What kind of trouble did you get in as a teenager in your first car

[Porsche 68]

You guys start 😁

[keiser31]

Is there a statute of limitations?

[marcapra]

When I borrowed my mom's 65 Chevrolet wagon back about 1967, I parked at the Speedy Mart (7-11 to you), to buy some snacks.  I hadn't quite got the hang of backing out yet.  I turned too fast and really hit the car next to me.  I walked up to the car to apologize, and there were some JD's from high school in the car.  The driver, a troublemaker I knew since junior high, said "forget it, it's stolen anyway."!

[arcticbuicks]

oh boy.......not sure i should mention all or the worst

[arcticbuicks]

we would get an old beater .....several times.......and go bush driving......until the car was mangled and quit......and after getting the cougar stuck too many times ......quick fix .....weld two more rims so it had duals eh ! ......boy ....did it go places most cougars couldn't .......but then we got more daring.......and went "RAIL ROADING".........something many would not know about from a populated area......at least not recommended for a populated area lol........we found a mid sized 1960s 1970s car especially a ford ......like a comet.......had similar width of the rails.......and we let a lot of air out of the tires and the tire kind of rolled over the rail on each side.........was fun sitting on the roof .....with the idle cranked up......flying down the tracks......with a couple beverages to lower our resistance ........you really cant hear trains coming.....and once made a mad scramble to get off the tracks.....with train horn now just a full steady blast......we werent at a crossing and the car bounced getting off the tracks .....and broke the driveshaft U joint off.......and we heaved it the rest of the way off.........now in the middle of nowhere ........we had to twist fence wire back and forth until it broke .......then wired the driveshaft like a ball of wire around U joint .......so we could continue .......hopefully before the police came...........we were maybe 15 and not driving on the road yet

Edited November 3, 2023 by arcticbuicks (see edit history)

[old car fan]

No comment. 

[Bhigdog]

Well i wasn,t quite a teen ager anymore but my wife of 62 years was. Nuff said....bob

[Steve_Mack_CT]

Me - 71 Camaro buddy Rich 73 Mustang 351 (I believe) side by side at stop sign on main drag in front of school.  Out of the corner of my eye I see a Police car on the side street.  Rich smokes em up & takes off like a rocket.  I putt-putt away... He gets pulled over immediately of course.  For the record I did try to signal him...

 

Tried to follow another pal with a bronco across a flooded field and got stuck in mud.  Went to the auto parts store and bought a tow rope and he pulled me out.

 

 

 

 

[Pfeil]

My 1959 Catalina, a 13 second car vs a brand new (it had paper plates) 1966 Hemi Charger. The Catalina had fantastic 60ft times and hole shot the hemi by 3 1/2 lengths (good old 4speed hydro!). The Hemi went up in smoke-it was a 4speed stick. Two lane each way in Hermosa Beach 25MPH zone. Between 2nd street and 8th street no stop signs. Realized there was a stop sign at 8th. St. at about between 7th and eighth, slid into the intersection at 8th St followed by the Charger and an "all-white" 1966 FORD Custom Police car. It just so happened the police car was parked right next to the Hemi, and no one noticed because both of us drivers were from L.A. and L.A. police cars are black and white and all they had was a red spot lamp in front and one red light on the rear parcel shelf-no light racks.

Speed contest, reckless driving, 80 in a 25 zone. First words out of the cop's mouth were " What the F++k are you doing in my town? and put your hands on the hood and spread em".

[Zimm63]

My lips are sealed.  

 

[28 Chrysler]

My first car was a 1954 Ford wagon.

First off the tags for that year were red and my Father was on the fire dept. so right away I got a small bit of red reflective tape.

Second thing most parents were not big with teens in a station wagon. I think that is all for now,

 

[Jack Bennett]

In 1962 our cars was a treasured asset which opened up many, otherwise closed, doors. One of these doors was the ability to have a private space to share with your “steady” at the local drive in movie.

