Do you remember your first car?

[G Rex]

my first car was a Fiat 850 Sport Coupe.   It fit my lean 6'4'' frame like a glove!  The 903cc engine was good for 100mph on a downhill run - but being a rear engine car, the steering would get a bit vague at speed - as the front end started to lift...

 

In the following 45 years, I have owned at least 60 other cars...

[Lacessit]

20 minutes ago, transam said:

1959 VW with a 1961 engine, a non-runner, for 25 quid. Changed the plugs, job done.

Had some fun in that, but sadly I had to sell it because I got banned from driving via my Honda 250 SS.......😢

VW looked like this....

 

https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1558361060-0e0c4abdbf33?fm=jpg&q=60&w=3000&ixlib=rb-4.0.3&ixid=M3wxMjA3fDB8MHxwaG90by1wYWdlfHx8fGVufDB8fHx8fA%3D%3D

 

Whilst banned, I bought an old 1959 mini, that's another story......😜

In my era, it was quite common for VW Campers to have opaque side and rear curtains, plus a front partition to ward off nosey parkers.

[transam]

6 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

In my era, it was quite common for VW Campers to have opaque side and rear curtains, plus a front partition to ward off nosey parkers.

Indeed.......😉

[Andrew Dwyer]

My first car was a Fiat 147 1050cl in light blue, reg FJX 444S, 1978, strangely the only license plate i can remember of my, too numerous to mention, cars, including the one i own now !

 

Looked like this :

 

 

Very happy memories of this car as i learned to drive in it, and a Renault 12 estate, met my girlfriend who went on to become my ( first ) wife . Drove to Scarborough with friends the day after passing my test.

[MeaMaximaCulpa]

2nd hand black Lotus Turbo Esprit, bought at Hendon Way Motors in London way back. I don't have a pic handy, but the one below looks the same. 2.2 liter turbo, double overhead cams, double Delorto carburetors, it felt like sitting in a go-cart with poor to no visibility other that straight ahead. <deleted>ty build quality, but fun to drive and it turned some heads.

 

It had KUW 777 in the reg. number and was registered first time 25 December. The dealer said it was a prince from Kuwait that bought it as a Christmas pressie to his g/f or wife. I dunno if that is true or not, but it is a good story nevertheless.

 

James Bond used a white version in a 007 movie in the Italian alps, and had a trendy ski-rack fitted. So James and I are buddies 🙂.

 

[Jingthing]

Yes.

Unfortunately.

My Dad gave me a Corvair at age 16. The death trap car.

I have to wonder if my Dad wanted to kill me.

My next car wasn't much better. A total junker that cost a few hundred dollars. A Dodge but I forget the model. Driving it to school in bad weather was harrowing. Yes I needed to drive as no school bus and a two hour walk away.

 

[jas007]

1964 Sunbeam Alpine. I had more problems with that car than you can possibly imagine. Picture from the Internet.

 

After that was a BugEye Sprite, which also never ran. 

 

My Triumph Spitfire was a little better, as was the 1972 MGB. 

 

I finally gave up on British cars and bought a Super Beetle in 1977.

 

[NumbNut]

1972 Ford Falcon XA Ute, with a 302 (4.9) litre V8 and a four speed toploader gearbox. The engine was a Cleveland model, built in Australia. 

 

Yes it was a V8 but it was pretty good on the fuel side of things, and I was living in the country outside of Sydney at the time doing an apprenticeship so city driving only happened rarely. 

 

This photo is from Wikipedia, but my car was the same minus the side strip.

 

Soild car that never let me down, used to throw two dirt bikes in the back tray and off we'd go. Drove that ute around Aussie too, excepting West Aussie.

 

[jimmybcool]

Oh yes.  I remember it well.  Not a very good car but only $200 and it was reliable.  1964 Mercury Comet Caliente.  Had a 6 cylinder 3 speed standard shift on the steering column (3 on the tree).  It represented FREEDOM to me.  Mine wasn't this nice and was burgundy color.

 

 

[Lacessit]

2 hours ago, NumbNut said:

1972 Ford Falcon XA Ute, with a 302 (4.9) litre V8 and a four speed toploader gearbox. The engine was a Cleveland model, built in Australia. 

 

Yes it was a V8 but it was pretty good on the fuel side of things, and I was living in the country outside of Sydney at the time doing an apprenticeship so city driving only happened rarely. 

 

This photo is from Wikipedia, but my car was the same minus the side strip.

 

Soild car that never let me down, used to throw two dirt bikes in the back tray and off we'd go. Drove that ute around Aussie too, excepting West Aussie.

 

I bought a 1973 XB Ford Fairmont, exactly as pictured. Cheap plastics manufactured in Broadmeadows kept falling off.

 

The engine was OK, but the radiator was under-designed for a 4.0 litre straight six. It did not like mountain climbing. Four on the floor. As it aged, the steering got more and more vague, with about three inches of free play.

