What is your first car...memory ?

[Woodeden]

Sitting in the passenger seat of my Dad's Studebaker Hawk as he opened it up on a twisty road. Yeah Baby!

[Piwoslaw]

When my Mom came to the US she got what she could afford, which happened to be a huge 1970's (or maybe 60's) Plymouth. Compared to the tiny European car she had driven (Fiat 500 size), this was an aircraft carrier. She called it "the Tank". I remember this car because I was in it when it hit someone who ran a red light. The Tank had just started moving and only got a dent, Mom only scratched her chin on the wheel (2-point seatbelts), the Escort(?) was totalled, its driver flew out through the windshield (no seatbelts). Thankfully it all looked worse than it really was, the guy was OK.

That Plymouth reminds me of a saying about Soviet cars: You can dent it, but you won't break it.

[spacer]

In Soviet Russia, car crash YOU!

[cfg83]

Arragonis -

When we moved from Los Angeles to Houston Texas in 1969, we took my Dad's 1960 Chevy Impala :



I remember being in the back seat when we were about to leave our home and looking out the back window while playing with pipe tobacco tins that my Dad gave me :



I had put candy in them. I'll bet I remember that because moving was a "big event", and I remember thinking about my friends (whoever they were).

CarloSW2

[Arragonis]

These are all great memories, you can kind of smell the leather, or if you were poor like us, the plastic seats warmed to bare legs scolding hotness by the mild afternoon sun Keep them coming.

I'd like to add another couple - going on holiday every year in Scotland with my parents in one of these :



Even the colour is the same. I think my hypermiling started because my dad would moan about how much fuel the thing used - 32 MPG! (imp).

I used to sleep in one of the bunk beds just below the extending roof. Because Scotland is so far north in summer it doesn't quite go fully dark so I was always amazed by the fact that I could poke my head out the top and look around at midnight or the early hours.

And one other, my dad had one of these as his first ever "new" car - the car still exists and is still owned by the guy he sold it to in 1978



The VW "bug" / "beetle" enthusiasts may note that this is a 1200, so it has a 6-volt electrical system, a puny engine, low gearing and the older suspension. At the time you could have a 1300



which came with modern suspension, 12-volt electrics, longer gearing etc.

My dad chose the 1200 so he could have a radio

[basjoos]

My first memory was of my granddad's green 54 Pontiac Sky Chief sedan, the one with the cool jet plane hood ornament. It was was also equipped with a small rust hole through the back seat floorboard where you could see the road wizzing by underneath the car. We used to relieve trip boredom by dropping items through the hole to watch them bounce as they hit the road. Mostly small sticks and rocks, but occasionally small toys from my sister's collection found in the back of the car.

My first driving experience was at 4 years old when my twin brother and I released the parking brake on my mom's 59 Pontiac when my mom left us unattended in the parked car as she ran into a store for an errand. The car started rolling down the hill and a passer-by who saw it happen opened the door, jumped in, and pulled the brake.

Learned to drive in my dad's 68 VW beetle, which was also the 1st car I owned.

[tumnasgt]

First car I can really remember having noticed was my grandparents' 1981 Mercedes 280TE. The rear-facing third row of seats were awesome, great for waving at drivers in following vehicles .

I crashed it when I was two, I was playing in the drivers seat and shifted from Park, it turned out the parking brake wasn't working properly, so it rolled into a tree. As a result, for years any car parking on the slope at my grandparents house would have a block in front of a tire if there were kids nearby.

My grandparents had the car until about 18 months ago when they gave to a friend of friend that does up classic cars, word has since got back that the rust was too bad to be repaired cost effectively.


Like this, but green (and with the steering wheel on the right/correct side).

[euromodder]

Parents' VW Beetle.
Battery shorted, and the Beetle got fried.

[320touring]

Originally Posted by tumnasgt

Like this, but green (and with the steering wheel on the right/correct side).

The w123 is one ofn the few Mercs I'd like to have! Ideally a 280 in red with biscuit cloth interior....maybe a W126 v8 of some sort too

Originally Posted by euromodder

Parents' VW Beetle.
Battery shorted, and the Beetle got fried.

Likely be that "interesting" earthing arrangement onto the floor at the rear seat..

First car I ever was in was a 1303s in red 1974- my dad's car that took me home from the hospital

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by 320touring

[Beetle fires]
Likely be that "interesting" earthing arrangement onto the floor at the rear seat..

Yes.
Ours wasn't the only one with this sparking feature.