I'd like to hear about your "first cars"

[Leif in Calif]

About 18 months ago, at the height of the Covid related used car boom, I helped my grand daughter buy a first car. At that point, there were no running cars on Craigslist for under $2500. She bought a Lexus with 200K miles on it. My own first car (1966) was a $50 Hillman that needed brake work. I'd like to hear about other "first cars" from decades past. I'm trying to get a mental picture of costs between the $50 and the $2500. Anybody involved in a purchase like that in the 80's or the 2000's? 

[George Smolinski]

1960 Impala 4 door hardtop. 283, PG. $300 in 1967. My dad wouldn’t let me buy the 1960 Impala 2 door hardtop with 29,000 miles on it. He would have had to co-sign a loan. Price on that was $450. 1937 Chevy coupe. 450hp 327, tunnel ram 2x4’s, Muncie M22, don’t recall exact reared, but think it was 4:10 or 4:56. Was running C/Gas on the strip with a best ET of 12:29. Same deal as the $450 Impala, dad wouldn’t co-sign the loan. Price on this one was $1000.

This was in the late 60’s.

[jimy]

My first car that made it to the road was a 1964 Plymouth Valiant convertible.  nice running car but it was rusty. that was $250 I. About 1980.  

 

Found  a 68 VW bug that I repainted and refurbished with the JC Whitney products.  I believe I paid $50 for the VW and sold it for about $700.  
 

I also found a 75 Saab 99 sitting by a house and got it for $70.  Put in a new head gasket and fixed the shifter.  I drove it for several years. Towards the end I decided to repaint it - dumb idea.  I lost second gear just after that.  No big deal but third gear went out a month later.  A bit awkward with just 1st and 4th!  I had no interest in putting in a new transmission - those Saabs had the transmission underneath the engine. 
 

 

[Rusty_OToole]

1948 Chevrolet sedan for $35 in 1964. It ran and drove, everything worked, but the rear fenders were a little rusty.

[CChinn]

Summer 1985 got a 1975 Renault Le Car for $1000 in SF Bay Area. Used it to drive that summer to start Medical School in Richmond, VA. Lasted about a year after that due to my lack of knowledge/experience with car maintenance. Much smarter now and my cars last much longer!😀

Edited February 6, 2023 by CChinn (see edit history)

[28 Chrysler]

1969 I picked up a 1954 Ford wagon for $5 with almost a full tank of gas and 98,800 miles on it. Rust was up 6 to 12 inches all around it. The best part was body filler fixing the cracked water jacket.

[SC38dls]

Summer of 63 bought a 57 DeSoto with the small hemi rusted and five brand new tires, tax & fees for $200. 1990 bought a Ford 1949 F3 pickup rusted not running for $1500. 2017 bought the 38 Studebaker good condition but not running, bad interior for $8000. Hope that helps. 
dave s 

Edited February 6, 2023 by SC38dls (see edit history)

[Buick35]

My first car was a 57 Ford four door,six cylinder automatic that I paid $50 for in 66. I got in a real on the way to school and got $300 from the insurance company.

[Frank DuVal]

In 1973 I bought a 1962 Chevrolet Biscayne with the 235 six, Powerglide and power steering. It had been hit in the rear, but the trunk still opened and no lights were damaged. It had been towed to the repair shop my family used for state inspections. Roy, the owner, "hey don't you need a car?", offered it to me for $15 to cover the towing bill. I put the power steering pump back on it (they had removed to for diagnosing another car's issues) and got the title from the owner. I drove it for a year before wanting to move up to a station wagon. Then I bought a 66 Biscayne wagon [283 three speed no power anything] for $100. But it needed an engine (or I could have rebuilt that one but I was in a hurry, so I bought a running one form a used parts emporium). 

 

So first car $15. Running driving.

 

Second car $300, running driving. 

[auburnseeker]

Sold my Brother my running driving on the road in good shape 1981 Elcamino for $1500, that my Dad got for free from a friend after his daughter wrecked it.  ( I didn't have my License yet)  He gave it to me , wrecked for my 16th birthday.  We went to a junk yard and I bought the 3/4 nose to fix it. That would have been around 1991.  Bought a 56 Olds 2 door hardtop that I put on the road for $2500 using that 1500.  My daily High school driver was a 1987 Dodge Dakota Short Bed 4x4 Pickup 50KMI.  Looked really nice but had to replace the Bumper and front fender as it got in a bender before I got it.  Paid $4500 for it and less than $500 for the parts and paint work.  So $5000 that was winter 1992-1993. 

 

Paid 20G for a 1996 Ford F350 Crew Cab Dually 2wd, with 7.3 and 45KMI.  That was in 1999.  

 

Bought a brand New fully loaded 2005 F350 Crew Cab dually 6.0 4x4 in 2004, special ordered using the Ford Family plan and paid just about 40G.  Now look what they go for.

