1st driving car was a 56 Chevy

1st car I bought off a lot was a TR-3B which was fun to drive - I recarbed, barreled & cammed it.... Reworked the rear suspension. It turned out to be quite capable....

Even scored a few times on that ridiculously small back seat....A win for those teenage hormones....

That car taught me how to pull & repair the trans (x3) - it was it's weak spot....

My dog loved riding in it with the top down, he'd lay his head down toward the trunk/boot & watch the traffic & scenery go by....Took it all over California....Everything from fishing/camping to sports car runs.....

 

Wish I still had it....Good memories

F J Holden

21 hours ago, Jingthing said:

 

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

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

 

 

I can't imagine why he would want to do that.

16 hours ago, Lacessit said:

My first number plate was PT 157

 

Have just sent PM lol

3 hours ago, pgrahmm said:

1st driving car was a 56 Chevy

1st car I bought off a lot was a TR-3B which was fun to drive - I recarbed, barreled & cammed it.... Reworked the rear suspension. It turned out to be quite capable....

Even scored a few times on that ridiculously small back seat....A win for those teenage hormones....

That car taught me how to pull & repair the trans (x3) - it was it's weak spot....

My dog loved riding in it with the top down, he'd lay his head down toward the trunk/boot & watch the traffic & scenery go by....Took it all over California....Everything from fishing/camping to sports car runs.....

 

Wish I still had it....Good memories

Like this?

 

One thing you had to say about the TR-3, it LOOKED like a sports car should.

I remember mine very well - even the reg no. A 1966 Austin Mini Van in Almond Green reg. EET 780D. Already very old and rusty when it was given to me by my brother at 14 years old subject to a promise not to drive it on the road - a promise I broke almost immediately. I even used to drive to school in it but had to park it out of sight of the teachers.

3 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Like this?

 

One thing you had to say about the TR-3, it LOOKED like a sports car should.

Yep, only blue.... 

It had the engine crank handle & separate spare tire compartment under the trunk = unique....

My First Car aged 17 - this is a '68 mine was a '65 - same color though. paid £110

 

Just now, CharlieH said:

My First Car aged 17 - this is a '68 mine was a '65 - same color though

 

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/V9_xwepXCZU/maxresdefault.jpg

I had 2x 1100's in the 60's, at the time they were an excellent small 'big' cars.

Yours was the twin carb jobby....

 

I put an engine/gearbox from one in my first mini project, turned it into a Mini Cooper S........😜

At one time in the '80s, I was single and had 2 Buick Electra 225s, a '73 Buick Centurion, a ~'67 Chevy van, a ~'70 GMC 9000 & 40' Fruehauf drop-deck furniture van, a '?? Suzuki DS100, a '76 Honda CJ360T and a '74 Honda CB750. 

 

I loved that Buick Centurion and lived in the Fruehauf. Good times those...

7 hours ago, actonion said:

F J Holden

The improvements in the FJ were mainly styling, the engine got a very modest power boost from 45 KW to 48 KW

16 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

At one time in the '80s, I was single and had 2 Buick Electra 225s, a '73 Buick Centurion, a ~'67 Chevy van, a ~'70 GMC 9000 & 40' Fruehauf drop-deck furniture van, a '?? Suzuki DS100, a '76 Honda CJ360T and a '74 Honda CB750. 

 

I loved that Buick Centurion and lived in the Fruehauf. Good times those...

I remember one of the kids in my street bought a Buick Straight Eight.

 

3 times around the block emptied the fuel tank, fuel economy obviously was not a consideration.

 

Is the term "petrolhead" used in the USA?

1 minute ago, Lacessit said:

Is the term "petrolhead" used in the USA?

No, but motorhead was pretty common. 

 

 

Blue Toyota Corolla 4-door Sedan 1.2 Manual, 55hp, 1977

 

Not so different from what I can remember than this one.

 

 

 

 

1961 Pontiac for me.

Was the 3rd of 3 boys in the family and I got it handed down to me.

Straight six that burned a quart of oil ever 50 miles or so.

