Got a son who is now learning to drive... He likes the old stuff. I'm concerned about safety, car getting messed with at school, gas consumption, insurance.. Oh all the little things we parents worry about. That being said... got any thoughts on a good first car for the young lad? Think daily driver, relatively decent mileage.. reliability, affordability, etc. Thoughts? Suggestions? I'm thinking 50's - 70's.... Thx!
s-10 truck. a real frame fo rwhen they get in a wreck (their fault or others) and fairly economical to buy and operate.
I'd say any 60's midsize car (falcon,comet,dart,mustang,camaro).Get a six cylinder to start with them let him upgrade when he is ready.
There are so many options , look in local classifieds and dont forget to check the ones on here . But whatever you buy just go over it real good and make sure he know the basics such as checking fluids and all that good stuff . I drove an off topic muscle car to school and surprisingly no body ever messed with it at school most kids admired my Hemi orange 70 cuda parked among the hondas and pickups . Good luck and good job securing our future of hot rodding !!!
I got my oldest son a 63 ford falcon wagon with a straight 6 auto. why? 1. good mileage and reliability. 2. old enough that liability insurance would be cheap enough that if it were wrecked and it was his fault, the cost out from the car isnt much, and he can walk long enough to decide to get it fixed himself. 3. Simple enough that he can maintain it instead of a car payment. 4. its old. 5. its old and cool. 6. its new enough to have seat belts, and its old, and cool.
Had a friend in high school with a beat Maverick. He was the last of 3 kids to get it. It was done after he had it. Not cool, but survived some serious monkey business, ha ha.
50 - 54 Chevy car.Find one in decent shape that still has a running strait 6 in it.This way he can still work on her and make her his own in time.Least not to mention it's a real steal work horse...just saying
Why are you guys telling him to get a mini truck, i thought this site was about cool old cars and trucks?Get the kid something he can be proud of.
Anything decent, as long as he puts his blood, sweat and tears into it. I love my kids, but would NEVER just hand them a vehicle. Think stuff like Valiants, Comets, Novas........... small and still safe.
....might have something to do with the fact that it's going to be his FIRST car, and I can recall a high percentage of "first cars" meeting grisly deaths when I was in high school. "First car" is sort of like "winter car"; no point in it being too nice or too valuable, kind of like not buying new boots for walking through cow shit in the barn.
"old enough that liability insurance would be cheap enough that if it were wrecked and it was his fault, the cost out from the car isnt much, and he can walk long enough to decide to get it fixed himself." don't know what this means.. liability doesn't cover your car, it covers your liability to the other guy.
My second car was a 68 camaro and it had a 6 in it with a 3 speed stick, it got horrible mileage cause I always had my foot to the floor trying to catch my buddy with his 289 65 mustang.
If the car is nothing special he will never want to take care of it. But get him something different and old he can learn to take care of it and make it nice.It will always mean something to him later in life even if it gets messed up.
He's been working and saving .. he'll put up 1/2 the proceeds if he keeps a "B" average in school.. If he gets straight A's... I'll foot the bill. I don't think this is "handing" him anything.. He'll work for it and he'll also do the work to it.. he's now learning and will continue to. He's a good kid that's not expecting any handouts.
Right you are but when I was sixteen all I cared about was whether or not it ran. Rant for the day. When I was 16 nobody was buying cars for us. When we were lucky we got to take our parents car out but to get our own car we had to get a job. Yes, we drove some real pieces of shit but we survived. When we were able to buy something decent we were proud of it and took care of it because we PAID for it. Walked both ways to school uphill also. LOL
I made my rant about working for your first car but I'll grant you that requiring he work for a very high GPA is legit. It can save him (you) a lot in college costs down the line.
WTF? I don't get people sometimes, the guy comes on here to try and help his kid get a cool old ride for his first car and that's what he gets... exactly.... Chevy II, Falcon, Rambler, Shoebox, hell just about any cool old car. You could even find one that already has disc brakes and belts pretty easy. Take care of it and it'll only appreciate in value and cool.
