Say what you like, GM styling from the late sixties through the early eighties had a lot of hits -- Bill Mitchell (?) kept things together pretty well over there.
I'm sorry Steven Ward isn't here this week - he would enjoy this thread. I don't think it was his first car, but I know he had a SAAB that he completely adored.
There was a hotrod guy at my high school that put a 350 small block in an MG...it did not have a hood as it would not fit...but that was the quickest car I have ever seen.
My FiRsTcAr was just like this one shown here in action. 302 that's five liters kids 3 speed. i forgot how beautiful it was and didnt realize the cult status.
91 ford festiva. so boxy and tall, my friends called it the phone booth. so light that 3 or 4 of them would frequently lift it and carry it around the parking lot to scare me into thinking it got stolen.
ha actually SDR my second and still most current car was an '86 alfa romeo spider graduate (yes the graduate tag came after the dustin hoffman movie)
same color but mine had a little more wear on it then that one. A really fun car to drive, the stick shift almost came out of the console horizontally and it had a ridiculously sensitive clutch but used to really zoom once you hit 4th gear... both that and the malibu made several trips from new orleans to boston when i lived down south. i actually had to use the alpha to evacuate from Katrina, shoved everything I owned in there, had stuff piled in the front seat so high i coulnd't open the convertible top or it would blow away, and with no A/C it was a really long, hot drive out of the souther heat in the summer.
sitting in my folks driveway since, looking to sell but i think the engines had it.
This was the First Car I paid Cash For: $200.00 1961 Morris Minor.
I was working an inbetween job installing Garage Doors in Eastern South Dakota. So we were always on the road all the time driving around residential neighborhoods and one day I spotted this car
out in front of a guys house with a for sale sign. So I took down the
number and called the guy when I got home. He called back and my engineer brother-inlaw and myself went over and took a look at it.
It was in near perfect condition, leather interior with 25,000 miles on it. So I figured there had to be a catch cause it was so cheap but what the hell $200.00 was not alot a money. We checked it out real good and it seemed to be a very sound car....Yet it was parked infront of his house and not in the garage. So we close the deal, I don't dicker with his asking price. He says It is yours comeback tomorrow cause I have some extra parts in the garage you might want to have and they are no good to me. So next day I come back
and ask the guy why he was selling the car for so little money. He says son come here and get the parts...and I will show you. Well his garage was double wide and double deep with six antique beauties stored inside with a ton of parts. He said I just didn't have room to keep the little guy inside, so I figured I should sell him to someone
who will take care of him. [img]http://www.motorcities.com/media/image/640/03K9G214105891A/1961-Morris-Minor-1000-light-blue-A-640.jpeg[/iimg]
I drove the car from South Dakota to Boston in the middle of the Winter. Somewhere around Buffalo New York the Lucas Electrical system went nuts....had to stop at an all night gas station and try
to figure out what the hell shorted out. From that point on I was stuck driving the remainer of the trip during the day. Stopped in
Albany, New York to visit a friend, we were going to take it to an
automotive place to see about the electrical system and I had an
automotive parts runner truck hit me and speed away. Fortunately
the salesmen in the automotive show room saw the whole thing. They new the van and we called the cops. They came we went to
the auto parts store, the owner was ferious with his driver. He got ahold of him on a two way radio. He said his insurance would take care of it. I traveled on to Worcester, Massacusetts where I knew I could find a mechanic to fix both the damage to the car and also the
electrical system. I had the work done and then I get a letter from the insurance company telling me to piss off, cause they didn't want to pay the damages for for Car. So I call my friend in Albany, he goes down to the police station finds the ole Irish Policeman and they
go give the Auto Part Store a visit with a copy of the letter sent to me by the insurance company. Three days later arrives a check for the repair work. I'm in Bean town by this time, and low and behold if my fricking car isn't snatched right off the street, never to be seen again.
I filed reports with the police checked the impound lots, nothing....nothing....guess someone really wanted him bad.
Volkswagen Fox that I crashed into a pond late one night in high school. My dad had bought it for me about a week before. It sank like a stone, but we rescued the beer.
We had to have it hauled out the next day—distributor cap was flooded and we ended up selling it to a car repair place for $500.
