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Cars, Lots of Cars

Yesterday, I introduced the upcoming Two Twenty One Car Series. Today I’m sharing more information on why Brad and I collectively own 6 vehicles and our families’ histories with cars.

Let’s jump into our fleet of vehicles, shall we?

Brad’s vehicles: 2004 Chevy Trailblazer, 1993 Pontiac Firebird, 1983 Honda Interceptor (motorcycle). My vehicles: 2007 Ford Edge, 2000 Pontiac Grand Am, 1967 Buick Special. 4 out of the 6 vehicles are currently at our house. Brad’s Firebird is at his parents’, and my Buick is at my dad’s. Since Brad has a long commute and gas is $300 a gallon, Brad uses the Grand Am, my high school/college car, to get to and from work on most days. The Edge is my daily driver, and the Trailblazer is mostly for trips to our parents’ places and weekend driving. Brad takes the Interceptor out for short rides on evenings and the weekend. We’d really like to get rid of the Grand Am and Trailblazer this fall and get a new car because Brad is tired of constantly working on and pouring money into those cars (both have over 150K miles).

When I was growing up my dad always said his kids’ first cars would be classic 1960s cars. Why? Well, I don’t really know why, but I’m pretty sure it stems from his teenage years/early twenties occurring in the 60s. Well, that and he has a 1967 Oldsmobile 442. It’s pretty bad ass. He let me drive it. Once.

1967 Oldsmobile 442

When my brother, Ryan, turned 16, my dad bought him a 1965 Oldsmobile 442 because Ryan wanted to have the same car as my dad. Ryan has spent the last 4-5 years restoring it.

1965 Oldsmobile 442

When it was time for me to get a car, I had my eyes set on a 1969 Chevelle. But my dad insisted I didn’t want a Chevelle because “everyone has a Chevelle”. I disagree with that statement to this day, but whatever. So I ended up with a 1967 Buick Special– chosen by my dad. My dad gave it a new gold paint job (the original color), updated some things under the hood, and put on new rims and tires. I had a custom stereo system installed. Priorities.

1967 Buick Special

My younger half-sister’s first car was a 1980s El Camino but she sold it a few years ago.

Back in the day, Brad helped his dad restore their 1977 CJ5. They also worked together to restore Brad’s Interceptor.

1977 CJ5

Brad’s dad just finished restoring his 1983 dune buggy. Now he’s moved on to restoring a 1970 Camaro SS.

1983 dune buggy

There you have it, the details of our vehicles and an abridged history of our families’ cars. Needless to say, Brad’s and my love of cars is in our DNA.

Are you from a car family?
What was your first car?
Do you also have a fleet of vehicles?

CAR SERIES
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two twenty one

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43 Comments

  1. Wow! That’s cool you guys are both into cars. My cars are been more on the practical side and less on the bling side–think Saturn and Corolla. No fleet of cars here but very cool to see yours!

    1. Thanks, Kelly! There’s nothing wrong with practical cars. We keep saying we need to get on the Toyota train because those suckers never break down.

  2. Wow! I thought we were the only ones with a thousand vehicles, but you guys have us beat. It’s mostly my husband’s cars though. He has a 1969 Chevelle, 1971 Nova, 1999 Chevy Truck, 1999 GMC Truck, I have a 2003 Tahoe and we JUST sold my 2000 Tahoe. It’s quite the collection, but at least it always looks like someone’s home!

    1. Hah! You’re definitely not alone, Kayleigh. Your husband has an awesome fleet of vehicles, including my beloved 69 Chevelle. And you’re right– it’s great because it always looks like someone’s home. Keeps those burglars away. 🙂

  3. I need to show this to my hubs! He is one of the biggest car fanatics I’ve ever met. He had a beautiful, 1970 Chevy truck that he sold 2 years ago, and he did all the work himself to restore it, including painting and rebuilding the engine. He also has a ’69 Chevelle sitting in his dad’s garage. It’s a project they work on together, but unfortunately it hasn’t received much attention lately. I have a Honda Accord, and he has the Wrangler, but I know he’d love to have a CJ5. His dream is to open up a garage like Richard Rawlings, as seen on the show Gas Monkey Garage.

    1. Your husband and Brad would get along very well. Brad’s dream is to have a garage like Gas Monkey Garage too. He DVRs all the episodes.

      Maybe my dad was right about everyone having a 69 Chevelle because your husband has one and so does another reader’s husband who commented above you. Hah! 🙂

  4. Our families would get along great – we are a TOTAL car family too. (If i was you, I’d still be mad at my dad for ‘talking me out of’ a chevelle!)

