Your first car

[Rolig Loon]

55 minutes ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

*sniffle* Mine was a Cadet lawn tractor. But it wasn't the first car I ever drove. lol

That Farmall Cub of my Dad's was a great thing to learn on. He had it mostly for cutting the grass in the 4 acre field next to the house, plowing the vegetable garden, and hauling stuff around. I think the first time I ever drove it was when I was about 10 and my Dad needed help pulling a tree stump with the hydraulic hoist on the back. That tractor had a very forgiving clutch, so it was easy to learn on.

I think the first car I drove was my Mom's Ford Anglia, which was a little green two-door sedan, bigger than a mini Cooper today, but not by a lot. It somehow became my car many years later. A friend and I drove it from Boston to Chicago in 1964 -- the first really long trip I had taken to then. That was a fine little car -- not at all glamorous, but it moved right along.

[Lewis Luminos]

I don't drive but the first car my partner and I had together was a Vauxhall Cavalier Mk 1. Like this, and the same colour, though this isn't the exact car:

It was already 13 years old when we got it (free) and we kept it for a few years but it was unreliable; we started calling her "Betsy" because every day my hubby would try to start the engine and I'd say "Bets 'e won't start" and he'd say "Bets 'e will". We traded her in for something newer, smaller, more reliable and cheaper to run.

About a week or two after we sold her, my partner saw her parked up in the street and the new owner was right there, so he went up to the guy and said "I hope you're taking good care of our Betsy". The guy was over the moon to discover the car actually had a name; he was planning to renovate her and put her into vintage car racing, and he said he'd re-paint her (blue, not red) and put her name on the side. 

I doubt that Betsy is still going, she'd be 45 now.  

[Silent Mistwalker]

38 minutes ago, Rolig Loon said:

That Farmall Cub of my Dad's was a great thing to learn on. He had it mostly for cutting the grass in the 4 acre field next to the house, plowing the vegetable garden, and hauling stuff around. I think the first time I ever drove it was when I was about 10 and my Dad needed help pulling a tree stump with the hydraulic hoist on the back. That tractor had a very forgiving clutch, so it was easy to learn on.

I think the first car I drove was my Mom's Ford Anglia, which was a little green two-door sedan, bigger than a mini Cooper today, but not by a lot. It somehow became my car many years later. A friend and I drove it from Boston to Chicago in 1964 -- the first really long trip I had taken to then. That was a fine little car -- not at all glamorous, but it moved right along.

 

What wonderful memories. Very similar to some of my own in many ways. I hope yours weren't anywhere near as far and few between as mine. There is just no substitute for family even if you aren't blood related.

[Ceka Cianci]

11 hours ago, Rolig Loon said:

An International Harvester Farmall Cub.

We have a couple Massey Ferguson's.. The one my father bought when we first got down to Tennessee, which was opened up like that one..

Then about 5 years later he Bought a really nice one which was much larger model with the cab.. It has Air conditioning and a nice sound system in it..

It makes doing hay so much nicer.. We can go all night cutting or raking and even doing round bails if we aren't stocking up on square bails..

It's kind of nice getting in there at night and no bugs bothering you, listening to music..

I hated doing hay at night with the open Massey..

Edited April 23, 2021 by Ceka Cianci

[Madelaine McMasters]

First thing I ever drove. Like Rolig, age 10. The tractor was born in 1970, like me. It's still running and has most of its original parts, like me...

First thing I was licensed to drive, age 16 (Cessna 152). Dad was a WWII fighter pilot and very proud of me. He was my first passenger and declined the opportunity to take the wheel. The joy of flying had been kicked out of him by the war, but he was thrilled for the innocent pleasure I got from it...

My first daily driver, borrowed stolen from Dad (1978? Honda CB650)...

First vehicle I owned (65 Beetle). Mom and Dad gave me this car, which had a 6V electrical system, but a 12V radio. There were two 6V batteries under the back seat, and a switch on the dashboard to connect them in parallel for charging or in series to run the radio. I never heard the radio, as there was a "Best of the Doors" cassette stuck in the player. For the year that car lasted, it was Riders on the Storm, People are Strange (etc) or just the chirp of the exhaust....
\

First vehicle I bought new (our honeymoon car, 1992 Ford Escort Wagon)...

First vehicle I bought all by myself (2007 Ford Focus Wagon)...

Best vehicle I've ever owned, a 1999 Miata. It's been my daily driver for the last seven years. I rarely drive it with the top up, even when it's snowing...

