Top 10s: Of all the (used) cars I’ve loved, before…

[svgallery name="LeBlanc_used"] By John LeBlanc Back in the days when I was slogging it out in the design and advertising business, a new set of wheels wasn't just in the cards. Looking back at some of those pre-loved rides, let's just say I had some eclectic choices. Some good. Some bad. When it comes to buying used, let's just say, regrets, yeah, I've had a few: 1972 Ford Mustang Convertible - This was the first car I bought. At 22 years of age, it was two years older than me. A fresh paint job blinded me to the fist-sized holes in its cloth top, a vapour-locking V8 and a front suspension that had about as much rebound control as cooked lasagna. After two years of avoiding speed bumps, I was able to sell it "as is" to a guy in the armed forces from Petawawa, Ont. for the same amount I paid for the car. If you're reading this, I'm sorry. 1976 Chevrolet Chevette - While the 'Stang sat in my mother's laneway on cinder blocks under a trap over the winter, the Shove-it was used as my winter beater. I think I paid $400 for it from a friend's mother, pop-riveted some sheet metal to cover up the Flintstone mobile-sized rust holes in the floor and got it past a safety – barely. 1972 Volvo 144 (and 142, and 145 - The Chevy didn't make it to my second winter with the Mustang. So I found a 24-year-old 144 with only 133,000 miles on it for $1,000. Even if I had to add a quart of oil every time I filled the tank with gas, I really liked the old Volvo. So much so, I made the mistake of thinking I could turn it into a four-season car. Doh! After too many boxes from Volvo aftermarket tuner IPD, I ended up buying a '72 142 for its leather front seats and a 145 of the same year for its engine and manual transmission in the hopes of making one good car from three. Of course, that never happened. Traded all three in to my mechanic as a deposit for my next car... 1984 Renault LeCar - I think I started wearing a beret, quoting Sartre and reading up on French wines around this time. Or maybe I was just drinking the wine. I can't remember. But I do know that to show my car-guy street cred, the first thing I did was take a hair dryer (hey, it was the 1980s, okay?) to the "LeCar" decals and peeled them off. Ooo-la-la!! 1978 Datsun 510 - This was one of my better used-car buys: $500 for a fully prepped ice racer. It lasted two racing seasons up at Saint-Pierre-de-Wakefield, Que., in the early 1990s and never failed to start, even on the coldest mornings. Bad driver, great car. 1976 Saab 99 - Living in the country at the time, we needed a second car to supplement our leased 1991 Golf diesel. I saw the safety-orange Saab sitting in a local BMW dealer for $4,000. They took $1,800 for it, which should have been the red flag. Typical of Saabs at the time, this was a fantastic car in the snow. A dogsled on wheels. Also typical was the amount of quality time spent with my Saab mechanic trying to get the wipers to go at the same time as the headlights. Made for interesting nighttime driving in the rain, though. 1980 Plymouth Horizon GLH - I know. The GLH (Goes Like Hell) was only sold as a Dodge Omni. But I built my own GLH (Goes Like Heck), based on a Horizon laying around the lot of a friend who owned a Plymouth Chrysler dealership. After blueprinting the engine, adding racing headers, cams and an exhaust that woke up the dead, I think the little 2.2-litre four was pulling round 38 more hp than the standard 96-hp mill. That is, until it blew a rod because of oil starvation. 1986 Volkswagen Jetta GLI - Essentially a GTI sedan, I consider this the first used car I bought that actually had some decent handling. Great seats too. Surprise, surprise – too many mysterious electrical gremlins forced me to sell it privately to a Saturn sales guy. I kid you not. 1990 Volvo 745 GLE - The car that wouldn't die. Bought it with 124,000 km when it was already eight years old. Kept it for another seven years and an additional 275,000 km. The 745 had a five-speed. So I pretended it was a "sport wagon," and had another bunch of IPD boxes shipped to me to upgrade the suspension and others bits. 1998 BMW 328i - A direct correlation to the amount of money I paid for it, the Bimmer was probably, overall, the best used car I ever owned. With an M suspension package borrowed from the M3, the car wasn't afraid of the occasional day at the track (unlike its nervous driver). I still see the car being driven around the neighbourhood, by the friend of my wife who I sold it to. Of course, it was no LeCar...

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