What Did you drive?

[OKTurbo]

My first car was an early 60's Plymouth Grand Fury with one foot in the grave. It ran....but barely. Mom and Dad bought it for me so I could help transport little brother and sister around.

The first car I bought with my own money (Sacker at the local gracery store) was a 1969 Mustang Sports Roof (fastback) with an awesome 200cu in straight 6 cylinder....3 speed on the floor. It didn't go fast, but it looked good with yellow paint and a set of flat black stripes running down the hood and over the top.

The 'stang got traded off for my favorite, "never should have sold it" 1967 Mercury Cougar XR7-GT. As I now know, it was a very rare optioned car. An XR7 with dark metallic green paint, tan leather, plus the GT option with 390 cu in "police interceptor" and C6 Automatic with traction lock 9" rearend. On a good day, it would get 10 mpg...but boy did it sound good! Had it my junior and senior years in high school, but two years at college and my budget couldn't handle it. Sold it for (believe it or not) a Pinto. At least the Pinto got 42 mpg. (I HATED that Pinto)

John

 

[Justy]

Originally posted by Chilly
Yes, "danger" is my middle name - my first car was a '78 orange Ford Pinto (for those of you who don't remember, the Pintos had a nasty habit of exploding if struck from behind). And yet, it didn't require a LEUP!

No, the Pinto did not have a nasty habit of exploding if struck from behind. The Pinto had a nasty reputation for exploding if struck from behind. Largely undeserved... probably originating from a Pinto being rear ended by a Bronco at 75 MPH in a construction zone beside a hot exposed streetlight cable or something. Meanwhile, there are those of us who have been in Pintos, rear ended, breaching the fuel tank, without the slightest Estes igniter worth of explosion or burning.

My first car was my hand-me-down '75 Civic, which I rebuilt in 2002 and am driving now. But my fondest memories of an automobile are of an Infiniti. My dad had a '90 Infiniti G20 as a company car. Once we took that thing up to 220 km/h (~137 MPH) on a back road in North Vancouver. I told him I'd tell mom, and he told me that if I did, we'd never get to do that again. I didn't tell her until long after I got my own license.

When the Infiniti's lease was up, the company decided that Dad didn't need a company car for his job anymore, and we couldn't afford to buy the lease out, so we had to give it up.

 

[Ryan S.]

Pintos did have a nasty reputation, which was true, and was considered one of the most dangerous cars to be in. See ford didnt put in a double walled gas tank which they should have. So when rear ended at even the slow speeds, the gas tank tended to be broken and leak. Once there are gas fumes they tend to ignite.

I once saw an episode about it on the History Channel, had another car on ther ebut I dont remember what it was called.

 

[Dr. Don]

I had a "57 Chevy Nomad!!!!!
For those non-Chevy buffs, that was
a 2-door wagon with the chrome trim on the tail gate!
I bought it from a high school buddy just before I joined
the Navy in late "74.
I drove it back & forth between St. Louis and North Chicago a bunch of times and then down to Mayport, Fla. some more.
I dropped in a 4-speed Muncie tranny and promptly blew out the
engine on a trip back to ST Louis. I had to be towed the last 60 miles...... While I was away on a MED cruise, my brother stole the wheels for his Dodge Dart, and left it on blocks on the back yard.
By the time I returned, it was a rusty ant-infested wreck that
I unloaded to the first taker for $300.....
I will always miss that car..........Dr Don

 

[cls]

... the worst place to be on the road:

behind a Pinto
in front of an Audi 5000
next to a Suzuki Samurai

!!!!

just asking for trouble!!

 

[Hospital_Rocket]

Oh this brings back memories,,,,

A 1971 Plymouth Scamp. 225CID slant 6. And it was the most gosh-awful lemon yellow you can imagine. I mean this was the neon yellow we paint rockets.

No A/C
AM Radio
Black Vinyl Seats.

Now, imagine this in El Paso Tx in August where the mercury hits 120 degrees.

And yet, I still miss the beast.

 

[Len B]

My first car was a "hand me down" 1972 Ford Galaxie 500. Quite the boat. Hard to imagine an engine so large being so low in HP.

