I’m not a big car guy. I buy a car, I drive it into the ground, I buy another car. Lather, rinse, repeat. My current daily driver is a 2004 Honda CR-V, a car so dull it has its own ironic song and music video. It has 80K miles, and I think I drive it too much.
Right now it is snowing, and I will go out whenever I feel like it, because of AWD and Blizzak snow tires. I buy AWD cars and put snow tires on in the winter because of this:
A red version of this 4WD vehicle was the first car I ever drove. It was my dad’s, and it had one purpose: to get him to the hospital no matter how much snow was on the ground. A secondary purpose was having something to display his McGovern/Daschle/etc. stickers on. I don’t know if it’s possible for an American male to care less about cars than he did.
The Scout II was a handful to drive. It was overpowered (V-8), had touchy brakes, was prone to roll over, and it had a disconcerting habit of turning cookies on ice if you weren’t extremely careful. My brother and a carload of his friends found this out the hard way on an icy bridge outside of town. They were inches from death–after a 360, that Scout ended halfway up the new solid concrete guard rail on that bridge. Another few inches, and they’d have been in icy water. Nobody was injured, but the car was totaled.
After that accident, my dad did the only sensible thing – he went out and bought a new Scout II. This one was green. It was in that car that I had a near brush with death on an icy four lane road on the edge of town late one night, when I hit the brakes to slow down for a turn, and the Scout did a 360 in the middle of the road. Luckily, no cars were coming, and there was no damage except to my underwear.
When it snowed and the old man wasn’t on call, we’d take that thing out and pull people out of ditches, and just generally fuck around busting through drifts. If you haven’t driven with 4WD or AWD in the snow, or on crappy back roads, it makes what can be a white knuckle experience a lot easier and a lot of fun. We also liked to take the Scout when we had dates because it had a front bench seat. For teenagers, cars are freedom, and driving a car that gave you the freedom to go more-or-less anywhere was a feeling that I don’t think I’ll ever forget.
This whole reminiscence was triggered by an article in an overlanding mag about a company that rehabs Scouts. The Scout (and a bigger version, the Traveler Travelall) were produced by International Harvester between 1961 and 1980 (1953-1975 for the Travelall). Mechanically, they were kind of a piece of shit. The guy in the article doing the rehab basically gets rid of everything but the body, which makes sense to me, given all the work that we had to do on those cars. But that was par for the course for pretty much all domestic cars at the time. Luckily, the invisible hand of the free market has created a rising tide for all car manufacturers, and US cars don’t fall apart after a couple of years anymore.
Anyway, I thought it might be fun to reminisce about your first car. I need to go to the grocery store now, and I hope the roads haven’t been plowed.
Soonergrunt
First car was a red ’79 Chevy Caprice Classic.
Complete hunk of junk that my two sisters learned to drive on and drove until I got it. Not a single body panel that wasn’t dented at least 3 times.
My friends and I called it “the red bitch” because “when you get in it in the morning it’s cold and won’t turn over.”
Yes, I was 16.
But we could get 8 people in that car and go damn near everywhere in Western Colorado in it.
And we could get a LOT of beer and booze in the huge trunk.
I don’t miss it, but I miss the feeling of freedom and optimism that came with it.
namekarB
1949 Plymouth 2 door coupe. It was in perfect condition when I bought it in 1966 for $60 (about 4 day’s pay IIRC). I drove the heck out of it for a year before I upgraded. Sold it for $200 and thought I made a real deal. In hindsight, I should have hung on to it. Another one of my life’s sweet regrets.
skerry
Speaking of safe cars: In 1976, I bought a 1964 Corvair convertible. White with red vinyl interior. I loved that car.
Kineslaw
The first car I loved was a Honda Prelude. It was such a tight car and seemed to know exactly what I wanted it to do before I even moved the steering wheel. The safety cage construction also saved my life in a spectacular roll-over accident caused by small rock leading to a tire blow-out.
However, if it had side curtain airbags the accident would have been merely spectacular, not the life-changing event it was. As a result of my accident and friends’ accidents I am a firm believer in getting a new car when the safety features have improved significantly, generally 5-8 years, if you can afford it. Personal trauma and trauma to family members is a hidden cost to older cars.
Fleeting Expletive
My first car was a Nash Rambler. I’ll see your bench seat and raise you a front with reclining seat backs. Now that was a date-mobile! I drive a stately and elegant Volvo wagon now, like some song out there mocks, but it has been a reliable beast for 19 years and has only saved my life twice. Occasionally I daydream about something cute like a Fit or a Versa, but as long as she’ll keep going I’ll still drive Dame Helga around. I’ve had wonderful Hondas that I taught my kids to drive. I miss them. The Hondas. And my kids all too often.
Scout211
Ooooh. My dad had a Scout (blue) back in the day. He used it mainly to plow the road during the Iowa snow days. It was a private road that wasn’t plowed by the city. I was in college at the time but my sister was still in high school and ran that thing to the ground pretty much.
My first car was a hand-me-down from my older sister after she graduated from college. It was a teal-ish Chevrolet Biscayne 1965-ish. It had bench seats, no safety belts and I ran it to the ground pretty much.
download my app in the app store mistermix
@Soonergrunt: My wife had a 74 Bonneville. What a boat. Totaled it, no damage to the passengers. Her dad replaced it with a 72 Impala. Another boat. Nice big bench seats on both.
Brachiator
Not a big car person. A car is utilitarian, functional. My first car was a 76 Toyota Corona with manual steering. I only knew how to drive a stick shift car theoretically, from California high school auto class simulated vehicles. A co-worker taught me.
Boring car that did what a car is supposed to do, get you from point A to point B. At one point I developed some weird engine problems and took it to the dealer. He said I had a crack in the catalytic converter and his eyes were all aglow at what it would cost to fix it. I asked for an estimate and gave him my paperwork. He went into the office, came back and asked a couple of questions.
Turns out the catalytic converter had a lifetime warranty, original owner. Repairs did not cost me a dime.
Continued to drive the car for years. Basic, ugly, reliable.
cmorenc
My first two cars:
– a 1951 chevrolet sedan with two-tone body (white top, black body), manual shift. Bought it in well-used condition for $150, and it lasted several months before the engine blew out.
– a 1956 Ford sedan (green), again manual shift – was in good mechanical condition, but the body was starting to show wear and rust in places.
…after those, I went through a couple of VW camper vans. These underpowered vehicles were not for anyone in a hurry (especially in hilly terrain) – but for various road-trip adventures or spontaneous romantic interludes with a compatible willing partner…couldn’t beat it. The back seat folded down into a quite comfortable double bed. You carried your own mini-hotel room with you, including ability to cook on Coleman stove, but bathroom not included.
David Fud
My first car was a yellow AMC Spirit. I named it “Mellow Yellow”. This car was an amazing miracle of modern manufacturing. For instance, when you turned corners, the car would die, leaving you frantically trying to get the car started again or pulled over without power – without power steering, without power brakes. Through experimentation, I eventually learned a technique to keep the car going around corners: put one foot on the brake to keep control, put one foot on the gas to keep the engine revved and therefore running, pre-emptively shift into neutral to keep it from dying with the right hand, and have the left hand on the wheel to turn. This four limb turning technique was passed on to my brother, who drove the car for a while after I went to college.
It was freedom, but not much more. It had bucket front seats and a very crowded back seat.
