A young mans first car is a lot like his first love. It somehow sticks with you and you always have a soft spot and yearning for it long after it is gone. The first car almost always comes with a story, be it the search for the perfect car or the struggle working at the local A&P or Service Station, (yes I know that dates me), to save up for the first set of wheels. Like first loves, first cars also come with great dreams and expectaions, and like first loves they are rarely met. But we long to have them back just the same. My first car was a 1951 Ford tudor sedan. Faded blue paint, flathead V8 and the first fordomatic. It had set next to Ralph Andersons barn where it was parked a year or so before. Ralph (everyone just called him Swede) had the farm a half mile east of our place and had quit driving the Ford when he inherited a Buick from his daddy-in-law because it was making a whining noise in the ******. I looked at that old Ford every day on the schoolbus as we drove by and the summer I turned 15 got I got a call from Swede to do some plowing for him. Farm kids often worked for neighbors for summer jobs. I immediately ask my dad if I could try to deal Swede out his old Ford and dad gave his blessing. I didn't say anything to Swede but worked for him for three days till the job was done and at supper that evening Swede said, "Well George, Guess we need to settle what I owe ya" I replied yes sir, "It comes to about $35. What would you take for your old Ford". Swede kind of grinned and said, "You wan't that old car? Have you cleared it with your folks?" I said "Yes sir!" To which he replied"Well how 'bout we just call her square, Ma you know where the ***le to that thing is?" I don't know if dad tipped Swede off to my plan to own that old shoebox but it took me through four years of high school and never missed a beat. It was abused and changed over those years as dollars and skill would allow, and I still miss it and have a soft spot in my heart for old square Fords. Anyone else care to share on this one. GV
Haha i really don't yearn for my first car, it was a 63 rambler cl***ic 660 4 door. it was white and had a white and gold interior. the interior was covered in plastic so when i got it i took it off and the seats were amazing. it had hideous wheels and ran like ****. it could barley pulls hills.
my first car was a 66 impala ss bailed hay all summer to pay for it and get it home i was 12 and bought it for 75 dollars, sold it 2 weeks after i got it home for 500 and was tickled.
my dad owned a 1958 ford fairlane when i was 5 years old, flat black, moon discs, it was the nicest thing ive ever seen, then he sold it for a 66 mustang for my sister 10 years later on his birthday, we see an ad in the paper for a 58 ford fairlane for sale, for 2k we drive down there after a car show, i really want it.... and i buy it i still own it and will never sell it
The 51 Merc coupe I paid 175.00 for as a 16 year old sophomore in high school. I bought it from the wood/crafts shop teacher. It was lowered with a metalic green paint job and pinstriped dash plus the official blanket for upholstry. I kept it for 32 years and sold it in a weak moment to a guy with a large sack of 100.00 bills who has lavished lots more of those 100.00's on it. It has a good home.
This is identical to my first car, colors and all. I didn't get to select. My uncle was a Chevrolet dealer in Pa. My dad, his brother, called him looking for a car for me. I wanted a 58 BelAir, not an Impala, 2dr ht with a 283 and a stick but he had this. It was as cherry as the one in the picture. I was working construction and riding the bus. I was in no position to argue or hold out. At least it was a hard top. If it were a 4 dr I probably would have stayed with m*** transit. 318 push ****on automatic. He drove it down on dealer tags and we had to store it in the back yard until the insurance came through. It was all snail mail back in the dark ages. It took a week or so for the whole deal to get it tagged. One of the longest weeks of my life. I immediately pulled the tires and installed 1" port-a-walls with baby moons and beauty rings while I waited. I spray bombed the wheels black. I could look out the dining room window and see the front end with the above upgrades sticking out behind the pigeon coop. That image is burned into my gray matter for eternity. If I ever need a brain biopsy they will probably see that image in the microscope. The sense of pride and happiness was overwhelming for me at that time. I learned to let off the gas just when it was ready to shift into second and high gear and I would "air shift" the nonexistent floor shifter that I longed for so much. I had several people look around on the floor for the shifter. This all sounds so silly now but it was a big deal for me back then.
100e Prefect, once used as a trampoline given to me. Put it together with hand me down and found parts rather cheep for how it turned out. Tubbed, cage and the motor was given to me by a family friend who built motors for an Aussy touring car driver. It was a used 13B Rotary from a George Fury RX7, celica 5 speed and I honestly cant remember the rear end. maybe narrow Toyota? Ford 4 lug steel wheels, second hand T/As, no traction and bad brakes! That thing was crazy, lot of motor for a little car. I remember taking it out when no one was home and thrashing it around the local mountain roads. I do wonder how my friends and I survived! I think Im glad it never got near registration before I moved on to better things, 28 RPU. Doc.