I had both a “steady” and a chopped, channeled and souped up 1947 Chevy Fleetline which served the purpose very well, and as often as possible.

But, one night, as we departed the theater, I seen my younger brother standing along side the road waving his arms frantically, and signifying he wanted a ride.

As we were headed for a drive in the desert outside Phoenix, and I didn’t want any company, other than my “steady”, I ignored him and drove on.

A few days passed without anything notable happening. Then, upon my return from a day at school, I found my treasured 1947 Chevy Fleetline on blocks, with the wheels and fancy cone hubcaps missing.

My younger brother had hinted that dad should check my glove box to see if I kept anything of parental interest there.

And dad did check my glove box, and he found some little foil wrapped things there that piqued his parental interest in regards to how my car was being used.

During those times you NEVER raised your voice, much less argued with your coach, your teachers, or any person your senior, most especially your dad.

I had built the car as a high school voc-tech project, and had worked at two jobs to pay for the parts……in other words, it was wholly mine.

Seeing it on blocks, and seeing how easy it was to impose their will on me simply because I was a kid really hurt me deeply.

That is why, at 16 years of age, I altered my birth certificate, had my older brother sign my parental consent form, and found myself as a 17 year old commander of a Army main battle tank on the Korean DMZ in 1963.

Jack

[Jack Bennett]

21 hours ago, Porsche 68 said:

You guys start 😁

Hi Porsche 68. When you started the thread you had something in particular in mind. The thread has been started, broken in, and is due its first scheduled maintenance……..so let’s hear it!

Jack

[Walt G]

Buying it - it was a 1931 Plymouth model Pa sedan in 1964 - was parked in 1935 after it had a serious wreck ( later found out it diamond shaped the chassis which my friend Guy Roese straightened with chains and a block and tackle. ) I bought it from Bob Hibbard.

[Paul Dobbin]

My father had me restore any boat or motorcycle before I could use it unsupervised,  Consequently, I was a model citizen with 

my cars too.   (Sweat Equity is a powerful teaching tool.   At 16, my 18 year brother and I departed Florida for Princeton, NJ, (Our

boyhood home) and picked up his friend and them off to Michigan for my friend.)   Each of us had $100 and we drove to Seattle

for the 1962 World's Fair.  Next we went down the West Coast to L.A,  before heading back east visiting Las Vegas and all the

National Parks on the way  to Michigan and NJ before going home to Florida   We spent 6 weeks driving 15,000 mile in our 56 Ford.

We camped in a tent, and played hearts at night while searching out relatives for fancy meals. We had a ball, no trouble except flat

tires.     I published the story  in this Forum before.

P. S.  When I published the story, I sent it to the other two guys.   The one in Michigan wrote back saying that he told that story in Vietnam and nobody would believe it.   He also thanked his mother on her deathbed for letting him go with us.

I agree with other old friends who say we had the coolest parents.  I agree.

[Hemi Joel]

I choose to exercise my 5th amendment right to remain silent...

[yachtflame]

In ‘lFebruary of 1972 a good high school friend and I took a 1968 Beetle out on the ice at Lake George in NY. Drove down the beach near our summer house and out onto the ice. It had regular tires, not studded. We had to inch up in speed very slowly to keep the tires from spinning but eventually got it up to 40 when he turned the wheel and stomped on the brakes. We spun in circles for several minutes screaming at the top of our lungs! By that time we were a mile from shore and near the center of the lake. We got to wondering about the big pile of snow going down the lake so we got out of the car and started walking towards the pile. After a few yards, I heard a loud crack and Peter went through the ice! Seems the pile of snow was the pressure ridge where the ice broke and pushed up. I was able to pull Pete out and we backed the car up very slowly 1/4 mile till we turned around and got back to land. 
  That became one of the legendary stories of “The Adventures of Peter & Wayne”.

