My First Car

[Duck]

What was your first car?

1985 Toyota Corolla Liftback

Bought for $1350 from a family friend in 1998, when I got my G2. Faithfully put on 150 000 km on it, but had to retire it when I moved out in 2002 as it would not pass a safety (required - had to switch insurance which required a safety and the floor had rusted out, thanks to the previous owner not using Krown or Rust Check on the body). I miss it so much. Left my cold, clutching hands at 365 000 km.

My last day with the Corolla before it was off to Teen Challenge Farm. This was taken in the parking lot of the Toyota Dealership where I picked up my next car, a 1998 Tercel CE.

Back view

Corolla - Duck Edition

Love that Corolla badging, right justified, futuristic font...

The space-ship like interior.

Monorail Pride!

Huge open space... tons of room inside. The cable hook up going down below was for my MiniDisc player.

Cold winter day. Just thought I'd nip out and take a photo.

I miss you so much old friend....

-Iain

[MikeT]

Nice hommage....My other car is only 5000 km behind that 'yota

[Speedie]

Here was my first car - sorry digital camera's were not in back then - so you will have to look at the brochure picture.

http://www.mercuryarchive.com/1965to1968/1...ezewaySedan.JPG

You think the smart is hard to parrallel park! It really was a nice car - besides being huge.

Cheers,

Cameron

[Duck]

That is so wild Cameron... did you buy it new? How long did you have it?A lot of times I actually have more respect for older vehicles, because I know how much harder it was to design them back then. I can't even imagine die or frame design or anything like that before computers.-Iain

[Speedie]

Dad bought in about 1973 or 74 - needed a valve job - I "inherited it" when I got my license- they had an issue with peeling paint (bad primer) so one summer I stripped it to bare metal and we got it repainted (bumped the back door which was also good excuse to do the whole car).I drove it until about 1981 - never a moments problem - tons of power - wasn't actually that bad on fuel for the size (better than my truck). The body actually was leaded together in places to get the required curves. This was not a unibody constucted car either - full frame. The rear window was a nice feature - electric window for a nice breeze and the backwards slope kept the sun out of the car.Alas my brother got it when I got my new car (1980 Capri) - he drove it in the interior for one winter - that was enough to start the rust gods going - it lasted another few years.Cheers,Cameron

[Steve C.]

ha...i STILL have a mini disc player, portable AND home unit, it sounds incredible, was into it way before the dawn of mp3's. and my 1st car, after having borrowed my dads and wrecked it, was a '74 chevy nova.

[Francesco]

Mine was this superb example of Giorgetto Giugiaro's Italdesign idea of what a GT should be (also a brochure shot):

[MikeT]

Nice Alfa, but weren't the shifters AWFUL in the rear transaxle cars?

[yellow bumble bee]

My first car was a 1948 Hillman. And you think the smart is a little on the slow side. This car was slooooow. I can remember getting pulled over going up a hill on the Barnet Highway. The cop was laughing his head off and telling me I was doing 12 miles an hour going up the hill. Oh yes early radar was great. It had a crazy H shifter which was backwards to what we are use to. When the starter went on it, I just used the cranking rod to get it started. Never bought another English car after that. Sorry no pictures. Roy

[ARTZ]

My first car that I bought by myself was a 1988 Volvo 244DL 5 speed. That car was a tank it would drive through anything, 4 cylinders pumping out 104hp. I paid $3000 for it and drove it for 8 years until I bought my smart. The smart is easier to park.

[Francesco]

Nice Alfa, but weren't the shifters AWFUL in the rear transaxle cars?

The shifter itself was OK (I guess -- it was my first car, and I learned stick on the way home from buying it!), definitely not on par with anything Japanese or German at the time (mid-80s, it was a '76; my friends all drove late-70s Corollas and Rabbits and Civics). What was terrible were the synchro cones. Had to double-de-clutch going up from 1st to 2nd, down from 3rd to 2nd, go to 1st before reverse. You got used to it.

[hodad66]

First Car? "57" Chebby Mang

[ValgardForkbeard]

64 VW bug. Found out you could fit 9 people in it getting home from a bush party.MG

[Duck]

C'mon guys... dont just say what your car was (that's boring), tell a story, share pictures!! -Iain

[ValgardForkbeard]

C'mon guys... dont just say what your car was (that's boring), tell a story, share pictures!! -Iain

Well, there is a story behind the 9 people in the car, but some things are better left untold There was the time I was giving someone a ride home, lots of gravel back roads. Coming up to a 4 way intersection, I got crys of "turn left", "turn right", "go straight thru". I complied with all of them (did a 360 in the middle of the intersection), then asked that one person give directions, and the rest shut the f... up.The only pictures would be about 3600km from here, and given the state of my parents' house, impossible to find.MG

[yukoner]

'46 Ford Coach. It never ran, but I was too young to drive it anyway.First real car was a '56 Volksbuggen c/w funny little wheel for a gas pedal, small window, charcoal-on-a-shovel for a block heater (yeah, yeah, young and dumb). Rolled it on the way to Edmonton for tutoring for my grade XII exams. No tutoring, passed anyway, to everyone's surprise.Carl

