Your Sons First Car - What Did You Do?

The Hamb..... Amazing - Thank you everyone for the great input! At this moment I'm thinking get the Mustang but put him in a truck first.... That will keep him safe and give him something to work towards later in High School... and we aren't talking about a fastback here guys... he would have to wrestle me for 69 Fastback!

 

My first daily driver was a 1985 Camaro Berlinetta. 305 cubic inches of pure embarrassment. Air conditioning didn't work. Had all kinds of electrical problems. Radio worked but tape deck didn't. Had problems overheating. Spent a fair amount of time on the side of the road. It didn't ruin me for life but I will NEVER....EVER.....EVER own another 80's era Camaro. I drove it for 3 years and put it up for sale. If it wouldn't have sold I was pretty sure I would have set it on fire on the side of the road.

It was replaced by a full sized '94 silverado. Should have done that in the begining. Drove that truck for 6 years and only had to replace the alternator, tires, and battery in that time. Looking back I wonder why the hell I sold it.

 

I never had a kid (Thank god as I'm only 20). But I was a teenager in high school not long ago. I just have to say from experience get something that is running and driving as a start. It doesn't matter how it looks i.e. body, paint, interior, etc. as that will be the project part.
I know this as I wanted a pre '64 traditional ride when I had the money to buy my first car. I didn't have the funds as I grew up in a country were a beat to shit four door would run you $30,000. So I went out and bought a 1991 Camaro project car. First thing I did was strip it down and get a new powertrain. I put a lot of time into that thing but it still wasn't even close to fineshed when I was old enough to actually drive. I knew I probably wouldn't be fineshed with it until after I graduated. So I went out and bought another Camaro. This time one that ran and drove. I ended up putting a lot of time into cleaning that car up. Some minor bolt ons, gauges, interior imrovement, repainting different parts, etc. In the long run I wish I never bought the project car. I would have been so much better off with just buying the second one I had. I now live on the other side of the world and the my first car is still sitting in my parents car port in two million pieces.
Also don't worry about it being a '69 Mustang. Don't be one of those Barret Jackson M.F's. At the end of the day it is a chunk of metal and if he f***es it up you guys can fix it.
I would strongly recommend getting a car that already runs though.

 

On nearly every single instance a kid who actually "builds" a car with all or most of their own money tend to abuse it a bit when dad aint watchin' but for the most part will really take care of it. All the rich kids that got a brand new car when I was in high school crashed that shit within a few months or even weeks. The kids who drove a beater and worked on it themselves took care of their cars. It happens with EVERY generation over and over......

Teach 'em right and they will turn out ok....

 

my son was 14 in 1988 and was working with me in the shop, enough to know his way around. Two years till he could get his Texas license. His grandmother gave him her run down, fire burned, non running '68 Firebird, that had been stored in her garage for years. I tried to talk him out of it, but he wanted it really bad, so he and I joined forces on it. For every hour I spent on it, he spent an hour on it. We had it up and going when he turned 16. He Loved it and had busted his knuckles on it, But he still Blew it up a couple of times. Thats just the nature of a kid and a car. Fortunately he survived those times and still has the Firebird in his barn. Still starts it up, but doesnt register and drive it. He has 3 little boys, wonder what he will do when the time comes !

 

I got my '69 Firebird on the road just before my 18th birthday. I know your son is 16, but the age is similar. From my experience, I treated that car with more respect, and drove it a hell of a lot more responsibly than I did my daily driver at the time. Same thing with a high school buddy. He had a 70 Chevelle, and aside from a few burnouts (which taught us real quick that cleaning rubber off the paint is a pain in the ass) we drove more responsibly than most others at the high school. Plus, if he's doing a lot of work/spending his money on the project, the temptation to tear up the street - and lose your license or the car - isn't as great.

 

This is my opinion
I bought a project 63 t-bird for my poldest who loved cars. Make this short, The bird is still in garage cause he got antsy and wanted something to drive so he bought himself a jeep.
Fast forward about 4 years. My youngest son just turned 16 and I gave him my 70 Buick Electra. Restored by me and runs. He's tickled pink with a great ride.
Get something that is drivable.

