What was your first car &why did you get rid of it.

Mine was a'74 AMC Javalin. Orange. I'm not proud, but I totalled my all-time favorite car into a telephone pole in Pokipsee (spelling?), NY.

This topic belongs in Beyond Tiki.

Mine was a 1979 Z-28.I didn't get rid of it, it was stolen while I was at work.

When I was 16 I got a 1973 Ford Ranchero GT with a 4 barrel 429. Gearheads might be thinking that even a 429 sucked in '73 because of pollution controls but the Ranchero was classified as a truck and thus was not encumbered by those horsepower sapping devices. Trucks didn't have to have the controls until, I believe, 1975. Most horsepower I've ever had in my life (at 16 no less) and in a sleeper package. I don't think I ever lost a street drag (out of maybe a dozen or so).

I don't know what made me decide to sell it. I kept it about a year and then sold it and bought a Mach I which was slower but prettier and the girls liked it much better. Maybe that's why I sold it, to get a chick magnet car. The Mach I was with me for 2-3 years then I wrapped it around a tree and totaled it. :(

Mine was a 67 Mustang, and man if that car
could talk I would be in trouble! I actually kept it for 12 years after high school then finally sold it for $600. Big mistake. oh well..

my mom gave me her '86 nissan sentra. i got rid of it when it became flattened by a guy in a cherokee that ran a red light. i got away with only a broken collarbone, but the car was completely destroyed.
two fun anecdotes -
1.) i had a milkshake between my legs at the time, and the paramedics thought i pissed myself
2.) the ignoramus that wrote the police report wrote that my car, after being hit, "slided (sic) acrossed (sic) the medium (sic)."

My second Javelin, a '73 was hit by a 16 year in a pick-up truck who as trying to catchup with someone who cut him off at the last intersection. He actually ran over my front ent. Totalled. The cops blamed him even though his pop was a sargeant. My next car was a stoggy Ford Escort

On 2004-01-17 18:56, nice fishy wrote:
My next car was a stoggy Ford Escort

Lemme guess...ya totaled it!?!? :lol:

'68 Plymouth Fury, metallic green, black top, with death-dashboard, 8-track and seive like tranny. Sold it when I moved to NYC to go to college. Then I didn't own a car for nearly 20 years - until I moved to SoCal.

I am currently on my second motor vehicle.

My first car was a '72 Javelin, puke green. I loved that car. I only had it about 6 months. It got totaled by some drunk old woman who hit me from behind. I had let my insurance expire so I ended up losing my license for 6 months. I left some personal items in the car after the accident and went to the lot to get them but the owner wouldn't let me near my car. So I waited until they were closed and hopped the fence, grabbed my stuff and left. Someone saw me and called the cops...yadda yadda yadda...it was not a good week.

:drink:

My dad's got zero interest in tiki, but he kicks my ass when it comes to car ownership history. His first car, when he was 18 or 19, was a '57 Chevy Bel Air convertible. Believe it or not, he had two room mates, one of which had a '57 Vette and the other a '57 T-Bird. His next car was a '64 Impala SS. Then in '67 he bought a new GTO. Nothing cool after that except (kind of) a '75 GMC truck with a 454 that could tow an aircraft carrier.

[ Edited by: Kono on 2004-01-17 19:15 ]

I had a '76 DODGE ASPEN. And like most of you, I too totaled it. An old man pulled out from a grocery store and everyone locked 'em up. We all missed him but I tagged a '76 Monte Carlo and then had to get out and run after the old man as he tried to get away. With the help of some other drivers who tried to block him in, I eventually got to his passenger door and got pretty mean so he pulled over and waited for the cops. Then I sat on a newspaperbox to watch the vital fluids run off from my car as it died.
I know I know...such drama!

What a great question! Man, I'm glad I visited you crazy tiki-love nuggets tonight!

Mine was a '56 VW. It was green. I liked to call it my "'56 green VW" (but then, that's just my wacky sense of humor!).

Anyway, one night I was driving it in Anaheim. I was hauling as@, oops sorry about the profanity, I was going real fast, and hit some dumb shi@, opps, sorry about the naughty word again, some dumb ass, in a cross-walk.

