Your First Car

[wc chevys]

I doe'nt know if this has been done before but I could'nt find anything.
What was your first car?? this should tell some peoples age!
Mine was a 1966 mustang fastback 289 hi. po. 4 speed,pony interior,tac & clock package,front disc brakes. Might be worth good money nowadays.I was the 4th owner my dad was the 2nd owner and we knew the original owner.I traded it for a 65 nova, the guy I traded to wrecked it within 2 weeks and parted it out.

DOE'NT BAN ME BECAUSE IT WAS A BLUE OVAL CAR,I was young and dumb

 

[PAINTJOHN1]

Year was December 1962,mine was a 1950 Chevrolet,4 door sedan,a hand me down car from my aunt and uncle.Car had the famous 216ci,3 speed on the column,which I eventually moved the shifter to the floor.I drove the car that first summer with no problems,but when fall came and I put a thermostat in it to get the heater working, a pressurized radiator cap and low and behold there was a 6 inch crack in the block that appeared.Prior to that I never saw a leak,and I ran the living hates' out of that motor and with no problems.I located another motor ,my Dad and I rebuilt it,1st time for me doing anything like that(My Dad was the Pro) ,swapped that engine over,installed a split manifold for dual exhaust,and some glass packed mufflers and drove the car for another year with no problems.Sold the Chevy to a good friend who drove it for another 3 years.Best thing about that ole 50' Chevy was the big back seat,plenty of room to move around!!!!!! John

 

[wrench]

My first was ALMOST a 1934 Ford 5 window w/v8 flattie - $10 and my mom said NO!

I'm not gonna count the 1958 Ford Convertible because the seller stole it back after my down payment and the police were no help.

So, I got on the right track and got a 1956 Chevy 150, 6 cyl 3 speed. Had an overheating problem (blown head gasket) so some K&W Metallic Seal fized that till I could afford a 283 to replace it.

I did add the 210 rear chrome trim to the quarters, it looked so much better!

 

[Tic's60]

1960 Chevy BelAir Put it together using the engine and trans from a 63 Chevy 4 door I paid for by sanding and prepping cars when I was 16.
Those were some fun times!!bang

 

[Tom Kochtanek]

1967

It was 1967 and Dad bought me a 1961 Belair 4 door post with a 283 and three-on-the-tree. Cost $200 bucks. Drove it home 2 blocks and the shifter came off in my Uncle's hand, going into 2nd gear .

By the time the sun came up I had "can openered" the floor board and had a Hurst floor shifter in her. Cost me 30 bucks, had to borrow it from my Uncle (who had a 1963 split window coupe!). Best part about it was the ride to he local auto store in the Corvette. At 90 cents a hour (McDonald's) it took me nearly a month to pay him back. When the battery went dead, I had to park it until I saved up the $20 for a new one. Another month went by. My Dad was determined to teach me a lesson, do your own work, pay cash. I passed that on to my two kids but I'm a kinder, gentler person than my Dad was .

Man are we getting old or what? At least we still remember....

TomK

 

[walkerheaders]

age 12 1972. had been saving since age 8 for a cuda, but never quite got up all the cash. my neighbor had a green / green 57 belair with 283 4bbl 3speed w/mystery shifter and 4.11 posi. he (should say his dad) wanted $75 BUT I ONLY HAD $65 and the old man let me mow his grass about 20 times for the balance.
got a 57 2dr post next for free and took the 2 cars and made one good one. cleaned it up, learned about how it worked and sold it to one of my dads friends that helped me get my first car with tags a red/red 62 impala.