No self-respecting high school girl would have ever gotten into that car. It wasn’t healthy for my social life, except as a get out of the house card.
eclare
When I was a kid in the early 70’s my parents had an IH Travelall. Loved that car.
jimmiraybob
First car was a run down Chevy Corvair that I bought for $65. The first time I took it onto the highway the front hood flew open and smashed the windshield. Three months later the engine blew. I sold it back to the guy for $35. A couple of years later I was old enough to get a driver’s license and eventually bought a barely alive Chevy Impala. Hey, it was the wild and woolly frontier of the 60s. Thanks for asking.
smintheus
I nearly died in my brother’s first car, an early ’60s Ford Fairlane, which went into a spin on a wet highway hill from a slight touch of the brakes. We nearly went flying down into a steep gorge, but fortunately wrapped ourselves around a telephone pole instead. My own first vehicle was even crappier, a rusted out Ford pickup whose chassis unbeknownst to me lacked mounting bolts and rested its weight on the steering column. It steered about as well as an old fashioned tractor. Don’t know how I survived my youth.
narya
I have never owned a car, and I haven’t driven in 20+ years–BUT! I still have a driver’s license (and often get my license extended because no violations). Learned to drive on a mid-70s AMC Gremlin, which I totaled. I peeled off the passenger’s side by catching the bumper of a large delivery truck–never saw it, because the January sun was directly in my eyes; didn’t even get a ticket. In fact, truck driver DID, because he was parked too close to a stop sign. Cops later said they would have been part of the accident if they hadn’t known the location, because of the glare of the sun. My parents replaced it w/ another Gremlin (they were/are big on buying American-made stuff), but eventually replaced that with a Honda Civic, which lasted forever. The Gremlin was crap; my brother had to fix it every day to drive to school; luckily he was driving to auto mechanics’ school
Also: ours were “doughnuts” not “cookies.
Also also wik: I remember running across a guy (at a demolition derby at the NJ state fair . . .) who won demolition derbies all over the place (in NJ/PA) by buying up some car–I forget what–that had a very long front end, meaning it could give/take a lot of damage before crapping out.
Heidi Mom
A used Ford Mustang, 1970 or thereabouts. It was low and wide, or seemed so to me, red with a black roof. No sporty options, nothing especially cool about it, just a used car with affordable payments. No complaints.
dfh
My first car was paid for by a loan for college; I needed to drive back and forth to school from my parents’ home. 1967 Mustang, white, black interior, 6-cylinder, automatic. Loved it and loved the times we all had. Paid $750 in 1973. Looking back it may have been a better idea to use the loan to live in the dorms. Exposure to other people and cultures didn’t happen when I was a homie, driving around with the same friends from high school. On the flip side, my total college debt was $5000 and the Mustang got me to work and back, keeping the total low. In the end, I had put a lot of damage on it (hitting a tree by showing off in the snow for one thing) and the ol’ pony sat in the driveway until l sold it for $50, which I now regret.
Roger Moore
I had a teacher in Junior High School who drove a Scout II that he named Erwin, short for The Erwin Rommel Memorial Raider. He alternated between that and an old Porsche 911.
The first car I ever drove was a Datsun 510 station wagon, which was good for practical transportation. The first car I ever owned was a 1981 Honda Civic, which I drove into the ground. I replaced it with a 2000 Civic, which I still own. I only drive a couple thousand miles a year these days, so I can’t justify replacing it.
Mai naem mobile
OT – actor Orson Bean died after being hit by a car while walking in Venice. He was Andrew Breitbart’s father in law. That’s one unlucky family. I feel bad for the grandkids losing their dad young and now their grandad. Ofcourse I am assuming the grandad stepped up once the dad died.
CaseyL
Didn’t learn to drive until I was 28, and then only because running errands was a condition of my job. So first car was a ’77 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, bought used, that I adored. Old V8 engine, lots of oomph when you hit the gas. Excellent first car for someone who knows nothing about cars because you can’t kill them (I didn’t know you needed to refill the oil until an incredulous gas station service guy asked me whether I ever had). Had lots of good times with that car. Sold it to a student who needed reliable transportation when I returned to Seattle and couldn’t bring it with me.
Ruckus
@download my app in the app store mistermix:
Have an old acquaintance from around Boston, who, used to work for me and last time I talked to him would buy an old GM boat because when the engine died, any junkyard $50 chevy V8 would fit in and off he’d go, never worrying about damage to himself. The last car I knew about he drove until one day he came out and the body was sitting on the ground, the entire undercarriage had rusted out. He used to get his monies worth out of things.
My first car was a family 2 times hand me down, a 1960 Valiant. Ugly, slant six motor, for a 60s car it actually worked pretty good. Bought a new 1968 Dodge because I had a job and it was well priced. Cars still had 4 wheel drum brakes, the tires were shit and it would aquaplane anytime there were more than 4 raindrops in the county but that was normal in those days. Behind every stoplight the pavement held more oil than a Krispy Kreme bakery from all the open crankcase breathers. Cars have come a long ways and they are far, far better than they used to be. Now if the drivers could improve that much…… I work next door to a large body shop that only works on newer cars. The amount of cars that are in the yard and that they put through the process is just amazing.
Catherine D.
My first car was a 1970 Volvo 142 with dual carburetors and a pull-out choke (aka Sven the wonder Volvo) that I bought used from a friend. A few years later I bought a new Corolla and marveled that I didn’t have to get pushed out of plowed-in street spaces. Current car is a 2003 Honda Element with a scant 53,000 miles – she is great in snow.
I’ve never owned a car with an automatic transmission. When I’ve had to drive one, my left foot stomps around looking for something to do!
dr. bloor
How the hell do you live in Rochester and limit yourself to 5K miles a year? Is your Grubhub account being underwritten by Bezos?
trollhattan
1969 Olds Cutlass 2-door small-block V8 I bought with nearly 100k on the clock, which ensured I’d be having the engine rebuilt within a couple years. Added junkyard 442 bits to it over time to give it vague resemblance of “handling” in the ’60s sense of the word. That and radials kept me upright and pointed more or less the same direction as the road ahead. In snow and ice all bets were off, because it could quickly become tail-happy. We tolerated drum brakes because we did not know any better. Now, we know.
Today it would be declared “collectable” because cars from the early ’70s onward for the next fifteen years were almost universally awful, so ’60s American iron has a nostalgic patina (a 442 of that year would fetch a LOT). Despite the vinyl roof–and why those existed as an extra-cost option is lost to history–the lines were nice. Kid from Modesto bought it and I presume ran it into a walnut tree or irrigation ditch.
Brachiator
@Mai naem mobile:
I remember Bean from tv game show appearances. I was a bit shocked at the tragedy of his being hit by two cars apparently.
According to Wiki, Bean’s father was a founding member of the ACLU. Haven’t seen this elsewhere. Hope it’s not an edit prank.
Cermet
My first car was a ford Mach 1 Mustang; not exactly fuel efficent but fast. My current car (Prius) has just passed 300,000 miles. I drive over 600 miles a week – ugh.
Kristine
A red Datsun 1200 sedan. Early 70s model that Dad bought used in the late 70s–he sold it to me for $1 in 1981, iirc, then bought another one, also red, also used. 55 hp. Stick shift, of course. I could adjust the timing with a screwdriver. When we drove in Florida, we had to pull over during heavy rains because the engine would flood.
It was a cute little car. I cried when they came to tow it away.
Omnes Omnibus
My first car was a 1984 VW GTI that I bought in the summer of ’88 just after I got commissioned. I loved that car. Pace Brachiator, a vehicle that is functional and does what it is supposed to do can also have other qualities. The GTI was quick, fun, and a joy to drive.
