Your first car?

[3rd_shift]

Maroon red 74 Dodge Dart swinger 2 door with a 318 and 3 speed automatic 1987-1990.

It was ok, except it was a piece of poo. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

Valve covers leaked. (replaced gaskets a couple times with lotsa RTV silicone the second time /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif .)
"A-frame" bushings were creaking bigtime. (replaced)
All 4 ball joints replaced.
It went through a 904 Torgueflight transmission (replaced)
A 7.25 rear end. (repaced with a 8.25 with a positrack installed. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Bent one of the stock wheels when I spun it out of control and it ended up under a tree off the road. (replaced with 14X7 Cragars) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
Stock Carter, 2barrel toilet bowl shaped carbureter got really stopped up. (replaced with a Holley 4barrel 600cfm vacuum secondary carburetor and an Edelbrock performer manifold.)
Ballast resistor crapped out. (replaced with a Holley distributor that didn't need it.) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
Alternator died twice. (replaced voltage regulator after the second time.)
Shock absorbers were replaced.
Went through tires in under 10k miles easily.
Lower control arm (torsion bar) bushings died and had to be replaced.
Rear leaf springs got weak and saggy. (fixed with air adjustable shocks that never held thier air for long)
(Then fixed with cargo coil springs after I got my money back for the crummy air shocks.) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif
Speedometer quit working when the head of it under the dash started making a LOUD grinding noise. (replaced speedometer cable a couple times before I realized the head under the dash was hopeless.) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rant.gif
Got 10-11 miles to the gallon with less horsepower than most of todays V6 engines. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsdown.gif

I wish I had at least shot this car a few times before I got rid of it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/xyxgun.gif

 

[Sigman]

1st - 1965 Chevrolet Impala - Mint!
(sold it to a gal that liked to run over mailboxes - made me sick!

2nd - 1970 Pontiac Lemans Sport - Mint!
(sold it to a young kid who "dolled it all up", thought he was a NASCAR driver!)

 

[Wolfen]

When I was 17 in 1981 i bought a used (Buick import) 1973 Opel Kadet three door station wagon. Forest green, automatic trans and 1.9 liter engine. Strange little car.

A year later I bought a 1977 Ford Mustang II with 2.3 liter engine and four speed manual transmission.

In 1992 I bought a 1989 Ford Mustang LX with 4.9 (5.0) liter V8 and 5 speed manual trans. from my girlfriend. Fun! Fun! Fun!

 

[ChocolateLab33]

Olds Cutlass Supreme, year??? I don't remember. That thing was held together by the rust but it was soooo clean inside and out. (did I mention that I'm a NEAT FREAK!)
It was green and one time the muffler blew apart in my driveway and scared the crap out of my neighbors. Ahhh... the good ol' days.

ChocolateLab33

 

[KevinL]

3 on the tree - haven't heard that one before, is that an automatic? I'm guessing so since overdrive was mentioned in the same sentence.

Man I'm having a hard time imagining how you drive a 2-speed auto... those were before my time, but it sounds bad enough that given that choice, a 4/5-speed manual almost seems like a no-brainer.

 

[raggie33]

kevin i belive 3 on the tree is a manual but its on the sterring coluom my neeber had one lol it was weird to drive

 

[smokinbasser]

My first car was a 49 Hudson Super 6 with 5 one barrels w/ progressive linkage. It was a beast on long straights. I must have been lucky I had 5 Renaults during the gas shortages in the 70s and sold every one of them for more than I bought them for. I got one R10 for free, the guy said he would never buy another car with an aircooled engine(he drove it 600 miles with a dry radiator/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif) he said it would seize up every 60 miles or so and had to let it cool.BTW Renault engines could be totally rebuilt in the car./ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon6.gif

 

[PhotonWrangler]

[ QUOTE ]
gadget_lover said:
I've since learned to hand a credit card to the mechanic. That works much better.

Daniel

[/ QUOTE ]

Lol! Indeed.

 

[B@rt]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[simbad]

I´ve never seen a car more simple than the Citröen 3cv from 1965-75, 2-cylinder boxer 380cc. air cooled. You could disassemble the body and engine in your garage with just few tools, no radiator, no water pump, no belts, no rubber pipes, no thermostat. Just the block, carburetor, alternator, starting motor and battery. The funny thing is that all models came with a crank to turn the engine on in the case of a flat battery /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hahaha.gif

My first car was a Fiat 600 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[raggie33]

[ QUOTE ]
simbad said:
I´ve never seen a car more simple than the Citröen 3cv from 1965-75, 2-cylinder boxer 380cc. air cooled. You could disassemble the body and engine in your garage with just few tools, no radiator, no water pump, no belts, no rubber pipes, no thermostat. Just the block, carburetor, alternator, starting motor and battery. The funny thing is that all models came with a crank to turn the engine on in the case of a flat battery /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hahaha.gif

My first car was a Fiat 600 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]rofl how in the world did that go up a hill?

 

[B@rt]

Slowly.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crackup.gif

 

[raggie33]

lol bart id imaginees with under 500cc are slow imagine a whole car rofl.

 

[B@rt]

Rags, the 2cv only weighs about 450 kg (~1000 lbs) so it wasn't that bad. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[simbad]

I would like to see that Citroen climbing a street in San Francisco with four people in...first gear at 5mph. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crackup.gif
This car makes like a hundred miles with a gallon of gas.

 

[simbad]

Good picture Bart!, I love this car.

 

[diggdug13]

1968 plymouth fury II, 383 v8. big as a tank with a trunk large enough to fit a small car...lol

 

[sween1911]

1989 Mercury Tracer station wagon with big HONKIN' 1.6 LITER ENGINE!

It had turbo (aka - turning off the A/C), cruise, and the ability to go 90mph (it got there after the accelerator was on the floor for a good 10 minutes) down the highway and be invisible to police radar. It was such the granny car, it drew no attention whatsoever.

 

[BlueGerbil]

A red Fiat Panda.
Looks like this:

 

[jeffb]

Kevin and Raggie.

"Three on yhe Tree" was definitley a manual shift, with 1st, 2nd, 3rd and reverse, mounted on the steering column, with the "normal" clutch on the floor. It was the "progression" of cars in the 1930's and perhaps 1940's from floor mounted shifters to column. The 30's and 40's shifters were 2 feet +
long, compared to the very small 6" shift levers of today!

I'm grinning from ear to ear and showing my age, too!!

jeffb