What Did you drive?

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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.....

My Pinto was a '74 that I bought used. It was great in the snow, as long as there was a heavy concrete block in the back. I was caught in the big '78 snowstorm here in the NE and while other cars were stuck by the side of the highway in a foot of snow, my Pinto kept chugging along...until I got to my apartment. I made it to the middle of the parking lot and it could go no further with the snow almost to the top of the tires. By the end of the storm, there were cars in the middle of the street that were completely covered by the snow. The only other car I ever had that was that good in the snow was an '84 Ford Escort.
 
1973 AMC Ambassador station wagon with 4 bald tires, bought it from a neighbor in 1980 for $50. It lasted about 9 months before the engine died. Hard to believe I still have a pic of it, and yes...that is genuine imitation wood grain down the side :facepalm:

$50.jpg
 
1973 AMC Ambassador station wagon with 4 bald tires, bought it from a neighbor in 1980 for $50. It lasted about 9 months before the engine died. Hard to believe I still have a pic of it, and yes...that is genuine imitation wood grain down the side :facepalm:

View attachment 293923

That is almost as bad as a Pacer.

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1957 Dodge Coronet. A big fin-tailed, steel and chrome, V-8, push-button 'torque flight' transmission monster.
That car was my transportation to all of my early rocket launch events, meaning it often reeked with the odor of burned BP!

Like my original model rocket collection, I wish I still had it.....
 
1969 Buick Electra had a gas sipping 430 in it 18 mpg on the freeway bought in 1980 for $60.00

and didn't need YouTube to figure out where the battery was
 
1971 Vega panel...truck (with truck plates, 3000lb gvw) sure got some odd looks when I pulled into a weigh station :).
Rex
 
It wasn't technically "my" car, but it was a '67 Charger, with the 383 and 4-on-the-floor ... It was my dad's, and both of my brothers drove it as their first car. I pretty much learned to drive with it, but dad sold it around the time I was 14.

The car that was truly *my* first car was a ratted out Datsun B-210 with a non-running, stock, A13 engine. We rebuilt it, cleaned it up, and dropped an L16 into it before my 16th birthday. It was a piece of crap on the outside, but it had lots of Colin Chapman's favorite additive, "lightness", so it handled relatively well. But, you know, it wasn't a V8 ... :)
 
My Dad replaced the crunched Rx-3 wagon with a B-210 hatchback.....it got you there dependably and it got great gas milage but sheesh....I'd much rather have been driving the '67 Datsun 411 wagon (1600, dual side-draft carbs) that the Rx-3 replaced than that B-210 that came later. I learned to drive a car on that 411 wagon....though I'd been getting around on small motorcycles on my own quite a bit by then.
 
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