This is an English style 3 speed bicycle which I occasionally ride to work.		This is my first motorized vehicle, a 1965 Honda 150 cc touring motorcyle. I needed transportation to my job and this was my ride.
This looks a lot like my first car, a 1962 Corvair Monza coupe. This is what replaced my Honda motorcycle when I had made enough money at my summer job after my Junior year at college to afford it. I great car with the 102 hp engine, a 4 speed, and black interior. I added a Sun tach to be better informed.		This 1965 Corvair Spyder coupe replaced my burgundy 62 when the 62 was having transmission problems - it lost reverse gear so I had to push it out of parking places. This 65 was the 150 hp turbocharged model that was theoretically a great little sports car. It had the new rear suspension, replacing the swing axle style from the 1962 that Ralph Nader demonized, and a full instrument panel (including a turbo boost gauge). Mine never seemed to live up to its performance potential though it was fine transportation.
This is the turbocharged engine from the 1965 Corvair. It was a rear engine car with an opposed flat 6 cylinder (so-called H engine like the modern Subaru), air cooled engine -- very innovative for the time. The chrome unit on top is the turbocharger. It overheated and blew a hole in a piston on a trip back home to Dayton, Ohio from Northwestern University where I was a graduate student. It was too expensive to fix soooo >		The 1965 Corvair was replaced with this MG 1100 I bought near the university in Evanston. This was a super little car with its only weakness an engine mount that broke and had to be replaced about every 3 months. It had some interesting features as noted below.
This is the MG 1100 engine, a transverse mounted 4 with front wheel drive. It had the transmission built into the engine oil sump so unfortunately the transmission was pretty shot by 65k so I had to get another car; the first one I bought in Kentucky from a guy out in Bullitt county.		The MG had a hydrolastic suspension so there were combination spring/shock absorbers on each of the 4 wheel and they were interconnected as shown above. It was a wonderfully floating ride and I never had any trouble with it.
This is the Datsun (now Nissan) 510 I bought in Bullitt county. Mine was yellow and it was a solid little car, fairly standard with a front engine, 4 speed, rear wheel drive. These 510s were often compared to BMW's 2002 model for performance and handling. The only problem with it was it had a primitive emission control that made the engine overev when you shifted which was quite annoying so I decided to replace it with>		A Fiat 124 Sport Coupe. It was a fine sports car with that Italian flare and none of the driveability problems of the Datsun. I drove it until the head gasket failed which was too expensive to replace. The engine was a DOHC 4 cylinder, complicated to work on (see below).
The first new car and 4 door I purchased, a 1983 Dodge Colt (really a Mitsubishi made for the Chrysler Corp). It was front wheel drive with a two speed differential, called a "Twin Stick" with Sport and Economy modes, so you actually had 8 speeds ( 4 * 2). It was a good driver and pretty lively when in the Sport mode..		This is a side view of the Fiat 124 engine.
The Colt was getting a little old and my parents in Dayton needed more visits so I moved the Colt on out and bought a Ford Escort wagon. A satisfactory car but quite pedestrian.		When my Dad passed away I ended up with this Oldsmobile wagon so I sold the Ford and this became my everyday car for a while.
My son Drew got his driver's license so I passed the Olds on to him and got this Toyota Corolla FX16, a great car though it had 126k miles on it and the air conditioning did not work. It was great fun to drive though.		This is the Olds engine. It was a V6 and quite powerful. It was surprising how quickly it could move that Olds wagon along.
Hobby vehicles - This is a Peugeot moped I had for awhile just to kick around on.		Hobby vehicles - I had a Suzuki GN 400 single cylinder motorcycle for awhile after I moved the moped out.
Hobby vehicles - This is a Citroen DS-19 I bought at an auction in Lebanon Junction and then restored. When I went to France i spent some time locating parts in Paris since Citroen had withdrawn from the American market. A very unusual car...		Notice the aerodynamics, way ahead of its time. The Citroen had one of the lowest drag coefficients. Mine had a Citromatic transmission so there was no clutch pedal but you still manually shifted the gears. It also had a crank you could use to start it in an emergency, no synchromesh on 1st gear, and pig skin upholstery - it was the Palais model with air conditioning.
The Citroen also had a single spoke steering wheel, a hydro-pneumatic suspension and a mushroom like button for a brake pedal. The level is for the Citromatic. After I restored it I sold it at an auction to a guy from Indianapolis.		Hobby vehicles - I wanted to try an electric vehicle out so I bought this Razor 650 MX electric motorcycle. It is quite small and has a top speed of 17 mph but is fun to ride around.
This is a 1956 Ford that one of my friends who lived a street over from me bought. He used to give me and another neighborhood student a ride to high school in it.		One of my high school friend's family car was this 1958 Buick, though his was pink and known as "the Pinkie". He used to drive us around in it. It was a chrome boat though quite fast - it had a big V-8 in it.
This was a 49 Mercury I had a chance to buy for $50 when I was 16. It had no reverse since the transmission was broken. I could not talk my Dad into letting me get it (since I think he knew he is the one who would have to put a new transmission in.)		This is a Plymouth wagon a friend of mine had. He was the editor of the school newspaper so we could leave high school during lunch time in this and eat at the local McDonalds. We also ran a lawn service one summer and used it to haul the lawn equipment around in.
This is a Pontiac Le Mans convertible a friend of mine owned. It was a compact car but it had a big V-8 in it and a 4 speed transmission built into the back differential. It was a brilliant design but not up to the torque since my friend foolishly insisted on leadfooting it.		This is a 1953 Chevy my friend with the pink Buick owned. His Chevy was black and very plain - no extra chrome like this one has. He had put a Corvette engine in it and used to humble guys who thought they had fast cars. The only problem was he did not switch out the original 3 speed transmission (designed for the car's original weak 6 cylinder engine) and had to frequently replace it.
One of my friend's Dad was a Pontiac dealer service manager so he got a new Firebird convertible. It was a neat car, 400 c.i. but with an automatic transmission.		One of my high school and college friends liked to compete in hill climbs and sports car races; this is like the Sprite he competed in.
The friend who had the Sprite also had a 1964 Corvette convertible. It was a 327 with a 4 speed. He let me borrow it one summer day and it was the first real sports car I had driven - an unforgettable experience, summer with the top down on rural Ohio roads...		One of my girlfriends got one of the the first 1964 Mustangs and we took it out for a spin to the local drive in where all her friends hung out. It was ok but not as sporty as it looked.
One of my friend's Dad's cars was this outrageous Imperial. It was Chrysler's answer to the Cadillac and Lincoln.		The Imperial family's other car(s) were two of these Simcas. These were little French cars, rear engine, rear wheel drive Chrysler products.
One of my friends was a sports car guy - he had a Triumph TR 3 (like above) we used to drive around in until he got the Morgan >		A Morgan Plus 4. An unusual English car, particularly to find in Dayton, Ohio. It was pretty rough but real wind in the face motoring.
He ended up with this Triumph TR 4 when the Morgan died.		One of my friends was an exchange student in England and brought back a Triumph Herald - an obscure and not very inspiring vehicle.