First Vehicle You Bought Yourself

[08Malibu]

The first car I owned was a 75 camaro. It was a complete rust bucket given to me by my uncle when I was 12. Another uncle helped me get it running. It had a bad hei module and a blown head gasket. It also had no reverse. My buddy and I drove it all over my back yard, even though the lot was only 30 x 180. It was a real junker and I took it all apart but had no money or skill to put it back together.
The first car I bought was an 80 camaro berlinetta. It was $500 and the PO drove it to my house. I bought that with saved birthday money. Unfortunately it had t tops and had a bunch of hidden rot so I got rid of it
The first car I bought and paid for,with money I worked for, was a 97 Golf Trek. My parents wanted me to have a new car with a warranty in case it broke down. I put down what I saved and they co-signed for the loan. I promptly blew up 4 transmissions in that car. I had no idea that doing burnouts was so bad for a fwd car.

 

[see2xu]

I was born on two wheels. We roamed around on garbage night to find discarded bicycles to strip down and build what we needed. We soon discovered that we could bolt a side-shaft lawn mower engine to a bicycle and have a motor bike for next to nothing. The cops frowned upon that. Once I got my motorcycle learner's permit I bought a 1966 Yamaha 125cc YA6. Sold that and bought a 1970 Harley Davidson 350 Sprint. What a great bike that was! Small but fast. I was given a 1960 Saab sedan that had a three cylinder two cycle engine. That never flew. But the first actual car I bought was a 1959 Ford Ranchero with a 289 hi-po engine and a three speed manual trans. Endless headaches so I traded that for a 1966 BSA 650 Lightning. I next bought a 1965 VW bus but swapped that for a 1965 Bug. None of these lasted very long. Once I escaped the Army and started working a real job I bought a 1968 Firebird that I kept for 16 years. I consider that my first real car.

And you could consider that Saab your first lawn mower! 😀

 

[Cauterize]

My first car was a 1982 Camaro Z28.

I started working when I was 14. I took a summer job at the local golf course as a greens keeper and worked every summer there until I was 17. I also worked at a gas station after class on weekdays. Somewhere along the line I had picked up a 3rd job at an industrial Valve repair shop that didn't really work out. It allowed me to save up enough money to buy a car I actually wanted (Camaro) and a shitbox winter beater (1985 Daytona Turbo-Z)

I ended up spending almost every cent I made on the Camaro. While my friends were doing drugs and getting loaded every night all I wanted to do was to make my car faster. From building my first engine with my dad and uncle, to getting into racing and making the car faster every year over the winter.

I ended up taking a position a few hours away from any track and after buying my house it didn't make sense to keep the car at the time.

 

[500/600]

My first purchase was a ‘69 Mustang which I traded for a ‘68 Torino GT. My first real driver was an ‘83 Regal and then my 15 year daily driver ‘70 Skylark.

 

[Ribbedroof]

72 Chevelle SS Pewter silver, black guts and vinyl top. Led a hard life before and after my ownership.

 

[Supercharged111]

Most of you guys started out with way cooler cars than I did. No fault insurance will put a new driver in the poorhouse, so I opted for a 92 Crown Victoria that had some bottom end noise (mains). Rebuilding the 4.6 was going to be cost prohibitive, so I opted for a junkyard motor instead since they had a good reputation for not dying. We got the jy motor home and the timing cover was cracked. No biggie, we'll swipe the one off of my motor. Doesn't fit, wtf? Mine was a one year only b@$t@rd block but there was a silver lining: this block had a SBF bell bolt pattern. For graduation, a family friend donated a 289 to the cause. In hindsight I should have run it as is, but we sent it to the machine shop instead. Since this project was going to take a while, I went and bought a 1988 Chevy C1500 reg cab long bed. The 2wd sucked in the winter (we got around 200"/yr), but it got me by while I slowly got the crown vic together. Initially it had the 9:1 289 swapped in with Edelbrock 600, Weiand Stealth intake, BBK shorties and h pipe, ran pretty good but always ran hot even with the F250 radiator. Once I shrouded the radiator and put a 5.0 Explorer intake on with Mustang computer it made a lot more torque and ran cooler. Next came a 5.0 bottom end and GT40P heads. That motor was less torque but carried to 5700 RPM whereas the 289 was DONE by 5000. I largely attribute the difference in LSA to that, but the heads could also have been partly responsible for power past 5000. That car also got a T5 swap and 3.73s with traklok. Did the cop springs, shocks, brakes, etc. It was still a boat, but a notably improved one. Did around 20mpg highway with the gears. That was my ultimate junkyard Mish mash. Sadly the rot got to it and I ended up parting/scrapping the car. Had too many in the driveway at the time and since I'd just gotten the C5Z suddenly the uniqueness of the vic just wasn't enough to keep me interested. Dad's Monte reminds me a bit of that car.

 

[L92 OLDS]

My first car was a 1970 Nova hardtop. It was light green and had the mighty 307. It had factory rallyes and was super clean. I still wish I had that car. It would have definitely been converted to an SS.

I started working when I was 14 so I was able to pay cash in full. It was hard earned money as I would get up at 4am to milk cows at a local dairy farm and then go to school.

One Easter Sunday I was driving the car in the rain. It had 60 series bias ply tires on it which is a recipe for disaster. Doing around 60 on a country road it hydroplaned and I did a 360 in the middle of the road but then hit the ditch hard. The car did an endo and landed on its roof. It’s really amazing I survived that wreck. Somehow I was forced under the dashboard and didn’t hit my head. I still have a few scars in my back from glass shards to remind me. That car was a total loss because I didn’t have collision coverage on it....tough lesson to learn for sure. My next car was My first Oldsmobile, a 1976 Cutlass Salon with a 350.

 

[PBGBodyFan]

My first car and also bought for by myself(never thought of it any other way, only way I know) is my 86’ Monte Carlo SS. Yep, still got it, 22 years later this month.

 

[303'505rollin]

The first car I bought myself was a 86 cutlass supreme(350$) the paint was burnt and only the driver seat was bad every thing else was super clean inside buy I bought it from some illegals so title was bad, kept it till I bought my 88 euro cutlass (500$) ghen I swapped headliners and the nose support bracket and it was good to go( the 88) but I did keep the 86 I put hydraulics on it and learned body work(burnt paint sanding) but sold it for parts after the 4-5th time getting a title. I gotta thing for oldsmobile cutlass so I got a 77 cutlass salon 403,buckets,European package(double K's on vin,13and 1/2 inch brakes in front,limited slip posi, very nice,but have others to work on too, I got this 81 monte after getting hit in the 88 but before the 77

 

[Max Headroom]

I bought my first car in 1969 for $50. It was a 1962, Viking Blue, 4-door Ford Falcon. The windshield wipers were vacuum operated and it had a 144 ci straight six. I paid for it but had to share it with my younger brother. Since I never got to drive the damn car, that didn't go over with me, so I saved my money and in 1971, bought a white 1965 Pontiac GTO. 389 ci, 3 deuce, 4 spd, 323 10-bolt posi. It was in good condition and I paid $400 for it. Much better.