Unfortunately, I had to drive the car out to the Mojave desert and torch it cause the mutha fu... er, dumb-bell died the next day of traumatic injuries. Oh well, the ashtrays were full anyway...

Mine was a black 1974 Cadillac Hearse. It was 22 ft. long and only got about 11 mi. a gallon. I had it for a long time, but I had to get rid of it because too many things broke down all at once, and the frame was rusting. Parts were near impossible to find too, but I sure loved that car sigh

triumph spitfire

looked great but broke down at the most inopportune moments

http://www.tikicentral.com/tikicentral/grandmember-code.php

[ Edited by: Kono on 2004-01-18 04:53 ]

Kono,
Fotunately, you have the option to re-edit your post, when you wake up in the morning.
I've been there.

'75 Chevrolet Vega - orange. It should have been yellow, what a lemon! I had a stack of repair bills 3 inches thick.

Later found out that the '75 Vegas were manufactured in Lordstown, PA where Chevrolet first started using robotics. Apparently the autoworkers wanted to make the robots look bad so they sabotaged the cars. I read it, so it must be true.

It was finally put out of it's misery by a deer trying to cross the highway.

On 2004-01-17 18:46, Rain wrote:

the ignoramus that wrote the police report wrote that my car, after being hit, "slided (sic) acrossed (sic) the medium (sic)."

Good one! My dad was once an insurance adjuster. He was interviewing a lady after a wreck because she had ongoing pain. He asked where the pain was and she said "Right twixt my breastesseses."

On 2004-01-17 23:58, Unga Bunga wrote:
I've been there.

I find it helpful to keep a print out of the CODE OF CONDUCT beside my monitor for such tempting/trying moments.

Cheers,
TC

Lemme guess...ya totaled it!?!?

Nah, traded it in for a Silver brand-spankin'-new Nissan Sentra, which I ended up selling to my Aunt, who totalled it.

[ Edited by: nice fishy on 2004-01-18 10:58 ]

1980 Oldsmobile Cutlass Brougham.

sweeeet. Got sold when I went to college. Hope the police noticed that it changed owners so the new buyers didn't get pulled over as much as I did.

It had a gas needle that just swayed back and forth like a pendulum, so that was always exciting. And it had a Misfits bumper sticker.

On 2004-01-18 18:03, martiki wrote:
1980 Oldsmobile Cutlass Brougham.
And it had a Misfits bumper sticker.

yeah! my first car too!

mine was a 77 Ford Ranchero, the green machine (or the snot rocket to my friends)

Parts where hard to find locally, but fortunatly nothing major broke. I sold it to a friend at school for another pick up.

A few years ago he called me from the blue, he had totaled it. Not his fault, but it was him or underneith a semi. So the ditch and a concrete enbankment claimed it.

I currently have a 1974 Chevy Pickup with a flame job down the nose, a brand new 454 in it with dual exhausts.

1986 Mazda 323. Great little car, lasted me about 4 years, and then ground to a dead stop on the interstate after dropping all 5 quarts of oil. Pretty funny though, this elderly couple pulled up behind me even before I had a chance to get out of the car, and low and behold, the old guy gave me 5 quarts he had in his trunk, and followed me all the way home to make sure I was OK!
Now my wife's first car was a 91 VW Golf. Then one Saturday I decided it needed Purple Flames. Best $50 I ever spent, Spray paint, Roll of Contact Paper for a template, exacto knife, Copper pipes and fitting for the canoe rack, and a spiffy set of fog lights. Amazingly enough, we sold the sucker for $950, and I still see it around town.

1971 FIAT 850 Sport Coupé
R.I.P. after a multiple collision a rainy day on the E4 outside Stockholm...

'72 Blue VW SuperBeetle.
It just fell apart.

Hey, badmojo, my first car was a 1986 Mazda 323, too. Near the end, I drove around with a case of motor oil in the car, I had to put a new bottle in about every week. As I was crossing the 520 bridge across Lake Washington (one of the floating bridges) one day, my tailpipe fell off, and it sat on the median for months. I always felt guilty about my car having littered, but I couldn't exactly get out and pick it up. Finally (on my birthday!), radiator fluid started pouring out all over the driver's side inside the cab, right where my feet were. I called it a day, and bought the car I have now that weekend.

