25 Cars Complex Staff Members Have Owned

Staff Member: Tony Markovich

"The first car I ever owned was a '98 Saturn. I was jumping at the bit to get my hands on pretty much any car, to the point that I was close to getting an Oldsmobile Aurora. In fact, the first time we saw this Saturn, which had a crazy metallic brown flake paint job, there were chicken wing bones in the engine bay. As a first car it was what a 16-year-old kid should be driving, and it served me well. That was ... until I couldn't find a shot engine mount that made the entire car rattle for about four months. I ended up selling it for a '97 Acura Integra."

Staff Member: Nick Schonberger

"As a teenager, I drove a number of family cars-an Oldsmobile Bravada and a Dodge Caravan. Entering graduate school in 2003, I got the first car that was indeed mine, a Honda CR-V. Its most notable feature was a stereo with both a cassette tape and CD deck. This was an important factor in my decision to like the car.

At the time, CUVs were considered kind of wimpy. Today, these little SUV-type rides are a rising market segment. Who was setting trends? Probably not me. The worst thing that happened to the car was in 2009, when I realized that I'd not updated the tags in 2 years and saw the car towed to a frightening junk yard in Northeast Philly. I paid the fine and paid for another tow truck to come and remove the car. It was a major fail in automotive ownership. I sold the CR-V in 2012 after 115k driven."

Staff Member: Nick Engvall

"Picked this car up for really cheap, because it was a theft recovery and was missing a ton of parts. I didn't intend for it to become what it did. I redid the suspension and reduced the weight of it by taking out anything that wasn't needed. Then, I got the crazy idea to redo the interior in Jordan Elephant Print (I'm a sneakerhead!).

This was before putting crazy patterns in your interior was popular, so it was quite the challenge to get the material. In fact, it was actually done from about 3-4 t-shirts, cut to fit. I used dark grey on light grey for the higher wear panels and light grey on dark grey for the rest. A pair of racing seats and detachable steering wheel were installed. The carpet was refreshed with a black update and new pedals were installed. Above the rearview mirror I installed an APEXi Air/Fuel controller. I didn't have a stereo in the car, so I set up an iPod adapter in the glove box for the times I wanted music. Once all of this stuff was done to the car, it had to be taken to the race track.

My brother and I took it to Laguna Seca in Monterey, California. The suspension on the car was set up perfectly and a set of Kosei K1 wheels with Toyo RA-1s had guys in M5s and Vettes coming up to us between sessions asking if the car was turboed or supercharged. It was awesome to see the look on their faces, when we told them it was just bolt-ons and really good suspension. I never really wanted to get rid of this car, because it was such a great car, but I just couldn't justify having 3 cars. My sister ended up buying it from me and still drives it to this day."

Staff Member: Nick Restivo

"I had my parents old '94 Volvo 850 for three years in college. I think the odometer broke around 281K miles, and I drove back and forth from Tennessee to New Jersey a few times. It burned oil, so I had to keep oil in the trunk and fill it up about every 300. It was still running, when I got back from school, so we donated it."

Staff Member: Stirling Matheson

"When I was in high school, I bought a Chevy Cavalier for my first car. It was well below market value, and that's why I went for it. It was literally the only thing I could find and afford that wasn't an old hearse with 179,000 miles on the odo. I never did figure out what was wrong with that Chevy, but if I put myself, three ballerinas, and some dance bags in it, the top speed would drop to 55 mph."

Staff Member: Erin Kelly

"I got the mini cooper because my parents wanted me to have a car that would make it impossible for me to drive my friends around in. It's small enough that I can park it anywhere, but I also lose it in parking garages for hours. Bonus: Nobody will ever ask you to pick them up at the airport if you have a mini cooper, due to zero trunk space."

Staff Member: Tony Markovich

"An Acura Integra was a car that I started wanting the first day that I had the Saturn. There was just something appealing about the exterior that I found really unique, and I knew that it would be a car to work on and learn from. Unfortunately, they're extremely hard to find in good condition and without a million miles on them.