[Porsche 68]

Great stories keep ‘em coming I’ll tell mine soon.  John

[Restorer32]

Dad advertised his tire business at the local drive in movie theater. Consequently he had a tall stack of free passes which I helped myself to quite often. One night a thick fog rolled in making it 

impossible to see the screen. The theater owner came on the intercom and said because of the thick fog he would refund the ticket price to anyone who wanted to leave. Strangely almost no one left.

[Leif in Calif]

Not completely MY first car but as a junior in High School, a group of friends found a '53 Chevy that the owner only wanted $25 for. We each put in $5, found a used battery and away we went. No registration or insurance of course! The license plates were expired so we were careful driving it on the street but had great fun using the local walnut orchards as a slalom course! Then one of the group thought it would be fun to shoot holes in it to look like the car in the movie Bonnie and Clyde, which had just come out. It attracted way to much attention after that, so it got parked behind the gas station where my friend Ron worked after school. The station had a big parking area with a grass berm on one side and Ron decided it would be great to see if the old gal could "jump". We all showed up to watch. Being a safety conscious teenager, he put on one of those old football helmets with the ear bulges, went to the far side of the lot, and floored it! He was probably doing close to 40 when he hit the berm. Unfortunately, the front bumper dug in and the whole front of the car folded under!

He wasn't hurt, but he did lose his job. 

Edited November 5, 2023 by Leif in Calif
add comma (see edit history)

[Paul Dobbin]

The more of these stories I read, the smarter Forrest Gump looks.

[Leif in Calif]

16 minutes ago, Paul Dobbin said:

The more of these stories I read, the smarter Forrest Gump looks.

When you think about how the current generation of kids is being raised, it's truly remarkable that almost everyone from my time made it to adulthood. 

Edited November 5, 2023 by Leif in Calif (see edit history)

[Andy J]

When I was in high school,I and three of my friends went to the football game at our local high school in my old bomb I drove.Two of us went to watch the game;the other two said that they were going to hang around for a few minutes and then come in to see the game.However,they never came in the stadium.When the game was over,my friend and I hurried back to the car to get ahead of the crowd.The other two "friends" were asleep,along with the 15-20 eight-track tape players they had stolen.Man,was I worried on the way home.I dropped them off,along with their loot,and told them never to even ask me for a ride again.I knew they were rough,but I didn't know that they were thieves.

 

Later,they got caught selling the loot.The older one was 18 and he got sentenced to one year of hard labor at the county penal farm.When he got out he straightened up and became a successful building contractor.I run in to him occasionally and he is still doing well.The other one was a juvenile and just had an arrest record to follow him.A couple of years later he was killed on a motorcycle,running from the law with a load of dope.

 

No trouble for me,but it certainly could have been.

[pkhammer]

Halloween night 1979. My '57 Ford pickup, three friends and mischief on our minds. All of us 15-16 years old. It was the third jack-o-lantern we picked up from a front porch, turned around and flung off on the way back by. Homeowner came out the side door, shotgun in hand, chase ensued. Lost control of truck on gravel road, went thru farmers fence (with three guys on back of truck!). Cops got called. Dad got called. We went back and cleaned up homeowner's yard. Came back next day and fixed farmer's fence. No ticket thankfully but it took Dad a while to get over it. I'm sure about the time he did, I did something else stupid, involving beer and a dare as I remember.........

[Littlestown Mike]

My friend had one of the first Mustangs in the Baltimore area--his dad was the automotive purchasing agent for the Telephone company and had a little "pull".  We went on a double date to a local State Park.  Of course my girlfriendI and were in the back seat.  It was good that I was young and limber as the backseat of a Mustang, especially a convertible, was a tight fit for my 6'-2" frame.  We were "parked" and my friend's girlfriend was sitting on his lap and frequently fell onto the horn ring.  My girdfriend and I were very low in the backseat.  The horn attracted the attention of a park Ranger who walked over, saw the two in the front seat and just told them to "knock it off" and drive on.  As he was leaving he finally noticed us in the backseat and started to say something but my girlfriend smiled sweetly up at him and said "hi" and waved.  he just turned and walked away.