The first car I drove after I got my license was an 89 Dodge Dakota. It was my dad's old truck, the shocks were shot, it leaked gas and we had to fill it with coolant on a daily basis. I loved that old truck.
I then bought MY first car, a pos 94 Hyundai Hatchback, 5 speed only 60.000 miles on it. I think it was originally from North Dakota, and I had to replace all of the brake and gas lines at least once. It finally died when the frame rusted through.
I now own an 02 Subaru Impreza sport wagon, it can haul my stuff the gas mileage isn't terrible and it can plow through the snow on my road that never gets plowed or salted. It also has those great bug eye front lights! Hopefully it'll last awhile, at least until I'm out of grad school for a couple of years.
(that one isn't mine, but same color, year, etc.) -- 1985 Toyota Supra, purchased in 1999 for $1500 from my older sister. Sold it for $1000 after too many close calls on icy winter roads on my commute to High School, I miss it :(
After that, I bought one of these, which is currently living out its old age in my parents yard 3000 miles away, without having been driven for 2+ years
1974 fiat 128 - (that pic looks like a '73 though)
mine was white and i added two blue racing stripes down the length, a monza exhaust, dash mounted tach, momo steering wheel, removed the hub caps and painted the wheels and most trim flat black. removed the a/c unit and heater core and a bunch of other stuff to lighten it up a bit.
and of course, i was repairing it most weekends...
oh yeah - the driver's door lock didn't work with a key - i had to get in via the passenger side.
on the plus side, i really learned how to keep the engine in the powerband and conserve energy through corners.
My first brand new ride: 1976 Fiat 128/Coupe Lemon Yellow. It was
a real fun car to drive but a fricking LEMON! Owned it 13 months and
it was in the shop every single month I owned it. It would top out at
110 mph.
Well least I got the girl and the ass end of the 1961 4 door volvo.
This was the actual color of the car. I was its second owner....and it
was already and antique when I bought it. I sold it to a friend for $1.00. She in turn drove it for a couple of years and sold it to someone else for a $1.00. Only thing you had to do to the car was
keep an eye on the brake fluid.
Alec Issigonis designed the Morris Minor, then turned around and came up with the Mini -- and the larger transverse-engine FWD sedans that followed. Only the Mini was seen in the US. . .
The MGC had a straight six stuffed into the engine bay. It was not a sophisticated powerplant; an auto writer, perhaps in Car & Driver, said it seemed to be the work of an engine designer "transferred from the BM farm tractor division against his will. . ."
Mine was something very similar to this, 1990 325is, ended up getting creamed by a drunk driver one day in the middle of the afternoon. I loved that car.
My first and still current car is a 1997 Land Rover Range Rover P38A. One hell of a nice ride, the size of a tank, and adjustable air suspension. It gets deplorable gas mileage, but its extremely comfortable, and has a great stereo to match. I fit my entire studio and dorm room in it when moving out of school every year. It 'technically' seats 5, but I've gotten upwards of 8... two in the front, four in the middle and two sitting w/out seats in the rear cargo area. All-land rover aluminum V8 engine, and more finicky British electricals than that Alfa posted above. I love it to pieces!
How many of those nice rides are bought for cash ? The price of inflated expectations is. . .debt. But I can't speak for others. My last (new) car cost half again as much as the sticker price, once the five-year zero-down loan was paid off. . .
Mine was a 1990 Ford Taurus, bought off a guy who used it as a company car = 100k miles and only couple years old. Drove it though approx 30 states, all 4 coasts (Gulf & Great Lakes inc.) and over countless mt. passes. 10 years later sold it for $500 with over 200k miles. Left me stranded a few times (before mainstream cell days), but it always turned out those were hidden opportunities in disguise.
mine was a 92 honda civic dx sedan. good ol' crank windows! it wasn't technically mine. it was the third family car. and i was constantly reminded of it.
speaking of tauruses - i had a 91 taurus after that. it was the fourth family car that got passed on to me. totally left me stranded as well. unfortunately, it wasn't really any sort of opportunity - except to get rid of it. blown transmission... not so good.
the first car i actually bought was a 95 honda civic lx sedan. we still have it - although i'm not the one driving it anymore. i love that car.
i've always gone the cash route. i hope to never have a car payment.
