What was your first car?

[Will]

Not mine, but same Model/Year/Color. Didn't have the stripe.

I currently drive a White '96 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I'm not posting a picture of it because you all see half a freaking dozen that look exactly like it every time you step out of your house.

[taptap]

My first was my favorite. 1986 Volvo 240DL wagon. Over the 5 year span I had It, I transformed it into quite a fun car.

-Engine swap: B230FT 2.3 liter turbo 4cyl out of the 1990 7 series Turbo. Tri-angle valve job to improve the seating of the valves (the head needed rebuilt), IPD equal-length header, and a pace setter 2 1/4 stainless exhaust system with a captain's choice 3-way actuator behind the cat. Pfeifferson Aluminum single core radiator, Jeg's dual electronic fan system.

-Exterior: Eibach Sport kit (retrofitted from the 850 series) springs... lowered 1.5" all around, PPG Jet Black w/ white pearl in the clear coat. Custom-fabricated side skirts, stock alloy rims painted gloss black with chrome beauty rings. Sweden-spec clear corners from IPD, and 10% window tint all around. Shaved rear wiper mounts, antenna mounts, and wiper washer nozzles.

We used to run it at Indianapolis Raceway Park's tuesday-night street-legal drags, where it would post 15.4 second quarter mile tims. Not bad for the ol' swedish vessel. I sadly sold it for my 93' SHO, which yes, was cooler, in it's own way, but didn't have the spirit of my old brick. [/sentimental moments]

[nhlfan]

I had a 1987 Pontiac Bonneville. The front and rear seats were like couches, so I could fit all my buddies in it. I put in a CD player and drove it for the better part of two years, before giving it to my younger brother.

[MotorToad]

My first was my favorite. 1986 Volvo 240DL wagon. Over the 5 year span I had It, I transformed it into quite a fun car.

-Engine swap: B230FT 2.3 liter turbo 4cyl out of the 1990 7 series Turbo.

Nice. I've always like the Swedish bricks. Invisible cars and the block will take huge amounts of boost. A silver wagon that looks stock is invisible in traffic, you'd probably never get pulled over.

[taptap]

hahahah thanks for the comment- everyone thought I was an idiot for not doing the 5.0l 302 V8 swap, but that tends to make the swedes a little unruly, not to mention losing EFI and fuel mileage.

The B230FT was much more restrained, complete with the ECU and fuel injection. with the stock Air Research turbo and an Apex'i quiet-flow blowoff valve, My fuel economy would remain decent if i kept my foot off the pedal! The kids at my school never understood my passion for the car, but it earned a new level of respect comming in on wendsday, straight after a night on the track with my shoe polish numbers still intact. Remember, during my years at high school everyone was into the Fast and the Furious hype, and I just had a mechanic for a dad.

[o0o0xmods0o0o]

Didn't want to flood the thread with pics, so I put them in a gallery on my website. This is my first car, I got it on Monday.
http://declerkphotography.com/car/
This was before I cleaned it up. I mostly did small things, like wash it, and move that cable in the engine to its rightful place.
Edit: I did not put that damn GTR emblem on there.

[jmrz]

This was my first car, you can just see it in this tiny photo. Yes, that is my street. The car is a Ford Festiva, I forget what year though.



I sold that when I gave up trying to learn how to drive manual. I could change gears okay, it was just getting everything all together.

My current car is a 1996 Holden Astra (European model - all the controls are on the "wrong" side. Indicator thing is on the left instead of the right) and I only just hit 40,000k's the other week. It is a great car, I just need to drive it more because the battery (brand new battery) keeps dying. I still maintain that the radio stays on and drains the battery.

[Pixel]

The first car that I drove exclusively, '88 Taurus wagon I called "Shark Attack"


First car I bought for myself & drove, '70 Chevelle

[Azrael]

Man, I had some real beaters:

1) 1983 Dodge K car. 2 door, four cylinder, 3 speed manual (1996-1997)
2) 1984 Dodge 400 (4 door version of above, automatic) (1998-1999)
3) 1987 Mazada RX-7 (1999-2002)[Not a beater. Actually, super awesome.]
4) 1991 Mecury Grand Marquis 5.0 (2002-2003)

And then when I graduated college, got a real job and had the exhaust system fall out from under the Marquis a month later, I bought my first new car:

5) 2003 Chevy Silerado 1500 Z71

[@trophy]

1: 89 Honda Accord
2: 89 Dodge Caravan
3: 89 Dodge Shadow
4: 93 Saab 9000 (God I miss that car)
5: 94 Chevy S-10
6: 98 Ford Contour (hasn't died yet... operative word being "yet")

[PatrickRsGhost]

Mine was a late-70s Mercury Grand Marquis, 4-door, cream yellow.



