ClassicCar

ScottFitzgerald

By way of saying hello, I thought I might start a thread in which we could proudly - or sheepishly - reveal the first car we owned.

Mine was a Honda N600. A beast of a machine. 77.1 mph (124.1 km/h), accelerating from 0-60 mph (97 km/h) in 19 seconds. Mine was metallic silver, and it had a cool ski car vibe about it. I also liked that the gear shift that was up high and on an angle, which, in my mind at the time, screamed racing car.

Sadly, it and I were only together for a few months, all that raw power killed the engine. Vale Honda N600.

How about everyone else? What were you first let loose on the road with?

SuperDave

OK.. My first car is a 1931 Model a Ford Tudor (STD).Late '31 to be more precise.. Model55B..
Notice I said "is" not "was" I still have her.. Bought in North carolina 1956. Garaged here in Florida next to my '49 Hudson.

ESSX28-1 · ESSX28-1 April 2012 Posts: 995Platinum Member

Like SuperDave I still have my first car a 1928 Essex Super 6 Rumble seat Coupe bought in August 1965 for $16.00. Did about 200 miles in it over the recent 4 day Easter weekend.

ScottFitzgerald

Wow, you still have your first cars! I'm impressed. Of the cars I've had, I think I'd only still want two of them.

ernie28

A few years ago I managed to buy back and re-restore the first car I drove, not on the road but around the farm, a 1928 Essex pictured then and now.
My first road car was an Austin A40 which sadly I do not have any photos of. This car served me through my school years well.

Alistair

MikeWA

My first was a 1936 Chev 1/2 ton pickup, which I saw from the school bus, when I was 15 (1963). Called the guy (who was an acquaintance of my family), and bought it for $125. The last year of the 206 OHV 6, and it floated the valves at 38 MPH. I eventually put a Chev 283 and Powerglide in it- 57 Olds rear end, VW bucket seats, etc. Foolishly sold it in about 1973, and haven't seen it since.

Actually, VERY first was a '50 Chev tudor my dad bought for me for 35 bucks. Would hardly run at idle (vacuum leak, I found out later), so my rocket scientist cousin ran it flat out for awhile the next day while I was at school, thinking it would "cure" it. Babbitt won't stand much of that, and all the rods were knocking when I got home. Off to the junkyard it went, less than 2 days after acquisition, and I never got to drive it.

This is the same cousin who broke the stock on my shotgun when he tried to whack a wounded pheasant with it. Haven't seen him in nearly 50 years, and I figure I can hold out for the duration, at this point. :-q

GrimGreaser

Still have my first truck, don't plan on letting it go anytime soon either. It's a 1985 GMC Jimmy. When I was a little kid, Dad had a 1982 Chevy Blazer - how I loved going camping in that thing. It came off the lot with a 305 which was quickly chucked for a beast of a 454. Would pull anything anywhere. He sold it before I could drive, but from then on I knew I had to have a K5.

Nothing special about buying it, but it's lived through two transmissions, seen a new engine and some 'new' axles and me tinkering with it. Hope to restore it some day so it looks like it came off the lot, but the rust seems faster than my bank account.

P.S. My Dad still has his 1969 Mach 1 which was the very first car he bought with his own money.

Browniepetersen

Back in highschool I bought a 48 Chrysler wood bodied convertible to drive for the summer. The junk yard sold it to me for $25. Just before I headed back to school my junior year we took the body off the car and built a float around it for the local parade. It was a parade car from the late 50's until the early 80's when we took the engine/drive out and put it into a 48 Chrysler station wagon. Getting rid of the Chrysler left me with my 48 MG as my only car. It was not all that good in the snow so we bought a 44 Jeep from the war surplus store locally and drove it for a few years..... They are all long gone. I am impressed by folks who still have there first car. I know a few folks that still have every car they have owned. I guess I am too flakey...

ScottFitzgerald

@MikaWA Your story reminds me of how I bought my last car. I was riding on a motorbike, and saw a car go past that I hadn't seen before, and I loved the look of it. So I accelerated to get near it, noted the make and model, and began to find out more about it. Then one day while looking through some classifieds, the very car I saw on my motorbike - yes, I remembered the number plate - was for sale, and the owner lived in the same suburb as me, about 500 yards away. It was obviously meant to be mine!

