What was your first collector car? Not daily driver?

[boblichty]

What was your first collector car that was NOT your daily driver, but bought purely for hobby fun and what year did you buy it in if you can remember that far back.

Mine was a 1951 Hudson Hornet 4dr bought around 1967, so that means the car was only 16 years old. By todays standards not eligible for collector plates, or in those days any AACA show. but I knew it was special, and joined the HET Club right away thanks to a guy in Tallmadge Ohio who was a big Hudson collector. That was the year I attended my first Hershey. To this day those Hudson's and Hershey are still special to me. But in comparison my antique car is a lot older. Uh oh....so am I.

[The Old Guy]

My first "hobby" car was a 32 Ford 2 door with a big flathead. I bought it in 1956. I did not get into the "antique car" hobby until my kids got old enough to want the "hot Rod' to drive to school.

My first antique was a 37 Chev 2 door purchased in 1967. It wouldn't hold the family (6 kids) so I bought a 32 Buick 90 series 4 door. I have been hooked on Buicks ever since.

[Guest Skyking]

In 1974 my younger brother bought a 1955 Buick Special for the sum of $25.00. He bought the car for the power steering unit for his 55 Century that my parents bought new. After driving the car home he didn’t want to part the car out because it ran so well. He asked me if I wanted it to restore and have some fun with. That was the start of my car collecting trend. I spent 3 years restoring that Buick to perfection. I kept it for 20 years before selling it in Daytona when I moved there in 1994. I’ve never seen the car since.

[Barry Wolk]

1974 Triumph TR-6. The dealership I did electrical work for had someone drive off in a two year old TR-6. When it was recovered it was pretty well stripped. The owner of the dealership set me up in a workspace and told me to put the car back together with new parts. I did, and made some nice change doing it. He submitted the bill of material and my labor to the insurance company and collected in full. He then sold me the car for what he took it in trade. I basically got a new car for the price of a very used one, and got paid to put it back together. Sweet deal.

I had that car on highways all up and down the East coast. Fond memories. That Lucifer (Lucas) monster rarely reared its ugly head, only dying when it rained, in the middle of nowhere. Fond memories, indeed.

It burned up in a garage fire just as I was about to install the newly restored body on the rebuilt chassis.

[Seldenguy]

In the fall of '55 I bought a 1915 Ford T roadster out of a barn in the next town east of me.Restored it and drove hundreds of miles through the years. 3 years ago I entered in a hillclimb and wiped out the competition, coming home with a first place trophy. 54 years and the registration is still in my name! --Bob

[Guest mystarcollectorcar.com]

59 Plymouth-I've owned older cars but they had to function on a daily basis-this one doesn't have to face the real world at all.

[MCHinson]

1931 Ford Model A Briggs Bodied Town Sedan. I bought it in 1996.

I was born in 1960. While it is not in keeping with the original question, since it was a daily driver, I think that it is worth noting that in 1976 my first car was a 1961 Cadillac Hearse!

[R W Burgess]

Went to town in 1987 following a '69 Z28 lead, car turned out to be in poor condition. Drove cross town and bought a '55 Chevy hardtop instead. It was mildly rodded. Kept her about 5years, then sold it for better things!

Wayne

[Guest Gary Hearn]

1949 Studebaker 2R5 pickup that I bought in January 1974 for the sum of $75. I never got it on the road, though I used it plenty around our acreage hauling firewood, etc. I had the local vo-tech school rebuild the engine, which I think cost around $300. As a result, I also ended up with 4 more Champion engines (which I still have to this day).

I redid the brakes and spent $25 to put 2 recap snow tires on the back. I sold it in the fall of 1979 for $550. It has since been restored and currently resides outside Pittsburgh.

[Guest DeSoto Frank]

My first "collectible" would have to be the 1954 Chevy 3/4 ton pick-up my grandad gave me back in 1973... it was plenty tired then, but I tinkered with it through the years, finally getting it running and back on the road for my senior year in high school. It remained in "stand-by service" for ten more years, going back into mothballs around 1996.

My first "cream puff" collector car is my recently acquired '61 Rambler American convertible.

( It only took me thirty years to get a "nice car" instead of "just another jalopy"... )

[Guest Dean_H.]

My first collector car was a truck. Bought this '49 IHC firetruck about 25 years ago. The small town it came from only had a couple thousand residents and the truck saw very little use. The odometer indicates nine thousand miles and it adds miles when pumping or driving. The running gear is tight and it runs like a champ, but is a little weathered since I didn't always have inside storage for it. I had it running a few weeks ago and drove it around the yard. It's equipped with a 450 cubic inch Red Diamond six cylinder engine and five speed trans. Haven't had it on the road in fifteen years or more.