I remember going to the dealership with my dad for a second time to look at it. The dealer wouldn't come down to $3,000 total the first time, so I wasn't too hopeful. When we got to the lot, we were standing at the car, and my dad handed me the key. He'd worked out the deal without me even knowing. It was also the first car that I learned to drive stick on, so I was pretty broken up, when somebody pulled out at an intersection, slammed my driver's-side front panel and bent Jackie's (yeah, that was her name) frame. Totalled."

Staff Member: Liz Barclay

"My Jetta V6 was red with grey leather interior and was my second car after I wrecked my first black Jetta. It served me through many road trips, up-to-no good scenarios, and was specifically known for smelling like crayons. I believe it was due to the wax finish on the doors and dashboard, because other people claimed to have encountered a similar "crayon" smell with Volkswagens.

I was driving home one night and a deer ran across the four-lane road and into my headlights, right into the front of my car. The deer was hit, slightly bumped up onto the hood of the car, and disappeared back into the darkness. It didn't phase me as doing any damage to the car, as I wasn't aware of the heavy impact a deer could have. I pulled in the driveway and the entire grill was shattered and the hood was bent. Chunks of actual fur were still in the grill, serving as proof to my father and peers that I had in fact hit a deer. Ultimately, we had to get both the hood and grill replaced."

Staff Member: Rob Kenner

"I bought the Gran Torino Elite from an ad in the Baltimore Sun the summer before I went to Chicago for my second year of college. I was going to be living off campus and I needed a ride to get back and forth. It was all very sensible, I assured my parents.

"I paid $700 for it and then spent another $1,500 at the shop to make it drivable. It had a bad habit of dying for no reason in the middle of the Dan Ryan, one of the most dangerous highways in the world, and the only way to get it to started again was be to stomp on the accelerator while piloting this hunk of Detroit iron (with no power steering after the engine died) toward the breakdown lane. If the stomping worked, the engine would roar back to life with a loud backfire. If not, you were fucked. This car burned so much oil I had to keep a case in the trunk. I knew it was time to put more oil in when the exhaust was no longer blue. But I loved the car, especially the sound system and the fly-ass white seats and the opera windows in back."

Staff Member: Jian DeLeon

"My CD player faceplate got loose, and as a result, in order to hear music properly, I had to find ways to keep it lodged in, like duct tape. I also threw up in it once. As soon as I got the smell out, it happened again. Ooof."

Staff Member: Lisa Parisi

"Well, I remember seeing it online my junior year of college in Baltimore. I had a stash of money/inheritance and needed a car to get around the city (Baltimore is not exactly walkable), so I had my parents check it out and buy it for me in NY.

The car was totally in pristine condition. It was hunter green outside and had immaculate tan leather interior that was immaculate. At the time the six-disc CD player was HUGE, but it was in the trunk of the car. Whenever I would hit a bump in the road it would skip and the song would cut out. I'm pretty sure I listened to The Killers first album, Hot Fuss, on constant skip/repeat in that car. It lasted many years until it finally started having issues with the fuel gauge and transmission, so i sold it. I miss it, though. It was definitely my favorite car out of all the ones I've had."

Staff Member: Brianne Garcia

"On the first day I had my license, I backed out of the garage and into my older brother's car in the driveway. I also crashed it into someone's mailbox and it dented the driver's side door."

Staff Member: Nick Engvall

"I bought this car from a friend. He gave me a great deal and after another friend told me he wanted to buy it, I put a bunch of effort into modifying it with wheels, full stereo system, new paint, etc. It turned out really good and the pics really do it no justice."

Staff Member: Angel Diaz

"I payed $500 for a '91 Sentra, because I was broke as hell paying that a loan back. The transmission went a couple months later, and I junked it for 50 bucks."

