What was the first car you owned, and what do you remember about it?

  My first car was a 1969 Falcon station wagon, a hand-me-down from my parents.  It was the first brand-new car they had ever bought (I was six years old when they bought it).  When they gave it to me, it was 19 years old, and had, I think, somewhere on the order of 160,000 miles on it.  They gave it to me just after they bought their second-ever brand-new car (most of the cars they've owned have been used), a 1988 Ford Tempo.  After much shopping around, to decide what car they wanted, and what dealer to buy it from, they wound up buying the Tempo from the same dealership from which they had bought the Falcon 19 years before.  The person who sold them the Falcon still worked there, and remembered selling it to us.

  The picture below was taken on a very, very sad day for me.  That's my Falcon, sitting on my parents' driveway, where it had been for several weeks while I attempted to repair it.  It had developed a bad rod knock, so I replaced all the connecting rod bearings, and was not thereafter ever able to get it to start again.  Shortly after that picture was taken, we towed it to the junkyard.  At this point, the Falcon was 28 years old, and had over 220,000 miles on it—enough to reach the Moon.  My wife said, “You wouldn't cry that much over me!”  I guess there are some things that women just don't get.

1965 Mustang, the most comfortable car I've ever driven. Your hands effortlessly fell onto the proper position on the steering wheel, and stayed that way for as many hours as you had to drive it.

A 1964 Austin A40, the only thing I liked about this car as a teenager, was the fact it was small enough that your girlfriend could sit in the back seat and put an ankle out of each window,LOL

My first car was a 1992 Ford Thunderbird SC with a 5.0 V8 engine. It was a very powerful car. I remember I would always race other muscle cars such as mustangs, camaros, firebirds, etc. It was metallic green, had a body kit, spoiler, nascar headers and racing struts, I took out the cat so it would sound like a beast, and ran dual straight pipes out the back. I also rember always cleaning that sucker inside and out. I totally re-ran the wiring for the engine and put yellow protective covering over them. I wish I had a picture of it so I can show it off. All in all it was a fabulous car. I gave it to a family that was in desperate need of a car because of financial problems. I miss that car so much. :-(

1966 Chevelle. I had high hopes for this car. It was not only my first car, but a desireable street machine even then. But I was a dumb kid and didn't take care of it. Sold it cheap after blowing up the engine. Oh if I knew then what I know now! Losing that car is one of the reasons I pursued knowledge in the automotive fields.

Edit: And to the little coward who rated this "not useful", go screw yourself. Question asked me what my first car was, I answered truthfully. You are a disgrace to answerbag, and a total chickenshit.

1969 Volvo 144S. I got it in 1982, you can do the math, I stink at math. I was 17, it was a very good year.... Ah.. sorry, I digress.

1) The steering wheel was huge.
2) It was in the repair shop more than it was on the road.
3) It had a "choke"
4) I put bumper stickers on it.
5) I had a vanity plate WENDY-65
6) I used it to try to teach John and Dawn to drive.

When I dream, the car in the dream is usually this one.

It was a 1965 VW beetle, re-painted an ugly choclate brown. I was 16 years old.

Stick shift of course, I think 40 horsepower was what they were then. TERRIBLE heater...which came out only as fast as the engine was revving, from SMALL vents in the floor. Only time the car was really warm in cold weather was if 2-3 people were in it, to help heat it up. Then they fogged up the windows!

It had a WORTHLESS defroster for the windshield, and terrible flimsy windshield wipers. Because it was only $600. (it was used) and I needed transportation, it served its purpose. I never had any accidents with it, and I remember it did pretty well in the snow due to the engine in the rear and also such a small engine, the wheels did not have so much power as to make me spin much if I was careful.

All in all for a first car, it was not bad. Can't recall ever having to fix anything on it, or if so, it was something one of my friends could fix, since they were so easy to work on and everything was so out in the open!

Brand new 1968 Red Camaro .... vroom vroom

1976 Plymouth Valiant.

Bat-mobile. >:3
*drives away as the batman theme plays in the background*

1969 Dodge Dart V8 Manual Transmission.

It did not have air bags. It hurt when I hit that tree.

