"My First Car" Stories

[cjolley]

With the two car threads going, I thought "Hey! We need another car thread....."


I was 17. The legal age for millitary dependents to drive in W. Germany
Time: May 1969
Place: Wiesbaden West Germany
Make: VW Beetle
Model: 1953
Price: $200
Color: Grey (Or very faded something else)
Engine: 30ps (I don't think it was exported to the US)

Standard:
Split rear window,
Bulb & reflector headlights,
Slot for starting crank on engine (It did have an electric starter, of course)
Cable operated brakes
Side Flap turn siginals!

Options:
Canvas sun roof.
I think it had a radio.

Top speed: 110kph
Speed when it threw a rod: 110kph
Cost of engine replacement: $25 for a used engine, $5 for installation.

Maximum passengers: 11 (Hey, I was in high school)

Best story:
Did you know that the bottom of a VW Beetle is
very flat and it will ride up on the snow in the
road if it gets too deep?

Depth of snowbank on road: 20"
Distance from tires to road: 6"
Cost of two snow shovels: $4
Look on my Dad's face: Priceless!

chuck



[This message has been edited by cjolley (edited 16 May 2001).]

[cbman]

My first car was the Lada Signet Sedan (1985 Model I believe)

Paint : Tremclad Flat Black
Tires : 2 Pirelli's on the Front 2 Turbo Laser 2' on the back
Sunroof : Yes.. Leaked.. Yes
Radio : Blaupunkt (I think thats how its spelled)

Engine 1.7 Liter out of a Lada Niva mated to a five speed auto with a finicky second gear with dual weber carbs and playboy bunny mudflaps

Story... Don't know what it was but it would always only run on 2 or 3 cylinders when going through the town of orangeville on the way to Toronto leading to worrying if the car was finally kicking the bucket... it happened every single time in orangeville and only in orangeville

PPS.. top speed 165Km/H after a slight descent... once it hit that speed it would stay there until I let go of the gas

Oh it also had a Higher ratio rear end because I took the rear axle out of one of the rare cars that came with a chevette automatic transmission

[Electric Amish]

My first car:

Age: 16
Time: Summer 1988
Place: South Jordan, Utah USA
Make: Ford
Year: 1969
Model: Bronco
Price: $2300
Color: Faded Orange w/ White top
Engine: V8 302
Tranny: Manual "3-on-the-tree" + 4 wheel drive


Man, I loved that car! I had it and drove it every day for 6 years. Drove me to and from my first year of college (~100 miles each direction). Original engine and the motherf@cker still got ~15-18 mpg after 20+ years.

Sold it in 1996 so I could buy my computer, since I'd never have the time/skill/money to restore it properly. Still sold it for $2000.

amish

[RichL]

First Car - 1979 Vauxhall Viva estate (Station Wagon for all you Colonials out there )
Engine - 1256cc overhead valve pushrod.
Paint - Brick orange metallic.
Price - £175 including 6 months road tax.
Top speed - 95mph. 0-60 in a few days.

Favourite memories - Having the clutch cable snap when I was in the middle of nowhere, kicking the drivers door out of frustration and nearly breaking my foot! The door didn't even dent....

Current ride

Car - 1989 Citroen BX 16v
Engine - 1905cc DOHC 16v, 160bhp @6800rpm
Paint - Traffic light green metallic
Price - Cost £1700, one drive and you wouldnt sell it for anything.
Top speed - 137mph, 0-60 in 7.3 seconds.

Favourite memories - Any time some boy racer doesnt realise what it is and tries to play .
Best breakdown - The rotor arm detaching at 110mph, causing a huge backfire that blew the centre exhaust box wide open. You can coast quite some way at that sort of speed.

[cbman]

Ok.. not my first car..but my best breakdown

1987 Pontiac Safari Station Wagon (Before it became a minivan)

It was a loaner from the garage where my parents car was getting fixed.. I was cruising the backroads going for a ride and the car started running excellent... (First Clue) Then the Temperature light came on and there was a loud pop and I was streaming a vapour trail about 30 feet long down the one side of the car. Talk about turning other drivers heads...