1976 Chrysler Cordoba, but Mine was Black with tan corinthian leather interior. It had an aftermarket underdash 8-track player with an aftermarket cassette tape adapter, in which a Def Leppard High-n-dry was permanently melted, but still played.
1969 Chevy Bell Air -- didn't much like it (or want it) but Mom and Dad felt I needed a car and wanted to give it to me. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I took it and had some fun in it. Good reliable and inexpensive transportation -- but definitely not a chick-magnet.
Single headlights = '57. Quad headlights were introduced and finally approved by the DOT at that time; the body was designed to accept either two or four lamps.
It's hard to recall today how radically clean and fresh these new Mopar bodies were. "Suddenly, it's 1960 !" was the sales line. . .
My first car was a rover and until now I still use it on out-of town trips with my family. Its a pretty good car which can really last for years. And range rover parts can be easily spotted.
farwest - i had a vw fox as well (after dad realized giving a 16 year old a muscle car was a bad idea). loved that thing - couldn't destroy it no matter how hard i tried. some racks on the roof and it was the ultimate little surf mobile...
What was your first car?
Ni-i-i-ice. . .
Say what you like, GM styling from the late sixties through the early eighties had a lot of hits -- Bill Mitchell (?) kept things together pretty well over there.
I'm sorry Steven Ward isn't here this week - he would enjoy this thread. I don't think it was his first car, but I know he had a SAAB that he completely adored.
There was a hotrod guy at my high school that put a 350 small block in an MG...it did not have a hood as it would not fit...but that was the quickest car I have ever seen.
My FiRsTcAr was just like this one shown here in action. 302 that's five liters kids 3 speed. i forgot how beautiful it was and didnt realize the cult status.
91 ford festiva. so boxy and tall, my friends called it the phone booth. so light that 3 or 4 of them would frequently lift it and carry it around the parking lot to scare me into thinking it got stolen.
ha actually SDR my second and still most current car was an '86 alfa romeo spider graduate (yes the graduate tag came after the dustin hoffman movie)
same color but mine had a little more wear on it then that one. A really fun car to drive, the stick shift almost came out of the console horizontally and it had a ridiculously sensitive clutch but used to really zoom once you hit 4th gear... both that and the malibu made several trips from new orleans to boston when i lived down south. i actually had to use the alpha to evacuate from Katrina, shoved everything I owned in there, had stuff piled in the front seat so high i coulnd't open the convertible top or it would blow away, and with no A/C it was a really long, hot drive out of the souther heat in the summer.
sitting in my folks driveway since, looking to sell but i think the engines had it.
'80 Oldsmobila Delta 88 Diesel converted to a 325 Rocket Block - screamer
This was the First Car I paid Cash For: $200.00 1961 Morris Minor.
I was working an inbetween job installing Garage Doors in Eastern South Dakota. So we were always on the road all the time driving around residential neighborhoods and one day I spotted this car
out in front of a guys house with a for sale sign. So I took down the
number and called the guy when I got home. He called back and my engineer brother-inlaw and myself went over and took a look at it.
It was in near perfect condition, leather interior with 25,000 miles on it. So I figured there had to be a catch cause it was so cheap but what the hell $200.00 was not alot a money. We checked it out real good and it seemed to be a very sound car....Yet it was parked infront of his house and not in the garage. So we close the deal, I don't dicker with his asking price. He says It is yours comeback tomorrow cause I have some extra parts in the garage you might want to have and they are no good to me. So next day I come back
and ask the guy why he was selling the car for so little money. He says son come here and get the parts...and I will show you. Well his garage was double wide and double deep with six antique beauties stored inside with a ton of parts. He said I just didn't have room to keep the little guy inside, so I figured I should sell him to someone
who will take care of him. [img]http://www.motorcities.com/media/image/640/03K9G214105891A/1961-Morris-Minor-1000-light-blue-A-640.jpeg[/iimg]
I drove the car from South Dakota to Boston in the middle of the Winter. Somewhere around Buffalo New York the Lucas Electrical system went nuts....had to stop at an all night gas station and try
to figure out what the hell shorted out. From that point on I was stuck driving the remainer of the trip during the day. Stopped in
Albany, New York to visit a friend, we were going to take it to an
automotive place to see about the electrical system and I had an
automotive parts runner truck hit me and speed away. Fortunately
the salesmen in the automotive show room saw the whole thing. They new the van and we called the cops. They came we went to
the auto parts store, the owner was ferious with his driver. He got ahold of him on a two way radio. He said his insurance would take care of it. I traveled on to Worcester, Massacusetts where I knew I could find a mechanic to fix both the damage to the car and also the
electrical system. I had the work done and then I get a letter from the insurance company telling me to piss off, cause they didn't want to pay the damages for for Car. So I call my friend in Albany, he goes down to the police station finds the ole Irish Policeman and they
go give the Auto Part Store a visit with a copy of the letter sent to me by the insurance company. Three days later arrives a check for the repair work. I'm in Bean town by this time, and low and behold if my fricking car isn't snatched right off the street, never to be seen again.
