My First Car
- Thread starter m73
- Start date
Thanks for posting, maybe we can make this into a first car thread (if there isn't one already?)
Mine wasn't pristine...sold a sega genesis for $50, then borrowed another $450 from my folks to buy into automotive history....
Z-cars are some of my favorite, my dad and I taught my sister how to drive manual on a 280zx....she drove that car for some time...
MF
Mine wasn't pristine...sold a sega genesis for $50, then borrowed another $450 from my folks to buy into automotive history....
Z-cars are some of my favorite, my dad and I taught my sister how to drive manual on a 280zx....she drove that car for some time...
MF
Tierfreund
Well-Known Member
white 1988 VW Golf 1.3 with 55hp/4spd.
Only optional extras: (manual) right hand mirror and a mono radio with no cassette player.
Not even card pockets on the door card, not even a clock...
Very slow but mine!
Going from no car to car is was like if someone was to offer me my own spaceship today...
Still I actually once managed to outrun the police with it (hard to believe I know, but a true story. They actually closed down an autobahn to catch me...)
When I sold it it had wider wheels, a rev counter, an oil temp gauge (in the stock cluster), door pockets, center console, power locks and looked like a GTI (stripes, wheel arches and all that stuff) and the 6th or 7th iteration of a boomin stereo.
Never managed to make it any faster though (try as I might), probably weighed it down and made it slower.
Only optional extras: (manual) right hand mirror and a mono radio with no cassette player.
Not even card pockets on the door card, not even a clock...
Very slow but mine!
Going from no car to car is was like if someone was to offer me my own spaceship today...
Still I actually once managed to outrun the police with it (hard to believe I know, but a true story. They actually closed down an autobahn to catch me...)
When I sold it it had wider wheels, a rev counter, an oil temp gauge (in the stock cluster), door pockets, center console, power locks and looked like a GTI (stripes, wheel arches and all that stuff) and the 6th or 7th iteration of a boomin stereo.
Never managed to make it any faster though (try as I might), probably weighed it down and made it slower.
I started with Detroit Iron...1966 Malibu SS Convertible. Too much fun for a high school boy. Probably what led to my dad getting ma a VW super beetle to replace it...
DerSchwede
Well-Known Member
My first car was a 1975 arktic blue 3,0S with twin Weber carbs and a sport exhaust - great fun and very reliable when I made my military service 
Kept it and drove it for more than 10 years. It never let me down except for a broken clutch slave cylinder one morning when I wanted to catch a flight in Frankfurt...
Bullet proof engine - 262 km in 95 minutes on a Saturday afternoon between Frankfrut and Nürnberg - like I said - good fun!
Kept it and drove it for more than 10 years. It never let me down except for a broken clutch slave cylinder one morning when I wanted to catch a flight in Frankfurt...Bullet proof engine - 262 km in 95 minutes on a Saturday afternoon between Frankfrut and Nürnberg - like I said - good fun!
1978 Triumph Spitfire which lived up to all Lucas stereotypes and was the reason how I learned to work on cars and trouble shoot at night in the rain. Met its end after a hard left turn going too fast and a truck bumper ripped the hood and radiator off the car. Replaced it with a '71 Mustang convertible.
M5dCS
Active Member
Mine was a 1935 Chevy pickup, wooden body supports were rotten, but what the hell, when you're 12 and you get your first vehicle for $20, and it runs, life couldn't have gotten much better.
Austin Healey Sprite Mk11A. They seem so small when I see one now. Built as a parts bin special with a 1098cc engine mated to a light truck gearbox. First was non syncro and so low you could climb trees. It was effectively a three speed because I always started off in second. The axles were made of over cooked spaghetti; consequently, when I added a cam, Weber and other mild engine mods the increase in power snapped an axle at the spline. When it happened a second time I carried a spare in the boot with the tools required for a roadside repair, that's how simple cars were then. Hardly ever had the top up, even in winter. I fitted home made aluminium door cards after I removed the windows, quarter vents and external door handles. Also fitted a one piece LeMans fibreglass front which replaced the metal bonnet and guards and removed the bumpers.
