Tell us about your first car

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1973 Chevy Luv $400 orange and it ran. Saved enough money working at Burger King to have it painted blue. I pulled the dents myself and sanded it. I bought the paint myself and had someone paint it in their off time. I remember taking an old dresser drawer and making it into a speaker box for behind the seat. I remember it said Izuzu right on the valve cover. Pretty stout small truck for the time.
 
1985 Subaru XT for $300, one of those weird coupes that was futuristic. It was slow and cost me $50 extra/year to pay that guy at the NH inspection station who threw a sticker on it. The floor was near Swiss cheese and side panels rotting. Otherwise quite reliable.
 
78 toyota pickup. Bought it from a guy that worked for isky cams and they used it to test parts. Put out 190hp to the wheels out of it's 20r engine,5 speed and 4.35 gearing.

Embarassed a lot of 5.0 mustangs and camaro's with that truck at the saturday night cruise that led to stop light gran prix's.
 
1963 Chevrolet Bel Air with a 283 V8 and a 2 speed automatic transmission. Bought it from my parents when I was in college for $800.
 
1993 Corsica with a rod knock, I drove it home where it sat until I found a donors engine and someone to swap it. I would occasionally sit in it with the engine running listening to the radio. I turned it off one day's and the next day it was locked up. I ended up junking it and financing a 97 eclipse
 
Oh, you'll love this one. Prior to the late 1960's, when the first US-Canada Free Trade Pact, called the Auto Pact and which applied only to automotive products was enacted, Pontiac made different cars in the US and Canada. The "Canadian Pontiacs" were manufactured in a Chevrolet-Pontiac joint venture, and certain models made for the Canadian market utilized Chevrolet frames and drivetrains with unique body and interior parts that fit those chassis.

Pontiac also used unique model names that were related typically to some aspect of Canadian history or tradition for these models. For example the full size deluxe model was a Parisienne, the base full size was a Laurentian.

My first car was a 2-door Pontiac Acadian, 1964 model, bought used around 1978, which was built on a Chevy Nova chassis and drivetrain and sported a 230 CID straight six motor and "three on the tree".

An "Acadian" is a resident of Atlantic Canada, and also implies a link to United Empire Loyalists ... Americans who moved to Canada during or after the American Revolution, who felt an allegiance to the British Crown versus the new American republic.

But it was not "just" an Acadian, it had a sub-model designation, indicating the premium trim level. I owned a 1964 Pontiac Acadian Invader. "Acadian" appeared in chrome block letters on the trunklid between the rear tail lights, and "Invader" appeared in chrome script on the body on both fenders. No lie.
 
1973 Monte Carlo. Bullet-proof 350 V-8. It got me through high school and college. I loved the bucket seats that rotated outward!
 
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1986 Ford Ranger 4x4 For as [censored] as those old trucks were mine was always reliable and super tough. I'd race any Chevy S10, Dodge Dakota or Toyota Tacoma that wanted to line up next to me. I also took it trhrough trails and mud holes a vehicle had no business being.

Looking back I was a really stupid teenager. Also those 1/4 mile(approximate) races must have lasted minutes in those old V6 and 4 cylinder 4x4's.
 
71 VW Superbeetle. 4 speed, heater boxes rotted out after couple yrs. I bought it used in my senoir yr of High school
 
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My first non-driver (of many) I purchased when I was 13. It was a 1950 Studebaker Champion Coupe that I paid $750 for. I collected a ton of parts for that thing and never did anything with it. I had a rebuilt straight 6, a rebuilt Bearcat V8, refinished chrome... I truly regret never putting it all together. I had my dad sell it when I moved to Virginia at the age of 27. Some guy put it all together and drives it around my hometown on Saturdays.

My first driver was a free hand-me-down from my grandparents... a 1986 Ford Country Squire Wagon. It had the V8 with the police package... meaning it would smoke 90% of the cars I ran into in high school. Peeling vinyl siding, plush carpeting and rear jump seats... she wasn't a looker, but it was truly a great first car.

I bought a 1967 Mustang when the rear end on the Squire grenaded... most likely due to stoplight racing and a lack of fluid maintenance. I ended up trading it for a second hand stroked 302 to replace the 289 in the Mustang.
 
Had a 1986 Ford Ranger 2.9L that was my grandpas that I bought from him for $400 when I was 16. I tuned it up but it was still a total piece of junk, sold it for $1,000 a couple months later.

My first real car was a 1996 Chevy C1500 Silverado 5.7L I bought a few months later for $700. Got it from my dad's next door neighbor who bought it new. It needed brakes so he parked it for a little over a year and sold it to me. I put a set of tires and brakes on it and a battery and drove it for a few years. I miss that truck, it had tons of power and ran beautifully. Sold it for $2,600 and bought my 97' Camry to save gas.
 
96 ford taurus gl i got for my 15th bday. Bought it with a slipping trans for 1.5ys and...put 12k on it. Trans went out and put a jy trans in it. About a yr later the HG blew and i sold it to the JY. W/ 163k.
 
1996 Honda Accord EX with leather, purchased with 218K on the clock. It had the 2.7 V6 and 4 speed auto. That thing felt like a tank and was pretty reliable all things considered. Got hit by a bus and the driver paid for repairs, had enough to get a new paint job on it! Loved that car, still miss her ;(. Ended up trading for a 2006 Accord with 96K, then traded that for my current 2012. Purchased her in 2015 with 32K, now at 46K. Hopefully will be able to keep it for another 100K and beyond!
 
Wow! Memories.

When I turned 16, my dad bought a '67 Dodge Coronet for me to drive. I ended up wrecking it. Backed into someone's truck.

About that time my grandfather passed on, and I was given his '64 Chevy II to drive. It had the 250 cid straight 6 with the 2 speed Powerglide tranny. Options included an AM radio and heater.
Air conditioning, if you could call it that, was through the side air vents. Man, I loved that car. Of all the cars I've owned, that is the one most of all that I wish I still had.
 
Inherited Dad's 1969 Pontiac Bonneville when he passed in 1976. It had a 428 engine that ran smooth as could be. I was 17 when that car became mine. My friend swore the "S" on the PRNDSL stood for "Super"! We didn't know back then but that car took off if I shifted it in to "S" at about 40mph! My Dad being an electrician, put a device in the car that would allow it to start and run for just a little bit if someone tried to steal it. It was small fuse that would blow once you pulled out a plunger to disconnect the main ignition wire and engage the fuse.
 
1985 Escort Pony, 1.9L 4-speed manual. It was a POS, but it was my POS.
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1989 mazda 323, handed down to me when my grandma died and others in my family shuffled cars around. It idled at 3500 RPM on a cold start in winter. I blew a starter at a mere 7 below zero on whatever junky sludgy oil my dad's mechanic used, so I took an interest in Mobil 1.

First car I didn't get from my folks was a cutlass ciera with the 3300 V6. That car flew!
 
1990 Ford E150 van. Short wheelbase inline 6 with captains chairs. The van my parents hauled us 6 kids around in growing up. I loved it even though it had no AC and was dented to [censored]. I gave it up when the transmission went out at 225k miles. I regret it and I still have dreams about it.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino

First car I didn't get from my folks was a cutlass ciera with the 3300 V6. That car flew!


I still have one!
 
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