Staff Member: Lauren Nostro

"I had a 2007 Cobalt Coupe that had leather seats, which were the worst thing in the world if you live in Buffalo because it's always cold. Plus, the car always got stuck in the snow."

Staff Member: Tony Markovich

"Oh, Vanessa. An American muscle car was something I'd always lusted for. My dream car to this day is a '69 Chevy Camaro Z28, and when the new concept came out in '06, I became obsessed with that, too. So, when I still had my Integra, I decided one day that I wanted to sell her and get a Camaro (gotta love the level of impulse that online car shopping hypes up). My dad was actually driving a truck at the time and was losing a lot of money on gas, so he purchased the Integra from me. I used every dollar I had to get the Camaro, which had ground effects, and had an incredibly clean engine bay and interior. One of the saddest days of my life was when I had to sell the car to move to New York City. I'll always resent this city on some level for that exact reason."

Staff Member: Brendan Frederick

"My first and only car was a manual red 1985 Saab 900 named Bessie that I drove in high school. I got in three crashes, the roof was falling down, and it would usually take 10 tries to start it on a cold day. Otherwise, it was an amazing car. It was excellent for bumping fuzzy rap music and illegally shuttling prep school students across state lines."

Staff Member: Shanté Cosme

"My first car was a Dodge Caravan my parents gave to my brother and I. We affectionately named it "the partyvan" and joked about putting spinning rims on it. We never got the chance because I slide into oncoming traffic on a snowy day and totaled the thing."

Staff Member: Nick Engvall

"This is my dream car. I bought it about ten years ago. I drove it for a while, but it's been plagued with annoyances. It's been sitting, waiting for me to show it some love."

Staff Member: Russ Bengtson

"When it came time a few years back to look for a commuter AKA 'station car,' I knew exactly what I wanted: an older Honda Civic hatch with a five-speed. It didn't have to be an SI or anything, just something that was road ready. Fortunately I didn't have to go through too many dogs — a first-gen CRX that ran great but was nearly rusted through and a matte black EF hatch from a sketchy neighborhood with sketchy things done to it — before I found the right car. A teal green '91 hatch, five-speed, no mods (although the cat seemed to have gone missing), under 150k — all for $1,400. At some point there could be a swap in its future, but for now it's all I need.

Staff Member: Noah Johnson

"The only car I've ever owned is the only car worth owning: '89 Honda Civic hatchback. I drove it to Boulder and gave it to a down-on-her-luck single mom."

Staff Member: Calvy Click

"My grandma's 1979 Volkswagon Karmenn Ghia was mine for my first two years of high school. It was amazing but stalled at inopportune times, so my dad made me drive the family Chevy Impala instead (the horror)."

Staff Member: Nick Engvall

"I have always loved flat black cars. I also hate red cars. When I first got this car, I knew it was going to get painted. My brother is an automotive artist, and this was one of our first experiments. We painted the car with chalkboard paint so he could draw on it. It turned out pretty good for being painted in a parking lot across from the apartments I was living in. The paint didn't really hold up well but it still looked pretty good. It went through a crazy amount of wheels on this car, SSR Type X, Stern Aguzze S-07, Axis Mesh, Sparco Viper Fangs, SSR Type Cs and then some. I ended up wrecking it in the rain one day on the way home from work."

Staff Member: Simon Jones

"I delivered pizza with it for close to five years. It was my baby, until I wrapped it around a telephone pole."

Staff Member: Cedar Pasori

"My 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid was my first and only car. I drove it around both Santa Barbara and L.A. like a boss. My friends ALWAYS wanted ME to drive, because the car had such great gas mileage. I also kept it very clean, of course. During a nine-hour drive to Oregon, I blew out the speakers. I don't remember what music I was playing, probably Jay-Z or the Gorillaz. Anyway, when I decided to move to the East Coast, I sold it and used the money to pay for a plane ticket and apartment deposit. Woohoo!"