(it just came from nowhere.)

A 1967 camaro that my father and I rebuilt on weekends.

My first car.....a 1972 VW Beetle. Yellow. I drove it for over 10 years. The car had a screw-y cooling/heating system - opening the internal air vents resulted blasts of hot air in the summer and blasts of cold air in the winter. Oh, and the engine didn't start in the morning when it rained overnight. I loved that car...

A 1977 yellow VW Beetle.
My most vivid memory about it is that I was driving around with my brother when he suddenly said:
Hey, do you smell smoke?
I turned around and yes, there was smoke coming from inside the car!
What happened was that the battery (which is located under the backseat of all places) :(?
had caught fire and spreaded it to the seat.
I had to stop and asked my brother to get some water which he got in a bucket from a nearby restaurant wich did put out the fire.
Amazingly after some minutes the car started allright again, just had to change the battery's terminals afterwards.
That was about 20 years ago. I now carry a small extinguisher in my car (You never know ;))

1977 Mercury Comet. Straight six, yellow, 4 door.
that car was 18yrs old when i got it but it ran like a dream. sure was ugly though

1986 Chevy Spectrum

I bought it brand new by working three jobs (but Mom & Dad paid the insurance). It had NO power and when you floored it, the passing gear engaged. Totally pitiful.

a 1965 chevelle that my dad bought me on my 16th birthday. it had duel pipes that i kept knocking off on the railroad tracks near our house

My first car was a 1964 Oldsmobile Jetstar with a 454 engine that would out run anything in town. I won lots of money with that car. It was big as a boat, but fast.

1964 Burgundy Chevy Impala. Had a 350 in it, I won it in a bet w/ my dad. I bet all I had earned that summer against a used car off his lot [70's], and had no idea he's give me THAT one.

Thought it looked like a boat, he said the guys would like it; they did, and I never lost a race. Golden Gardens, Seattle-- '77 or so.... ~sigh~

The first car I owned was an old red fiat something. I bought it for 20 quid off a friend. I couldn't drive at the time, so it was somewhat of an impulse buy, but I wanted to learn so I thought it might help, I was 17. I got home from work one day and my dad had part exed it and bought himself a new one. So I never even got to drive it.

It was a Datsun Cherry 120y, dark blue with alloy wheels and a furry dice in the front hanging from the rear view mirror, a nodding dog on the parcel shelf in the back window, a Santa Pod sunstrip and a Lionel Ritchie tape playing.. It was the best thing ever. Until the exhaust fell off.

a plymouth colt .. I dont know the year .. but it was bright turqoise !! It was a stick shift and died a year after I bought it.
I guess thats what happens when a girl that knows nothing about cars goes out and buyes a car on her own !!
I`ve learned .. no more car shopping on my own ;)

A 1968 opel kadet that was given to me by my mom. it had a big back seat and me and my girl friend used to take it to the drive-in. its ok I married her and we are still married today. we still talk about the days in that car.

1973 Camaro...waited 12 years for it...had many a good time cruising ontario.

1964 rambler american station wagon my father got for me when i pulled into the gas station, i would say, fill er up with oil & check the gas!

At the end of 1988, I bought a slightly used 1987 Hyundai Excel. It was light blue, only had 29K miles on it when I got it, and I was already 20 so I was thrilled to FINALLY have my own car! It was completely "no frills" - it did not even have A/C or power steering! But the price was right and it served me well.

Vauxhall Corsa P reg (thats 1996 for non UK people). Bought for me to pass my driving test in 3 years ago, I still have it because my brother has not yet passed his test. In the meantime I have spent more money repairing it than on its insurance, which as a young male isn't cheap. Was fine until the timing belt went this summer. Mum told me the garage had rang her up and told her that "Eight of the engine valves have been destroyed." I replied "Mum, it only had eight valves to start with."

Not a very good picture, but it was a 1963 Plymouth Sport Fury

1987 VW Rabbit! I have fond memories of it. I was a cheerleader in High school and one of the few with a car. So I remember a car full of screaming teenage girls and music blarring. It has a sun roof that you had to crank open, lol!

