Be sure to click on the links for more pictures.

1979 Mercury Bobcat  "Bob"

My 1979 Mercury Bobcat and 1980 Chevy El Camino
This was my first tase of having two cars at one time.  It's a hard habit to break.

1980 Chevrolet El Camino
"Elliott"

This was my first new car.  It looked great, but had the speed of a snail.  It was so slow.  I kept this one for over a year!!!  While I was in Denver for Air Force Supply Officer School for three months, it started acting up.  I was hanging out with my friend Deirdre Mahon, who was stationed in (and originally from) Denver and she was driving a brand new 1987 Honda Accord LX.  I loved it so much, I called my friend Jimmy Dukes, a lawyer in Hattiesburg whose father owned a Honda dealership, and asked him if they had any white '87 Accord's on the lot.  It just so happened that they had ONE left.  He hid the car in the back lot of the dealership.  Someone found it and pulled it around to the front the morning I got back into town.  I bought it that afternoon.

This picture was taken right after I bought Orca.  I was away for six weeks at the USAF Fuels Management Officer Course at Chanute AFB in Rantoul, IL..  I made some really great friends there, among my classmates and among the staff - especially the division chief, Major Kim Schooley.  Little did I know that I'd be going back to Rantoul a few years in the future.

When I bought the car, I went straight to David Toomey's and parked it next to his '85 Honda Prelude, which I had always loved.  I brought him out to look at my new car parked next to his, and he exclaimed, "Look!  It's Orca and Baby Shamu!!"  Thus, she was christened, Orca!  I drove Orca for over two years (a record at that time).  I am working on an Orca page which will detail some of Orca's adventures in Biloxi, MS.

While stationed at Keesler AFB, my father introduced me to Colonel Jim Miller who was the base's JAG (Judge Advocate General).  He lived down the street from my dad and became my mentor on base.  I got very close to him and his family and we are still in touch today.  He got me into cycling, as they are all runners and cyclists.  When they got PCS'd (Permanent Change of Station) to Lackland AFB in San Antonio, TX., I drove out with them to help with the move.

Before they left, Jim found a great old International Scout that he wanted for his son, Pat.  Knowing Kathy would not go for it (as Pat did not even have his license yet), we bought the Scout which I named "Hank" (after Hank McCoy, The BEAST of the X-Men) and registered it in my name.  I drove it around for a year and had all the work Jim wanted done on it.  It was ready to go about the time I left for Panama, so he came and got it.

After the destruction of Orca, I paid cash for Red October so I'd have a truck to drive in Panama.  What a great vehicle!  My roommate, Rudi, and I learned to Scuba Dive in Panama and used Red October to drive all over the country to go diving.  It was perfect - it had vinyl seats and rubber floors.  After a diving trip, you could just hose it out.  I drove it the whole time I was in Panama.  A friend offered me more than I paid for it, so I sold it to him and left it in Panama.  My brother had offered to sell me his '89 Accord LXi coupe because it was too small now that he had a kid, my niece, Lyssa.

If sentimental value had monetary value, this car would be worth a million bucks.  My brother bought this car as a "demo" from my best friend in Ocean Springs and his girlfriend at the time, Joanne Gottsche.  I bought it from Eric upon my return from Panama, mere months after Joanne passed away from brain cancer.  I babied that car for the year that I owned it.  Joanne's death had made me realize that I would not live forever, so I decided to leave the Air Force and go live on my terms.  (Having dated an airman in Panama and having to have to hide it, I found I did not like being told who I could or could not date or be friends with.)  I was terrified of going to Chicago without a job, so I sold the car to my sister, Kate in 1992.  She kept it for many years until she decided she wanted a convertible and bought a 1999 Mazda Miata.  In true Greene style, she sold it to... our brother, Eric, the original owner.  He is still driving it today and plans to keep it long enough to give it to my niece, Melyssa.  She is 16, so that could be soon.  Unless, of course, he sells it back to me.

I sold the Accord coupe to my sister because I was moving to Chicago without a job and wanted something that was completely paid for.  In keeping with my Red October naming tradition, I named this one the USS Dallas after the submarine that contacted Red October and helped her defect.  In my first month at Chicago Tribune, I was on my way to Geneva, IL the first time it snowed and I immediately regretted not getting the 4WD model.  I went home that night and traded it in on my first VW.  I still see it driving around Chicago from time to time.  I can tell it is the same one because it has 14" S10 wheels instead of the 15" wheels it was supposed to have.