I filed reports with the police checked the impound lots, nothing....nothing....guess someone really wanted him bad.
Volkswagen Fox that I crashed into a pond late one night in high school. My dad had bought it for me about a week before. It sank like a stone, but we rescued the beer.
We had to have it hauled out the next day—distributor cap was flooded and we ended up selling it to a car repair place for $500.
The first car I drove after I got my license was an 89 Dodge Dakota. It was my dad's old truck, the shocks were shot, it leaked gas and we had to fill it with coolant on a daily basis. I loved that old truck.
I then bought MY first car, a pos 94 Hyundai Hatchback, 5 speed only 60.000 miles on it. I think it was originally from North Dakota, and I had to replace all of the brake and gas lines at least once. It finally died when the frame rusted through.
I now own an 02 Subaru Impreza sport wagon, it can haul my stuff the gas mileage isn't terrible and it can plow through the snow on my road that never gets plowed or salted. It also has those great bug eye front lights! Hopefully it'll last awhile, at least until I'm out of grad school for a couple of years.
(that one isn't mine, but same color, year, etc.) -- 1985 Toyota Supra, purchased in 1999 for $1500 from my older sister. Sold it for $1000 after too many close calls on icy winter roads on my commute to High School, I miss it :(
After that, I bought one of these, which is currently living out its old age in my parents yard 3000 miles away, without having been driven for 2+ years
1974 fiat 128 - (that pic looks like a '73 though)
mine was white and i added two blue racing stripes down the length, a monza exhaust, dash mounted tach, momo steering wheel, removed the hub caps and painted the wheels and most trim flat black. removed the a/c unit and heater core and a bunch of other stuff to lighten it up a bit.
and of course, i was repairing it most weekends...
oh yeah - the driver's door lock didn't work with a key - i had to get in via the passenger side.
on the plus side, i really learned how to keep the engine in the powerband and conserve energy through corners.
1988 Dodge Shadow - best car ive ever owned.. wish i never sold it!!
My first brand new ride: 1976 Fiat 128/Coupe Lemon Yellow. It was
a real fun car to drive but a fricking LEMON! Owned it 13 months and
it was in the shop every single month I owned it. It would top out at
110 mph.
This was my wheels when I went back to Architecture School....a great desert car.
Well least I got the girl and the ass end of the 1961 4 door volvo.
This was the actual color of the car. I was its second owner....and it
was already and antique when I bought it. I sold it to a friend for $1.00. She in turn drove it for a couple of years and sold it to someone else for a $1.00. Only thing you had to do to the car was
keep an eye on the brake fluid.
Great stories, people.
Alec Issigonis designed the Morris Minor, then turned around and came up with the Mini -- and the larger transverse-engine FWD sedans that followed. Only the Mini was seen in the US. . .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alec_Issigonis
The MGC had a straight six stuffed into the engine bay. It was not a sophisticated powerplant; an auto writer, perhaps in Car & Driver, said it seemed to be the work of an engine designer "transferred from the BM farm tractor division against his will. . ."
Shaner, I had one of those. Great gas mileage. Dangerously light.
Hotwheels!!!!
Mine was something very similar to this, 1990 325is, ended up getting creamed by a drunk driver one day in the middle of the afternoon. I loved that car.
Nice first car.
Ooops. Last comment directed to aspect. But yes, nice bmw.