I toasted it and bought a 1966 Mustang hardtop. Much nicer. I sold that to buy kitchen cabinets. Don't even go there.

Len Bryan

 

[Ryan S.]

ha sounds like my dad selling his 72 Corvette stingray to buy the house.

 

[Len B]

Yep. Pretty much like that. Living with mother-in-law. No room for company car and Mustang. I needed to build in kitchen cabinets. Hey! That's when all my '70s rockets got thrown out too.

Len Bryan

 

[Hobie1dog]

1969 Triumph Spitfire, ended up being the first engine I rebuilt. Shaved the head .110 with matching shorter alloy pushrods, Venolia pistons. I wish I had the money I spent on that thing.

 

[dixontj93060]

I lived in Germany early in my career and while there purchased/owned a 1976 BMW 2002. Wow was it fun! Racing green with tan leather interior and airfoil effects all around! Kinda like, except dark green:

 

[KidRockET]

Isn't there this thing...

Called Facebook or something...

I think that I heard of that somewhere...

2004 wants its thread back...

 

[dhbarr]

Isn't there this thing...

Called Facebook or something...

I think that I heard of that somewhere...

2004 wants its thread back...

Please show me some FB discussion threads from 5-7 years ago where I can link to particular comments, visible for people not having FB accounts.

Bonus points for more than one on the same topic to compare / contrast / cross-reference. Go ahead, I'll wait.

/me dies of old age, still reading TRF & EMRR

 

[Maxter]

1959 Austin-Healey "Bugeye" Sprite. God that was a fun car...drive to the track, then race it!

 

[BEC]

1972 Mazda Rx-2 sedan. Looked like any other early '70s Japanese sedan, but it sure didn't (under)perform like one . Finally got rid of it after it had been rear-ended and shortened by about a foot many years later. Had about 215K miles on it (of which I accounted for about 170K) and was on the verge of needing the engine rebuilt again.

I still miss it.

 

[rharshberger]

1971 Camaro, LT-1 350 w/ TH350 automatic, Anson slot mags, air shocks, it was ugly but the body was straight and dent/rust free. It was originally Placer Gold but somebody had it painted blue most likely by Earl Schieb, and the blue was flaking off, the car looked like it had leprosy, oh yeah and an 8-track player. It was the first car I bought, then there was the 1964 Ford pickup that I was "given" as my technically first vehicle. Not one body panel on the whole truck was the same color except the bed sides, each fender, door, hood, tailgate, cab all were off different vehicles, on the plus side it didn't have any rust either. The 3 on the tree, had been moved to a floor shifter with a screwed up linkage, going from 1st to 2nd took a little fiddling and cussing, 2nd to 3rd a lot more fiddling and an awful lot of cussing, occasionally it was possible to downshift from 3 to 2, usually it was necessary to coast to a stop, set the emergency brake, and reset the linkage to neutral by hand or a beating implement of some type. Don't ask what motor it had, I hated that truck so much I have no idea other than it was a straight 6.

 

[dhbarr]

1986 Dodge Colt, had a Mitsubishi engine. Never got it to pass emissions, so much for HS freedom. No car after that for several years.

 

[KidRockET]

Please show me some FB discussion threads from 5-7 years ago where I can link to particular comments, visible for people not having FB accounts.

Bonus points for more than one on the same topic to compare / contrast / cross-reference. Go ahead, I'll wait.

/me dies of old age, still reading TRF & EMRR

Sorry, don't have Facebook...

But I have heard that...

It exists...

 

[ActingLikeAKid]

'78 Datsun 280z. Bought for $1600. Ratty as a loaf of stale bread in a New York subway. Came with a RADIO (not a cassette, what am I, made of money?) hooked up to a speaker that was literally rattling around on the floor behind the seats. The emergency brake didn't work. The starter switch in the column was busted, so the previous owner had rigged a toggle switch to run the starter. You could take the key out while it was running. It ran like crap. I had it for a year or so. It had some electrical issue that caused it to start eating alternators.

I replaced it with a Miata. I bought that car with 58k on the clock and I put 200,000 hard, fun miles on it. Love the Miata. LOVE LOVE LOVE the Miata.

