What was your First Car?

[Zeke]

'57 Corvette 265cu single 4bbl 3-speed for $1400 in 1963. Sold it year and a half later for same $. Have owned nearly 30 cars since including 2 other vettes, several VW's and 5 P cars. Oh, and I've never been w/o a chevy pu since the 1st one, a '50 bought in '65 for $350.

[Don Plumley]

My first - a 1977 Honda Accord (2nd year in the US). I was so rice (before rice was rice) - I had a spoiler under the front, some nice Sears fog lights, pinstripes everywhere, "HONDA" sunshade on the windshield, Wink mirror. Chrome trim rings on the steel wheels. Must have washed it twice a week.

This became a 1980 320is - Black on Black - that was a sweet, fun to drive car. I have nothing but great memories. Which became a 1984 Saab 900 Turbo. Which became a 1990 Volvo 740 Turbo - this became my wife's and then became a 94 960 Wagon. A 1994 Accord EX Coupe - my commuter car, and my only brand new car. Which I sold after getting my 1987 911.

Don

[stormcrow]

How about a 1957 6 cylinder Chevy, then went on to a 1951 Pontiac straight eight with torqueflight trans (I think) and then onto a 1965 Sunbeam alpine.

The 57 chevy engine was making a racket so I gave it away, the 51 Pontiac (Purchased in 1966) was in excellent condition and had it painted a cherry red with a light bulb for the interior lighting. It met its demise when I hit a guard rail on the way to the Boston Naval Shipyard.

the Sunbeam Alpine (Purchased in 68) was a great running car. It lasted until 1970 when a girl who just passed her drivers test broadsided me on the Highway. Needless to say, the frame was bent and had to let that one go.

Steve

[HawgRyder]

For me...at the tender age of 14...I received a body shell and most of thee frame of a '32 Ford 3 window coupe.
I worked on the little beast for 2 years...rebuilt an Olds 324 with a J2 setup (3 deuces)..and for my birthday at 16, my dad assisted me with the grand total of $50 to get "unsatisfied judgement" insurance and a set of plates.
She was painted baby blue with white interior and a set of home made lakes pipes (no mufflers)!
Drove her for several years, then entered military...sold her to a good friend...he still has her...but now she has a bunch of chrome.
Nothing like the past....life was easier then...and gas was about $.26 a gallon if I remember correctly.
Bob

[marcesq]

'69 Black on black Firebird. 350ci w/400ci heads, M21, Hurst 4sp, Hooker headers, Accel wires & coil. NO air shocks!! just Gabriels all around. Very nice and very fast going straight.

[stew]

mine was a 1958 opel station wagon . my dad and i built it from 3 that we got in a package deal. i was about 14 at the time and used it to deliver newspapers in concord ca. concord believe it or not was very rural at the time, unlike now.

[H.G.P.]

A 1969 Karman Ghia, I paid 1200$ for it, and it ran me back and forth from home to college each semester, a 9 1/2 hour drive one way.

[mike f]

A 1968 Camaro with a small block 327. The thing burned oil like there was no tomorrow. Luckily my girlfriend's father worked as a manager in a factory and brought me home oil in 5 gallon jugs. At one point I had top pull over every 2 hrs or so(when the oil light went on) to fill it up. One day on the way to school-BANG! piston thru the oil pan. Bought a 350 out of a rear end wrecked Impala and dropped that in. Man that was alot easier to work on than the 911(I also had alot more time back then).

[ovilla]

My first car was a 1974 Chevy Monte Carlo. Blue rust bucket with a white Landau top and hard-wired electric everything. Had a moon roof that was as wide as my 914's top. Anyway, loved the V8 power. Was too young and knew nothing about cars at the time though (heck, didn't even own a toolbox at the time). I don't think I ever even changed the oil in it either. Had it about 9 months when all of a sudden one day it would no longer go forward - only reverse worked. With the help of a friend, I drove it back to the barracks at night - in reverse. The next day I gave it to a friend as a wedding gift. He put a junk yard trans in it and then sold it for more than I had originally paid for it.

[Rufblackbird]

My first car was my '76 911, bought for $5000 when I was 18 about 3 years ago, some of which was my savings from joining the military and some were financed by dad. Started brazing up a small rust hole in the driver side headlight bucket and paint on the fender started peeling off (no prior welding experience, of course). Started stripping paint, found gallons worth of bondo covering up rust and patches, and after 3 years, it's still a project.