    1. Oh, I’m sure they would get along swimmingly. He didn’t really talk me out of it– it was basically a “you’re not getting a Chevelle” type of discussion. It’s all good though because now I’ve moved on to wanting an International Scout. Now all we need is a house with some land so we can build a massive pole barn to house our fleet.

  5. Man, I still want a 69 Chevelle. They’re the best. My first car was a 77 Chevy Impala, it was my granny’s car and was in no way cool.

    1. Apparently I’m not alone in the wanting of a 69 Chevelle department. 🙂 Yeah, the 77 Impala definitely wasn’t the sexiest car.

  6. I totally agree with getting kids a classic car. That’s what we are doing for our kids! (They are only 4 & 2, it’s hard waiting) My husband has a 1970 Chevelle, in process of restoring it (very slowly now we have kids). I want to get my 1st classic, looking for an old truck, maybe 1950 Chevy. Something like that style.

    1. It’s a cool idea, Nissa. I don’t know if we’ll do it for our future children– mostly because you can’t drive them in Indiana winters. But it’s definitely something different and special to do. I’m sure the Chevelle will look awesome once your husband gets it finished.

  7. Christine says:

    Oh my what an awesome collection! My fiance was brought up with cars and restores them for a living. Together we own six cars as well! He pretty much refuses to drive anything “new”. He owns a 63 Chevrolet Impala and 81 & 83 Oldsmobile Cutlass’. My daily driver is a 2010 Chevrolet Equinox and we jointly own a 54 Chevrolet Truck and although mostly mine and given to me for my birthday last year a 64 Chevrolet Impala SS. To say we are car people is an understatement! I am glad to know there is somewhere out there that has such a large collection at a young age like us!

    1. That’s so cool, Christine! The 63 Impala and 64 Impala SS are a pretty sweet cars. And I definitely wouldn’t mind having a 54 Chevy pickup. You guys definitely have an awesome collection. Brad and I are talking about getting an International Scout one day. But first we need to figure out where we’re going to keep all of these vehicles. 🙂

  8. When I met my husband he had a ’63 camaro that he rebuilt. It was beautiful. My husband works for a luxury car company and still has a huge love for those 4-wheeled machines (esp old muscle cars). Looking forward to this series!

  9. Nice! Count me jealous! (I’m totally with you on the Chevelle, too) One day I want to restore a ’77 Trans Am but I have to convince my husband because he doesn’t like dealing with carburetors anymore. 🙁
    I really like that you are doing a car segment on your blog! I always thought of doing one myself but just never got around to it. (Hubby is a mechanic and makes sure I know how to work on our cars)
    We are slowly getting rid of our fleet of cars, none of which are anything to write home about. At the beginning of this year we had three trucks (one of which doesn’t run and another doesn’t run well), a van, a car, a motorcycle, two dirtbikes and three four wheelers. So far the van, one dirtbike and fourwheeler are gone but we added another car to the mix but this one is brand spanking new so it was worth it!

  10. My husband comes from a car family and he is slowly converting me – though I need to stipulate he is primarily converting me to the Chevy/GMC family of cars. My first was a Ford Explorer and he still gives me grief to this day for owning a Ford! We only have 3 cars but if money were no options we’d definitely have more. Currently our fleet includes a 2013 Chevy Equinox, used for who ever has the longer commute that day and a 2007 GMC Yukon, for who ever has the shorter commute, or is going hunting, up to the snow, family road trips and any time else we need a lot of room in the car. The last car is a 1968 convertible Chevy Camaro that I have yet to ride in as when my husband stored it at his mom’s once someone filled it with gas and took it for a joyride unknown by my husband so now he has to do some work on it to even get it running again (including changing the gas lines!) I won’t let him sell it until I ride in it at least once. If we could, I’d love a new convertible Camaro, while my husband always wants the most recent Corvette and a classic Corvette. Cars can be fun. And I look forward to learning from you about them from a woman’s standpoint as I know how to drive them to the dealership for service, and that’s about it – I even have my husband deal with the service reps to make sure I am not getting swindled!

  11. This totally reminds me of my step-dad. He’s obsessed with cars! He had a convertible from the 60s that he sold a few years ago and now has an 80s Volkswagon Cabriolet (which my sister drives) and an old red Ford pickup (I have no idea how old that thing is) plus a Jeep, his truck, his work car, and my mom’s mini van. Their driveway is a mess haha.

