Am I the only freak that had a VW for a first car? Was a nice 65, traded it for a POS 67 to get 12V and more power. They weren't bad for crappy little cars.

 

In 1969, I bought a '63 Impala SS, with a transplanted (I think) 409/340 HP and a 'glide. I made all the usual mods a stoopid 16 year old did in those days: cut a big hole in the hood and stuck on an air scoop, yanked off the hubcaps, jacked the rear end way up with air shocks and those spacers we used to twist into the coil springs, put an 8-track player under the dash, and, of course, installed burned-out cherry bombs that terminated under the rear seat, vibrated annoyingly and were always about to fall off.

Oh, the horror, the horror.

 

I was 15 when I brought home my first car. A 65 nova SS. I was a six cyl. and I swaped in a 327 out of a 66 Caprice. It was ready to go when I got my lic.I drove it about 1 week before I rolled it on it's side. I fixed again and drove it about 1 year.

 

In 1973 I purchased my first car. I was a two door 1969 Ford Falcon Futura with a 200 cubic inch 6 cylinder. One of the few cars I actually miss... Traded it in in 1977 on a 1974 Toyota Celica GT 5 speed... At the time I thought it was a wise move... Now in retrospect, I'd rather have the Falcon....

 

A'66 Chevy Impala 327 with a Powerglide tranny. It had chrome reverse wheels on the front and slotted mags in the rear. Glass packs that came out in front of the rear tires. Bought it in '73 for $300. The motor had been bored 30 over and with the quadrajunk it only got about 8 mpg. I loved it.

 

67 Mustang fastback, 289, C-4. Bought it when I was 11 and restored it with my old man. I worked lots of summers to come up with the cash. I'm glad my Dad made me work for it. It sure made me appreciate it.

Work in progress:



Finally done:

 

A 38 Chev coupe in 1967 or 68. My older brother gave it to me for Christmas that year. He bought it at an auction in 1965 for $50. It had been abandoned. It had a cracked block in the original 216 stovebolt six. We found another one in a 48 Chev sedan that was junked out in the woods at our neighbor's farm.

Did a farmer overhaul on the '48 216, installed it, and I drove it when I turned 16 for about six months from late 69 to mid 1970.....then I had to get my first Corvette, a white/red 62 327/300 with 3 speed with a butt ugly "Tiger Shark" nose on it for $900.

I parked the 38 at my Dad's farm in 1970. It stayed there (outside) until the late 90s when we towed it to our new home. It stayed outside until 2001 when I put it into a new storage building. In 2002 I got it running. It was froze up. Used Marvel Mysterty Oil down each cylinder, over the valves, cam, etc. Let it soak in and sit and got it freed up.....then put a battery in, gas down the carb throat and it started.

Had to replace the head gasket. Have done a little on it since then . It does run and drive under its own power.....it's just missing a few things like brakes (the E-brake works), interior, and the wiring is shot. Also needs body work....but it is sorta cool to have held onto it for so long. Just wish I would have been smart enough to keep the 62 Vette.

 

My first car was back around 82-83. My Dad suprised me with the biggest 4X4 he could find. I had been looking for an old Cuda that I could afford and hot rod around in, but I guess he wanted me to live past the age of 16 . He's probably right. I would have most likely wrapped that car around a pole or something else doing something stupid.

The truck ended up being a blast as well. It was a 78 Chevy Scottsdale with 38" Ground Hawg tires and a lift kit.

 

1930 Model A Two door Sedan. Bought it for $75 and sold it about a year later for $150. Doubled my money

 

I was 16 back in '60 and swapped 500 comic books for a 1937 Oldsmobile. Never registered it and only drove it up and down my driveway...

Couldn't afford anti-freeze so I drained the radiator and the block before going off to college the next year -- lived in New York then. When I came home for spring break I found my younger brother had refilled the radiator and cracked the block!!

That summer I towed it to a junkyard and swapped it for a torque converter to repair my second car, a 1955 Ford.

Not sure whether I wish I'd kept the Oldsmobile or the comic books...

 

First car? A 1961 Corvette of course! Bought it in 1968 for $1,100 from the original owner. Paid an extra $50 and got the hard top throne in. Believe it or not, I still have it. Drove the snot out of it. Recovered it after being stollen (another great story) thanks to a cracked coil. Being a Wisconsin resident the winters were not kind to it. It was totally taken apart in 1986 and stayed that way. I'm in the process of putting it back together now. Only wish gas was the same price as then 19.9 cents a gallon when the gas price wars were on. Oh the good old days.....

