What was your first car?

[smokehouse]

I'm pretty sure this one has been posted before, but it's been a really long time and there's new members here.

Title says it all, what was your first car, tell a story is you have one to share. It's better than bitching about politics or COVID...


Mine was a 1977 Dodge Charger SE. A giant, gas guzzling monstrosity that I bought for $400 back in summer of 1994. The thing had a monstrous 400ci/6.6L "lean burn" big block that consumed gas like there was no tomorrow and didn't even make 200 horsepower. It was originally silver with a light blue interior...but a previous owner made that rattle can black god knows when.

Having shot suspension, I accidentally ripped half the exhaust off driving over a speed bump, I replaced it with a cherry bomb muffler. It sounded awesome...it just had no go.

The brakes were shot, it had a leaking valve cover gasket (so it smoked all the time), I could never get the dash lights to work so driving at night was a guessing game as tot he speed, the wipers would shit out if you turned them on high speed (you'd have to disassemble the thing and put them back together) and it only ran about a year before the engine blew, I junked it after that, probably did the world a favor doing that.

 

[NeoSneth]

The first one I purchased for myself:
1998 Lincoln Mark VIII LSC

I saw a mint one for sale locally the other day, and really debated picking it up. Mustang Cobra engine in an extremely comfortable Lincoln interior. I had very little complaints about this car. It was all about the best highway driving experience. It was geared for highway. it had air ride that would lower at highway speeds. It sat at my moms driveway for a few years after I moved on to my next car, and eventually I donated it as I didn't have storage for it.

 

[neo_mao]

My first car was an Infiniti G20T....maybe a ‘97?

Perfectly fine boring first car for a perfectly fine boring young man.

 

[Lastblade]

88 Hydunai Excel, it was like driving a paper airplane, especially on the highway.

 

[wyo]

First car I bought was a 96 Explorer XLT in 2001 for $6000. Nothing fancy but it was reliable and cheap to maintain.

 

[Syn]

72 Plymouth Duster

It was 10 years old and rusty as hell like most Chrysler vehicles from that time. Great car for the money I paid. A few years later I bought the Dodge version a Demon. Both cars had iffy brakes even after replacing everything but the drums.

 

[ShaolinAce]

89 Z24 Chevrolet Cavalier. Standard transmission as my dad told me I need to learn how to drive like a man. racecar flags painted on the side doors and I sure did use them being a 16 year old kid.

 

[smokehouse]

72 Plymouth Duster

It was 10 years old and rusty as hell like most Chrysler vehicles from that time. Great car for the money I paid. A few years later I bought the Dodge version a Demon. Both cars had iffy brakes even after replacing everything but the drums.

Man, old car brakes are the worst. After my charger, I had a 1972 Maverick with 4-wheel drum brakes and no brake booster. You had the build brake line pressure by pumping the brake pedal, hopefully well in advance of when you actually needed to stop.

 

[StevenK]

Toyota Carina II, in beige, complete with moon roof.

 

[Dochartaigh]

I had the worst luck with my first car... worked all summer bagging groceries and bought a 1986 Pontiac Firebird with cool chrome Cragar SS rims, 128k miles, crappy V6 engine, complete with 1 headlight that wouldn't go down. Bought it a couple months before my birthday. Got my license, drove it to the inspection station where it failed for like 4 different things, driving home threw a couple piston rods through the engine block the mechanic told me...

Had the 'advanced auto' class at my high school throw in a $500 used engine for me, drove home and got pulled over for no inspection by an asshole local cop (had all the receipts for the new engine and everything and he STILL gave me a ~$125 ticket), then the transmission blew like 2 miles further down the road, literally 300 yards from my house...

 

[Syn]

Man, old car brakes are the worst. After my charger, I had a 1972 Maverick with 4-wheel drum brakes and no brake booster. You had the build brake line pressure by pumping the brake pedal, hopefully well in advance of when you actually needed to stop.

The brakes on the Demon, or lack thereof, forced me to rear end someone. I tried to stop but didn't stand a chance.

 

[Taiso]

'79 Pontiac Bonneville

Rated worst of the year by Consumer Reports.

Used to rock left to right when I drove, like it was floating or something.

I called it the Boatmobile.

 

[smokehouse]

'79 Pontiac Bonneville

Rated worst of the year by Consumer Reports.

Used to rock left to right when I drove, like it was floating or something.