My first car was a 1964 Mercury Comet.

A page HERE
I can't beleive I survived this car. It must have had 200,000 miles on it and a lot of that was spent hauling firewood. You could turn the wheel from 2 oclock to 10 oclick and nothing happened. Lots of play. The engine barely ran. I had a rubber band under the hood for the throttle spring. I had a string in the gas pedal to pull it back up after I pressed it down. The lights would turn off on occasion. The gears were slipped so that I had to have the safety turned off so it would start in any gear. You could not tell what gear you were in by looking. Oh, and the left rear quarter was smashed.

I started with a 59 Volvo 544 (big round back end w/ big front fender wells) One door was kept closed with a seat belt, the other with a piece of rope. Cool car though, would go like a demon on the freeway rattling all the way. Kept it for about 10 years with the plan to have rebuilt. Who was I kidding!

Swank, I also had a Mercury Comet. I must have lucked out because mine hauled ass. It had a 28? in it with a 3 speed stick. Would beat out a good many of the locals.

Caught on fire. RIP

Trustar

Trustar

On 2004-01-19 09:15, Humuhumu wrote:
Near the end, I drove around with a case of motor oil in the car, I had to put a new bottle in about every week.

For the last 6 months I had it, I put in a quart of oil and a quart of transmission fluid every 2 weeks. I was actually amazed it lasted me as long as it did. And still worth $800 Trade in!..l

[ Edited by: badmojo on 2004-01-19 11:47 ]

When I confessed to my very dear friend Patrick that I was nervous about setting out solo on my two-week road trip earlier this year, he sent me this story to cheer me up:

Don't be nervous. Just look at it this way: you could not possibly be worse at it than I was as a postdoc:

I used a case of oil to get to the bay area, in fact needed to stop for oil more often than for petrol. The only reason I remembered to stop frequently enough was that I was also drinking a case of beer and needed to get off the road to pee. The driver side door didn't work, and the passenger side door needed to be closed from the outside where you could lift it, otherwise the latch wouldn't engage. Since I wasn't flexible enough to climb out the window, I exited and re-entered via the passenger side. Upon re-entry, I rolled down the driver's window (passenger window
didn't work), re-exited, lifted the passenger door shut and then climbed in the driver's window (climbing in I could manage). The ignition lock rotated freely when you turned the key, so you had to reach under the dashboard and hold the housing.

A rear wheel brake fell apart once as I was driving: the shoes actually just slipped the spring and fell into the drum (horrible racket) (I pulled over, pulled off the wheel, reassembled the brake, and continued on). In order to use a turn signal, you had to wiggle the handle until you were
able to engage the switch's peg inside the steering wheel. Once, right before I entered the freeway, the steering wheel came off (I am not making this up).

Have fun!
Patrick

On 2004-01-19 11:39, trustar wrote:

I started with a 59 Volvo 544 (big round back end w/ big front fender wells)

Cool, those Volvos were very common in Sweden up to the mid 70's

Boy - would you believe I'm young 'un enough to finally be selling my first car ? 1979 Olds Delta 88 Royale. I love it to death, I'm going to miss it terribly. Still, I also love my new Mercedes to death, too! My favorite memory of this car - going to meet Mig for the first time in Portland, having him recognize me driving it, and falling on the ground laughing like a hyena. Qu'el romantique!

1969 toyota corona, was silver, but i got it when it was rust color. I killed it when I blew the transmission & head.

1965 Ford Galaxie 500. My parents bought it new and passed it on to me when they bought a new one.. Stayed in my parents back yard until my dad sold it for $100 in 1994.

Klas

Thanks for the nice Volvo pic. I've kept my eye out for another one that does not need so much work. Maybe even a wagon. Someday

Trustar

I sill have my first car, a Nissan Sentra, but its time for it to go. It has nearly 200,000 miles on it and I got it new in 1991. Twelve years later the only major repair I had done on it were new fuel pump (accually a recall so I didn't pay for it,) cluch, and a starter. last yer I had it checked out and it would cost less to buy a new car than fix this one. Now the Sentra is overheating in stop-and go trafic, clutch is slipping out of gear as I drive, and I need to change the wiper blades. I'll miss that car.

