Your First Car

JerryM · « **on:** 27 Sep 2013, 03:26 am »

What was your first car? The one *you* bought, with *your* money, and still remember to this day. Do you have any pictures? Post them!

My first car was a 1967 Plymouth Belvedere GTX. I bought it from an old man for $300.00. The engine was a 413 Wedge that had been punched out to 440 by the factory. Looking up the Serial stamps on the block explained the story. She was rocket fast.

I don't have any pics of my own that I can upload, but this is the car:

Have fun,

Jerry

WireNut · « **Reply #1 on:** 27 Sep 2013, 03:41 am »

Mind wasn't that cool. Would have looked something like this. A four door unfortunately.

1970 Nova

I gotta thru in my second one which would have looked something like this. I had big money

1968 Beetle. Boy that was long ago.

dB Cooper · « **Reply #2 on:** 27 Sep 2013, 03:47 am »

74 VW Beetle. NOT 'rocket fast'. No need to post a pic; looked pretty much like the one above, only in red!

mikeeastman · « **Reply #3 on:** 27 Sep 2013, 03:52 am »

1969 Datsun Roadster, like this but mine was metallic Brown.

WireNut · « **Reply #4 on:** 27 Sep 2013, 04:01 am »

I friend of mine had a Datsun like that back in the 70's. We use to load the back up with Little Kings. God we were stupid

.

WGH · « **Reply #5 on:** 27 Sep 2013, 04:24 am »

Fresh out of college in 1970 I bought my buddy's Chevy step van and turned it into a camper. My girlfriend and I traveled all around the country, New York, Boston, New Hampshire, Vermont, Toronto, Niagara Falls, Denver, Tulsa and back to Chicago in that thing until the engine and transmission wore out and I abandoned it at a gas station 60 miles from home.

This is not the van but it was a short bed like this

The van was painted like a pink parfait because when Bill painted it he didn't have enough red or white paint so he mixed them in horizontal stripes going from dark pink to light pink.

The amazing thing was we never got pulled over by the man, not once. It was like we were invisible or the cops couldn't believe what they were seeing. We picked up hitchhikers and they rolled joints in the back while I drove. Good times man.

Wayne

WireNut · « **Reply #6 on:** 27 Sep 2013, 04:42 am »

Quote from: WGH on 27 Sep 2013, 04:24 am

Fresh out of college in 1970 I bought my buddy's Chevy step van and turned it into a camper. My girlfriend and I traveled all around the country, Toronto, Niagara Falls, Denver, Tulsa and back to Chicago in that thing until the engine and transmission wore out and I abandoned it at a gas station 60 miles from home.

The amazing thing was we never got pulled over by the man, not once. It was like we were invisible or the cops couldn't believe what they were seeing. We picked up hitchhikers and they rolled joints in the back while I drove. Good times man.

Wayne

I love it

You Da-Man

Big Red Machine · « **Reply #7 on:** 27 Sep 2013, 01:38 pm »

'68 AMX, Hurst close ratio 4 speed, 2 seater, 360 - paid $700 for it. Mine never looked this good.

jupiterboy · « **Reply #8 on:** 27 Sep 2013, 01:57 pm »

bside123 · « **Reply #9 on:** 27 Sep 2013, 02:08 pm »

1974 Audi 100LS

I had the Audi for less than 2 months, when a 15 year old, female, Student Driver "accidentally" ran a stop at an intersection and side-swiped me in the rear quarter panel. The car rolled! I went out through the open sunroof on to the pavement. It was the ONE time I wasn't wearing a seatbelt, as I was just "jetting home for lunch." Good thing I wasn't... I woke up from the crash in the hospital, the car was totaled, the roof was smashed into the driver's compartment and literally crushed into the driver's seat itself. Because I wasn't wearing my seatbelt, and the sunroof was open, I cleared the car when it rolled... saved my life. I got a massive concussion, picked broken glass outta me head for years and lost my first car. It was a miracle, a freak occurrence, and I am thankful for the grace to be alive. But... Man... I hated losing that car... I bought it with my own money, it was mint, it was German and the year was 1976. BTW, I always use a seatbelt these days.

macrojack · « **Reply #10 on:** 27 Sep 2013, 02:10 pm »

1958 TriumphTR-3. Incredibly cool car but maximized inconvenience. Top had to be completely removed and stored in the tiny boot. Same with side curtains. 4 speed with no synchro in first. Spyder gears were weak and I had to drive for a period of time with no 1st or reverse. Heat and defrost were ineffective and the car would not start if humidity got above 80% thanks to the notorious Lucas electrics. In North Jersey that happened quite often.