 

Just paid $7500 for a 2003 Nissan Frontier Crew Cab 4x4 with 85KMI.  That was the best deal I could find after looking for 4 months. Pretty clean but not perfect Everything out there had a ton of miles and rusted bad.

 

 

Edited February 6, 2023 by auburnseeker (see edit history)

[keiser31]

Still spending money on my first car after 55 years of owning it. AND....it's not even finished. Just found some needed firewall parts. Hopefully this year will see progress on it's restoration.

[kevin1221]

I bought my first car in 1972. It was a one owner 1962 Chevy II 4 door. The car was a six cylinder, three on the tree. No carpet and no radio, but it ran good. I paid $50.00 for this car. I kept it for about a year, sold it for a profit, and then bought a 1966 Chevy Impala SS convertible for 395.00. I wish I had both of them back!

 

Kevin

[pkhammer]

1978. I was 15 and couldn't wait to get my license! A '57 Ford F100 Shortbed pickup showed up in a man's yard about a mile away with a "For Sale" sign in the window. Y-block V8, three on the tree! It ran well and had great sounding dual exhaust and decent red paint. $425.00. Dear old Dad helped me buy it and it served me well in high school. Thanks Dad!

[joe_padavano]

I inherited the family 1968 Vista Cruiser when I got my license in 1974. Also bought a 1968 442 from a wrecking yard for $100 as my first restoration. It's amazing that my first car was 6 years old when I got it. My daily driver today is 38 years old (1985 Olds Delta 88).

[Fargoguy]

1965 Valiant 200 wagon- purchased for $250 in the winter of 1981 when my mom’s daily driver- 65 Cuda-was in an accident. Fixed the Cuda- but the wagon became our family car. We replaced it with a 79 Lebaron town and country in 87- but kept the valiant for me. I drove it as my first car in 1991 - my sister used it for her first as well. We sold it in 1997 sadly. I’d like to have it back. Slant six, Auto with power steering. It was reliable as all get out. 

[keiser31]

23 minutes ago, Fargoguy said:

1965 Valiant 200 wagon- purchased for $250 in the winter of 1981 when my mom’s daily driver- 65 Cuda-was in an accident. Fixed the Cuda- but the wagon became our family car. We replaced it with a 79 Lebaron town and country in 87- but kept the valiant for me. I drove it as my first car in 1991 - my sister used it for her first as well. We sold it in 1997 sadly. I’d like to have it back. Slant six, Auto with power steering. It was reliable as all get out. 

Looks like you had a Dart.

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

2 hours ago, Leif in Calif said:

About 18 months ago, at the height of the Covid related used car boom, I helped my grand daughter buy a first car. At that point, there were no running cars on Craigslist for under $2500. She bought a Lexus with 200K miles on it. My own first car (1966) was a $50 Hillman that needed brake work. I'd like to hear about other "first cars" from decades past. I'm trying to get a mental picture of costs between the $50 and the $2500. Anybody involved in a purchase like that in the 80's or the 2000's? 

 $50 in 1966 was 40 hours at min wage of 1.25.   

 My first was a 1940 Chevrolet Special Deluxe in 1952.    $250, which was about 416 hours at the then $0.60 hourly min.

 

  Ben

[8E45E]

15 minutes ago, keiser31 said:

Looks like you had a Dart.

Its a Canadian Valiant, sort of a hybrid between the two US A-body models. 

 

Craig

[RansomEli]

Looking for my first car - senior year in high school. Dad was going to pay.

 

Found a nice 1965 Ford Mustang fastback. Black with black interior. 289 V8 with 4-speed.

 

Dealer wanted $1100. My dad offered $900. No go. My dad refused to budge and I didn't get the car.

 

Instead, we bought a 1963 Fiat roadster for $900.

 

Sigh. I probably would still own the Mustang. 

[JACK M]

Musta been about 1963 or 4. I think I was 14.

My parents were clear about me not being mature enough to get a drivers license, EVER!!!

Walking home from my part time $1.25 an hour job was this back row 53 Studebaker Champion coupe.

Twelve bucks and two of that was to transfer the title. (I had to be sure to check the mail to head that title off and tried to hide the car best I could).

It lasted me the rest of the summer.

A few years later I had my license, and I was buying $35 cars from a wrecking yard near me and doing a little fixing up and made profit on probably a hundred cars in that few years.

I was the go-to guy for cheap cars at my high school. Always had some old beater for sale.

[alsancle]

My first, second and third car in 2 pictures.

 

1.  49 Plymouth Special Deluxe that had 9k original miles on it when my dad bought it for me as a 12 year old.