My first and still current car is a 1997 Land Rover Range Rover P38A. One hell of a nice ride, the size of a tank, and adjustable air suspension. It gets deplorable gas mileage, but its extremely comfortable, and has a great stereo to match. I fit my entire studio and dorm room in it when moving out of school every year. It 'technically' seats 5, but I've gotten upwards of 8... two in the front, four in the middle and two sitting w/out seats in the rear cargo area. All-land rover aluminum V8 engine, and more finicky British electricals than that Alfa posted above. I love it to pieces!
Damn. This thread really makes me sense all the silver spoons out there. Depressing. Good bye thread.
How many of those nice rides are bought for cash ? The price of inflated expectations is. . .debt. But I can't speak for others. My last (new) car cost half again as much as the sticker price, once the five-year zero-down loan was paid off. . .
Mine wasn't quite 50% more, but damn near close. For that much dough, I could have had a nicer car... too bad it's not real estate.
Mine was a 1990 Ford Taurus, bought off a guy who used it as a company car = 100k miles and only couple years old. Drove it though approx 30 states, all 4 coasts (Gulf & Great Lakes inc.) and over countless mt. passes. 10 years later sold it for $500 with over 200k miles. Left me stranded a few times (before mainstream cell days), but it always turned out those were hidden opportunities in disguise.
i really like this thread!
mine was a 92 honda civic dx sedan. good ol' crank windows! it wasn't technically mine. it was the third family car. and i was constantly reminded of it.
speaking of tauruses - i had a 91 taurus after that. it was the fourth family car that got passed on to me. totally left me stranded as well. unfortunately, it wasn't really any sort of opportunity - except to get rid of it. blown transmission... not so good.
the first car i actually bought was a 95 honda civic lx sedan. we still have it - although i'm not the one driving it anymore. i love that car.
i've always gone the cash route. i hope to never have a car payment.
95 ford escort, teal colored, sat really low to the ground when someone was in the backseat.
'85 Ford Bronco II
That's pretty much my first car, minus the safari rack and flag.
It caught on fire. Turns out you've gotta change the oil every so often. Life lesson #7642.
Numero dos was equally awesome.
93 Mazda 929 aptly named the Mom mobile.
snook- I have that car right now, but mine's a 67 wagon, same color.
Fun car to drive!
My first was a 71 Super Beetle, also very fun...
The advertising on the 929 claimed that Mazda hired a "sculptor" to design the body. It does have a minimalist quality. . .
Yeah, but try explaining that to a bunch of 17 year old kids from TX with jacked-up trucks.
To them it had a "pick up the kids from soccer" quality.
compensation of the lack elsewhere?
1976 Chrysler Cordoba, but Mine was Black with tan corinthian leather interior. It had an aftermarket underdash 8-track player with an aftermarket cassette tape adapter, in which a Def Leppard High-n-dry was permanently melted, but still played.
1969 Chevy Bell Air -- didn't much like it (or want it) but Mom and Dad felt I needed a car and wanted to give it to me. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I took it and had some fun in it. Good reliable and inexpensive transportation -- but definitely not a chick-magnet.
Nissan Maxima Station Wagon 1989 edition, with Electric everything including moon roof.
V6 baby!
My first car was...
I just ordered an Audi S5 Coupe V8/ST
That early Maxima had wonderful big disc-like cast wheels. Handsome, no ? And a squared-off body. . . kind of like the "baby" Cadillac of the day.
57 or 58 DeSoto !! Yeah. . . Virgil Exner, we still love you.
Single headlights = '57. Quad headlights were introduced and finally approved by the DOT at that time; the body was designed to accept either two or four lamps.
It's hard to recall today how radically clean and fresh these new Mopar bodies were. "Suddenly, it's 1960 !" was the sales line. . .
My first car was a rover and until now I still use it on out-of town trips with my family. Its a pretty good car which can really last for years. And range rover parts can be easily spotted.
1970 monte carlo. v8, muscle to the extreme for a 1 year old. spun that thing out in more than a few yards on rainy days...
here's the pic: [img]http://media.motortopia.com/files/1034/vehicles/44cacc77a58b7/Side1.jpg[img]
dammit - wrong code and it's too large to fit....
let's try again:
farwest - i had a vw fox as well (after dad realized giving a 16 year old a muscle car was a bad idea). loved that thing - couldn't destroy it no matter how hard i tried. some racks on the roof and it was the ultimate little surf mobile...
outed, add width=420 after a space and just before [/img]
Great stuff !
A '74 colnago.
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