What was your first car and do you wish you still had it?

General Discussion FSM Ready Room
81

Well, my first car was a variety of VW Beetles of some year or another. You see, my father ran a VW repair shop and accompanying collection of VW’s.

As such, if I wanted a car to drive I had to go out in the yard, drag one out and get it running myself. My first was a '62 Bug with a rag top. The car I got later on though, which I drove through the later part of High School and into college, was a silver '72 Opel GT. It was much like this one but, not as clean.

Loved that car. Then one day a fellow in Dodge Ramcharger turned left in front of me and smashed the left front quarter panel. Thus, it spent the remainder of it’s life in the my father’s yard. And yes, I would absolutely love to have another one.

82

Always thought Opal GT’s were cool-looking.

Haven’t thought of one in years, thanks for the pic and memories.

83

My first car, which I owned for 9 years, and still miss to this day was a 90 Cavalier.

I loved that car. So much so I decided to own another, only it was a 91 Convertible.

I put way too much money into it, and had to finally just part ways with it, and focus on the Camaro. I wasn’t planning on spending that much, it just happened over the course of a year. The novelty of owning a convertible then wore off, and I sold it for less than I had into it. Lesson learned.

84

My first car was a 1961 Food Galaxy that my father gave to me. It was underpowered with a six cylinder engine. It also had three on the tree. One really cold winter day I pulled the shift lever into first gear and it snapped off in my hand. After that I used a vise-clamp as a shift lever. The engine was junk. It belched smoke from the crankcase vent pipe and it had terrible rod knock. To stop the knock I pourd cans of STP oil treatment into the oil pan. That stopped the knock but then the oil was so thick that the engine would not turn over on cold winter days. One day the right rear leaf spring broke. I replaced it but then the car went down the street sideways. I should have replaced both springs. The car had vaccuum powered windshield wipers and no windshield washers. When I accelerated the car, the wipers would stop moving. I used a plastic squeeze bottle filled with windshield washer liquid to clean the windshield. I never complained because the car was free.

85

Well, ultimately that was the car that saved Chrysler.

The first minivan was a K car underneath. Parents’ had an '85 with the Mitsu 2.2 L I4, and a 5 speed manual.

First front wheel drive car I’d ever driven, and the neighborhood we lived in had a gentle curve in the street, somewhat downhill, with a big asphalt driveway on the southern facing hill on the left.

There’s always be some black ice where the sun had warmed the driveway, melted the snow, water ran across the street and froze in a slick surface.

Normally I could goose the throttle to rotate the chassis when I started to slide.

Hit that ice patch, started to slide and goosed the throttle while turning the wheel. Front wheels spun and I plowed straight into the snowbank there.

No harm done, except to my pride.

My first car (that I bought) was a 1981 Datsun 210 SL with a factory sunroof, rear window wiper and washer (pretty well optioned for 1981), rear cargo cover, center console with this little storage area in front of the gear shift (I put an Audiovox EQ and CB radio in there) every factory option except automatic transmission. Some previous owner (AZ car) had put a race exhaust on it (2.5" straight pipe, gutted cat and minimal muffler) and a Weber 2 barrel. Also a limited slip differential with higher gearing.

1.5 L I4, alloy head. Redline was 6500. In fifth gear, I was turning 25 MPH per 1000 RPM (~2000 at 55). I could stand on it in fourth, to almost the redline then shift into fifth and stand on it.

Speedo only went to 85 ('member those?), but I could often get into the 5000’s RPM.

Thing handled like a go cart, and got mid 30’s MPG (thanks to the performance upgrades to the engine- provided I wasn’t driving the heck out of it).

One Friday after school was out (we had to drive 2 highways to get home I70 and SR68- both divided highways) we were all hauling arse. The school bus I would have been riding on if I hadn’t been driving was already making the lane change to the offramp (big right hand sweeper that I could take at 90 without much drama).

Needless to say I didn’t want to drop in behind the bus and have to trundle around the ramp, so I kept the hammer down and passed the bus before it made it into the lane (it was still in the divided highway part) and zipped past it.

Got a little wide on the exit, into the gravel in between lanes before the merge. neStupidly thought I should pull the wheel harder to get back on the line. Only made the car spin. Not 360 degrees, not 720 but a full 1080. 3 times around.

Saw the car that was traveling along in his lane, the guy freaking out slamming on his brakes (Pacer AMX- red and black, stripe and wheel package I’m sure). I was steering into the skid, and when I was going backwards and the engine started to die (or the clutch slip) I heel and toed into fourth.

Once backwards, steering into the spin made the front end come around again. Backwards again, Pacer further back, heel and toe into third. Around again, Pacer, heel and toe into second.

Suddenly I was going straight in the passing lane at about 25. Accelerated away to cruising speed (much more comfortable and LEGAL than before). Took long enough I had time to tell my friend to put his seatbelt on (I was worried I’d hit the bridge coming up sideways, or go into the median and roll the car. We would have been really F’ed up if that had happened).