 

2.  My 69 GTO Convertible that was wrecked and left with no nose on it out in the snow for 3 years before I paid 325 bucks for it.  It was Liberty blue on blue with a factory dash tach that I thought was cool.

 

3.  My 68 GTO that had sat for 2 years in a junk yard in Clinton Ma before I borrowed some money from my girlfriend and paid 400 bucks for it.   I almost got tossed from the house for this car.  Sold it for 400 bucks  months later.   Not too long down the road the frame broke in half from rust.

[76 Caddy]

1980, just turned 14 and bought my first car, a 1970 Cadillac Sedan de Ville for $350.00, with money I made working for my grandfather mowing yards.  Car was in perfect condition, only thing not working was a/c.

 

Tim

[zepher]

3 hours ago, Leif in Calif said:

Anybody involved in a purchase like that in the 80's or the 2000's? 

In 1985 I bought a 1975 Camaro base coupe with the 350/350 Auto drivetrain.

I paid $1,100 for it and it ran poorly due to it needing a carb rebuild.

Cleaned it up and drove it for a couple of years until I sold it to buy a 1964 Malibu SS Convertible.

[60FlatTop]

I started school young since I was born in September. That made me 11 when I went into the 7th grade, Junior High. I had already started working tire shop and car lot jobs after mowing my grandmother's lawn every Saturday. That was to finish up the full day.

 

My Uncle Frank, a true Dutch uncle, ran a body shop and was always bringing treasures home to my other grandmother's house. He had a 1949 Plymouth in her yard that ran pretty good. Seventh grade was the year of the class trip to Albany at my school. Not being an upper socialite kid, my mother was fretting about a suitcase and clothes for that trip. I graciously volunteered to skip the trip and stay in town with the school hoodlums if they gave me the little bump to get the #25 I needed to buy that car. I was a creative problem solver even at that young age. No augment from my father. He didn't see much value in a trip to Albany. He'd rather see me with the hoodlums than the ilk of Albany. So my deal was struck.

We had a good sized lot for living in the village and I had an oval around the back in the unseeded area that would tick off 1/10th of a mile on two looks. I own the old homestead now and the loop is my walking path. Twenty sauntering laps and I have a mile in.

 

I upgraded to a Buick a couple of years late. Here are my cars at 14 years old sitting where my garage stands today.

Would you buy a $200 front row car from this guy?

And shortly before driving age.

 

[Porsche 68]

1968 Porsche 912 yellow sunroof 5 spd a/c  great car after that it was 911s  paid $1500.00 for it  now ya can’t touch one for under $60 grand         John

[GARY F]

In 1954 I was 15  and bought a 40 Mercury coupe for a field car. Drove it in our field and at night I would sneak out on our country road. No plates.

[Steve_Mack_CT]

First car was the 41 Plymouth.  My grandmother drove exactly one time in her life, legend has it she backed into the neighbors yard and that was it.  I claimed the one car garage, a 15 minute bike ride away, from age 14 to sometime in my mid 20s.  This was the first of a few occupants. Paid $400.  Invested another $400, sold for $600 so some of you guys were obviously better planners.  Buyer had work to do but got a decent runner with new tires, brakes and all lights, etc. Working.  Smooth runner but smoked like a factory.  I balked at doing engine work.

 

Got the Camaro right before my 16th birthday.  I think we paid $1,350 for it.  It was clean, V8 AT but GM rusties started in fenders and quarter edges.  I replaced a fender, and took it to a local shop who agreed to fix the rust spots as I could afford it.  I think it was in 2 or 3 times.  The spoiler and rallys were added by me also.  Drove through HS and a couple years out.  Sold to a kid who drove it to FL.  Where is it now?

[Fleek]

My first was a 55 chevy pickup that my dad had used in the oilfield. It was very used but it got me where I needed to go thru two years of high school. 6 cylinder and 3 0n the tree. 

[31Buick96S]

In the spring of 1979, right before I turned 17, I bought my first car, a red 1969 Fiat 850 Spider for $350.00. I really liked that car and had a blast driving it my senior year of high school. Funny, I just saw one on Facebook Marketplace for $1700.00 and was wondering if my wife would kill me for dragging home another project. 

[Fargoguy]

3 hours ago, keiser31 said:

Looks like you had a Dart.

In Canada- the V200 series was much like the US dart- but I assure you- mine was a valiant

[Steve_Mack_CT]

17 minutes ago, jdtaylor65@hotmail.com said:

In the spring of 1979, right before I turned 17, I bought my first car, a red 1969 Fiat 850 Spider for $350.00. I really liked that car and had a blast driving it my senior year of high school. Funny, I just saw one on Facebook Marketplace for $1700.00 and was wondering if my wife would kill me for dragging home another project. 

Cool car.  Had a Camaro but really always wanted a TR or even MG. 

Parents thought a Camaro was safer?