I was 15 when my dad saw a '53 Chevy Bel Air 4dr in the back of some old service station. He came home and picked me up. I fell in love with all the chrome on the interior dash. He bought it and I spent all summer cleaning a/c ducts for my cousin to pay back the 800.00 for it. I drove that thing to high school half primered and half flaky paint with the 3 on the tree. Everyone wanted to ride in my "iron turtle." I blew the 235 and it sat till my Mom sold it for cash she needed. That was about 18 yrs ago. I became a man in that car. I miss that dirty sum*****.
I bought my '57 Belair 2dr.ht from a kid when I was a senior in trade school in 1964. I was a gas jockey at a local Texaco station after school and weekends but my parents knew my grades would go down the toilet if they let me buy a car while I was in school so I had to wait until the last semester to buy one. Working at a garage gave me lots of opportunities to buy some pretty nice cars but my parents always shot them down,when I finally found the Belair,I was glad they did because it was the nicest of the bunch. Baby blue with a white top and filled hood spears. 283 powerglide with a 2 barrel and single exhaust. I paid $250 for it and it was cherry. At least the body was. The engine showed 76K miles on it and the bearings and rear seal had just been replaced,but it still leaked oil. I drove it home on a dealers plates and promptly found out that the seller had taken the bulb out of the oil pressure idiot light so I wouldn't know it had low oil and low oil pressure. Luckily I made it home,with only a slight rapping noise. I immeadiately checked and added oil and the noise went away. Over the next 3 months,I fixed the oil leaks,put on dual glaspacks, wide whites (7.60x15 rear;6.40x15 fronts with black wheels and babymoons. The other kids thought it was a stick because of the way I shifted it. I started collecting the parts needed to convert it to a standard shift, but the draft came along. I was rated 4F at my physical because of knee problems,so without the draft hanging over my head,I swapped the Chevy in for a '62 Corvair coupe. What an idiot !!! While I liked the Corvair, nothing I ever owned was the chick magnet that the baby blue Chevy was. Glenn.
1st car story that could go on and on..but anyway. Bought a 1968 light green Dodge charger with a dark green vynl roof, 318 auto, from my high school teacher for 900 bucks, and it was sweet and complete. no rust no dents nice interior. drove the piss out of that car for 4 years or more.. a few speeding tickets, one reckless driving ticket..and alot of fun in the back seat..oh the memories..dont have the same car but loved that style of car so much i went and bought a 68 440 charger ..still got it and still making memories in it.
Mine was a '57 Chevy truck that was my Dad's. We hauled wood and everything else in that thing. It was factory light blue with a 283 and 3 on the tree. He gave it to me when I turned 16. Me and my buddies lowered it and painted the wheels gloss black. Shortly after that came gray primer and a bad*** 327 with a 4-spd. The 327 was followed by a bunch of hot small blocks including an aluminum headed 406. After that came a .060 over L-88 427 BBC with a Turbo 400 and camaro clip. Then some ******* stole it. Never seen it since. We are still looking... Kevin Ooltewah Speed Shop
Mine was my dad's old hotrod he built. 1960 Falcon 2dr ranch wagon. Red of course. So the nick-name of little red wagon stuck. .040 over 289 with Gt40 Heads and 2.02 valves, Weiand 360 degree intake topped with a Holley 650 double pumper, .499 lift Engle cam, 10.5 forged TRW slugs with a micro-poloshed crank all balanced and blueprinted, backed with a T-10 four speed. Man that thing ran like a ****d ape. My mon drove it back and forth to work during the week and my dad street raced it on the weekends. I bought it from them when I was 12 with the understanding that they would continue to drive it and pay for all the maintenence until I got my license. drove it until I started another project (351 cid '76 Mustang II) then I sold it to an uncle to help fund the new hotrod. Stupid me. Uncle traded it to some guy for a couple of bikes and we have never seen it since. I found the ***le for it a couple of years a go and had another Hamber's uncle run the numbers through the Hiway patrol system to see if I could find it. Came up blank. It was like being told a loved one had died. I'm still grieving... r
Well, I hate all of you! My first car was a '77 Pinto station wagon...canary yellow. Bad memories - It was a yellow Pinto station wagon. Fond memories - My high school girlfriend at the time lost her virginity in the back of my Pinto wagon... - It held my surfboards in the back with plenty of room left over for a big cooler. - The day I sold it for exactly the amount I needed to buy my neighbor's '71 Chevelle.
Two tone coral and white, 1956 Crown Vic . Sweet car, lot of fun. Would I like to have it back, maybe. But there are others that I wish I had back more,... much more.
