So it has come time for the kids to learn to drive. With one of them wanting to start training as a mechanic I felt it was prudent to make sure that he would be able to drive a manual so the hunt started to find a car that he would be able to drive.

I spend a bit of time asking around friends if anyone knew of a manual. I also had my uncle looking over the straight. There were a few options but then I mate said he was looking at moving his Subaru on as he had been able to get his hands on a spec-C. Well one thing led to another and we now have a GGA Subaru Impreza 20K.

Its a true pleasure to drive and can bring a smile to my face each time I take it out. It has gotten at least one of my kids through their license and we are lining up the other to start in it very soon.

Once again nothing much to report here. My oldest now has his learners license and has started to drive. To that end and because he completed an automotive engineering course back in 2020 I decided that I wanted him to learn in a manual car. To that end I found by way of a friend a Subaru Impreza 20K.

Its not in the best shape but it has had a few tasteful upgrades which are still factory parts. Its a nice quick runner and a lot of joy to drive.

About 8 months ago my partner has a little problem with the commodore and drive it into the back of another car. Unfortunately the car was a write off and we had to get another car. I was able to find another 1997 VS Commodore Series 2 but this one wasn't a station wagon, it is a sedan model. Its basically the same but with a few more bumps. I might upload a photo of it at some point.

About 2 weeks ago I decided that the MPV was no longer worth spending any more time or money on to get it road worthy again but I did need to get another car for work as it was starting to get difficult to keep doing my job while trying to find new and creative ways to carry my tools and equipment out to sites some 40KM away. So it was off to find a car to purchase.

We finally settled on a 1997 Mitsubishi RVR X2. It was able to fit the whole family, all 4 of us, and still be able to have some space to fit in some luggage if required.
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So for the last 2 years I haven't had much movement on the car front. I have been wanting to get the old VN commodore back on the road and I did give it a go. I had the tyres replaced and I got most of it back together. I went down to the VTNZ to get it inspected and it came back with rust all around the front and back windows.

The MPV has started to show its build quality in overheating all the time (well at least showing like it is). After spending over $4.5K on various parts including the radiator, suspension and tyres to get it back on the road for a short while I decided to go with something that I know.

After a short hunt and a bit of luck I can across this 1997 VS series 2 commodore executive

Everything went well for me on this. Its a style of car that I understand and like better than most other cars on the road. Its going to be good for towing the caravan when we go on holidays.

Well the first car that I ever drove was a 1978/9, I can not remember which, Honda Civic. Red with gray spots from where I sanded back the rust and painted it with primer. It was a car that my parents had bought a few years ago and left sitting down the drive after they got a new car.

When I got my full license they decided that it could be done up for me to drive around. It went down to the local mechanic to see what was needed for it to get its warrant of fitness to get it back on the road. Well there was lots of rust in the roof at the rear and it needed a new motor. They couldn't find a motor anywhere and we where about to give up when another customer came in the same year car for a warrant, well it failed and the mechanic made them an offer on the engine which they accepted and my car was back on track to getting back on the road.

After that it was down to the panel beaters to get that roof looked at. The basics of what they did where peel back the vinyl roof and fill it with bog. This made the roof very solid and got rid of most of the rust.

This was a good little car and had its share of problems with in the first week of the car getting back onto the road I went to pull on the hand brake and broke the cable. This wasn't to much of a problem as almost all of the places that I parked where flat. But I did have a little bit of fun when I had a mate in the car and was traveling down the port road back from Port Chalmers at around 100 kph (60ish mph) I reached down and ripped on the hand brake. He started to brace him self on the side of the car expecting it to go into a long uncontrolled slide. After nothing happened he called me a shit and had a good laugh about it. There where other problems that happened over the years including the front right hand door handle and lock not working so I had to get into the car through the passenger door. It had a real patch job with the car audio system but it worked.

From this car I upgraded to the car that my parents got to replace this one. This was a 1988 Nissan Sentra 1.3 SGS 3 door manual. This was a great little car. I hung on to this for quite a few years. During its time with me I started to get into the car audio game and I started to slowly upgrade the system in it. The first purchase was a Sony tape deck with a CDX-U606 10 disk changer and a pair of 5. ¼ front speakers. This was probably the only gear that I didn't install my self. After that I got my self a cheap amp, 6 ½. rear speakers and mounted them into the parcel tray in the rear of the hatch. This added a little bit of bass to the system.

But like every audio nut just starting out I wanted more. So I went out and bought a Rockford Fozgate BTR-123 Roxbox. This comprised of 2 12. subs with 4 other speakers attached. So I changed the amp from powering the rear speakers to powering the subs. It would have sounded great when I put it into the boot of the car at the shop if it wasn't for the fact that the guy from the shop that was helping put it in wired the output side of the amp the opposite way that I had. This of course phased them out and it didn't sound that great. After I fixed the problem things chugged along kinda nicely.