FlyingToaster
I have only had 3 cars:
1) semi-automatic 1970 VW bug. It was a joy to drive (since every other car owned by the ‘rents was a stick shift), and got me to high school, marching band, pep band, jazz ensemble, pit, German Club, AFS, and work for 2 years, plus the first two summers of college. Donuts on ice in the Metro North parking lot.
2) 1970 VW Microbus. Inherited from my parents after I’d moved to Bwahstin and they were retiring to Flahridah, I drove it from KC to Somerville, and then for 20 years until I got pregnant. It got better gas mileage than my current vehicle:
3) 2007 Toyota Sienna Limited (AWD). I am desperate for Toyota to come out with the Sienna in a Hybrid, but it hasn’t happened yet. I only drive about 6K per annum (school/music school/aikikai/camp, groceries), so something that isn’t getting about 11.4 mpg would be a vast improvement.
Ruckus
One of the best vehicles I ever had was a Ford full sized cargo van I bought used for my business, 8 yrs old with 125 thou on the clock. $3000. About a month after I bought it it started to smell. Bad. Took out the seats and washed the entire interior with bleach. Smelled OK. For a month. Started to stink – again. Dead fish smell, I think the prior owner was a fish monger, this was in the SF bay area. Once again took out the seats, only 2 in the front, 8 ft of open space behind you. If you did it right you could get several 12 ft long 2x4s inside completely. Anyway bleach the interior – again, beginning to regret my cheap purchase….. But the cleaning worked never smelled again. Nine years owned that traded it in for a new car that gets actual gas milage (van would go 400 miles on a tank, but it did have a 35 gal tank) got $2500 for the trade in. I’d spent some money on it, total cost for 9 yrs, $5000, minus the $2500 = $2500 for 9 yrs of ownership. New car goes over 400 on a tank, which is only 12 gal.
NotMax
First fully owned? ’71 Mercury Capri. V6, stick shift. Ordered new with my preferred specs at the dealership. British racing green exterior, tan leather interior. Normal was getting 33 mpg on the highway.
When it arrived I went to pick it up and discovered it arrived with a sunroof, which I had not ordered. Dealer made noises about “having” to now charge me more. Waved the signed, already paid in full sales agreement for an auto with that specific VIN at him. Ten minutes later was driving it off the lot at no extra cost.
zhena gogolia
Baby-blue VW bug with a hole in the floor.
Mike in NC
I had to trade in my 2004 Honda CR-V for a 2014 model as a result of very high mileage. Wife is still driving hers and sees no need for a trade in anytime soon, since we’re now retired and don’t really do any long distance driving. She typically keeps a car for 10-15 years and has had great luck.
Ken
My first car was a 1959 Triumph TR3. I was the auto shop oddball. Everyone else wanted 56/57 Chevys or similar Detroit Iron with jacked-up suspension and big rear tires. The TR was hoot. With four 1/4 turn fasteners you could take off the windshield. I would fit a little 4 inch plexiglass wind deflector and wear goggles
Ruckus
@FlyingToaster:
Current car is 3 yrs old has just over 10K on it, I’ve put about a 1K on it in the last year. I do walk to work when it isn’t raining and when my knee is actually working, which it pretty much stopped doing yesterday. Getting old is fun…….
chris
Made me smile. My first was a 1951 IH pickup that I bought for $70 at a farm auction in 1973. $60 too much I was told and it was only a field truck because the fenders flapped in the breeze and the frame was… iffy.
Then the 69 Swinger that tried to kill me several times. Young men and horsepower is risky combination. Wish I’d kept it and a few others.
Sab
My first car was a hand me down 1964 Ford Falcon station wagon. It was tan, with plastic seat upholstery with tiny cattle heads stamped in. It had an unpadded metal dashboard. It did have seat belts.
It also had an air conditioner that leaked, so there was a little wave that would wash around the car when I went up or down hills or turned corners. By the time I got it we could see the road through the holes in the floor. It used to stall climbing over the speed bumps at McDonalds if the air conditioner was on. But it was mine.
My dad had an identical car in the sedan version. He replaced it with an Audi.
lurkypants
My first car was an ’81 Honda Accord, snot-green, known as The Booger. It had been my sister’s; she traded it to me for my sofa. The side was smashed in and the frame was rotting out from the salt on New England roads, but it was mine until it died a violent death by seizure.
download my app in the app store mistermix
@dr. bloor: I work from home or cowork. I ride my bike to cowork and also ride my bike for errands. Obvs not in winter but 9 months of the year.
Barbara
The first car I bought was a 1987 Honda CRX. Two seats, but a roomy hatch because no backseat. I learned to drive in Plymouth Volare, which is definitely a contender for an Edsel award, if Car and Driver had such a thing. My parents also had a Valiant, after they stopped making Ramblers. When they finally bought a Toyota Corolla I was thrilled at having a car that actually felt peppy. The first car I bought with my husband was a 1991 Volvo, which we still drive, though not a lot.
pamelabrown53
My first really mine car was a “it’s better to look good than to feel good” car: a red MG Midget. It looked like it suited me because it was so tiny and I’m only 5′ 1″. However even with a rust colored corduroy throw pillow, I could barely reach the pedals. Made me nervous to stop on a hill or drive in the snow. Guys liked it though!
Salty Sam
I used to drive an Int’l Harvester Scout back in college- ‘73-‘75. I liked it well enough, but it had an unbalanced drive shaft, or something, and would eat up U-joints- I had to replace them about every six months.
But my first car? A ‘68 VW pop-top camper van. Ohhh, yeeeaaahh…
feebog
My first car was a 1950 Ford convertible with no engine. My neighbor (with my meager assistance) put in a ’51 Merc flathead V8. The ragtop eventually rotted off, so I just drove around with the top down all year. Good thing we live in SoCal. My first new car and all time favorite car was a ’64 Ford Falcon Ranchero. This was the pick-up version of the Falcon. 260 cubic V8 with a four speed. That little bastard was a bat out of hell. I look for them at car shows from time to time, never see one.
japa21
Can’t tell you what my first car was. It was a hand me down from my brother who lived in San Francisco. My parents flew out there to visit him and drove the car back for me to use. We still marvel at the fact they made it all the way back to Milwaukee. Drove it for a year and then traded it in on a new ’69 Dodge Dart. It barely made it to the dealership.
Learned to drive with a Nash Rambler station wagon. Talk about tanks. A neighbor offered to teach me and it worked out fine while we were in our little sub division. Then it was time to hit the open road and I forgot the whole principle of centrifugal force when making a turn. Right into a telephone pole. There were a couple cases of empty pop bottles in the back that went flying, but no one was hit. The only damage to the car was the BL being knocked out of the name.
K488
I learned to drive in a ’60’s era Travelall, that my folks had bought to haul kids and boats around with. It had three forward speeds and reverse on the steering column, and was a bit of a beast. My mother used to get jeered at by kids (“Look at the lady driving a truck!”) but she loved that car. My folks finally sold it in the late ’70’s or early ’80’s but stayed in touch with the new owners, who took it across country. When it finally died it had over 200K on the odometer, something unheard of for a vehicle of that vintage. Of course, it was in the shop multiple times, so who knows how much of the original was left? My wife grew up with a Travelall as well, which might explain why we understand each other as well as we do.
NotMax
Friend in high school tooled around in a bright red Sunbeam Alpine. Was like driving or riding in an enlarged kiddy car.
Sunbeam, you ask? Think Maxwell Smart’s car in the opening sequence of Get Smart, although that may have been a Sunbeam Tiger, which had a V8 (somehow) crammed in under the hood.
