You and Your First Car - Page 5

sfnative · ‎03-10-2010

@lulu1 wrote:
@BirkiLady wrote:
New 1963 Olds F-85 Cutlas Convertible (blue metalic with white top and white leather interior). Parents gave it to me when I turned 16. That car had a huge engine and was a great car for my summer trips . . . and cruising.

ETA: My parents bought me a new 1967 VW yellow convertible as my next vehicle. It was my choice and adored that friendly little car! Kept that little bug for five or six years - it was so much fun.

So did my husband when returned from the service and before we married in 1969. He purchased a used VW Karma Ghia (red). We were both students; driving VW's were easy to park on campus, insurance was reasonable and they were so much fun! Once he graduated, he sold his Ghia. Realized his 6'5" frame didn't really fit into that sporty little car well.
I learned to drive on my mother's white Old's F-85 convertible Hers was all white with a red interior. I LOVED that car and thought I was beyond cool driving it.

The first car I (we) owned was a 1971 Triumph Spitfire. It was a combination graduation/wedding present from my parents. The car was cute as can be but a major piece of junk. We spent a boatload of money (we didn't have) on repairs. We could not afford to keep it but we couldn't afford to get rid of it. Back then there was no such thing as a Lemon Law.

@lulu1

That Triumph Spitfire would be worth major bucks today! After we married, my husband purchased a Triumph TR-3 and restored everything under the hood. His specialty was doing engine jobs on British 4-bangers (his college part-time job). Loved that car to bits. It was red with a white top and white leather interior.

sfnative · ‎03-10-2010

@Desertdi wrote:
1964 Pontiac GTO.....4 sp......and I've driven "muscle cars" ever since............

@Desertdi

Whoa! Way to go! Love muscle cars.

We attended the auction on Treasure Island, just after the close of the "Nash Bridges" television series and they had his 2 yellow Barracudas on the block. The one Don Johnson actually drove and one non-operational one they used for still shots. I wanted that car sooooo bad. And, it went for a measely $35k! We did not come prepared with a line of credit. Darn!

beckyb1012 · ‎03-09-2010

@ItsME wrote:
@beckyb1012 wrote:
I got my hardship just after I turned 15 in my Freshman year 1977. First car for the first six months was a white 1966 Olds 88 with the ignition in the dash not on the steering. Lots of duck tape and even a towel I sat on to cushion the duct tape. Later that summer Mom updated me to a car a local Dr. was selling 1971 Olds 98. Loved that car.
Looks like a lot of towels were sat on from the photos I found on the web for a 1966 Olds.

@beckyb1012 .... I had an electrical short in the steering column of the Skylark one day. It melted some plastic, which fell onto the seat and set it on fire. The car was so old that we couldn't find a new seat to buy, so we padded the springs with a couple layers of foam and covered that with a slip cover. Drove it like that for a few years!

Times were different then!

It was so different back then @ItsME. After the 98 another Dr. was selling a 1969 Buick Electric (the size of a BOAT) Mom bought that so I would be even safer if in a wreck. Right after the purchase cassette tape players came out and my younger brother said he could install one for me. Stupid thing caught on fire one day and since I was almost home I stuck my head out the window to see the highway and residential streets since the car had filled up with smoke. Called fire dept. to put it out. I was so dumb but I was only a few block from home and did not want to walk with my Candies on my feet. Fixed the car and drove another 18 months till it gave out. So big and ugly the entire Drill team could fit in the back seat.

"Live frugally, but love extravagantly."

sfnative · ‎03-10-2010

@Biftu wrote:
My first car was a used 1963 racing green convertible MGB. It was a stick shift which I didn't even know how to drive! I had to have my friend drive it home from the dealers. I had to have that car! I practiced and practiced how to drive that car especially on hills. Such fun memories of that car jamming my shorter friends in the back which wasn't even a seat. People who owned MGBs would always wave to me when driving, it was like a special "club."

@Biftu

LOVE BRG MGBs!!! After I had my blue Beetle for some years, traded it in for a red MGB, which had a really hefty roll bar, with red convertible top. And, you're right about the back seat: it was more like a flat surface on the right and left and straight backs on both sides - carpet lined. That car had the lousiest rear suspension, though. Very dangerous going around curves in wet weather - not enough weight to give the wheels any grip. However, that gas tank was built "like a tank." I was driving up Portola Drive in San Francisco one day, had to stop in traffic, when all of a sudden, BAM! Was hit at high velocity from behind. The rear of my MGB went way up in the air, then plopped down, BAM! onto the pavement. Lucky I had a sea belt on, which were not required at the time. Got out of my car, with a good "mad on," expecting the entire back end of my MGB to be demolished, screaming at the driver of the car behind me. This is what I found.

A lady with 2 un-restrained pre-schoolers in the front seat was driving a brand new black Merces-Benz. She was bleeding and her kids were bleeding. She was going 45 mph, as she was paying attention to her kids, not the road. When she hit me, she had one split second to jam on the brakes, the nose of the Mercedes dove under my car, my car landed on top of the front of her car thereby demolishing everything under the hood, then my car bounched back off onto the pacement. You should have seen her car. The gas tank on my MBG did so much damage, her insurance company "totaled" her brand ner car. I must say I was blessed without not even a scratch or bit of a whiplash. Her insurance agent kept calling me asking, "Are you sure you're OK?" I was so fortunate that I always placed my trannie in neutral when stopped, or she would have taken out my transmission. Felt very blessed.

sfnative · ‎03-10-2010

@PINKdogWOOD wrote:
@sfnative Oh this is choice isn't it? What a beauty. I hope you still have your beetle, DH just this morning read in the newspaper Volkswagen has decided to not make Bugs anymore. Seems no one buys enough of them these days. How very sad.

@PINKdogWOOD

Sadly, I don't have it any longer and wish I did, because it was one that had the small oval window, which are worth more. Yes, I did read the sad news about the Bugs. So long good friend.

kittymomNC · ‎08-09-2012

(I hope the pictures show up - not sure they will)

My first car out of high school was a 1957 Ford Fairlane (this one is not mine but just a pic) - bought it used. I was "sort of" engaged at the time, and I think I got it more to please my boyfriend than to please me. But I eventually got rid of the boyfriend and the car.....

Image result for 1957 ford fairlane

and replaced it with one exactly like this, my first brand new one - dark green 1963 Chevy Impala Super Sport with "four on the floor", tachometer, and bucket seats (back when bucket seats had to be special ordered). I loved this car and wish I still had it! (And NO, that's not me.... happy smiley emoticon )

Photo Courtesy: GM Media Archives Superlative Super Sport - 1963 Chevrolet Impala SS

sfnative · ‎03-10-2010

@ItsME wrote:
@sfnative We kept that car a long time! And, i have some crazy stories about it. Several years in, my father was touching up some spots on HIS car that needed a little attention. My brother and a friend took it upon themselves to sand down several spots on MY car that they said were rusty, and then they primed them with light gray paint. They left my midnight blue car looking like it had gray measles! And I drove it like that until I sold it. We were young then!

As for My Cousin Vinnie, it's been on my re-watch list. I just looked it up.... 1964 Buick Skylark Convertible! You have a great memory!!!

@sfnative wrote:
@ItsME

And, I'll never forget the Buick Skylark, because if I'm remembering correctly, that and its Pontiac sister were the subject of much comedy in "My Cousin Vinnie." Such a funny movie!

@ItsME

I love the memories your have of your Buick Skylark. Am sure your brother and his friend did a great job of sanding and priming. Just not what you expected - right? Think I would have been rather furious at them. But...I guess you can look at it that they were protecting the body of your car, even if it did look like measles. I have a cousin who had a Skylark and it lasted forever. Just kept going and going.

lulu1 · ‎03-29-2011

@beckyb1012 wrote:
It was so different back then @ItsME. After the 98 another Dr. was selling a 1969 Buick Electric (the size of a BOAT) Mom bought that so I would be even safer if in a wreck. Right after the purchase cassette tape players came out and my younger brother said he could install one for me. Stupid thing caught on fire one day and since I was almost home I stuck my head out the window to see the highway and residential streets since the car had filled up with smoke. Called fire dept. to put it out. I was so dumb but I was only a few block from home and did not want to walk with my Candies on my feet. Fixed the car and drove another 18 months till it gave out. So big and ugly the entire Drill team could fit in the back seat.

@beckyb1012

My father had a 1965 Buick Electra we (affectionately) referred to as a Land Yacht. The back seat was the size of a couch. The trunk was huge. A local drive-in theater had $2 a carload special during the week. We easily fit 9 people in the car. (3 in the front, 4 in the back and 2 [sometimes 3] in the trunk)

beckyb1012 · ‎03-09-2010

@lulu1 wrote:
@beckyb1012 wrote:
It was so different back then @ItsME. After the 98 another Dr. was selling a 1969 Buick Electric (the size of a BOAT) Mom bought that so I would be even safer if in a wreck. Right after the purchase cassette tape players came out and my younger brother said he could install one for me. Stupid thing caught on fire one day and since I was almost home I stuck my head out the window to see the highway and residential streets since the car had filled up with smoke. Called fire dept. to put it out. I was so dumb but I was only a few block from home and did not want to walk with my Candies on my feet. Fixed the car and drove another 18 months till it gave out. So big and ugly the entire Drill team could fit in the back seat.
@beckyb1012
My father had a 1965 Buick Electra we (affectionately) referred to as a Land Yacht. The back seat was the size of a couch. The trunk was huge. A local drive-in theater had $2 a carload special during the week. We easily fit 9 people in the car. (3 in the front, 4 in the back and 2 [sometimes 3] in the trunk)

I am so belly laughing out loud at your story. I remember all those trips/excursions where it was always "lets take Becky's car we can all fit." I did get to do the trunk thing myself at the drive-in once. There were three of us in there and it was nice not be the driver for a change @lulu1

"Live frugally, but love extravagantly."

sfnative · ‎03-10-2010

@hckynut wrote:

Hi my friend @sfnative,

I wasn't quite 14 and I think my older sis took advantage of me making more money than she was at her job. I ended up paying for half of a 1947 4 door Chevy Sedan. Couldn't drive except learning on a HUGE parking lot, but that is how I did learn. Our mom's name was on the title so that was pretty much it.

My 1st Real First car was a 1950 Mercury 2-door Coupe. My cousin traded it in for a new Ford and I bought it from that dealership. Loved that car and tricked it all up with fender skirts/dual exhaust with sweet sounding Glass Pak Mufflers/lowering blocks and had the emblems on the hood and trunk lid shaved, with an electric opener for the trunk lid. Also added the most precious hub caps in the '50's, which were Olds Star Fire hub caps, which thieves liked to steal.

That is the car I used to start my drag racing(kinda career) for close to 20 years. Raced it in several Midwest States and it was very fast for its time in the Stock Drag Racing Class in fell into by(horsepower to weight ratio). Won many trophies with it for years.

Might have some black and white pix and I know I HAD 1 with me kneeling beside it in front of our house. I was wearing my Trade Mark Car named Mr. Clean Hat and a "stoggie" in my mouth. That was who I was for almost 2 decades. Known as Mr Clean, many knew my car around the Midwest, but not my real name. Even some friends called me by the name on that car.

Gotta start getting ready to head out for my 2 hour ice skating session which is a 20 mile drive 3 times a week. Will see if I can find a pix of that car and put it up with this post. I paid for all of my cars, no gifts for old JOhn here!

ETA. My wife's first car was a VW Bug, think it was a brand new Sky Blue 1968.

Your Friend,

JOhn

@hckynut

Hi John,

Thanks so much for sharing your car story. I really enjoyed it and could relate to it because my husband and his buddies would save up their money and head to the junk yard (this was high school years), purchase a "junker," then bring it to life. Whoever had the most bucks in their pocket when the car was "done" got to purchase it outright. Since my husband had a huge and thriving paper route of close to 500 customers on the coast just south of SF in Pacifica, he always ended up with the cars. He loved and still loves Olds straight 8s. He also tricked up some smaller cars and became involved in Northern California drag racing during Don Garlitz's hey days (sp?) and speaks fondly of those days. On our first date outside of SF, he took me to an international race at Monterey. My eyes were opened up. Graham Hill and many other greats raced that day. Little did I know that within a year he would have me helping him do engine jobs on British 4-bangers and just about everything else under the hood. The first thing he taught me to do was to take a "prized" really old silver service knife and learn how to scrape carbon off of valves (both intake and exhaust). Those exhaust valves were heck! Then he promoted me to removing rings from pistons. I learned really quick why he taught ME how to do this task: cuts your fingers up something fierce - and I was a piano major in college at the time (!). When he had a client with bucks, he'd be able to purchase new valves and pistons, etc., however, most of his clients were running lean on the money front. He took great pride in being able to rebuild SU carbureators and wouldn't let me near them nor valve timing process. We worked really hard together to replace the old, bad British rubber in the older cars and that was a huge pain. After he tired of British cars, he went onto more exotic stuff. Think the car we bought to refurbish that I didn't want to sell was a Maserati 3500. Miss that car to this day, as well as my Cadillacs. Had 3. Never a more comfortable and safer car made. Have been hit by 4 drunk drivers and 1 careless mother and am thankful that I was in a Cadillac for the drunk driver hits.

Am going to share your post with my husband, when he returns from an errand. I know he'll enjoy reading it.

Am really, really hopeful that you can locate a photo or two. Will check back later and tomorrow to see if your search was successful.

Your friend, Mr. Clean ~ Rebecca