My First Car

[sfhess]

390-2V, auto, blue interior.  Purchased in 1973 for $500.  Mine had the Galaxie 500 full wheel covers, replaced by 1965 mag-style covers.  I shaved all the emblems and repainted the car 9A white, black between the crossbars on the trunk lid.  I also blacked out the thin grille bars.

 

[DanL]

3 hours ago, Wickersham Humble said:

Dan, hope the 1/1 was as sharp as your model!!  What a great first car!  What year was that you got it?

One of my college roomies Dad bought him his first car, another Impala bubble-top, but no SS.  He called it the '2-2-1' because it had a two-barrel carburetor (283) , two-speed transmission (PG), and single exhaust -- half of the Olds muscle car!  Quiet, comfortable, and ultra-reliable -- cheap to keep!  His was mint green with the aqua interior, and withstood a lot of gaff; only mods were baby-moons and a contact-paper 'wood dash' we inflicted on it. Kept the stock muffler!  Another roomie had a '60 Studebaker Lark two-door hardtop, with 259 and B-W A/T; a lot more fun than you might expect, and a durable little bomb.  If it had a 4-speed, I might have bought it when he became a family man. By this time, I'd gone back to a '55 Chevy I'd picked up for $475; 265 and three-on-the-tree, which quickly became another Mystery Shifter -- Chevy column shifts were the pits when wear set in; got stuck between first and second if you weren't careful.  Oddly, I owned two other '55s with 265 V-8s, both converted from 235 sixes by previous owners!  No 'vee' bowtie emblems under the tail-lites, like my first car.  Wick -- again.

The year was 1970 and I was in grade 11 in high school. Gas was about 35 cents per gallon and I remember I put Thrush mufflers on it ( Even got the bird sticker). Unfortunately mine did not look nearly as good as the pictures I posted but it was rust free with no dents and pretty good paint.

[johnyrotten]

2 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Sure wish I still had it.

I'm sure we all feel the same way, be it our first vehicle, or one,two or half a dozen along the way. 

[Magician]

My first ride…1962 Ford Econoline window (see photo in Junkman’s post) got her in ‘73 when she was too worn out to use in the family business. Mine didn’t have the big motor…170 cid like Junkman’s, mine had the 82hp 144cid powerhouse with a three speed with worn out linkage that constantly needed sorting out from binding up…great on a date I tell ya.  Well the poor old thing managed to get me through highschool and became a fine parts runner and served as backup transportation when whatever I was currently building/driving was up on stands for a while. Finally gave her back to Dad in the late 70’s and he used her for a hunting truck for years…stunk of gear lube so bad from hauling parts you had to let the window down and the motor rattled so loud you had to shout to talk inside. We were known to get our money’s worth out of our vehicles…

[carsntrucks4you]

1973 Citroen 2CV6 with incredible 28HP and a top speed of 68 mph. Acceleration from 0-60, yes it took a while🤣

[PappyD340]

My first car was a Ford Galaxie 500 convertible, Red on red, 289, 3 on the tree. Our neighbor across the street was a car salesman and they had just took this car in on trade it was a one owner had pretty low mileage and the best I remember my dad paid $600 cash for it of course I had to work and pay him back cause there were no freebees at our house! It was a great car. This is not the actual car but just like the one I had.

[KMcc]

Picked this 68 VW for $100 in 1977 with the idea it would make good college transportation. Put new fenders, tires, muffler, and heater boxes on it to get inspected. Also put an FM Converter in it to help make trips to school a little more comfortable. It finally died from cancer in 1982. Picked up a Revell "VW 60's Beetle" kit to make a replica that appears to be more work to get 'on the road' than the real one did.

 

 

 

 

 

[slusher]

I had a 76 Pinto I don’t have a scanner but my wife tak a picture of it.  The car was yellow no radio and I put an 8 track in it. My dad bought it for 1200.00. Nice driving car…This is the.only picture of my first car..

 

Edited April 28 by slusher
Add picture

[Perspect Scale Modelworks]

My first was a 1976 Peugeot 504 in white with tan interior in 1984.  3 door sedan because the right rear door was dented and would not open. Not very pretty to many, but very French. Nice smooth, comfortable ride. Was a nice college car. Not the one pictured but the same year and model.

