What was your first car and in what year?

[Tscott]

I'll start. It was 1977 and it was a 1969 Firebird Formula. Fond memories.

In high school, it was all about fast cars and girls. Nothing else mattered.

 

[LukesfirstJeep]

I can't remember the exact year, but I think it was around 1979, a 1970'ish Fiat 124 sedan. Fix It Again Tony was appropriate. Fiat's of that era rusted worse than Jeeps. I learned how to fix a lot of car problems with that car.

 

[ranwilrw]

My was in 1973, it was a 1964 Galaxie 500 4 door. No power steering, so it had a giant steering wheel so you could get leverage on it. Not much to look at but that thing had a humongous back seat.

 

[Squatch]

1952 Studebaker 1/2-ton pickup, purchased in 1979. I paid $12 for the factory service manual, which was $2 more than I paid for the truck!

 

[Tomcat]

1965 Chevelle Malibu in 1969. It had a blown engine, paid 350.00. I was 15 yrs. old. I worked on that car till I turned 16. Got my license in it. Wish I still had it.

 

[qslim]

Damn ya'll are old!

I got mine in '94... At the time my dad told me he would match whatever money I earned for my own car. Well, at the time I had $200, so I went to 7/11, grabbed an autotrader and found a super sweet '88 Ford Tempo for $400. I went back and showed my dad and he offered to match me more if I wanted to save up a little.. NOPE!! He just rolled his eyes and gave me another $200. That thing was a huge piece of shit but it got me around

 

[tworley]

First was a 1985 s10 reg. cab I bought for like $800 from my basketball coach. I might have been 13 at the time. Didnt last long before the transmission went out.

 

[Ghost]

I was 16. My first car was a 1971 Barracuda that I traded for a Toyota that I traded for a 70 Challenger T/A 340 6pak pistol grip 4 speed The guy said he wasn’t giving us any boot lol. I was 17 and it was 1979-80. That’s the car I learned to drive a straight drive in. ...I still have it. I wonder it he still has the Toyota?

 

[Westtown Willy]

1982, mid 60's Bug

The story is more interesting than the car.

My first car wasn’t really ‘mine’, my buddy happened upon it untitled & unregistered and sold it to me for $50. I brought it home & my dad took one look at it & said get that f’ing thing off my lawn so later that night me, my buddy that sold it to me & two other knuckleheads threw $2.00 in the tank (that got us around 4 gallons back then) & we proceeded to hammer the thing to death. Drove it to our school & onto the practice field where we rearranged all the football practice dummies or whatever those sleds were called, then on to a local orchard where we drove through the fields (and fences), then to the local college where we descended into the ‘meadow’, a vast hilly & tree dense space, basically we were wheeling it through the hiking trails, then after all that we did some good damage to what I assumed at the time was the rear axle because the whole car was bobbing up & down with the rotation of the tires, also lost the exhaust somewhere along the line so that when we were limping back to our home base (by now it was around 3am) we caught the attention of Johnny Law who might’ve been able to sleep through his shift sitting in a local condo development as we puttered on by so he had no choice but to give chase. We couldn’t get this brick over about 25mph by this time so we agreed on a jumping point, led the caravan down a dark road bordered by woods on both sides & on the count of 3, stopped, jumped & ran. The direction we ran however had a creek and a large very steep incline on the other side but by then it was too late, into the freezing water we all went, waded across, climbed the muddy/rocky/90 degree cliff on the other side & ran into the adjoining neighborhood where we all hid in a bush while the chaser’s fellow officers circled the hood trying in vane to find us. Around 5am we arrived at my house tired, freezing, soaking still but laughing our asses off.

At this point nearly 40 years later all I can say is thanks Adolf, you commissioned a helluva car:

 

[Nimbley]

I bought a ‘78 camaro for $500 in 1988. I was 15 and it had a spun rod bearing. I learned a lot on that car. Rebuilt the engine, replaced the interior, had it painted. Three years later I sold it for $3800. I wish I still had it.

 

[DustyRhodes03]

A '93 Chev S10 2WD automatic with the 4.3 Vortec that I bought off my uncle for $500.
I'd love to have this truck back, I know it's mostly for the nostalgia but some day I want to buy another identical to it.

 

[RMETeeJay]

Early 80s Datsun/Nissan 210 hatchback. It had both maker's labels on the car because it was before the Datsun name went away.

Bad slave cylinder had to be bled every other month or so (I know I should have replaced it). Rear wheel drive, so it handled really nicely for a cheap car. It basically rusted to the point where it wouldn't pass inspection any more, but was still running great when I got rid of it.

 

[Jim King]

It was 1984, I was 16.
1969 Oldsmobile 98 with a 455 Rocket
I passed the driving test on the first try, even the parallel parking! That car felt 30 feet long...

 

[cliffish]

1977 Mercedes 300D, 5 cylinder Deisel, 0-60 in 24.8 seconds, had a 180,000 miles. My Dad bought it new and flew us all to Germany to pick it up from the factory. I got it in 1985

 

[InOmaha]

I didn't get my first car until after I turned 21. I drove other cars and borrowed what I needed until later in life. I guess I've had a license now for 33 years (1986) and I've been driving for 40. Farm life.

1965 Chevy Impala 4 door - Grandpa's car
1963 Chevy 3/4 ton farm truck - My dad sold it with 450,000 miles on it years after it's 3rd engine/transmission swap.
1980 Chevy Citation 2 door - Dad's car my brother's got at 16 and left behind when he went to college, then took back when he graduated. He drove it to CA and traded it for something that could pass their testing.

1988 Chevy Cavalier 2 door - My first car when I was a senior in College ('92), partial gift from the parents who picked it out without telling me (you can tell my family had a friend who owned a Chevy dealership)
1991 Pontiac Grand Prix - wife's old car when she upgraded. I got the used car and her car payments

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee - the first car I ever purchased for myself in 2000
2008 Toyota Highlander Limited - purchased in 2010
2006 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited - purchased in 2019

I see a trend in the last 3.

 

[Hook_62]

1978 Bought a 1964 AMC Rambler for $35. Didn't last long, transmission went out and I let it go. wasn't worth the $$$ to repair.

1979 picked up a 1969 Camaro SS 350 for $700. Still have it.

 

[Mark K]

Gad. 1965, got gifted a 63 Rambler Ambassador four door. V8, four barrel carb, power locks and windows, AC, none of which got it past being a damned Rambler. I did take some grief for it at Austin High School.

 

[Mr. Bills]

1949 Willys Wagon in 1966. Three on the tree, starter foot button on the floor.

 

[Mumblewood]

Mine was in 1993ish and was a 1974 Pontiac Ventura 2 door hatchback, with a Chevy straight six 250 cid. Body and interior were super clean and it ran like a champ.

Some lady ran a stop sign and I T-boned her and totaled my car, she rolled and totaled hers. I next got a 1969 Chevy C10 that I loved.

Technically though my first car was in 1988ish I got a tub for a 1963 willys DJ 3a surrey that my dad gave me, but with no frame, or title or running gear( he had converted to to 4x4 in the mid 70’s and used all of that for his next build) and a lot of rust I reluctantly scraped it.

 

[Ruby Rubicon]

I held on to my first car, it's in a sad state right now and bare metal, but I am restoring it to right way, it takes time. My first jeep I bought around the same time for $800 it was a comanche and what got me addicted to jeeps.