With the exception of my new grey SUV, those are all the vehicles (in the correct colors) I've ever driven/owned. To preserve the red/grey procession, my next car will be a Soul Red Metallic Miata.

Edited April 24, 2021 by Madelaine McMasters

[Paul Hexem]

I had an 86 Chevy S10 I drove in 2000. A good 200k miles on it, and my friend had one too- we often traded keys and the trucks still worked anyway.

1 hour ago, Madelaine McMasters said:

My first daily driver, borrowed stolen from Dad (1978? Honda CB650)...

I still have an 88 Suzuki in one of my sheds, looks almost identical to that. They weren't very creative back then, were they?

[LittleMe Jewell]

1970 Chevy Impala

[Rowan Amore]

1 minute ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

1970 Chevy Impala

I had a 68 LeSabre  for awhile in the late 80s. Those cars were tanks.

[GoSpeed Racer]

Drove a 1976 Plymouth Volare (same color) in high school.

The firs car I owned was a 1988 Toyota Tercel.

[ballparkdogg]

I learned to drive in a 1987 Ford Bronco II.   I ended with a 1984 Ford Escort wagon.  It was light blue with no FM radio.  I got an FM converter for it before my dad put in a tape deck.  Thought that was the greatest l..lol

[Evah Baxton]

Obviously not this photo, was a darker blue. It was classic when I got it.

1974 Datsun 260z.

Edited April 24, 2021 by Evah Baxton

[Doc Carling]

19 hours ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

 

My brother was really big on Opel Mantas. Pretty much all he drove after my parents bought him his first one brand new. He totaled it in about 6 months.

My brother was an idiot.

In  Germany the  Manta was a cult car for the one while other considered it as car for lower minded braggarts and dumb blondes. lol 

 

Edited April 24, 2021 by Doc Carling

[Silent Mistwalker]

3 hours ago, Doc Carling said:

In  Germany the  Manta was a cult car for the one while other considered it as car for lower minded braggarts and dumb blondes. lol 

 

 

1991? Dude, that's 20 years too late! lol

[Doc Carling]

1 minute ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

 

1991? Dude, that's 20 years too late! lol

Did I state something else? lol  Can't remember when I saw the last Manta on the streets. They extincted long time ago like the dinosaurs.

[Silent Mistwalker]

19 minutes ago, Doc Carling said:

Did I state something else? lol  Can't remember when I saw the last Manta on the streets. They extincted long time ago like the dinosaurs.

Nope. My brother drove Mantas until  he died in 2013. Now his son drives them. lol

Edited April 24, 2021 by Silent Mistwalker

[Doc Carling]

8 minutes ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

Nope. My brother drove Mantas until  he died in 2013. Now his son drives them. lol

Addicts. lol Actually I was never a Manta fan. I drove early Audi models, VW, Fords, Opel GT and Kadetts, Fiats and more recently I returned to the new generation of Audi models. I never drove a BMW, Mercedes or a Golf. No idea why. lol

[Doc Carling]

Well, guys have much to say about women behind the wheel. And not always something nice. lol That's known. My first wife was speed addicted. One needs to know that the German Autobahn has generally no speed limit. Anyway, once my former wife pushed a VW pick up so much, that all 4 valves broke because of overheating (it was an old model with only 4). The guy from the garage said, he never saw something like that before.

Edited April 24, 2021 by Doc Carling

[Ajay McDowwll]

My first car was a powder blue 1988 Dodge Shadow; one year in, it developed a horrible habit of stalling in the middle of left-hand turns... in front of oncoming traffic.

I learned to drive in my mother's station wagon.  She had two 8-track cassettes:  Barry Manilow and Air Supply.

Edited April 24, 2021 by Ajay McDowwll
words and stuff

[kali Wylder]

It looked like this and it was about 15 years old in 1971 when I learned to drive.  It had some amusing failings.  The clutch fluid leaked and I was stuck in reverse once when I was cutting school and couldn't leave a parking lot.  After frantically pumping the clutch over and over I finally got free.  It died in a car accident when the brakes failed, going about 5 miles an hour, and plowed into a Cadillac which was not damaged in the slightest but my poor little car folded up like an accordion and bled radiator fluid.

[Silent Mistwalker]

56 minutes ago, Doc Carling said:

Well, guys have much to say about women behind the wheel. And not always something nice. lol That's known. My first wife was speed addicted. One needs to know that the German Autobahn has generally no speed limit. Anyway, once my former wife pushed a VW pick up so much, that all 4 valves broke because of overheating (it was an old model with only 4). The guy from the garage said, he never saw something like that before.