The car was so light I could lift a rear wheel clear of the ground by hand. Super direct unassisted steering that still lives in my memory as the best steering feel ever.
Happy days. Would I have one again? Definitely not.
Re the Alfa in post #1 - one of my later cars was an Alfasud Ti. Great fun, I could drive it suicidally it at relatively legal road speeds. But after living with it for a while I swore I would never own another Alfa Romeo. Just ask anyone who has had one.
The car was so light I could lift a rear wheel clear of the ground by hand. Super direct unassisted steering that still lives in my memory as the best steering feel ever.
Happy days. Would I have one again? Definitely not.
Re the Alfa in post #1 - one of my later cars was an Alfasud Ti. Great fun, I could drive it suicidally it at relatively legal road speeds. But after living with it for a while I swore I would never own another Alfa Romeo. Just ask anyone who has had one.
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66 Corvair Corsa; I actually managed to break a telephone pole with it while still owing $400 on it. It was replaced with a 62 Dodge that had such a huge grill on it, it looked like a giant smile coming down the road and the trunk was so big it had an echo. I got that car for $15. and drove it for 2 years.
Those were the days!!
Those were the days!!
First Car
1952 Ford, flathead, 3 on the tree and a steering wheel the width of the whole seat
1952 Ford, flathead, 3 on the tree and a steering wheel the width of the whole seat
1976 olive green Austin mini 1000, flat out that car would only do 130kph and the noise at that speed was deafening !
Here's a couple of pictures of me with my '68 Camaro RS taken just before I headed off to college(circa 1983). I bought it when I was fifteen with money I made from my little lawn mowing business.
I loved that car. I had for around six years but had to sell it my junior year of college.
Wish I had it back.
I loved that car. I had for around six years but had to sell it my junior year of college.
Wish I had it back.
Attachments
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decoupe
(deceased)
1960 baby blue VW I bought from my spinster aunt for $300 in 1976. Drove all my worldly goods 2500 miles to Edmonton for 6 months of framing houses and then to it's final resting place in Banff after a couple of years doing UIC ski-jihad. Died from excessive speed and not enough torque. Loved that car.
Taught me to enjoy the journey and forget the destination.
Could have been the drugs.
Taught me to enjoy the journey and forget the destination.
Could have been the drugs.
In the spirit of the World Cup
Looks good guys! Always fun to visit fond memories....
In the spirit of the 2014 world cup, I am hoping we can get a car from at least every major country. I believe we would still need France, Sweden, Japan? ...let me know what I have missed...
MF
Looks good guys! Always fun to visit fond memories....
In the spirit of the 2014 world cup, I am hoping we can get a car from at least every major country. I believe we would still need France, Sweden, Japan? ...let me know what I have missed...
MF
gwittman
Well-Known Member
My first car was a 1955 Mercury Montclair 2dr hardtop. It was not much of a sports car but being in high school, I drove it like it was a sports car. I blew the automatic transmission and I figure out how to install a three spd manual trans with a floor shift. I went through several of those until I found one that would stand up to my power shifting.
Gazz, I my first and only race car is an Austin Healey Sprite MK II with a highly modified 1098. They not only look small, they are small. It is kind of like driving a go cart and they almost handle like one.
My first car on a race track was my Coupe. I am a lot nicer to it now.
Gazz, I my first and only race car is an Austin Healey Sprite MK II with a highly modified 1098. They not only look small, they are small. It is kind of like driving a go cart and they almost handle like one.
My first car on a race track was my Coupe. I am a lot nicer to it now.
Seems to me you have a bit of height Chris. What a first car purchase! Eccentric then i'd say.
Bob,
But I was "only" 6'4" in 11th grade! Only an inch taller now if I haven't shrunk a bit. Actually it had as much room as a Beetle, only much slower.
Chris
But I was "only" 6'4" in 11th grade! Only an inch taller now if I haven't shrunk a bit. Actually it had as much room as a Beetle, only much slower.
Chris