The next thing I got was a Kenwood amp. I can.t remember the model number as it only worked for about a month before it gave up the ghost. I.m not sure and I can.t quite remember but I think it was due to a wiring problem from the end user. Along the way I acquired an Alpine amp. This was a small 2 channel amp that worked well enough while powering the subs.

During this time I also reboxed the subs and got rid of the other annoying speakers that came with the box. This was greatly helped with the fact that I also had the use of a school wood working room and materials. During this time the subs and different boxes took a lot of different shapes.

Before long the old sentra was starting to get a little old and was starting to cost more in it up and running than running so it went out and in came the 1.6 Toyota Corolla GT. This was the solver top 20v 4AGE.

This was a quick little mover and still holds a lot of my records. first car that I have ever had off the clock (it went to 180 K/h). Fastest delivery time( just under 1.5 mins) just to name a couple. I also played around with the stereo in this one as well. Basically the same as before. Cutting and glueing, cutting and glueing. Also during this time I managed to get my hands on a Sony Xplode 4x60W amp. This was used mostly to run the subs bridged. I kept this car basically standard and it always looked the same as it does in the photo. It was a good little work horse and I would not mind getting an other one someday.

After a while the excitement gave way and I started to want a work horse that could take the load. In rolled the 1989 VN Holden Commodore V6 3.8 Auto.

Bought for a good price and looking as stunning in real life as it did in the photo I used this car for everything. Towing the family caravan, having a family (had this car when My first son was born), going on trips up the south island etc etc. There was not much that I didn not do with this car. I still have this car today although running it is a bit more of a question. The heart of this car is still beating strong but I would love to give it a new heart with 8 cylinders and 5.0L. I used this and also a car the Liz got to move the whole family up to Wellington where we live today. Back in 2003 I had a bad accident that severely damaged the left side of the car after i was shunted into the wrong side of my garage which was a brick wall. The car was left hanging in the air on a bush and I was about a meter and a half from the next doors bed room. This broke the steering arm and bending the lower control arm and causing a lot of additional damage as well.. Part of the damage was a chip taken out of the left front rim. This has to be replaced but they no longer made the CSA Ultra 2 rim. After a lot of debate I decided to replace the rims with 17" ROH Furys.

Also during this time I had fitted it out with an additional couple of subs and also some infinity front speakers. Lots of different combinations here and I am not going to go into them all.

There where also a couple of other cars that should get a mention here as well before we go on to the next major car in my life. There was the 1991 Toyota Starlet 1.5 diesel automatic. This was added into the family by way of Liz inheriting it from her grandfather when he died. It was a good basic runner that has a little problem seeing out the back of the car after a while. There was also the 1985 Toyota Corolla Wagon that we got to replace the starlet after it died. This was also a good basic run around that I used to get to work and back.

Next on the list of my cars would have to be the best car that I have ever owned. My 2000 Subaru Legacy RS.

I got this car as my work car after I got a job at Gen-i. I had decided that seeing as I was getting paid a car allowance the I should have a car that I could use for work. It was a dream to drive and I loved the handling. I was not fast and it also was not slow. I stuck to the road like it was on rails. It was not heavy on the fuel, do not get me wrong I was not the most economical car to own but it did not leave a whole in my wallet as well. Unfortunately all stories about happiness must end and this one ended after the commodore was not getting any cheaper to run and I decided to give it to Liz to drive to take James to Kindy and school. Liz had never driven a manual before and was not about to start to learn now. There was also the factory that we where going back down to Dunedin for christmas and where going to need a bigger car to transport everything that needed to go with us. (The cats and the kids as well as the presents that we where going to need to take back). So it was with much heartache that I went back to the dealership to trade the Subaru in.

The next car on the list was the 1999 Mazda MPV 3.5L.

This car was the best of the MPV and the only one that Liz would be seen in. She did not want a car the looked like a van. I did not like the VTEC version of the Honda Oddacey. It did not deliver the power until you where revving the balls off it and the steering felt like you where driving a truck. The seats where not in the best configuration. The only thing that the Honda had going for it was the leavers used to fold the back seat down. For me the Mazda MPV was the best of the two. Its a 7 seater as well but its in a 2,2,3 configuration and Yes I have used all 7 seats. I will not say that the poor people in the back where the most comfortable but it does work. This fitted in everything that we needed for christmas and did it in comfort. It handled the 10 hour drive, as did I, without an incident.