Motoring fun

[Rebekka]

im having a hard enough time trying to cobble together a cargo bicycle to worry about motorcycles of any sort, cars, trucks, boats, flying saucers, battle tanks, licenses, taxes, fees, fines, repair costs, modification costs, scam-surance, pink slips, traffic slips, certificates, and perhaps worst of all, uniformed (and uninformed) policy bureaucrats with guns, who love a good show of force for violence's own sake.

so yeah, much as i would LLOOVVEE to be able to consider having automotive hobbies, the meagerest of the meager (perhaps even to the point of  completely giving up on any sort of wheeled vehicle, and walking everywhere as an unofficial personal Law) is a rather enforced end-item for me.

[PastyPrincess]

It's been a long while since I've been on this website

Anyway, I'm around that age where I can actually start driving, and I've been thinking about getting a Honda S2000 as my first car. Thoughts?

[Ali girl]

It's been a long while since I've been on this website

Anyway, I'm around that age where I can actually start driving, and I've been thinking about getting a Honda S2000 as my first car. Thoughts?

If that is what you like and you live in a climate sans snow or other slippy conditions, go for it.  Gotta be happy in what you drive!

[carsandsarcasm]

I love cars and I always will. Even in my darkest times, driving is an amazing escape. I have a 2009 Corolla which I have installed lowered coilovers on and a hotdog exhaust. It's not a typical petrolhead car but it's low performance means I can push the limits without needing a proper track. I can heel-toe too which, combined with its nimbleness, means I can really get the most out of a twisty section in the hills. I'd love to do more to it or buy a hobby car but money and space is a real issue for those of us in apartments with mortgages.

My next car will probably be a Toyota GT86. I want rear drive, full manual box, relatively low weight, small engine, and simple design which the GT86 does brilliantly. I'll definitely be putting coilovers and an exhaust on that too, I don't think I could ever go back.

[Lady Smith]

I completely rebuilt a 1954 Morris Minor which became my daily driver for the next ten years.   I kept it largely in standard condition except for putting in a late 1960s 1100cc engine, changing the final drive ratio and upgrading the brakes.  It was a lovely car to drive and I really regret selling it.
My last motorcycle was a 1990s Suzuki 500 twin I named 'Ginny' and I rode that all over the place in company with the women's motorcycle touring group I'd joined while I was still working as a social worker.  It was a great way to let the stress of my job wash out of me, but as my health problems progressed I had to give up motorbikes and after a losing battle I finally had to sell 'Ginny', she went to a good home though which eased my pain a little.

[michelle666]

I kinda lost interest in cars and motorcycles in recent years. Pre-transition, I was obsessed with my bmw and ducati.  I had a 330 with the Dinan3 upgrade for the car and a Monster 900 for the bike. I sold the bike last year, I went to ride it one day and got a huge anxiety attack when I was pulling out. I put it away and never got back on. It's really weird, it was a huge part of my life and I dont miss it at all. I've done several solo cross country trips on it, was in a ducati club and just walked away from it. I was an instructor for the MSF for a few years also. I ended up getting fired for making out with a student after the class was over, that student is now my fiance.

[Lady Smith]

I kinda lost interest in cars and motorcycles in recent years. Pre-transition, I was obsessed with my bmw and ducati.  I had a 330 with the Dinan3 upgrade for the car and a Monster 900 for the bike. I sold the bike last year, I went to ride it one day and got a huge anxiety attack when I was pulling out. I put it away and never got back on. It's really weird, it was a huge part of my life and I dont miss it at all. I've done several solo cross country trips on it, was in a ducati club and just walked away from it. I was an instructor for the MSF for a few years also. I ended up getting fired for making out with a student after the class was over, that student is now my fiance.

I still find I have a fascination for mechanical things and fabricating things from metal, but it's directed at human powered vehicles these days.  Sometimes I find myself wistfully watching motorcycles go by on the road outside my house, but I know very well that I can't manage to ride one anymore.

[Zumbagirl]

My next car will probably be a Toyota GT86. I want rear drive, full manual box, relatively low weight, small engine, and simple design which the GT86 does brilliantly. I'll definitely be putting coilovers and an exhaust on that too, I don't think I could ever go back.

I'm guessing you are in the UK because over here the GT86 is called the Scion FRS or the Subaru BRZ. It's a car I have considered a few times just picking one up for fun since they are relatively cheap, but to be honest compared to my C7 corvette it's pretty much a non-contender. I have seen some pretty nice builds of the FRS over here and there are a few body kits available. I don't see many used ones show up for sale which is the only way I would want to buy one (plus they don't sell them in the US anymore anyways).

[carsandsarcasm]

I'm guessing you are in the UK because over here the GT86 is called the Scion FRS or the Subaru BRZ. It's a car I have considered a few times just picking one up for fun since they are relatively cheap, but to be honest compared to my C7 corvette it's pretty much a non-contender. I have seen some pretty nice builds of the FRS over here and there are a few body kits available. I don't see many used ones show up for sale which is the only way I would want to buy one (plus they don't sell them in the US anymore anyways).

Nope. Australia.
Something I always notice when I read car threads, though, is that I seem to be the only person who doesn't like muscle cars. Too much torque, too heavy, too wide, too soft, relatively low cornering speed, I don't like the styling, and I don't like the sound of heavy V8's. The GT86 doesn't have all the power, no, but that's exactly the attraction. I get no enjoyment out of straight line speed cars going from light to light, I love small, light cars that I can throw around and really have a go in.

