Is a history of the vehicles that taught me how to drive. Some I've loved more than others which you will probably figure out as you read over the page. I have always loved cars and I learned to love speed in my younger years. That is ironic considering I get motion sickness BUT not when I drive. I still feel "the need for speed: on occasion and that is why I have dedicated a page to my current love, the Ford Taurus SHO.

I have always loved cars and I learned to love speed. That is ironic considering I have motion sickness..............

Farmall Cub - Was a school project at New Salem Academy Vocational Agriculture department. I'm not sure if ours looked this good, but it was a great vehicle to learn on. The Farmall Cub was easily one of the most popular small chore tractors made in history. This little tractor was aimed at the needs of the small-acreage farmer - farms of 40 crop acres or less and truck gardens, or for larger farms that needed an extra tractor. Seven or eight implements were initially designed for it: Plow, Disc, Backblade, Sickle-Bar Mower, Belly-Mower, and a one-armed front-end loader for starters.

Doodlebug -   Anyone from the New England farming community should remember what a "Doodlebug" was and may still be. It was a four-wheeled vehicle made from an old Model A that was used around the farm. Usually had a hand crank and would spit and pop when running. A lot of fun out in the fields.                                                                            

Tug - Is a military surplus vehicle. They were used to move aircraft and equipment. We saw a lot of these in Japan pulling (tugging) ammunition carts and bomb racks. The Air Force used them on the flight lines.

Mom's Cars - When I had my drivers permit and shortly after I got my license, I drove Mom's cars. She had a 1956 Chevy four-door sedan, a 1957 Plymouth four-door sedan and a 1961 Ford Fairlane. I think this one was a two-door.  I almost wrecked the Chevy swerving to miss a rabbit on a dirt road by Jones Cemetery on the way to North Orange and I loved the Ford.

1963 Corvair Spyder - This was a fun car and got me in trouble on more than one occasion. It was the first car that I got in trouble with the law with. It had a flip down back seat that we used to store rocks with one night. Friends and I decides to see what a flying missile would do to a mailbox at about 80 miles an hour. We tore up a few. Were confronted by the Chief of Police and given a choice: Replace ALL the mailboxes or face the Judge. We were busy for a few days. It was also the first car that I used to drag race. I was challenged by a 1951 Ford flathead at the Orange Airport. When they told me that he could have my engine torn down to make sure that I had not modified it, I let him take the trophy. 

1964 1/2 Mustang Convertible - Oh, what can I say. This was my first Ford. Blue with a White top, 260 automatic. It lasted long enough for my brother and a few of his friends to go airborne with it. I was working the Athol Daily News at the time. My boss "Bill" Clarke can in one day and sat me down to let me know that my brother had called. On the road back from Royalston, they had gone airborne, took a light pole off about three foot above the ground and smashed through a cinder block garage. Bill wanted to make sure that I knew that my brother Mike was okay and that I didn't ring his neck. 

1968 Mustang 2 + 2 Fastback - Mine was Black with a leather interior. A 390 Hi-Performance engine with a C-6 automatic. This car would scream. If my memory is right, I got it from Harr Ford in Worcester, MA  used and set up for road running. It had a 3:21 rear end and Michelin tires. I never drove a car that could stick to a curve like this lady. I ran C-Stock Automatic at Epping, NH. "Sunday at Sundown" was where is was at. I was really cool with this car. I was something to be feared!

Boy can I tell stories about the Mustang Fastback and life in a small New England town in the late sixties. There was road racing, drag racing and for the real brave, telephone pole to telephone pole racing. One needed to be alert though. At the White Cloud on East River Street In Orange, by the Airport, where we hung out and lit up the rear rubber, it was one month suspension on your license for every foot of "rubber you burned" on the road. 

Volkswagen Beetle - I moved ALL I had to Florida inside and "Beetle."

1963 Dodge Coronet - Got me home from Florida after my wisdom had got the best of me. Dad had one that I remember. I can still envision my sister Candy driving it and Dad yell at her to quit slowing down after she pasted people.

1968 Dodge Van - This was my "cool" vehicle. I had paneled the inside and put a few tricks on it to impress the girls for Athol and Orange.

1976 Pinto Station Wagon - Saw many miles of country roads delivering the Athol Daily News. I let Kyle's mother use the car to help support herself and young Kelly. This is the vehicle that carry my young family, and again everything we had, to Texas in 1978.

1980 Pontiac Grand Prix - First NEW car I ever owned. It got bad hail damage the summer of 1981. David McDavid Pontiac hard to cover the rook with a vinyl top as the dents could not be repaired. Kyle mother took the car when we divorced.

1980 Chevrolet El Camino - The second car I brought. Got it from Frank Parra in Irving. I remember checking the car a couple of days after I got it home and finding a huge amount of dirt in the air filter after the dealership had assured me "the car has been checked." This car would have lasted a lot longer if I had tried to redesign it. Wish I would have known that things in the family were going sour before I play with my money so much. But it held up through the second marriage and gave me a start on my "Mr. Mom" years. I can remember hauling home builder signs in the back of it as a part-time job the summer Kyle and I set up housekeeping on Small Street in Grand Prairie.

1986 Ford Ranger Pickup - My second NEW vehicle. This truck saw a lot of mile with Kyle and I and even saw more carrying phone from Uniden to Progressive Concepts until I learned that I was responsible if anything happened to the wireless phones I was carrying. I also put money into this truck trying to build a bad stereo system. Lots of hours too that in hind sight were wasted because of my ignorance.

1987 Ford Taurus SLO - I took money out of my 401K Plan and paid cash for this car at Plano Lincoln Mercury. A VERY good and dependable car. My friend David help me work on the car to keep it running. Most of my knowledge of Taurus' come from my experiences with this car. The stereo pages have a write up on the system that was installed in it. This car also had the interior from a 1991 with a digital dash installed in it. We took the leather interior and the dash (well David did most of the technical work) and installed it in the 1987. I saw this car last summer as it was back in town from Victoria, TX. It is the ONLY black on black '87 SLO that I have seen with a complete digital dash (took David over twenty-eight hours to trace wires and attach it to the older car).

1993 Ford Taurus SHO - This is my current love. I spent two years talking about getting one and researching facts before I brought this car. David showed up with it one day and I was hooked. It has been everything that I have every expected from a luxury sports car and more. Visit the page that I have made on my Web Development site dedicated to this car at: http://www.studionvictus.com/stagefour/SHO-home.htm. This is a temporary site while I redesign my Web Development site. Yes I know--All I need is another site to take up my time. Doesn't that engine just make your heart pound? 220 hp--V-6 normally aspirated, fuel injected ....

This Web page was last updated on Saturday, 08-Sep-2018 08:42:47 MDT .