First Cars Thread

Give it a dark blue paint job, a rusted out driver's side door and some wire hangers to hold up an exhaust pipe, and this '85 Cavalier is my old ride.

However, I did manage to add a Pioneer CD player and Wal-Mart "rims."

 

It wasn't my first car though....

 

I did, but the dumb thing kept vaporizing when I hit 88.

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My first vehicle was easily one of my favorites. A 1977 Datsun 280Z with aftermarket turbocharger. It was my stepfather's baby for years, but was getting old, they bought more dependable machines and I learned a lot in that machine. (Mind out of the gutter, please)

I learned how to work a manual, even in ice and the occasional nasty storm. I also learned how to clean off my windshield while driving when the weather got humid as the defroster didn't work well. I also learned the power of the Winkelman (sp?) mirror and how it eliminated blind spots. I learned that an aftermarket front-air dam on this vehicle was an absolute necessity. While it was one of the two best-handling vehicles I've ever driven, Nissan didn't realize they had engineered an aerodynamic wing that liked to lift.

I also learned how to absorb dirty looks and looks of detestment from those who drove redneck rockets. They didn't like a little Japanese machine with the ability to run them off the road.

I miss that machine, and I was hoping to drive it through school and restore it. My current machine is sort of reminiscent, though it's a front-drive vehicle. Here's a '77, even in the same crazy brown that was on my vehicle.

 

A 1984 Ford Ranger pickup similar to this (except it was blue):



It had major carburetor problems, so much so that you had to unscrew the breather cover and choke it off to start it just about every morning. I remember raising hell about it to my mom one morning, how the truck was a piece of junk, then I wrecked it on the way to school.

I rode the bus for the next three months.

 

2000 Chevy Silverado

 

Bought at an auction, a 1987 retired LAPD Sheriff's car, a boat of a Chevy Impala. Even with the police juice dealie taken out of the engine, the car hauled ass. It was painted all black (they painted over the white doors) and still looked like a cop car. Everyone on the highway would slow down when I approached, thinking I was a cop, and cars on the L.A. freeways would always get out of my lanes. Best memory is when I went geefing in it a few times in Belmont Shore. Worst memory (twice) are the $1,000 in fines for parking tickets.

 

1979 Volkswagen Rabbit, hatchback, 3-speed stick. Real women drive stick.

 

I'm currently driving my first car.

I have a 1997 Ford Escort. I didn't *buy* it since it used to be my grandmother's (and before that, my late aunt's), but I forked out a total of about $800 to pay for inspection, repairs to pass inspection, tax, titles, registration and insurance. Finally getting my own car after years without a driver's license (which I got about a year prior to getting the car): Priceless.

The car I drove semi-regularly before getting my own was my dad's 1998 Toyota Camry.

 

In 1979 got a 1972 Nova for $700 that I "earned" through a pyramid scheme that my buddy's dad was blowing through. Straight 6, auto trans. No bells and whistles but sweet 100W 10 band Clarion equalizer in the glove compartment with LEDs and a Blaupunkt cassette player with Pioneer 6X9s in the back and 3x5 triaxials in the front. Rapper's Delight never sounded so good.

 

Mine was a 1973 puke-green LTD, big-time hooptie. Couldn't use the air; smoke would blow through the vents if I did. Thus began a lifetime of bad luck with cars.

 

1995 Ford Contour, inherited from my mom. She probably paid $12,000 for it, and we sold it for $3,000 with 75,000 miles on it, give or take. The thing was a hunk of junk, though. We were glad we got anything for it.

 

Still driving my first car...a 1993 Chevy Caprice.

My dad bought it in 1998, a few months before I was able to drive. It was an old grandmother's car...she had died and her son wanted to get rid of it. It had 20,000 miles on it. Now, it has 185,000 miles on it.

I remember everyone at school made fun of me because when I had to fill up the tank, once every two weeks in most cases, it cost $21.

Just filled it up yesterday for about $86.

I'll drive the thing until it falls apart...or until gas hits $6 a gallon.