Ford country squire station wagon 1976. I was told this was the longest production model car ever made, it was very big. We called it "Beaker" after the glass tubes in science class. Had it 1982 for about a year, then one day it dissapeared from it's parking space. Checked all local towing compony's, police ect...nothing. 3 years later I see someone driving it, I try to catch them but (get this Bong) my 1976 VW GREEN bus coudn't keep up (smiley), seriously! That was my favorite car...the bus that is.

Mine was 1964 1/2 Mustang Coupe. I restored that "stang and drove it everywhere for more than 10 years. One night I loaned it to my Dad and he parked it at my sister's house...where it was stolen! Damn! It wouldv'e been a great car for my son who is now 13....

My first car was a 1965 VW Bug which was a graduation present to my mother in 1966. She restored it and gave it to me in 1985 when I turned 16. I drove it for about a year, but wanted something with more kick. It still sits garaged in California awaiting another restore.

1965 Corvette roadster, black. red int. sigh. I sold it to equip my first recording studio (and because I was going off to college)

-Z

My first car:
It was a cream-colored 1978 Mercury Monarch.

Why I got rid of it:
It was a cream-colored 1978 Mercury Monarch.

Here is my first car ! A 65 Volvo Pv 544 (didn't look this good though when I had it). My Dad bought it for me right before my 16th birthday. And I didn't get rid of it, it was taken away right before my 17th birthday ! Sneaking out to much to the clubs in Miami, got busted. So my Volvo was replaced with a 80's chevy station wagon. And the killer is my Dad still has the volvo !! He had to put alot of work into it when he bought it for me so he kept it for himself ! But I have been able to enjoy it too over the many years that have now flew by ! And we still laugh about who the real owner is !

On 2004-01-19 09:44, Swanky wrote:
My first car was a 1964 Mercury Comet.

A page HERE
I can't beleive I survived this car. It must have had 200,000 miles on it and a lot of that was spent hauling firewood. You could turn the wheel from 2 oclock to 10 oclick and nothing happened. Lots of play. The engine barely ran. I had a rubber band under the hood for the throttle spring. I had a string in the gas pedal to pull it back up after I pressed it down. The lights would turn off on occasion. The gears were slipped so that I had to have the safety turned off so it would start in any gear. You could not tell what gear you were in by looking. Oh, and the left rear quarter was smashed.

Yeah, but what a paint job!

My first car was a miserable 1976 Chevy Monza. Blue with white vinyl top and white vinyl interior (which was really great for those 100 degree San Fernando Valley summer days). No A/C, no heat, no FM radio. I was lucky if I could do 50 mph on the freeway.

I had it for 6 years. I wanted to push it off a cliff, but I needed the $200 too badly.

Oh, did I mentioned it was painted at Earl Scheib ("I'll paint any car any color for only $99.95!") and when the paint started peeling after a year, my dad gave it his own paint job with a few spray paint cans. Tres chic.

[ Edited by: vintagegirl on 2004-01-20 22:40 ]

72 Cadillac Coupe de Ville - Pale yellow
my girlfriend called it a creampuff cause of it's color and it was in such swell cosmetic condition. Paid $550.oo for that car.

Put too much oil in the engine and blew the engine! Had to sell it cause i couldn't afford to replace the engine. sold it for like $200-300...

[ Edited by: Futura Girl on 2004-01-22 01:19 ]

My first car was a 62 Dodge Lancer.It looked like something George Jetson might have driven. I bought it off this Kooky old man when I lived in Oregon for 500 bucks. It was a three on the tree and I had to teach myself how to drive it on the way home.. It had a few problems, which I made worse by trying to fix them myself. she ran like a champ for a long time and the kids on my street always got a kick out of the sight of the dodge coming round the corner too fast and both doors swinging open as if I were going to take flight. I never did fix those. Sadly when I moved to the midwest I had to sell her..