Same model, different color.

Cost $750, bought it out of someone's front yard. Main problem I had with it was there was a leak in the power steering fluid tank. Never got it repaired. Didn't have my license yet, so only drove it to and from work w/ parents present. I loved the car. If I had still kept it after I got my license, I think I would have had some upgrades and repairs done. Mainly, the power steering and radio.

[MuseSik]

1976 VW Bus top half white, bottom green. Complete with surf rack and a pretty sweet stereo. It had a performance engine in it, so it ran fairly well, meaning it only took a few minutes to get up to 60.

Oh how I miss that car.

[sarahnade]

Light blue 1990 Volvo. Power windows, hand cranked sunroof. Yeah baby.

This is Blick in miniature form, sans sunroof. (stolen from the internets)


He's a pretty good old fart, currently in need of an oil change.

[MotorToad]

He's a pretty good old fart, currently in need of a turbo upgrade.

Fix'd for universal truth.

1) 1983 Dodge K car. 2 door, four cylinder, 3 speed manual (1996-1997)
2) 1984 Dodge 400 (4 door version of above, automatic) (1998-1999)
3) 1987 Mazada RX-7 (1999-2002)[Not a beater. Actually, super awesome.]
4) 1991 Mecury Grand Marquis 5.0 (2002-2003)

You must be some sort of masochist! HTF did you wind up with a second K car? what happened to the RX-7? I have an '87 T-II with some tiny modifications for SCCA A-SP.

[ZeroSum]

MotorToad and Azrael, either of you on the 7 club forum?

My poor GXL. All bashed up and sad in my driveway.

[sarahnade]

He's a pretty good old fart, currently in need of a turbo upgrade.

Fix'd for universal truth.

Awww... but I likes him!

Don't you listen to him, Blick. I'm not getting rid of you... yet.

[ZeroSum]

He didn't say replace, he just said upgrade the intake system to give him more air to breathe. It's actually a good thing.

[Azrael]

1) 1983 Dodge K car. 2 door, four cylinder, 3 speed manual (1996-1997)
2) 1984 Dodge 400 (4 door version of above, automatic) (1998-1999)
3) 1987 Mazada RX-7 (1999-2002)[Not a beater. Actually, super awesome.]
4) 1991 Mecury Grand Marquis 5.0 (2002-2003)

You must be some sort of masochist! HTF did you wind up with a second K car? what happened to the RX-7? I have an '87 T-II with some tiny modifications for SCCA A-SP.

1st was a free junkyard car and became a parts car for the 2nd, which cost $250 and actually was a pretty nice car. (Also: only car dealership in my suburban tri-town area was an old school Dodge dealership that had lots of little old lady only drove it to church on sunday used cars.)

The RX-7 got sold to an idiot 17 year old for too much money when the exhaust needed replacement and the turbo died. He cleaned the exhaust out from under the car the next day on the speed bumps at my old high school (or so I'm told) and later trashed a rotor by over-revving.

I shouldn't have sold it, but I was at college and did not have a place to leave a spare car until I could rebuild it. (Silly parents having a rather large sailboat that uses that driveway space in the winter...) The Grand Marquis was hand-me-down-to-my-grandsons-best-friend-for-wicked-short-money so I ended up waaaay ahead $ wise.

[MotorToad]

He's a pretty good old fart, currently in need of a turbo upgrade.

Fix'd for universal truth.

Awww... but I likes him!

Don't you listen to him, Blick. I'm not getting rid of you... yet.

ZeroSum is correct. I would never call for replacing a Vulva Volvo wagon (unless maybe it was with a WRX wagon...). Note my comments on taptap's turbo brick, they are Good Things.

ZeroSum, I'm a member of that forum, but not at all a participant. I'm kind of from the old school for FCs and I'm on the yahoo email list and #rx7 (now the deadest channel in IRC history, but it used to be RETed, hIGGI, BDC, and Gene Kan), but the RX-7 fora are just too hard for me to get through. Too much "zOMG I needz turboz" followed by "y's my car make smoke?!?!?" When I was driving my car I just used that forum to track SE events.

BTW, did you see the SCCA thread?

[ZeroSum]

Yeah, I mainly stay in the lounge now that I don't actually need the tech section for anything. Yes, I saw the thread and posted in it and looked up the first event days at NHIS.

I do wish there were a more effective "NOOBS COME HERE" link at the SCCA site though, but I think I can make my way through it all.

