Does your first car hold a special place in your heart?

[aja8888]

1951 Chevrolet 4 door sedan bought for $35 out of a junk yard. Once I got it running and tagged,it wasn't much to talk about. Here's the only photo I have of it.

 

[REWahoo]

Does your first car hold a special place in your heart? Why?

1956 Chevy...and yes, most definitely yes.

In the fall of 1962 my parents bought a new car, a 1963 Chevy - the least expensive, zero options model dad could find. I had just started my soph year in HS, quit the football team, and started working part-time after school and weekends at Safeway. Dad didn't trade in the old car, telling me I could drive it since I was working. He would pay for the insurance but everything else was on my dime.

Dad had purchased the car new in 1955, a 1956 Chevy Bel Air two door sedan. Had an in-line 6 with a "three on the tree" shift manual transmission. And like the new car that replaced it, it had zero options - not even a radio. Heck, it didn't even have an oil filter, which meant the oil had to be changed every 1,000 miles!

Think it had about 75,000 miles on it when I started driving it and I recall the odometer (and speedometer) stopped working at 110,000 miles, when I was a freshman in college. No way to know how many miles it had by the time the engine blew while driving it home from college my sophomore year - it rolled to a stop for the last time at the side of the road, just a few miles outside my home town. Dad had it towed and sold it for $200. He gave the money to me to use for a down payment to buy my own car.

I remember I had worn the oil pan drain hole so large from all the oil changes that even a double-oversize drain plug was too small to prevent the oil pan dripping.

Great memories in that car, especially of a Swedish exchange student my senior year in high school. She did an amazing job of broadening my horizons and allowing me to experience things I had previously only imagined.

Except for the fancy wheels and lack of whitewall tires, this is the exact car/color:

 

[njhowie]

1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass

 

[pacergal]

Inherited many hand me downs from parents.
The first car DH and I bought was an old 280Z, don't remember the year. It was awful, always needing work.
Finally sold it and bought a small Toyota Pick up. I loved that one!

 

[txtig]

After dropping out of college (I later dropped back in and graduated), I got a full time job and bought a new 1974 Ford Econoline 100 cargo van . . . a stripped down model with no bells and no whistles. I outfitted it with shag carpeting, paneled walls and ceilings, a nifty under-dash cassette player, box speakers and a couple of bean bag chairs. It took me cross country a number of times, serving as both my means of transportation and my home on the road. Rumor had it that it was a pretty good place to acquire an illegal smile. I do miss that old van, but thinking back, I guess it was foreshadowing my current toy, a 38’ Class A motorhome.

 

[jfn111]

My first car was a 1960 Corvair that was a hand me down from my sister. That car was a POS but it was mine and I loved it.

 

[aja8888]

My second car (after the 1951 Chev bit the dust for the second time) was a 1947 Plymouth. I loved this car and it was a "boat" being propelled by a 80 HP straight six (flathead) with a three speed manual transmission. The back seat was ENORMOUS and served me and my girlfriend well. Drive in movie visits with that car were memorable.

I have no photos of the car but here is a representative one:

 

[Morgan22]

First car was an AMC Gremlin that my sibling and I purchased together and shared. Brother found it at an auction for us. It lasted about six months. POS

 

[chilkoot]

First car was a Mercury Capri which, coincidentally, also caught fire one time. Luckily this was just outside a repair shop and they let me use their extinguisher while the fire was still very small. I let them do the repairs since there was no towing involved and it actually ran again. Still needed something or other to be fixed about once a month. POS.

 

[Keim]

I just took my restored 76 Monte Carlo out for a cruise this morning. Got it in 1984.

 

[Tom52]

My first car at age 16 was 1963 Impala Super Sport with 327 engine and 4 speed tranny. I paid $550 for it in 1969. I had it for two years and traded it in on a 1969 Camaro. Guy across the street saw that I traded in the Impala and immediately went out and bought my old car.

Both of my first two cars are fondly remembered.

 

[cbo111]

'64 Datsun pickup truck, paid $200 for it in 1974. Bald tires, bad cylinder rings. It smoked like a chimney and required the addition of a quart of oil every 50 miles. The spark plugs would foul every month or so and need to be replaced. The passenger door would fly open once in a while, giving my passengers quite a start. The windshield wiper motor was inoperative. Fixing would require complete removal of the dashboard, costing more than the car was worth. It was, therefore, not a rainy day vehicle. A real hunk of junk, but I loved it.

 

[38Chevy454]

My 68 Pontiac GTO, still have it after 40 years now and continues. Rebuilt engine and repainted stock color when I was 16. Still runs great. But needing an exterior refresh. It has been a second car or less since I was 18. GTO is an all original numbers matching car, my hot rodding was at 18 built a V8 Vega. That was my college car. The GTO stayed at home since it was too nice to take to college.

 

[aaronc879]

In 1996, at age 17(or maybe a couple months before I turned 17?), I had saved up almost $3000 from saving birthday money, and allowance for years as well as making a little money mowing lawns of neighbors. I spent $1500 of it on my first car, a 1986 Toyota Corolla. Nothing special but it felt great paying cash and having my very own car. Insurance was crazy expensive and I had to pay for it all myself but it was worth it. No more school bus or walking 2 miles to and from school in the snow and cold. I was able to leave my neighborhood and get a real job to make better money.