GREAT STORIES Guys My FIRST was a 67 El Camino, My uncles gardening truck, new brakes, rod knock and a bent tail gate. Drove it around like that for a few months and my dad's friend gave me a decent 283 long block that I could rebuild, working at a gas station nights after school and all my free time working on the car, I got the rods resized, a free "huge" hyd cam, bought some new lifters from Engle, Edelbrock intake from Colorado Auto Salvage for $30.00 and a decent tailgate for $35.00, borrowed Holley 650 & Tri -Y headers, orig powerslide still worked so I used a Vega convertor to make up for the cam "cam was still too big and wouldnt idle in gear, shaved all the emblems and badges, and cruised this till I traded for my second car a 64 Impala and 5 spoke Americans that was a great cruiser...... And so it goes !!!!!
Mine was a 66 fury, it had bad bodywork, but was painted pearl white by the lowrider guy i bought it from. I paid 400 bucks for it, i was 18. That car was not a hot rod by any means, but it was the bug that bit me!!
i got my first car i guess 4 years ago? it was the spring of my sophomore year when i got it, it was sitting for 25+ years when my brother found it sitting in a driveway a few towns over...as soon as i saw it, i wanted it, but had doubt that the guy would sell it. about a 45 days later it was finally in my possession. the summer between sophomore and junior year it was on the road and i was driving it. I drove it to school junior and senior year of high school. Now I'm a freshman in college (19) and i don't plan on selling it. Here's how it looked when i first saw it, then how it sits now(still in progress)
Here's one thats pretty close to the truth. A few characters changed and some cars different from what they were, but the basic story is pretty much the way it was. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=146304&highlight=Frosty+Shop+Blues
My first car was a 1946 Dodge 4 door. A guy was coming through my hometown and blew the motor up. My dad owned a grocery store and the guy wound up in his parking lot and asked if my dad wanted to buy it. He didn't but he did offer the guy $15.00 for it which the guy took I was 15 at the time. My dad put an engine out of a '51 Dodge truck in it. I turned 16 with that car and it ran like hell. Later I found a 1950 Ford slightly customized at the Cadillac used car lot. I wanted that car bad and it was only $350.00. My dad would have no part of that. It wasn't a month later I brought a '56 Studebaker Golden Hawk to show him (this was in '57). The price was $1700.00. My dad went for that deal. (Go figure)?? .. Anyway I had that car for a couple of years, of which most of the time it was broke down with transmission problems. I traded it for a '55 Chevy and I had it for years . That's my deal ... I've had so many cars since then that I sure wish I still had, but what the hell, who knew back then ? ..
I'm 16 and just got my first vehicle. It's a '64 Ford F100 with a 292 y-block, 3psd standard, and a Ford 9". The truck originally came from Texas. Hence the little rust/corrosion and still decent paint. It was driven up here by my much-older half brother (father's side) back in the early 90's, right around when I was born. Apparently he had owned it for several years before making the long trip up to Lawrence, MA, where my Dad owns an old textiles mill. Anyway, my Dad still operates this very old factory (it has since been converted to producing cork) and my brother decided to leave the truck up here, stored in the mill for many years. As I grew, this mill, being my father's workplace, has become an icon of the beauty of age, imprinted in my mind. Since I was little I would go with Dad to work, running around the giant multi-layered factory, exploring its old corners and chambers. Granted, it wasn't very safe, but it was still a great experience, especially when I was younger. Eventually, at some time or another, I found the truck, covered in dust and soot, in a more discrete chamber of the building. Finally, when I reached the age of 15, my father and I decided to pull it out, and it then became my first project vehicle. And that's just where it all began. It's too bad that I don't have any pictures of it when it was resting in the mill, but it was a tremendous feeling to move it out from the dark depths and into the sunlight, a feeling that this truck is going to roll under its own power once again. At this stage in my life I wasn't extremely caught up in the entire business of hot rodding and antique vehicle restoration. Though I could definitely appreciate the '64 F100 for what it was. Eventually we towed the truck home, and from there work began on it. I have an informal agreement, or deal, with my father, brother (who is still lives in Texas), and myself. It's like a three-way ownership. My brother is the one who originally owned it, so he gets all the credit for its existence, and my father had agreed to financially support the project, and I agreed to be the mechanic, the one to spend the time and labor in bringing the truck back to life. A year later. And that's just about where we are now. In no way is the slick a restored cl***ic, but it runs and drives like you wouldn't believe. Most of the money was spent in drivetrain work, mechanical components which needed freshening or rebuilding. We opted to keep the original engine, due to it being a very nostalgic and old school bad*** Y-block torque monster. I am about a week away from receiving my license as well, which is just more icing on the already delicious cake. Oh yeah.