 

[61BISCAYNE]

My first car was actually a '62 Chevy SWB pick-up. I bought it from my dad
in 1983 at age 16 for $700. He bought it in early 1966 when he was fresh out
of the Navy and before he and my mom were married, so I was raised in that
very truck. It was originally a 235 six, then a 283, and when I got it, it had a 350
and a turbo 400. I drove it for a year or so until I sold it back to my dad for the
same$700 I had paid for it in order to buy a more economical VW bug.
Looking back, $1.00 a gallon sure sounds cheap. I loved the old truck,
but just couldn't afford to drive it while in high school.
Anyway, Dad sold it in 1986 when I wasn't in a position to buy it back
from him. I managed to relocate the truck a couple years later about
20 miles from home, but the owner would not even discuss selling it back to me.:
I wish that were the end of the story...another year or two later I saw it
sitting in a parking lot just beat all to hell.....:eek: Sad, Sad Day!
I have owned, built, and sold many cars since including a '55 Chevy two door
sedan, a numbers matching '68 Camaro SS, and two '71 SWB trucks, but
I miss that old red and white '62 pick-up far more than any of those.

 

[skipxt4]

Even though I was too young to register it (14), my first car was a 1955 Ford Crown Victoria. It was two tone green, with white and green interior, before my friend painted it RED.:eek: He didn't like it, after he painted it, and gave it to me for helping him, do body work on a fleet of taxi cabs. It was a 272 ci. with 3 on the tree. We lived in an alley way. I drove that car up and down the street day and night, till I pi**ed off all the neighbor's. Finally after learning to drive, on my dad's 54 Fo*d Mainline, two years later, I got my permit. I told my dad I wanted to register the 55, in his name. As soon as he seen it was a V8 stick, he made me give it back.: I was crushed. He already recognized my DNA was screwed up from car fever. Finally I got a part time job, and bought a 57 Chevy Belair wagon. That was a 283 stick. I laid on the ground, one winter and put a Foxcraft floor shifter in it. After about a month, of pounding, oil started blowing out the breather tube and would coat the top of the engine. It blew out a quart, every other day. The fan would blow the oil against the firewall, and it would come in to the car, and pool under the gas pedal. Finally, it jumped time, and backfired and set the top of the motor on fire.:eek: It never ran again. We used it as a trade-in, to buy my 64 409 SS conv. I still wish I had the 55 Crown Vicky back. Skip

 

[Quickshift409]

Got a 59 F*#D in 1962,blew the trans 3rd time out at the dragway. Started working at the Chevy dealer in 63. First new car, 63 Biscayne 409/425. Been hooked ever since.

 

[HIVOLTAGE]

Very much like Skip, I was too young to register my first vehicle in my name. I had been saving my money for almost a year, I was 13 1/2, and bought a 63 Chev LB pickup with a 283 and 3spd on the column. I bought it out of a wrecking yard and had to work on it several days to get it running and then my dad drove it home for me. Man I'll never forget that ride home either. The truck burned so much oil you couldn't see anything behind us. I had to use a long stick to see how much gas was in the tank as the gauge didn't work. Boy that truck was ugly, dark navy blue with brown primer covering the left side of it. I paid $350 for it, it was every penny I had to my name.

Dad and I spent 4-5 nights a week working on that beast. The ole man gave up on ever making it a nice rig and after about 2 months it was just me working on it. I used to live at wrecking yards when I wasn't going to school or working my various jobs. Back then you could comb a wrecking yard all by yourself and if you found stuff you wanted you just took it off the vehicle and made your way inside to settle up with the owner. It was alot simplier then and a heck of a lot more fun. There was nothing better than scoring the parts you needed to finish the next project on the truck.

By the time I turned 16 and got my license, the truck was completely rebuilt. I had taken the bed off of it and jacked the cab up off the frame and re-did every nut and bolt on that damn thing. It really came out nice and an old hot rod gentlemen that I had befriended while delivering his newspaper to him for years helped me paint it Lombardy blue with a black interior. I remember the night we were just finishing up the paint job; he had an old shop with some rigged up lighting and we had worked all night on it. Just as he had sprayed the last coat on the hood a moth landed in the middle of it and wiggled all the way across the hood making one mell of a hess. The ole man never even so much as raised an eyebrow over it though and told me not to worry, "we" could fix it. I came over the next morning, still pretty tired from the night before. He told me he hadn't been able to sleep so he went back out after I left and waited for the paint to set up and then he sanded the hood and re-shot it. We rolled that truck out into the early morning sun and boy did it look good. The old feller ended up being quite a friend and boy did he know his stuff. I used to take it to car/truck shows at some local places and it always brought a lot of attention. I had put together a scrap book of the rebuild from some pictures I had taken along the way. I remember one special time where I had it on display in our local mall for a week and it had a rope chain around it. I really thought that was something and was so proud of the work I had done.