 

[Marita40]

Loved my first car. Bright orange manual Opel Kadett, not sure of the year but I got it used in 1977. Black leather interior that gave me burns in the summer. Kind of a fish tail. Did I say bright orange? It positively glowed! I was the envy of my college house.

 

[Koolau]

Very first car was a '49 Chevy 2-door. It cost $50 but it did run. Did a valve job on it by hand. Needed rings but never wanted that much work. A nothing car, but it was mine.

 

[GoBears]

Not at all. In 1984, I purchased my dad’s ‘79 brown, 4-Door VW Rabbit and took it to Davis for 3 years of law school. I was very happy to replace it with a new ‘87 Honda Prelude after I graduated.

 

[VanWinkle]

1965 Black Mustang 2dr coupe. That car was a "chick magnet", I just didn't know it. Took my wife on our first date to a burger drive in in that car. Lots of memories about my first car.

 

[ckelly78z]

My first car was a 1973 bronze colored Pinto with the 2.3L 4 cylinder that ran really well until I was hit by a freight train doing that was doing about 45 mph.

The car I TRULY loved, and still want back was the one I got just after graduating high school...a 1978 Datsun 280Z Dark green, with a tan interior, 4 speed, and fuel injected inline 6 motor. I have had about 20 of these cars over the years in various states of repair, but still love the whole combo of what I had back in 1983.

 

[Andre1969]

My first car was a medium blue 1980 Malibu coupe, with the 229 V6. My Mom bought it new in February of 1980, and when I got my license, she used that as an excuse to get a new, but end-of-the-model-year, '86 Monte Carlo. I do have fond memories of it, although I think much of that is simply because of those nostalgic, relatively care-free teenage years. Among my group of friends though, it was, sadly, the "musclecar" of the bunch. Speaks volumes for that era, I guess.

Oddly, every once in awhile, that Malibu will pop up in a dream, for some reason. Once in a blue moon, some other car I've had in the past, or currently own, might pop up as well, but for some reason, that Malibu seems to pop up more often.

 

[pjm-7]

At 21 the parents told me I was my own in 1979. My brothers got hand me down cars from the parents but I had to buy my own. I purchased a 1974 Pontiac Ventura. It had a big 350 V-8. It sucked gas, but it definitely could haul butt up a mountain. It cost $950.

Since I was going to school and just started working full-time I couldn't pay cash (also needed money for plates and insurance). The dealer gave me a 3 month loan for $250. When I was able to pay off the loan in two months (this was my start of paying off loans early) I called the dealer to ask about the pay off with interest. The owner told me if I paid it off tomorrow he would waive the interest. Sweet.

About six or so years later I was working at a bank and come to find out the car dealer was the uncle of the branch manager. One day when I was helping Mr. Car Dealer I told he about my first loan and what he had done for me. Of course he did not remember the situation. I told him how much it meant to me at a tough time. I still appreciate at that to this day.

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

1983 Volkswagen GTI. No power steering, no power windows, no air conditioning, numerous electrical problems. I was always fixing something, but that car was SO MUCH FUN to zip around in.

 

[Red Badger]

Cars. THE social media of the boomer generation. There is nothing more to add.

 

[aja8888]

Well, my first two cars I posted earlier about, did not have much in the way of meaning to me as they were non-descript so to say, but they provided freedom as a teen. The car that I really miss was my 1965 Vette, which I sold shortly after college due to a change in working location (moved from CT to MI). I don't have any actual photos of it, but here is the twin:



I remember selling it for $2500. Today, to replace it would be about $70K in great condition.

Same color (Glen Green), both tops (soft and hard).

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

My first car was a 1981 Toyota Starlet. Think Corolla, but two door hatchback and rear wheel drive. It got great mileage and the expensive Blaupunkt stereo (and big arse home speakers in the back) made it a fun ride. Well, except for that time when I was out joy riding at 3 AM on I-20 a few miles outside of downtown Atlanta when the rear end locked up. Nothing like spinning out in the middle of the interstate!

I have only seen one other Starlet in my life, and it belonged to an airplane mechanic friend of mine. He loved that car and it looked like it was brand new. I hear they are collectible of sorts, not sure why though.

My first car was a 1980 Chevy Monza my parents got for me in 1986 for about $1500. It was cute and red and had a nice shiny chrome luggage rack on the trunk for some reason.

My best bud in HS had one of those, what a POS. One weekend, my friend, his sister and I went on a roadtrip in northern Alabama. His sister had just turned 16 and wanted to drive. All was fine and dandy until she decided to pass a car on a two lane road going UP HILL. The two speed transmission screamed as we slowed went around the other car...but we are pretty sure the louder it got, the slower the car was going. Pretty soon, a large truck appeared in front of us and instead of slowing and getting behind the passee, she kept on gunning it. Since I am posting today, we survived...but pretty sure I lost about 2 years off my life that day.

1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass

My Dad had a 1970 442 convertible. It was such a sweet ride and I will admit that I took it out once or twice without his permission. The 455 drank gas like it was going out of style, but it sure would haul down the road! If I had an infinite amount of money, I would probably have to buy this beautiful article... https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/dealer/oldsmobile/442/2397352.html