What was your first car ?
 

OK gang, lets see who is paying attention. <BR>The true origin of our love of travel is probably our first car. Mine was a 1959 VW bug bought for $500 in 1969. I had it painted purple, took out the back seat(pure adolescent fantasy) , put in curtains, put of wide tires and thought I was hot stuff! Now it takes a little more to ring my bell, like a little trip to Europe, and now I spend my free hours on this board. So, what was your first car? <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR>the

Well mine was a 1951 4-door Pontiac sedan--bought second hand in 1956. I needed a car because I'd been hired to teach in a VERY rural part of West Virginia and a car was required to even get to a half-way decent supermarket. <BR> On a good day it gave me 7 miles to the gallon, but gasoline cost 25 cents per gallon in those days. I kept it until 1961 (when it seemed to be falling apart)--but it had moved me from West Virginia to Louisiana via Indiana. Thanks for reminding me. Joan

<BR>Mine was a '54 4-door grey Pontiac purchased for $200.00 cash when I was in college somewhere around l963. It was a tank!

My first car was a 1968 maroon Pontiac Catalina. That thing could move; It had a 400/4 barrel engine. However, it wasn't the most attractive thing on the road; That beater had more patches on it than a quilt. I couldn't have gotten through college without it though!

I can't believe I'm still an Anglophile considering that my first car was a black four door Morris Minor. (Imagine a four door auto smaller than a Beetle!) Amazingly the thing wouldn't start if there was the slightest hint of humidity or moisture in the air. I can't imagine they'd ever start in Great Britain. Over the years I managed to put 120,000 miles on it but only on those days when there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

..... <BR> <BR>1969 Volvo. Big huge steering wheel and a choke I had to pull out in the morning before it would start. <BR> <BR>Boy I'm glad those days are over. <BR> <BR>:-)

I bought a new 1950 Chevrolet -- and was recalled into the Navy the next month. A guy offered to take it off my hands for the payments. The way I figure it, Kim Il Sung owes me the down payment, which I lost.

196? Volkswagen squareback station wagonoid thing. Not exactly a smooth, quiet ride, but it was cheap, and there was a certain cachet to having a VW in those days, as long as one had the appropriate love beads hanging from the mirror. Hmmm.. perhaps this contributed to my later enjoyment of Bavaria?

A 1965 pale yellow Mustang! Bought it for $1000., put flower-power decals on it, was surprised when truckers honked at me all the time. (Could have been the miniskirt, too, I suppose.) <BR> <BR>Sold it in 1970 (for $1000.) when the radiator was giving up and it may have needed a valve job -- to pay for a honeymoon to Greece and Italy. Glad I went to Europe, wish I'd fixed the car and kept it (without flowers). <BR> <BR>PS -- the $1000. paid for the entire trip in 1971: 2 TWA student airfares to Athens plus a month of travel, lodging, food, etc.

Since my first car was a 1952 Pontiac, perhaps owners of old Pontiacs have a special desire to travel?

My first car was a lime-green, 1976 Volvo 240D sedan. Towards the end of its life it developed an odd electrical problem, in which the headlights would suddenly go out at night. Yikes! Unfortunately, it was totaled when I was rear-ended by a teenager in a Mazda (I'll let you imagine how fast she was going to total a 1976 Volvo).

Perhaps foretelling my move to England six years later, my first car was a used 1959 Austin-Healey. Its successor, purchased new in 1967 was another Austin-Healey which was transported back across the Atlantic for the four years I was there! In fact, I still have it after all these years (and still love England though I no longer live there!).

A 1958 MG "A", a true gem at only $150.00, this was in 1967. Still probably the best car I ever owned, even if only for a short time. Classy little number was totaled in a grocery store parking lot by an Oldsmobile station wagon. The lady decided to back up without looking (doubt if she could have seen the MG from her dinosaur if she WAS looking!) Owned several since then, but the first was certainly the best!

First car, in 1956, was a '53 Studebaker, design by Raymond Loewy, very aerodynamic. 2nd car, brand new '58 TR3, 3 weeks later it was a wreck (my fault) so I volunteered for a Med cruise on the Intrepid and thus started my love for travel.

<BR>Cassandra - I put pink and orange stick-on flowers on my second car - a brand new l966 VW bug I was so proud of! However, I couldn't drive a stick shift so I had to take a girlfriend along with me to pick up the car, my mother too, who had to co-sign for me since I was in college and had no credit, and my boyfriend had to teach me to drive it. Boy, do I remember those days - I'd get 50 cents worth of gas when there were gas wars of l9 cents or something like that, to get me back and forth from school! <BR>I see a trend here besides Pontiacs (and Vdub's), I've now had Volvo station wagons the last l3 years!

<BR>a correction - the gas wars were back when I was driving the Pontiac, and I got the VW after I'd gotten my first job!