When I dropped him off, I got out and looked at my tires (I’d been buying used tires from a junkyard, and had a sweet set of Yokohama low profile soft compound block tread tires- pretty much street slicks). They were flat spotted down to the wires in a couple places.

Then the fear set in. I was shaking too much to light a cigarette. My buddy, who didn’t smoke, light it for me and handed it back. Smoked that sucker right down.

When I got home, my mom was like "The school called. The bus driver said you passed her on the ramp and fishtailed at the end. And you were going about a hundred miles an hour.

I said “That little car can’t go that fast, and the bus had just started to get into the offramp. There was still plenty of lane left, and I swerved to avoid a semi retread at the end of the ramp.”

Bus driver had radioed in to the school, and they called my folks.

When my dad came home mom brought it up at dinner. I stuck to my story. Couple days later (once I’d gotten replacement junkyard tires) my dad said “Lets take a ride, son.”

I gave him my key, and he took it out, gave it a little bit of the business I’d been giving it. Managed to bury that 85 MPH speedo. "I didn’t know this little thing was that fast. Had I known I wouldn’t have let you buy it (I was still a minor, and needed my parents to sign the tittle).

Paid $500 for it, 141K miles. Pretty rust free, before the first Ohio winter. Then the tin worm showed up. There was a metal trim piece that went over the bumper, and I ended up taking it off and throwing it away when it started to look like crap.

I drove the pi$$ out of it, tried to pull into the bowling alley parking lot in front of oncoming traffic one night in the rain. Always had trouble at night with rain reflecting oncoming headlights, and hit the curb on one side of the driveway straight on at about 25.

Broke the right front tie rod. Couldn’t afford to get it fixed, so continued driving it. Made highway travel interesting. It would turn in really fast going to the right, slower to the left. Wheel was neutral like a shopping cart.

Drove it 3 1/2 hours up here for the summer. My dad got in it to drive it somewhere when it was the last car in the driveway. When he got back, he looked underneath, and saw the broken tie rod ends (now rusted, so he knew it didn’t just happen).

He asked me “What happened to your car?” I told him I hit a pothole going too fast. He said “Well, when did that happen?” I said before I brought it up for the summer.

“You mean to tell me you’ve been driving like that on the highway? No way are you taking that car with you to college. It’s dangerous!”

So I didn’t take it with me to my freshman year in Toledo.

The next summer my brother got a job as a laborer at the limestone quarry right down the road from us. He had a better 200SX, and got so dusty working he didn’t want to drive his good car.

So he was driving mine. The starter motor stopped working, he carried a length of steel pipe he’d bang the starter to get it to turn. Then it stopped working all together. Would roll it down our driveway and pop the clutch in gear. Bump starting it. Quarry entrance was less than a half mile down the road from us.

The clutch went out, and he was rolling it shoving it into gear. Chewing up the synchros, then the gear itself. First started jerking when it was engaged.

So he was using second. By the time the summer was over, second gear was starting to do the same thing.

Once he got it running, he would drive it without the clutch. Apprently, one of the other college kid laborers had an original Bronco (I6, 3 on the tree, half cab, floor had rusted out so he welded in heavy duty screen stuff). They’d drive around the quarry, going over and off rock shelves.

I’m looking for that exact same car (color and options), coming up short. Always the wrong transmission (autotragic), rusted out, or no options. As much abuse as it took, and as well as it held up I would love to have it back.

86

My first car at age 16 was a 77 toyota celica, crashed it a week before I paid it off. Took the insurance money and bought another 77, but I got a fastback that time. I like the memories of the cars but I don’t think I would like either one of them now. My first new car, at age 42, I bought was a 2010 Mazda3 Sport. Love the car, been to PA twice and AR a few times from TX and still only have 48k in mileage. I will most likely have this car for a long time.

87

Wow JB, it sounds like a tough little sucker.

88

I know a guy who has one. Over restored, bright orange paint, Mini lite wheels, nicer than when it was new (he owned it since it was new).

He brought it to the place I was managing, and people were going gaga over it.

Someone said “Bernie, how fast is it?”

He smiled and said “Well, it’ll beat a Volkswagen.” Meaning Beetle (no big brag there), and the people standing there thought he was talking about a GTI.

Used to be one between where I lived and worked. It had the headlights always never completely closed. Common occurence on those, since the lever and cable system (lever on the dash you’d pull or push to open or close the headlights).

They did look like baby Corvettes though.

89

Certainly was!!!

There was a railroad track by my high school. They were raised up above the level of the road, and I found out that if I went over them at 45 I’d clear them and land on the downhill side.

Started pushing the speed, went over them one time at 70-75. Came down HARD!

Heater vents popped out of the dash, sunroof closed breaking the latch and when I stopped to get out the driver’s door fell a couple inches off the latch.

