Ephraim mentions his ’57 Chevy and it got me to thinking about cars. Cars I’ve had, that is.
The first car that was mine to drive was a ’49 Chrysler New Yorker that my parents got at auction in 1961 for $65. What a tank.
The first car I ever bought was a ’55 Pontiac convertible. I got it for $225 (and I overpaid). I sold it less than two years later for $25. But, for a while, it was really cool. Funny to think that when I got it, it was less than 9 years old. Even so, the floor had rusted clear through and the hood release didn’t work. The whole hood blew off once, completely over the back of the car — with the top down!
The first new car I ever bought was a ’66 VW Bug. $1760 out the door, tax, title included. Had it for five years but blew the engine twice. The electrical system was so bad in the Bugs until 67 (they had just a six volt battery) that we often started this car by pushing it by hand, jumping in, putting it in gear and popping the clutch.
The worst car I ever bought, though, was a ’72 Chevrolet Vega. What a piece of crap. Burned as much oil as gasoline — we actually took a case of oil with us once on a cross-country trip. So I traded the Vega in on a ’76 Dodge Aspen, almost as bad, but we got more than 120,000 miles out of the Aspen and must have had it for 11 or 12 years. The Aspens had carburetor problems. This car would be running fine, then start lurching and eventually stall when the carburetor float filled with gasoline. Let the engine cool and it would be fine.
My current car is an ’01 Lexus RX. Very nice. Still worth about half of what I paid for it after 79,000 miles. It’s the nicest car I’ve ever had, but not any fun. I wonder where I can get another ’55 Pontiac.
Anyone else care to share?
Your car history is very amusing :-). Anyone who had an original VW bug is cool in my book. My first car was a ’91 Honda Accord that my dad bequeathed to me upon getting my driver’s license. I loved that car. The interior was this beautiful burgundy color and my dad kept it in spotless condition. It was so fun to drive–the steering wheel was really loose, almost like a go-cart, and it made sounds like a race car when you accelerated.
I’ve had so many cars, it’s beyond this here posts. I had a 58 chevy that leaked everything; I would pull into a station, bet $@ of gas at 30 cents or so, then pour recycled motor oil into the auto tranny, the power brakes/steering, the motor and radiator had stopLEAK, and everything got fluid refill every $2 of gas. I’ve had a 56 ford where I propped flashlites in the rear taillight plastic, and drove 600 miles across SoDAK and WYO. – with the doors roped closed! I have a 72 Honda 600Z, a Zcar!, with a 2 cylinder 600 cc motor and 10 inch wheels. Got 36 MPH, but the tank was only 6 gal, so I was in line just as much as anybody during the 1978/9/? gas panic. An 87 Mustang 5.0 that ruled the sub $40K world for years. Went 240K miles on 5 tuneups, 2 brake jobs, and two transmissions. A wonderful car. I’ve had 2 dozen $20 cars, rust buckets and pre-dented. I lived in a 62 dead chevy, stuffed into the mountains outside Aspen in the early 70’s. Oh, the stories. A couple of Volvo 1800s, the sporty coupe. Have one for sale NOW – a 72 with 80K miles. Want it?
Because of where I grew up, and where I went to college, I didn’t have a care until I was married, my new bride’s Mazda 323. The first car we bought together was a 1990 Geo Prizm in 1994. When we finally reached a stage where we needed two cars, I bought a old-skool 1987 Toyota MR2, which would have been great to have in 1987 when I was a senior in HS. The car was a piece of trash, wouldn’t start when it rained, popped out of gear when it was cold, but it was the only sports car I ever owned — a black, two seater with a sunroof and a RRRRRR out of the engine.
When the kids came along, we traded Mr. Two for a Toyota Corolla station wagon, because we were morally opposed to minivans and SUVs. The Corolla was replaced by Honda Civic last summer. We still had the Prizm, and only got rid of it (donated) 9 months ago with 17 years and 185,000 miles on it.
At this point the Wife (with my eternal gratitude) let me buy a “Daddy Car” — a 2004 Volvo S40, which has, so far, been spotless.
Freud would enjoy Hugh, that you wrote “I didn’t have a care until I was married” when, of course, you meant you didn’t have a car until you were married.
I noticed that too, but are we SURE Hugh didn’t actually mean that he didn’t have a care? (LOL)
The first car that was ever truly my own was a 10 year old Dodge Lancer (with maybe 60,000 miles on it) that I called “Lancelot” (after Lancelot Link, Super Chimp). It had one previous owner, who took great care of it, and it only cost $300. It was a great car and almost never had a problem. The heater did go out on it, though, and I can remember driving in the winter with a blanket tucked around my legs. Once, while I was driving some Canadian friends around on a dirt road out in the Saguaro National Forest (west), the pin came out of the gear shift (on the steering column) and I could no longer change gears. I had to improvise on the spot and used a piece of wire to hold it together. That got us home, and I continued to drive it that way for ages. In fact, I drove that car until it died at around 140,000 miles, and I still got a few bucks out of it. I still miss that car. It had more heart and character than any other vehicle I’ve ever owned. It even climbed Independence Pass in the Colorado Rockies twice! It was pretty economical, too. In those days, I could get from Tucson to San Francisco on $12 worth of gas.
1975 Pinto, blue with a white vinyl roof; had an 8-track when I bought it (right out of high school). Yeah… *not* a cool car.
1968 VW Type III, beige. Great car, but it had been a fuel-injected model and was converted over to dual carbs, which were oh so much fun to keep synchronized.
1983 Escort GT, black, no air conditioning (I grew up in Ft. Lauderdale), sunroof. Great car, until it got flooded.
1986 Lynx XR3, all white (hey, it was cool then!), great car except for the non-standard wheels with tires you could only buy at Goodyear. Stolen right before we moved to Raleigh.
1992 Ford Ranger (do I detect a pattern here?), blue. Good little truck, but a bit cramped (I’m 6’3″).
1996 Ford Explorer Sport (2 door). Last year for the square body style, which I still like. It had been abused by the previous owner, so I had lots of trouble with it, leading to…
1998 Ford Taurus, green on green. Ugly, but very reliable, until at 130K miles, it cracked a head.
2006 Ford Focus XR3, screaming yellow, my current ride. Need to get a sunroof and tint the windows, but I’m very happy with the car: a solid 28+ MPG on the highway, fun to drive, and reasonably well designed for what’s basically an econobox. It’ll have to do until I can get that 3.0L XR3 I’ve been lusting after for a couple of years now.
I didn’t own a car with A/C until a 1984 Honda Accord. And during that time I lived in Tucson (9 years after high school), outside Washington, D.C., Austin and southern California.
My first car was a VW Bug. A ’68, maybe? Mostly Bondo and primer, but way beyond fun.
The first new car I ever bought for myself was a 280ZX Anniversary Edition. It was two-toned, black and gold metallic, and was waaay beyond stylin’. It ran like a raped ape, and to this day, still counts as the “fun-nest” car I’ve ever owned. Although the 350Z I drive comes very, very close. I had an awful lot of fun with my Toyota 4WD pickup, too, and I had an Audi TT Roadster that I reeeally enjoyed.
Least fun car: a mid-70s Buick LeSabre. Dark blue with matching blue vinyl interior. Size of Asia. Maybe 10 miles to the gallon, but I think that’s being generous.