I'd buy another front drive hatchback before I bought a muscle car. The GT86, for me, could only be improved if it lost 100kg or so and the engine was mounted in the middle. It's still glorious, though.

[Yukari-sensei]

One of the things I miss is driving my dad's old Spitfire 1500. As a teenager we worked on it together - putting in Monza headers, Weber carburetors, a free flow exhaust system. We even bought some walnut wood and made a custom dash together.

God how I miss this car!

[Michaela Whimsy]

Not a lot of truck or dirt bike girls on here!?

Trucks I've had:
'70 jeep pickup motor was done put an oldsmobile 403 in it 4 speed full headers and glasspacks.  Obnoxious is that truck in one word. 
'89 Scottsdale blew up the 350 put in a 400. 4 speed manual.  Stump puller.
O6 f150 on a lease.  Stupidly swamped it just prior to needing to haul 2 horses from north Carolina to Nevada.  Took the intake all apart, full of mud, took the upper intake manifold off, full of mud.  Look down into the lower manifold and mud down to the valves.  Put it back together towed the horses the 3000 miles and traded the thing in!
'05 dodge ram with Cummins motor and 6 speed manual.  Mild bolt on stuff.  I managed 2 1/4mile runs at 12.9 seconds ( not easy shifting fast with a three foot long shifter!)
62 f100 current project, in pieces, 390, 4 speed, 4X4
There are a few other trucks not fun enough to mention

Cars I've had:
'76 280z full length header, lumpy cam, bit of a beater though.
In high school the car I borrowed when I broke the jeep was a '69 mach1 mustang clone-ish ( plenty of my own knuckle skin this car ate so I count it as at least partly mine)
'03 acura RSX - miss this one, surprisingly.
There are a couple other boring ones.

Maybe all of the abuse if have handed to my vehicles I do t like them!?!?
Love working on anything mechanical!

[Lady Smith]

This is the closest thing to a motorcycle I ride these days



The Velo Solex engine can be a little temperamental sometimes which certainly satisfies my tinkering about with engines needs 

[JenAco]

I am really in to cars myself.  I love American muscle.  I'm into Ls motors .   Ive owned 3 4th gen camaros.  Right now I'm working on an off road toy my whole family can fit in, a 4wd suburban.

[Lady Smith]

Being interested in human powered vehicles and cyclecars from the 1920s I was delighted to see this on Gizmag.



To read the article go to Gizmag.com and enter 'morgan velomoble' in the search box.

The girl in the photo reminds me a lot of myself when I was going through my angry rebel biker girl phase.

[kariann330]

My baby is a 2010 Silverado 3500 SRW. I have chipped it, modified the dashboard to hold my Mini Max tuner. Redid the turbo to a 90mm VFG, 8in smoke stacks. I then regeared it to a 38 spline set up. Rough Country 6in lift kit with 4in body lift. 38in Swampers. Then had the seats, dashboard, door panels and several other interior pieces rewraped in Mossy Oak Camouflage then had the black plastic replaced with carbon fiber. Warn winch up front behind a road armor brush guard that was coated in Line X and a matching road armor out back.

It's freaking massive and rolls coal like a freight train and has been rebuilt twice because I got it too hot, but I have gotten out of every hole I have gotten myself into without winching or getting a tow.

[big kim]

Going on a motorcycle refresher course next week to see if I can still do it.

[SonadoraXVX]

I love mechanical stuff, especially working on them. I have a 1999 Dodge Ram 1500 extended cab pickup 318 cib engine  I need to overhaul the transmission and rebuild the engine, among other things, bodywork and interior work and a 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo 4x4 with a  318 cid engine also, can't wait to dig into that one too(ie.(maybe even make the jeep a big bad offroader, for the whole family). Some people consider them junk, I think of them as works of art in hiding, just because I will make them run again, by my own two hands, by myself I may even get into fixing and selling cars, lol hmmmm, maybe after graduate school, and fixing what I have first, lol. A hobby I consider it.

[Lady Smith]

Going on a motorcycle refresher course next week to see if I can still do it.

(sigh)  I'm not allowed to ride motorcycles anymore and I really miss it 

[TG CLare]

Love the MGAs, in fact almost any MG. I have a 1976 MG Midget myself. Lots of fun to drive but not so much fun to get out of with a skirt unless you have something to cover up with. 

Love,
Clare

[Harley Quinn]

Love cars and bikes. I've been building and restoring since I was 14. I'm a pack rat... I can't bring myself to part with things. 

Current runners:
1998 Sportster 1200C; Screaming Eagle dual plug heads, Vance and Hines drag pipes

1982 CB900F; cafe conversion, clubman bars, rear sets, 4 into 2 exhaust

1978 XS-400 2E; clipons bars, 2 into 1 exhaust, full fairing

1972 CL350; you can't improve on a scrambler

1972 El Camino blown 427, M-21 4spd

Current Project: 1956 Nash Metropolitan: full chassis, 427 small block, crossram intake, 4 spd, straight axle Gasser style.

Other projects: 1968 Charger R/T 340 auto, 1970 Chevelle SS 454, 1970 Ranchero GT 351.

1999 VW Beetle hard top 2.0 5spd is my daily driver.