View Full Version : YOUR FIRST CAR
I had posted this at another site, and was advised by TR to start a new thread after I had searched the possibility that a like thread may exist.
I found that there were threads on: What kind of car would you be?, Your fastest car, but nothing on YOUR FIRST CAR.
What prompted you to buy that first car. Mine was a 1953 Ford Taunus, and it was bought out of necessity and convenience.
My was given to me, it was a 1950 Buick Special, Straight eight and in baby blue. Sadly the transmission was a dyna flow, tended to flow out on the road. (Blew out seals)
My first "car" that I bought was a 1977 Jeep CJ5 Gold Eagle, Lmt Edition. V8 three speed.
After being in the Army for three years and being a Barracks Rat I bought my Jeep. Had the money to pay cash but borrowed 1/2 just to start a credit rating.
Lot of stories around that Jeep, most not for mixed company or the public.
SpetsnaZ
02-19-2009, 12:21
I was a senior in high school and one of my dads coworker's was moving to another city and sold me a 10 year old Honda for $2300, I paid 1800 cash and my dad paid the rest..
1989 Honda Prelude
5 speed
Gold paint
Black bra
cloth seats
and a Kenwood CD player I installed myself :lifter
The Reaper
02-19-2009, 12:23
'67 Ford Mustang, followed by a '72 Triumph TR6.
TR
Scimitar
02-19-2009, 12:25
I didn’t own my first car till I was 23 yr old. I had to bye one for the job - it was boring and no fun......so......
Brought my first bike at 18, was a little Suzuki GN250 (Black) and I loved her like my own.
I look back now and I owned bigger and faster bikes, but she was my first.
We couldn’t own anything over 250cc at that age cos of the local licensing laws. Max speed 90mph (down hill with a back wind). I did 30,000 miles in my first year including a road trip of 1500 miles with a pillion. (Yes a 250cc, open roads, pillion, not smart, but fun).
I lost that bike I loved and a good part of my leg when an old lady who never learnt how to do head checks executed a U-turn right in front of me.
There I was, lying on the road bleeding, getting high on Nos from the EMT.
"Hey Buddy can you see if my Bike's OK?"
He laughed "You know what kid; almost every M/C accident I attend where the guy can talk, I get asked that question"
I went down to the wreakers and made sure I got the model badge of the twisted wreak that was my first love. Still got it today.
Good times. ;)
S
Oh, and I called her 'Jen', cos 17yr old boys do that kinda thing. :D
You can't tell me that none of you gentlemen never named a beloved piece of equipment?
The first car I drove was a 1982 dodge colt my dad bought prior to going to the SNCO academy. I got to start sharing it with my brother and sister all through high school and college.
First car I bought on my own when I was a Second LT: 1994 Dodge Colt
First car I bought, really liked and thought was cool: 1996 Jeep Wrangler.
Red Flag 1
02-19-2009, 12:27
1964 red MGB Roadster. Steel wheels, pull door handles, electronics by Lucas ( the Prince of Darkness !)!. Bought it in 1965. Saw me trough the bulk of undergrad. Forced me to learn mechanics. Great first car!!!
Good thread !
:munchin
RF 1
I started with a 1943 Willy's. We had to buy a new engine,, $25.00,, still in the crate in cosmoline. It was the military version,, but had a steel sides & a fiberglass top.. After 2 yrs and two more engines,, I saved a couple hundred and traded up to a 1959 Impala.. Should have kept the Willy's..
1953, British racing green, MG-TD. I bought it in my Junior year of HS (1962) for $600,00 and sold it when I went into the Army in !964 for $950.00.
I made custom dash and door pillars in my HS shop class out of Cocabolo wood. Other wise I kept it tuned up (as well as I could with a British car) and I washed and waxed it. Wish I had it now ($$).
Defender968
02-19-2009, 12:36
I bought a high millage 1984 Porsche 944 for $6500, I was driving my folks minivan before that and everyday after school I ended up having 5-8 people ask me for rides, decided after hundreds of hours playing unpaid taxi-driver I needed a two seater. :D Well that and I was young and dumb and liked to drive way too fast, and you know a mini-van just won't go that fast....I tried.
Gold AMC Pacer. Bought it as a joke. It could handle a nice size keg in the back. So where ever I went, there was the party. Then with all the money I made charging for cups of beer out of the back of my Pacer. My senior year I bought a hearst from a funeral home. Now talk about a party wagon!
'89 Mustang, Sooner-Red!;)
Holly
in 1971 I bought a 1965 VW Microbus, faded red and white. Took out the back seats, threw down a mattress......sometimes I really miss that bus.....
