What was your first . . .

[PopPhan]

My first car was purchased for 600 hard earned $$$....It was a 1968 Mustang Coupe - 200cid 6 cylinder engine with a 3 speed manual transmission...The color was a shade of green that looked almost gold in the light (I actually thought the color was gold until I looked up the color palette for 1968 Fords)....I bought it in January of 1979 and had it for all of about 3 months until a drunk ran me off the road an I lost control in gravel and rolled it!!

[garymacd]

Guess Snuggs30 and I have something in common:

1970 AMC Hornet 2-door coupe

Faded blue paint with one red fender

No floor

No front bumper

Hole-y exhaust system

More body filler than metal

Vacuum assist wipers (stopped when you accelerated or went up a hill)

Broken alternator/voltage regulator

Wonky brakes

But it got me through college and into my first real job.

And I loved it. Haven't seen one since.

[Janmac]

My first car was a 1965 VW Beetle - white. I paid $500 for it and by time it died, I could have taken that engine apart and put it back together by myself!


Never known for their power (and I live in hilly New England), I remember having to floor it every time I started up at long upgrade in the hopes it wouldn't slow down too badly before I hit the crest of the hill!

Had to laugh, Linda, when I read about taking your VW engine apart. DH and I had one in the middle 70s - no longer recall what year, he thinks '67 - but we got very good at removing the engine in no time. DH just said it was the easiest car he ever worked on but had to work on it every day.

In high school - in New York state - my best friend had a VW and I very much remember her trying to make it up hills before we hit walking speed.

Our older daughter's second car was an AMC Gremlin. Weird looking car but it was transportation. And another car that was good in the snow.

Sure has been fun reading the posts. I'm reminded of Jimmy Buffet's song about our first cars costing less than a pair of sneakers today.

Jan

[AHOTE]

My first car was a well maintained 1949 Packard hearse. It was gift from my best friend on my 16th birthday. I had more fun with that car especially around Halloween and on dollar a carload nights at the drive-in. I used it all through college until it required major repairs that would have cost more that the car was worth. I reluctantly sold it for parts and promptly upgraded to a 1950 Plymouth that I purchased for $6.00 from a graduating senior.

[diz_girl]

Mine was a brown 1973 Oldsmobile Omega (looked like a Nova), which I bought for $150 back in 1986, right before I started my senior year in High School. Had to replace the engine mounts twice in the two years that I had it. Plus, the trunk would pop open if you hit a bump or pothole too hard, which happened many a time, including once while going over the Walt Whitman bridge. It became too expensive for me to maintain, so it was replaced with a Plymouth Turismo hatchback. The guy I sold the Olds to totaled it about a week after I sold it.

Glad to know that I'm not the only one who had a less than ideal first car.

[c&d]

1967 Dodge coronet, gold in color. Paid $150.

[DonLefNY]

Mine was a white 1963 Chevrolet Biscayne 2 door sedan. It had a 6 cylinder engine and a 3 speed standard (shifter on the steering column) that I purchased for $400 in the summer of 1968. I sold it to my sister a year later.

The shifter would sometimes get stuck between gears and I'd have to open the hood and hit the shifter links with a mallet.

[DVC2004]

My first car was a 1987 Chevy Blazer/2 Door. It was used and it was a hunk of junk. I remember shortly after I got it the transmission went and I needed a new one and then the engine had to be rebuilt.I am pretty sure the 4 wheel drive either stopped working or never worked in the first place. I had it just under 2 years I think.

[SteveL]

1967 Rambler American, not a bit of cool about it for a 16 year old. The only redeeming thing it had going for it was a reclining bench seat.

[AHOTE]

The shifter would sometimes get stuck between gears and I'd have to open the hood and hit the shifter links with a mallet.

I had a 1964 Ford Falcon van that did the same thing except I had to jump out, rum around to the passenger side, lay on the ground and use a metal rod to unjamb the linkage. It did this at the most inopportune times.

[PAYROLL PRINCESS]

I got my license at 16.5, on a Monday. That Friday I picked up my first car, a 1965 Ford Mustang Fastback 2+2 Limited edition with an automatic transmission. It was black with a red interior. This was in 1972. I paid $550.00 that I had been saving up by working nights and weekends at Bradlees Department store. That car could fly! But unfortunately it had been Mickey Moused before I got it and not in a good way! When I blew the transmission, I couldn't get one to fit without spending a fortune on it. I then bought a maroon, 3 speed manual transmission 1972 Chevy Impala that I'd paid $350.00 for and blew the transmission in that too! I sold them both for $75.00. If I still had that Mustang it would be worth a small fortune now! I've since learned to be more gentle on my cars.

[SandmanGStefani24]

my first car I got was an 85 Ford Mustang hatchback. It was blue, with the black hood stripe. I loved that car, but not enough to drive it sensibly and killed it 5 months later.

The first car I bought (because Mom meant it when she said she would only buy me one!) I bought almost 4 years later and it was a 90 Buick Skylark. (not the hotrod type of the 60s and 70s, the little grandma version) I had it for about 2 years until minor problems and quirks coupled with the fact that I could no longer get it to pass inspection forced me to get rid of it. I couldn't even sell it, I had to donate it!

[LauraF]

I had a 1979 Chevy Chevette (I called it my "Vette" in much jest).

I paid $900 for the thing in 1994, and it ran quite well until 1999 when the clutch, starter and alternator all went. Pretty good investment!

That things was a POS - the door panels had this banding on them that was peeling off in strips, the radio had four levers to "set" stations which usually broke, the car had a permanent funk in the upholstery, and the thing would rattle and whine if I tried to get it above 55 MPH!

I threatened my brother by promising to take him for rides to meet his friends in it.

[TheDuckRocks]

Christine! Yes, seriously. This was in 1961, long before Stephen King wrote the book and not at all the car I wanted. That Plymouth Fury had to have been one of the ugliest cars ever made. Although I earned the money to pay for it, my dad was the one who found it for me. Low mileage, great shape and a super, super low price. That thing was still ugly, but what did I know, I thought my cat's eyes glasses with the rinestones that I wore were fashionable.

[micky95]

my first car was a hand me down from my brother.it was a red 61 4 door chevy 2.no power ,friend step thru the floor in the back,hung up shifting between gears but it was mine.i was the first of my friend to get a "car" so i drove them to school for gas money.i remember one day we were driving to school.3 in the front seat 3 in the back.we were on a busy road when i noticed the guys in the back were bent over and hiding and the other guy up front sitting by the door was also hiding.i was confused until i realized that me and the guy sitting next to me were the only 2 people visible in this car.to everyone who saw us we were snuggled up real close.HaHa.i doubled their gas money after that.