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Your First two Cars. What were they?


Steely Dan

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'72 Buick Skylark - Beige 4 door, 11 years old. Got my first full time job on a Friday, needed a car to get to work Monday, and found a divorced woman who was looking to get rid of it for $300. Had some surface rust and needed a new muffler, but otherwise a nice ride.

 

'80 Datsun 280Z - Light blue, was my brother-in-law's. Had alot of Thruway miles on it, but was a sweet ride. Unfortunately I had to sink alot of money into getting new rotors, and eventually the frame cracked.

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This trip down memory lane is a nice reminder about how much more reliable cars are nowadays. My nephew just got his first car--a 10 year old Accord that will probably have no problems for 10 more years.

 

When I bought my first 3 cars that were 10 years old (in Buffalo weather), the predicted operating life was between 3 months to 3 years, and you knew the effers would break down a few times a year.

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Great topic SD. Glad to see the return of Jimmy Rockford.

 

My first car was a '73 Oldsmobile Cutlass S. I bought it when I was 15 (in '85) from an elderly neighbor for $500.00. Paid for it with money I earned from a paper route and a weekend cleaning job. I had some great memories with and in that car. :rolleyes: Being young and dumb, I killed the transmission by running the fluid bone dry. <_< That lead to a two door '77 Ford ltd. That thing was a Sherman tank. I'd hate to have to fuel that beast today. (good memories in that car too, :devil: and much more room than the Cutlass!)

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1. 1980 Sunbird with 70k miles on it. Drove it 20 minutes and it threw a rod. While towing it home, it caught fire. :rolleyes:

 

2. 1981 Mercury Capri with ~90k. Drove that about 3 days and a van hit me at Maple and North Bailey. <_<

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This trip down memory lane is a nice reminder about how much more reliable cars are nowadays. My nephew just got his first car--a 10 year old Accord that will probably have no problems for 10 more years.

 

What's really funny about this is my son's first car IS a 62 Ford Fairlane. He picked it out with his grandfather, bought with his own money, did most of the work to get it running and everything. He's kind of a "throwback" I guess you could say. Thing about his car, you can actually get at the plugs to replace them without putting 11 swivels on the socket and you can actually get in there to work on the engine. Can't do that with most cars now.

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OMG! :rolleyes:

 

I had some tough luck in the late 80s... The next one, a 76 LeMans that looked a lot like the link (without the lightbar and labels), lasted a few years...

 

btw, if you stick with the beater car for a while like /dev and save the payment you'd make with a loan, you'd be amazed how quickly you can afford to pay for a nicer car.

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1968 Ford Mustang- Bought on ST. Pat's day 1978. Had until 1979. Towed to the junkyard. Almost rusted in half. Had a hole in the floor behind the driver's seat and it cracks started traveling over the transmission hump.

 

1973 Chevy Malibu. Had from 1979-1983. Went to the junkyard. Blew the piston rings. Also I had to store the jack in the rear seat as there was no floor whatsoever in the trunk when I junked it. Could see the whole gas tank.

 

 

A girfriend of mine in the 70s told me about the time she was driving her brother's Ford Falcon. She stopped at a stop sign and heard a tremendous thud and crash. The motor mounts had rusted out and the transmission and motor had fallen out of the car!

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First was a Satellite Sebring, i thin a 72??? Bought in Jan of 1980 for $300, sold it August of 81 for $500!! Great car, only sold it as didn't need a car at college and couldn't afford the insurance anyway.

 

Next was a Plymouth(i think) Omni????Does that make sense?? Remeber buying it while at college for $400 as my dad was retired and detailing/painting out of the garage cars then. I kept it for about 5 months, he cleaned her up nice and pretty and did the paint work etc and we sold it for $1600 and split the profit after his time and materials were taken out.

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I had some tough luck in the late 80s... The next one, a 76 LeMans that looked a lot like the link (without the lightbar and labels), lasted a few years...

btw, if you stick with the beater car for a while like /dev and save the payment you'd make with a loan, you'd be amazed how quickly you can afford to pay for a nicer car.

 

great advice, just went through the same thing with switching from the 1979 Datsun that I paid $900 for and stuck with for 2 years (and was still running great when i get rid of it), to the 2003 350Z.

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Did you really just link a picture of diarrhea? Like, seriously, I was expecting to see the car, not a pic of a turd.

 

What the !@#$?