 

My first car was a "48 Chevy with the bulletproof 6 and a vacuum assisted 3 speed on the column. The car was 15 years old when I got it and ran like a charm. Sold it when my Grandfather gave me his '55 Buick Special V-8 Dynaflow automatic which was a bit slow out of the pit but had a great top end and back seat. (Oh, if grandma only knew!!) Went to college and bought a '48 hearse to load up with the guys for Friday and Saturday nights out. Big straight eight with purple mohair interior that was really plush and in beautiful shape. The car had 24,000 miles on it when I bought it for $300 in '66!! Had lots of room for the ladies too. Good memories, all!!

 

My first car was a 1956 Ford Victoria with a Buick V8 in it. I was too young to drive so I just bombed up & down the road with it. Then I got a '56 Cevy and that had a 389 Pontiac GTO engine (tri-power) in it. I guess I liked variety in my cars/engines.

 

In high school I was just using the parental cars (sometimes our '68 Dodge Polara wagon with a 383 in it, but mostly a '72 Nova 4-door with the 250 ci six - Ooooooh!).

The first car I bought myself was at the end of my freshman year in college (1974), a '68 Triumph TR-250. I've mentioned this car in other posts - it should have been called the TR-5, since it was a one-year transition car - TR-4 body (with the TR4A independent rear suspension, same as was carried through to the TR-6), but with the 6-cyl. TR-6 engine. (2.5 liters, hence the TR-250 name). In Europe the car WAS called the TR-5, and the engine was fuel-injected and produced 150 hp. But it couldn't pass the new 1968 emissions laws, and so the US version had dual Zenith-Stromberg carbs, and was only around 115 hp. Still a bit better than the old TR-4 4-cyl., but not by much.

The car I bought was already rusting in the rocker panels, and up under the rear fenders (the car was only 6 years old, but that's how it went back then with salted roads in Illinois). There was also some burning/charring evident on the top of the hood (but not in the engine compartment). I found a TR-4 hood for the car (paid $10), bondo'ed the rusty areas, and had it painted red. It was a great car for a few years, until the rust bug caught up with it. I had my share of mechanical adventures with it:

- trip to Florida where I had to stop and adjust the valves every 300 miles or so, due to a failing rocker-arm shaft
- starter motor with only enough oomph to start the car down to 32F (ask me about using an electric blanket to keep the engine warm), until I refurbished and re-brushed it.
- hinges broke on the driver door, so I went doorless for a couple weeks while waiting for junk-yard hinges to show up
- stripped gear on driver-side windshield wiper - solved via a coat-hanger-wire "linkage" that I added, to tie the driver wiper arm to the still-working passenger-side wiper.
- the rear bumper that I had to hand-straighten (in a vise) twice - once when some kid popped my car out of gear (while parked with the top down on a slight hill) and it rolled into a tree, and the second time when a cop rear-ended me on a snowy day, while I was just sitting at a stop-light.

But the car was great fun to drive. I also learned a lot about working on cars, and also about being resourceful. (The bottom line with that car was to carry tools at all times.)

 

It was a 1961 Morris Mini Minor 850 for $250.00.

 

Your dad and my dad thought exactly alike!!!

My very first car was really borrowing my dads truck back in 1985. It was a 1979 Ford F-350 Supercab 4x4. It was a beast and could go through anything. I loved driving that old truck.

When I got to talking about getting my own car a year or two later, he only agreed to help out a little if I got another truck. I had really wanted a Camaro, since a Vette was out of the question, so when I started talking about this truck, he finally agreed to help out with buying it.

The second truck was a 1984 Toyota 4x4 Extra Cab, 24 inch lift kit and 44" mudders. This truck was flat out rediculous, but she turned heads everywhere. The chicks even liked the truck.

 

My first was a 55 Chevy, 2nd was a 65 Mustang and 3rd was a 63 Corvette. Who knew????

 

A 1964 Beetle in 1973 at 16 years old. Paid $295 for it and sold it for $300 after driving it (and beating it) for about 2 years.

The fat kid on top is me with my Buddy Paul. We're still best friends today!

 

Wow! All of these "nice" first cars...... Mine was a '57 Plymouth, 6 cyl, 3/tree beater that kept losing freeze-plugs. A POS cosmetically and mechanically, although it just kept on going, and provided me a large backseat that was never completely over-utilized..... Paid $90 for it off a lot, and sold it a couple years later for $60 to a Colorado State University fraternity for a "car bang". Then, I got a '55 Buick 3-holer....a whole nother story.........

 

First car? 1973 Plymouth Duster with the 225 slant 6cyl. Hand me down from the folks, still had to pay them $500 for it. 1979-80. It had well over 150,000 miles on it, held 10 psi oil pressure and the tops of the front fenders were so rusted out that when I drove in the snow it would spout up through the holes like a geyser. Used to duct tape over the holes and spray bomb the tape body color. I think I sold it for $200. Not worth the picture but it sure got me back and forth to school and work.