I bought a _______, in spite of _____

I bought a 1984 Ford Econoline with very few windows with my then roommate for $500 as a vehicle to carry our dive gear. All I ever did was change the oil once with the cheapest stuff I could find at Kragen/Autozone/wherever and adjust the shifter so it would use all three(!) gears. I drove it on a 550+ mile roadtrip the day I fixed the shifter with no problems. That old van never let me down and made me remember my soft spot for craptacular old ford trucks. I always liked driving it around. Then I sold it for $450 and bought a $850 1979 Mercedes 300d that I hated from about a day after I bought it until I sold it.

Edit: The van's name was Cleveland. There are two things it was named after, can you guess them?

Not a car I bought...

But a friend of mine was "forced" to drive his families back up 92 5 speed accord sedan while his 944 was in the shop.

While I would never say it to his face.... his 944 is a piece, and when I "had" to drive the accord to drop his car off I found I liked driving it many times more then his beloved Porsche.

Not the sportiest car, and its limit may not have been terribly high... but for what it is it was amazingly competent and almost begged to be driven hard.

The ride was way too soft, and it rolled like none other... but it was amazingly communicative, and very willing to participate.. Especially coming from an overly stiff 240 I found it to be a total blast to drive, and asked for the keys any time we were riding in it together. I would really like to through on a good set of sway bars, some stiffer springs and adjustable shocks...I've tried to get him to bring to to an autocross (so I can drive ) quite a few times...

I still want want if I am honest.

I bought a 2000 ZX2 s/r, in spite of that narsty yellow color.....

I still have it and can't imagine ever getting rid of it.

I bought a 91 festiva, in spite of it being "smurf blue". I miss that car a lot. It was awesome on gas, fun to drive and held more stuff than the ZX2.

I bought a 1992 Celica GT, in spite of saying i would never buy another FWD after my 1993 Celica GT.

Yeahhh..... i'm brilliant.

And now i'm looking at a Fiat X1/9 for a daily driver. How smart am i?

This describes almost every car I've ever bought, all 120 plus of them! Dozens of Alfas, Fiats and British cars, I must be nuts!

Yeah, Festivas. With the exception of white, silver, and the occasional black/charcoal colored Festiva....did anyone ever see one of these cars where the paint color didn't border on hideous? In the '80s and '90s, it looks like all Korean built cars were painted by someone with no sense of taste, or who was colorblind.

In the early '70s, I drove a '60s Ford Econoline while stationed in Sicily. That poor van was TOTALLY abused, yet it refused to die. I wouldn't buy any E-150 built recently, but a nice late '60s Falcon-based E would make a decent 2nd or 3rd vehicle. Anything that can carry a heavy load and double as a motel room/beachside "cabana"..... Ford, bring back a small vehicle like this.

Put me in with the red-car-hatin crowd as well. I currently own two.

I don't care for red cars. Had three by my last count. Don't much care for white, either. Had at least 4 of those so far, including my current Miata. On the other hand, I've always liked a lot of yellow cars, and never had one.

Does my new company car count? I bought a Solstice GXP despite it not costing me anything. It's not red.

Seriously, I once bought a Ford Focus at an auction. It had 23k miles on it. I had never driven one until after I had paid for this one. I did it because my DD broke down and health issues prevented me from repairing it quick enough. Being pretty much a Honda guy, I was surprised by the Focus. It was comfortable, easy for my aching body to get in and out of, was quite on the freeway, had a decent factory stereo, etc.. That's the good. The bad was that it was definitely NOT a fun car to drive, even with a 5 speed, and the best mileage it got on the freeway was 28 mpg. Once I was feeling better, I replaced the clutch on my Civic si and put it back in service. Mucho fun to drive, and 35-37mpg on the same route. In total, I put 11k miles and one set of tires on the Focus, and sold it for what I paid for it.

I bought a '91 Ford Probe in spite of the automatic gearbox. I needed a cheap daily driver. Aside from changing the oil and replacing a battery, it worked flawlessly until we traded it for the Golf my wife wanted.

I bought an alfa milano rather than an E30 because i couldnt find an E30 for sale that the owner could tell me when the timing belt was changed last or anything else, and the alfa had most of that done already and it was cheaper. The alfa has been pretty good, even though I bought it from the original owner it has its share of hack job repairs, but nothing too serious.

I bought a $40 whore in spite of only having $20....

Just kidding - I usually don't have that much cash.

Kind of related:

I bid on, and accidentally won, a Vanson one-piece leather race suit. This is despite not having a running motorcycle, nor any plans of racing any time soon... Couldn't argue with $120 though.

I bought an 85 Alfa spider even though I have a wonderful 85 MR2, Audi 80 quattro with a turbo motor transplant, and a stock Audi 8 quat.
Swore off italian cars years ago, no idea why I did this. The wife does say this is the first car in 25 years that she wants.

I too have bought multiple red cars in spite of really not liking the color. Seems sporty cars come in that color more than most. One was a 323 GTX, another was an 86 Civic Si. Seems over half the GTX's I've seen in person have been red.

Also, I do not really care for sunroofs or convertibles for that matter, yet most of my cars have had sunroofs (SE-R, Civic Si, CRX Si, GTX, etc). And I now drive a convertible. Go figure.

I bought a 73 Impala station wagon despite being in the market for a Hearse. I was shocked to get my money back out of it when i sold it.

I bought a 99 Mercedes E300 diesel despite the fact that it was 600 miles away and I didn't see it until I had already written the check. I was pleasantly shocked at how kick-butt it is

I bought a lap dance in Vegas from a girl named Cinnamon despite the fact that she was... well, a Vegas stripper. I was shocked when she gave me her card and told me that sex was $250 and I had to pay for the Hotel, but she would bring the condoms. Cheap btch.

I bought a used 86 pontiac sunbird GT in 96' or so from a freind who needed cash, despite the fact I knew It they werent exactly known for reliability, I was actually looking for another audi 4kq... After a new turbo went in, I actually liked it, much to my dismay, it was FAST and handled well. It was two tone metallic blue/black, had flares and wide ties, hood scoops, blacked out tail lights racing stripes and a bulldog stance (all factory!) Six months later a oil line blew and the engine seized before i could get to a safe place to park. I gave it back to the friend to fix and sell, and never saw it again (or any money from it for that matter,) and didnt care...On occasion, I actually start to look for another one, then i come to my senses and smash my head into the nearest wall.... this is someone elses, mine was the same except for color..http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/8/web/308000-308999/308592_3_full.jpg apparently they go for fortune now..