My first car

AZ Jim

AZ Jim

R.I.P. With Us In Spirit Only
Location
SURPRISE, ARIZONA
I worked all summer in a man's job doing hard work. At the end of summer I had enough to buy my first car. My Dad (RIP) said I'll go with you so you don't get taken advantage of. This was in 1952 and I found a '41 chevy I could afford. I hauled my younger brother,a good friend and my girl to school and back in it and I was the envy of many of my classmates. Now, kids go to school in new cars their folks buy for them but none feel the pride or appreciate it like I did in earning my first car. All these years later I still think often of that car and my girlfriend of that time frequently.
 

I was in the later part of my Senior year in high school before I got a car. Didn't take Driver's Ed b/c my dad taught me to drive in the family Nash Station Wagon on dirt roads. That was in March 1968. A local farmer had an old 1956 Chevy Bel Air sitting in a corn field. It needed some engine work, but the farmer only wanted $75 for it. So, I saved up the $75 from my nighttime job (dishwasher at an upscale restaurant) to get it. Then, had to get insurance so I could drive it to the DMV for my test/license. After that, it needed painting, so a couple of farmer brothers brought their sprayer over, but couldn't get it to work. So, believe it or not, ended up painting this car with paint brushes! And, the color was Royal Maroon!

First time I drove it to school, felt really funny watching the school bus go by our farm and not stop for me (I wasn't waiting for it, like usual). Fifteen minutes later, I hopped into the Chevy and started driving to school. As I passed the bus, I waved and it seemed like everyone waved back!
It was all really cool!

Here is a photo of me in that old Chevy, before getting it painted. Taken in May 1968
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My first car was a 1955 Chevy Del ray hard top coupe, Blue and cream. I was 19, in 1962. This is a picture of one like it. My Dad bought it new in 1955 and I "bought" it off of him. I'm not sure of all the details... it was just one big happy blur!:)
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Nice to hear these stories about your first cars, AZJim, you're right when you say the kids nowadays don't appreciate or feel the true pride of saving for and buying their first cars on their own. I'm sure it brings back a lot of fond memories for you. :sentimental: CR, looks like you had a lot of fun with your first car, cool pic! :cool:
 
My first was a 3 on the column '51 Henry J bought in '61 for $250. Actually owned by my old maid first grade school teacher. It had been on one trip to CA from Utah. 41,000 miles on it, purple in color, I mean totally purple, seats, headliner, dash, knobs, steering wheel, door panels everything. My dad picked it out, I was mortified and too embarrassed to drive it to school. Finally after begging and cajoling by my friends I relented and drove it to school. It became the car to be seen in. Everyone loved it but me, although I came around a few months later. Here is a picture of the '51 Henry J but not of mine, last I seen of it was rusted out, no wheels or windows sitting in a farmers field knee deep in weeds.

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If as young people we thought about things we'd all be rich today. Here is a typical ad for a 41 chevy just like I had except paint for 14 thousand dollars $14,000.00. Now, I owned mine in '52 (62 years ago) and bought it for $395. 62 years is a long time to have it sitting around but what a markup!! Google YOUR first car, bet you'll be amazed. The ad says it has air conditioning. Mine did too......it's called windows.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chevrolet-Other-2-door-coupe-/191438741850

 
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i don't have a picture of my first car but it was a 64 corvair 2 door coupe today i have a 65 corvair vert. what can i say
 
Welcome to the forum Bob!

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My first car was a 1930 Buick four door sedan. It had a starter but there was also a crank under the front seat which I used on occasion. I paid $30 for it and drove it for the better part of two years. The back seat had curtains that went up and down.
 
The second semester of my senior year in high school - 1965 -, my dad bought me a '55 Dodge station wagon with a "police interceptor" engine (whatever the heck that was, but it was FAST) for $100 because my mom went back to work fulltime and someone had to ferry my younger sisters around to dance lessons, girl scouts, etc. after school. I had one hour of total freedom before I had to pick up the first one and I made the best of it. Gas was 25 cents a gallon.

It's a wonder I lived through the experience. There was a road out in the country that had a steeply-humped skinny bridge over a railroad track. If you hit the bridge fast enough (going down the middle, of course), you could get some serious air time. We did that on a regular basis. The problem was that you couldn't see if anyone was coming from the opposite direction. If they were, we would have hit them head on and it would have been curtains for all concerned. I have no idea why that never occurred to me.....I guess I thought I was immortal. My dad was always wondering why the car was perpetually out of alignment. Flying through the air and slamming down would probably have something to do with that.

My first *new* car was a '72 Pinto, otherwise known as an incendiary bomb on wheels. 'Nuff said about that.
 
While I was in the military (WWII) I sent home a small amount of money each month which my mother banked.

When I got out I bought a brand new Dodge convertible, cream colored with a black top.

Detroit isn't the best car for a rag top, so 3 years later I traded it in for a new '51 chevy 2 door sedan

with a HEATER in it.
 
In high school (1962) I got my license. My boyfriend taught me to drive, since my dad almost had a nervous breakdown every time he tried to teach me. I got my first job (part time after school) and saved up the money to buy an old Ford and I drove it till the wheels fell off. I thought I was the coolest thing on earth driving that car around!
 
Used '52 Chevy. No turn signals, vacuum windshield wipers, radio and heater didn't work, but that overhead valve six cylinder engine just ran like a top...
 
Not all kids of today get new/nice cars, as their first car, from their parents. A divorced dad, here in the apt complex, bought his daughter an old Jeep Cherokee. It ran, but she did have some trouble with it. She use to park it in the parking area in front of our apartment, but I don't see it anymore. A lot of high school Seniors do get a new car for Graduation, but their parents make a whole lot more money than ours did back in the day! Lots of kids of today do get spoiled by their parents........I sure wish I would have had some of that "spoiling" when I was their age!
 
I probably would have enjoyed some of that "spoiling," too. Howsomever, having to earn what I got taught me early on that the world didn't owe me a living and I had to stand on my own two feet and to take care of what I got. In retrospect, a very good thing.
 
ClassicRockr said:
Not all kids of today get new/nice cars, as their first car, from their parents. A divorced dad, here in the apt complex, bought his daughter an old Jeep Cherokee. It ran, but she did have some trouble with it. She use to park it in the parking area in front of our apartment, but I don't see it anymore. A lot of high school Seniors do get a new car for Graduation, but their parents make a whole lot more money than ours did back in the day! Lots of kids of today do get spoiled by their parents........I sure wish I would have had some of that "spoiling" when I was their age!
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My daughter was at least six months younger than most of her classmates so her friends were turning 16 and getting cars. She ran with a rather affluent crowd; her father and I were in "helping professions" and didn't make that much money. I dropped her off at a Sweet 16 party that two of her classmates were having at a country club. In the driveway were a brand new Mustang convertible and a new top-of-the-line Honda that were the girls' presents, over and above the sit-down dinner, live band, etc. Needless to say, this caused some amount of discontent on her part and she was constantly asking what kind of car she was going to get for her sixteenth birthday. As we hadn't planned to get her *any* car for her sixteenth birthday, the amount of teenage angst in our house was immense. Luckily for her, my mom came through and bought her a modest used car. Luckily for her, she was suitably grateful or the car would have gone right back.
 
bought this in CA during the war. 62 Impala SS with a 409. passed everything but a gas station

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A '29 Buick. I bought it from a junk dealer. It had a crank, a spark and a gas feed under the steering wheel.
 
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