I used straight 40w from the farm tractors barrel

It smoked like a wildfire but got me off the school bus and I had a car in high school

13 hours ago, Lacessit said:

I remember one of the kids in my street bought a Buick Straight Eight.

 

3 times around the block emptied the fuel tank, fuel economy obviously was not a consideration.

 

Is the term "petrolhead" used in the USA?

 

Gear head is more common

Ford Popular E93A, it was given to me by an uncle when i was 17yo. I had it repainted from the traditional black and drove it around for a couple of years before selling it for £25 in 1969. Apologies for the pic quality.

 

 

 

This is the one I remember the most, had so much fun in this, 6 inch thick foam in the back with shag-pile carpet, curtain behind the front seats and on the back.A sticker on the window said "Passion Wagon, don't laugh your daughter may be inside" , Put a Rover V8 into it and fatter wheels and twin tail pipes were the only clue.....lol.....love to go back to those days.

 

While all these cars stir memories I would not drive one today on a bet.  Give me a modern car.  So much better in almost every way except in some cases style.  OK I posted my first car but my favorite car as a young man was my 67 Camaro.  V8, in dash AC (rare should have kept it) and automatic (bummer would have preferred stick).  Mine did not have the spoiler or covered headlights otherwise this is exactly what I had.

52 minutes ago, jimmybcool said:

While all these cars stir memories I would not drive one today on a bet.  Give me a modern car.  So much better in almost every way except in some cases style.  OK I posted my first car but my favorite car as a young man was my 67 Camaro.  V8, in dash AC (rare should have kept it) and automatic (bummer would have preferred stick).  Mine did not have the spoiler or covered headlights otherwise this is exactly what I had.

I used to walk past a house that had a rally green '67 Camero RS on my way to 7th & 8th grade. I also walked past a Plymouth dealer that had a showroom with a turntable, and they had a yellow Superbird, we crossed the street look at it almost every day on the way home. 

 

I drove a '56 T-Bird for about a month that friend of my dad's left at our house for a month and had me do a bit of work on.

1959 Rambler with a 3 speed on the column.

It was an ok car.

1961 an MG Midget 😁👍

Morris 8

 

My 1967 Triumph 250, great Car, great Engine, great Sound....and still in use!

4 minutes ago, giddyup said:

Morris 8

 

Is that why you chose the nom-de-plume giddyup?

3 hours ago, jimmybcool said:

While all these cars stir memories I would not drive one today on a bet.  Give me a modern car.  So much better in almost every way except in some cases style.  OK I posted my first car but my favorite car as a young man was my 67 Camaro.  V8, in dash AC (rare should have kept it) and automatic (bummer would have preferred stick).  Mine did not have the spoiler or covered headlights otherwise this is exactly what I had.

I always liked the look of the Studebaker Hawk.

 

The Studebaker Lark (4.7 litre V8 ) sedan was the police pursuit car in Victoria in the early sixties.

Yes...but would rather not 🤣

On 1/25/2025 at 10:28 AM, Lacessit said:

What are your memories of your first car?

My first car was in 1978 and was a Ford Taunus lhd 1500 and "I think" it was a 1966 model. 

My first 6 cars were Mini's

I would buy MOT failures, patch them up (they always had floor pans rusted through); get them through my friendly local MOT station then sell them at a profit.

One never made it, sitting on the driveway for spares, and slowly rusting away until parental pressure forced its removal.

The gear sticks in early Mini's were long sticks poking out from the floor. As the car got older and worn, the gear stick would shake and drop out of 3rd gear on corners - for years I still had the habit of tucking my clutch foot under the gear lever on 3rd gear bends.

Any car "activities" with girls had to be in the back seat as the car was too small. I quickly learned to park facing downhill with the seats tipped forward after I was nearly circumcised when the rocking motion of the car caused the front seat to fall back on top of me whilst in flagrante.

Happy days!

1 hour ago, Lacessit said:

Is that why you chose the nom-de-plume giddyup?

Dumped it back at the dealer because it was such a heap of rubbish. Unfortunately the finance company still wanted their money, so the car still cost me about 180 quid, which was like 3 months wages. Learnt a harsh lesson with that one, never bought another car with finance.