 

 

[JV Puleo]

The first car I owned as a Citroen "Traction Avant" about 1953. I traded two muskets and a rifle for it. It looked great but had a cracked transmission case. The local foreign car place said they could fix it but after sitting there for 6 months they admitted they had no idea where they could get a transmission. I sold it to a classmate for $150. He gave $100 to another classmate who was going to France to visit her grandmother that summer and she gave the money to her uncle who found a transmission and shipped it. He probably paid something like $15 for it (this was in the 70s) so it was a good deal all around. I ended up helping him install the transmission and he drove the car to N. Carolina where he was going to college. The last I heard, it was in the showroom of a Citroen dealer down there.

 

The first car I owned that actually went on the road was a 1927 Cadillac. Not being able to afford both an everyday car and an antique car, I lit on the idea of an  antique that was reasonably usable. The Cadillac was my only car for about two years although I was away at college much of that time so it didn't get driven in the winter.

 

The Cadillac...

 

 

I have a photo othe Citroen as well but have to get my scanner attached to my new computer.

 

 

Edited February 7, 2023 by JV Puleo (see edit history)

[dship]

I bought my first car in 1966.  It was a 1956 Merc 2 door hardtop with a 292ci and four-barrel carburetor, with a three-speed manual tranny.  Previous owner had converted the three-speed from the tree to the floor with a spring-loaded neutral.  That way one could do a "fast throw" from 1st to 2nd.  The car cost me $35.  I could only afford used tires, so I had to put a snow tire on the right front.  I figured if I happen to hit a curb, the snow tire would absorb the hit better than a regular tire.  Sold the Merc a year later for $50. 

[dalef62]

My first car was a 1951 Crosley wagon, (along with a parts car) which I still own today.  Bought it when I was 15 years old in 1978.  Paid $500 for both, along with a ton of parts.  Learned how to drive it before I had a driver's license.  

My first every day car was a 1971 Chevrolet Impala hand me down, hand me down, hand me down.  Went from my parents car, to my sister's car, to my brother's car to my car.  

Edited February 6, 2023 by dalef62 (see edit history)

[41 Su8]

First car was a 53 Studebaker Commander with a V8 engine.  The previous owner had set it up for the track with a Foxcraft speed shifter and souped up engine.  I got the car and had to do a complete brake job from the master cylinder to the steel tubings to the drums.  The guy who set it up for the track got into an accident and his grandmother's teeth left an imprint in the metal dash.   The accident caused the frame to twist, so I used $6 recaps on the front for tires.                   John

[yachtflame]

In ‘74 I bought my first car. Had the choice of a ‘54 Olds Rocket 88 for $100 or a ‘57 Lincoln Convertible for $700. I was 20 and had been running motorcycles for 6 years. So, who would pay $700 for a car?

 I bought the Olds and still have it!

 I have a problem letting things go!  🙄

[arcticbuicks]

this wasn’t my first car but close within a year and a half of first car….....only pics i have of it-no before and after pics of this one........and a piece of junk ….and at that age you fear nothing ........at the same time my buds dad was on his case to finish tearing down old farm buildings …….both the car and the buildings were not going well....so this is what  we had for a end to both -while the parents were away.....things you do at young age- while the parents are away lol.....the car flattened the buildings and went to the crusher.....we had a helmet for safety lol....  and took turns driving and ducked down at impact ,i wanted to save the tires but one had 21 nails in it......using a tractor ....just wasnt FUNso 

Edited February 7, 2023 by arcticbuicks (see edit history)

[MotiveLensPhoto]

The first one I owned was a 1981 Dodge Omni hatchback with a 4 speed. Decent motor that I drove into the ground. Decent car for what it was. 4 cyl Volkswagen FWD engine and not much else.

[SteveMaz]

1974 AMC Hornet for $600 from a work "friend" of my dad's around 1982. Went to see it late one night after work in the dark parking lot of my dad's employer. We didn't drive it because "friend" said it ran great. He was right. It ran great. It was the moving and driving that was a problem. We should have known when he grabbed the money and high tailed it out of there. The car shuddered violently every time the transmission shifted. Dad took it to get checked out and the car needed like $2000 in work to be roadworthy. Transmission was shot, obviously, but also need brake work, suspension work, exhaust, and probably a few other things. Traded it in a few months later for $200 on a 1980 Mustang. My dad and his "friend" continued to work together for several years and never spoke another word to each other.

Edited February 7, 2023 by SteveMaz (see edit history)

[playswithbrass]

16 years old,68 Chevelle 6 cylinder-2 speed . When finished 350- turbo 400 with a Vega torque converter-3500 stall speed and 4.11 12 bolt. Back in the early 70,s a 12 second car was something,I have time slips for 13.01@113 mph never did get into the 12,s