What was your First Car?
 

A while back a fellow Pelicanhead asked a group "Hey, what was your first car?". And the responses were great so I thought I'd ask it here.

I'll go first.

1969 Fiat 124 Sport Coupe, $400.00, that was a rust-bucket.
PO threw in a '68 124 rolling shell w/tranny for parts. We drove the '69 home (I use the term "drove" loosely) and one summer and 1 and a half gallons of bondo later, it emerged presentable and after a lot of engine debugging ran pretty good. All things considered. It had the DOHC 4cyl w/ dual Webers and a 5 speed from the parts car. Never knew if the Weber setup was factory. I was 15/16 yrs old and was completely stoked to have "my own ride". I used to have a decent photo but can't find it now. I'll try to dig it up. If you have pics of yours, lets see 'em.

Your turn.

After a Radio Flyer, a series of Schwinns, a Suzuki and a Honda, my first motorized vehicle with four wheels was a '69 bug. That thing was nothing but fun to drive. Been driving German cars ever since. Every single one of them has been a GREAT car. Besides my current car, the all time favorite was a '79 Rabbit. For some reason, that car was just quick and nimble. Everyone noticed that about it.

My first car was a Honda

Red CRX Si 1.5 liters fuel injected pocket rocket. Pretty cool for a sixteen-year-old. Top speed 105/110 mph. Complete with Enkei rims... I look back and laugh at how stoked I was with this car. But then again.. I remember racing a gem of a 911 on the freeway and the only way I kept up was because of my crazy driving. Anyways he had a little fun but decided to leave me in the dust and he took off into the sunset. From that moment on I knew that it was all about the P-car.

geezz... now I'm all melancholy.
:)

I guess I'll reply before this gets moved to OT.

when i was 16 i took over my grandma's 1966 pontiac Lemans, it was a nice shiny red.

it was rusted along the bottom of the car. I rebuilt it with, ALUMINUM SIDING, POP RIVETS, and BONDO :eek:

repainted the sides with laquer and it looked good for about a year, then the frame cracked from rust.

1969 Camaro. Holley 780, Hurst 4 speed, Hooker Headers, Accel dual point distributor, etc. Bought it in 1976 for $1300, drove it for a year (3 speeding tickets) until I put a valve thru a piston. Sold it as it sat for $800.

My senior year in high school I picked up a 69 RoadRunner with a 440 mangum, 4 speed, 5:13 rear end gears. It got about 5 miles the gallon at the time gas first reach $1.00 per gallon. At $800, that car served as the foundation and cause for my mechanical knowledge.

First Car
 

1960 356 1600N sunroof coupe, bought in 1968 for $800, already rusted through the floors. For years afterwards I cringed whenever I drove through a puddle. I kept a spare wiper blade inside the car as a defogging tool.

At age 16 in 1988 I got a 1970 BMW 2002 for $800 and made it like new for another $1000.

My first, '66 Ford Galaxy 2 door given to me by my neighbor because it had been sitting in his driveway for 4 years with a cover on it. Spent the summer going through the engine plus other things and had the car for 2 years, before giving to my sister. That car was fun, lots of interior room.

Mine was a 1968 American Motors Ambassador, four door, 343 V8, 120,000. It was my first year in college in Florida and my grandmother bought it for me for $500 in 1976. Four years later, it had 148,000 on it but it still was limping along. Heard it died about two months after I sold it for $200.


Eric
83SC:)

a '74 bmw 2002tii which i was forced to share with my mother. i almost killed myself in it several times going around corners to freakin fast. i loved that car so much i bought another one last year, only it was a '72 round taillight model.

1961 Buick LeSabre. Red with white hardtop. Four doors. Loved that big back seat. It was the size of a double bed.

Age 15. Bought a 1974 Triumph Spitfire that smoked like Rod Serling. Within a year, spent over $3500 in repairs. All I can say is Lucas, Lucas, Lucas...

'70 Camero. Dad was going to make a racecar out of it but instead gave it to me when I turned 16. I hated that thing, sold it and bought a 944 as soon as I got a job. Vowed to never again own an American car, or a car with a carburetor. It did match my pork chop sideburns, though...

'82 BMW 320i

It's still my favorite car.

'69 VW bug, inherited from my parents. beat the living daylights out of it, including having the battery fall through the rear floor from combination of road salt/battery acid - sound familiar?

Upon graduation from college, bought my then dream car - 1979 VW Scirocco - what a pocket rocket! Actually saw an almost identical car last night in local supermarket parking lot - just had to compare notes with the driver.

Next.

1978 Camaro "RS" w/ a 327 from an old vette. That thing was a beast. Bought it in '85 and sold it in '91 to a guy who just wanted the motor.
That was the first and last American car I owned.