  12. Get a hybrid or electric car. Those older cars probably spew all kinds of bad things into our air….

    1. Meh, I’m not really a Prius kind of gal. While the older, classic cars may not have the best emissions, they aren’t daily driver cars so it’s not as bad. We recycle so I’d like to think that counteracts driving the older cars once in a while.

  13. Your cool points just went off the charts just for the fact that your first car was a classic from the 60s. I totally think we could’ve been friends in high school.

  14. Oh wow! When I saw the car on your IG feed, I had NO IDEA that you currently had all of these cars!?! Like Kelly said…your coolness factor just skyrocketed! The other half of my blog name is based off my grandmother’s other car that shared the garage with Nimble and it was an International Scout. It was a frosty blue and was used as her farming vehicle to feed hay to all of her horses. I have always dreamed of finding one like hers and restoring it. What you all have done is totally inspiring! Love it. 😉 Jesse @ Scout & Nimble

    1. Well we don’t own my dad’s 442 and my brother’s 442 or Brad’s dad’s CJ5, dune buggy, or 70 Camaro SS. We would be pushing Jay Leno status if that was the case. 🙂 I LOVE International Scouts. Brad and I have been talking about getting one for a couple years now. Maybe you and I can be International Scout twins someday.

  15. When your maiden name is Studebaker, and your family made the car (my dad is from Southbed IN) you have no choice but to be a car person!!! My husband and I are buying a home right now, and when we close, my next goal is to find a Studebaker to restore 🙂

    1. Small world! I grew up 10 miles outside of South Bend so I know a lot about Studebakers. Have you ever been to the Studebaker museum? Congrats on the new home!

      1. I have! I still have a lot of family up there and we get out there every 5 years or so. Thanks, we close in 8 days!!

  16. We are a one car family, a 2009 Toyota Tundra, which we love. I’m just curious if it is very expensive to insure all those vehicles?

    1. There’s nothing wrong with being a one-car family. It probably saves you a lot of money.

      Brad and I insure the Trailblazer, Edge, and Grand Am. It’s $100 a month to insure all three. Brad’s dad has always insured Brad’s motorcycle so he just pays for the insurance since it’s not much. My dad currently has my Buick so he’s insuring it– it’s roughly $16 a month to insure. Since Brad’s Firebird is currently being stored at his parents’ house I don’t think it’s insured at the moment, but his parents might have storage insurance on it which isn’t very expensive.

  17. Wow, you have really cool car selection =D My husband has a 1993 Firebird and we have done some changes to it… knight rider and all 🙂 I would love to see some pictures of your firebird!

    Tanja

  18. Yep, we love the cars too and we do have a fleet starting with the 20’s. 1926 Model T Hot Rod , 1931 Model A Hot Rod, 1940 Mercury with a hot pink interior, 1941 Plymouth Business coupe (currently looks like a rat rod), 1959 Edsel Ranger, 1963 Fairlane Sports Coupe (under construction), 1972 Plymouth Satellite Hot Rod, 1982 Camaro Indy Pace Car tweaked a little, 1988 ASC McLaren. We’ve bought and sold many others over the years, but these are the ones we still have. Some are show cars and some we drive daily. We enjoy restoring them and driving them. We get the most pleasure when we can share them with others.

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  20. Alison Morgan says:

    Your dad’s Oldsmobile 442 is a total badass. And your fleet of vehicles is truly classical and sophisticated choice.

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  22. Its not everyday that you get to see girls blogging about cars. That too muscle cars. I must say you have areal taste for classic cars. The Toyota Tundra is always my favorite one in this list.

  23. I’m just discovering your blog…Thank you Instagram! I love the old cars, growing up we had an old El Camino and a 66(?) Mustang. As a family now, we are a big rig family, though we have plenty of vehicles on the property. For now we have an ’09 Kenworth W900 (our family bread and butter), a 2010 Chevy Suburban, 2009 Corolla, 1990 Geo Tracker, and a 1990 Ford F250. I bounce between the Suburban and the Corolla for my daily driver – 3 kids, 2 in car seats…our family of 5 doesn’t fit well in the Toyota. The Tracker is just sitting, but we are debating on holding onto it for the oldest – only 6 more years until he is driving. The Ford is our dump-run pickup…It is a single cab, but man is that thing a BEAST! It just doesn’t quit. I would love to have something between the Suburban and the Corolla – a Venza or Sienna – but I don’t want car payments.

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