[Jack Bennett]

21 hours ago, Leif in Calif said:

When you think about how the current generation of kids is being raised, it's truly remarkable that almost everyone from my time made it to adulthood. 

I suppose his comparison is to Richard Simmons. I, personally wonder how I made it 79 years with all fingers and toes intact.😁.

Jack

[JACK M]

A cop pulled us over early in the evening and told us we would be better off heading out of town.

I was the only one with a license and was driving about a 1950 Cadillac limousine that belonged to one of the guys in the car. Probably six or seven of us in the car.

Later on that evening we came back thru town only to get pulled over again.

He asked "which one of you is Rick?" (the car owner)

Rick spoke up. cop said "Well I wrote down this license number earlier and it came back as a 53 Chevrolet.

So, I drove out by your place and saw the 53 up on jacks and it had no plates."

"You guys ought to all go home now"

This was back in the days when most cops would simply pour your beer out and send you home.

But there was usually a pig or two in each department that believed in harsher punishment.

Got my car impounded one night, The tow was more than I paid for the thing. 

Oh! no insurance requirements back then either.

Indeed were "The good old days".

 

I often wonder just how most of us got so old with all the antics we got away with. I still drink water from the garden hose.

[John Byrd]

I hope this counts, but I got in NO trouble in either my 1st or 2nd cars as I was escorting wide loads along with my Dad, uncles, cousins, and some friends. Besides, those 1st two Chevy's only lasted 91 days for the 1st, and nearly 30 days for the 2nd. BUT, I got in trouble fairly often in my 3rd car, while still escorting and then trying to go to and stay in college, lol.  The 1st trouble is all I'll report here, as I tend to get long winded and sometimes tear up reminiscing, ha ha ... One night I had been on a date and she was to go to her girlfriends house to spend the night and next day. I took her there, and when I left, was driving like the 18 year old I still was. My car was a 63 1/2 Falcon  that I had installed a balanced and blueprinted 289 Shelby engine in, and it was also a bit over-cammed, so it ran really good. After I went down the little road that her gal friend lived on, and got back on the 4 lane, I decided to see if I could "hang the tail out" around a long, fast, nicely banked curve  on the way back home. Well, I did, the Falcon was doing it's part, except the rear end was just a bit over thew double yellow right in the middle of the curve. That, wouldn't you know, is where I met the TN Highway Patrol's Captain in his cruiser... He was in the lane closest to me, and had to swerve, nearly wrecking, to avoid hitting me. Well, this scared little boy lost even the rest of what little sense I had at the time and kept going as fast as I could. Guess I thought Mr. Greene the trooper wouldn't recognize or chase me, duh !!! I pulled in my parents driveway, took off into the house and went straight to my bedroom. In just a couple of minutes, I heard him sliding int the driveway, banging on the door, and then my Dad hollering at the door and going out in the yard. Dad was a deputy and part time Auxillary Policeman then, and there was an awful (and loud) argument for a few minutes, Then I heard the trooper leave, Daddy slamming doors, and then he was standing beside me with his hand out looking REAL mad.  I gave him my car keys, he shook his hand some more and kept glaring at me, and simply said, "drivers license too. He left the room, came back in after a bit, sat down and gave me one of those dreaded father to son talks. Got my keys and license back after a week or so and another talking to. It was fortunate that we had the escort business, or I may still be grounded, lol. All this took place in 1967,  and I have done a few more , uh, kinda' stupid things, but this is my only story for this thread. Thanks for starting this Porsche 68, fun reads and memories !!! Oh, early that next year, the following pic happened, sad still, but alive.