[keiser31]

My first buy for "hobby" purposes was my 1929 Franklin series 135 dual sidemount sedan for $100.00 in Michigan. Brought it home and told my dad I wanted it in the garage. He said "He!!, it's been outside under that farmer's tarp for 30 years!". It went into the garage. When I moved to California, my dad sold it to a guy in Texas. I saw it on a trailer that was being pulled into the "Big Three Swap Meet" in San Diego years later and recognized it. The guy said he was from L.A. and bought it from a guy in Texas.

[Dave@Moon]

From the time I was about 13 I started bugging my dad to buy an old car for me to fix up. When I was 16 he finally had enough money ($50) to buy me a 1951 Pontiac Chieftain 8 sedan rust bucket. It ran and we drove it home, but you'd hardly call it road worthy. Today it would be a good project car, at the time it was barely salvageable. It did have a nice interior, and it came with 2 near-perfect rust free front fenders.

My younger brother and I worked on it whenever we could, buying cans of Bondo and primer with paper route money and (later) money from my job at KMart.

By the time I graduated high school we had it fixed up and painted to passable/drivable form. All it really needed was a set of tires. While I was away at college freshman year my brother (then a high school senior) forgot to put it back in the garage with just water in the radiator. Late October/record low/cracked block. It was a week before my brother was able to tell me. He was rather upset with himself.

My dad sold the car for scrap for $35, perfect fenders and all. By then it was 26 years old.

12 years later I restored my graduate school daily driver, a 1960 Falcon.

Last week my college roommate bought his first real antique. A 1951 Pontiac Chieftain 8 sedan.:cool:

[1937hd45]

1926 Model T Ford Tudor on my 16th birthday in 1966..........$210.00 delivered. Paid for it with lawn cutting money. I restored the chassis and the engine was overhauled and I showed it at the local HCCA Fall Meet as a running chassis. Replaced the Tudor body with a Touring body, and added factory wire wheels NOS bumpers, windsheild posts. Hemmings was GREAT back then! Sold it four years later when I needed funds for a Vintage dirt track race car. Still have the rear floorboard from the Tudor body, and know that someday I'll have another one.

[MarkV]

The 1921 Chevrolet for sure!

[Dandy Dave]

The first car I had was the remains of a 1928/29 Desoto. I was 12 years old and bought it for 25 dollars. It had a lot of stuff missing. Dandy Dave!

[Tom M]

Guess my would be the 1931 Packard that I am restoring right now.

Had other cars but they were drivers to some degree

'70 Goat (rebuilt 455(boy do I miss that car and the muscle that engine had)). It was going to go under a restoration but had a Marquee turn in front of me and totaled it

'76 Grand Prix which I had restored back in mid '80s and stored it at grandmas but once I got married it was turned into a daily driver

[R Walling]

1958 Mercury 4dr hardtop in 1971. It had been in storage for many years and had 19,000 mi. on it when my friend bought it in 1969. He put on about 21,000 mi before he sold it to me with 40.000 mi.

As a body man, I could not find any rust on it anywhere, I painted it 59 Merc maroon with a gold stripe down the insert on the side. I put brand new bias ply tires on it and it sounded like I was doing 100 MPH every time I took a corner. (my next car had radials)

It sat around for a few years and was happy to sell it for $600 in 1982 even though it would have made perfect transportation for someone with little money.

[boblichty]

Isn't it interesting that many of us who bought cars in the late 1960's and 1970's had collector cars that we had no doubt were collectable and as little as 14-15 years old. Today I doubt many of us would walk across the street to even look at a 1985 much of anything. I will admit, my 27 year old son "thinks" his 1987 Monte Carlo is an antique. When I bought my 1951 Hudson in 1967, I do remember while it was not eligible for many AACA outings, the HET Club in our area was super active. Many members were people who simply would not give up driving their Hudson daily and needed advice, and parts. But there was still a lot of friendship and fun, just as we have today in our club.

[Guest frazer51]

My first "collecter car" has to be a 1930 Ford Pickup that my brother gave me the year that I got married . It was not a wedding present, it was that he didn't want to see it junked. I rebuilt it { restore was not in my vobcabulary yet} in the year 1958. That was 53 years ago and I still have the same pickup and the same Bride.

In 1965 with 4 children and needing an old car with more room I bought a 1939 Buick 4door with 25000 miles for $175.00. I remember as a kid my brother had a'39 Buick Roadmaster and at times he would let me take that Roadmaster to high school so this I guess was my attraction to '39 Buicks. Whenever I took my drivers test in a new 1948 Chrysler at 16 years old I was 5' 6" and weighed 110lb. I must have looked like a young kid when driving that Roadmaster 4 door. Well I still have that 1939 Buick Special that I bought in 1965 but now it has 44,000 miles on it.