I called it the Boatmobile.

Big old 70's cars with shot suspension will bounce down the road, especially when you hit a bump or something. My '77 would bounce seemingly forever when I'd hit some rough patch.

 

[ShootTheCore]

1982 Dodge Colt similar to this one- basically a rebadged Mitsubishi Mirage. It was a pretty fun car actually - it was a 4-speed stick shift with an extra "Economy - Power" stick on the side. Crank the AM, put her in Power, pop the clutch and let the good times roll! I got over 350,000 miles out of it before moving on to a used 1990 Mazda 323.

 

[FAT$TACKS]

72 Ford Maverick

2 door, White vinyl top, manual breaks, no power steering.

 

[smokehouse]

72 Ford Maverick

2 door, White vinyl top, manual breaks, no power steering.

My ‘72was blue, no vinyl though. Mine had an auto trans and the 200 I6.

 

[Digmac]

2003 Lexus GS300 was the first car I owned myself. I was dead set on getting one, as the JZS16 GS is my favorite generation of that model. Rear wheel drive, 3.0 I6 in the front, double wishbone in the front and rear. It was comfortable, had ample power to get up to speed, and handled well. I'd love another one, but with a 2JZ-GTE twin turbo swap from an Aristo V300. Thankfully it's not too far off from when the JZS16 Aristo can be imported over from Japan.

 

[famicommander]

Not my photos but close enough:

1976 Toyota Chinook pop up camper truck. It was free. Drove it from like 16-22. Then I wrecked it.

Rear wheel drive, manual transmission, no power steering, no antilock brakes, massive blind spots on either side, can't see out the back. The bench seat extends into a bed, had electricity and shit. Got surprisingly decent gas mileage (about the same as my current 2005 4 cylinder sedan).

As a consequence of learning to drive on that thing, I can parallel park pretty much anything.

 

[HornheaDD]

Technically it was a 1968 Mustang Fastback. My dad rebuilt it and claimed it was for me. He bought the body for $600 and restored it. Candy apple red, 351 Cleveland big block. I got to drive it for about 2 months in school, and had THE raddest fucking car in school. Though I only ever got a blow in the back seat one time on campus. ONE TIME. So much for it being a pussy wagon.

He ended up selling it, and I actually bought my first vehicle. 1991 Ford Ranger with a longbed. Awesome little truck. I remember my payments were $162.85. Pretty rad.

 

[jro]

When I turned 16, my parents handed me down their existing Geo Prizm and bought something nicer for themselves. That was the absolute gayest car to be driving as a 16-year-old, but it was a car, which was better than nothing. I think my parents let me have it because they knew it was slower than shit and pretty safe.

A year or so later I got a used Honda Civic del Sol, which was still slow as hell (no Vtech), but infinitely more fun. I got it up to 102 mph in the middle of the night on the interstate once, which was incredibly stupid obviously.

 

[BlackaneseNiNjA]

A red pontiac grand prix back in the 90’s. I really miss that car.

Not my photo, but this was the year, make, and model:

 

[Syn]

When I turned 16, my parents handed me down their existing Geo Prizm and bought something nicer for themselves. That was the absolute gayest car to be driving as a 16-year-old, but it was a car, which was better than nothing. I think my parents let me have it because they knew it was slower than shit and pretty safe.

We're all hanging out and a buddy rolled up in a Gremlin. Another friend started laughing and ripping on the Gremlin owner. I looked at him and said well it's better than your ride. Everyone laughed because he didn't own a car.

 

[LoneSage]

We're all hanging out and a buddy rolled up in a Gremlin. Another friend started laughing and ripping on the Gremlin owner. I looked at him and said well it's better than your ride. Everyone laughed because he didn't own a car.

Haha nice. Bet he learned something that day.

 

[terry.330]

It was an 80 or 82 with a blue vinyl top. It was dangerous as fuck, nothing on it worked except the engine. Only drove it a couple of handful of times and didn't have any money to get if fixed Sold it to a black guy that turned it into a Donk and bought a new 04 Impreza.

 

[StevenK]

View attachment 59254

It was an 80 or 82 with a blue vinyl top. It was dangerous as fuck, nothing on it worked except the engine. Only drove it a couple of handful of times and didn't have any money to get if fixed Sold it to a black guy that turned it into a Donk and bought a new 04 Impreza.

Donk?