ZonieDiver
02-19-2009, 13:33
1968 Mercury Cougar - lime green, 289 V-8, 3 on the floor. Great car. My step-dad sold it for me after I entered the Army (PV2 pay didn't go that far then) in Jan '70. Found it in the PX parking lot at Ft. Benning during Airborne School in July. He'd sold it to some new 2LT! What are the odds!?
Soft Target
02-19-2009, 13:44
First was a hand-me-down 1960 English Ford Escort (little station wagon).
First bought was a '56 Chevy Belaire four-door in the original aqua and white with no reverse in '68 while in college. Always parked uphill or had the football team in the car. Father was right, went back to school and couldn't afford the gas or insurance.
Oh, my first car was a 1952 Ford Taunus. (No, not TAURUS-TAUNUS)
http://www.bredow-web.de/Autos/Ford_Taunus_Buckel/ford_taunus_buckel.html
This lil puppy had a "Smokin" 1172cc-V-4 engine.
The Reaper
02-19-2009, 14:14
I thought you said it was a '53?
TR
TR..It was titled 1953. However, 1953 was a mid year change over. If you were to Google 1953 Taunus, you would get two different vehicles. One was a 12M sort of sporty looking car. The other was the "Buckel" Taunus.
Mine was the latter. It looked very much like the U.S. 1940 Ford.
Your Fast T.R. Myself, well Im only half fast.
Kyobanim
02-19-2009, 14:35
57 MGA, oxidized white with a faded blue stripe over the driver's side, deteriorated canvas top, original plywood floor, (caught fire while driving but that's another thread), genuine wire spoke rims (only a little rust), and every gasket in the engine leaked.
$350.00
Red 1951 Jeep station wagon in 1966. 4WD and 3-speed w/overdrive. Flathead Six. Bought it for $25 because it had a bad piston knock and the guy was going to take it to the dump. Took the engine apart, no scoring or damage; bought a new piston, rings, rod from Sears for around $8 and put it back together. Ran like a champ until I got rid of it to buy my second car, a 1957 Chevy wagon w/265 V-8 and 4 speed for $175 in 1968. ;)
Richard's $.02 :munchin
My first car was a hand me down Toyota in 1990. I never drove it (I didn't need it) so I sold it to pay off a school loan.
In 1993, for graduate school, I got a 1990 Audi 80 with about 44K miles in "Titanium Grey" for $10.5 K. The low price was because at that time, Audi was still trying to find its way back into the American marketplace after the 'sudden acceleration' allegations that plagued the Audi 5000. Sure footed and reliable, the car did live up to Audi's reputation for electrical issues. In this case, the A/C didn't work during the summer.:rolleyes:
I drove it into the ground...towards the end, the Audi was reduced to "Ow."
cback0220
02-19-2009, 16:25
My first car was a 1997 Ford Ranger. I sold it for 600 bucks to a buddy in the course so I still get to see it every day in the Bank Hall Parking lot.
Ret10Echo
02-19-2009, 16:30
1964 Plymouth Valiant....4-door....6 cyl..3-on-the-tree. The linkage kept getting jammed up, so at one point I crawled under, set it in 2nd gear and drove it like that.
I bought it because it was $100 and had one good tire. :D
I own an Auto Body Shop ( I did sort of retire last year) which means I do what I want to. Not what I need to do. Im limited to restorations and Insurance work (labor rate here for collision is $50.00 ph). Looking at some of the cars listed here makes me shake my head, IF we only knew.
RICHARD a 1957 Chevy wagon w/265 V-8 and 4 speed for $175 in 1968.
Wasn't a Nomad was it?
I have a client here locally who owns 60+ antique cars. He's got a 57 chev. convertible, 283 factory two 4s, and factory continental kit.
He also owns a house designed and built by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Must be nice.
Dozer523
02-19-2009, 18:25
the first car I drove was my dad's Ford Pinto. He got a company car when I was 17 and a senior in High School so I got to drive it to school. (It did not help) Before college I bought my first used car with a co-signer (Dad) a '68 Chevy Impala 4 on the floor a big engine (357?) It went pretty fast. (This one helped). First car, on my own was a used Chevy van. Bought it from a LT iun Germany. It had 2 seats andthe rest was foam pad and carpet. My friends and my skis were always in it and after retreat on friday it looked like the start of LeManns as we raced to it forthe drive to France, Switzerland, Austria or the old standby Garmisch. First new car (after the Q) was a 86 Toyota 4-Runner. Still looked like a truck -- you could remove the rear top. Sold that 13 years later and the new owner called me to say it was stolen a week later. It had over 275,000 on it. The reward car was a Alpha Romeo Graduate.