Eric S.
The first car I drove was a 1971 VW Karmann Ghia convertible. My parents bought it new the same year I was born. My mother desperately wanted the Porsche but my father walked away from that deal over a couple $100 on a the trade-in. Multiple other cars came and went before I got my license at 16. I drove the Ghia for about 8 months. Despite its looks there was nothing sporting about the car. I took a corner too fast and learned the downside of a rear engine car. I went up over a high curb and busted up the front suspension. My dad had minimal repairs done then sold it. They sold it for $500 more than they purchased to for 17 years earlier.
Eric S.
@Soonergrunt: Sooner, first time I’ve noticed your nym in quite a while. Good to “see” you.
Omnes Omnibus
@NotMax: The Get Smart car was a Tiger IIRC. Also, the car that Grace Kelly drove in To Catch a Thief was an earlier model Alpine. Yours was a very elegant machine.
johnnybuck
1976 Ford Granada. 302 V8, but the radiator was designed for the 6 cylinder version. Great car, but was bad to overheat in the summertime.
A Ghost To Most
My first car was a 1975 Honda Civic, bought new cheap because of hail damage. Great car.
Today, with 10″ of new snow, I pulled the 4Runner out, turned on the locking diffs, and flattened out the driveway for an hour. No biggie.
Eric S.
@narya: A high school friend had a powder blue Gremlin. No joke, the right front fender was held on by duck tape.
Another Scott
@Fleeting Expletive: My mom had a used 1960 Rambler. My dad bought it for her around 1970 after they got divorced. $200. The front seats were great. We lived in that car for a few days when moving between cities a couple of times…
It had a 3 speed manual on the column. And a wonky linkage. Shifting from first to second was a challenge quite often. If you didn’t do it just right, it would get stuck and you’d have to pull off the road, open the hood, untangle the linkage, close the hood, and try again. That was always fun in the pouring rain…
Oh, there was something wrong with the front suspension and if you hit a pothole just right the front right headlight would go out.
Great car. Kids these days don’t know how far we’ve come. ;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
J R in WV
First car we selected and bought was a ’71 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40, straight 6, 3 on the tree, square as a cinderblock and twice as strong. Three different cars ran into me while I was driving that thing, totaled all of them, I drove off, dented but mobile. Those impacts did open the seams and salt rot set in. When we bought the farm I needed PU truck fast to rebuild the farm house, got a ’71 Chevy C-10 Custom Delux, which meant it had a radio in the dash.
Father in Law found us a Plymouth Fury II just before we got married, he was way more of a gear head, engineer, was Engineering Officer on a DE during the war, so I was happy to take his advice, I think it was a ’61, push button automatic transmission, 318 V8. We drove off to my duty station on AS-18 in spring of ’71 and back home in spring of ’73. It died upon arrival in a cold climate after 3 years in the deep south. That’s when we bought the FJ40.
Now we don’t commute much, have a Mazda CX-5 with all wheel drive, I used to always buy snows come fall, but now I just think I’ll out-wait the snow. Ambulances around here are 4×4 raised vans, our county has a number of EMS stations manned 24/7… plus the VFD responds into the woods for accidents.
Best car I ever bought was a 1991 Saab 900 front wheel drive. We were VW buyers starting with our first new car purchase of a 1978 White Rabbit with a 38hp diesel engine, 50+ mpg! But when a passive restraint was required around that year, VW cheaped out with a realllly long seatbelt from the top rear corner of the door, al the way to the console — then you still had to fasten the lap belt, or it would pop your head off in a serious head-on collision.
So I went shopping for a car with airbags instead. T-Birds had ’em, but I wasn’t fond of Ford sedans. Finally I found the Saab, but it was expensive. I came back weekly to the dealer, and they dropped the asking price each time. When it finally fell below the asking price for the T-bird we bought it. Driven mostly by the wife, we put 250,000 miles on it and never replaced the clutch. We let it go when the frame broke one day. Would go in the snow with winter tires, even tho it was just front wheel drive. That was where the weight was, too.
Perensejo
1983 (4th gen) Toyota Corolla, 2-door sedan, blue. Manual, of course.
I bought it for a case of good beer. It had problems that could be survived with occasional infusion of hydraulic fluid.
When the cop wouldn’t pass me on inspection because of pop rivets on the bottom welds (you know, to fix the fred flintstone floor), I told the body man and he came to the inspection with me and cussed up one side of the inspection cop and down the other (they went to school together, see) and he passed me.
Believe it or not, it drove nicely. 1.8 L! I wish I’d had the money or the sense to keep it running.
It left me with a lifetime appreciation of boxy cars.
NotMax
@NotMax
Capri picture (web find, not a shot taken of mine).
Bill Arnold
I hope none of you exposed a security question; first car is a common one.
I learned to drive in a large red V8 station wagon, rear wheel drive with studded rear tires to succeed at winter ascents of a 40 vertical foot driveway when snow-covered. That was with a 20 MPH running start at the bottom and 90 degree turn; the studded tires were for the last 15 feet when the momentum ran out. To this day, front wheel drive in the snow feels like cheating, and snow driving is … relaxing.
WaterGirl
My 2005 CRV has 70,000 miles. It’s been a great vehicle. First and only new car I have ever purchased.
I haven’t shoveled snow in probably 10 years – I am always able to plow through it and get out of my driveway.
A Ghost To Most
@lurkypants:
Hah. My Civic was the Brown Clown, and my buddies Datsun 260Z the Green Latrine. That car got me a warning ticket for 165 in a 55 in Nebraska.
WaterGirl
My first car was a 1967 Dodge Dart. Sadly, it died on a highway because of an oil pump problem. I had taken it in 3 times, and the “mechanic” said the oil was fine and to ignore the oil light. So I covered the light with a sticky note.
I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the best advice I had ever gotten, because I threw a rod on the highway while driving home from college for Thanksgiving one year.
Mo MacArbie
Can’t remember if I used this for the answer to any of my security questions. In any event, my [redacted] was old enough to drink and needed one last owner to drive in the final nail. Looked good in the driveway though.
Scout211
@Bill Arnold:
Thank you for that reminder. Yes, your first car is often a security question.
Most of my accounts have moved to multi-factor authentication, but this is good to remember just in case.
delk
‘72 Pinto. Cocoa Brown with tan interior. Absolute freedom for a gay teenager living in the south side of Chicago.
trollhattan
@NotMax:
A friend bought two Tigers and grafted them into a single FrankenTiger with modern brakes and suspension, plus attached the driver seat well back on account of him being about 6’3″. It’s a VERY nice car, if not properly “collectable.”
They had a well-earned reputation of the engine torquing the engine mounts to the point of ripping. It was the same concept that gave us Shelby’s AC Cobra–little Brit sports car with snorting ‘murkan V8 crammed into it.
trollhattan
@WaterGirl:
Was passenger in a car–a ’40s Dodge van actually–that threw a rod in I-90 in Washington. Knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock BAM! I was very impressed at the force unleashed to pry open one entire side of the engine block, and felt sorry for everybody driving over the large oil pool (now, with tasty metal shards) in the slow lane.
pamelabrown53
@trollhattan:
Your comment got me thinking of classic or “collectible” cars. Since this thread is kinda slow, was wondering if anyone here owns a classic car and what makes it special to you?
A Ghost To Most
@download my app in the app store mistermix: Winter IS 9 months of the year in WNY.