My twins were just 13 years old in 1973 and they wanted for me to get a car that the "hood went down" . This was their explanation for a convertible. So as luck would have it a fellow at work wanted to get rid of a 1959 Ford retractable as he was going through a seperation. So I bought the Retract from him for $175.00 with some new parts thrown in. I restored it and still have it today. I should state that about this time in my life I started to collect all kinds of tools to help in the restoring of cars. With 4 children I could not afford to pay someone to do the restoration. I guess I did it all except the chrome plating and engine boring, engine assembling I could handle. I bought my wife a walking foot sewing machine and she did my uphostery work. So as you can guess whenever we enter a car for judging and there is a flaw with the car it had to be either her or myself to blame.

After I passed the age of 65 when I retired, I have restored 13 cars. In '97 it was a 1959 Ford ragtop [AACA Senior]. In '99 it was a 1954 Pontiac Starchief Custom Delux Convertible, [AACA Junior]. In 2003 a 1959 Retractable [AACA Senior] and many more. This year 2009 at 77 years old car # 13 is a 1918 Buick which was so bad a friend gave it to me rather then junking it, could say I went full circle. A lot of my restoration I have sold to feed my habit, cars. Sorry to have gone on so much with my story, a few months age I developed Macular Degenration and I had better get my story out while i can still see to type. John

[dbirchmire]

My first collector car was a 1969 Ford Shelby 350 sportsroof. The year was 1998, when the price of muscle cars were not so outrageous as they are today.

[Shop Rat]

It was a one owner 1958 Chevy Biscayne 2-door hardtop. Cashmere Blue bottom and Artic White top. It had one piece of chrome missing that we hunted through MANY junkyards from Key West, Fla. to the New England state to find. When we finally found it someone had taken it off of the car, bent it in half :eek: (for no reason) :mad: and dropped it on the ground. We bought it anyway and Bill managed to straighten it out and buff it out enough that at least it was on the car.

[Guest HeyPop]

Unfortunately the only one I ever got to buy because of health problems. It's my 1929 Model A Huckster. It wasn't even what prompted me to stop but turned out to be an addition to the purchase of a 1930 truck that was along the road that caught my eye. It was just a chassis but was in better condition than the 'complete' truck sitting along the road. When I told the seller I was going to try to restore the truck as best I could...he gave me the chassis for another $100!

It took me 6 years to get it like this but I've had a ball and wouldn't trade the experience for a million bucks. Now I use it to try to expand the car hobby as well as my tool collecting hobby.

[rocketraider]

A 1964 Oldsmobile Starfire coupe bought from its original owner in May 1983. I had known of the car for close to eight years but the owner dithered over selling it, and there's a story.

This Starfire was purchased in March 1964 as a 25th wedding anniversary gift for his wife, and she put most of the miles on it. It was used in their photography business. Mrs. H was quite attached to her Starfire and as noted, dithered over selling it.

Mrs H died in October 1982 and Mr H called me in early May to see if I was still interested. He had decided to retire, sell the business and move to Marblehead OH to be near their daughter.

I had to borrow the money to buy it, but wasn't about to let it get away. It's in need of restoration now from getting put on the back burner for too long. I'm actually considering a restification on this one as I also have a very nice original green one.

Researching the blue car, found it was built February 22 1964- the day of the 1964 Oldsmobile Quarter Century Club banquet. The QCC was Oldsmobile's club for employees with 25+ years of service. Consequently, I have acquired a lot of 1964 QCC stuff to go along with the car.

Edited November 18, 2009 by rocketraider (see edit history)

[Guest ken bogren]

restification

What does restification mean?

[keiser31]

What does restification mean?

I believe it means (to the folks who made it up) partially restored, but modified, ie modern drive train. Looks mostly like a restoration, but not.

[Mssr. Bwatoe]

I bought a 1941 Lincoln Custom, 138 inch wheel base car orignally owned by a member of Ford family, but 50 years oh northern oHIo made it rustier than my skills could handle..I dissassembled it and learned alot, back in 73.. I was 13..My folks were very understanding...and "let" me keep it in the garage...

[Guest weaving]

I still have my first collector car.. Golden Hawk

janne sweden:)

[Big Beat]

Here's mine, a $100 Catalina hardtop. The little old lady original owner put a dent in each of the four corners trying to handle this barge, but she kept the interior dead mint. I started to restore it, but the frame rusted all the way through and one day the engine ended up on the ground. My mechanic showed up with a jack and a 2x4, and we drove the car to the nearest junkyard under its own power. Got $50 for it and kept a few parts. Taught me to be a bit more careful with my next selection

[rocketraider]

Restification in this case would mean retaining the original Olds 394 engine with a later Turbo HydraMatic transmission, and updated to disc brakes, possibly airbags. The idea of installing a "modern" GM drivetrain i.e. Chevy crate engine does not appeal to me. If it came to that, I would use a later Olds 403 or 455 in place of the 394 so it would technically remain "all Olds". Not worried about keeping that one "as built". Better to be driven with some modern updates than to remain immobile under its shed.

