Was your dad loyal to a certain make/model?

[Steverino]

My dad was. Since I was old enough to remember, he always drove Oldsmobiles. He finally let go and moved onto other cars, but Oldmobiles were his car of choice for many years.

Not the exact ones, but here are the models he owned:

1955 Olds Holiday Coupe. Same two tone color. I barely remember this one.

1959 Olds 88 Holiday, same color.

1963 Olds Dynamic 88 Holiday white, of course. This one I remember well, I was in the carport when he drove it in!

1969 Olds Delta 88, white again! This one had a 455 Rocket, was the torquiest car I ever drove. Also took my driver's license test in this.

1973 Olds Delta 88. This is the last Olds Dad owned before he went onto a Caddy DeVille.

All of my uncles on my Dad's side were GM guys. One of them owned a Cadillac dealership so they got good deals on 'em. If it wasn't a Caddy, it was Pontiac or Chebby.

 

[baimun]

FORD.

While I'd admit he had some trucks that just ran and ran until he finally retired them with hundreds of thousands of miles on them.... he refused to realize how shitty their cars were.

Like my Mom's Ford LTD that needed a new engine after 30,000 miles... or the mustang that had the shocks rust up THROUGH the trunk... or my sister's Ford Tempo that went through 2 clutches and 2 engines in a 4 year span.

It's a good part of what drove me to German cars.... I tried to stay american for a good while... but after several okay Dodges, some crappy Chryslers and completely useless Chevy's... I turned to Audi, Porshe and BMW and never looked back.

The two Lexus that I've owned in recent years were just the best equipped used cars I could find at the time for under 4 grand. They've been better than the Hondas and Toyotas I've owned (light years ahead of the US cars) but they don't have the "feel" of the german cars.

 

[Prages]

Nope, not that I can remember.

I know dad has had more Chevy trucks than Ford. I know he had a 72 Chevy truck when I was born, then got a 78 Chevy truck. After that he bought an '89 S10, which my sister totalled 6 months later. After that it was an '89 Ford Ranger. Now he's got an '02 full size Chevy truck.

As far as cars, I think mom and dad had a Ford Galaxie when I was born, then a '77 Ford LTD, followed by an '86 Pontiac Grand Am, then a '94 Grand Am, then an '02 Bonneville, and now an '08 Impalla.

So, I guess they are more fans of GM products, but they haven't been 100% loyal to anything.

As for me, I inherited dad's '89 Ranger. After that I bought a '93 Ford Explore, then an '00 Ford Ranger. I wouldn't say that I'm a loyal Ford truck guy though...I've just always found better deals on Fords than GM products. I've had pretty good luck with them though.

As far as cars, we've owned a '96 Plymouth Breeze, a '98 Suzuki Esteem, a '96 Subaru Outback, and the '04 Dodge Stratus. We really bought the Stratus because we liked the Breeze so much (same platform). I really like the Stratus too. Of course, I really liked the Suzuki too, though it wasn't as cool. It was a nice commuter car though...very dependable and great gas mileage. Plus, it was a wagon, so I could haul all my gear in it.

We also have a '99 Pontiac Montana mini-van, but it's been nothing but trouble since we bought it in '07. Very convenient, but it's been plagued with transmission problems since day one, and now it needs the brake lines replaced from the master cylinder back, has a busted coil spring and a broken sway bar. All that on top of the transmission that needs work, and the rockers are rusting out. I'll probably not buy any more Pontiacs, which is convenient since Pontiac doesn't exist anymore.

I would gladly buy another Ford truck or SUV, or another Dodge product, or any number of imports that tickled my fancy and could be found used pretty cheap.

 

[Prages]

FORD.

While I'd admit he had some trucks that just ran and ran until he finally retired them with hundreds of thousands of miles on them.... he refused to realize how shitty their cars were.

Like my Mom's Ford LTD that needed a new engine after 30,000 miles... or the mustang that had the shocks rust up THROUGH the trunk... or my sister's Ford Tempo that went through 2 clutches and 2 engines in a 4 year span.

Weird. The '89 Ford Ranger I stole from my dad had 235k miles on it when I gave it back to him, and was still running strong on the original motor and clutch. My dad got into a fender-bender with it shortly after I gave it back to him and he sold it as-is for $800. The guy that bought it put a clutch in it and drove it for another year or more.

The '93 Explorer I had was a beast. Great running motor. Very powerful, and would go anywhere. It had 189k miles on it when I sold it to my parents' neighbor. He's still got it. It has to be up over 300k now.