I still have those pictures today and fondly look back at them every now and again. I sold the truck to buy my first new car and the guy that bought it had destroyed it in a matter of months. I guess unless you do the work yourself you just can't appreciate the hard work that had gone into it.

Thanks for making me remember this, it had been a while since I had rekindled it.

 

[tripower]

Mine was a 66' Chevy II Nova 2-door hardtop 283 powerglide. The powerglide was bad. Wouldn't shift out of 1st gear untill about 70mph at which time the valves were just about to float. Trust me I floated them a few times. Bought a new PG and put it in within the first week I had it. It was the corona cream with gold interior. Paid 700.00 and it had 47,000. What a sweet little rig it was. I worked the summer of 73' Logging setting chokers half the day and limming and bucking the other half. My pay was 3.00 @hour. Saved my nickels and dimes and bought the Nova in the fall.

 

[MRHP]

My first car was a truck

I was 9 and mowed grass all summer to save 60 bucks. That bought my neighbors 1950 chev shortbox pickup. 216 and a 3 on the tree.I still remember the vin 21hpb3885. I loved that truck! I sold it after I bought my 53 chev 2 dr sedan. I found the truck years later in a field. It was used up by then, but I still recognized the paint job. Brushed on red oxide primer. Remember, I was only 9 when I painted it. Boy was I proud. I have a polaroid of me wet sanding a fender somewhere. Man, them were the days!

 

[boxerdog]

Like a lot of you, my first car was given to me after it quit; it was a '50 Chevy wagon that needed a timing gear. I fixed it and moved on to a '55 2 dr ht, then 56 Nomad with a really worn-out 265 which eventually was replaced with a neat little 283, then I installed a hot rod, 2x4 W motor. Never knew for sure if I'd bought a 348 or a 409, but it had the 409 top end, at least.

We traded cars a lot back then, among a group of friends; by the time I got drafted (early '68) I had a '57 wagon with a solid-lifter 327, 4 spd, fender well headers and 5.38 gears. Don't ask me why I ever parted with some of those cars. After I got out of the Army, I stuck with Mopars for quite some time, then got back into Chevies.

All I can tell you today is that I wish I had even a small percentage of these cars back! Instead, a lot of us are re-purchasing our youth in our retirement years.

 

[CDNpontiac409guy]

In December 1976, my Grandfather in Manitoba, said I could have any car in his junkyard, as a Christmas present... and I picked one.
At the end of that school year ( I was 17 ), I took a bus from Revelstoke, BC, to Lac Du Bonnet, Manitoba ( 1500 miles ).
We pulled my 46 Ford Super Deluxe sedan out of the yard ( there are about 350 cars in there at the time ).
I spent six weeks during that summer, knocking the pistons out of the block, and re-ringing the old flathead. Washed and cleaned all the chassis parts, repaired the brakes, made adjustments... and on August 16, 1977, I drove it the 1500 miles back to Revelstoke.

Here's a picture a month later, parked at the high school parking lot:

and in 1983, in Prince George, BC:

In 1993, I traded that car straight across for the 62 BelAir that I have now
( I never did get the interior re-done )

 

[rstreet]

I got my license in a new 61 Impala 348 but my "driver" was a 60 4door Plymouth 318 that Dad also drove.

 

[Brian Thompson]

My first car was a 1967 Pontiac Firebird with a 326 and 50k miles that my grandfather gave to me when I was 14. Because he never really "drove" the car it was lacking a bit of power. My father and I took the top end off and had the heads redone, put it back together and spent the next 6 months burning up the tires driving up and down the driveway. 2 weeks before my 16th birthday, my father sold the car because my mother said i was going to kill myself in it.

