What Did you drive?

[Missileman]

What do you drive was such a fun thread and shows where we are now but where did it all start?
What was your FIRST car?
Mine was a 65 corvair ragtop. I paid $350 for it in 75.
Had a bad tierod end and shook like crazy when I hit a bump.
The muffler had a habbit of falling off often as well.
Had a bad spot on the flywheel so when I started it I had to grab the fanbelt and turn the motor to a good spot.
But to spite its flaws it was my first car and I drove it all over the place Kind of wish I still had it now

 

[sandman]

My first car was a 1958 Ford 4 door sedan all white...doors recently painted???...my dad got it for me when I went to college.

I thought it was the ugliest thing Why would my dad buy me a 1958 4 door sedan???

No radio...just a heater (yes a heater used to be an option back then!)

Fell in love the first time I drove it.

I noticed the emblem on the dash...POLICE INTERCEPTOR!

It was an old sherrif's car.

COOL!!!

Blew it up my junior year then I got a 1964 beetle.

Of couse gas was $0.30/Gal then!

sandman

 

[brianc]

Originally posted by missileman

Mine was a 65 corvair ragtop.
...
Had a bad spot on the flywheel so when I started it I had to grab the fanbelt and turn the motor to a good spot.

HEH! My Dad bought a '65 corvair when I was in High School- said it was his
restoration project, but I ended up doing most of the work! :/

Can't count how many times I pulled the motor and replaced the ring gear!

We had a scissors jack and a couple of greased up boards to slide the
engine in and out from below.


MY first car was a 1970 Datsun 510 4-door I bought from the
parents in 1976. The body was mostly primer and bondo (especially
the wheel wells), but I had nice slotted mags and 60-series bias ply tires
to go with the 5/8" sway rods and Webber carbs. I painted the bumpers
and rocker panels flat black (a few years BEFORE Detroit and Japan
joined the trend).


Moved on to a Honda Civic several years later whenI wore the Datsun
into the ground....

 

[Elapid]

my first car was a RACECAR!

i started racing 1/4 midgets on oval tracks when i was 10 or 11 years old. i won almost every race i was in.

my first street-legal car was a 1963 Opel Kadette L... 1100cc of gutless wonder...then i had a vega kamback, then about 4 or 5 pintos, a toyota corona mk ii. a 1967 Firebird, a fiat 124, 1984 honda accord, and still have a 1983 mustang, 1990 mustang, and a 1998 Mustang Cobra

 

[Gus]

1970 Urine-Yellow Toyota Corolla. 4 speed, no radio, no air-conditioning (this was in Phoenix, mind you). I took it over after my brother went to college.

He had upgraded with an 8-track player and he left behind the Beatles Sgt. Pepper album. I never took the tape out, never turned it off, and never bought another. To this day, any song from that album brings serious flashbacks of the Corolla.

 

[Neil]

Well, my parents let me drive a 1993 Subaru Legacy on a REALLY back road (dirt road used as an acces road to a camp) REALLY slowly (about 2 miles an hour) when I was like 10... I was sitting on my dads lap, and he had his feet on the brake, and hands on the steering wheel, but hey!

 

[brianc]

Originally posted by sandman


I noticed the emblem on the dash...POLICE INTERCEPTOR!

It was an old sherrif's car.

For most of the late '60's and early '70's our family vehicle was an old Ford
State Trooper Interceptor. I have vague memories of helping dad sand
the stars off the doors and visiting the junkyard to find a replacement
spot light.

I never really understood, until I saw the original Blues Brothers movie.

"It's got a cop motor, a 440 cubic inch plant, it's got cop tires, cop suspensions,
cop shocks. It's a model made before catalytic converters so it'll run good on regular gas...."

 

[Chr$]

Blues Brothers! ha ha.

My first car was a 1966 Chevy II Nova 2 door hardtop coupe. (Say that three times)

It had a 6 cyl, powerglide Automatic, heater, power steering, and push button radio for options.

I bought it for $500 in 1983 from my folks. It was my moms car since it was new. I just sold it for $5000 to a neighbor that had been begging me to sell it to him. The deal was that he restore it, not cut it up and turn it into a race car as many other folks wanted to do. If he ever sells it, I get first shot at it. As much as I miss it, I may just buy it back if he ever sells it. It's better off with a semi-retired guy who can spend more time with it right now.