Needless to say the engine stopped working until I filled the rad with water using a coffee cup (Took Forever) and made it the 10 Km's to the next town...

[ZokesPro]

Ah yes, my first car!

Age: 5
Place: Edmonton, Alberta
Make: Hasbro, Mattel (who cares)
Model: (only one model available)
Price: Whateve my parents paid for it!
Color: Plasticky color.
Engine 6V Electirc motor!
Standard: Everything Plastic!
Guaranteed not to rust!
Top speed: 4km/h
Maximum Passebgers: 1 50lbs kid

Best Story: Flipped it at more than 3.8 km/h, possibly scrapped a knee, I was too drunk to remember.


------------------
"Wedge! Pull out! You're not doing any good back there!"
Suggestive Star Wars line from Return of the Jedi

[agallag]

Age: 21
Time: Summer of 1996
Place: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Make/Model: 1991 Isuzu Impulse XS
Price: $8995
Colour: White with ugly brownish sport stripes
Engine: 126hp 1.6L DOHC 4 cylinder
Curb weight: 2400lbs
Top speed: 210 kph
"Handling by Lotus"

Went like stink, turned like stink, stopped like stink doesn't, cost a fortune to fix. Traded it in late in 1997 for a blue 1998 Mazda Protege. Now driving a black 2000 Protege. It's almost as fast as the Impulse, but much more reliable.


------------------
Andrew
Carpe Cerevisi

[The Rock]

The car: 1984 VW Jetta
Color: ugly semi-urine-kinda gold
The place: New Waterford, Nova Scotia, Canada
Engine: turbo diesel

Dumbest thing I ever did with it: took it down to the local beach and did doughnuts in the sand (and this was a salt water beach with a LOTTA salt). The entire exhaust system pretty much rotted away over the next 2 years.

Favorite aspect of the car for me: the sunroof. I could drive with my head poking out of the sunroof at 120k and it was actually comfortable, with my feet still being able to reach the pedals comfortably. Of course, the comfort factor may have had something to do with the "copius amounts of ghanja" I smoked when doing this.

Sold by my parent because: I mangled it. I used a jigsaw to cut holes in the back for new speakers, and threw my own "theft-proof" tape deck in it, meaning that I tossed a nice Pioneer deck in it, but never mounted it. I just hooked the wires up when I went somewhere, and unhooked em when I came back. Thus, a pile of ugly wires gaping from the dash when I wasn't driving it. Not to mention blowing the signal light fuse when I connect the deck wires in the wrong order (DOH).

Bart

[SteveC]

OK, I'm on my 4th and have only been driving 3 1/2 years!

First car:

My Age: 17
Date: August 1997
Make: 1984 Vauxhall Nova
Engine: 1.2 (With only 4 gears...)
Colour: Sh*t brown
Cost: £350

Only had the car for 3 months, then I was advised to 'get rid of it before winter sets in, it won't survive it!'

Car number 2:

My Age: 17
Date: December 1997
Make: 1986 Mk III Ford Escort
Engine: 1.3 (Also with only 4 gears...)
Colour: White
Cost: £400

Ahh - my lovely death trap This car started out as a 1.3 standard escort when I got it. It turned out that this car was made from at least 3 other cars, but I didn't find this out until like a year later!
I replaced the 1.3 HCS engine after a year or so with a 'proper' 1.4 and got a 5 speed box in it. Only problem is, the engine crapped out on me big time - I even got smoke inside the car

During the time I owned this car, I had 2 accidents - had the bonnet replaced and wing because of one of them, the front bumper replaced cos of the other. Had 2 new tailgates and replaced the total interior. Also had one time I was driving at around 70mph and the bonnet catch broke and the bonnet lid flew up in my face!! NOT a nice experience

After the year, it was sooo unsafe to drive, I gave it away to a breakers...