'79 Dodge St. Regius, in '88. The only other time I've ever seen this model and make of car was on "The A-Team" and they used it to make a tank-thingy to save somebody's cab company from badies. I used to crash into shopping carriages in the mall parking lot at 40+mph. They only roll if you hit 'em right and sometimes you can get them to "power-mate" by locking them one inside the other at high speed. Ahhh, the twisted hormones of youth.

1969 AMX-bittersweet orange. Kept it 16 years. Now have a 1997 Red Miata -top down

My first car was a 1960-ish (early) Corvair. A hand-me-down from my father, who had used it as his oil field car. I loved that thing, which was blue, so I called it Gainesbourough, after that artist's famous painting, Blue Boy. I used to drive down the Kansas turnpike around 83 MPH (80 was legal then) and the car would fishtail, and then I would slow down. Then what day it occurred to me...THIS was the type of car Ralph Nader wrote the book about...unsafe at any speed. So I really slowed down and had no trouble whatsoever. When I graduated from college, I was given a brand new gold Camaro and I cried. My parents and grandparents thought it was because I was so happy. Actually, I missed my old blue car which I at least at the good grace/sense not to tell them. I did drive out to the auto dealer to say good by to my first car, driving in my second. I felt like a two-timer.

My first car was a 1961 Chevy Impala coupe purchased in 1965 for $1100. Drove that car all through college and sold it for $550. A great car and one I remember fondly. Another memorable car was a 1969 red VW that I purchased in 1970 while stationed in Germany. The car had 6000 miles on it and cost me around $900. My wife and I drove it all over Europe for a year and a half and put another 30,000 miles on it before selling it to another trooper for $650. So it cost me about $250 for a car to tour Europe in. We laugh about that when we pay our car rental fees for the trips we now use in Europe.I also discovered that a 1200 cc engine not too great for the Alps. I had never experienced that type of driving in my native Texas.

Oh my, am I jealous of the great cars in this posting!!!! <BR>My first car ( of my own) was a 1980(?) Chevette. What a dump it was! It got me to dental school and was a great party car, though. I won't tell you what we brought back from Canada hidden under the back seat (the carpet rolls down and there is a space underneath). No border patrol reading this I hope &lt;g&gt;. <BR>I was supposed to get a 1964 Valient (my grandfather's car) with red interior and Black body...but my older brother got it into two accidents and totaled it...I will never forgive him. <BR>Also, my darling (blah) older brother recently sold his 1970 Challenger to someone for $6500! I would have loved to have that car! He never even asked me if I wanted it! It had 40,000 miles on it! He only drove it in the summer and bought it from an old man in 1979 when it had 7,000 miles. It is the #2 thing that I won't forgive him for. <BR>

My first car: 1977 VW Scirocco - THE SCIROCCO FROM HELL! Paid $6,400 new and 3 years later the thing had had $4,000 of repairs and stranded me in (GASP!) Barstow twice. Later recalled by VW for a defect AFTER the engine blew up on the freeway. I was a proud part of the Class Action Law Suit against VW. It took 8 years, but I finally got my $1,500 back for the blown engine. I figure the $1,500 was worth about $700 by then. Tried, but never could come up with a believeable story for the insurance company -- how does one explain that your car went off a 2,000 ft. cliff in Utah and you excaped without a scratch? So I just ended up giving it to my ex in the divorce - Hah!

Ah, looking back! The time-1963--the car, a first in the sense that it was the first we bought after our marriage, but not exactly a "family car!" A really beautiful brand new spiffy MBB. We loved it, and have photos of our then-one-year-old son in it. Year passed, another child born, station wagons in the driveway, but we kept the MGB. Later, vans, even an Alfa-Romeo Spyder, but we kept the MGB. During our son's teen years he took it over, and there was much rebuilding, repainting, and recovering of those beautiful leather seats. Now he has a minivan of his own for his two children. And we still have the MGB, carefully stored. His son is now two and a half---maybe the third generation will be driving that little car someday! <BR> <BR>

Well, mine was a 1978 Fiat147, a shit car. It was small and slow. I'm wondering to know if it exists yet. I did a lot of trips with that thing in 1990, from Sao Paulo to Jundiai (for about 37 miles of distance) till a friend's ranch. Might it exists, and if i find it out, i pick it up and...

Dayle, <BR>You got stranded in Barstow-twice?! <BR>That car had it in for you! <BR>You are sooo lucky to have escaped that drop without a scratch! You have a guardian angel looking out for you! <BR>Kittie

I guess I'm really showing my age, but my first car was a '37 Plymouth with a floor shift. What a dog!!.... Ah, but my second car was a '41 Ford coupe, pitch black, with an outside sun visor. Most of you probably have never seen one of those. It had a red vinyl interior and wide, wide, wide white sidewalls. It was the coolest set of wheels anyone could have in the early '50s. I can remember every detail about that car... Good stuff, Maynard!!! <BR>

hhhmmm....first car (would a car that I had for 3 days before righting it off against a powerpole count), if so, then it would be an '84 Ford Telsta, which I had for 3 days, when it accidently be3come a little bit to friendly with a powerpole. Cost me $AUD3,000, and had enought to pay the loan off outright (Wooo-Hooo). 3 months later , I bought a '54 Valient for 1500, which was a major BARGÝN!!!!.....and I still got it now which is about 5 years after buy,ng it

My first car was a 1969 AMC Javelin - Burnt Orange. I inherited it from my dad. I got rid of it when the transmission went and bought a 1972 Ford 'explode on impact' Pinto. It broke down at a picnic one day and a friend of mine bumped me the whole way home. The story of the exploding Pintos broke the next week. :-). Thankfully those days are over.