[segmentation fault]

twas a 1988 thunderbird.

http://www.americandreamcars.com/1988tbird101102.jpg

looked exactly like that.

[Nightshade]

My first car was a 1976 Chevy Vega. That was back in '84. Yeah, I'm old.

[El Senor Fruit Swing]

Didn't want to flood the thread with pics, so I put them in a gallery on my website. This is my first car, I got it on Monday.
http://declerkphotography.com/car/
This was before I cleaned it up. I mostly did small things, like wash it, and move that cable in the engine to its rightful place.
Edit: I did not put that damn GTR emblem on there.

Looks like some ones got some money *cough cough* hey buddy , Lol kidding nice car

[MotorToad]

Yeah, I mainly stay in the lounge now that I don't actually need the tech section for anything. Yes, I saw the thread and posted in it and looked up the first event days at NHIS.

I do wish there were a more effective "NOOBS COME HERE" link at the SCCA site though, but I think I can make my way through it all.

Heh, wow, I totally suck at reading. I wasn't sure if I'd answered your question so I had looked for a reply about that... c'est la vie.

[sarahnade]

He didn't say replace, he just said upgrade the intake system to give him more air to breathe. It's actually a good thing.

Oh of course. Right. I uh... I knew that. What? You think I'm one of these people who doesn't know enough about cars to even change their own oil? Whatever gave you that idea? That's just preposterous.

[Habanero]

People are listing all the cars they have owned. I won't do that. I'm old and the list may consume all the bandwidth on the intertubes. However, I will describe my favorite.

It was my 1968, 69, 70, 71, 72 VW beetle. I'm not talking about that silly "Super Beetle" thing. I could go down to the junkyard and pick up one for about $65. I would park it next to my current running thing and start swapping parts, then sell the hulk back to the junkyard for about $45. That made for really cheap parts. By the time I was done, I had a VW Beetle with a Porche boxer six, transaxle, and front end.

My biggest lesson learned was that the VW Beetle's aerodynamics didn't work so well above 105mph. That was the scariest driving moment ever.

[o0o0xmods0o0o]

Didn't want to flood the thread with pics, so I put them in a gallery on my website. This is my first car, I got it on Monday.
http://declerkphotography.com/car/
This was before I cleaned it up. I mostly did small things, like wash it, and move that cable in the engine to its rightful place.
Edit: I did not put that damn GTR emblem on there.

Looks like some ones got some money *cough cough* hey buddy , Lol kidding nice car

Thanks. Not from my pocket.

[microwaved]

First car was a 93 pontiac sunbird. It was butt ugly, slow, had no ac, and had to be put out to pasture at 80k miles, but damn did I love that POS.

My first vehicle in my name, and still my daily driver is a 02 Jeep wrangler, which coincidently I love a little bit more than my old sunbird.

[Sadistic]

My first car was a 07' Toyota Corolla Ce. Manual Trans!
Before then though.. I drove a 00' Toyota 4runner SR5. 4wd....and a 97' Toyota Camry.

I really love my new 'rolla. It zips around like a gokart with that manual trans.

[taptap]

He's a pretty good old fart, currently in need of a turbo upgrade.

Fix'd for universal truth.

Awww... but I likes him!

Don't you listen to him, Blick. I'm not getting rid of you... yet.

ZeroSum is correct. I would never call for replacing a Vulva Volvo wagon (unless maybe it was with a WRX wagon...). Note my comments on taptap's turbo brick, they are Good Things.

ALL HAIL THE OVLOV. It made the perfect first car. Sturdy as a brick shathouse, safe as a concrete bunker, and a capable sleeper like you wouldn't believe. Getting rid of mine was a detremental mistake, as i am trying to get my hands on a 1990-91 240 with the revised tailgate (they looked better) so that I can engine swap again. I can't ever find one though. It's sad....

[Tractor]

my first car was a gift, so i can't really complain about it... but it was really on its last legs when i got it!! it was a 91 Ford Escort Wagon.

Sounds similar to me. Except mine was a 92 hatchback, manual. It was ready to go (transmission was sketchy, among other things) when I effectively totalled it in a minor winter accident (ass backing out into the road, me sliding right through his back corner). Before it got wrecked, we had put a black duct-tape racing stripe on it. It was awesome.

'Upgraded' to a 94 escort hatchback for a couple grand, this one automatic and a crappy shade of teal. That died a few months back. Transmission went, and it wouldn't shift above first gear. Was hell driving it to the dealership to get rid of it. No one likes following the guy going 10-15mph >.<

So I am now driving an 07 civic, back to manual , still 2 door. It kicks the crap out of the last 2. I am a much happier panda.