 

it was a father son vette project at age 16.....he actually drove it away from his wedding last year at age 23

 

my first car was a 91 vw fox. My neighbors gave it to me with the transmission in the trunk. I was told very plainly, that if I wanted to drive it, i would fix it. So my father and i put the new clutch in, put the tranny back in, and away i went. Along the way i learned how to do a head gasket, radiator replacement, wiring, and a bunch of other stuff. It was a hell of an experience, and I surprisingly never beat on it. That car took me to florida and back. I then bought something to "Go Fast" in and have regreted it ever since. It has taken me til now almost 10 years later to finally get a car i can say i don't wanna go fast in, i just wanna cruise with my girl (who i married 2 weeks ago) and call it a day. I say get him something that he can appreciate, no matter what it is, and make sure he knows he is fixing it, not you...lol

 

Had issues with the insurance here in Ontario Canada.
Insurance company would not insure my 19 year old son in any
car over 20 years old

 

I would say go for a truck or possibly a cooler older car but a four door version. Something he can work on when it breaks but still would be reliable. You are in California so there should be older cars available that are still in decent condition. I would avoid anything from the 1975 to 1985 era because of the f'd up emission stuff they had. I would also avoid any Camaro, Firebird or Mustang simply because of insurance and the fact that every cop that sees a 16YO driving one seems to follow it and find something wrong with their driving. Maybe an old Nova 4 door or a falcon 4 door that runs well. Not very cool, maybe a GM Bonneville or Delta 88 or LeSabre FWD with the 3800 engine - decent fuel economy and relatively easy to work on. Or as others said maybe an older S10 or a Dodge Dakota (square bodied are most reliable, 1988-1996). Good Luck!

 

My boy turns 16 this summer. He's going to get my OT Chevy short bed 4x4 pickup. Well, not completely OT, the hood is louvered. He really wants a Jeep, and I will get him one soon enough, but for starters I want him in a big, heavy, high vehicle. The fact that it sits only one or two passengers is a plus, too. I have owned this vehicle since new in '87 - it was one of the first off the line - it has exactly 200K miles on it and still looks mint. It should provide him with a good, safe vehicle to learn on that is not completely lame (most of his buds are going to end up with hand-me-down minivans).

 

I wanted to make sure that my boys knew how to change oil, plugs, etc. so I bought the oldest a 6 cylinder, 63 Falcon 2 door for his first car. He drove it for 2 years and when he left home for college 7 years ago he sold it to his younger brother for his first car. The youngest still has it and is gathering parts to rebuild it with a V8.

 

How about a stepdaughter's car? She was throwing hints to me about fronting some cash...time for a Truckedup lesson about life I figured.Handed her 400 bucks and find what you want,I'll check it out (1988).Two days later she showed me a 1980 piece of shit Monza she got for 300 bucks and used the other 100 bucks for plates and the rest plus some of her own stash for insurance.I learned she was smarter than I thought!!!!

 

So you got him something with a BED!!!! Good plan

Frank

 

I gave my son the choice of a typical modern compact or the 57 Chevy BelAir post car. He chose the 57 and drove it through high school.

 

I've got a dirt road that runs along the top of the canal bank 1/2 block from my house. We constantly have kids in pickups bouncing down that dirt track and flooring it thru the mud puddles. 2 or 3 a year wind up swimming in the canal and I get at least 1 kid every week knocking on my door wanting to know if I can tow his rig out of the field or canal or some 4 ft deep mud puddle back up onto the bank or if he can use my phone to call for help. I see a lot of 3 wheeled pickups and broken suspensions. Buy the kid something cheap and fixable for his first wheels and have him help pay for it so he has some investment in time and money in it. When he breaks it, make him sell french fries untill he can pay for fixing it. You'll be glad you did.

 

I built both my boys pickups for first cars because thats what they wanted,the first boy got a 65 ford short box with a 455 olds and 400 turbo, red wheels with wide whitewalls, the youngest(51 farmtruck on the hamb) wanted a 51 chevy pickup, we chopped it 5 inches, SBC, 9 inch ford, 5 spoke americans, they both helped start to finish and had the coolest cars in school, no drugs no problems with either of them! keep them kids out in the garage... it just might save thier lives!!!

 

My Dad only gave me one rule when it was time to buy my first car.. No V8's.. So I ended up buying an 87 S-10 with a hopped up 2.5L 4 banger.. Truck was painted Corvette yellow with Camaro SS wheels on it and low as hell.. No V8 but it would blow the doors off of his V8 pickup.. Two months later i bought another car.. A 75 LTD Two door, Root Beer Brown with a white Vinyl Top, cause i needed to haul my friends around too, ya know.. Point being that I bought all of my cars, with no help from Pops because I wasn't even allowed to have a drivers license till I had at least a part time job.. Which at sixteen I actually got a full time job working 40+ hours a week, then I had to learn to juggle that with school and maintain my grades.. That in turn got me out of drugs and partying.. Then all of the bills that came with owning a car were my responsibility, insurance, registration, gas, maintanence, etc.. I thought it was a bit harsh at first but looking back I can only thank my Dad for doing that for me.. I learned so many things with those cars but cars be damned, he taught me how to be a responsible adult. And as an added bonus I always had the nicest cars in high school, which made the rich kids a little jealous when they realized the dirt poor son of a Trucker not only had a nicer car than the one's their folks bought for them but I owned 2 nice cars, that I bought myself.. Doesn't seem like alot to some people but it's something i'll always cherish