NotMax
@trollhattan
Wags sneaked over one night and manually lifted up first the rear and then the front of the friend’s Alpine in order to place upside down milk cartes under the axles, which lifted the tires just enough that they were not in contact with the road but not high enough that one could tell they weren’t touching without getting down on all fours to look closely.
High schooler hilarity ensued when the friend got in the next day, started it up, stepped on the gas and went nowhere.
J R in WV
@Omnes Omnibus:
I was riding a 10-speed bike in a Gulf Coast thunderstorm when I got T-Boned by a Sunbeam, he turned left into oncoming traffic, didn’t see me, smacked me so hard the seat bent around my thigh. Concussion on the left side from hitting the hood of that little car, on the right side from hitting the pavement.
Those were cute little cars… glad I wasn’t hit by Detroit Iron!
Driver was a lawyer’s son in college, I was in the USN, which picked up my medical expenses… til I got out. Since then, on my own.
NotMax
@NotMax
Arrgh.
milk crates, not milk cartes
Need more coffee.
debbie
When I got my license, my parents imagined me taking over the chauffeuring of my three brothers. They both had large cars, so my mother got rid of her Ford II and got a cherry red Mustang with black roof and interior. Neither of my parents were sporting types, so I think they foolishly got it for me. The second time I borrowed it, I was showing a friend where the lighter was and ran head-first into a fire hydrant. The frame was bent beyond repair. My mother never forgave me, mostly because I couldn’t tell her the stupid truth how it happened, but something lamer she saw straight through. (Or maybe my friend’s mother got the truth out of her kid and told my mother.)
Two years ago, when I went to lease a new Honda Civic, they had two reds available, one being cherry red. I almost went for it, but then had the thought it might be bad karma and passed. It might have been my mother insisting from the great beyond, “No cherry red for you!”
Kay (not the front-pager)
I’m on my way out the door but I have to tell you about my first car. It was a 1960, stripped rambler. When I say stripped, it didn’t even have a radio (an optional item in 1960, apparently). It did have seatbelts in the front seat, however, an option my dad insisted on. Did I mention I bought the car from my dad? He sold it to me for $25 dollars. It had tires so bald that one of them blew as the car sat in my brother-in-law’s gas station waiting for him to have time to change it. Later it broke down and when my dad took it to the shop for me the mechanic blanched and said, “Your daughter has been driving this? This frame could come apart at any moment!” So my dad removed the plates and the identification number (I guess it was easier to do in those days?) and towed it to the front gate of a junkyard where he abandoned it.
I always felt like my dad kind of cheated my by charging me $25 for a car I only drove for about 6 weeks.
Another Scott
The latest Wondermark.
Hmmm… How do we really know that our favorite candidate isn’t a …
rofl.
Cheers,
Scott.
Rusty
In 1983 when I was 16 I bought a 1942 Ford pickup for $450, it had the flathead straight 6 and three speed. On cold mornings I to remember to leave it in second gear the night before because it wouldn’t shift until the oil in the transmission warmed up. The 6 volt system would die on cold mornings, good thing we lived at the top of a hill. Top speed was 60, though I once got it to 65 going down a steep hill. It is currently in about 800 pieces in my garage awaiting money and time for a restoration.
Wag
I learned to drive a stick in a 73 Scout II. It was a persnickety beast and my mom totaled it on icy country roads in winter. The 78 Ford Bronco that replaced was a lot more stable and a lot more reliable. I drove the Bronco into the ground, finally selling it in 92 at the end of my residency.
the Bronco was a hero during the Twin Cities Halloween blizzard of 91. Got me back and forth to the hospital in an awful storm.
Ruckus
@NotMax:
Seem to recall a HS story about some of the guys, mostly the football team guys, picked up, I think a teacher’s, VW bug and turned it sideways in a spot that it could not be driven out of. Hilarity ensued. HS was a long time ago, as many of us here can attest to.
mquirk
First car I drove was my folks 1984 wedge-shaped Toyota minivan. I missed out on my grandfather’s 70’s era V8 Dodge (with a passing gear!) by a year. I still managed to get the van over 100 MPH on a nice clear straight highway one summer.
First car I owned was a used ’89 Honda civic 4-door sedan. I bought it for $5k, put 100k miles on it and sold it 10 years later for $500 after burning out the AC.
First new car I owned was a 2000 model VW Beetle. I put almost 200k miles on it in nearly 20 years before the engine literally dropped out of it.
NotMax
@Another Scott
All time favorite Wondermark includes a panel of Red Riding Hood and the wolf in bed together, with the word balloon “We shall never speak of this.”
J R in WV
@pamelabrown53:
I have a sorta collectable car… my Dad loved convertibles, always had one once we kids were old enough to stay inside. His last rag top was a 1990 Chrysler TC by Maserati, built in Italy, sold in the US by Chrysler. Two seat roadster, great leather and burl wood cockpit, but not a fast driver.
Dad also had a big sedan in TX, left the roadster here in WV, so when he died I kept it and my brother kept the Benz in Houston, briefly, then sold it. I built a garage to keep the TC in, still have it.
Don’t drive it that much, WV is often either too hot or too wet for driving with the top down. Of course it always reminds me of my dad, who loved driving with the top down!
ThresherK
@Sab: I had a Mercury Comet (fancified-up Falcon) from that year as my first car; it must have resembled your dad’s greatly.
I don’t remember the full metal dash.
For its age it spent a lot of years taking care of me, then my brother and his wife. I was able to do some work on it myself which I can’t now because of the incredible room under the hood.
Then again, back then spark plugs you’d replace at a whim if the engine was misbehaving, and now plugs last for four years. I’ll take that.
TOP123
1976 maroon Volvo wagon with yellow racing stripe. Rust holes, eventually duct tape. Broken speedometer. My engineer dad told his newly minted legal driver to learn to have a sense of how fast the car was going. Pay attention to the rpms. Also, hitting the turn signal turned on the highbeams. You can imagine how much I enjoyed driving in the company of cop cars, especially if there was beer in the back.
ThresherK
@Kay (not the front-pager): Stripped? Did it have outside rear-view mirrors? Backup lights?
Anyone else here have to buy a mirror at the parts store to mount on the passenger door of a car that was built without one?
pamelabrown53
@J R in WV:
Googled some photos of Chrysler TCs by Maserati and it’s quite lovely…especially in yellow! Maybe it was the picture angle but not the color? Do you have specialty antique license plates?
Kent
I had a 1991 Nissan Pathfinder 4×4 when I lived in Alaska and it was by far the best old-school 4×4 I have ever owned. Beautifully built, bulletproof engine, and all the old-school 4×4 options before SUVs started to turn into bloated 4-door luxury minivans with SUV styling. Drove it all over Alaska in some of the worst winter weather. They don’t make them like that anymore: https://consumerguide.com/used/1990-95-nissan-pathfinder
My first car was a 1967 VW Beetle that I drove across country at least 3 times back and forth to college. Once in the middle of winter.
Mai naem mobile
I love these stories. I’ve gone through quite a few cars because I have to drive for work so I usually buy the base model(automatic not manual) – couldn’t care less about leather seats, heated seats, Bose stereo, splashy wheels. For the first time I didnt buy a base model this time around because of the safety stuff – I got the E model CRV. I figure if it saves me one fender bender I’ll have recouped the extra money I spent. Anyhow first time for a Honda. It’s got the blind spot warning and the automatic braking to avoid a fender bender and the staying in the lane system. I think the stuff is good but can make you a lazy driver.