 

Not many women can say they helped rebuild a Cummins 400 in their own driveway. I can. I say helped because obviously he couldn't insert the cylinders with just 2 hands. lol Of course, I never would have helped if I hadn't grown up in a family of mechanical engineers who worked on their own cars as well as formula racing. For one race weekend, my dad had to work out of town before the races and didn't think he'd be able to make it because there was body work (fiberglass) and engine work that needed to be done first and he just didn't have time. My mom spent a lot of time in the garage the week before the race while he was gone. When he got back, the engine had been rebuilt, the bodywork was  done and painted. It was ready for the races and we went! \o/ And yes he won 1st. By that time, in his racing "career", he rarely came home without a 1st 2nd or 3rd. He really was that good. And he always said my mom was a better driver and should have been the one racing.

[Silent Mistwalker]

26 minutes ago, kali Wylder said:

It looked like this and it was about 15 years old in 1971 when I learned to drive.  It had some amusing failings.  The clutch fluid leaked and I was stuck in reverse once when I was cutting school and couldn't leave a parking lot.  After frantically pumping the clutch over and over I finally got free.  It died in a car accident when the brakes failed, going about 5 miles an hour, and plowed into a Cadillac which was not damaged in the slightest but my poor little car folded up like an accordion and bled radiator fluid.

That was my Datsun 4 door. The first car I ever owned. It had been totaled just before I got it. That's what I got for borrowing the car and then wrecking it (it was an accident!). I forget what happened to it. Next car was another Datsun. A station wagon. I loved that thing. lol Only problem I had with it is it would just die going down the road at random times. and I mean DIE. Engine quit and all electrics dead. No lights, no power, nothing. Try to crank it immediately and you get nothing. No electricity, nothing. Let it sit for a few  minutes and it would fire right back up. 

Instead of finding the problem and fixing it, my brother junked it without asking me or even telling me. And then lied to me about it and said he couldn't find the problem. 

After that I bought a 1988 Toyota PU in 1990 that had less than 5,000 miles on it and drove it for 14 years, the last three years pulling a 1965 Serro Scotty camper trailer with it.

[Doc Carling]

1 hour ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

 

Not many women can say they helped rebuild a Cummins 400 in their own driveway. I can. I say helped because obviously he couldn't insert the cylinders with just 2 hands. lol Of course, I never would have helped if I hadn't grown up in a family of mechanical engineers who worked on their own cars as well as formula racing. For one race weekend, my dad had to work out of town before the races and didn't think he'd be able to make it because there was body work (fiberglass) and engine work that needed to be done first and he just didn't have time. My mom spent a lot of time in the garage the week before the race while he was gone. When he got back, the engine had been rebuilt, the bodywork was  done and painted. It was ready for the races and we went! \o/ And yes he won 1st. By that time, in his racing "career", he rarely came home without a 1st 2nd or 3rd. He really was that good. And he always said my mom was a better driver and should have been the one racing.

He took also part on nationwide series?

[Doc Carling]

I think car driving in the 70/80 can't be compared with car driving of today. In those days one had to care of the car ike it were a horse. You had no electronic that warned you or told you when something was wrong. Adjusting headlights or the carb, changing light bulbs, sparkplugs, maintain the battery, controlling the water - just to name the few - was your job. Sure,  one could give the car into a garage. But we needed the money to party or to date pretty ladies. Sometimes I look back to those days with a heavy heart. My current life isn't bad at all. But it is not the same. Well, no matter what they tell you. It is not funny to get old.

[Doc Carling]

On 4/23/2021 at 6:49 AM, Coffee Pancake said:

Not this specific car, and it wasn't mine .. but this is what I learnt to drive in.

Manual transmission, engine that would probably be more use on a lawnmower (and would flat out refuse to deliver any power till it had warmed up sufficiently), brakes like great big yellow sponge, suspension so lazy the whole thing would rock and bounce, and (best of all) a 30-degree dead zone in the steering that made me feel like I was in a 1940's movie constantly turning the wheel to go in a straight line.

Oh, and when it rained you got wet.

It looks like a Lada or Polski Fiat to me.

Edited April 24, 2021 by Doc Carling

[Silent Mistwalker]

4 hours ago, Doc Carling said:

He took also part on nationwide series?

No. His kids got older and the eldest required more "attention" to keep his butt out of jail so my dad stopped racing until he retired.