My first car was my ford, so long as your kid loves cars, and its really what he wants to do, then he'll probably be fine. I also don't act like a douche to people so my car is not messed with, so much as hardly even noticed. I've done some stupid stuff, but stuff well within my limits of driving and my car's ability. Also, a hurt engine is the best thing to give a kid to start with (so long as its easily replaceable). My weak-ass 239 taught me how to drive defensively because I sure as hell wasn't going to get out of anyone's way. Then I went with my 292, which I can actually move my car with. Really though if your kid is into cars then ask him what he wants and try and compromise, if not then odds are its going to be used as a trash can and get beaten on. At least from watching my peers do so...
here's my plan for my kids (when I have em and if they like cars) buy 2 cars / trucks. whatever. get him somthing booring and slow for a first car so he can bump into what ever and its not going to be a problem if some sheet metal gets wrinkled. but then get somthing cool that you and him can build together. something easy to build / fix so it doesn't take 10 years to get on the road. that way he can learn the value of fixing a car thats his.. not just given to em. and learn how not to drive by braille in the beater.
First cars should be basic, economical transportation, not "cool" cars. Make it something with 4 doors and plenty of seating so he can take some friends along, and worry less about it being cool than about it being durable enough to stand up to abuse. And frankly, I wouldn't try to find something 40 or 50 years old, either. A 10 to 20 year old car might not be as cool at one from the 60s, but it'll be easier to get parts for and will likely be safer, more economical and generally better in most respects than the old one. It'll probably have things like AC, for example, and likely a better audio system even if it's just the factory unit. And it'll have a lot less rust, too. If and when he can afford to buy a car on his own he can go for the "cool car."
First car should be something cheap, common and of moderate horsepower. Once he's proven he can take care of it and handle it, then you can move up the ladder. I also would tend to suggest later model for the first car just for the sake of finding parts and so forth, to keep it cheap. And a pickup is good just so he can't be out taking friends along, I see NY just changed the law as to how many non-family passengers a new driver can have in the car, apparently they think that a bunch of teenagers in a car can make things happen that might not if the driver was with a parent, sibling, or alone....
....and I'm thinking about it from an upstate NY point of view. None of the cars you've mentioned exist around here any more, unless you spend some $$$ and bring them in from another part of the country, and I stand by my opinion that there's no point in doing that for someone's first car. I'm not indicting anyone's 16 year old son that I've never even met, but like I said, I'm not too old to remember how a good share of first cars were (mis)treated by both my friends and myself. If I lived in an area where '60s cars in driveable condition could be had for cheap, I might think differently.
My first car was a '68 Cougar XR7 with a 302 auto. Factory disc brakes & power steering. To be honest, I made a lot of mistakes with that car not knowing what I was doing. With that said, it was very reliable. I know this is out of the range of what you're asking about, but I've always been a HUGE fan of GM G-bodys (78-88 Montes, Regals, Cutlass', Grand Prix). They're rear wheel drive V-8s with a full frame, and many of them were V-8, or can be easily converted to V-8 (stay away from the 3.8s)
Vo-Larr-eee'! Mom & Dad bought a very used '78 Volare' for my sister & I to "share" Blue & rust, w/ light blue vinyl top. At the time I really didn't like the car, but I drove the heck out of it. Find something similar, 4 doors, under powered-but safe. Then find him a Dart/ Valient/ Falcon, shoebox - whatever he’s really interested in - that needs a little work. Help him work on it & by the time it’s ready to go, the P.O.S. will have served it’s purpose & he will be a better driver in a car he’s invested his own time / money into.
Depending on the kind of money you want to spend....but an early 60s Galaxie makes a cool ride and most are very affordable. A nice Galaxie, a little custom paint on the roof, lower it, add some chrome wheels and white stripe tires....you got a cool car. On the other hand, I'll agree with the Maverick comment. Parts are cheap if you find a source other than eBay and they are easy to work on since most of the mechanicals are the same as Mustangs.
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