Tom Levenson
The car on which I learned to drive: my uncle’s non-street-legal farm truck, an early 50s Landrover pickup. My then-fifteen-year-old cousin taught me, and one time I was driving the vehicle near its top speed of 27 miles an hour around a 30 acre field, cultivated but not in crop, when the accelerator got caught in one of the many holes in the floorboards. Round and round we went, until ventually, she reached down and bang it out of that trap. (The electric fence keeping the sheep in the neighboring field made it all more interesting.)
The first car I regularly drove was my mom’s Ford Galaxy station wagon — 392 cubic inch V8 under a hood you could land Phantoms on, and, as Mistermix notes, that essential feature for teen mobility, a bench seat long enough to lie out full length. Unlike the IH Scout of the post, this was an overpowered car of great stability; not much turning agility, I grant you, but plenty of avoirdupois and pretty set-in-its-ways wheelbase and width. Being a Berkleley, CA car, we didn’t have to worry much about snowdrifts and the like. I still miss that monument to $0.29/gal gas.
The first car I ever owned was one of the worst cars ever made: the Datsun B210, the last (I think) rear wheel drive Datsun/Nissan sold in the US. It was light, completely fragile in any accident, rode on narrow tires and could lose grip on a 25 mph turn on a dry road. It tried to kill me on a 32 degree F night with a liquid/ice slurry on the surface of the old Boston elevated expressway. I was coming north to west round the bend that took you onto the Storrow Drive –slowly– when it started to hydroplane/ice skate. I pulled a 270 and, thankfully, bled off enough speed so that I just came to rest against the rail. Even more fortunately, this was a rare interval when there were no cars around me, and I just sat there, trying to replace my heart into my chest cavity.
Sold the murdering bastard of a car within the month.
NotMax
@pamelabrown53
There’s a commenter here (sorry, nym escapes me) from Florida who has, IIRC, a late 70s Oldsmobile VistaCruiser station wagon which he displays at auto shows.
Mustang Bobby
@NotMax: Could that be me with my 1988 Pontiac 6000 Safari station wagon? I’m in Miami and I take it to car shows, including the AACA National Meet in Miami on February 29.
Ol'Froth
My first car, that was all my own, was a used Datsun B210 Rustmobile I bought my senior year in college. What a piece of crapola! It did get me around town OK, but I could only take one friend along for a drive to the store as there was zero headroom in the back seat, unless you were 4’8″ or shorter. I learned to drive (1977-78) in a Subaru station wagon, which my parents traded in for Chrysler Horizon, which was a piece of junk, even when new, while I was in college.
Another Scott
@NotMax: Mustang Bobby and his 1988 Pontiac 6000 Safari station wagon. ;-)
[Rats! Too slow!!]
Cheers,
Scott.
pamelabrown53
@NotMax: Thanks for the info.
I love looking and reading about antique/classic cars which is weird because otherwise I’m not that interested.
hitchhiker
@Eric S.:
First car I owned was an old orange Karmann Ghia. No idea what year it was manufactured, but by the time I had it in the late 70s it was beat to shit. The heater couldn’t be turned off; it was useless in the winter and annoying in the summer. The clip that was supposed to hold the cover over the gas cap down was broken, so I drove everywhere with that cover at a right angle to the car body, like a hand waving.
I lived in Michigan then, and during one very cold spell I thought the clutch had gone out … turned out that there was ice buildup under the pedal. It was fine after it sat indoors in a garage for a few hours.
Loved that car so much!
J R in WV
@pamelabrown53:
Nope, never bothered, just std plates. Mine is Ivory white with a tan top and interior. The yellow ones are the best color, I think although there are red ones that are nice. I don’t care for the black ones so much.
They didn’t make a lot of them, so someday the value might go up. They were not cheap when dad bought his new in Sarasota, FL. It’s fun to drive around on a not-too-hot spring or fall day on country roads. It also has a hard top which I don’t use. There are models with more power than mine, but it’s fine for driving.
NotMax
@Mustang Bobby
That’s-a you. I managed to get the brand, year and model entirely wrong. Apologies.
However the three errors I allot myself each year are now taken care of. ;)
Mustang Bobby
My first car that I shared with my brother and sister was a 1965 Mustang 2+2 with a 289 V8 and three-speed manual transmission. We got it in 1969 when I was 16 and kept it for five years, then sold it for $300. And yeah, I’m like everyone; I wish I still had it. I’m on my third Mustang now (an ’07 convertible), but I’d love to get another ’65.
The first car that was mine alone was a 1957 Chevy 210 wagon that I pulled out of a friend’s back yard. I had it for a year, but it cemented my love for wagons (see Comment #87).
pamelabrown53
@Mustang Bobby:
Do you have time to post a photo? Also, too, is it 25 years for a car to qualify as an antique/classic?
pamelabrown53
@NotMax: :-)…
Mustang Bobby
@pamelabrown53: Here you go.
https://barkbarkwoofwoof.com/2019/07/happy-friday-13/
According to the rules of the Antique Automobile Club of America, a car that is 25 years old as of January 1 is considered eligible for showing in their judged shows.
dnfree
When my husband and I were dating, in 1966, he had a 1949 Chevy, black and very basic. In line with the comments a ways back on the passage of time, that car was only 17 years old. That would be like owning a 2003 car now, and yet there was far more difference between a 1949 car and a 1966 car.
Johannes
My first car was a 10-year-old Audi that I got for suspiciously low price. It was beautiful, but the guy who had rehabbed it put in the wrong kind of battery, under the back seat. One day, driving from Manhattan to Queens, I smelled smoke. I was on the Van Wyck Parkway, which has no shoulders and suddenly my backseat was on fire. No, really, open flame licking at the edges of a growing hole in the seat.
Fortunately there was an exit that was blocked up, and I was able to pull over there, and call for help. Being a naif I called AAA instead of the police, and went through their litany of questions about the year make model and color of the car.
When I finally got wise and called the police they drove right by me as though the plume of smoke wasn’t enough of a clue.
When they returned, they put out the fire, tell the car, and gave me a car with a large charge hole in the center of the backseat. For the rest of the time I owned it, we affectionately referred to it as the Flaming Deathtrap of Gehenna.
pamelabrown53
@Mustang Bobby:
Thank you, MB. It looks really l-o-o-o-ng! Bet you get lots of stares.
NotMax
@dnfree
Starter button on the floor (or dash)?
Kent
@dnfree: People used to buy new cars every couple year or so. And a car with 100,000 miles was considered incredibly old and worn out. These days cars are just so much better, safer, and more complex. Back then, all the innovation was spent on the sheet metal, coming up with different hoods, fenders, and tail-fins. So while they looked a lot different on the outside, they weren’t all that different internally. These days it is mostly spent in the technology.
dnfree
@NotMax: I don’t remember—it was his car. He did try to teach me to drive stick shift in it and it didn’t go well. I remember him shouting “It’s not synchromesh!” Or something like that, which meant nothing to me.
Later he sold the car to one of my brothers for $65 and we got some kind of Volvo that looked like a forties car. 544?
Edited to add that the Volvo was the first car we had with seatbelts. We wore them every time we got in the car.
Another Scott
@Mustang Bobby: A friend’s wife had a white 1965 Pontiac Grand Prix. The most over-powered steering I’d ever experienced. You could literally drive it with your pinkies. You could almost make it turn by just concentrating really hard… ;-)
Beautiful, but totally impractical, car.
Cheers,
Scott.
Barbara
hguO@Kay (not the front-pager): My parents had the no seat belts version of that car. I vividly remember the joy us kids felt when we realized that the new Rambler had a radio. We bought it used from my uncle after his wife died.
