History WHAT IF YOU COULD GO BACK ....

What if you could go back in time, way back to your FIRST CAR.
Knowing what you know today, as a seasoned "car fixer upper", a HAMBER, what would you have done differently, to your FIRST CAR ?
My first car was a 1953 Buick Special, 2 door hardtop.
A straight 8 / Dynaflow that got converted by me to stick shift.
Back in 1957, it just had to be lowered.
I lowered the 4 corner coil spring set up by HEATING THE COILS!
Rode like ****, had a lean to one corner, not the best idea or way to do things.
If I could go back, knowing, of course, no one back then offered "lowered springs", I would have CUT the coils, instead of HEATING the coils.
What would you guys have done differently, if you could go back ?

 

I would have just kept that 1964 Pontiac Tempest in as pristine shape as it was when my father gave it to me for my 16th birthday. It was clean as a whistle, had a 6 cylinder something or other and a 2 speed automatic if I remember right. I drove it like it was stolen and then sold it for down payment when I was a senior in high school for a much faster and nicer 1970 Lemans Sport. Man I wish I still had both those old cars!

 

I wouldn't have run the stop sign in my $135 '55 Chevy 2 door post, and ended up with a '57 BelAir halfway through the p***engers side. My car was a piece of ****, his was nice until he hit me. I was 16 years,1 week old at the time. So far I'd ground the bondo out of the side, patched the back seat floor with a piece of plywood, taken the bumpers off, taken the trim off, and had been experimenting with filling holes with the miracle stuff they sold at Western auto in a can. I'd also cut the grille out, leaving the surround. I drove that car a lot before I got my license ( only when my dad was at work, though ), but at the time of the wreck, I still had the temporary paper they gave you when you got your license.
Cops showed up, I was sitting on the sidewalk shaking, looking at my destroyed car. Cop looked at my temporary paper, said " Boy, you didn't waste much time, did you ?"
If my car hadn't been so rusty, maybe the '57 wouldn't have made it about 18" into the side of it, and knocked the motor loose. You could see the headlight peaks from the '57 in the side of my car.

 

Kept em ALL from day 1

 

My first car (truck) was a 68 el Camino Malibu. I wish I knew how to fix the ******. Ended up selling to my X girlfriend father cause my fiancé was pregnant. If I could just go back and do a complete swap I would still be driving her. Oh well I've been looking for one for a few years now.


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My first car was a 1932 Ford 5 window coupe in '62 and I was 12 years old,my only problem was convincing my dad to let me keep it,I never got the chance to do anything but wash it,I had to give it back to the man I bought it from....long story. HRP

The long story ~ SHARE POST#60

 

What would you guys have done differently, as in mechanical or body wise ?

 

I would put a tripower on the olds and move my purple hornies back a couple feet so I could have a conversation in the car.

 

I'd go back to that first car I had In high school, sell it, wait for Microsoft to go IPO and buy every share I could afford...oh and break up with the chick I was dating before she dumped me. Maybe put some money on the cubbies!

 

EASIER THAN all that, i'd a married the RICH ugly girl

 

I would do it exactly the same....it made me what I am today.

And I still have it, almost 40 years later

 

My first car was a black 61 Impala four door hardtop 348/3speed/column. It was actually a pretty nice car but at the time, I really felt like I didn't fit in with the rest of my high school pals because in 1969 some of them had some pretty cool mid 60's musclecars.
For my financial situation at the time, it was probably as good as it could have been considering that it came with five spokes all around and Gabriel Hi Jackers for the stance of the day. About all that was changed was putting the Hurst Syncro-Loc shifter in it.
Thinking back, it would have been pretty cool for it to have been a two door and a four speed but my second car pretty much filled those wishes as I bought a 57 BelAir two door hardtop 283/3 speed with Fenton shifter and put a T-10 with a brand new Hurst Compe***ion Plus bench seat "C" shifter in it.
After that, it was about buying anything I saw in the car magazines (that I could afford).
So all in all, I can't say I would change very much.

 

was only 15 - nothing would have changed with no job, $, real tools, etc -

 

Sell it.