Edited April 27 by Perspect Scale Modelworks
Year

[ChrisBcritter]

You've seen it before, I think, but here it is again. In 1976, shortly before my 16th birthday, I wanted to get an old car for my first ride. I was also figuring to find one in my parents' hometown of Paducah, KY because cars didn't rust down there like in Chicago. While driving around West Paducah, we spotted this '50 Plymouth by the side of the road:

The older gentleman owner, Mr. Lapoleon Bridget (looked him up and he was only 54 at the time), was asking $360 for it. I offered him two hundred-dollar bills and shortly afterward my uncle and I drove it home to my grandparents' house where I shot these photos. It was faded Shore Green with three '56 Hudson Rambler wheelcovers; the horn worked and the radio didn't. Only 72,000 miles and it ran smoothly enough but my uncle said it was starting to get a rod knock when he revved it.

So what happened to it? Not much. I drove it back and forth from the back yard to my grandparents' garage a few times, and left it there when my folks told me it probably wouldn't make the 400-mile trek home without major repairs. By 1980 my grandfather had died and my grandmother sold the house, which was to be torn down for the local hospital's expansion, so my mom and my uncle sold it to some hobbyist from Kevil, KY for what I paid - $200.

And... R.I.P. Mr. Bridget.

 

[Wickersham Humble]

Pretty good tale!  Old MoPars ran a long time; we came to CA in 1951 in our 'new' 1948 Plymouth two-door sedan, dark navy blue (looked like a big V-W, but cute) as Dad had bought it with his War Bond savings at about $1,700.  I learned to drive in it, out on the old Devil's Garden USAAF emergency strip north of town, later an air tanker base, and then a Corrections Camp.

When banished to KS in summer of '62 (my white Chevy up on blocks until August,) I worked on a ranch for my Uncle.  As I fixed all the equipment of his that I broke, he offered my their old 1946 Dodge 4-door sedan for free to drive back home.  I was jazzed until I found out they'd parked it in favor of a '56 Plymouth because the casting on the steering-column three-speed linkage had cracked away; pot metal that couldn't be welded.  I wasn't making much money, and ended up spending quite a bit of it for a ride home on the 'Hound (Greyhound Bus Lines), what with meals and all.  The Dodge was only 15 years old, and might have made it, even over the Rockies; we drive cars 50-60 years old now and think little of it!  Repeat with me: "I wish I had that Chevy back!"  Can't afford one anymore! Had over twenty, over the years...

Lots of my HS friends drove flathead-6 MoPars, and were happy enough.  We have Dad's old '51 Chevy now, found in a town of 100 folks thirty years after he sold it, but it's my sons, and restomodded (injected 350, 5-speed, discs, PS, and all the other good stuff, though it looks almost stock except for ARE Torq-Thrust mags and radials.  The old 216 and little drum brakes really are inadequate for modern driving. My '51 Ford is strong enough to keep up, but the stopping power -- oh my!  After looking at the photos of my cobbled-up model, I was ashamed of it, esp the tail-lites!  

Wick

[Falcon Ranchero]

Can't technically be part of this thread yet; (though I do hope so very soon) but people in my family had nice first cars. Not too many photos of them, but I can list them:

My grandfather (mom's side) had a '51 Ford he got in 1958 right after he got his driver's lisence.

My grandfather (dad's side) I think he had a '40 Ford; is what my Great Uncle told me.

My aunt (mom's side) won a brand new '79 Trans Am and a trip to Las Vagas.

My dad; never had a car; first vehicle was an '84 Ford Ranger, and then a series of Nissans, and now our Toyota Tacoma.

My mom; 1988 Olds Delta 88, or "The 88 88". It was white.

A few more people I'd have to ask but I just hope to also have my own vehicle; like what Chris said above there, I want to get an old car for my first ride also.

