Oil changes and vehicles

I changed the oil in my '89 Ford van this morning and also added some R134A to the air conditioning - while doing that I realized that I've owned 15 different vehicles in my life time and never took one to a place to have the oil changed - always did it myself - here's the different vehicles I have owned - 48 Plymouth, 63 Jeep PU, 65 Buick SW, 72 Ford SW, 70 Fairlane Ford SW, three 79 Pinto SW, 81 Ford Galaxie, 85 Dodge, 75 Ford SW, 65 Chevy, 91 Ford PU, 98 Ford van, and a 05 Ford F350 - as you see I'm a Ford man - a change your own oil kinda guy - except for the 81 Ford - the 98 van - the 91 Ford PU and the 05 Ford F350 all the others were bought used - I rebuilt the motor in the 72 Ford SW one time - it had nearly 250K miles on it but then finally the frame was so rusted had to junk it - all the cars treated me good except for the Dodge - it was a piece of junk - a lot of those cars had so much room under the hood that you could actually climb in there with the engine and work - I remember when I bought the 81 Galaxie new it cost $2500 - and gas was 7 cents a gallon - those were the days my friend - never thought they would end -

7 cents a gallon in 1981? It was 31 cents an imperial gallon in 1965 in Canada, and only went up after that.

I do most of my own oil changes too. Every now and then Iil get rushed into a quickie outlet but it's rare. My list of vehicles I have owned is pretty short.

1996 chev 1500 sold with 425 000k on original 305.
2003 chev 2500 HD
Iil take that as a good thing.
Old girl is getting a bit of a red tinge to her now I'm looking but not liking what I see out there on the lots.

15 for me too, Joe.

A 1938 Chrysler Coupe, a 1955 Austin Somerset, a 1954 Chevy, a 1960 Morris Oxford, a 1959 Mercury Meteor, a 1966 Ford raised roof camper van (custom built), a 1967 Ford Custom (my 1st new car - $2500), a 1977 Ford Fairlane station wagon (was my Dad's), a 1976 Chevy van (I customized it into a camper van - my 2nd new vehicle - $4500), a 1978 Buick Regal, a 1979 Pontiac Grand Le Mans (really loved that car!), a 1987 Ford Ranger pickup, a 1985 Chevy Astro van, a 1989 Ford Ranger pickup, and a 2011 Ford Ranger pickup (my 3rd new vehicle - $17,000).

Prices have gone up over the years! The cheapest I can remember gas was in 1969 - 0.33 cents per gallon.

I used to do my own oil changes and whatever else I could handle - until my back got too bad.

My 1967 Ford Custom was so big I could lay down comfortably across the width of the trunk - I was 6'1". It had a small V-8 and there was so much extra space under the hood - you could actually climb in.

I forgot to add: My pre-war Matchless 500 motorcycle.

1976 Ford Ltd is what I started on. Project car for me. Came from my parents. I started to do things like replace the plugs and wires and fabricated a forced air pipe. Man what was I thinking.

After that I moved onto a Mazda b2000 that I don't remember the year and did everything on it. It was a good truck. I had to adjust the valves a few times. The only thing I sent out was for the clutch. I just didn't have the space.

After that I bought a commuter 1992 Honda civic. Slowly I started to drift from doing work.

After that an Isuzu Rodeo. Don't remember the year. Great truck and good clearance. It went to some far out places. I did no work on it.

Now I'm on a Toyota Tacoma 2005. My favorite vehicle yet. I slowly worked back to doing work like I used to. I was at first intimidated by the idea of working on fuel injected motor and felt a lot more comfortable around carbs. I have done all kinds of things now the brakes, one bearing, suspension upgrade, plugs, and in the last five years all the oil and tune jobs. I just did one at the camp this past weekend after I put a new axle on my trailer.

I use the old oil in my chainsaw or bring back the excess to be recycled. I'm sure there will be mixed opinions on this.

I enjoy doing tune ups and don't enjoy paying shop rates.

I had a 71' Ford F150 that I bought new. I changed my oil, I changed the floor dimmer switch, I changed the brake pads, I changed the inner fender wells, I changed the door hinges, I changed the tailgate hinges, I changed the two front fenders. All this before 60,000 miles.
So when the motor started to go, I changed brands.

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Originally Posted by JoePa

I changed the oil in my '89 Ford van this morning and also added some R134A to the air conditioning - while doing that I realized that I've owned 15 different vehicles in my life time and never took one to a place to have the oil changed - always did it myself - here's the different vehicles I have owned - 48 Plymouth, 63 Jeep PU, 65 Buick SW, 72 Ford SW, 70 Fairlane Ford SW, three 79 Pinto SW, 81 Ford Galaxie, 85 Dodge, 75 Ford SW, 65 Chevy, 91 Ford PU, 98 Ford van, and a 05 Ford F350 - as you see I'm a Ford man - a change your own oil kinda guy - except for the 81 Ford - the 98 van - the 91 Ford PU and the 05 Ford F350 all the others were bought used - I rebuilt the motor in the 72 Ford SW one time - it had nearly 250K miles on it but then finally the frame was so rusted had to junk it - all the cars treated me good except for the Dodge - it was a piece of junk - a lot of those cars had so much room under the hood that you could actually climb in there with the engine and work - I remember when I bought the 81 Galaxie new it cost $2500 - and gas was 7 cents a gallon - those were the days my friend - never thought they would end -

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Something wrong JoePa. The galaxie is a 1959-1974 model. A 1981 ford pinto would have cost more than $2500.

Werner - your right - my mistake - it was a 1961 Ford Galaxie Hard Top that I bought for $2500 - and the gas was about 17 cents a gallon at the time - at the time when you stopped at a gas station an attendant would pump the gas - clean your windows - give you a glass and maybe some green stamps - and a free road map if you wanted one - and checked your oil - compare that to today - some difference -

All the seats in the cars were bench seats - so when you dated a girl she could sit next to you - reminds me of a story from back then - this guy is driving somewhere with his wife and the wife says to him - Joe remember when we were first married - how we would sit next to each other when we were driving somewhere - how nice it was - after a short pause - Joe tells her that he is still sitting in the same place -

I thought there'd be more reaction to your thread, Joe. Where's all the other old guys with their lists of vehicles?!

We didn't have "green stamps" where I lived but the Supertest gas station gave out coupons that you could redeem for milk at the store next door.

Yes, bench seats were convenient. No seat belts and no child safety seats either! It's a wonder any kids survived!

Ok here's my list in order of acquisition.
72 Ford Cortina, 73 Lincoln Mark 4, 74 Lincoln Mark 4, 85 Mercury Lynx, 85 Suzuki Samurai, 89 Pontiac Sunbird, 81 Mercury Zephyr, 98 Ford Taurus, 96 GMC Jimmy, 02 Ford Explorer, 11 Toyota Yaris, 12 Toyota Matrix, 14 Jeep JK.