Car number 3:

My Age: 19
Date: Summer 1998
Make: 1991 Mk V Ford Escort
Engine: 1.3 (With 5 gears! )
Colour: Metallic blue
Cost: £2200

When I bought the car, I though I was getting a great deal - the car was 7 years old and in absolute spotless condition. Over the near 2 years I owned it I found a few odd things, like underspray in odd places, and the odd bolt missing/loose. I just sorted things out as and when needed, not too bad a car, apart from the engine started being a bit iffy, and as I was doing in excess of 100 miles a day, I Part exchanged it last year for a newer car. Anyway I then found out that just 6 months before I bought it, it was a total write-off!

Now, by this time, I had had 3 cars in only a couple of years! I decided I had to get something reliable, with some sort of guarantee. So I P/Xed my blue escort for a 1998 Rover 214si. Even though the car was 2 years old when I bought it, I am the first owner - the garage owned it beforehand. I have service history and warranty! The car did cost me an arm and a leg (which I'm still slowly growing back ) but it was worth it.

My Age: 20
Date: Spring 2000
Make: 1998 Rover 214si
Engine: DOHC 1.4 16v (105bhp)
Colour: 'Firestone' metallic red
Cost: £8500

I love this car - it's only a 1.4, but as it's quite small and has a 105bhp high-revving (7000rpm) engine, I have had 120mph out of it, and can keep up with Golf GTI's (just!) and most other 1.6 engined cars.

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Cheers,
Steve

"Life is what we make of it, yet most of us just fake"

[Ali]

First car:
Age 15
Make Morris
Model: Mini Estate (the streched van like one thing).
Engine: 1098cc
BHP: about 10, because someone had bored it out and put the origional pistons and rings back in. (t was VERY smokey, but cheap).

Best memory: Beating a Holden 5L V8 up 'the Kilmog' (a steep hill around here). It had a new 1098 with a cooper 998 head, twin 1.25inch SUs and a free flow at this stage though.

That car got me hooked on minis, and Ive had 6 since then, with my fav being a mk1 1964 Morris Cooper S with a very very highly modified motor. Better power to weight ratio than a Lambourghini Diablo!

Ali

[SteveC]

AAAaaaaaaaaaaaarggghhhh!! I hate minis! They should (along with all Ford KA's) be destroyed!

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Cheers,
Steve

"Life is what we make of it, yet most of us just fake"

[cbman]

Geez... you would think Steve was tall or something

[SteveC]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by cbman:
Geez... you would think Steve was tall or something </font>

It's not so much the size of them (well it is...) but the fact that the ride is soo uncomfortable, you feel scared sh*tless in them when you realise that all that's protecting you is less than half an inch thick door/floor/roof/etc, and they look so damn ugly! I don't care if the mini is a traditional english car, I still hate it!



------------------
Cheers,
Steve

"Life is what we make of it, yet most of us just fake"

[Pelle]

Time: June 1996
Place: Cologne, Germany
Make: Volvo 480 Turbo
Model: 1985
Price: DEM 9750
Color: Silver-Grey
Engine: 140 ps
Top speed: 215 kph
Cost of engine replacement: DEM 5000, after 4 weeks
Maximum passengers: 4

Best story:
After two or three weeks, the turbo-charger went nuts and started overcharging, resulting in incredible top speeds. The scale went up to 230 km/h, but I remember driving into holidays, up hill, three persons, luggage for two weeks, and the needle FAR beyond the scale, about where 260 should have been.

I didn't fix the turbo, so unneccessary to mention, some days later the whole engine blew. But boy, the thing rocked as long as it worked :-)

I got myself a S2000 in March, man, this thing is wicked. I got it up to 278 km/h on a free Autobahn ... get's a bit shaky, then.

Ciao, Pelle

[RichL]

Steve,
didnt you know that the Ford Ka was a joke gone horribly wrong?
One of Ford's design team painted four wheels on a Habitat teapot and sent it up to the board as an April Fool's joke.