Grandma and Grandpa bought my first car for me, $500, 64 Chevy Impala more door with a big dent in the left rear door just before my 15th birthday. I loved that car and search daily for another. I knew nothing about cars and that car started me on my path though I was a ****py mechanic at the time (seems like I still am). Drove it everywhere. It was freedom for a 15 year old who used shoe leather to get anywhere prior to the car. Drove back and forth between Junction City KS and Manhattan daily for GIRLS and with a burger joint job, had plenty of money as a kid. However, the car started running badly (needed a tune up but I didn't know that) and then got a flat. I couldn't get one of the lug nuts off the car, even with a chisel and hammer and after a week of beating on the chisel, sold it to the neighbor for $50. I'll bet he's still laughing. Had it on the road and running great the next day. I was back to the shoe leather express.
Can I have your neighbor's address? I have some bent screwdrivers to unload... Anyway. Mine was a 1961 Falcon Sedan Delivery. An ex-meter reader's rig. Battleship gray. 144ci 6cyl/3 on the tree. $100.00 in 1969. Drove it to Nor Cal to my bro-in-law's friend's place. We stuffed a 300ci 6 in it (sold the little 6 to a neighbor for $50. A week later it spit up it's carrots). My friend knew Ak Miller (who loved 300s) so it got a lot of improvements, per Ak's input. Port and polish, 352 flat-top pistons, Crower 280deg cam, Offy 360 manifold and 4bbl, homemade headers, etc. Close to 300hp, and GOBS of torque! A neighbor had rolled his '67 Mustang, so it donated all it's underpinnings to the Awesome Possum. I could embar*** SBCs all weekend long, and still get 18mpg during the week. My friend (who did most of the work) had a really fine '57 F100 that I fell in love with. All of which brings me full circle to my current project: A re-creation of his truck, with a re-creation of my engine. Sadly, Koney and Ak are both gone, so it's kind of a tribute to them, as well.
I guess I was one of those "spoiled" kids, I got my first car for graduation. It was a white over light blue '63 Impala Sprot Coupe with a 283 and Glide. Did I mention that the 283 was toast, it was on 4 flat, mismatched, bald tires and sunk up to the rims in a horse pasture where it had been for 2 years with the interior full of trash? We drug it home and I spent all my graduation money on a 327/250HP out of a '64 Impala. We cleaned it out, swapped engines, put new dual exhaust on it, new white letter 70 series tires ( this was 1973 ), new front shocks, new rear springs and a set of HiJackers. The day after I got it back on the road my Dad backed into the left front fender. The 327 smoked almost as bad as the old 283, I nursed it along as long as I could but the end was inevitable. I bought a '64 Impala Sport Coupe and transferred all the new stuff over to it and had the '63 hauled away.
My first ride. My bro worked at the I-H dealer. He comes screaming into the house and tells me about a 58 ford sedan that some guy traded in on a **** spreader. Tells me the thing has an interceptor 406 in it,wonderbar radio,thunderbolt hoodscoop,and more. We go back down there with my lifes savings in hand. Talk the guy out of the car for a cool 100.00$. Best money I ever spent.
Luckily I still have my first car.My pop gave bought it when i was 11 or 12 and sat in the garage unitl I was old enough to drive which was 15 back in 84.Man
1951 chevy 5 window pick up was the first car in my name, got it when I was 15. My dad spotted it on his way to work and whittled away at my Mom for a solid week before she finally said okay and we went and bought it for $650 (1991) Solid truck, original but ugly when we drove her home... We went through a lot together, I eventually ran that 216 into the ground by running it out of oil. Dad had one in his sedan delivery (which he still has) he was upgrading to a 235, so I got a crash course on how to swap an engine! Stripped the old forest green paint down, tossed the 16inch wheels, painted her flat black, had the red 15 inch steelies, thin whitewalls, blue dot tail lights... Man she was a beauty! (I had a good laugh about this when I joined HAMB and somone tried to give me **** for having a flat black car with red rims, and whitewalls, like I had just stumbled upon the idea yesterday!) Then the world crashed, or rather I crashed, my moms nissan pick up truck. Poor me, had to sell the Chev to pay for the deductible, and more than a few speeding tickets! BUT, my first car (though not technically in my name) was a 56 Buick 4 door, mint condition, jet black, wide whites, black and red tuck and roll. Technically my dad's car, but nobody told me that until the ****** went (I couldn't afford a rebuild cause I was only 4!), and dad had to sell her for a pitiful $1500. That dash! MY GOD!
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