When I went to the VW dealership, I was looking for a small front wheel drive, preferably American.  I left with the hottest little European job I've ever owned.  This car was fast and handled like a Porsche.  I was working so much (which involved 10-15 hour days and driving about 200 miles a day) that I never took a picture of this one.  It was EXACTLY like the one from the catalog pictured above, down to the awesome BBS wheels.  I drove it all over Chicagoland, from account to account, often using it to throw newspapers when we had "down routes".  After about a year, I was driving it so hard that I could not bear to tear it up anymore.  So, I traded it in on a...

Trying not to tear up the awesome GLI, but unwilling to sell the Jeep (at that moment), I opted for the Amigo.  When I told Michael that I was thinking of trading in my Jetta, he said I should My friend, Lorette, had a black one and loved it.  Of course, she had the 4-wheel-drive, V6 powered version.  I bought the two-wheel-drive (Rear Wheel Drive, at that) with a 4-banger (four cylinder engine).  It was capable and fun, but not really what I had hoped for.

Two neighbors and friends of mine, Bill and Sharon Falconer, had to buy a new car when their '86 Honda Accord LXi was stolen and stripped.  It was recovered right after I sold my Jeep.  It had 199,000 miles on it, the gears on the manual transmission were stripped, the dash and stereo were ripped out, and the wheels and tires stolen.  But, the engine purred like a kitten.  You could put it next to a brand new Accord and the engines sounded the same.  At that point, I decided I needed a "beater" to throw papers from.  My friend, Tim Johnson, and I bought it together and used it for throwing routes.  Tim was an agent for the Tribune; we trained at the same time.  When I got my job at the Freedom Center (the Tribune's printing facility), he bought me out and gave the car to his brother, Pete.  Pete drove the car while he finished his undergraduate degree.  It had over 220,000 miles on it.

One of my bosses commented that the Isuzu was really not a car for a "potential manager".  So, being the ambitious young man that I was, I sold the Isuzu (to one of the mangers at the Tribune) and bought another Jetta.  Since I could not find another GLI, I settled for a regular GL.

The Jetta GL was a little too plain for me, and it started giving me trouble.  I went back to the VW dealer and asked them what they could do for me.  They gave me a great trade-in on it and put me in this '96 GTI.  This was the first (and only) car I ever leased.  It was a great little car, but not quite as quick as the GLI.  (That could have had something to do with the automatic transmission I opted for.)  I kept it for over two years (of a three year lease) and traded it for a 1998 Subaru Outback.

These are the cars I own currently...

When Subaru introduced the Outback in 1995, I fell in love with it.  It was a wagon, but sporty and rugged enough to appear butch.  How butch?  Do you know how many lesbians bought Outbacks until Subaru introduced the Forester?  Even my sister's ex-girlfriend owns one.  (Of course, she's not really butch, but...)  Add to that, Subaru is an extremely GLBT friendly company - I almost HAD to buy one.  For the first time in my life, I was not always looking for a way out of my current car and into my next.  I have owned the GFT (Griswold Family Truckster) for over three years and have no immediate plans for a new car.  So after 15 cars in over twenty years of driving, I've finally found a keeper.

1977 Corvette
"Orca77"

In the summer of 2003, Hal and I went to the home of two of my friends, Jim and Lorette, for a Memorial Day barbecue.  While there, Jim showed me a 1977 Corvette that he was about to sell.  It was in the garage with junk stacked on it and the driver's side door on the back deck.  I wanted it immediately.  Since Jim had recently done a frame-off restoration of his '73 Corvette, I asked him how much he'd charge me to get this one in good running order.  He said he would not do it, but he'd help me do it.  Since then, he has taught me more than I ever thought I'd know about working on cars and saved me thousands of dollars in the process.  The car is still under construction, but is coming along quite nicely.  To see more of Orca77, click here.

The top contenders for my next project are 1) 1964, 1965 or 1966 Imperial, 2) 1970 1/2 Camaro RS, 3) 1967 Pontiac Firebird, and 4) 1966 Plymouth Sport Fury.  It will be a long time before I can get any of these, but I will add it to this page once I get it.