Your first car

[Glenn]

What was your first car?  I'll start:

 

 

 

A 1975 Mercury Cougar.  I used to call it "The USS Cougar" because the hood was so big, I literally had to lay on it to wash the middle or clean the windshield.  It also seated 8 comfortably, no joke.

 

Ya, I know. It looks like a pimp mobile. LOL!

 

I bought it because it was $800 and it ran.  It had power windows, power seats, power mirrors, cruise control...lot's of other "extras". It was a massive beast.  Way too much car for me.

 

The shocks were shot and it had a lot of electrical issues. Let's just say I don't miss it. LOL

 

 

[A-Jay]

Mine first car was a 1957 Ford Fairlane 500.  Two-Tone cream & white.  It was my parents ride.

Right after I got my license they 'sold' it to me.  I didn't really get a very good deal. Car was a Tank and I thought I was the man at 17.  Had it a coulpe of three years in the late 70's. Burned almost as much oil as gas.  Was horrible on the New England snow.  Piled several friends into that ride and spent many nights cruising the beach. Had a great "back seat".   Also met quite a few LEO's who didn't like my driving style; which may or may not have included some tire smoke and a bit or excess speed.  Heat didn't work so I drove any distance wrapped in a green army blanket.  Traded it in for a 1970 Ford Maverick.  I don't know what I was thinking there, hated that car. I don't  have a picture.

A-Jay 

[Basseditor]

1963 Chevrolet Impala. It was white with a 283. It was mint, even though it was a few years old. My dad helped me get it for $600. (I worked in his cabinet shop since I was 10 so he’d buy stuff rather than give me a wage.)

 

When I came home from my first year of college, my younger brother and his friends had painted it turquoise and put in a 327. It never ran very good after that. They tried, unsuccessfully, to soup it up. My brother claimed that because I was off to college, I had “abandoned” it so it was his.

 

Then a couple years later I bought a ‘71 Pontiac GT. (Poor mans GTO.) I loved that car but as you know, the gas embargo made a 6 mpg car impracticable. Both those cars would be worth some money now.

[Choporoz]

76 Ford LTD 2 Door - 

Bought it in 82 for $500 from a little old lady who only drove on Sundays.

(internet photo, but exactly like the one I had)

 

[slonezp]

1976 Pontiac Lemans 4 door. Same car Jackie Gleason drove in the first Smokey and the Bandit movie. A hand me down from my brother. 

[roadwarrior]

Internet pics...Mine was the light blue & white.

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=1956+chevy&rlz=1CAWPBA_enUS802&sxsrf=ALeKk01hgKCU3K3m0PtQGX4jg9ZkjV0ipA:1600424827586&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=_dZCqz1qa7LopM%2CmBxHJ54EYnEiTM%2C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kRz-1tkBEybHmii0OihvK3Ga2QxlQ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi_19mKv_LrAhWNq1kKHc-qAg8Q9QF6BAgEEGg&biw=1366&bih=649#imgrc=_dZCqz1qa7LopM

[Mike L]

‘62 Pontiac Catalina. 
My Dad wouldn’t let me get a car until I graduated HS. 
I had 250.00 saved but it cost 650.00   
I got 200.00 in graduation gifts and the other 200.00 from my Dad 

 

(I loved that car)

?

 

 

 

Mike
 

 

[Way2slow]

My very first car was a ragged old 1948 Ford I bought for $10 in 1962 when I was 15, and had to spend $3 for a drive shaft and put it in to get it going.  

My first good car was 1953 Ford for $40 in 1963.  A very clean low mileage car a guy had inherited from his grandmother and lost it in a poker game at our house.  The guy that won it waited a week for the guy to pay him and then sold it to me for what the bet was.  When I turned 16, I bought the makings of my first hot rod, a 1955 six cylinder Ford $300 that I put three bigger motors in the first year, the third being a 427 from and 63 Ford. 

From there the list is extensive and full of very nice, very fast cars.

[newriverfisherman1953]

1967 Mustang. 

[Mike L]

1 hour ago, roadwarrior said:

Internet pics...Mine was the light blue & white.