My first car was a 1981 Datsun 200SX that my parents bought me (in 1991), and I promptly totaled.
After that I bought my very own stripped down (no A/C, vinyl seats, two doors, 4 speed manual, and sounded like a killer lawn mower) 1989 Nissan Sentara. I got that because it was what I could afford at the time.
I got my first car when I was 16, close to 17 in 2000. I had a list of all these cars I wanted. My dad laughed and got me a 1995 Chevrolet Cavalier. My friends called it the "cloud". My brother blew it up a few years later when he inherited that P.O.S..
'67 Mustang in '67, but it wasn't new. A friend of mine's older brother bought it in '66 when the new models came out. Shortly after he received a draft notice. He enlisted to ensure that he got Signal and I basically took over the payments. His parents decided to take the hit on the down payment. I enlisted in Oct. of '67.
Pale yellow with a white-on-black 007 front plate! :cool:
Pat
'73 VW Super Beetle.
Got it when I turned 16 back in 82. $500.00
"Kirby's Herbbie" :D
.....and Yes, they DO float. ;)
ZooKeeper
02-19-2009, 20:37
89 Jeep Cherokee
I hated it at first, my old man still teases me because the first words out of my mouth were "it's so square." I wish I still had it.
Team Sergeant
02-19-2009, 20:48
81 Jeep CJ5 Renegade
odoylerules
02-19-2009, 20:50
1995 Subaru Impreza with 186,000 miles on it. My mother gave it to me because while it had been her cheating husband's car, it was registered in her name, so he had no right to it when he left.
It was in such rough shape that even though it was an automatic, it would stall out at while waiting at red lights unless I put it in neutral and revved the engine gently.
Bought a 2009 Toyota Corolla right before this trip to Iraq. It drives like a dream, especially compared to that...thing.
When I moved from Fairfax in preparation to deploy, I gave the Impreza to a local body shop. Looking back, I'd have donated it to Catholic Charities or somewhere, but at the time, I just wanted to get rid of it. The cheapest and easiest option was the body shop.
I can't complain about it, though, I used it to get my license the day before my discharge from the Army, and it enabled me to get around for long enough to afford a "real" car.
My wife’s first car, when she was just short of 16, was a ’64 VW Bug. She found the ad in the newspaper and talked her dad onto taking her to look at it.
The address was near downtown L.A. The house was old and large. When the woman selling it let them in, my wife was surprised at the very ornate living room, and all the young girls in skimpy lingerie, and the pay phone in the corner. When she pointed this out to her dad on the way home, he had no clue about what was going on there. Yes, he really is that naïve.
Pat
GratefulCitizen
02-19-2009, 22:45
1973 Nova 2-door hatchback.
Metallic blue, brushed alloy wheels, and soft compound tires that were bald within 10k miles.
My grandfather, father, and I built a hot little 350 for it.
It launched off of the line perfectly.
Only lost 2 (illegal) drag races in that configuration (both were mechanical failures).
After blowing up that engine, I shoehorned 454 into the engine bay.
The engine was painted flat black and the 350 badges were left on the fenders.
Most competitors just glanced at the engine and thought it was a small-block.:D
mojaveman
02-19-2009, 23:53
My first car was a 1979 Chevy pick up. I paid cash for it in 1983 after I came home from Germany. I found out very quickly that when you have a truck everyone's your friend when they want something moved. I drove that thing to hell and back and it rarely let me down.
alright4u
02-20-2009, 02:39
Years ago, only a very few of my friends with wealthy parents were given cars. That said- I bought a 57 VW bug with my oldest sister owning half for about 400 total. The first car I owned solely was a 62 Buick Skylark Conv with an alum block V8. I paid an even grand for it in early 65 after saving for two summers working on contruction and a brief few outings on a scallop boat. I sold it for what I paid for it in summer 65. Most of us were never given a car, as one car per family was the norm. That one car was your dad's, and; if you wanted to see your girlfriend or buddies- you walked or hitch hiked. My father was old school, and; if I wanted something, I had to work for it. I thank him for teaching me that there are no handouts in life, and your plate is broken at age 18 when you graduate from high school. God rest his soul, as he served in three wars plus taught me more then I realized growing up.
Fiercely Loyal
02-20-2009, 04:22
mine was a 1990 mitsubishi mirage hatchback. i was 16 and just out of our local military youth academy. i got a job and payed them monthly one hundred dollars. little thing worked great even after i lost 2 gears. however being young i didn't know much about cars and just before i left for basic i blew the engine on the highway in third gear (the highest gear available).
i bought a few more after this one. i bought one for fifty dollars once because a woman wanted it out of her driveway. she told me it didn't run and i needed to have it towed. so when i came to pay here i asked for the keys after the transaction. threw a battery in it and it cranked the first time after 8 years of sitting. i think she may have been upset when i left but i didn't bother asking.