[oldcar]

You all make me feel like a dinosaur. I bought my first car for $2.00 a 1918 Austin 20hp Tourer at the tender age of 16 which makes the year 1952. It had been taken off the road in 1940 at the start of WW2. Unfortunately left out in the open. I actually got it to run before my parents made me take it to the rubbish dump. Lucky for it some one rescued it. I heard about ten years ago that it had recently been exported to the UK still unrestored.

Bernie J.

[28 Chrysler]

Mine was a 1930 Ford sedan delivery single rear door that I bought in "72 (age 18).

I was working in a body shop learning the trade. By the time I was 20 I had the"30 Ford sedan delivery ,a "36 Ford 3 window coupe. a "41 Dodge coupe, and a "63 Fleetwood divided limo. I took these cars to a local car show one of the judges saw me digging through the Caddy and told me to leave. So I asked him to lower the rope and I would be back for the other 3 cars. Red faced he said sorry I didn't know

[LINC400]

In high school my friends and I thought the 1970's cars were much more impressive than anything made in the late 1980's-1990's. We all had 1970's cars as daily drivers. My last was a 1979 Continental Mark V that was a daily driver for many years. It was retired from daily use when it became an antique. It was rear ended and totaled in 2007. I should probably have used the money from my insurance to do practical things like pay bills since I already had a daily driver car. Instead I decided I wanted another antique car.

The 1976 Mark IV was not on my list, but after looking for over a year at other cars (mostly basket cases), it showed up. I looked at, and decided to pass on it. It showed up a few months later for half price on Ebay, and I decided I couldn't pass up half price. Making it my first car to be purchased purely as a collectible in July 2008.

[Guest sdzaiser]

I bought my first car when I was 16 - two years ago. A 1966 Imperial Crown. Last year, at 17 I bought my second, a 1979 MG Midget. Still have both but I'm half looking to sell the Imp. They are my only cars so they are collectively a daily driver. The Imp's name is Betsy and the MG is Milton.

[Guest lnernut]

My first collectible was a 1923 Amilcar C4 which I picked up for $15. I was 7 at the time and although I never completed the resotration I did have the motor running before selling it at age 18.

My 1930 Ford Model A was left behind by my father when he moved out, and the 1916 Smith Flyer I picked up on ebay (well the parts I do have for it anyway)

[John_Maine]

I bought a '64 Impala sedan, 283, PG, PS in 1984. It had 56K on it. I kept it for 3 years, but then my job changed and I needed a car I could drive year round, so I sold it. It had a driveline vibration that I could never cure and kept destroying center carrier bearings.

[Guest kencary]

'68 427 tripower Corvette coupe with a 4speed Muncie. Bought it in 1977 and still have it today. I paid $3,300 in '77---- roughly $ 1/pound.

At most I have put 5,000 miles on the clock in the last 32 years. I was looking for a big block Pontiac or Riviera at the time and just stumbled onto it.

I wish I bought 10 of 'em in '77 instead of investing in the stock market.

Ken

Edited December 9, 2009 by kencary (see edit history)

[Restorer32]

First collectible car I actually owned is a 1955 Jaguar XK 140 Drophead for which I paid $237.50 in 1968 and which I still have, still sitting in the garage untouched since the summer of '69. Hoping to begin restoration any day now.

[padgett]

More I think about it, the over 100 cars I have had have all been drivers, not collectors. I already have a coffee table.

Edited December 9, 2009 by padgett (see edit history)

[msmazcol]

My first collector car was a 1949 Jeepster. When I was 16 years old Dad brought this gem home. I had a soft spot for Jeeps. Someone had begun a re-power with an Olds V-8. Needless to say it never saw the road. We found a correct 6 cylinder in a local bone yard and Dad introduced me to the finer art of the GRUNT part of restoration. I did all the dirty work and he did everything that required brains and talent. The car was rough but after a total body off restoration it ended up rather nice. It was completed in about 1978. It turned out too nice to drive to school which was what Dad told Mom was the function.

After spotting another Willys in a nearby town, a 4x4 pickup with a snow plow we then did a quick paint and face lift on that. That was my driving to school car which I made huge money plowing snow with in the winter of 78-79.

On my 21st birthday Dad presented me with a card. When I opened the card it contained the title for the Jeepster. He told me he wanted to see how well I took care of it.

He saw my appreciation for the vehicle and knew I would be good to it. Hence how do you get your teenage son to like old cars!