 

About 2 months before my son turned 16 he started looking on eBay for a truck. He found a 2001 Dodge - red with a tan leather interior. It was close by.He bugged me nonstop to look at the listing. I blew him off but went to look at the truck in person. It was in good shape so I bought it and stuck it in a warehouse till a week before his birthday. I brought it home and parked it in plain sight in the back yard. It was there for 3 days and he never spotted it. He came in on the third night and started giving me crap about his birthday only being days away and he didn't have a truck and I wouldn't even look at the one he wanted. At this point I told him I had bought it. He asked where it was and at this point I called him an idiot and said to him it's been sitting in the driveway for 3 days. I didn't see him again for 3 hrs. Once he got his license I didn't see him for 2 yrs until he graduated. He lived in that truck.

 

Ok so no vans or pickups with camper shells... Man its been a long time had forgot about that... Now I remember the AMC Ambassador my buddy had in high school with those notorious fold down seats! That was just one huge bed in that land yacht. I remember borrowing that car for a couple special dates?

 

I didn't really give my 12 year old twins a choice. Each has a 55 2dr HT belair. I will build my daughters first with their help. My son's will be a joint project. They can't wait, but it's stilla little early. I am smart enough to realize that they may not want to drive these to high school. If they don't want them the money has to go into their college funds.

 

I bought my son a 67 mustang when he was 14, it looked like this...
Where it sat when we bought it

when we got it home

I supervised him doing all the work

We put power disk brakes all the way around. New suspension front and back including doing the shelby drop. Did the engine 68 302 with Keith Black hypereutectic pistons and chrome moly rings, 272 Crane cam, Weiand intake, Holly 650 carb, HEI distributor, Headman headers. All the sheet metal is new except the doors and roof. Interior is all new with modern bucket seats. We still have a few shiney items to finish it up like door sill plates and dash trim. He'll be taking his license test in it in a few months.
Today it looks like this

 

We built a 73' super Beetle in the back yard. Great learning experiance. He learned a little respect out of this. Unfortunately the number four piston got roached. Another valuable lesson.

 

I bought my daughter a late 70's six cylinder Merc Monarch that was a tank but dead nuts reliable and it took all the hell she gave it.

I traded a dead 1 ton 4x4 crew cab for an El Camino for my son when he was 16 and he drove it for several years until he wrecked it. That engine is in my daily driver truck now and will go in a 53 Chevy truck in a few months when the 71 gets the 500 Cad.

I'd go for reliable and tough rather than super cool or super gas mileage. And a young kid doesn't need a fast car as a first car unless you have a huge insurance policy on him and don't like him very well.

 

Smokeybear,
Thanks for sharing those great photo's. Im hoping to duplicate that experience with my son.
- Chuck AutoArt66

 

My daughter turns 16 soon and I have two more after her.

My plan is to let them drive our old minivan when they turn 16 and at the same time, match their money, dollar for dollar on an old car (they all want one) that we can start building at that point.

The way I see it....they'll have the inevitable fender bender in our old tank and by the time they get that out of their system, their old car will be getting finished.

 

I got a 70 skylark at 15 which proved to be WAY too much work for a young kid, sold it at 19, built an off topic car that I'm having trouble with now after an engine swap

 

I don't have any kids yet so take what I say with a grain of salt. When I turned 14 I got my grandfathers 4 door 79 caprice with a 305 complete with a lifter rattle. I drove it till moving in with my father then got a 79 GMC C15. We lived on the farm so with a vehicle to drive I also got to become a taxi. I drove everything hard and wrecked the truck on the ice crusing when I should have gone home, had to fix it so I had something to drive. I never drank in high school but my foot was very digital (on or off). When I was 18 I went 1/2 in on a camaro. Since I couldn't get a job because I was required to help on the farm that is why my dad paid for 1/2. Still did taxi duty for gas and insurance. Let me tell you that 3 siblings under 7 in a camaro will make you think twice about safe sex. I rebuilt the motor in high school partial on my dads dime. Rebuilt the tranny in college on mine. I beat it like a rented mule. Learned alot. In fact it is how I learned to do 90% of the mechanical things I know. Still have it and a nicer camaro I drag race. Still drive everything like shit, always have. Should I have had anything nice? I don't know if it would have changed anything one way or the other. My dad still cusses the camaro even when I am fixing his Grain truck or combine or one of 1000 things I might be scared to repair if hadn't and tried on my own stuff first. Cars are tools plan and simple. I love tools but I use them. If you never put a cheater on a flex handle you are a better man than me. I use things till they break, find the fault and make it better. Still don't know what my kids will do. The only thing I remember is even the caprice would do well over a 100 on 7 cylinders so you can only do so much to save someone from themselves.