cool the Passat was and in the spring I made an offer on a 1999 Passat GLX. Soon after, on the Internet I discovered POW Motorsports (Passat Owners of the World--now gone) and the VWVortex.com and became part of an enthusiastic online community. In the early days of VWVortex, there were a few growing pains and the Passat forum went offline for awhile. That's when ClubB5.com was born.

My Passat page: Stargazer's Passat

Fate: Sold in 2003 for a Toyota Sequoia. I miss this car but most of all I miss the cruises, the get-togethers, and the great community of Passat and VW enthusiasts I've met over the years.

2000 Dodge Grand Caravan

 

2002 Mazda MPV