What is your first car...memory ?
 

Just for fun, what is the first motor you remember - either riding in, or just being aware of ?

For me it would be my Dad's navy blue FIAT 500 (the old, sensible sized one). This one had a fold back roof so in those pre-seat belt, safety nanny days I could stand on the passenger seat and poke my headout of the roof "tank commander" style whilst driving through Lancaster.

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/uploa...at/2069249.jpg

(this isn't it, just an identical one - his died due to over use).

first car........1966 Ford Mustang Coupe, 6 Cylinder, Automatic trans. Baby Blue
Got it in 1975 from my boss at the Gas Station I worked at.
It had 60,000 miles and it ran great. He sold it to me for $500. which was a Deal even back then.
http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/v...rdsHouseMe.jpg

aged 3- piloting one of these

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...AustinMaxi.jpg

down the street where I grew up (private road, so no licence/ability to reach the pedals required)



First ever car was one of these- a 1.8 90bhp Single point version of the mk2 golf engine-rapid!

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...seattoledo.jpg

My first car memory was a mid 70s chevy nova my mom and dad had. I remember sitting in the back seat, and my mom would drive to the gas station Dad worked at, and I would stand up to look out the window. And I remember wondering to myself how it moved....were there feet that propelled it like the Flinstones? And my dad would have to saw the steering wheel slightly back and forth to go straight....didn't make sense at the time, but I suspect he had manual steering.

I was also only 3 at the time, but those memories are seared onto my mind. My parents had some robust vehicles back then....a Ford Maverick with a 400 some odd cubic inch v8 shoehorned in comes to mind. That and a faithful 71 ford f250 that always got 10 mpg with or without a load. There was the Buick Century station wagon with the 5L v8 that was running on 7 cylinders, but still willingly pulled heavy loads on our trailer, and a 85ish Olds station wagon with a broken engine mount that would make the fan hit the shroud under acceleration or hill climbs.

I could talk for a long time about cars, but that would be indicative of a true gear head.

My dad's Chevette and Triumph TR4A IRS were the first cars printed in my memory.

I will see if I can dig up some pictures.

...a 1950's Simca Aronde with 4-speed on the column in this exact color:

http://www.thecartorialist.com/wp-co...mca_aronde.jpg

My Grandfather had one of these- my Grandmother referred to it as "the Scottish Nationalist Car" as it broke down every time he attempted to cross any border (e.g. Ireland/England/Wales)

When i was growing up in Serbia, my family's first car was a early 70's Morris Mini. My first car was a 90 Ford Festiva

My thunderbird

'54 Ford

http://www.remarkablecars.com/main/f...rd-00307-2.jpg

My first awareness of cars was my dad's Corvair. I was about three years old. The memory stuck because I learned that my 6 year old brother repeatedly jumping off the carport onto the roof of the Corvair would make my dad angry.

Dad owned a string of Corvairs in the early 60's including a convertible and a 110 monza.

Kirk

Several cars: a 1967 Toyota Corona, a 1968 Pontiac Firebird, and the 1972 Olds Vista Cruiser. But it is mainly the Vista Cruiser that I remember.

A brown Dodge wagon with the slant 6 engine, mid 70s model.

Story:
One day mom blew a radiator hose and locked up the engine. Dad towed it home with whatever he was driving (probably an old pick-up, momma got the new cars). Squirted oil down the spark plug holes, forced the crank-shaft with a breaker bar. Fired it up, changed the oil, Thing ran perfectly till he sold it. Probably still running if the chassis hasn't rusted out.

Nice memories :D Anyone noticed when you go near an old car the smell brings it all back.

320 - Maxi - Class :D

Ours was champagne Beige Metallic, with the "burnt orange" interior..like sitting in a bowl of Tomato soup..

Hard work tos teer the manual steering on the old b-series..gave me a love of driving, that car..also, nearly killed my dad with it:o

<Anorak>
Maxi didn't use the B-series
</Anorak>

;)

[cheek][pedant]
I was 3, I dont care!

But I should know that the maxi was a 1750..

Approx the year you were born?;):rolleyes:
[/pedant][/cheek]

Riding in the sideways jumpseats in the back of a Ford Ranger, not too much unlike today's model. :rolleyes:

<joke>I'm beginning to realise why you own a 4 cylinder BMW now ;)</joke>

The Maxi is a classic - not only did my Avatar snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in designing the Maxi itself, he compounded this error by supervising the development of it's engine - hence the stupidly narrow bore size so he could get a 6 cylinder version to fit in a transverse position.