 

:devil:

 

 

1980 rabbit--10 years old when I got it. Had 58K miles or so I thought. When I got to the first 99.9 mile multiple, the speedometer froze. You could get it to keep running if you pounded the dash. Had to do that every 100 miles. The ceiling material was not adhered well so it drooped down and ruffled in the wind (no A/C of course). The fuel line was split so I replaced the split portion with neoprene hose. That used to split at least once a month, so I always kept a section in the car with some coveralls. On the way to a wedding, my wife (then girlfriend) watched as I changed into the coveralls and changed out the hose in about 3 minutes. To this day, whenever I smell gas while I'm driving, I look in the rearview mirror for drips on the road.

 

Car had problems like it was on its 360,000th mile. Total POS.

 

Next car was a "3 door" Caprice Classic. The 4th door was smashed in from an accident. The only way to EVER start it was by spraying starter fluid into the carb. I did that every time I started it for 3 years but it was great besides that. Like driving around on your couch. To this day, I compare every ride to that one. Oh, and the gas gauge didn't work. Or the speedometer. Never got a ticket.

 

From there, I moved on to much better cars.

 

Other than that Mrs. Lincoln how'd you like the play?

 

You probably had one of the American made Rabbits. They were notorious for problems. My third car was a German made Rabbit. That is the car I have the most fond memories of because it was a great car. It introduced me to the beauty of sunroofs! :rolleyes:

 

 

1983 Dodge 600 - Black K-car with rust trim (and no it didn't come from the dealer with rust trim). Had a nice voice that told me when "my door is ajar." Kinda like KITT from Knight Rider but without ANY of the cool stuff. Had to give it up because the guy declared it unsafe to drive when I got it inspected.

 

1985 Olds Cutlass Supreme - V8...light blue. Loved this car, but it got jealous and tried to kill me the day after I bought my next car. On the way to work the front right tire flew off the car and shot about 50 yards into an empty field. Luckily I had just gotten off the expressway.

 

Why didn't you just take it to another mechanic?

 

Lucky as crap!

 

 

1st. 67 Cutlass 442 Convertible. What can I say? The car was freaking awesome. A babe magnet and a ticket magnet. A tree jumped out in front of me and killed that car.

 

 

 

2nd. 72 Cutlass 442 Convertible. That was one fast mother !@#$ing car. Lost my license for 6 months with that car. :lol:

 

Those big old American cars kicked ass! A friend of mine drove an Ford wagon and a Cutlass his parents had. The Ford wagon would kick ass off the line too.

 

 

1. 1980 Sunbird with 70k miles on it. Drove it 20 minutes and it threw a rod. While towing it home, it caught fire. <_<

 

2. 1981 Mercury Capri with ~90k. Drove that about 3 days and a van hit me at Maple and North Bailey. :devil:

 

Not very lucky with cars are you. :lol: My fourth car was Volkswagen Jetta. That car was an accident magnet. The only accidents I've ever had were in that piece of crap. It was three accidents. They were all deemed the other guys fault. It had a problem at the end with starting and it leaked raidiator fluid. When I went to pick up my next I looked out the window as I was signing the documents and radiator fluid began gushing out like Niagara Falls. I signed quickly and left. 0:)

 

 

...guess you could say that about all my girls

 

-farva

 

It's spelled Favre.

 

 

I had some tough luck in the late 80s... The next one, a 76 LeMans that looked a lot like the link (without the lightbar and labels), lasted a few years...

 

btw, if you stick with the beater car for a while like /dev and save the payment you'd make with a loan, you'd be amazed how quickly you can afford to pay for a nicer car.

 

Linky no worky. :(

 

 

I've beaten all of my cars into the ground!!

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my first 2 cars were a big, white 1989 Town Car, and then a red 1991 Eagle Talon. the Talon got me more chicks, but i had more girls in the Town Car :lol:

 

 

my LAST car, i just got rid of, was a silver 1979 Datsun 280ZX. my favorite car of my lifetime, until i just recently traded it for a new version 2003 Nissan 350Z.

 

that 1979 Datsun will always have a special place in my heart because according to the manufacturer plate, we were born in the same month and same year...

 

My first car was a 1979 Mazda RX-7... Lot more fun to drive than your Datsun... :sick: 5-speed with manual choke, of course the rotary engine... The steering made it feel like you were in a go-cart... Had the straight down front fiberglass fearing (vs. the pointy stock look)... Also, had 15" BBS wheels (I think 13" were stock back in the day?).

 

Fun... Fun... Car... I think AJ would agree!

 

:sick:

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Forgot more stuff with the Mustang. In the winter of 78-79 I could get the door open in the morning but it lacked lubrication and would stick open. I had to tie the door shut and drive from Cheektowaga to the UB Amherst campus. Once I had both doors tied shut!

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