My Motorhome replaced it. Even more work than that Nova, but will be great at launches, camping, etc.

 

[Ryan S.]

Originally posted by sandman
.

I noticed the emblem on the dash...POLICE INTERCEPTOR!


sandman

DROOOOOL nice man... nice car....and just like the blues brothers!

 

[Stones]

1957 Chevy Belair. Original "pink" color scheme w/ white hardtop.
A 6 banger that had the "oil bath" air cleaner and IIRC, the "hydra-drive" transmission. It had enough room in the interior for a small family.

 

[wwattles]

Mine was the BBOW, or Blue Box On Wheels. Others may have known it as an '88 Pontiac Sunbird 4-Door, but I just called it like I saw it. It topped out at a whopping 85 mph, but hey, my bro and I split the purchase costs, and it got us basic transportation.

It even survived a wreck with a Mercedes, in which the MB took $7000 to fix, and I fixed mine by straightening the license plate frame.

My bro bought out my interest in it (for $400 a few years ago) and my sis-in-law drove it until it died at the ripe old age of 13.

I don't miss it a bit.

WW

 

[loopy]

My first car was a 1984 Cavalier hatchback. 5 speed. We had moved to Ohio about a year before I got it - it was my brothers car, and he had just bought a new one, and gave me this one. He lived in MI. Because of that, the car had no bracket for a front plate, so I had to wire the plate to the grill. Car had severe leprosy - every time I closed a door, I left a piece of it there...I loved that car though! Lotsa character!!! Got rid of it at 187,000 miles.

Loopy

 

[cmmeyers]

My first car was a 1974 AMC Hornet. I bought it for $100. Drove it for 3 years and sold it for $300 (of course I did have to replace the transmission in it).

That was a bad car (and in this case, "bad" does not mean "good"). But, it got me around!

 

[GlennW]

Let's see, it was about 1983, and my first car, I bought a Turquoise 1969 Ford Fairlane 500 fastback coupe with the 351 Windsor V8 and half moon hubcaps. It was a real head turner, people loved that car, but of course when it came time to sell it, no one wanted to buy it, I finally managed to sell it to a dude who I understand drank himself to death and then his wife inherited the car.

Glenn

 

[MarkABrown]

My first car was a '69 Chrysler New Yorker 4 door. It had a 440 w/ a big Carter 4 barrel carb. Man that thing would go! It was great in High School cause I could pack 13 people into that car! It wasn't comfortable with that many in there but we got everybody where they needed to go! I kinda miss that car now.

 

[kenobi65]

My first car was a lemon-yellow 1981 Plymouth Reliant (which some have noted is an oxymoron). To compliment the color (and the alleged reliability), I got a personalized license plate: A LEMON.

 

[Max_Power004]

My first car: 1993 VW Fox. Purple with little white specks of paint. Weld that held the muffler to the bottom of the car kept coming loose. The muffler would bounce off the road every time I hit a bump. Eventually just used a really long strip of Velcro to hold it to the bottom of the car. The Velcro melted, but it held quite nicely. A/C was finicky if you strained the engine too hard, it started blowing warm air, had to turn it on and off a few times to get it going again. Had to jam a paper clip in the dashboard to get the dash lights to come on. And the best part: when it was below about 45 degrees outside and you hit anything above ~30-35 MPH the speedometer would bounce back and forth and there would be a loud buzzing sound coming from the dash. If you slapped the dash it would quit for about a minute. One good thing about that car though: it has an Audi engine in it. Ran like a dream, and “peppy” too! Still have it. My sister and I want to turn it into a “Doom Buggy” one day. Weight reduction, roll bar, big mud tires, fog lights, upgrade suspension, etc. Probably won’t but it sounds fun, eh?