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=1956+chevy&rlz=1CAWPBA_enUS802&sxsrf=ALeKk01hgKCU3K3m0PtQGX4jg9ZkjV0ipA:1600424827586&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=_dZCqz1qa7LopM%2CmBxHJ54EYnEiTM%2C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kRz-1tkBEybHmii0OihvK3Ga2QxlQ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi_19mKv_LrAhWNq1kKHc-qAg8Q9QF6BAgEEGg&biw=1366&bih=649#imgrc=_dZCqz1qa7LopM

I’ll bet you wish you had it now!

?

 

 

 

 

Mike

[JohnFromLisbon]

1993 Renault Clio, the successor to the famous Renault 5 - which you probably know as the Renault Le Car. My grandparents bought it new and had 4 year old me pick the color. My grandmother stopped driving in late 90s so it just stayed in a garage until I picked it up in 2007.

 

 

It had a 1.2 liter Renault E-Type engine, the first direct injection with a whopping 60 hp (!), but since the whole thing weighed just over 2000lbs it was fun to drive. It had electrical issues, went through a few starter motors and a head gasket, but the big problem it had was the cooling system. It sat for years without being driven and that started to rot every hose and gasket on it. I was constantly having to replace bits and pieces, spending about $ 600 a year just to keep it running (the car was worth way less than that). Had to get rid of it in 2017, got me a used Mazda 2 (which is basically a Fiesta underneath), but I still miss that little red heap of junk.

 

 

Here it is in its natural habitat, on top of a tow truck. Good ol' Fifty Shades of Red (cuz the paint started to fade differently in different panels)

[MN Fisher]

Pic is not of mine - dad got this used in 1976 for me for $900 when I got my license...he preferred to spend that instead of me possibly 'dinging' his brand-new Chrysler Newport or mom's brand-new Pontiac Ventura.

 

1973 Cuda - heck of a car for a high-schooler...though one of my classmates got a new Porsche Turbo Carrera for his 16th b-day

[BigAngus752]

1967 Cougar XR-7G.  It was a big block car with a factory sunroof.  My JV basketball coach had it sitting in his backyard when I was a 15yr old high school basketball player.  I bought it from him for $500, had it towed home, got it running, and traded it for a 1970 Mustang Mach 1 before I ever got my driver's license.  They now sell for six figures.  

 

On a side note, I've had seven Mustangs over the years but I still have a 1968 Mustang that I bought when I was 19 years old.  I turned 51 today.  

[MN Fisher]

15 minutes ago, BigAngus752 said:

I turned 51 today. 

Happy B-Day, youngin' (I'm 61 in 2 months)

15 minutes ago, BigAngus752 said:

They now sell for six figures.  

I know - wish I still had the Cuda.

[gim]

Most of the cars mentioned on this thread are WAY older than me.  And its pretty obvious that most of us got a bit of a "lemon" or a hand-me-down car as our first ride.  That's just how it goes.

 

Mine was a 1997 Dodge Dakota extended cab.  That thing was a tank.  Solid steel and awful gas mileage.  Was my Father's pickup before I got it.  The tranny went out on it a week after I graduated from college and it wouldn't go in reverse so we took it to the local salvage yard for 500 bucks.

[Scott F]

I paid $100 for a 1964 Ford Falcon station wagon back in 1972 when I was 17.  I probably had it for a year or two before the engine blew up. Looked a lot like this one...

 

 

[jbsoonerfan]

1986 Chevy SWB 4x4 

 

I "bought" it when I was 15. I use the term liberally because I mowed yards for 3 summers and my parents were the CEO of the operation and kept the money and told me I could afford it. Pretty sure I might have paid maybe half. Anyway it was way too much truck for me. I know my parents had no idea what I was getting into when we bought it. It had a 3" lift, 35" tires, 400 small block, open headers and would run. Not something a 16 year old really needs. It got around 8 miles a gallon with ol lead foot behind the wheel so needless to say, I didn't go many places. Went through about 4 starters before we realized the open headers were burning them up. I only had it about a year when I sold it and went to a regular 2wd chevy silverado. Looking back, I wish I still had the truck as it was super clean.