[collude]

This is my first car. Okay, not that exciting I admit. hehe

[SCHMART]

my first car was a 1962 karmen ghia..bought it for 100.00 in 1972 while working as a lifeguard at the YMCA and going to college at Rutgers in New Brunswick , NJ. My brother was going to college at Monmouth in Long Branch on the Jersey shore so I went there every weekend. Thats when I learned to draft buses and truck down the Turnpike to save on gas, plus I think I was always only hitting on two cylinders so it would help get me up hills....... the body was so rusted that woodcrews held the headlights in place...but I still loved her...she was mine.

[deezle]

I bought a '65 Ghia in '77. The headlights were already rusted out, so I riveted them back in with strips of metal. It ran great and was a blast to drive---just like the smart you needed to anticipate when to juice it to make up for it's limited power. I'll always remember my girlfriend riding beside me naked on the highway west from Penticton. I stupidly sold it for $250 not realizing that there were replacement floorpans readily available to repair the rusted out original. Probably my favorite car until the smart.

[MikeT]

Hmm, naked girlfriend...... The problem with the Karmann-Ghia was the same as that of the Renault Caravelle and Peugeot 404 Coupé and Cabriolet: the bodyshells were 100% welded together, front fenders included. Seams were leaded over at the factory. That made them devils to restore, or at least devilishly expensive. I expect to spend at least $15K restoring the shell of my 404 C, to give you an example, and it's not even terribly rusty! I have all new sheetmetal.Still, cool car the Karmann-Ghia, especially with naked women riding in them

[SCHMART]

I bought a '65 Ghia in '77. The headlights were already rusted out, so I riveted them back in with strips of metal. It ran great and was a blast to drive---just like the smart you needed to anticipate when to juice it to make up for it's limited power. I'll always remember my girlfriend riding beside me naked on the highway west from Penticton. I stupidly sold it for $250 not realizing that there were replacement floorpans readily available to repair the rusted out original. Probably my favorite car until the smart.

what..no pictures? of the passenger

[mixed]

Dont actually have any pictures of my first car but the attached is as close as I could come.......... 1984 Mazda 626.....loved that car....slept in it more than once.....wink wink....

[rrrucke]

I was 20-21YO and my car was a 1976 Ford Maverick in this same color. Noticing it was sitting in my mother's garage for at least a year, I asked my older brother if he would give me the car. To my dismay, he insisted I buy it for $100 which I did begrudgingly because that was a lot of money to a starving student. Anyway, come to find out he bought it from my brother-in-law and he wanted to recoup some of what he put into it. I put a fair amount of money in it too just to keep it running. It drank a lot of oil and eventually had a cracked engine or something.

Nevertheless, I had lots of fun in the car until an unfortunate accident in the late 80's. On the way to a night club near downtown Minneapolis, my younger sister and I had to travel through a tunnel when it had just begun to rain. All of a sudden, the hood flew up, smacked the windshield a few times which seemed like forever and blinded us temporarily before it flew off. As you can imagine, this was a very scary situation. More importantly, we were unsure if the hood hit anyone because we were traveling at a good clip in the tunnel which was on an extreme curve. Also, there was no shoulder for emergency stops so we were forced to keep moving. I will never know why this happened when of all nights I am dolled up and wearing high heels. By the time we exited the tunnel it was raining harder but we were able to make if off the highway (very near to the club) before the engine died. We got out and had to run into this seedy little strip club to call AAA. This is before the days when cell phones were readily available as they are now.

The accident happened because the last gas attendant forgot to securely latch the hood after they put some oil in it for me. To this day, I am paranoid after my car has been in for service. Traveling at a high rate of speed with a hood flapping against your windshield is extremely scarey and I don't wish this on anyone.

Thank God we survived in that Ford!

Regina

[Treehugger]

My first auto was a 1959 Chevrolet Apache Stepside. My father begged my not to buy it, but I ignored him and plopped down $3500 for it. I thought I'd fix it up and make it a show truck (oh the ignorance of youth....). It was a "Three-on-the-tree" and I had never driven a standard. The first day I owned it the spindle broke on the drivers side front wheel, causing quite the nosedive. I only owned it for four months and replaced the front end, clutch and battery, then sold it for $3200.....and my father never once said "I told you so......"

[jaylibby]

http://www.buickbombsight.org/1993.html

I dont have any photos of my first car but that link does

The car belonged to my grandfather and I always thought it was the coolest car I had ever been in... (quiet, there were digital guages) After he passed away it was in my driveway. He had left it to me... 1 year before I even had my learners permit. So I would sit outside and wash MY car when I was 14 years old and take care of it like no other. I loved the 'boat' so much. Untill I got my license and had to park it, and fill it with gas, and explain it, and punch the dash to light the guages, and jump it every day.

Loved my RIV.