Community Showcase: Your first car

tmo_chris
tmo_chris Nov 11, 2016 10:32 AM
  • Member Since: Nov 19, 2011

    Hey folks! Community manager Chris here again with another installment of the Community showcase!

     

    This week I thought it would be fun to take another trip down memory lane and share pictures/stories of your first car. Everyone remembers their first car! It is a life changing moment when you realize that you are no longer tied down to one spot or have to rely on others to give you a ride. You have finished your Driver’s Ed classes, you registered your vehicle with the MVD, and you have got yourself an overpriced auto insurance plan. There is only one thing left to do, hit the road!

     

    My first car was not the flashiest car on the lot but it was mine! After working and saving over multiple summers, I paid for it with my own hard earned money. I was 15 years old and scored a 1987 Suzuki Samurai from a friend of the family for $300. The engine was seized up and had to be completely replaced. I ordered a crate engine for $400 and my friend next door and I spent every day over the course of a summer fixing her up. It was no easy task that's for sure! I can't count how many times we went to the auto shop, Haynes auto manuals we studied, knuckles busted, and tools lost. This was the first car I had ever worked on and was before the days of YouTube so there were many mistakes. I'm pretty sure we attached the transmission wrong because the only gear it would go into for a while was reverse lol. We did have to call in an "expert" when it came to hooking up all the vacuum lines because there was no way we were going to remember where every single tube hooked up haha.

     

    We finally got it up and running and man oh man did it feel good! Sure, the carburetor was warped and I had to carry 3 cans of carb cleaner with me at all times in case I stalled out at a traffic light. Sure, I didn't quite fit that well in the car being a 6'4 300 pound offensive lineman. I'm sure it also looked really funny when my other friend and I, also an offensive lineman (who was bigger than me) got out of the car. I will never forget that car or the memories I made with it.

     

    I know that was a pretty long story but it's fun to recall all the old memories Take a moment and share your memories of your first car!

    1987 Suzuki Samurai

    samurai.jpg

    • 1748 Views
    • 13 Replies
    • Latest reply on Feb 11, 2017 9:48 AM by snn_555

      All replies

      • tmo_mike_c

        Re: Community Showcase: Your first car

        tmo_mike_c Nov 16, 2016 3:20 PM (in response to tmo_chris)
        • Member Since: Jun 25, 2012

        My first car was a Chevy Lumina. I got this one a short time before I started high school. Was it as flashy as my friends' cars, no, but it was mine, and that's all that mattered. It was a red 4-door sedan. I really wanted my first car to have manual transmission, but I wasn't complaining.

        I did have some... troubles with it though. The fuel gauge was a little funky. As the gauge got closer to E, it would sway back and forth. So, when you went up or down hills, it was a little confusing as to exactly how much gas was left in the tank until you came to a complete stop. On my way to school one day, someone tried to cross in front of me and crashed into me. It wasn't totaled, but it wasn't gonna make it to some fancy showroom floor either. The other driver messed up the left front headlight so my car looked like a cyclops, Franken-mobile for a while. Once I got it fixed up, I did roll around in it until I graduated. That car was a real trooper!

        1993 Chevrolet Lumina

        lumina.png

        • notethis

          Re: Community Showcase: Your first car

          notethis Nov 16, 2016 4:45 PM (in response to tmo_chris)
          • Member Since: Aug 27, 2016

          MY first was baptism by fire on the chesapeake bay bridge one day. i was at the toll gate waiting for toll pay and someone rear ended me at 40 mph. it didnt blow up. in case you dont know, it was meant to explode if rear ended.sounds like a note 7 on wheels.the only thing boomin in the hatch was a 1000 watt subwoofer system.

           

          1976 ford pinto.download.jpg

          • stevetjr

            Re: Community Showcase: Your first car

            stevetjr Nov 16, 2016 5:33 PM (in response to tmo_chris)
            • Member Since: May 20, 2012

            plymouth-sapporo-1978-8.jpg

             

            1979 Plymouth Sapporo

            • tmo_amanda

              Re: Community Showcase: Your first car

              tmo_amanda Nov 17, 2016 9:42 AM (in response to tmo_chris)
              • Member Since: Oct 4, 2012

              Old car.jpg

               

               

               

              My first car was a 1990 Buick Century. My great grandma got it right when it came out and when she passed away it was handed down to me. The car was finally retired after 200,000+ miles and a cracked block. This sucker could climb hills and keep up with cars going over 80 MPH. I only received one speeding ticket in this car and got in a tiny accident. This car was definitely a beast!

                • tidbits

                  Re: Community Showcase: Your first car

                  tidbits Nov 17, 2016 11:59 AM (in response to tmo_amanda)
                  • Member Since: Jul 15, 2011

                  1984 Grand National

                   

                  My dad made a promise with me when i helpped him restore his impala he would buy me a car. When we finally finished and it was fully restored I knew how to repair, bodywork, and paint cars. I held off for a few years on the car promise and that beauty came out. Was glad i waited.

                   

                  Current buried due to an accident(not my fault). Currently about to start a project with a G10. Going to restore that and make the A-Team van :)

                • tmo_phillip

                  Re: Community Showcase: Your first car

                  tmo_phillip Nov 18, 2016 6:12 PM (in response to tmo_chris)
                  • Member Since: May 29, 2011

                  Feast your eyes on this beauty.

                  1982 Corolla.png

                   

                  I had a 1985 Toyota Corolla with the cool headlights that rolled up. I didn't appreciate it at the time, and beat it up until it finally stopped running, and I then upgraded to the neighbors 19?? Oldsmobile.

                   

                  R.I.P. Phil's 'Rolla. I'm sure you're in a better place.

                  • jremid@yahoo.com

                    Re: Community Showcase: Your first car

                    jremid@yahoo.com Jan 6, 2017 6:08 PM (in response to tmo_chris)
                    • Member Since: Aug 19, 2016

                    My first car was an impressively unique chick magnet for those who

                    enjoyed fine European touring cars - it was a used 1969 Fiat 124 Sport

                    Coupe. Red, with a wooden dash and hardwood steering wheel.

                     

                    Remember dropping by an almost a girlfriend once will h a different car. Wow, what a

                    a difference in her. First words out of her mouth, "where's the fiat?"

                     

                    Took the abuse from TR-6 (triumph) owners and had lots of fun cruising.

                    Was great having Euro style while only 17. cost me about 1400 dollars and sold it a couple years later before

                    going to Europe for real. pic is from web, not mine.8034326.jpg8034316-1.jpg

                    • philesterhouse

                      Re: Community Showcase: Your first car

                      philesterhouse Feb 1, 2017 1:24 PM (in response to tmo_chris)
                      • Member Since: Feb 1, 2017

                      How'd I get sucked into a topic way off from the reason I came to this forum?

                       

                      Anyway, I rode motorcycles until my wife and I received a 1956 Morris Minor 1000 as a wedding present.  This is a photo of a similar car.  Ours was a gray two-door like this one.

                       

                      Image result for Morris Minor 1000

                       

                      Jamie

                      • Re: Community Showcase: Your first car

                        snn_555 Feb 11, 2017 9:48 AM (in response to tmo_chris)
                        • Member Since:

                        1985 Dodge Ram Custom 100

                        Red with Gold pinstripe

                        Inline Slant-6

                        140,000 miles when I got it

                        About 147,000 when the engine blew

                        Saved my $2 in lunch money everyday for gas which was just under $1 a gallon and avg 12 mpg. 

                        GF at the time lived 12 miles away!

                        Ate off everyone else's plate!

                         

                        29897540001_large.jpg

                        Not the exact same, but looked like this one.