This is the car I learned to drive in. 88 Merced 420sel with 275k on it.
My first car, 85 nissan 300z got for free from my dads friend. This was while I was still in votech so everything that you could do for a tune up was done. If you dont know 300z's untill 87 were rust buckets, so was mine. By the time I got rid of it I was just scraping the last bit of bondo out of my 2nd gallon. I ended up shoving auto shoppers and rags into holes just to take up space. It always had a slight engine tap, it had 114k on it so I never really worried about it. I would take the car off roading with my friends 91 sable behind me and oneday luckly I was close to home doing some dounghts in the gass and the rpm's got a little to high and a keep on a valve bluew dropping the valve and getting bent by the piston smashing into it. The car still ran so I drove it home and it sat for a while untill I took the head off. Took the bent valve out, never reassembled it beucase it was a nightmare of vaccum lines and electrical connections so I gave it to a junk yard.
2nd car I got about a month before I blew my Z up. 88 caddy fleetwood brougham. 500$ with suppoustly 96K on it. I did the same thing. All new shocks, front suspension, never messed with the bushings. Valve cover gaskets water pump ect ect. Never did the radiator on it. Mistake. I also installed a complete infinity system in it from subs to amp to speakers to headunit. There wasnt a headliner in the car so I got some junky speakers and just threw them up there by their magnets. I ended up having 8 speakers from the origional 4 that came with the car. It got loud enough that you couldnt hear yourself talk and you were a little deaf once you got out. I was taking over what we call "roller coaster hills" doing about 80 with my foot to the floor and the radiator blew on me, about 15miles from home. I knew the area good so I got alot of water from a nearby lake and kept filling it up. Only took me 1 hour and 30min to get home. After going through 2 new radiators, they eneded up also leaking. One leaked all the tranny fluid into the coolant from the tranny cooler. So I fially got the car straight and the alternator decided to go. I guess to much juice it had to put out for my ridicilous system. After my 4th alternator from Advanced auto parts and each one only putting out about 11.5 volts I sold it to a junk yard for 100$.
Before I sold it I got a 90 jeep cheroke from the same guy I got the Z from for 600$. It was his daily driver and hes one of those people that fixed everything. But its a jeep and what idoit would spend money on those? So while driving that for a month for 2 I finally got my car I have now.
This is my dads car, but whenever we go somewhere Im usually driving it. 87 Merc grand marquese
5.0 V8, dual exhausts, posi rear, grandpa owned just rolled over 100 grand. It says on the dash board "ride enginered" so you just know its good.
My current and 4th car my 92 525i with 160k on it. M50 no vannos, beautiful running car. Now I have become my dads friend, the anal asshole that fixes everything. But it is very nice to have a BMW being a BMW tech, I get all parts for 40% off.
