TOny's Cars
Those in bold are current
1988 Dodge Omni America- This is the first car I ever drove. At age 12, my father would take me out in the Garden of the Gods business park on Sundays. On my 14th Bday, my mother took me out to a party and on the way coming back, a driver T-Boned us going 40 MPH. RIP little Omni.
1978 Dodge Ramcharger Royal SE- My father gave me this on my 16th birthday with a blown engine and clutch. I worked at County Line BBQ to save $$$ to fix it. It had 180,000 when I got it and by the time my father sold it a few years later, it had 260,000 miles. Highlights to this one are when rebuilding the engine, we put a MOPAR purple people eater cam, 8 to 1 pistons, true dual exhausts and high volume oil pump. This truck was an export from Canada, with had no emissions add-ons. It had a NP435 tranny and 4:10 axle gears. This was a fun truck.
1969 Dodge Dart GT - My father and I got this one for a project. The 340 that originally came with this car was gone and we put in a 273 from a 67’. I learned from this car that building a HI-Pro motor has its setbacks. Highlights to this rebuild were, 318 Wedge heads, 10.5 to 1 pistons, 1.6” lifters, Edelbrock high rise intake, Forged Crank, 1000CFM Carter Thremaquad Carburetor. This car was FAST, but had a ton of set backs. I was had to run 91 Octane fuel all the time. If I ran lower octane fuel, it had a tendency of overheating (weird). Because of the 318 heads, there was an issue with the head gasket which also tended to overheat. We guessed that the car was making about 300 HP from the crank. Combined with a teenager, it equated to rebuilding 904 trannys ever 5,000 miles and new rear tires about ever 2,000. By the time I graduated from high school, I had to budget for college but we ended up selling it from $8000. Not bad for a car I bought for a $1000 three years earlier.
1989 Dodge D100- My Dad called this one the “Gentleman’s truck”. This truck had two options, an Automatic transmission and A/C. It got me thru college and delivering pizzas. The fortunate thing is that actually got 18 MPG with that pre-magnum 3.9 V6. It was also my 1st car with Fuel Injection. I ended up giving it to my brother when I bought my 1st Jeep.
1986 Chevy Caviler Z24 Fastback- This car for me was pretty short lived because I ended up selling it to my grandmother after one year. It was my 1st car to get over 20 MPG. It was quick and handled great, too bad GM put crap brakes on it.
1989 Dodge America Omni- This was the 1st Omni I owned. I needed something to get around that was good on gas and VERY low maintenance. I sold just before starting at Compassion.
1995 Jeep Wrangler- This was my fun car. I finally landed a regular full time job and wanted something bachelor-ly. I was surprised for a small 4x4 of its size that it would only get 15MPG. I met Christy about the same time I got this. It was a fun thing to have in Colorado. I ended up selling it after getting married so I could have a Jeep with a normal top. I miss this one.
1993 Jeep Grand Wagoneer- This was a VERY short lived Jeep. I put oversized tires on it for light Off-roading but I averaged 9 MPG. A week after I sold it to the dealer, the tranny and front axle went out on it ($5000 in repairs).
1997 Jeep Wrangler
1999 Saturn SL2-
1998 Dodge Neon Sport w/ RT ECU-
1998 Jeep Cherokee Sport
2006 Chrysler PT Cruiser