There was a faintly visible crease in the roof at the rear edge of the sunroof, so I’d flexed the unibody.

90

I had 3 different VW buses. '74 hardtop Westfalia, '76 white over orange station wagon, and the creme de la creme a 1978 sage green Westfalia poptop- propane tank for the stove and tri power toploading fridge, gas heater, dealer installed air conditioning (had a little 4 page manual glued to the back of the owner’s manual, said not to run it unless you were in 3rd or 4th gear, and never in town. Compressor took 25 HP to run, out of 68 HP from the engine- highest HP of any of the air cooled VW’s- hydraulic lifters didn’t need to be adjusted and gave an extra 1 HP over the year before. Bought it in February and first warm day of spring was on the highway cruising at 55 and turned it on, just to see if it worked. Immediately doing 10 MPH less, but it blew nice and cold. Only time I ever used it, but it had a nice extra dash on the bottom of the regular dash- looked more finished than a normal one. 2 big radiators underneath), original owner (an Air Force colonel had bought it in Portlan Oregon, had the 400 mile oil change somewhere in Idaho, the thousand mile service in Illinois on his was to a new posting in Ohio (Wright Patterson AFB where me dad worked and saw it for sale) had installed an inline pump on the windshield washers instead of running it from the spare tire mounted on the front.

Had 72K miles on it when I bought it, ended up selling it at ~145K as the transaxle started to act up (popping out of gear when letting off- I had a bungee cord that I’d slip over the shifter to keep it in gear when I was cruising.

I installed a J C Whitney cruise control unit for a fuel injected Super Beetle (only needed to splice in some wiring between the cab and the engine). And with the right plugs in it I could cruise at 70 MPH (almost wide open) and get 23 MPG (22 with the regular).

Thought about buying a 5 speed transaxle and installing it, but it was a grand. Also thought about a supercharger for a little more power (FI would have handled the extra flow), but never did.

91

My first car ( not sure if this counts because I never drove it) was a 1963 ranchero. The floor boards were rusted out, like you could see through them, the tranny was shot and it was spray painted baby blue, I put a new bench seat in ( I’m 16 at the time I think) bent up and riveted down sheet metal over the floor boards, put a carpet kit and new headliner in it, and got the straight six started. Painted up the engine and could never find a new starter or transmission. I ended up getting a 1987 S10 blazer and put a 3" body lift on it and lost interest in the ranchero. I ended up giving it away to a coworkers relative that just got his license and wanted to fix it up. I’m in my 40s now and would love to have that old thing back.

92

My first car was a 1969 Plymouth Fury III with a 318. bought it for $200.00 in the summer of 1978. I had it 2 weeks and the transmission went out so I traded it in at the local Chevy dealership for a 1972 Chevelle., Pewter Silver with black interior , bench seat. It had an anemic 307 which I eventually swapped out for a 454 and a 2 speed powerglide. Aluminum slotted mags all around with G60 tires on the rear. I’d absolutely love to have it back(or a suitable replacement like a 1970 SS 454 Chevelle)

Regards,
Adrian

93

My first car was a '77 Toyota Celica coupe. 5 spd manual transmission, 2.2l 4 cyl. Engine with around 90 hp and 120 ft/lb torque, bright orange with black interior. It died in a wreck and i paid it off the following month. Then found a '77 celica fastback, orange with white interior and black louvers. Ya’ll remember those? I would love to have either one of those cars again. Could be just the good memories and fun times i had in those cars.

94

Oh boy… I have a bit of a list.
I had a 71 Datsun 510 I wish I still had - would make a great track car
I had a 65 Mustang GT coup that was a well optioned car - completely stock… a real beauty
Fast forward - I had a 2011 Inaugural edition 392 Challenger - six speed stick … really regret selling that one
I had a 2009 Dodge Charger that I completley rebuilt with a friend of mine - 760 RWHP… it was a beast
Most recently I sold my 2013 Boss 302 Laguna Seca - super fun car
Now - driving a 2010 Challenger SRT8 WITH 7000 MILES! Awesome cruiser.

95

John you helped revive this old thread.

Since moving to Florida 6+ years ago, I sold my truck before moving, the rust was really bad. Bought my mid-life crisis convertible. 2008 Mazda MX-5. Love this thing. Its like a 200hp go cart. Right now its at 61k miles. Oh and the blue thing is my wifes 96 Trans Am. Which I call the POS can’t keep the thing on the road. Just got a new check engine code for a misfire in cylinder 8.

20190814_180719
20190814_1807191920×1440 185 KB

96

My first car was a 1967 Dodge Coronet…4 door with a straight 6 cylinder. It was known as the “Grandma’s Car” in my high school. Do I wish that I still had it? You bet! That car started every cold Winter’s morning and ran like a champ.

97

Might inherit the 2007 honda soon! I am terrified I will destroy it..

1 Like