<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by joe bloggs:

That's what makes these stories so great! That's why I thought this might be a cool thread. I hate to sound like such an old man...but today's kids just don't wanna start out with a jalopy...they want the best, newest cars right away, & I think they're missing out on a lot of fun. Fun in sort of a perverse way.
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Not entirely true Joe... but then you haven't yet met my kids. They've had me for a dad remember, and that means more common (non)sense, and less interest in the material things... in other words, be happy for what you got, and what you get! My son got a quite used (I mean QUITE) 1990 Subaru Loyale (i think there's only 3 in existance!)for his birthday last year, given to him by his uncle, who had used it as a delivery car for his business... the mileage was about 940,000, or something obscene like that... beat up a bit, leaking oil (ain't parked in MY driveway!!!), and originally no radio... but it was a working putt-putt, fire-engine red.... my son fell in love... and since i helped him get a nice CD/Radio installed as part of his gift, it became the coolest thing on 3 1/2 wheels! He couldn't take it to school this year, since freshmen don't get parking priveleges... but he still thinks to ask about his jalopy every week or so, and can't wait to visit it come thanksgiving!!! He'll have some great stories when he's older!!

Cool, Arnie! It's the same here----My 3 kids will all become of driving age within a 5-year period, & if each one thinks they're getting a brand new car from me, he or she is REALLY dreaming!

Right now I got a 2001 Ford Windstar & a 1991 Honda Civic----I only buy cars in years that end in "1"----and I'm always telling the kids to get attached to the Civic, as it might be what they're driving some day!

my parents gave me my first car when i was a senior in high school after my brother had it. it was a '69 datson with a green flowered top and a black racing stripe down the back. when my father first bought it for himself i was so embarrassed! but by the time i got i loved it! you could easily pick that car out of a parking lot!!

the first car i ever bought myself was a 1975 dodge dart...i hated that car but it was cheap!

i have a habit of squeezing my money's worth out of a car... we finally traded in our 1977 Corolla in '94 for our first Minivan... but we still have the '87 Maxima GE, which is a standard transmission (we enjoy stick shifts! My son had to learn to drive the stick right away, since the original plan was for him to 'share' use of that car with me... he thought it kinda cool, but his own car was of course cooler! Our big decision is which car to part with next, since the fleet needs a little renewing soon... we don't own a car with less than 110,000 miles!!!!!

Hi guys my first car was a 65 Studabaker.It was the last year they made them. I bought it for 100.00 dollars. I wish I still had it. It's probably worth a fortune now.

Oh, yeah. Hey, if most of us still had our first cars, that'd pay for a few concerts. I don't know if first cars are as much fun now as they were back a few decades. For one thing, it seems to be a lot harder to be a do-it-yourself mechanic and then a lot more expensive to fix them if you're not doing it yourself. Also the state, at least this one, has totally lost its sense of humor about what passes inspection. I think that old clunkers are more headache than joy now.

Wow, I didn't know they made Studebakers that late. For some reason I had thought their last yr was in '62. My memory must've gone LOL! The neat stuff ya learn on here...

Hi Cheryl yes I'm pretty sure it was a 65, it didn't have the big fins on the back like most. It was sorta like a two door sedan not very long like the big fin cars. Come to think of it is the only one like it I've ever seen. They probably didn't make many.

First Car. 65 Olds Delta 88 with a 454 rocket! If it only would of had wings instead of a 4 barrel carb.

First car I ever bought 69 VW Bug. Cold as hell in the winter.

First Brand new car 1980 Chevy Luv
But don't remember much of the 80's. Life can be funny that way.

very true pat... when i travelled cross country with my 74 Toyota Corona, I learned how to replace/repair just about every part short of the tranny and the engine block! Did my own tuneups, oil changes, etc. Replaced an altenator in the middle of Utah, the starter in St. Louis, and again in L.A. (quality control on rebuilt starters sucks!) and numerous pieces along the way...
Engines today are not the simple "lawnmower" engines we dealt with... that's for sure, and like you said, there's a plot afoot to "Inspect" our cars to an early grave... Not only is it a chance your car won't pass the emissions testing, but the machinery is so expensive and delicate, that they're allowed to NOT inspect your car for a whole list of reasons that might 'damage' the testing machines... meaining you gotta get oil leaks and other age-related stuff fixed before they'll even let you on the machine (to fail!)
that idea of moving to a farm and raising horses starts to sound pretty good now....

My first car was a '76 Plymouth Volare. It was the Motor Trends Car of the Year that year, as I recall. Well, it may have been "Big Sky Blue", but that car was a lemon. The door actually flew open one time when I went around a curve. Good thing I was wearing a seatbelt. I drove it over to my brother's house. He looked at the door and said it was being held on by one turn of one screw. I've never seen my brother so mad, before or since. And then there was the time the window in the passenger's side door fell inside the door (We discovered it was really an Aspen door then), and the time the rear window had a space of about one inch between the edge of the glass and the molding....

I don't know why, but I kept the thing for 4 years.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by rbrown:

First Car. 65 Olds Delta 88 with a 454 rocket! If it only would of had wings instead of a 4 barrel carb.

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i have a 67 convetable same enginge when you floor it you can almost watch the gas gage go down. that is if you can move your head from the head rest at that point.

hmmmm I had a 74 delta 88,,,was a 455 Rocket i believe,,,,once you kicked in the secondary,s you changed to measuring gas consumption to fpg(feet per gallon!!!

Yeah, that's a kick-ass motor. To think of it, my gang was WAY ahead of our time. Most everyone wore seat belts when riding in that car. As long as you didn't kick in the 4 barrel too much, I got like 18 miles to the gallon.

People used to pull up and try and race allot. I used to screw with them for awhile, but I always chickened out. Usually at the last minute...

*I remember my friend Norm driving in the fog (under the influence of Window-Pane) one night. I thought sure it was the end. The guy couldn't drive for shit, and I was having a hard time talking (walking)

...those were the days

Yeah, Pat: you have to go to Mexico and like that to find the truly imaginative and inspirational when it comes to cars, anymore. (Inspection? We don't need no steenking inspection ...) Recycling takes on a whole new meaning in some parts of the planet.

First car? Let's see ... I did have an '80 Honda Civic for almost two whole years, a decade or so ago. That's my automotive ownership experience thus far, but one can always hope, can't one?

Yeah. One can.