Mine was a green Morris 1100 which I was given for my 21st birthday 23 years ago. I'd hoped for a stylish little Italian number, perhaps a Fiat 500, but got my grandad's cast-off instead. Not complaining of course, had many a happy time poodling around in it. After that I had a little black baby Wolsey (like a Mini) which I bought for £50 and which had a hole in the driver's floor so that when it rained my feet got soaked while driving. That was followed by a Morris Traveller (the estate with all the wood) which had toadstools growing around the wood, a driver's seat that collapsed backwards every time I sat in it, and only two gears that worked. After that, several different sensible boring motors until I finally got the stylish Italian Alfa which is now my pride & joy. All good things come to those who suffer along the way. <BR> <BR>

Kitty: No, no! It was just a wishful half-way serious plot. Really, really wanted to push that car off a cliff in Little Cottonwood canyon, but couldn't think of a good enough explanation for the insurance company.....any creative plotters out there? Shall we start a new thread for likely stories?

My first car was a 1941 Studebaker Champion, bought in 1950 for $460. It was in great shape and had some interesting features for 1941. You only had to use the clutch to start in first gear, then just use the steering wheel gear shift for second and third. It had a 33 horse power engine and you could pull a lever on the dashboard to go into "free wheeling," which meant you were were coasting when you took your foot off the gas; got about 40 miles to the gallon but was very dangerous with mechanical brakes because there was no engine drag to slow it down. It also had heater vents under the front seats. The best car though was a 67 Mustang convertible that I owned for four years in Hawaii. My son learned to drive in that car and was "Mr. Cool" around the Army base at Schofield Barracks. Great memories! <BR>

Showing my age, but in 1958 I purchased my first car. A 1949 baby blue Ford. I crashed it on the third day. Sold it for junk and joined the Air Force. <BR>

Dayle: <BR>Oh, I get it. I reread your post and realized that I had misunderstood it the first time. Well, I'm very glad that it actually didn't happen! <BR>Let's see...you could tell them that you were wearing your seatbelt and they really are life-savers....or you parked the car near the cliff to do some site-seeing and the car just rolled over. Are these too lame &lt;g&gt;? <BR>

Earlier, I said I owned a 1950 Chevvie as my first car. Not quite. In 1947 I went 50/50 with another guy to buy a 1935 Olds coupe off a used-car lot on Van Ness Ave. in San Francisco, thinking we could drive it to Chicago after working that summer for $.85 an hour in the Sierra Nevadas on a fire-fighting crew. Well, we crossed the Bay Bridge headed through Oakland when we noticed a strong smell, something like a burning fish. This ancient Olds had more coats of paint on its gray body than Carter had pills, and it struggled mightily to cross those hills toward Modesto. And the smell intensified. At a wide place in the road called Livermore, the Olds started to shudder. Then to shake. Then acted like an earthquake was happening. And there was smoke, and there was a roaring clatter, and then complete collapse. A main bearing had given out from lack of oil, a rod flew through the cylinder wall, and we sold that Olds by the pound to a shade-tree mechanic by the side of the road. How we thumbed our way across the mountains, the plains, and the cornfields makes another stirring tale. As a consequence, I have always been more than a little amused at the lack of "spirit of adventure" shown by succeeding generations of youngsters.

First car was a '69 Mustang (in 1974) followed by a Jaguar MkII 3.8 (in 1977). Thought I needed something to show I had gone to work. First trip to Europe? 1975. Still had that Mustang (one needs one to drive when Jag is in repair shop)up until 1984.

A 1950 something Studebaker Lark. What a dump but at least it rolled!

My first car was a brandnew Mini Cooper to which I spent the last franc I had. I bought it without even looking at it because I knew for years that it was THIS CAR that I wanted. I even forgot to ask the usual 6 or 7% discount the car companies usually grant and I still regret that! This was in 1976 and I sold the car - with tears in my eyes - in 1983 after it had taken us around a large part of Europe.

A black 1983 Reneault Fuego - fun to drive but repairs were $$$$ and frequent. Not fun to deal with when you're a poor grad student. Finally sold it after the heater went out on my way home to Minnesota during Christmas break with 5 hours still to drive. Brrrrr! The locks of my next car constantly froze during the winter - I never went anywhere without lockthaw.

In 1966 I had $500 and had to choose between a '64 Ford Falcon and a semester in Germany. I picked the Falcon and, while it took me another 16 years to get to Europe for the first time, it was the right choice.

Yup, here is the old thread!