1969 VW Bug
 

...which I later turned into a targa. My car even made it into VW Trends once!

http://www.vintagebus.com/image/pom.jpg

Oh I kind of hate to admit this....

It was a 1978 Chevette (bright lime/neon green I might add). I like to say this was my first major purchase regret, yet it was also a very humbling experience. I was car pooling to college with one of my sisters in her car. We got into a huge fight and I did not want to ride with her anymore. Paid $500 (It was the first car I looked at), ended-up putting in over $2000 to keep it running for a year, was going to pay a friend to just haul it away, but he gave me $50. Lots of stories linked to that car, but I'll end this here...

For me it was a 1972 SS Nova. Don't miss it a bit.http://www.pelicanparts.com/support/...oilet_claw.gif

my 1st ride was the car my great aunt gave me after her boyfriend passed away and left it to her. this mint condition battleship gray 1966 plymouth fury with a 383 commando power plant with a FOUR barrell was money. the cost of gas in 1982 was cheap by todays standards but with minimum wage income and beer expenses made it necessary to keep a coffee can on board for donations for fuel. the thing would light the tires until they sparked due to the steel belts. used to put "new" tires on it every couple of weeks from donated cars from my highschool autoshop class. got a dusk/evening photo of the tires lit up and sparks showing through the smoke. it was a great 1st car, very safe and a BIG backseat for entertaining the girls...

61 VW BAJA BUG GOT FROM POPS FOR $600.00 EVEN INCLUDED THE RUSTED UP CHEVY CHROMIE FRONT RIMS W/ADAPTERS, & A 6 VOLT TO 12 VOLT AMP TO RUN THE 8 TRACK. I WAS STYLIN DROVE THAT PUPPY FOR SIX YEARS & PUT EVERY DIME I MADE INTO IT. FINALLY GOT RID OF MY LAST VW IN JANUARY. 22 YEARS HAS BEEN LONG ENOUGH

Learned to drive offroad at 12 years old in a dune buggy (built from a '65 bug by my dad). Pavement teaching was in a '70 Maverick. "My" first car was a '67 Bug that I put over 120K on in about 6 years. Also had a '63 Bug that I hacked up for a partial baja conversion. 6 volt sucks...I had to push start it every morning to get to school...

Mine was a 71 vw baja bug (Amazonas Blau) blue that changed to purple as the light falling on it changed. Built from two scrap beetles etc. (very handy having a father with a panelbeating workshop)

1600 twin port which I had rebuilt to a 1700 cc Oettinger. It used to go great and I used to drive it like a bat out of the proverbial...

Now my dad reckons I still drive a ("Volksie") beetle with AGGRO:p SmileWavy SmileWavy SmileWavy

Ah I do miss it, but would'nt change it for the world.


Next

1960 MGA,bought it for $100 when I was 15,rebuilt the engine and painted it British RG,and had it already to go on my 16th birthday.........:D :D oh ,we had fuuuun!SmileWavy

Datsun 240Z
Serial # HLS30-00057

I used to order parts based on the serial number because they changed things around in the first year of manufacture.

Straight six, rev'ed like a banshee, 80 mph in 3rd gear. Twin SU carbs and you had to keep 'em in sync. Learned how to two-wheel drift in that car. :D

An early 70s Chevy Vega that my friends nicknamed "The Bondo Buggy" because of it's terminal rust. Purchased for $500 with the odometer rolled over (hey, I was just a kid). Traded in on a Toyota Corona that threw a rod a month after I got it, after which I bought a brand new Chevette for delivering at Dominos. Two other kids at work had the exact same car in the exact same color (Light Brown Metallic with brown vinyl interior) because the local dealership had had a "college student" sale where you put nothing down and paid $100/month for them - the campus was crawling with Chevettes! At work, we got so sick of trying our keys in the wrong car over and over that we just started leaving the keys in them and taking whichever Chevette was closest when we had a delivery. At the end of the week we'd check license plates to make sure we had our own car, but for the most part we didn't give a hoot. It was often a couple of days before some little detail (something odd in the glove box, or different air freshener) would tell me I'd driven someone else's car home!

Emanuel

1957 Morris Minor (British racing black, with red vinyl interior), acquired from father in 1968. Fast, reliable and a real head turner. Lots of body roll in corners. It had those little lighted candle turn signals that popped out of the side, when they worked. Had to be junked in 1971 because chassis broke in half due to rust.
Next car was 1971 VW Beetle (a common first car for Pelicanheads); engine seized in Mohave desert, got towed 50 miles to Barstow and paid $350 for engine rebuild in 1977. There was only one VW mechanic in Barstow, so I learned a lesson about monopolistic markets.
Never bought a brand new car in my life. Cheap or wise, or maybe both.

