Your first car

[Volffas]

1976 Chevy Nova 4 door with a straight 6. I bought it in 1995 and paid $350. It was my cousin's grandma's car. I think it had 78k miles on it or so. I bought it about 2 months before my 16th birthday. I spent those 2 months washing, waxing and cleaning it out, and then the next 2 years driving it like I was in a demolition derby. That thing held up well. Of course we did have to replace basically the whole driver's side of the car after one of the wrecks I was in, so it ended up being 1/2 brown and 1/2 beige. Everyone knew it was me when I pulled in somewhere!

I think they should put the high beam switch back on the floor like the old cars had.

This isn't my car, but mine looked identical to this when I first got it.

 

[GiddYupJoe]

1991 Pontiac Grand Prix. I only drove it for about a year and then "upgraded" to this sweet 1987 EXP.

 

[PEARCE]

I had a '83 Ford LTD in sky blue or baby blue. I wasn't crazy about the color, but we bought it from my grandfather for next to nothing and I had wheels. By that year it was a mid size with a carborated 3.8 v6 with a 4 speed auto. Yeah, it was a sleeper! I put a high power Clarion cassette deck and a pair of Alpine 6x9's in the rear deck and me and my buddies would rocking and rollin'!

 

[RightStuff]

I had a white 1989 Ford Taurus wagon, in white like this:

Never bought a Ford again after that, must have scared me for life!

 

[AZDANSX230HO]

I had a white 1989 Ford Taurus wagon, in white like this:

Never bought a Ford again after that, must have scared me for life!

That's funny, I sold cars after I got out of high school in 1987, worked at a Ford Dealership and sold a few of those LOL.

 

[RightStuff]

I bet you didn't sell many of them to 16 year old kids!

 

[AZDANSX230HO]

I bet you didn't sell many of them to 16 year old kids!

Nope, I worked in Yucca Valley, CA which was near the Twentynine Palms Marine Corp Base, sold a ton of entry level cars to the young Marines, based on the rank/pay we directed them to the cars the could afford which were Ford Escorts, etc.

 

[VONCE]

First car was a 1992 Jeep Cherokee. I started working when I was 14 and saved all my money and bought it when I was 17. It was overpriced and I was young and dumb but I liked it.



A year or two later I got my first motorcycle. It was a 1984 Honda VFR 500 Interceptor in immaculate condition. No need to tell me I'm an idiot for not keeping that. Once again, young and dumb. Sold it for way too little so I could get a later model crotch rocket. I guess one good thing did come out of that, though. The rocket was an R6. It was the R6 that sparked my love with Yamaha!

 

[Bennie]

In preparation for my beautiful Yamaha - my first car was a 1978 Lincoln Continental (land yacht). $500
I had an oxidized brown paint job and a dirty cream top but the same rims and always flawless vogue tires. If I remember correctly it was about just shy of 19ft long!!
The ride was amazingly smooth... but the damn double solenoid kept my Lincoln in the yard most day and me just washing it after I would walk back home from school. Don't miss it but would love to have it again - now that I have the money to make it actually look like the pic below.

 

[Ilmmct]

1973 Datsun B210 mustard colored - when I got it (in 1978) it had so much rot I used cardboard to keep the water from splashing on my feet

 

[RightStuff]

In preparation for my beautiful Yamaha - my first car was a 1978 Lincoln Continental (land yacht).

I love the look of the old Continentals, in fact I think I would buy one today if I found a decent late 60s one, just love the suicide doors. The 2017 is pretty good looking too actually.

 

[piney1]

I love Hemmings - great way to waste time and daydream. They have a very sweet one like in the picture:

1979 Lincoln Continental Collectors Series
http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/dealer/lincoln/continental/1852460.html

In preparation for my beautiful Yamaha - my first car was a 1978 Lincoln Continental (land yacht). $500
I had an oxidized brown paint job and a dirty cream top but the same rims and always flawless vogue tires. If I remember correctly it was about just shy of 19ft long!!
The ride was amazingly smooth... but the damn double solenoid kept my Lincoln in the yard most day and me just washing it after I would walk back home from school. Don't miss it but would love to have it again - now that I have the money to make it actually look like the pic below.

 

[viper15]

1985 Camaro Iroc Z. Not mine in the pic, but same car. Pretty badass for a high school kid in the early 90s.

 

[yammiman]

This is my first car - it has a neat story behind it - my mother bought this car new and I bought it from her my Junior year in High School - my wife and I (High School sweethearts) went on our first date in this car - had the car in the garage for years and years, then finally done a frame off restoration on it - put a 550hp aluminum headed 455 in it - runs 11's on street drag radials with a stock converter - still have it, my favorite car to drive and will probably pass it down to one of my three kids!!

 

[Dwain Oliver]

1982 Camaro Berlinetta. Chevy's add is a bit misleading claiming " responsive power", that car could barely get out of its own way....

 

[tim h]

here she is... Price was right, cuz Dad drove it for a while then gave it to me when I got my License at 16.
Mine was a 1977 but looked the same.

Used alot of oil, never leaked any however.

Now imagine typical Wisconsin rust on that baby... NEVER picked up a single chick...