 

Its major design flaw was the drain scuttle under the windscreen wipers, which only had one drain outlet. As a result. water pooling at the other end of the scuttle  inevitably caused the steel to corrode, as it was only protected by a cathodic E-coat. Any time it rained, the plush floor carpet got soaked, and rotted.

 

I eventually gave up trying to keep it dry, and retired it to a friend's property west of Euabalong as a hunting vehicle. It was still going strong with its oversquare motor when he sold the property, and I gave it to a kid from one of the neighboring stations.

[Confuscious]

My first car was a Ford Cortina.
Paid a 1,000 BFr for it.
I was just 15 years old and needed a car to go to work (1969).
The car drove about 6 months without major repairs until one day, while driving home from work, the car lost his complete rear wheel axle.
Yep, you get what you pay for, but had a lot of fun with that car.

[KannikaP]

7 hours ago, Will B Good said:

Austin A35.....went like a rocket.....NOT

I had the van version to carry my amps and PA in. Good for a bit of lay down dancing in the back as well. THEN 

[Yellowtail]

In '75 I spent the summer in Montana with my dad putting up hay and whatnot. Bought a '53 Ford F100. 240 flat-head V8 and a three-speed. No driver side window. Drove it back from Lewistown to Los Angeles (about 1,200 mile/2.000km) in 35 hours. 

 

Do not have it anymore, but I still have the tag: 

 

It was the Ford 100 anniversary edition, about the same color as this, but not nearly as clean, black-wall tires and no hubcaps.

 

 

[Chivas]

Yes I can must have been late 1977

It was Ford Cortina Mk2

I can even remember the registration number HCO 76F

[Oliver Holzerfilled]

Slant 6

 

[Lacessit]

36 minutes ago, Oliver Holzerfilled said:

Slant 6

 

The first Chrysler to be assembled in Australia was the Chrysler Royal, followed by the Chrysler Valiant.

 

The Royal was all fins, whereas the styling of the first Valiant was quite different to the other large car brands, although they would be called compacts in the USA.

[Lacessit]

1 hour ago, Chivas said:

Yes I can must have been late 1977

It was Ford Cortina Mk2

I can even remember the registration number HCO 76F

My first number plate was PT 157

[Oliver Holzerfilled]

17 hours ago, Jingthing said:

My Dad gave me a Corvair at age 16. The death trap car.

 

 

Unsafe at any speed.

My oldest sister had one, I can just barely remember riding in it.  

 

[Yellowtail]

7 minutes ago, Oliver Holzerfilled said:

Unsafe at any speed.

My oldest sister had one, I can just barely remember riding in it.  

 

They were pretty good cars, media killed it 

[Oliver Holzerfilled]

2 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

They were pretty good cars, media killed it 

There was at least one still on the road in the 1980's.  A friends dad bought it for him.  The Corvair didn't kill him but Pattaya did.

[EVENKEEL]

At age 15 I bought a 56 chevy 2 door for $600.

[JimHuaHin]

A hand-down from my mother in 1975 - a cream coloured VW Beetle 1200 (do not know the year it was made).

 

She purchased a new Datsun 180B, which I took possession of when she died in 1986.

[Yellowtail]

9 minutes ago, Oliver Holzerfilled said:

There was at least one still on the road in the 1980's.  A friends dad bought it for him.  The Corvair didn't kill him but Pattaya did.

They made great desert rats

[Yellowtail]

6 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

At age 15 I bought a 56 chevy 2 door for $600.

NIce year, what color? 

[EVENKEEL]

1 minute ago, Yellowtail said:

NIce year, what color? 

Blue with a 265 v-8. Kind of a labamba car. Sold it to some Mexicans

 

[DragonQuest]

[Lacessit]

In 1974, I bought my first NEW car. A 1974 Honda Civic. Five speed manual gearbox and air conditioning, very economical and agile.

 

For its time, a brilliant small car.

 

It still is the only car I have made money on.

 

My wife of the time had a phobia about old cars, anything over 100,000 km might break down and leave her to be kidnapped by white slavers. I am not exaggerating.

 

It was still in very good condition when I sold it in 1982. No rust, paint only slightly faded.

 

I bought it new for $3200, and sold it to a work colleague's daughter for $3400.

 

 

[Ralf001]

Yep, Nissan Sunny B10 Coupe.

 

Same as this but in red.

 

 

[Felt 35]

Ford Escort XR3https://thegarage.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/1989-ford-escort-xr3.jpg

[Lacessit]

1 hour ago, JimHuaHin said:

A hand-down from my mother in 1975 - a cream coloured VW Beetle 1200 (do not know the year it was made).

 

She purchased a new Datsun 180B, which I took possession of when she died in 1986.

The Honda's predecessor was a VW Beetle. Heating came via floor vents, from the air-cooled engine.

 

Although basic, the bucket seats were quite comfortable.

 

I worked for a firm, Texfoam, which made those seats. They were manufactured from coconut fibre sprayed with latex, and cured in a mold. It took quite a while for the PU foam technology to do better.

 

The rear engine weight distribution made for quite vicious oversteer in corners, quite a few drivers used to front-engined understeering cars came to grief with it.