Remember when you were younger you could not wait to get your first vehicle. I learned to drive sick shift first that a friend had, then learned to drive the automatic shift vehicle that my mom owned. My first car was a Chevrolet Monza, a little subcompact built from 1974 - 1980. I was so pround of myself when I was able to get my first car. What was your first car?
I got my first car in 1977 and it was a 1969 4 door Chevy Impala, about the size of a small ship. It had an 8 cylinder engine, but was only running on 4, so every time I came to a stop light, I had to give it a lot of gas to keep it running, but the brakes weren't that great either. If you let it idle it would stall, then be really hard to start. It was a lovely shade of primer grey. But, as awful as it was, I loved it - it meant that I didn't have to rely on anyone else to take me where I wanted to go. And I would just drive around for hours.
My first was a 1958 Chevrolet. I bought it from a junk yard. All four of the tires were flat, the battery and the radiator were missing, and there was junk piled on top of it. The guy told me he was pretty sure it would start. He gathered up some bald tires that would still hold air, found a radiator and a battery that would fit it, and it started right up. He charged me $30 for it, and I drove it for three years. A friend of mine wrecked it, so we abandoned it on a pile of scrap metal in a brushy area behind where they were later to build a mall. My second car was a 1955 VW, which I also paid $30 for. I guess it was made before blinker technology had been adapted because the blinkers were solid lights on a flipper-like apparatus recessed into the body of the vehicle, so that it would intermittently disappear from view, into the recess, and appear to be blinking. It was a convertible, only the rag top was shredded. It had no floor. Literally, I could rest my feet on the pavement at stop lights, and a the front seats were held into place by a board that had been inserted beneath the seat, resting on the door frame on either side. Nevertheless, I drove that VW year-round in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I'd have to shovel as much of the snow out of the car as I could before leaving home. My hair was long at the time, and once I left home after washing it, without letting it dry first, and it froze straight back from the wind, which I would suppose was amusing to anyone who was next to me at a light. The wipers would never work in the rain, although they worked fine otherwise, and I kept a thick towel in the car that I use to put out the engine fires that would occasionally ignite. Since the motor was in the back, I didn't usually know that my car was on fire until someone let me know about it. I had a hard time getting a date during those years. I never did figure out why.
I would not date a guy unless he had a car and of course he had to let me drive it. So if girls in your area had the same thoughts I had at that time I can understand no dates for you.
1957 Buick Century my stepfather gave me so he wouldn't have to come pick me up after school activities. That was a real tank, though it did have power steering and brakes (a danger when I ran out of gas from time to time, as if the engine was not running it was nearly impossible to steer and even harder to stop.... almost ran into the side of a store while trying to park the thing when the motor had stopped). I think I could get about ten people into that thing. I do remember me and at least six friends driving to Denver to see an Andy Warhol exhibition at the modern art museum. The steering wheel was at least 2 foot in diameter, bench seats in front and back, could be started without a key, headlights controlled by a click button on the floor you stepped on with your left toe. Now, all this doesn't make me all that old, I got this car and drove it in '76-'77, until it didn't pass the state care inspection because of the brakes. I was sorry to see it sold, for $30 bucks (seems like a standard car price, right Ken? ha), but whoever bought it probably fixed it up, it was in excellent body shape.
Beautiful picture of your Buick. When I first moved to California it was interesting to see cars like yours being driven low to the ground then jacked up in the air or bouncing up and down the street.
A 1956 Ford Audubon! I bought it in West Point, N.Y. for 50 beans and drove it all the way to Savannah, Ga. Of course, it was 1970 when I made the trip and it did not actually make it in one full piece. The muffler and tail pipe fell off about 25 miles south of N.Y. city, the wood on one door flew away, and a few more things were scattered here and there. I wound up being 2 days AWOL, but thank God I was not charged. The commanding officer looked at the car prior to giving me an article 15 and told me he understood the problem and the mis-communication when I called in to report my tardy condition. (the clerk and I were total enemies). He did remark that if he could, he would have given me an article 15 based on "stupidity" for buying the car but that particular offense was not listed in the U.S. Army regs. (and there was no training manual to support buying old civilian cars, ergo, a soldier cannot be held responsible for what he is not trained to do! IMHO)
My first care was a 1965 Chevrolet Biscayne. My sweet parents converted it from a straight gear to an automatic, because I never got the hang of using a straight gear! I know it was a huge sacrifice for them to do this for me at that time.
I paid $30 for my third car too. After I hit a deer, destroying my VW, I was going to hitchhike to California but a couple of friends of mine wanted to come too, so we paid $30 for an old Rambler. I don't remember the year but it was the type where the front seat would fold down into the back, creating a bed. It would have been a nice car for someone who had the money to fix it up. It had to be push-started, so we didn't shut it off. In New Mexico, it started pouring smoke out of the back, and would barely move. As I was driving on the shoulder, the state police tried to pull me over. Rolling down the window, I explained that it wouldn't start again if I pulled it over so he led me to the next exit, and to an auto junk yard in Tucumcari, where I sold it for $50, and we hitchhiked the rest of the way.
My first car was actually a pick-up. It was a 1957 Ford 1/2 ton. Bright yellow and very fast. It was not exactly the best looking vehicle in my Sosh High School, Burbank High, but it was mine and that is all that mattered! I wish I still had it.
My 1937 Buick Special...straight eight. Before I got my license, I spent all winter in the cellar painting on the white side walls.
My first car was a 1952 Ford. I bought it when I was in the USAF in 1960. It was 8 years old. Today we have a 2002 Ford Explorer (13 years old) and a 2003 F150 ( 12 years old). Somehow this doesn't seem right.
Wouldn't it be nice if we had been able to keep every car we've ever owned. Over the course of my driving life, I've had, let's see - 1969 Chevy Impala 1975 AMC Matador (I wouldn't want to save it) 1979 Firebird (new) 1965 Maserati Mistral 1985 Corvette (new and totaled a year later, not my fault) 1984 Jaguar XJS 1973 Corvette 1967 Camaro 1984 Lotus Esprit 1989 Volvo (new, after my son was born, hated it, but kept it for almost 10 years since it was the most practical car I've ever owned) 1993 Ford F-250 (new) 1997 Ford Mustang (new, and really fun) 1979 Triumph Spitfire Rigid framed hot rod - drag car, not street legal Front engined dragster 1939 Ford 2-door custom built replica hot rod 1997 Ford F-350 crew-cab duallie (new, to tow the hot rods to the drag strip) 1999 Mercedes C-280 (new, loved it and still have it today) 1999 Chevy Suburban (to tow all our scuba and other junk around) 2005 Mazda Miata (new) 2005 Ford Mustang (we bought for my son) 1992 Ford F150 2013 Volkswagen CC (new, the Mercedes is on it's last legs, sadly, so this was the best we could afford) Of course, I'd hate to have to pay for the tags and insurance on all those cars. And this list doesn't even include the cars my husband had before we got married.
My first vehicle was a second hand 1956 Ford 100E van, I put side windows into it fitted a tailgate and changed the gearbox for a 4 speed one, it looked like this when I had finished, but sadly within a few weeks my brother who had just passed his driving test, took it out and crashed it into a ditch, so it was a write off.
I only drove my parent's car a few times after I got my drivers license at 16. My first car was when I married my husband and he had a brand new 1970 white Ford Torino with a red stripe along the side. One of my favorite cars was my camero in the early 70's.