What was your first car like?

T

TennVet

Member
Mine in 1964 was a 1955 Ford, obtained in an even trade for my Cushman Eagle motor scooter in Tell City, IN. I had my eye on a good looking 50's model Dodge pickup on the used car lot, but the dealer and the deal didn't go that way. I'm not certain what color it was out of the factory, but as I took possession it had been painted white using brush with obvious brush strokes. It had glass pack mufflers that sounded pretty good and also served to mask the engine problem. I hadn't driven it 50 miles till the saw dust in the oil revealed a tremendous oil leak.

So how did something good come out of that very bad trade? I got myself a job as soon as we got settled in KCMO, we were moving for the upteenth time in my youth. I saved my money from my busboy job at the IRS cafeteria, and soon had enough money saved to by the engine rebuild kit. I borrowed some tools from a neighbor and managed to get the engine rebuilt. It ran well enough that I sold it for a good price and bought a 1954 Chevy Bel Air.
 

My first car was a 1956 Ford Fairlane 2dr. I started mowing neighborhood lawns in the Summer, and shoveling snow in the Winter when I was about 12. My Dad told me that I could get a car when I turned 16...IF I had the money....so I worked and saved my money for about 4 years and bought the Ford. It ran and looked good and I kept it for about 4 years until I joined the USAF, and went to Germany. I gave it to my Sister, and she got another 3 years out of it before she got married, and traded it.
 
1955 Dodge Station wagon that my dad bought for $100 or $200 my senior year in high school. It had a HUGE engine in it that guzzled gas like an old sot but then gas was 25 cents a gallon. I thought I was the cat's meow with an actual car to drive. I could load all my friends in it on a Friday night and if everyone pitched in a quarter to buy gas we could "cruise" all night.
 
My very first car was a 1974 European mark 1 Ford Escort, in Ford Olympic Blue. This colour but not this particular car.

Someone ran into it head-on in the snow. Pushing the right-hand fender back into the driver's door. I was unable to open the door until it was repaired.

They were a popular Rally Car in the 70’s, and are still used in historic racing. Often with a race spec 4-cylinder Ford-Cosworth engine. Reving to around 9000 rpm.

Ford Escort MK1.JPG

 
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My first car was also a used Chevy Corvair, a yellow 1966 hardtop. The car at the time was under heavy attack by Ralph Nader in his book, Unsafe At Any Speed. While I adored the car as one always does their first love, my mother was afraid that the car was going to kill me, so I was nagged to get rid of it, which responding to pressure I did after only a year… 😿

IMG_2298.jpeg
 
A little second hand 850 cc Mini that looked the same as this.. which my brother bought me when I was 21
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I never owned a car or even had a U.S. drivers license till I was darn near 25 yrs. old.....left home when I was 15, joined the Army when I was 17 then between the Army and working there as a civilian I was in VN for right at 6 years and came back to the U.S. late in 74'.

Knowing that I was going back overseas to work sooner or later I didn't want to invest a lot of money in a vehicle so I got my drivers license and bought a used (can't remember the year of the car, mileage or what I paid) 4 door, three speed auto Datsun PL-510 and kept it till I went to Libya.....darn good car and I drove the heck out of it.

Just like the one I had.

pl510.jpg
 
Fyrefox said:
My first car was also a used Chevy Corvair, a yellow 1966 hardtop. The car at the time was under heavy attack by Ralph Nader in his book, Unsafe At Any Speed. While I adored the car as one always does their first love, my mother was afraid that the car was going to kill me, so I was nagged to get rid of it, which responding to pressure I did after only a year… 😿

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I had a red hardtop Corvair that got sandwiched in between two big heavy steel cars on a freeway wreck. The motor got rammed into the back of my seat - after a guy driving a Buick La Sabre hit me going 80 mph when I was the last car in a line of cars at a dead stop. It literally saved my life as the other two cars were totaled and I came out with what you would call minor injuries (had the ball come off the floor shift and go up into my thigh). Never spent a night in the hospital. Poo poo to Ralph Nadar.
 
Gary O' said:
My first car was a '54 Chevy 2dr post
Straight 6
Three on the tree
Same color as this one, but less chrome (a lot less)

View attachment 344849

Bought it mint
$300
Drove it to the ground runnin' back roads and ditches
I was 15
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That's a real beauty. Looks better than mine. The '54 Chevy I had as my second car ran great, but looks, not so much. It was that funny burnt orange with a white top except for the front clip that was that odd mustard color. Trunk lid was scratched up so I primed it grey, dreaming that I would get a new paint job. I was dating my high school sweetheart, and put stick on letter on the trunk, 'JUDY'S WORRY". That old car ran very well, you couldn't kill those straight six cylinder motors.
 
IKE said:
I never owned a car or even had a U.S. drivers license till I was darn near 25 yrs. old.....left home when I was 15, joined the Army when I was 17 then between the Army and working there as a civilian I was in VN for right at 6 years and came back to the U.S. late in 74'.

Knowing that I was going back overseas to work sooner or later I didn't want to invest a lot of money in a vehicle so I got my drivers license and bought a used (can't remember the year of the car, mileage or what I paid) 4 door, three speed auto Datsun PL-510 and kept it till I went to Libya.....darn good car and I drove the heck out of it.

Just like the one I had.

View attachment 344890
Click to expand...
If its's still out there I bet it's still running. Tough little cars.
 
IKE said:
I never owned a car or even had a U.S. drivers license till I was darn near 25 yrs. old.....left home when I was 15, joined the Army when I was 17 then between the Army and working there as a civilian I was in VN for right at 6 years and came back to the U.S. late in 74'.

Knowing that I was going back overseas to work sooner or later I didn't want to invest a lot of money in a vehicle so I got my drivers license and bought a used (can't remember the year of the car, mileage or what I paid) 4 door, three speed auto Datsun PL-510 and kept it till I went to Libya.....darn good car and I drove the heck out of it.

Just like the one I had.

View attachment 344890
Click to expand...
I had a Vauxall Viva HA.. which looked very similar to yours..

1965vauxhallvivaHASL.3.jpg
 
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