And that was how I came to own my 1965 Ford Falcon Futura 2 door hardtop. It belonged to a panelbeater, and looked so good that it could have rolled off the line the week I bought it.

I don't have any images at hand, but the colour - Sunlit Beige Metallic (original colour) - is shown in the image on the left (the 1963 version), while the actual model I had is on the right.

ESSX28-1 · ESSX28-1 April 2012 Posts: 995Platinum Member

Scott, you're not an Aussie are you? By my standards that's an Aussie Ford!!

MikeWA

@essx28 Gotta be an Aussie- "colour" twice in the post (so can't just be a mis-spelling), but the dead giveaway is "panelbeater"- they don't have those guys anywhere else!

37 CTS

A 1952 Hudson Hornet sedan in Texas Tan with a cream top was my first car.
In 1971 you could buy a nice 61K mile Hornet for $500. I did a valve job, exhaust,
and brakes and headed off to the HET national in Baltimore.

RonS

Not including the 59 Buick convertible that my mom a I split. The first car that I owned on my own was a 61 Comet.Ron

ScottFitzgerald

Guilty as charged. I'm an Aussie, that has been travelling the world the past 12 years working on all things web. And yes, that car is an XP Ford Falcon Futura, by way of Ford Australia.

ScottFitzgerald

@RonS I just had a look at the '61 Comet. A little like my Falcon, until you get down the back, where it has a little more fin action going on.

Kdancy

Mine was a 49 Hudson Super Six Coupe with Commodore trim and 55 Hornet engine with hydromatic. My dad and I pulled the Hydromatic and put in a 3speed with OD from a 56 Nash we had in the back year. I put a floor shifter from a checker cab in and wired up a switch for the OD and mounted on shifter handle. Great car and one of my all time favorites. I made many trips from McDill AFB in Tampa to north Fla in that car, a 3 hour drive.

46HudsonPU

I bought my first car in 1972 - At age 18, when I was in the military stationed in Arlington, VA, just outside of DC.
It was a 71 Ford Mustang, red w/black vinyl top, black interior, 302 V8, automatic, air, AM Radio, PS, manual brakes. Except for those brakes, I would consider it a typical "secretary's car". Those brakes where tough, even on me... It didn't even have the 'sport' rearview mirrors (basic chrome, left side only).

Like anything else that was (or is) painted bright red, it was a 'ticket catcher' -

I immediately set about to make it a bit more stylish and 'comfortable' for me. Installed a 'center console' (loved it), aftermarket sport mirrors, Cassette tape player & speakers (didn't like the 8-track tapes or player).
When I could afford it I got rid of the narrow rims and bias-ply tires - got Goodyear steel-belted radials chrome and put them on Cragar slotted disks (60 series tires, a couple sizes wider than they should have been... LOL!). Didn't rub at full lock, but there wasn't any room in those wheel wells!
Looked as great standing still (stance was perfect) and better moving - rode and cornered a lot better than with the bias-ply tires. However those 60 series lowered it a bit too much - had to slow down exiting some of the more aggressive curbs, and really had to watch for 'speed bumps'.

Eventually did some engine work on it. Pulled the engine, put in a 289 crankchaft, Shelby cam & hi-rise intake, holly 4165 double-pump carb, etc., even had the 'Cobra' valve covers. Replaced the pipes and exhaust - sounded a bit louder, but not enough to attract too much attention, if you know what I mean.

Sold the car to my bro-in-law in late 1981, who drove it for about 8-10 years (he LOVED the car).

Sorry, no photos...

fossiltin62

My first car was a 1931 Essex rumble coupe with sidemounts and trunk. I got it in May of 1955 for cleaning out the barn it was in. (amusing and interesting story). I still have it. Wife has threatened to bury it between us. Three plots. Told her there were some Egyptians a few thousand years ago buried with a boat, so I guess it's nothing new.