[Dave39MD]

I was about 16 and driving my newly acquired grand parents 39 Chevy. Coming home late at night passing a 7-11 store and decided to wheel in and get something. Coming in fast hit the brakes and nothing. Hit the curb stop and gained a little altitude and demolished a Southern Bell phone booth which thankfully absorbed a lot of energy. Bounced out into the parking lot I put out a small fire caused by the battery moving around.  A very excited store clerk came out and told me to wait for the police to come he was going to call them. I didn't wait. Fifty two years later when I see that odd little crease in the otherwise pristine hood I still smile.  

 

Dave

[Steve_Mack_CT]

@Dave39MD, a good pal had 2 39 Chevys when we were in HS, late 70s.  One he fully restored and still owns.  But in the spirit of this thread, he picked up a 4 door initially for parts, but bondoed it back up, painted it (great practice for the 2 door and it came out nice) and did enough work to drive it to school for a couple years and after.  One day he slid it on a turn and rolled it - drivers side, roof, passenger side.  He drove home after a wrecker righted it and battery was reconnected...

 

A stock 39 Chevy will throw up a lot of tire smoke when doing doughnuts but hard to hide from the teachers in 78, 79! 😁😁😁

[pkhammer]

3 hours ago, JACK M said:

This was back in the days when most cops would simply pour your beer out and send you home.

   Yeah, this happened to me, twice. "it's late kid and I don't want to see you on the streets any more tonight!". Made me mad as heck at the time, but I look back and am grateful I didn't get into more serious trouble. These days I would've certainly gotten a DWI instead of getting my beer poured out and being sent home.

[Littlestown Mike]

17 hours ago, John Byrd said:

. After I went down the little road that her gal friend lived on, and got back on the 4 lane, I decided to see if I could "hang the tail out" around a long, fast, nicely banked curve  on the way back home. Well, I did, the Falcon was doing it's part, except the rear end was just a bit over thew double yellow right in the middle of the curve. That, wouldn't you know, is where I met the TN Highway Patrol's Captain in his cruiser...

 

When I think about the tires we had back then, and the small footprint ---it was a wonder any of us survived.   There was very little margin between "hanging the tail out" and complete loss of control.

 

Womderful days.

 

[3makes]

During WWII, as a 10 year old, I was driving a Model A flat bed truck with a load of loose hay on the bed. I went around the corner from a side street onto US Rt. 1 and dumped the whole load. The police came to help me and my dad, who had been following me on a tractor re-load the hay. My dad got the ticket and I never worked so hard for the rest of the summer and fall season or at least until school started. The cop said I was too young to be driving and he didn't want to spoil my record when I was old enough to drive. On the farm, I'd been driving tractors for a year.

[Paul from PA]

They had just opened up a new mall in the area and I was trying to meet up with a couple of girls. They went around back and I was going to "catch" them on the other side. I did not realize they had put cement curbs

between some of the store parking lots. I found out while driving my 1965 Caprice. Hit the curb, bounced several hundred feet before it stopped. Bent the A-frame and knocked the linkage off of the transmission. Alcohol was involved. We were careful when we would drive around drinking, our buddies would open the beers up and hand them to us while we drove. Can never be too careful!

[dship]

I never got into any "known" trouble.... I was the first-born male... the apple of my parents' eye.

[28 Chrysler]

59 minutes ago, Paul from PA said:

Alcohol was involved. Can never be too careful!

Electric windshield washers worked well for dispensing Vodka, Rum, or the like. Prefect for drive-in entertaining.

One local Officer would say "open the trunk" if there was beer he would put it in his trunk and tell you to go home.

[JACK M]

23 minutes ago, 28 Chrysler said:

he would put it in his trunk and tell you to go home.

Agree, probably saving it for the policeman's ball. LOL

[TTR]

Other than failing to provide its primarily intended results of gaining/winning intimate physical favors from a (any ?) representative of the opposite sex (I've probably recounted the story here previously), I never really got into trouble in/with my first car, but plenty with many that followed and most cases involved alcohol* consumption along with all other typical, rebellious(?) youth (mis)behavior and/or encounters with LEOs**.