Ruckus
@Mai naem mobile:
Best new car stuff to me is the back up camera and buzzer. I thought it was a waste and told the dealer that if they wanted me to buy the car that had it on they had to reduce the price by the option $. They did and while I like the car that is one feature I’d never be without ever again, although this is probably/hopefully my last car.
Sab
@ThresherK: Yep. Three times. Tried to get one from the dealer and that cost as much as a new tire.
Sab
@ThresherK: That Falcon lasted forever. We named it Leander ( from Greek mythology) because it was so faithful/dependable.
Sab
@ThresherK: That Falcon lasted forever. We named it Leander ( from Greek mythology) because it was so faithful/dependable.
@ThresherK: Our next door neighbor got a Comet the same year Mom got the Falcon. Their Comet was red. Very flashy, but otherwise pretty much just like the Falcon.
JustRuss
My dad bought a new Suburban in 1972. He called it the Travellall, because Chevy didn’t put Suburban badges on them back then. That thing was as reliable as a rock. Other than a rebuilt carb and a starter motor that fell out while we were on a road trip (!), it just ran. Out lived my dad. At 200k miles the timing chain gave out, took me all of a morning to replace it. It was incredibly easy to work on. Mom decided to sell it then, I took a buyer out for a test drive and he noticed a “thunk” coming from the suspension. We crawled underneath and found it was just a rubber stop that had worn away, 10 bucks later the thunk was gone and he bought it. I like to think it’s still hauling families to their favorite camp ground.
Quaker in a Basement
@eclare: I have lived in apartments smaller than the inside of a TravelAll.
Sab
@Bill Arnold: No. This is the first car I had custody. For security I use the first car I bought.
Good point though.
Mustang Bobby
@pamelabrown53: That’s the illusion of the photograph. Actually it’s 16 feet long, five inches longer than my Mustang, and a foot and a half shorter than a full-sized wagon (e.g. a 1967 Ford Country Squire). As it is, it’s a seven-passenger wagon, including the two rear-facing seats in the wayback.
Mustang Bobby
@Another Scott: And they handled like you were driving a mattress. You turn the wheel and the car responds, “You were serious about that?”
Matt McIrvin
I avoided having a car for a long time, and the first car I actually owned was a 1997 Nissan Altima that I’d gotten used around ’99. OK car but I have bad memories of all the accidents in which it got smashed up. One even wasn’t my fault– it got its whole side caved in by a semi that went straight when the road temporarily swerved, wedging me in between the trailer and a concrete Jersey barrier. I kept getting the thing patched up until its head gasket sprung a leak and started spraying oil all over.
Second car was a beat-up ’99 Sentra that I inherited from my wife in the mid-2000s when she bought something better. It kind of sucked, was incredibly prone to locking brakes and sliding all over the road in any remotely slippery conditions. I got rid of it when it was still functioning in part because I just wanted something, anything with ABS.
Which was my third car and my first new car, a 2010 Honda Fit, a car I love and am still doggedly clinging to even though it’s into the repairs-getting-more-expensive phase.
Ruckus
@dnfree:
Mom’s car when I was a kid was a 1946 or 47 Ford, which I think was an army surplus sedan because it was army olive drab green. Column shit, very basic. I remember it vaguely and have, I think a B&W photo.
Ruckus
@Kent:
A family friend whose son and I were good buddies had a 63 Pontiac Bonneville 4 door sedan which he drove for 300,000 miles. It was of course completely worn out but it still ran. My dad kept cars a longish time for the 50s but then he did valve jobs and all rest of the mechanical work required to drive them. Oil change every 1000 miles etc. Today my car requires 10,000 mile oil changes and will last 250,000-300,000 miles, with far less mucking about. 50 yrs and technology has improved a lot of things in life. Politics is not one of them.
JAM
Mine was a 1979 Camaro. Luckily it doesn’t snow much here, because I probably wouldn’t have survived my teens if it did. Imagine a sled propelled by a V8 engine and you have a good idea of how it handled on ice.
Zelma
The first car that I claimed as my own was my mother’s 1957 or 58 Nash Metropolitan. It was an English import, I think. It was really a two seater but there was this tiny bench seat in the back. And it was a convertible but you put the top down manually. It was two toned, salmon (think pink) and white. In the summer, we’d put the top down and fit four or five of us in and drive around the back roads of Cape May county singing, “There’s rioting in Africa….” Good times. The first car I owned was a 1968 Toyota Corona – stick shift, no air. Cost $2700 new.
ThresherK
@Sab: It was many year later I realized that Mercury tried to imitate the lines of the Continental (which was then in one of its classic iterations). Scaled down, it wasn’t a bad effort, and it didn’t have too much “goop” on it.
opiejeanne
First car I drove was a ’57 Ford, two-tone white above, light blue below. Almost identical to the Hairline of the same year, but with less flashy grill and bumpers. They wouldn’t let me drive it by myself, though. Bah. When I went off to college Mom loaned me her little 66? Chevy Nova Sport? I drove it for one quarter and then she took it back. Bah. That was a fun car. It had some issues, like the engine flooding when you tried to start it, but it was just a sticky spring on a little flap and if you flicked it shut you were good to go.
First car I owned was a 70 Toyota Corona in Horizontal (sic) Blue. That was the title on the little can of touch-up paint that came with it. It was an automatic, had a cast iron engine and the thing ran like a champ, most of the time. We sold it in 1983 when we couldn’t fit all three kids into the back seat. A girl going off to college bought it and was thrilled with it.
opiejeanne
@Sab: my dad bought a Falcon in 65, and 6 months later was rear ended by a guy with no insurance or license. He had a stiff neck for a while, whiplash. He replaced it with a 66 Ford Custom, almost a land yacht. I learned to drive on that thing, at first. Then they switched me over to the 57 Ford, stick on the steering column, worn out seat springs so I could only see between the dashboard and the top of the steering wheel. Adding a telephone book only helped a little. just as I was getting good at using the clutch, and even shifted a couple of times without using the clutch because I could hear when to (don’t try this at home, kids) they had the clutch repaired and I had to start over which was frustrating.
In case anyone wonders, I can drive a stick. That was a great car for my mom and dad, it was not a good car for me to learn on.
Barbara
@opiejeanne: The horizontal blue — a reminder how novel Japanese imports were, and how not very multinational the Japanese automobile car makers were.
hueyplong
First one I drove a lot was a 1967 Plymouth Barracuda. First actually owned was a 1978 Toyota Corolla. It made four cross-country trips.
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: Yes! Exactly right, knock-knock-knock-BAM!
Quite startling!
BroD
@eclare: I had one of those. Had a lot of fun with it. Horrible gas mileage, tho. I sometimes feel guilty thinking I started the SUV thing.