 

[cls]

my first car (1985) was a 1978 Mazda GLC - it would have won a beauty contest next to an AMC Pacer.

with the big hatchback I could fit all my amplifiers & speakers & bass & keyboards so it was the gig-mobile. it was great for camping & windsurfing too.

with a 1272cc motor it had a 0-60 time of just under 15 seconds. I managed to improve the 0-60 time with a set of headers (!) from JC Whitney and a few hours on a Saturday setting the valve lash. Got the 0-60 down to the mid 13s. ran great for a few weeks until the extra compression from the valves blew out the piston rings.

I tried to argue my way out of my first speeding ticket saying there was no way in hell that car could go that fast (65 on a 55). but the judge wouldn't have any of it. he reduced the fine a bit though.


all downhill since!!

 

[mkeene]

I was the proud owner of a '74 Chevy Malibu "Classic" with a vnyl roof. We called it the Tuna Boat, and I was immensely popular with my new ride. I paid 450 bucks for it. Amazing how many friends you suddenly acquire when you get a new rig. It died a painful death 4 weeks after I bought it; blew the head gasket. Was reincarnated as a 1985 Honda Civic. Not quite the cool factor there.

 

[SwingWing]

1971 Toyoya Corolla 1600. Got it with 125000 on it and ran it to a quarter million.
I still have my Grandma's 1960 Chevrolet Belair, 283 V8/ powerglide - sleeps 4

 

[Chr$]

Originally posted by Max_Power004
My sister and I want to turn it into a “Doom Buggy” one day. Weight reduction, roll bar, big mud tires, fog lights, upgrade suspension, etc. Probably won’t but it sounds fun, eh?

A front-drive dune buggy. Ya gotta love that.

 

[Chr$]

Originally posted by mkeene
I was the proud owner of a '74 Chevy Malibu "Classic" with a vnyl roof. We called it the Tuna Boat, and I was immensely popular with my new ride. I paid 450 bucks for it. Amazing how many friends you suddenly acquire when you get a new rig. It died a painful death 4 weeks after I bought it; blew the head gasket. Was reincarnated as a 1985 Honda Civic. Not quite the cool factor there.

Funny you called it the Tuna Boat. My sister and her friends called my Nova the Tuna Can cuz it sounded like one when you closed the doors.

 

[seo]

1966 Mustang coupe. White w/ Black and Red interior.

289 V8 - 2 barrel automatic.

Loved that car......

 

[RocketboyG80]

I would like my first car to be a Toyota Celica. But somehow I'm seeing my mom's soon-to-be-replaced-by-a-hybrid '95 Escort in my future.
Celica

 

[Adam Selene]

A 1967 Buick GS400, artic white with a green vinyl roof.

 

[Rocketjunkie]

1970 Chevy Nova SS, pale blue with a couple of primer spots. Purchased in 1977 for $400.

 

[gothique_97]

1985 Ford LTD station wagon purchased in 1995 primarily so that moving all my [expletive deleted] between home and college between semesters wouldn't be such an ordeal. Bought it for $500, and dropped another $700 or so in engine repairs. Ended up getting 60,000 miles out of that car during the next 4 years. I still had this car when I met my wife, and she hated it. Our first road trip together [from Bridgeport to Salem, MA], she was certain we weren't going to make it 20 miles. I think the loud exhaust embarassed her, too.

 

[maxq2244]

My first car was a 1972 chevy nova 6cyl 3 spd, got it for $300 in 1979 , man did it ever smoke.

 

[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!

What a piece o' crap THAT was! The transmission was apparently made of Silly Putty, and the tie rods had a bad habit of breaking while driving. That'll wake up you up real quick. And don't forget the tendency to explode...

My buddies and I made the most of it, though. Took a couple of cabinet-type stereo speakers and hooked them up the rear hatch. It was stupid but cool.


I eventually totalled the thing in college. It's probably still residing in a scrapyard outside Charleston, SC.

 

[TheRadiator]

1985 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham. Bought it for $800 in 1993 when I was 15. The interior was immaculate, but the motor had blown up (sounds familiar!). Spent another $800 bucks for a remans 4.1L V8 in which the scumbag I bought it from ran with my money (and others) to Jamaica and never delivering the engine. He got caught in two weeks and I did get my money back.......................... 3 years later. However, I spent another $1000 on a remans engine from another parts shop. She ran as smooth as silk, not to mention the softest ride of any car I ever owned.