My Dad & I towed home a nearly totaled 62 beetle, and built a pretty fun Meyers Manx-like dune buggy that I drove to high school every day. We rebuilt the engine ourselves, I did all the wiring, etc. This is probably why I like Porsches and tinkering on them today. At the time, I thought it was the coolest vehicle around. You could hear me coming 2 blocks away with the dual exhausts it had. Those were the days.:cool:

Man, am I jealous after reading some of these posts. My first car was a 2-tone tan, 6-cylinder 1978 Monte Carlo, which I inherited from my Grandfather in 1983. Ran on only 5 cylinders, had an oil leak that we could never find, and had a dent in the right fender panel that was coincidentally the exact size of the bottom of my foot (from being kicked after it died at 6 Mile and the Southfield Fwy). The real plus was the 1.5 amp stereo my little brother and I put in to augment the cassette-tape adapter for the stock 8-track system.

'63 VW Beetle (1200cc/40hp!)- a hand me down from my brother. Dad bought the car for him for college, he was out & I was going in so the car came to me.

He had beat the crud out of it, all 4 fenders, front and rear cowls were thrashed. I spent nearly all of the money from my summer job fixing it up with flared fiberglass fenders and air scoop, chevy chrome rims and adaptors, and a set of headers. Tried a 2bbl conversion, but had to remove it. Finally - my first try at painting a car, some polishing and it was ready to go. Lasted 2 weeks and my cousin rolled it.:mad:

Pulled the motor and stuffed it into a '65 Ghia coupe that lasted me through college. Got 8 college co-eds into it for a night of crusing the bars in Chico.

Great times! Sigh....http://www.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/wat6.gif

Mine was a 1958 Hillman wagon the flat head 4 was the same size as my Mom's sewing machine! I was 15 at the time so I was limited to spinning brodies In Dad's cow pasture. Dad would get pissed off and throw rocks at me till I stoped:D

My first car.... That was a darkblue 1993 Citroen AX 1.1i. Weighed only 650 Kg. and it was obvious how that was possible. Paper thin tinbox :eek: Gorilla driving position (looong arms and short legs) almost too cramped for my 186 cms. Still a good little car and it took a lot of abuse as I sort of competed with myself on doing fast gearchanges rally style :D

From this car I went straight to the Porsche. :)

'65 Mustang fastback.

A 66 Mustang coupe with the loveable 200 ci straight 6. Bought it from the origianl owner and it had just been a second car for him. Asked if the headlights worked and he said he hadn't driven it at night for over 10 years! Ended up having 2 original headlights in it, till someone ran a red light and hit me head on...

Still have it over 10 years later, it sits in front of the p-car in the garage right now waiting for the 3 one-barrell Weber set up I have for it to be installed.

Bill

When I was thirteen, good start huh, I bought a 200cc Francis Barnet (a what ???) motor bike, then later, while still thirteen bought an Austin A40 truck. Next year a Morris mini, etc, etc and by the time I was a sixteen year old I was riding a Triumph 650 with high handle bars to school each day. That was a great time to be a sixteen year old kid with a cool motor bike, girls were just going through that promiscuous stage...

Glad to see there was another AMC first car. After learning to drive in my parents' dodge van, they swapped with another family in our church for an AMC Hornet station wagon. Since they had another car, they gave the Hornet to me. That straight six leaked like a sieve!! But I must admit, it did the most awesome brake stands of any car I have owned. I used to play rally car racer on the logging roads out in the hills with that poor wagon. I traded it in (100.00) on an '85 CRX. My boss said he saw the Hornet abandoned alongside the freeway about two weeks later.

First car was a 73 beetle in yellow, hand me down from my parents, I put as little $ into it as possible, but it ran great. Everyone used to give me a hard time cause it was yellow. And i never thought anything of it. Went off to college in NC mtns and needed 4X4, got a Rodeo, beat it into the ground but it still runs. Its my rainy day mobile. After I got my first job I took my first paycheck, and all the money I have in savings and bought my Pcar, its yellow too. Passed the old VW down to my sister, my mom and dad still have it in the garage. I haven't parked the 911 next to it yet, I 'm curious to see just how close the yellows are...

I was lucky enough to have two first cars.
1980 Mini Austin 1000cc - Great Handling, lousy brakes, no power
1976 Chey Monza - installed a 350 chevy, Lousy handling, lousy brakes, lotsa power

Now I have it all, booohahahahahahaha. Revenge will be mine.....
Rick

Do did you tell chicks you drove a 'vette?