Terraplane33

Some of you made genius choices at young ages ! Cars you would even never think of and impossible to find here...
My first one was a 1980 Ford Taunus 1.6 pinto engine at age 18 in 1989, I changed for a Granada MKI station 76 V6 2.3 the year after and the first american car came at age 22 : a basic Camaro 75 L6 (I was still a student)

ernie28

So what we know as a Ford Cortina MK4 was rebadged as Taunus in the states? Did they not even want the English engine? :)

Terraplane33

I'm in France, it's the same car and the same engine than a Cortina isn't ? Or was the Cortina equipped with the Kent engine ?

nyzeladamshotmailcom

My first car was a Honda Civic. I really love Honda among other car brands so when I decided to buy another model, I gave the old one to my sister. I picked that brand because their automobiles last for a very long time, which is an excellent cause of everyone to select a Honda in Austin. In fact, I recently purchased a new car from a dealership in Austin. Howdy Honda is a dealership that made sure I got the best rate of interest and price for the car that I wanted. The dealership worked well with me to make sure I walked away happy.

chopperchuck

my first car was a 1959 Rambler American type 01 2dr,my dad bought for $25 that thing sat in the back yard for years,{bloody ugly car back then}then came a 1961 ford falcon 4dr[$35],with at least 6' rotted off the bottom quarters so me me being a body man in training i took a skill saw & cut em off,my sister & myself drove that thing everywhere {i was 14 & no license} my dad finally made sell it after 2yrs to a friend who drove it to Idiho never to be seen again,
oh by the way her mane was Martha{the car}it was an old lady's car before us 8-}

chopperchuck

while i'm here,i'm going to post my son graduation present {the 25 of this month}
he been a VW nut forever,this came up for sale last month,it was one of things-i have the $ but it's my Hudson money..What to do?? it took me all of about 3 minutes to say to hell with it & buy it,-hey you only graduated for high school once right?
the cover story is we are working on it for the guy i bought from,it's been murder on him to work on his dream vehicle >:) only to think it's going away in a week or so.i plan on moving it to a friends house for a week until the party then i'll give him the title =D>

so hopefully in a few years he'll be on a site like this & telling this story
{ps anybody know of a VW club site??}
1970 VW bus

dustymaxhudson

Mine was a 67 Cougar. I'd like to find one and restore it one day. But first I need to finish my 34 Coupe.

Marconi

First one was a 41 Ford Convert, BOY what an ugly car! In addition what a P.O.S.! From the bone yyard it came and to the bone yard it went. Last time I saw it, it was on it's side and the frame was being cut out of it in pieces! That was in 1959 by the way.

cpr3333

I must be yonger than most of you because my first car was a 1982 VW Rabbit. It's sitting in my garage next to my father's first car, a 1950 Hudson Pacemaker. Both are waiting to be rebuilt.

hudsonsplasher1

Mine was a 1960 wide track Pontiac four dr. sedan. No power steering or brakes. Nice going down the road, but a bitch to park. The big trunk was great for sneaking my high school buddies in to the drive inn. Lots of fun.

hudsontech

My first car (1953 when I was 15 years old with my drivers license) was a 1939 Dodge business coupe. Mom and Dad nodded their heads with a little smile - Jr. has a car. It didn't run, but it was all there. It didn't take long to discover the $10 car had an engine that was better suited to use as a boat anchor. Back to the junkyard I got it from - fellow told me he'd just gotten a 3 month old Dodge with a 241 hemi V-8 (what's a hemi?? What did I know) that somebody wrecked. Will sell engine for $15. Mom and Dad nodded their heads with a little smile. With the help of some buddies we adapted a 4 speed Dodge truck tranny to the 241 and with a little jiggering got the whole thing lined up. Mom and Dad nodded their heads with a little smile. Came THE day we fired it up - Mom and Dad had heart attacks!!!!!!!! There's another story attached to this - about how and why Dad sold my hot rod on me and made me buy a 1948 Nash 600 - but that's another story.

Hudsonly,
Alex Burr
Memphis, TN

bobdriveshudson

Rambler station wagon to go to college in, cheap trans. Sometimes Dad would need my car in his business, so then I would drive Mom's 54 Hudson Jet 2dr with continental kit till they traded it for a Rambler American wagon, then she got a American Motors 4 door she kept for over 10 years. My second car was 58 Chevy BelAire 2 door six cyl.
Then US Army got me for 3 years and was able to get a used(9 mos) 67 Chevelle SS 396 w/4 in the floor. Back to college using a VW sedan. Now driving a 2004 F150 king cab and a Toy cambry backup car to school at nite. Need the truck to haul cars on my trailer. My current Hudsons are 47 Com coupe, and a 52 Wasp brougham(poor shape). And 2 Model A's. Thanks, Bob P

ClassicCar

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

We'd love to hear from you! info@classiccar.com