Death Panel Truck
I had three first vehicles simultaneously — a 1947 Studebaker truck my dad gave me. I only drove it on the wheat farm because the brakes were shot. You had to roll to a stop, so estimating where you wanted to be when it stopped was kind of tricky. Another car I had was a 1971 Dodge Demon 340, the sister car to the Plymouth Duster 340. Lots of power, fun to drive. The other was a 1961 Ford Fairlane town sedan, the last of the full-size Fairlanes before the downsizing in ‘62. Small block V8, three on the tree shifting. I drove the piss out of that thing. It was light blue, so my brother called it the Bluesmobile.
dimmsdale
My first car was a 1960 Fiat 1100D–a nicely balanced, somewhat staid 4-door sedan with 2 suicide doors in front and 4 speeds on the column, which I attempted to drive like a Formula 1 racer around the Maryland suburbs. Fiats always had a sporty side to them, because that’s what the Italian car-buying public demanded, so nice handling (for a 4dr) and although a lowly Ford Falcon would outrun it off the line, it was fun to toss around in the curves. There was plenty of rust in the fenders and a hole in the floor through which rainwater would splash when underway; miss that car like crazy, though. There’s a nice video about the Fiat 1100 at Leno’s Garage, and can I tell you that the first time I played the video, the engine, valve, and transmission sounds took me RIGHT back to the 60s, like Proust’s madeleines. It’s a terrific video that does the car justice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Uk-qkmCXRc
ljdramone
When I was in high school, my family had a 1975 Scout and a 1973 Travelall. My dad drove the Scout, and I got to ferry my siblings around in the Travelall (as the oldest, I was drafted into chauffeur duty the week after I turned sixteen and got my driver’s license.) I remember the Travelall had a second gas tank with the filler cap on the right front quarter panel.
First car I actually owned was a 1977 Datsun 280Z I bought in 1987 with 93,000 miles on it. Fun car, but the body rusted out completely after I had it a few years.
JWR
1. 1967 Ford Mercury Parklane Brougham with a 429 (428?) V-8, (I think the 8 stood for mpg), but it sounded like a cop car when you opened it up.
2. 1970 Toyota Corona 4 door sedan. (Great car till the transmission went ka-blooey.)
frosty
Learned to drive in a 1957 Nash Metropolitan. My twin brother and I took the girl up the street to school crammed cozily on the bench seat. Senior year we convinced my dad to buy a ‘61 Austin Healey Bugeye Sprite on which we all learned car repair.
Showed it off to Robin-Up-The-Street with regrets we couldn’t take her to school. She got in, parked her butt on the driveshaft tunnel between the bucket seats, tucked her feet in the passenger’s side, put her arms around us and said something like “Sure you can!”
Matt McIrvin
I learned to drive in my mother’s 1980-something Volvo 240 DL, a car whose handling I never liked–the controls always felt kind of mushy, like you were driving by mail. I didn’t have a car in college but when I was home in NoVa I usually drove my dad’s Toyota Corolla, which I liked a lot more.
Got away without having a car by living in Cambridge, Mass. for a long time, and when I moved in with Sam, our building only had one parking space so at first we just got by with her old Toyota, which I couldn’t even drive because I never bothered to learn stick (I’ve tried a couple of times; it’s not pretty). But eventually I got a job where I couldn’t really avoid having to drive to work sometimes, so I got the Altima mentioned above. And at that point I realized that I didn’t really have enough road experience to be a good driver–decades after getting my license I had to *really* learn, battling my way through Boston-area traffic.
Just One More Canuck
seems fitting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu9Xg2dh33M
tybee
this has been a great topic.
BellyCat
@download my app in the app store mistermix: You forgot to mention that Scouts also stall and will not restart when trying to cross streams that go over your wheels!
(Ask me how my teenage self knows this)
LOVED “my Mom’s” ‘78 pale yellow Scout. Good thing it couldn’t talk.
Thanks for the fond reminiscences!
TriassicSands
@Ruckus:
The senate is a V-100, but it’s currently running on fewer than 50 cylinders. It’s 2WD but both wheels are on the same side. The head gasket is blown and often it fails to start. Unfortunately, the software has been hacked by the Russians.
BellyCat
Damn, what a fun thread! Thanks, all
Not one mention of Click and Clack though?!?!
JWR
@TriassicSands: Upvoted. ;)
Ruckus
@TriassicSands:
Nail hit squarely on head. In to depth with one swing.
Nice.
Bruce K
First car I owned was a 1983 Plymouth Turismo, bought on the cheap; as it turned out, it had some serious mechanical flaws that took a lot of work by the neighborhood mechanic to fix. It was basically a coupe version of the Plymouth Horizon/Dodge Omni, which was kind of a knock-off of the VW Golf/Rabbit. Convenient, because I’d learned to drive with my parents’ Horizon and Golf.
I drove that rattletrap for about eight years before I got steady employment and could afford a nicer car.
Emily68
@Fleeting Expletive: What a coincidence. My first car was a ‘52 Nash Rambler that I fell heir to when I got my license in 1966. It’d been my brother’s before that. I’d go driving around with my pals & back & forth to school, but we stayed in ~20 mile radius of home. Instead of turning the key, it had a starter button. It may have also had a manual choke.
After the Nash gave up the ghost, my dad got me a Studebaker Lark. ‘62 with an elliptical steering wheel. I drove that until I went to college & I’ve had only two cars since then.
r€nato
My father had an IH Scout 800B Comanche. He bought it while we still lived in Florida, in anticipation of an impending move to Phoenix. One of the first pastimes he took up on moving to AZ was four-wheeling + rockhounding. I still fondly remember bouncing up and down on the hard rear bench (they ran parallel to the length of the body, not across the body like a normal passenger bench) and hitting my head on the roof a fair amount as we explored the back roads of the state. I was 7 to 10 or 11 yrs old during this period so it helped that I was not yet full adult height :-) No seat belt, of course!
He put a lot of money into keeping the thing going, specifically the transmission. Finally died for good around 1979 or 1980, I think.
https://yupyi.com/images/listings/2018-09/1971_international_harvester_scout_800b_-1536599883-352-e.jpg
BruceFromOhio
What a great thread. First car was a handmedown 1976 VW Rabbit with a 2-bbl Holley carburetor bolted on by Mechanic Dad. 4-spd, dull red with a white interior, a sweet Jensen sound system, and an outrageous airhorn. Died when I wrapped it around a telephone pole. It’s replacement was a 1974 Cosworth Vega that was also fun but less so, bought for $100 from a family friend.
@Matt McIrvin: I’m currently operating a 2011 Fit sport, 5-spd manual with a rebuilt head (courtesy of Honda warranty). It’s the last internal combustion car i will own, as it’s eventual replacement will be an electric vehicle. It’s a great little car, a blast to drive. We may do a little autocross this summer.
Katdip
First car was a 1966 Mustang 289 small block v8 3-speed manual – it had some great get-up-and go. I bought it from a friend without much due diligence, only realizing 3 months later that the rust holes in the undercarriage had been patched with wads of newspapers and roofing tar (without which it would have looked like a Flintstones car). In a fit of misplaced priorities my first investment was in a pair of air shocks in the back, partly cuz they were cool but mostly to keep the front end on the ground when reaching highway speeds. I never got it past 92 mph – though the engine would go faster, the front end shaking and loss of steering control scared the bejeesus out of me. I had it for about 2 years and it only ran about 1/2 that time, but I loved that car and would buy another one in a heartbeat.
BruceJ
I learned to drive in my family’s ’72 Travelall. It was the replacement for the ’65 Dad originally got when the ’56 Chevy station wagon died, and we needed something to haul the new 17′ trailer on vacations.
The rear brakes on the ’65 gave out while we were hauling the familly plus grandma and the fully loaded trailer through the Rockies. Dad managed to limp it into Silverton, where we unexpectedly spent a week while a local mechanic first scoured the region for the parts needed, then ended up fixing it , I swear to god, with parts from the ’54 International truck he had parked next to the garage.
The ’72 had it’s share of fun, too. We were in San Diego visiting friends, and went to the zo. came out and it looked like it had a flat tire in front. It did not. The right side wheel frame support had broken. This required another week, and finding a certified welding shop to take care of the problem.
Dad went out and got a Chevy Suburban after that. It lived on for decades until my brother just ran it into the ground.