[sweater914]

1987 pontiac T-1000(a chevette clone), which is really an opel, bought it for $800(1994), then my dad dumped $3000 into it, chrome wheels, new paint silver paint, rally springs, grant steering wheel, etc., used to scare the crap of people in the high school parking lot, got 33mpg if i was light in the throttle, miss the car, what it lacked in hp was made up for in driving style, i'd probably be dead had i had a faster car, it even got a 4th place at the high school car show, poor thing died in a wal-mart parking lot when an idiot in a contour pulled out in front of me

[jluetjen]

A 197? Ford Fiesta. I was living in Boston and it was the perfect car. It cost a few hundreds of dollars, it carried four and I could park it just about anywhere. The best part for me was the unburstable "Formula Ford 1600" engine and the wonderful handling. It reminded me of a Fiat 500 I once drove for a month in Europe - you had to drive like Mario Andretti just to keep up with traffic ! It's just that the Fiesta was faster.

Unfortunately I didn't know that the Oil-pressure indicator on the dash was dead...

The car ran great up until the engine seized on Storrow Drive in Boston's Backbay. I pulled the dip-stick and there was nothing on it except silver flakes. If any of you know Storrow Drive, you can appreciate the fact that there are precious few places to safely pull off.

I still have a soft spot for Fiestas.

[Charley Dog]

1972 Volvo 164E in frighteningly good, original condition. My pop bought it new (the only new car he ever bought until his 2000 540i sport). It had 240K on the clock and had never had an overhaul or even a valve job. Sadly, I was rear ended hard by an incompetent when I was 17. I literally saw it coming in the rear view mirror: she was heading towards me at over 50mph looking down at the dashboard trying to find her favorite station. She won a trip to the emergency room via ambulance, I didn't have a scratch. That was a great car!

I replaced it with the only new car my step mother ever bought -- a 1970 Pontiac Grand Prix in puke gold with a 400 and a white vinyl top. That was, by far, the coolest car in my high school. Until I got the 1983 Eldorado...

[gr8fl4porsche]

1964 Chevrolet Impala 4 door.

I bought it out of a field for $ 50 when I was 15. The tires were buried in the dirt up to the frame. Hauled it home - put in a new interior, new paint, front end rebuild, pulled out the straight 6 and powerglide trans, dropped in a 283 and 3 speed auto tranny.

Drove it to high school and college over the next 8 years and now it sits back in the field on my farm. The circle of life.

[matt_d]

First car I bought was a '68 Chevelle when I was 14. Rustbucket field car with only 23K miles - farmer owned who had left the windows open too long and the weather and rodents did their damage. Dad drove it home (who talked me into it) and I started to tear it apart for a resto. You could eat of the inside of the engine it was so clean, but everything on the outside was nasty. Spent many $$ and never finished the resto - I gave it to my Dad 8 years ago and he sold it in pieces last year for next to nothing.

Got him back though - I talked him into a rustbucket MG Midget last year.

First car I bought and drove was a '84 Honda CRX 1.3L (used). 52MPG w/5spd and 42MPG w/4spd (don't ask). Loved that car - lots of fun in the twistys. Got me started in AutoX and racing (even a "offroad" rally or two). Eventually met it's untimely death in a ditch that was bigger then the car (damn loose gravel).

Bought and ground-up resto'd my '66 Mustang Fastback in '91-93, bought the '92 Mustang in '94. A few truck and SUV leases over the years keep me going in the snow. Bought the 934/935 Porsche project last year ...

[JEB]

The first car I called my own was a '69 TR-6 - still have it and love it.

My father owned a car dealership so I drove lots of cars through the late 70's and early 80's.

When I went to college my father had 3 criteria for the car I could take: Slow
Big
Heavy

Thus, and '81 full size Bronco - 6 cyl 4 speed - (3 peed really because 1 st was only good to about 2 1/2 MPH) Vinyl seats- etc.
Tough truck - and SAFE.

After college got an '85 Dodge Daytona Turbo. Black - T-tops- Spoilers (rice before there was such a thing?). Nice driving car but the K-car 4 banger couldn't handle the Turbo power

Varoius Audi's

Etc, Etc

'97 Land Cruiser (current) - sort of like the Bronco only a whole lot more comfortable.

'79 930

Jeb

[Judi]

My first was a '66 Mustang w/ a small V8. Man, that thing could run! I saw one in a car show about 4 months ago that looked exactly like mine. Really brought back the memories.

[9XI]

'67 Morris Minor Traveller (woody). Right hand drive. Bought it for 200 bucks, sold it for something just under 2 grand. Amateur, low budget resto -- very amateur. Loved that car -- what a blast.

[82SuperC]

69 Volkswagen Type 3 (Squareback) Orange then 77 911S

[emcon5]

A very Manly powder blue 1980 VW Rabbit.

More stereo watts than horsepower. Suprisingly nimble, and outstanding brakes. Same damn CIS fuel injection as my 911.

Tom