 

* Where I grew up and misspent my formative youth, consumption of "adult beverages" was allowed/legal within confines of a vehicle, even if operated on public roads, by anyone/all except the driver/operator, so cruisin' the evenings/weekends often involved copious amounts of all varieties and enjoyed even by "underage" (i.e. less than 18 y.o.) passengers (driving age is/was also 18), since those confines within any vehicles were legally considered "private property", similar to confines of private homes or other (private) real estate properties.

 

** While some encounters resulted to overnight accommodations at local holding cell and occasional physical disciplinary measures administered by said LEOs, in the end, all of it was usually considered (by us) well deserved for our "misbehavior".

Edited November 7, 2023 by TTR (see edit history)

[John Byrd]

On 11/7/2023 at 1:24 AM, Littlestown Mike said:

When I think about the tires we had back then, and the small footprint ---it was a wonder any of us survived.   There was very little margin between "hanging the tail out" and complete loss of control.

 

Womderful days.

 

Littlestown Mike, I was really fortunate when it came to tires for that car. They are not still on it in the pic of course, but I had a nearly new set of Goodyear Bluestreaks on it on 14 inch wheels. (the Falcons came with 13's back then) Our Shell station in town just had the one set, and when I saw them with that little blue line around them, just had to get them because I thought they matched my car, lol. If I remember right, they were about 45 bucks each and that was real expensive. Took me a few weeks to pay them off, and they were fantastic, tho' not very long-lived. I had no idea at the time that they were special, just liked the looks, sigh.... 

[Matt Harwood]

My first car was a 1976 Cadillac Eldorado convertible that I inherited from my father. No, "inherited" is the wrong word. "Recovered" is better. He abandoned it in one of the barns on our farm when I was 13 years old, after getting fed up with it breaking down once too often--I think he replaced it with a Buick Park Avenue in 1983.

 

Anyway, I spent the years from 1983-1988 putting it back together. New mail-order 500 engine, new accessories, rebuilt transmission, brakes, tires, carburetor, and finally, an $1800 Maaco paint job where I removed all the trim myself so the result would be better. It was essentially this exact car:

 

 

Throughout high school it was a rolling project and my buddies and I drove the hell out of it since I was the only one with a car. Three of us with our girlfriends would often go out on weekends cruising. I'd go out driving by myself at night when it was cool (the A/C never worked). It was my first chance to really fall in love with a car by working on it. I did the work, so it was truly mine. I am probably the last generation to look at an automobile as that kind of freedom.

 

But I digress. The story I wanted to tell was when my buddy Brian and I took the Eldo to a Cleveland Indians game in downtown Cleveland one Friday or Saturday night in the summer. It was a fireworks night, so we stayed extra late to watch that show. On our way home, we got a little disoriented and ended up cruising east up Prospect Avenue, which, if you're familiar with Cleveland in the '80s, you know what Prospect was famous for. We stopped at a light and two African-American hookers jumped over the sides of the car and into the back seat. "Where to, boys?" one of them asked. Being stupid 17-year-olds, we didn't have a smart answer so I just kept driving for a while while they chatted us up a bit. They were friendly but we were stupid and didn't rightly know what to do. I don't know what they were expecting, but two white boys in a big yellow Cadillac convertible on Prospect after dark was probably a questionable formula. Anyway, they rode with us for about a half hour, then climbed out the way they came in, hiking up their dresses as they climbed on the back seat and out of the car. One of them leaned in and kissed Brian on the cheek and told us to, "Keep it on the east side."

 

I sold the Eldo in 1992 to buy my 1993 Mustang 5.0 (which I still own) and go racing. I think I got $2000 for it. What a chump I was! But the night with the hookers will always be an amusing memory.