Now my pride and joy 1985 RZ350. NEVER SHOULD HAVE SOLD IT !
I bought with my sister as a cosigner on a $1300 loan at 17. Loved that thing !
Picked up chicks very well.. And then wheelied with everyone of them
Same bike today can be had for 3 to 6k

 

[haknslash]

My first was a 1984 Chevy S10 when I was 15. I paid for half of it from cutting yards and laying sod and my parents agreed to pay the other half. It originally had big ass 4x4 tires so I lowered it, modded the 2.8L engine and learned to drive manual 4 speed. I ended up blowing up two engines and one transmission from racing and hot dogging it lol. A lot of good memories are made in your first vehicle! To this day I still think it's the best body style Chevy or GMC ever made for the small trucks.

Yes those are "blackouts" (remember those?) on the headlights compete with neon front tag frame and "twin" wipers lol. Those were the days haha

My first bike was a 1998 Honda CBR 600 F3 that had some go fast goodies on it enough to beat the 750's of the day.

 

[biglar155]

When I talk about my first car it brings back a lot of memories and I'm always compelled to tell this story.

I got REAL lucky. My Dad's job had been up-and-down over the years. The area we lived in is economically depressed in GOOD times. In the '80's it was a disaster. Work was always uncertain due to layoffs, the company (a copper mine) changing hands, strikes, etc. I was probably the only kid in grade-school who could tell you the price of copper per pound on any given day of the week. When Jan Tucker came on WMPL to give the Ontonagon news, you can bet conversation stopped until we knew what was going on at the mine and what copper was selling for that day. We lived and died by it.

So along comes my HS graduation in 1989. Things had been going well - Dad had been working steady for nearly 5 years with no layoffs(!). One day Dad got a huge unexpected payout from work: They had been running Employee-Owned and a big German mining company came along and was buying them out. My Dad got a check the likes of which the family would never see again, but it would be impressive even nowadays. Back then it was almost like a lottery win.

So my Mom - being the type that doesn't waste a nickle and can squeeze every last cent out of a dollar - divided the bonus up as such: The majority would go to a 401(k) retirement account. Because the work situation hadn't been good Dad didn't have much saved up. This payout fixed that problem instantly. The next part would go towards tearing down the little hovel of a building they had on their "camp" (75 feet of waterfront property about 15 miles away from our house) and building a proper cottage.

One last portion was used to me a car. (The logic being that I needed a vehicle to drive to college and my $3.35/hr part time job at the grocery store wasn't going to pay for much of anything.) I was told I had a $10K budget. Go shopping and if they approve, it's mine. It has to be new because they don't want a rig in constant need of repair.

So as I was finishing the test drive of a Ford Escort Pony at the local Ford dealer, I pulled back into the lot and parked next to a sporty looking thing that had the same price tag on it as the Pony. It was a Mustang LX Hatchback.

It took some convincing to talk my parents into it - RWD in snow country isn't the most practical thing - but in the end I won out: A black 1989 Mustang LX 5-speed/4-cylinder with Option Package 240B (power windows, locks, and remote trunk release), A/C, and rear defrost. We had to special-order it to get the manual transmission version (the automatic was even more anemic if that was possible). A month of waiting seemed an eternity.

It had no power at all, but it sure was nice to look at and fun enough to drive back in the day. It will always be the best car I ever owned. The memories made in that care are priceless to me. I met my wife in that car, made my first road-trip in that car, and got my first job as an Engineer in that car.

The first summer I had it, I washed and waxed it EVERY weekend. I'd put off doing things with friends if the car hadn't been detailed yet that weekend. Dad always said he swore the thing had 1/4" hard shell of turtle wax covering it.

I sold it in 1995 for roughly enough to pay the sales tax on a new F150. It was sad to see her go, but she was pretty well worn down to the nub.

If you go through all of the old books and manuals in my basement, you just might stumble across a very worn out brochure for the 1989 Mustang. Please don't throw it out. I'm still saving it.

 

[Ramblin Wreck]

Great thread. Brings back some fond memories. My first ride was a 1987 Chevy S10 Blazer with the severely under powered 2.8. I bought it with 160k miles and delivered pizzas 4 days a week for 5 years thru high school and into college. The speedometer quit working the last couple years I owned it, so there's no telling how many miles it really had. It was a very reliable truck. My girlfriend at the time (wife now) put a lot of hours in the passenger seat. She spent every Saturday riding with me while I delivered pizzas for 9 to 10 hours. I wouldn't run the air conditioning because it burned more fuel and she would just sweat in the hot Georgia heat and just love tagging along. Man how times have changed....



When I graduated high school I surprised my Mom by showing up with this in the driveway. Luckily she let me store it in the garage. Mine was actually all silver though. Drove it 80+ miles per day to college for 2 years. I was way to young and dumb, but amazingly never dropped it or killed myself. I did have a lot of fun though!

 

[96Pirate]

Not mine but an '87 Mustang GT 5spd all blacked out. Bought it with about 11k miles and sold with about 50k for less than they are going for now. Oh how I wish I kept that car. Lots of close calls but I am still here today. But I was stupid to pay the insurance that I did for it.

I am actually looking to relive my past and pick one up as a project car or just a joy car. Not serious enough yet to pull the trigger on any but might as the prices are rising. Mostly convertibles for sale or cars all modded up.

This one is up for sale on EBay but it is an automatic.