 

My son turned 15 in August so I guess we will start looking for his first car soon. Unlike me, he could really care less about cars. In fact, I think he could care less if he even drives to be honest.

[DaubsNU1]

My Dad was smart...I wanted a truck so he found me a 1971 Chevy C-20 3/4 ton 2wd. It had a 250cid straight six and "three-on-the-tree" manual transmission. That thing was sooooooo slooooooow!  But it was mine! Loved it!

 

Brother in law helped me paint it. Drove it three years in HS, then my first year in college. Driving home from college one day and the engine grumbled...I stepped on the clutch and the tach went to zero...luckily I was right at en exit and coasted off the interstate. Valve in #2 cylinder broke, disintegrated the piston, rod punched hole through the block -- DONE!

 

I talked Dad in to a new truck, 4x4 this time. He found a 250/6 used out of a Nova for $50...we transplanted it in to the old 1971 and got it running.  My brother drove that truck for two more years!

 

I always loved the 67-72 Chevy's...managed to find this one back in 2005...little bit better than my first -- 1972 K-20 3/4 ton 4x4, 350 v8, 4spd manual.  I'm restoring... : )

 

 

 

 

 

[TnRiver46]

1985 Nissan pickup. This was before trucks had model names, just pickup. This truck also got 30 mpg, I guess technology is moving backwards because they don’t make a truck that gets that good of mileage now and haven’t in years. The only problem was you had to ciphon gas out of the tank and sprinkle in the carb To get it to start sometimes. And it was a hand me down from my brother, dash was covered in Hawaiian dancing ladies and the back glass was solid stickers 

[MN Fisher]

2 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

1985 Nissan pickup. This was before trucks had model names, just pickup. This truck also got 30 mpg, I guess technology is moving backwards because they don’t make a truck that gets that good of mileage now and haven’t in years.

I know - truck before my current Silverado was a 1998 WT-1500. V-6, 5-speed manual...rated at 27mpg highway - trip from MN to MA I got 28.4mpg. Why don't they have manuals in trucks anymore?

[DaubsNU1]

9 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

I know - truck before my current Silverado was a 1998 WT-1500. V-6, 5-speed manual...rated at 27mpg highway - trip from MN to MA I got 28.4mpg. Why don't they have manuals in trucks anymore?

....and the other end of the spectrum...

 

Ordered this from factory...2004 2500HD with the 8.1/496 V8. City was 10 MPG, and highway was 12 MPG...daily driver for many years...

 

Much better than my Dad's 1976 K-20 4x4, 350 with 4 spd manual...he got...wait for it...6 MPG...city or highway...up hill or downhill...wind at back...wind in face.  He thought I was crazy to order the 8.1...I was happy to get 10 MPG.

 

 

 

[TnRiver46]

20 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

I know - truck before my current Silverado was a 1998 WT-1500. V-6, 5-speed manual...rated at 27mpg highway - trip from MN to MA I got 28.4mpg. Why don't they have manuals in trucks anymore?

They do, you just have to hunt them down. My truck is a V-8 Dodge ram stick shift but it gets 15 miles a gallon on a good day ha ha. I’ve never owned an auto transmission 

[MN Fisher]

Just now, TnRiver46 said:

They do. My truck is a V-8 Dodge ram stick shift but it gets 15 miles a gallon on a good day ha ha

Gah - that's what my '01 Silverado with a 5.3L V-8/4-speed auto gets city...about 18 highway.

[Todd2]

71 Nova

[slonezp]

4 hours ago, Mike L said:

‘62 Pontiac Catalina. 
My Dad wouldn’t let me get a car until I graduated HS. 
I had 250.00 saved but it cost 650.00   
I got 200.00 in graduation gifts and the other 200.00 from my Dad 

 

(I loved that car)

?

 

 

 

Mike
 

 

My aunt had a 72 Catalina ragtop. I wish I had that car today.