My current Ranger has 144k on it. It needs the 02 sensors replaced and I've put a clutch and a rear end in it. The rear end was my fault though, as I knew the gasket was leaking and never did anything about it. It finally leaked all the gear oil out and burned up something in the differential. Other than that, it's been a great truck, though it does lack any kind of power. It's pretty amazing the power difference between the 4.0 V6 in the old Explorer and the 3.0 V6 in the Ranger. The Explorer seemed like it had twice the power of the Ranger.

 

[Mark Wein]

My parents not so much....they owned Ford, Mercury, Toyota, Fiat, Volkswagen, Chevy, Volvo and I'm sure other makes I'm forgetting.

My in-laws have always been GM. My father-in-law was an Oldsmobile and Cadillac mechanic in dealerships in the 1960's and 70's and his father was before him as well. It was a great scandal when my wife bought a Taurus for herself after college...her later Mistubishi and Honda cars were too (although there was no denying Honda's quality). Funny enough there is much greater disdain for my sister-in-laws penchant for German cars such as the BMW she bought a few years ago or the Mercedes SUV she just sold since her company gave her a car to use this year (a Taurus ).

My wife currently works for Hyundai so we're "allowed" to drive Korean cars....strangely enough I had sworn off American cars after my horrid experience with Ford in the 1980's (and apparently Mrs W's Tourus was a giant POS too) but our Suburban has been largely trouble free considering it's age. From what I understand Ford has also hugely improved it's quality control as well. Our next car is going to be another Hyundai since we get employee rates and leases on them, though.

 

[Tralfaz]

I was going to say no, but I got to thinking about it and realized that while my dad was never loyal to any particular model, he has this thing about buying used European luxury cars. He thinks American cars are junk, Japanese cars are too small, and new cars are way overpriced. (He's right about that last one.)

 

[Denverdave]

My Dad owned a bunch of different cars all over the brand spectrum - from Volvo to AMC. Probably more Fords than any other brand, but I never heard him mention any preference.

 

[baimun]

Weird. ....

That's what I'm saying... I don't know why Ford builds such strong trucks and such shitty cars. Maybe the car people should learn something from the truck people... or maybe those Ford cross-trainer car/truck things might be decent.

 

[Kerouac]

My dad was a Nissan guy for most of the 90's and he bought my step-mum a new one this summer to replace her old Toyota 4 Runner. He's been driving the same Highlander since 2000 as his daily car, but his main ride these days is his BMW convertible. That thing is fun to drive.

 

[jaxn slim]

My folks were die-hard American car owners for their entire lives. They had bad luck with Ford and Chrysler, so it was mostly Chevrolet. Then while in college, I decided to get an Acura. Now both of them drive Honda/Acura.

Except my dad's ranch truck, which is a Ford Super Duty. But his tractor is Japanese.

 

[Prages]

Except my dad's ranch truck, which is a Ford Super Duty. But his tractor is Japanese.

The Japanese tractor thing sounded strange at first, but then, when you get right down to it, my Ford Ranger is a Mazda and my Dodge Stratus is a Mitsubishi.

Mazda:

Ford:

Our car actually has a plaque in the door post that says "Manufactured by Mitsubishi Motors".

 

[Steverino]

Tryin' to remember, but i think it was my wife's Aunt Chris father would not allow Fords in his driveway. No joke. If you drove a Ford, you had to park on the street and walk.

 

[Mark Wein]

Tryin' to remember, but i think it was my wife's Aunt Chris father would not allow Fords in his driveway. No joke. If you drove a Ford, you had to park on the street and walk.

Now THAT's funny.

 

[Tiltsta]

My dad is almost exclusively a Ford guy. I've pretty much only ever seen him drive Ford F series pickup trucks.

 

[Help!I'maRock!]

not really. though he won't buy a German car and wouldn't buy Japanese for my entire childhood.

 

[tgk03]

My uncle was Veep at Lincoln Mercury and every one in the family drove Fords. I think they all got discounts. But most of the family was in Michigan and since my dad moved to California and was an avid outdoorsman,, he got into Jeeps; Wagoneers and Pickups. Late in life he went back to Fords.

 

[Chihlidog]

Nope. My dad has never been loyal to any brand. He's not really a "manly" type man, no interest in cars, engines, etc. Nor fishing, hunting, anything like that. He does like sports and beer, but only on his living room recliner. He's just not like "that". He's owned a million different cars, right now 1 Kia and 1 Suzuki. He's owned Buicks, Olds, one Jeep, an old beater Pontiac wagon, and who knows what else. Oh, and one International Scout which I wish was still around. That would have made a GREAT trail rig.

 

[paulskirocks]

Nope. It didn't matter what brand of belt... He knew they all hurt the same...

 

[Modern Saint]

My dad was a Ford man.

 

[Flamencology]

My father was the mystixboi1 of automobile buyers. Except that he didn't keep coming back to PRS, LP, superstrat.