[papajohn97]

No pics of my first ride but I did build and post a model of it a few years back. A '56 210 post coupe with a tired 265  V8 and two-speed PowerGlide. I think I paid $465 in 1971 to a really old couple (OMG! They must have been in their late 40's?) who lived down the street and were original owners. The car looked this good but needed new hoses and belts, a radiator flush, oil change and my Dad helped me extract and replace corroded carb-to-manifold bolts that was the cause for an intake manifold leak. I remember Dad putting an old rag in the manifold carb hole to prevent Easy-Out drill chips getting into the cylinders. I miss the simplicity and joy of working on old cars. Ran like a top without one damn integrated circuit! I drove the car to college for several years until the first oil embargo (late '73?) which prompted me to sell it to my brother and buy a 10 speed racing bicycle to commute to school. If I only knew then what we all know now, I should'a could'a would'a kept it!!!!

Edited April 28 by papajohn97

[PatW]

I bought one like this from a neighbour when I passed my driving test at 18. That's 59 years ago!

Edited Saturday at 09:24 PM by PatW

[DJMar]

On 4/26/2025 at 6:50 PM, Jim Dodson said:

Bill, your tale rang so many of my memory bells. Such as, J.C. Whitney, air cooled bugs. I had put an EMPI Quick Shift kit on my used 1971 and fell in love with that bug all over again! 15 years I kept that Beetle, long enough to justify the replacement carpet and upholstery kit. (Both from previously mentioned catalog). Even used the ex-wife's real estate agent's signs she left in MY garage taking up wasted space when she moved out to patch the corrosion hole in the rear pan from a leaking battery. Eventually gave the car to my niece for her first car (but made her daddy teach her how to drive a stick on hilly roads. LOL

Oh, the memories! My first was a 1973 VW Super Beetle. Orange with a black interior. It was passed down to me from my aunt, who got it off the dealer's lot. It was bone stock until I got my hands on it. I think I bought everything I could for it from the J.C.Whitney catalog, including - but not limited to - new AM/FM radio, a dash mounted rotating fan, exhaust tips, mirrored window tint, seat covers, headlight eyebrows, a necker knob (not legal in my area) and the ever popular rear deck engine louvers. Oh, and we can't forget the fake German control labels that were printed with silly things like "Das Glimmerblinken". Fun car, easy on gas & maintenance. It ignited my love for air cooled VWs. With studded snow tires, that darn thing went everywhere in the winter too, although I was frozen like a block of ice inside. Good times.

Unfortunately, we lost all our family photos from that time period during a flood at my mom's house. There was no cloud backup for pics back then. I found this image online, and it's pretty darn close to how it looked stock, including the front bumper guards (which I kept). I wish y'all could see it in all its pimped out glory, but use your imagination.

 

[Wickersham Humble]

Pat W:

My first car was almost a Morris Minor ragtop, black with white top, sitting in the bone-yard of the dealership (Pont/Buick/GMC) where I worked on and off.  It had something wrong with the engine (probably some local tried to drive the Western highways like we did our US cars; fast and long, and fried the itty thing!) which we never figured out.  I even priced a replacement in the JC Whitney catalog at about $125 plus shipping, but no guarantees -- so I filed it as a neat idea that fizzled, and kept looking.  Now that I look back on 1961, I can see that I'd have taken a lot of razzing by my crowd for driving a Brit skate.  Only our teachers ventured to drive V-W's in our rural N CA town, plus on 356 Porsche and a MGA.  Oddly, only one or two pickup trucks were in the HS student parking lot, a '55 Chevy and natch, a '56 Ford F-100; cool in thier own way, but considered mostly work vehicles in a ranching/lumbering area, and not good rod material -- nor ideal for 'parking' at the submarine races.  My eventual first, the jazzy '55 Chevy was far, far to well-known locally, and the fuzz could always spot it anywhere; they particularly didn't like the lakes pipes!!   Wick

[Roncla]

As my first car I had  saved my pennies up and purchased a brand new Mini Clubman 1275 GT in 1972

 

Edited 22 hours ago by Roncla
changed photo

[Deathgoblin]

My first car was a 1972 Buck Skylark Custom hardtop. Flame Orange with a white vinyl top and seats. It originally had hubcaps, but I upgraded it to the chrome wheels with black insets (forget the name) and even ordered a set of center caps from the dealer. Here's what she looked like.: