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Along the same lines as "first date car". What was, and how did it come to be your first car? was it deliberate? Was it necessity? Or was it a case of second, third or fourth choice?
My first car was actually not on my radar at all. I had seen "Vanishing Point" and thought the Challenger was the baddest car on the planet. There was a kid in town that had one. It was rather healthy and he got into trouble with the law so his father put the car up for sale. Since I was 16, my mother had to bless whatever was bought and she came with me to see the Challenger. The instant she heard it running, she thanked the guy and said it wasn't the right car for me. My problem was that my dad was a gear head and my mother knew a hopped up car when she heard it. Since my dad was long out of the picture, I was at her mercy.
A few months later my mom says that a coworker had a car for sale. It was a 69 Cutlass Supreme. It was 350-2, column shift auto with bench seat. I hated it, but my mother was all over it. So there it was, my first car. As with a lot of things in ones youth, I found out that it was an awesome car and loved it. Had tons of fun and got into way too much trouble in that car, to my mothers dismay. She thought she had nipped that one in the bud. No such luck.
My first car was a 67 Cutlass Supreme Holiday Coupe bought in 75 off my elderly aunt. It was hit more times than Joe Forman and had little dents all over it. I let one of my friends use it as his HS body shop project and it turned out ok. Kept it a couple of years, sold it, and blew through many older 2 door cars of the era.
FF to 2009, I found the current car I'm driving and thought it would make a great first car for my son. It didn't go well as a father and son project, but long story short I've kept and toyed with it since then. So I've come full circle from 1st to last.
My first car is the 1970 SX that I still own.. I bought the car just before I turned 17. Needed a car to get back and forth to work. Had no idea what the car was(beside it being an Olds Cutlass. My parents wanted me to buy the neighbors Green 4dr Caprice(God, it was ugly). My brother mention that a co-worker had a Cutlass for sale. So we drove out to check it out. Boy, what a looker. Red(Matador Red), White vinyl top, Pearl Strato Bench, 455/Auto,SSI's. $700 and it was mine. It took a few months of research to realize it was a W32 car. Now its been 60+ cars later, and its the only car Ive held on to.
This is my first trip to the dragstrip in 1978
This is after the first re-build in the early 90's
My older brother gave me his ‘55 88 two door when I got my license. I kept it for a year, then, my junior year in high school (1966) I bought my first car, a 1962 Starfire, blue with white hardtop, which got me through college.
My first car was a 69 GTO. I was 14. I sat on a phone book (remember those?) to drive it. It was the Verdero Green black vinyl too . Green bucket seat interior. 3.73 posi. That car ran. Came from Michigan. The roof was trashed with rust. There was actually a bee hive in the roof ha ha. Paid 250.00 for that car. Ended up parting it out. The body was full of bondo. Interior was surprisingly nice. I have a couple pictures somewhere.
My first car was a 69 GTO. I was 14. I sat on a phone book (remember those?) to drive it. It was the Verdero Green black vinyl too . Green bucket seat interior. 3.73 posi. That car ran. Came from Michigan. The roof was trashed with rust. There was actually a bee hive in the roof ha ha. Paid 250.00 for that car. Ended up parting it out. The body was full of bondo. Interior was surprisingly nice. I have a couple pictures somewhere.
14? Holy cow. Who gives drivers licenses to 14 year olds?
My first car was a '69 4-4-2 holiday coupe, It was a Canadian car, sable with a white vinyl top and medium gold interior, purchased in New London, CT, for $1800 in April 1972 at 44,600 miles. It caught my attention one day when I was riding by the Olds dealership there on my bicycle. After purchasing, I figured it had apparently been ridden hard in its first three years as it had a '70 455 engine and a THM 400 transmission wrapped with a '70 console. I don't know what differential it had but I do know it would bark the tires in all three gears if you got into it. Options included bucket seats and console, remote driver side mirror, power steering, power brakes, and SSI wheels. It had all kinds of acceleration up to about 85mph and then it just increased speed very slowly after that. I took it up to 100mph once and the engine was screaming. It lasted a good 9 years for me. I sold it in 1981 at around 161K miles for $1000.
Randy C.
'68 4-4-2 convertible
'69 4-4-2 convertible
My first car was a '69 4-4-2 holiday coupe, It was a Canadian car, sable with a white vinyl top and medium gold interior, purchased in New London, CT, for $1800 in April 1972 at 44,600 miles. It caught my attention one day when I was riding by the Olds dealership there on my bicycle. After purchasing, I figured it had apparently been ridden hard in its first three years as it had a '70 455 engine and a THM 400 transmission wrapped with a '70 console. I don't know what differential it had but I do know it would bark the tires in all three gears if you got into it. Options included bucket seats and console, remote driver side mirror, power steering, power brakes, and SSI wheels. It had all kinds of acceleration up to about 85mph and then it just increased speed very slowly after that. I took it up to 100mph once and the engine was screaming. It lasted a good 9 years for me. I sold it in 1981 at around 161K miles for $1000.
Randy C.
'68 4-4-2 convertible
'69 4-4-2 convertible
Randy, where was the picture taken? I've never seen palm trees in CT or OR. And I have to say, that's a pretty good price you got out of a car with 161k on the clock in 1981. You would have struggled to get $400 out of it where I'm from. Once cars hit that 100k mark, you couldn't give em away. Amazing how things change.
The picture of my '69 4-4-2 was taken just off of Cherry Avenue in Long Beach, CA. My first duty station was in Long Beach after I graduated from the Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT, in June 1973. Southern California winters were much nicer than Connecticut winters!
The picture of my '69 4-4-2 was taken just off of Cherry Avenue in Long Beach, CA. My first duty station was in Long Beach after I graduated from the Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT, in June 1973. Southern California winters were much nicer than Connecticut winters!
Randy C.
Lol! I hear ya. I was stationed at NAS Miramar in San Diego for a while when I was in the Navy. New Years day weather forecast - "Morning fog, clearing by noon, high of 70".
It was a neccesity purchase, I was done with school and I needed a vehicle for a new job I was about to start. For $1,080, that I borrowed from my grandparents, I bought a 1982 Medium Blue Chevy C10 V6 auto with an 8ft bed. It had three differant tires on it, blue vinyl bench seat and black vinyle floor, I heavily armor alled the floor to clean it up, (not one of my brightest ideas!). I added fog lights to the front bumper, a black plastic toolbox to the bed and an alpine stereo. The only mechanical problem I had with it was the throtle cable became frayed and would take off on me until we changed it. The first time it happened was in rush hour traffic, that was an interesting expirience. I drove it for about two years until I bought a 1984 GMC Jimmy Sierra Classic.
Where I worked as a young mechanic in the early 60s was Pontiac city. The other mechanics had mostly Catalinas, two of them were tri-power 421s bought new.
I was more careful with my money. My first car was a tri-power 1958 Catalina convertible.
My first car was an oddball 1956Austin A35 I got for $35 in 1963. It had a nice leather interior & a 4 speed on the tree weird shift pattern. I lived on a 150 acre farm, so I was able to drive it with no license or plates. It was so slow you eat lunch trying to go 0-60, but it fun for a 13 year old!! My first real car was about 2 years later, 1940 flathead Ford Coupe which I worked on for year or so until waiting to turn 16 to get my drivers license.
Whenever i hear about a pontiac catalina i think back to my HS friends 71? Catalina. He and his older brother were decent backyard mechanics and car buffs, so the car looked and drove nice. He also had a vacuum switch under the dash connected to a trans fluid? Reservoir. When he hit the switch the car would smoke like a scene out of a james bond movie, seconds later no smoke…for HS kids this was great fun! One day he got pulled over for his shenanigans, the cop spent about 10 mins trying to get the car to smoke again, but ended up just giving him a warning.
the first car i ever drove was his brothers mid 70 Gran Torino. If you think it was done up like starsky and hutches car red w white stripe you would be correct! To quote my coworker “yeah man”
my first car was a pedestrian 4 door lemans handed down thru 3 siblings.
That's what I'm talking 'bout! You still have the very first car you bought? That is way cool. Respect. I destroyed 4 cars before I was 22. Definitely not proud of that now.
Thats awesome you have your first car still. I have my second. Bought this truck in 1982. Dated my wife in it. Two sons drive it in high school and then gave it back to me and we restored it. My wife and I still go out in it for dates. Gotta love a single cab bench seat truck for a date vehicle!
Old photo from when it was unrestored and fairly new. Current after restoration.
First car/truck that was in my name was a 1928 AA model A with a mechanical dump bed. Bought it for $75 bucks, it was not a date car, but for a 13-year-old kid it went front ward and backward and was fun on the ranch... Tedd
My first car was a 64 nova. It had the mighty 194 inline 6 with a glide. It was light blue/white top, I learned a lot with that car.
My first Olds is my 69. I have owned every year cutlass from 69-88, sometimes more than one (I have owed 3 different 85 cutlass) a few Monte carlos, couple grand Prixs, Buick regale, always liked the G body cars.
My first new vehicle was a 95 GMC 1/2 step side. It was a good looking truck. It had a 305 with the 5 speed.
Last edited by matt69olds; February 21st, 2022 at 09:37 PM.
That's what I'm talking 'bout! You still have the very first car you bought? That is way cool. Respect. I destroyed 4 cars before I was 22. Definitely not proud of that now.
Keep em coming guys.
I used my dad's cars in high school. This one was my grandfather's and it had basically sat from 87 to 02 being driven by various people occasionally. We got it running then and I drive it fairly regularly other than the water pump has been out for a while so I need to fix it.
First one for me was a 66 Chevelle 2dr post . This wasn't a Malibu but the econo box 300 Deluxe model. Paid $200 at a local auction. Straight 6 with 3 on the tree, cloth bench seat with rubber floor mats. 6 months later, Pops helped me pull that 6 cyl. and install a 4 barrel 350/400 turbo from a 69 Impala. Got a console from 69 Firebird and beige buckets and rear seats from a 71 Grand Prix from the local salvage yard. I stitched up some blue **** carpeting for the floor. Hi jacker air shocks, G60s on the back with slotted americans on all four corners. ...Cool stuff in 1974. Lots of fun that car was, More fun than any 15 year old should have. Looked alot like this one when I bought it. Later painted it a light blue with a royal blue vinyl top. I have pictures in the house but who knows where.
Last edited by 4+4+2=10; February 22nd, 2022 at 01:53 PM.
February 19th, 2022, 12:44 PM