Another fond memory is making out with my homecoming date in my car, I let him drive that night. Good times, Good times!

In 1968 I bought my first car, a 60 Plymouth wagon, push button transmission. I painted the rims light blue and had 30 coats of wax (on the white body) at any specific time. I would go out and wax it on lunch period in high school... everyone knew the white wagon.. I was 15 and paid for it myself, $250 down and $23 a month for 12 months. (The min wage was 85 cents an hour and I worked at that car wash for 7 years) The bank gave me very good ratings on the loan and I was able to have a checking account and credit cards at 16.
I overhauled the engine and transmission in 1972 and drove it to Texas in 73) and it ran forever... never broke down and never had a flat tire..(My dad wouldn't let me drive until I could change a flat tire)
I had the car for 6 years, got $125 trade-in and bought a 68 Camaro short block, 3 on the floor, and nothing but dust behind me.

This camaro was so cool!! I could do 45 in first gear and by the time I got to 85 I shifted into third and still got blown back into my seat. I overhauled it once and kept it til a 17 year old drunk driver hit it parked on the street 1978). I was sick for 6 months!!

I forget the year, but I had a VW Beetle..Who knew they would come back in style?

1973 Plymouth Fury. I was twenty, it was 1980. A total rust-bucket. I learned pretty much everything I know about cars from owning that arc. I remember one winter rebuilding the carburator outdoors in twenty below weather. And I thought it was FUN! Sick puppy. Had it for a little over a year. Drove 50 miles to the state capitol to re-register it one day, and blew up the engine on the way home. Threw a piston rod right through the block, and drove it on seven cylinders to the next exit about a quarter of a mile, into a service station where it died.

a 1997 Caviler, it was a hand me down that my sister drove first, and I was 16 when it was passed down to me, now its in car heaven.

A '75 blue Honda Civic. Stick.

Ford Taurus... took me a month to total it...

Buick Skylark

A royal blue with white racing stiped 1969 chevelle SS 396 that came with a factory 425HP 402 truck motor, that my uncle had special ordered for himself.

Boy do I miss that car.

1997 dodge neon.

Used 1981 Dodge Omni that I bought in 1987.

1982 Grand Am....it was a freaking tank...I backed up into a building while pulling out of a spot and put a crack in the building yet the car recieved no damage...go figure!

a 1969 Volvo 144S.

it had no power steering, it had a "choke" and it was always in the repair shop. the brakes failed on it twice when the "master cylinder" broke and it's quite a weird feeling to just have 10 percent braking power.

a 1977 honda civic, my girlfriend named Kato.

The first car I owned was an '87 Volkswagon Jetta GL, with a sunroof, power windows, power door locks, power steering, automatic, 4-door sedan in Tishan Red.

73' Vega it was red with a white racing stripe it was kind of cool like an imaginary 68' camaro.....lol

My first car was a 1959 Oldsmobile it was given to me by my future sister in law. What a piece of shit but it was mine and it got me around town as long as I kept oil in it. The thing I remember most was that it used more oil than it did gas, but that was ok gas went for $.25 a gallon back then and the local M&H sold remanufactured oil for $.30 a guart. Those were the days, to bad we can't go back in time.

1984 dod e col . (dodge colt). thats what it said on the car though.
also had a pimpin AM radio.

My first car is a 1957 MGA roadster. The photo below is of a stock mga in red. The previous owner of my car did some custom body work in steel; the tail lights were removed from the top of the fenders and corvette lights placed in the rear most corner. The headlamps were extended forward about 6 inches and the radiator opening is also extended similar to the Lotus 7 shown below. I still have it, but it needs a lot of work.

I had a two cylinder engine Daihatsu Handi van, it had two doors, two seats & a parcel area. It was light blue, broke down a fair bit.
One day at the lights (when delivering pizza - it was economical for fuel) two girsl pointed at my car & laughed!! It really was that embarressing :)
But it did get me around & it was paid for by my parents (even if it was "economical").

1969 vw beetle with the rollback roof. i loved it till the engine caught on fire while i was driving it.

haha im pathetic... im almost 21 and i have never had a car... and i dont even have my license. im a very very late bloomer :(