 

Bingo. Fact is, I didn't have the resources to take care of the cars I had in the way I wanted to, and didn't have the money to buy some of the cars I wanted, even though they were cheap as dirt in relative terms. Maybe that's WHY they were cheap as dirt?

 

I would not have blown up the Ram Air IV motor in my 68 firebird at the drag strip.... I still know where it is, but it is so far gone now. Plus its a little too new for my tastes now. But man! A 17 year old in the mid 90"s with a Ram Air Firebird, those rich kids with 5.0 mustangs (disgustangs as I used to call them) didn't have a chance at a stop light, at least until I grenade it....

 

I would have it crushed. It was Mom's hand me down 1972 Oldsmobile 98 4 door. Crushing it would have kept my dad and uncle from taking it away from me and then putting the 455 in my uncle's jet boat and waxing my as at the river the next weekend! I was a died in the wool V drive guy and it was humiliating! Only plus out of the deal was my dad gave me his 1974 Pontiac Grand Am SE, I lost 55 ci. and two doors! It was definitely faster!

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I would have not been drafting Chico's Monza and would have seen the hard left turn coming. Huge dust cloud on the gravel road and next thing I'm off the road and high centered on a rock the size of a refrigerator. It was the day before school was out and it took me all summer to get my '58 back to drivable condition and get my *** ungrounded.
Talk about your cruel summer.

 

Having OWNED some of the UNPUCKINGBELIEVABLE REALONES (and i didn't know at the time)
a TUCKER yes a Tucker, a 38 dual (spare )wheel Packard, 2 yes again 2 63 Z02 vettes,
67 tri power one also, a junk Cosworth vega , i said junk, a Hawkeye truck (intersting go look it up)
(well a parts one, not complete), lemme see .... im thinking.... 54olds with experimental all aluminum engine, 57 olds J-2, 67 z28 one of only 602 EVER made, and
not HAMB friendly--->
i ALMOST, ya almost don't count, was only min's away from
signing OWNERSHIP of a true 1969 Z-L1 (on the lot) ya one of only 50 ever made, but the wife unit said it was either the car or her -n- the kids (they keep me on the straight and narrow still , even to this day...lol)
thats probably it nothing important it coming to mind, might later but for now that's all i got.


Edit for additional correction -- ya DD (i need gl***es too...) and thanks for pointing that out for me
the ones with the 36-1/2 gallon tanks N03 option .

 

Brand new '66 Fairlane had it 11 years......not sell it!

 

I would have hung onto that Columbia rear end and good running Ford flathead my grandfather gave me...he helped me take it out, got it running sweet, and I figured I didn't need it...traded all of it for a reconditioned 65 hp Evinrude outboard motor...and 2 new portable hand-held gas tanks with the tags still on them, and a funky old fishing pole!!!.....bummed me out ever since!

 

? Z02 ?
You must mean the Z06 (Cor) vette!

 

Kept it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

1939 Ford Coupe. I would keep it and the 3-2 Olds engine that was in it instead of pulling for a 327, 1962. Although I guess today the 327 wouldn't too bad!

 

I did the right thing with my first 2 cars ...55 Chevy and a 59 Chevy but I woulda , shoulda kept my new 68 Mustang GT .......and I have never even seen the car since I sold it , which may be just as well .

 

If I could go back I would learn the subject of auto mechanics in high school. All I did was take things apart and read school books on the subject, which I thought was very boring. Yet, I like cars. Had visions of being a race car driver, but to do that you must learn to work on cars. I got it wrong and I blame myself. My big claim to fame is I once was able to change my own oil and filter, but I can't even do that anymore with the hidden filter. My advise to the youths of America: Force yourself to learn auto mechanics at a young age. It's a gift you will have forever.

 

My first car was a 47 Ford coupe that I paid $125 for. It wasn't much and I don't want it back. One of my early cars was a 58 Black Impala hardtop a 348 280 HP with three two barrels from the factory and three on the tree. I would like to have that back.

Gary

 

Still got it, my only project. '40's style aussie GM compact. Engine in avatar. Cant decide, mild custom or D/MP style. D/MP needs Toyota 5 speed & Ford rear- maybe later.

 

Good words for everyone !

 

I just wish I could go back and do it all over again. I still have the same car and sweetheart. And I love them both more then ever! Ron...