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

[Soupiov]

I bought my first car from the original owner in 1962.  It's a 1930 Plymouth that he was replacing with a Plymouth Valiant.  Ran it for 10 years and stored it for 40 years before I decided to restore it.  Almost done!

[arcticbuicks]

1946 gmc at 14 bought from grandpa $400,still have .2 nd car 1966 Chev Impala bought for $75 and drove property half mile to meet school bus ,pulled power train out and sold body for $5 , then got 3 rd 1973 celica $200 and cut the roof off , worked on it everyday after school and painted candy apple , family welder friend did subframe connectors etc all welded in under car …….later put the Impala v8 power train in it but was too much , still have the car . …….junker Olds somewhere in between these 

[Leif in Calif]

3 hours ago, arcticbuicks said:

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 

My senior year of high school (1968) some buddies heard about a 54 Chevy for $50. We each put in ten bucks. Naturally we didn't worry about registration or insurance. We drove it through orchards around Walnut Creek and then my buddy Ron thought it would be fun to run it up a steep bank next to the gas station where he worked and see how far it would jump. He put on an old football helmet (the kind with ears) for safety.

He got a run at the bank at about 35 miles an hour, but when he hit the bank, the front bumper dug in and the whole front and hood just sort of folded under. 

He didn't get hurt but it did almost get fired. 

[Frank DuVal]

9 hours ago, kevin1221 said:

I kept it for about a year, sold it for a profit, and then bought a 1966 Chevy Impala SS convertible for 395.00.

AH yes, I saw a 66 Impala SS (396 emblems, 327 under hood) 4 speed convertible just show up (fresh trade in, one of the IBM repairman on the grounds was using it so I saw it often before trade) on the Charlottesville Chevy dealer's lot (Jim Price Chevrolet when it was still on Pantop's Mountain)  in 1975. I drove it around the parking lot, the shifter moved as if the motor mounts were bad, offered what I had at the time, $130, and the used car salesman almost went for it. I still wonder to this day if $150 or $200 would have sealed the deal. Not very rusty either. Yellow and needed a top replacement soon. AH, the one that got away!

 

I had just bought a 50 Studebaker Champion for $25 that was occupying my time at college.

 

When I graduated I was still looking for a 4 speed convertible, that's when I bought the "restored" 64 Corvair Spyder convertible, but that was "real money"  so not a price point for this discussion. Ha!

[Tom99]

My first car was bought from behind a Texaco gas station in January 1966. I paid $100 for me 1959 Mercury Montery

4 door sedan. After about $50 worth of work, and a new set of recap tires, I was on the road. I sold it six months later to a neighbor.

[8E45E]

11 hours ago, arcticbuicks said:

 then got 3 rd 1973 celica $200 and cut the roof off , worked on it everyday after school and painted candy apple , family welder friend did subframe connectors etc all welded in under car …….later put the Impala v8 power train in it but was too much , still have the car . 

 

That is just plain nice!!   The color sets it off well, and the workmanship from what I can see in the photo looks excellent.  

 

Unfortunately, the convertible market was diminishing in 1973 when the malaise era was beginning, but if the times were better, like ten years ealier or ten years later, it would have made a nice alternative to the hardtop.

 

Craig

[John Bloom]

First car bought in 1980 a few weeks before turning 16. I handed over 400 dollars of lawn mowing/corn detassling, farm hog barn pressure washing money for my 67 Riviera.  Like many of you here, that feeling of pride we had for our first car........ if you could bottle it up and sell it, I’d pick up a case on the way home from work tonight. The dreams I had, the waxing and polishing and detailing of every bit of it. It wasn’t perfect, but it was perfect to me. 
 

great stuff on this thread. 
 

[Delco32V]

My first one was a 1968 Jeepster Commando Convertible. A neighbors aunt had passed and they wanted to get rid of it. They gave it to us for free.

It had a Buick V6 and auto. Did have to buy JC penney snows for it, and replaced an egged rim. It ran great and I drove that through high school until 3 years later bought a 1964 Chevy C10 pickup, 6 cylinder 3 on the tree. Probably out there still running......

[8E45E]

My first car was a 1964 Studebaker Daytona four door sedan I bought in 1976 for $300, which got me through high school.  I mentioned it here:  https://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/forum/your-studebaker-forum/general-studebaker-specific-discussion/363-where-is-your-first-studebaker

 

Craig

[bryankazmer]

Knocked on a door to ask if the 20 year old Chevy in the yard was for sale.  Guy said no, but he might sell the car it replaced, the 41 Plymouth in the barn covered in stacks of newspapers...

Welcome to the old car disease

[Harold]

The first car titled in my name was a '64 Mercury Comet Caliente sedan in 1973.  It was given to me by my cousin's friend who claimed it didn't run.  Within an hour of pushing it home with our family Dodge (about 1/4 mile), I had the car running up and down our street.  I used the Comet in college until the power steering cylinder (sort of a big shock absorber) let go.  I sold the Comet and moved up to a 1968 NY Telephone Company Valiant that I bought from them in Buffalo.   That served me well until I sold it to get a '70 Pontiac LeMans Sport that was a confiscated car I bought from the Federal Government.  Arguably one of the top 5 worst cars I ever had.   These cars were the first of many that graced our driveway.

[KLF]

I was 15 and thinking hard about getting a car when I was 16. Dad had an old Texaco station and small wrecking yard on the west side of Vancouver. One day a customer with a Model A came in and wanted juice brakes put on. No problem. Dad went out and bought a 40 Merc Coupe that was going to be junked. He pulled the brakes off it and the A went on its way. The Merc didn't have an engine  and now it didn't have brakes either but I thought I could make a car out of it. Come on Dad. Give me the car. And he did. I found a running used engine and the missing brakes and after a few years had a good running car. I used it everyday for about 5 years. In the mid 70's I put it away and eventually sold it.

The pics show the Merc getting ready for paint and later on my buddy with a 41 Merc coupe and I posing the cars in front of old engine 374 at Kits beach

Good memories.

Ken