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My first car that I went out and bought with my money that I made myself cost $650 in 1968 and it was called a 1965 Chevrolet Corvair Monza with a 140 hp, 2683 cc, flat 6 cylinder engine and a 4 speed transmission. It would do an honest 100 mph but no faster, as the hydraulic lifters floated the valves. I put a dual exhaust on it with a glass pack, and it sounded great (to me :) I even took it to autocrosses, but had to race against 283 Camaros and 289 Mustangs, so I bought a Porsche.

Taken on the south rim of the Grand Canyon is my 1966 Porsche 912. The car wouldn't idle at this altitude, so I had to push it up to the ranger station and pay my entrance fee. That 1600cc flat 4 had two carbs and was fun to drive. I even won a few trophys by autocrossing it. Unfortunately, I was racing a street car with street tires against prepared racing cars with racing tires, so I never won. I guess they've fixed that now, that and autocrosses aren't as popular (not a very green sport) as they were in the early 1970s.

This photo was taken at Grand Coulee Dam - mighty spectacular but hard on salmon (not very green either :) but just what we needed for the aluminum industry which needed to prosper to win WWII and it ain't comin' down anytime soon. There is a big lake behind this dam where you can rent houseboats and spend the week cruising (which might not be considered green either - but your starting to get my drift :)

I got married about this time, and decided to get a cheaper car and I found a guy that would trade me his Porsche 356B Roadster for my 912 and we made a deal.

This car was rusty, and crusty but it was also much fun! We took it skiing, but no farther than the Cascade Mountains - about an hours drive in those days - we had a little ski rack for the back that bolted in with the 4 grill bolts - very clever. Except that I wasn't very clever and damaged the heating collectors under the engine by driving in snow that was too deep. And my wife delivered a child and I became a father. So we needed a warmer car and I bought a 1969 ALFA Romeo GTV with a beautiful paint. Of course, I assumed it was a low milage car, but soon found out it wasn't. It used too much oil and I took it back.

But it sure was pretty, so they sold me a 1975 ALFA Romeo GTV with a fuel injected 2.0 liter motor. A much nicer car!

And my newest passenger liked it, too. I was done autocrossing by this time and was into motocross and ski racing, so I don't know how it would have performed, but I can remember one time, getting on the freeway behind a Porsche 924 and weaving back and forth behind him because he was going too slow and when we pulled onto the freeway, I dropped him. About this time, my wife decided to go to law school. So I had to sell this beautiful car and get a beater, so I did.

I found an Opel Kadett for cheap and drove that for a while. It was an interesting car, sort of, especially the leaf spring front suspension! But it got me to work and didn't strand me anywhere.

When my wife finished law school and I had a chance to get a better car, I bought a 1978 SAAB 99, put EMS wheels on it and kept it for many years. There was plenty of room for all of us and a pal or two. I even drove that car to Sun Valley and slept in the back, for when the rear seat folded down, there was an entrance to the trunk - you could even put skis in there.

I replaced it with a 1980 900 turbo 4 door sedan and replaced that with a nice 1984 SAAB 900 Turbo 2 door (actually SAAB called it a 3 door because of the hatch back). It was so big in the back that I could put a dryer in it - not closing the hatch back, but still... Another thing I liked was the shape - if it was raining when I got in, the rear window was dry when I got where I was going - it didn't need a rear window wiper.