1973 Monte Carlo
followed by:
1965 SS Malibu
1968 Karman Ghia
1988 Pontial LeMans
1989 Ford Ranger
2001 Hyundai Santa Fe
2003 ZR2 Tracker
2006 VW GTI
The Malibu got me in a little trouble...
...and after I blew the engine up in the Karman GHia, I traded it straight up for a parachute.
Rumblyguts
02-20-2009, 08:41
First Vehicle was a '76 rusty-orange F-150 with 3-on-the-tree, electric brakes for a trailer and reenforced springs. Bench seat that was great for courtin', and a clutch that was great for teaching friends how to drive a stick.
Bought in '86 with 75k miles for $1,500 and sold it six years later for the same amount after antother 75K were put on it.
The engine compartment was roomy enough that our petite female mechanic could work on the engine while sat up on the wheel-well with her legs dangling next to the block.
Good times doing some rural adventures with that truck ;)
purgatory
02-20-2009, 10:00
My first car was a 1984 Pontiac Firebird, orange in color, with black interior. It was a hard-top automatic. I was 19 then, and I bought it cash up front. I knew it was going to need some tranny work, and I had saved up about 80% of the cost already, so I didn't drive it a whole lot (keep from making the problems worse). That and the tape deck not working were the only problems my car had.
I'd had it for about 5 days, when my (now ex-)husband decided to take it up the road to the store while I was in getting a shower. He hobbled it back about an hour after I had finished getting dressed, unable to shift out of first gear, and the engine sounded more like a PKM was under the hood. He expected me to believe that he was 110% not responsible for the catastrophic mechanical failures. :eek:
I took the money that would've gone into the transmission, and instead bought an '86 Cutlass Supreme (that he was FORBIDDEN to drive).
greenberetTFS
02-20-2009, 12:05
1947 Ford, 2 door sedan, 6 cylinder. It was the fastest car off the line. 0-20 mph nothing could touch it. Yes,I admit I dragged raced with it. :eek: But, over 20 mph other cars would blow me off...........:rolleyes:
GB TFS :munchin
My first car was a nine year old 1951 Ford Coupe...
My first new car was a 1967 427 Corvette, Silver Pearl with a black stinger; bought it while I was at Bragg...the hottest car on Smoke Bomb Hill!:munchin
In 1970 I replaced the tired 427 with a brand new 454 LS7 engine. That baby put out some serious HP and neck snapping torque. It also made a some Arab oilmen very happy.
pheepster
02-21-2009, 01:52
'89 Mustang, Sooner-Red!;)
Holly
Same.
This freaks me out a little. In high school me and a girl named Holly used to confuse our red mustangs.
Bill Harsey
02-21-2009, 23:01
My first car was a 1981 Datsun 200SX that my parents bought me (in 1991), and I promptly totaled.
After that I bought my very own stripped down (no A/C, vinyl seats, two doors, 4 speed manual, and sounded like a killer lawn mower) 1989 Nissan Sentara. I got that because it was what I could afford at the time.
All I wanted to do was tell about my 1954 Chevrolet Bel Air two door with electric windows, straight six and powerglide transmission then that avatar almost rolled me out of my chair!
doctom54
02-22-2009, 17:58
A red 1965 Ford Mustang 2+2 Fastback with a 289 and 4 speed in 1970. I wish I still had it.
69 Chevelle Malibu..... red with black top
dr. mabuse
02-23-2009, 11:05
59 vw beetle followed by 2 TR6's (yes, they were both running most of the time) and then 63 porsche cab. I still see that damn porsche in Tyler from time to time.:rolleyes:
91' VW jetta 4dr auto w/ grey peeling paint and no rear bumper cover with a dented steal bumper, bought by my dad with my $500.00 then spent over a grand to fix the brakes.
First vehicle I purchased '06 Toyota Tacoma, offroad eddition v6, 4 dr grey. should be paid off by the end of this tour. Yeah pretty common truck in a popular color but didn't want it to stick out too much.
I think the black tacomas with black rims look awesome but too hot in the summer.
Roguish Lawyer
02-23-2009, 19:54
1970 Buick Skylark. It was cheap and in good condition. Had a 350. Got hit by a snowbird and took a settlement from the insurance company in lieu of repairs. Used that money to get a 1968 Ford Mustang which gave me endless problems but was way cool. ;)