When I turned 16, my father took me to the chevrolet dealership and bought me a brand new Chevrolet Scottsdale 4X4 with a 350 in it. We then proceeded to the 4 wheel drive shop and had it lifted with a 4" suspension lift and 2" body lift, 35" BFG Mud Terrain tires, and lots of chrome accessories, including a triple double roll bar in the bed. What a sweet truck!!! 3 months later, I sank it 4 wheelin' through some old tank trails. Had the truck towed to the house and didn't go home for a week. Finally went home and Dad said I couldn't have it back.

After 6 months of Mom and Dad driving me everywhere, Dad took me to get a car from a guy that had a car lot which owed him money. I got a 1980 MGB. I got into autocross racing in it at the old Pungo air strip in Virginia and eventually Dad told me I needed more power to compete. We took an old 327 he had in storage from his drag racing days and put it in the MGB. Talking about fun!!!

Got rid of the MG and went through several different cars about every 6 months and finally ended up with a 1990 Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo that was driven into deep water during a bad rain storm. Water got sucked into the engine and bent a rod. I bought the car from a salvage auction for 1000.00. Took the engine out at 5:00 one friday night (after working as an auto mechanic) and rebuilt the engine. Added an HKS Stage 4 kit and drove the car home Sunday night at 11:00PM. I had a total of 4 hours sleep in the drivers seat of the car this whole weekend. Pizza Hut loved me that weekend. Had it dynoed at 529 RWHP. Talking about sick! That thing would lay rubber at 100!

Had the car for about 2 years and had to sell it. It loved to go 145, at least that is what I was satisfied with, but wanted a lot more. After a 120+ mph speeding ticket, I let it go. (120+ was because radar couldn't lock on to me in traffic and the state trooper cars in Virgina Beach then couldn''t get over 120 (Caprice 113 and Crown Vic 120) as per the two that finally got to pull me over when I didn't even know they were there.

Went through many cars through the years and now drive a GMC Yukon.

 

[doc396]

1972, at the end of my junior year in high school. my auto shop teachers friend donated a 63 rambler for the shop to practice on. he signed it over to me, free. i got to drive it all summer to return it for my senior year as a shop project. it was a pea green/white top 660 classic 4 door. 287 (holley) 2bbl. 3 speed cloumn shift with o/drive and 411 gears. i was the ronnie sox of our little world for banging gears, the secret was to grab the shifter close to the base . we would go out on old back roads on a hot sticky day when the pavement was bubbling and do burn outs. rev it up and drop the hammer, those old 4 ply tires would really squeal. for fun, burn all the way through first untill it was just ready stop burning take hold and jerk up into second to continue patch. then we would go back get out of the car and see who had the shortest distance between the marks:argue: . 2 days before school started in the fall i was on my way to get school cloths at jc penny's, about halfway through first there was a bang and then silence. timing chain jumped, the engine just cranked like there were no spark plugs in the holes . i walked home (3 miles) got my buddy and a chain and towed it to the high school. wouldn't you know it, our teacher was there and we towed it right into the shop. found out that i bent every valve and push rod.:takethat that was a great summer. doc

 

[BC409]

1978.my first car was a 1964 chev shortwide pickup.283,4.11 posi and truck 4spd.
I paid 400.00.was working at a snowmobile shop after school.heres the sad part.a buddy showed up with a 1963 impala 2dr hdtp,non ss.It had a 300 hp 327 with a rod knock.I bought his car for 75.00.pulled and rebuilt my first engine,and then had the quickest truck in the high school lot.stored the impala body at a friends and his dad hauled it to the dump one day without telling us. ended up rolling the pickup,gravel road and high speed,doing my best sprint car imitation till we went over the edge.anyway the truck died that night but i kept the motor all these years and have been thinking about freshening it up.that little 327 ran so sweet that its still my favorite smallblock.
brett

 

[playswithcars]

Living in California, it was 1962 and I bought a 1952 Pontiac convertible , straight 8 with 4 speed hydro. Paid $125. from a neighbor living 2 blocks away. I have had about 60 cars since then, presently with 7.

 

[bubbletop1961]

You guys are all SO LUCKY. In 1992 i got a 1980 plymouth horizon for $100 Try being cool in something like that.