I've been reading that the guys want their (our) own thread. This could be a good one---Suppose we reminisce about our first cars? The ladies are allowed here, too---I'd never discriminate---but while you're here, ladies, you're one of the guys.

My first was a 1963 Olds F-85 owned by my grandfather, Giuseppe Bloogs. He suffered a heart attack in '67 & was forbidden to drive. He locked the car in our garage, & told me, as the oldest grandchild, that it was mine. I was 9 years old! My mom used it for short errands to keep it running.

In PA, you can get a drivers license at 16, but back then I preferred walking or riding a bicycle---I still prefer walking, in fact---so I got mine at 18. It was 1976, & I had a 15-year-old car with less than 30,000 miles on it.

I know nothing about motors or engines or car parts. When my cars break down, I open the hood & look for that red arrow that says, here's the problem. But I can say this---

It was big, a dark powder blue color. Had those fins in the back, but not as big as they were on cars from the '50's. Sat low to the ground---you could sure feel every bump & pothole. No seat belts, AM radio only, no AC---but it had those side window vents. What was better than those vents? It was like a tank---I wrecked it in about 1977---the other car was smashed & needed towed---I had a tiny dent that a body man hammered out. Great pick-up on the highway, too, & good on gas.

I was still driving it in 1982 when I took my wife on our first date. My mom offered me her new car, but I declined. I always figured that women should know right up front that they're dealing with a maniac. The car was leaking transmission fluid, & I was stopping & pulling over every few blocks to put transmission fluid in---I learned how to do that out of necessity. We still laugh about it.

Many times I'd pull it into a gas station & the attendant would start raving about the F-85 he once owned. They'd ask what kind of engine, how many cylinders, etc., & I had no clue, so I'd let 'em look under the hood.

I'd love to still have that car today, but it died & even before that it was getting too hard to get any necessary parts.

Any other guys wanna join in? Or females who wanna be guys for a little bit?

<center><FONT COLOR="#000080">--- Edited 1 times, lastly by joe bloggs on Oct 14, 2001 ---</FONT></center>

My first car was a silver Mustang with a sun roof. I later got rid of it tho even tho I liked it cuz it was cutting off at intersections sometimes which was scary. Got to the point I was having to drive Mikes T-Bird he had at the time. These days a Chevy gets me around. I love antique cars tho. Alot of folks think that's unusual for a chick but I think they are so cool. We like to go to this free antique car show at a local Food Lion Grocery store they have every week during the summer...

my first car was a 1973 red vw super beetle. this was in the early '80s - cuz my grandma and grandpa both lived with us, the family always had plenty of vehicles, and adding more was not a priority for pw or myself.

it looked great from the outside, and it ran like a top, but you could see the road through the floor boards. i paid $300 for it. the plan from the start was to weld a big piece of sheet metal to the bottom.

a friend of the family was gonna do that, and he took a hammer and started tapping on the rust, to figure out where to place the welds. turned out the answer was "no where", since the frame was rusted through. he bought my car for the engine for $100 more than what i'd paid for it.

i'd gotten to drive it maybe 5 times - with my passengers - never more than one at a time - sitting on the back seat, wrapped in a blanket. it would have looked GREAT with a trinity racing symbol on the side, tho.

like star, i always had a car to use around the house when i was younger, so my first car was bought in 1972 when i started working. it was a brand new mercury comet, which was really a ford mustang...bright red. i didn't know anything about cars back then...remember stopping at a full service gas station (they still had them back then) and asking the guy to add some windshield washer fluid for me. he said he would...but he didn't want me to ever have to pay gas station charges for something like that again, so he had me get out of my car and learn how to do it myself. i was feeling pretty stupid when i realized just how easy it was.

It was great to check this thread this morning & see all you "guys" here!

well, pretty much in keeping with my roots..
those of you that know me will understand that my first car wasn't actally mine.

i do remember it being a pontiac lemans though.

56 Chevy. Sure wish I had it now. I'd sell it in heartbeat for what they're now going for. Bought it for $50. My ex-husband's cousin kind of stole it, though. We did lend it to him, but just to use around the neighborhood, not to leave the state for several years, with no forwarding address. He brought along some small appliances from the furnished apartment he was renting, too.

63 Chevy Bel Air.

my grandma had a black chevy bel air with a red interior - what a GREAT car!

the next one was a 66 Chevy Impala SS. Six months later, after the 63 fell apart.

<center><FONT COLOR="#000080">--- Edited 1 times, lastly by Larry on Oct 15, 2001 ---</FONT></center>

not my first car... but one i remember well... my boyfriend's (now ex-husband) '58 Chevy Delray (poor man's BelAir)... black with gray interior...

My first car was a green '70 Nova, 3-speed on the column...

My 1st car was a '61 Renault Dauphine, front & back were almost identical...It had a "town & country" horn, & if you held the horn down & flipped the switch, back & forth, it yodelled!
spare tire was behind a drop-down door, behind front bumper, looked like a big black tongue, no power, but it handled well.
French cars are eccentric!

<center><FONT COLOR="#000080">--- Edited 1 times, lastly by Bumper on Oct 15, 2001 ---</FONT></center>

First one here was a '55 Olds Rocket 88. Car had been owned by the proverbial old lady. She died, and the car cost me $80.

It was a 25 year old car already when I got it, meaning that all the rubber parts had rotted from disuse. The V8 engine compression was a bit low, though the gaskets seemed OK and the NASCAR version 4-bbl carburetor still worked like a champ. You could drive around for weeks on just the primary 2 barrels, then you'd floor it and the afterburners would kick in. About a gallon of gas and one hell of a noise later, you were breaking any speed limit in these US of A.

The exhaust pipes were pretty well eaten out so it wasn't too long before the crossover pipe fell out. Then the car sounded like a NASCAR Olds would sound. Nobody had to guess when I was coming. I sold the car before I got around to replacing the pipes. I got $100 for it.

-Z

Very first was a 66 Opel, but I had several 56 chev. when they were selling for $75 each, still one of the best cars made. My most useless one was a MG Midgett and I am 6 foot 3, so I left the top down to get in and out of it. Speeding tickets you bet.

The Princess was awarded Grandpa's 1976 (I think it was) AMC Hornet `Sportabout', after the old gentleman passed on. Nothing sporty about that car, although it was two-tone... the doors were a lovely shade of red, and the rest of the car was dirt brown. The Princess's mother (that would be the Queen) advised that she (the Princess) should pay Mr. Scheib (Earl Scheib, that is, I'll paint ANY car for $89, no ups, no downs) to paint the Royal Carriage one color, but the Princess, being thrifty (as most Princesses are) could not see the point of investing any money in such a piece of. Crap, that is. She also recalls it being the most exciting vehicle, in that it had the annoying habit of dying on the expressway when one was doing about 65 miles an hour . It also backfired, leading the Princess to believe she would suffer an untimely death in the exploding two-toned car . LOL.