 

[o1d_dude]

1956 Austin Healey 100S.

Wish I still had it.

 

[TopRamen]

My first Car was a Humvee. I never even got my license til' I was 27 and out of the Army.
You're supposed to have a license to get licenses for different vehicles in the Army, but since I was a mechanic, I was never questioned when doing anything with or to any vehicle that I wanted. Nobody dares mess with the guys that are going to make the vehicles go vroom, because walking with all that gear sure does suck.:wink:
My first civilian vehicle I bought in 05' was a 93' Jeep Grand Cherokee LTD with the inline 6. Sadly, I hit ice on a backroad and went over an embankment about 30 feet and onto my roof, but I was going slow anyway because of the road conditions, and wearing my seatbelt, so I did'nt even get banged around.

 

[RocketFeller]

Does anyone else think it is strange that this thread was started in 2004? I didn't think TRF existed until 2008 or 2009 and the OP didn't join until 2011.

Anyhow, my first car of my own was a 1976 OLds Cutlass S that I inherited from my grandma. It was yellow, a two-door (the doors were about five feet long) and ugly as sin, but it had a 350 V8 and would chirp the tires shifting into second (auto trans).

 

[Paul]

My brother and I shared a 73 Olds Omega straight 6. My true first car was a 82 S-10 pickup. Loaded all my belongings in it and went to grad school in Michigan and have been here ever since.

 

[Tronman]

 

[codysmith]

Current car ( and first car ) is an '04 cavalier. Ugly gold color. 4 speed auto. Complete rust bucket. Unsafe to drive. But it's been pretty darn reliable. Bought it for 1200

 

[swatkat]

First car... 1976 BMW E12 530iA. It was a great car. Sold with 176k miles.

 

[fyrwrxz]

First car I shared with 2 other High School buddies-57 Chevy BelAire. had to leave it behind moving to Cali. MY first real car all my own was a '61 t-bird. I saw those when i was growing up in Britain and just HAD to have one! $300 and the guys at the Used Car Emporium were snickering behind my back. Took it home (only a few block away) pulled off the Ford 4bbl carb and dropped a Holley in, screwed around re-jetting it, dropped the bumper gard, took off the the fake hood intake emblem and pounded it out a little for a functional scoop( kinda-not really cold air induction ya know!). I went back and laid 50' rubber right in front of the show room and laffed all the way home. I loved that car-heavy as hell with a 390 and 8 mpg but it was MY dream car.

 

[BEC]

I talked my Dad out of buying a Pinto wagon (this was when I was in high school) and talked him into a 1973 Mazda Rx-3 wagon instead. MUCH more fun. It met its demise in a head-on encounter with a four wheel drive pickup in a school parking lot (this was while I was away as a freshman or sophomore in college) while it was still pretty new. *sigh* I was going to get to drive it to college had that not happened.

But I did get my Rx-2 sedan a year or so later, and still wish I had a Wankel-powered car to drive, but the Rx-8 (or a later Rx-7) don't appeal to me. I wish they'd bring back something like the Mazda3 hatchback, but with a rotary. It'll never happen, but I'd be there in a cold minute if they did. I have to say that my 2013 Mazda3 hatchback is a pretty fun drive, though it'd be more fun with a fuel-injected 12A in it.....

 

[cherokeej]

First thing I ever drove was a White cab-over, with a Holmes 750 winch on the back. I was 14.

My first auto was a 1955 Chevy Apache, with a hot water 6. In 1975, some kid t-boned me in it with a brand spanking new '75 Ford 3/4 ton. They towed the Ford. I peeled the fender off the rear tire of the '55, and drove it home.

 

[gpoehlein]

My first bears was a pale yellow 68 Chevy Impala two-door. It had the infamous 327 V8 engine under the hood - the previous owner had to replace the motor mounts three times because of the torque that engine generated! (The third set was heavy duty, so I never had to replace them!)

My second car was my favorite and the only car I owned that could be considered a muscle car: a 71 Buick Skylark two-door fast back with a 350 V8 that had a factory installed Holly four barrel carburetor. That car could really move!