Pics of the first and latest may come when I get home, if I remember the thread

[astro]

My first car is an '06 VW GTI....I named her Sandy, I especially like the DSG semi-auto gearbox

[pseudoidiot]

First car was an '86 Oldsmobile Toronado. Oh man how I loved that car. Power windows, power seats, leather interior, digital display, radio controls on the steering wheel. I can only imagine what all those extras must have cost back then.

[mxyzptlk]

First car was given to me, a 1988 toyota Camry. Good basic transportation. My next car may very well be a newer camry.

First car that I bought for myself was a brand new, 2005 Mini Cooper Convertible. Its beautiful and very much fun to drive. Unfortunately, it's also a bitch in upkeep, requiring fancy pants, high-octane fuel, expensive, performance tires in some obscure size, synthetic oil and lots of expensive BMW replacement parts that break often. It's a very nice car to borrow, but owning one kind of sucks.

[DJorgensen]

The first car that I drove exclusively, '88 Taurus wagon I called "Shark Attack"

This is almost what I have, and had. Minus teeth.... The teeth are lovely though @_@

93 Ford Tempo (rolled at about 250 000km)
94 Ford Tempo (currently only at 104 000km)

Honestly as horrible as it looks, its a solid car and hard to kill.
One day I'll get something new, I just don't drive as much anymore.

[Seremite]

My first (and only) car is a big white minivan. I don't know much else besides that.
I call it a space shuttle.

It's ridiculously loser-y, and people laugh until they realize I can legally fit 7 people, and illegally fit much more than that.
It's rather useful

[Iori_Yagami]

CarCollection.GetCar(0) ... Errr... indexOutOfBoundsException?
That is, I never had, and probably will never have it... Anyway, I live where are buses and trams, and having a car is rather a luxury...

[pollywog]

'95 Nissan Pulsar. Silver. The most fuel economic car anyone in my (incredibly large) extended family ever owned.

I wrote it off within a month. Still have whiplash.

Now I drive a 2 litre Toyta Corona, and spend $80 a week on petrol. One fifth of my pay packet.

[elminster]

An '00 Corsa 1.4L 16v 3dr. Silver.
Got it about 2 months ago with around 50k miles on it, second hand at an auction. Paid 50/50 with my bro. The previous owner seems to have taken good care of the inside (Left an irish folk music CD in there, so probably older driver), but it still had the original oil filter on there and oil was pretty bad.
Clutch isn't quite smooth as the one's I've previously practice on (I'm taking my test in sept, passed the first part though), but much faster picking up speed. Saying that, it's mostly been used for shopping so far.
Overall pretty happy with it, especially as a first car.

[doc leech]

First one was the gray ghost - 1981 Nissan-Datsun 510 station wagon. Rust holes 6"+ wide, nothing close to watertight (obviously), an AM radio only (or something horrible like that), and bike wheels that were dangerous in any kind of slick condition. Oh, and replacement parts in the engine. Made of wood. Yes, I had a wood engine (twas safe, no worries!). My father is likely the manliest man ever. The surprising thing is that the car ran great right up until... "the incident".

After that, had one of those Chrysler minivans that were all the rage in the early/mid 90's. You know the ones, usually dark blue with fake wood down the side. That was the college transport. Needless to say, it saw some serious times that I won't discuss here, today. heh...

Next up was the 1995 Civic EX. Got that around 2000 in mint condition and went nuts with it. Astronomically expensive stereo (with the first XM radio sold in NOVA, according to myer-emco. probably a lie, though), very nice simple-style rims, 15/5 tint & sunstripe, lowered to the point that the wheels wells had to be... adjusted (AKA hacked off). Yes, I was young and dumb. I like to think it didn't look as stupid as some of the other 'tricked-out' Hondas I've seen. Mine was simple white with black windows, no stupid looking spoiler, no insanely noisy exhaust without purpose other than to make noise, no chrome, no cheesy tacky over-the-top rims, and no music blasting in disrespectful places and situations. Bunch of other small changes, basically sway bars, intake and such. Shorty shifter was freakin' wonderful. At least it was to me, as a non-carguy. Also, while parked the windows and sunroof would crack themselves in hot temperatures, then roll themselves up if it started to rain or if people got too close. I miss that car sooo much...

Anyway, my current car is a 2003 Acura 3.2 CL Type-S. Fully loaded, still like new. Love it. Honda/Acura's are the bee's knee's!

Good lord that was longer than intended.