It was fun though and it sure got the attention of tie dyed girls.

thunderbrick · « **Reply #11 on:** 27 Sep 2013, 02:19 pm »

'59 Opel Station Wagon, AKA "caravan". The wagon version of this car I found north of Dallas 5 years ago.

Paid $50 bucks for it, drove it from MD into Canada 1970-ish.

DAMN that car was small!

mgalusha · « **Reply #12 on:** 27 Sep 2013, 02:31 pm »

1963 Plymouth Belvedere wagon, 318 pent roof V8, push button trans. Mine looked very much like this but plain steel wheels. Carpeted the back in red shag and indeed, it was used for such. Lots of good memories associated with that old beast. First trans rebuild I ever did was the Torque-Flite in the old Plymouth.

(image from Stationwagon.com)

Donald · « **Reply #13 on:** 27 Sep 2013, 02:36 pm »

Bought one of these Govt. Surplus. Believe I paid $100. Popular for Postman to delivery mail in back in the 50's and 60's. Used to travel back and forth to High School in. Not a chic magnet, by any means.

ArthurDent · « **Reply #14 on:** 27 Sep 2013, 02:39 pm »

Well I didn't have to buy the car itself, it was a gift from a friend of my Dad's who owned the auto salvage (aka junk) yard. But I did have to scavenge and pay for the parts, and put in the labor to get it to run. 1954 Plymouth Belvedere with a Hy-drive transmission. This was a semi-automatic unit, 3 speed on the column, required you to use the clutch to shift into 1st, and it was best to use it from there, but not required. The cat's meow for speed shifting as there was a gate at the bottom of the usual 'H' pattern. Once in 1st the shifter dropped thru to the 2nd leg & it was straight up for 2nd, straight down for 3rd. Not a bad ride at the time.

(image from bing)

TrungT · « **Reply #15 on:** 27 Sep 2013, 03:05 pm »

1978 Datsun 280Z

HsvHeelFan · « **Reply #16 on:** 27 Sep 2013, 03:09 pm »

Mine was a 1966 Plymouth Belvedere 4dr sedan. It had a 383 4barrell and the 727 Torqueflite automatic.

First car I bought with my own money was a used 1977 Volkswagen Scirocco in midnight blue with tan interior. That car still has the best seats I've ever had in a car. I think Recaro supplied the seats to VW. Great, great seats. I could drive that for 10-12 hours and get out and feel great. The rest of the car, especially the Fuel Injection, was a money pit.

HsvHeelFan

woofersus · « **Reply #17 on:** 27 Sep 2013, 04:30 pm »

I exchanged some labor for the first car that was "mine," when I turned 16 in July 1995 so I figure that counts. It was a 1984 GTI:

That's not mine, but it looked the same on the outside. It was 11 years old at the time, but it had been rebuilt and repainted so it looked practically new and drove like it too. I had a blast in that car and would have happily kept it for a long time, but alas an oil seal failed catastrophically and by the time there was an inkling of a problem the damage was done. I didn't REALLY appreciate what I had until I had gone through a motley assortment of free-to-cheap subsequent cars, including a 1976 Impala wagon, (banana yellow with rust holes all over) a 1985 Mercury Marquis, (power steering with no fluid, rear brakes didn't work, no muffler) a 1987 Renault Alliance, a previously crashed and cobbled together 1991 Pontiac Sunbird, and the first car I actually exchanged cash for: a 1992 Chevy Cavalier GT. I didn't have another car I liked until I bought a 1995 Ford Thunderbird in 1999. (yes I went through all of those cars in 4 years and no I didn't crash a single one of them)

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #18 on:** 27 Sep 2013, 04:41 pm »

Some of you guys have had some nice first cars.

But you ain't seen nothing yet.

AMC Gremlin. White with factory red racing stripe.

Mike B. · « **Reply #19 on:** 27 Sep 2013, 04:49 pm »

A blue 1956 Plymouth Plaza two door. Bought it in 1962. Dad helped me put a 354 Chrysler Hemi motor in it.