I'm old enough to have worn one of these

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K3xm9yWTDt...0/P1030144.jpg

First memory I can dredge up... standing on the seat in my Grandpa's lap, steering one of his red and white Chevy trucks. He had a fleet of them, part of his grain harvesting operation. I think we were in a cleared wheat field.
I was probably three or four.

First car memory
 

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

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.

In Soviet Russia, car crash YOU! :)

Arragonis -

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

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-cf...evy-impala.jpg

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 :

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-cf...bacco-tins.jpg

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

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 :D Keep them coming.

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

http://www.gdaykombis.co.uk/cms_imag...4_1_medium.jpg

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

http://static.nearly-new-cars.co.uk/...2621112395.jpg

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

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3272/...e408063c8a.jpg

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

My dad chose the 1200 so he could have a radio :rolleyes:

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.

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.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...r_20090430.jpg
Like this, but green (and with the steering wheel on the right/correct side).

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

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


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:eek:

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

My first memory of a car was having the door closed on my poor fingers, and the resulting scream, which apparently was one of those primitive,

YOU JUST CLOSED THE DOOR ON YOUR KIDS FINGERS!!!!!!!!!!

Audible alarm ;).

I think it was a 1950 Dodge, later a 58 Plymouth Custom Suburban that we rode across the country and saw Alcatraz when it was still opened and went to Disneyland when it had just been opened a short time. Route 66 with the Burma Shave signs.

regards
Mech

Hahaha! Got my fingers crunched in my Dad's 1972 Vista Cruiser once when I was 5. Your first car/Disneyland memory is maybe a little like this very well-made 1950s home-made documentary about winning a contest for a trip to Disneyland. Enjoy! Movie link: DISNEYLAND DREAM.

I don't have a picture of it, but it was a old blue Ford Mercury...the good oh days :)

It wasn't a car at all. I remember standing next to my dad, barely able to look out the lower window of one of these. (see attachment below) We were cruising down a gravel road he had built up in the mountains.

When I was 4-5 years old, my Mom had an executive job w the Girl Scouts in the Spokane, WA. area.

I clearly remember riding w her in her company 2 tone black/yellow Chevy 210 4dr. wagon!

Mine was in 19and55 I was sleeping in the back window tray of an old 38 chevy I think, uncle Burke hit a deer I was superman for a few feet ended up watching my uncle argue with the cop ! what do you mean road kill is not legal in california. next car a brand new 1956 merc. sweet

My family's first car was a Vauxhall Astra with the Olympic rings on the back. Was a great little car that lasted for years and hardly ever had any problems...was sad to see it go :(

First car MEMORY (not first car): As a wee tot, cruising down a rural road with Pa in his early '60s MG (lil red convertible) with the top down on a sunny summer day. With such a pleasant first memory it's no wonder I became a motorhead.

Other memories from roughly the same time: struggling to stay upright in the passenger seat of a Microbus as it cornered... riding in a '47 Chevy Stylemaster... being recruited to "drive" the Microbus through deep, deep snow it was stuck in while Pa pushed; didn't work so then there was a long, long walk... well, my legs were much shorter then! And being recruited for helping to change a certain hard to reach spark plug on a Mach I Mustang because my hands were small.

I remember how my fingers got between car door as father slammed door shut, it was Renault 4, I remember how I was crying but as that car had so much space between door and frame and as weather strips were quite thick, it did not even hurt a bit.

Of course that might been 2nd one as I do remember another case where moose run on road, slipped down on ice road and car spinned so that it neatly stopped side to side with moose that was not able to get up because of too slippery road, there was just inch or two between the moose and the car. Eventually moose managed to get up and nobody was harmed, but that was still at the time when wildlife was natural thing, today it would of been shot by police and we all would need to go trough psychological helping to meet such horrible trauma.

Every year I meet few mooses on roads, still have managed to avoid them, but as I have encountered them already at age of 3-4 years old I seem to consider them rather natural things that jump on road.

How I remember the pinched fingers situation.

Junior High School aged: met friend to play sports at the school on a Saturday. We were done, and putting things away in the back of my friend's Mom's station wagon.

I was HELPING to close the tailgate on it. All ten fingers full in, gate fully closed.
No one noticed. I remember calmly saying: "Phil, could you please open this again?"

To be young, and not have anything broken was amazing. I had my 10spd. bike there with a 1 1/2 mile ride to go home. Still remember the feeling of those fingers throbbing! I believe the car was about a '65-'66 Dodge Monaco

My 1st car was a '67 Chevelle Malibu 2HT, 283 w 4spd. bought at 18 years old
in 1972. Took my own 1st road trip w it to CA. about a year later.

Also went from OR. to Wisconsin in it with just my Mom, as her parents were soon to pass on, and my car was more suitable for making that trip than trying to go in her '56 VW Bug. She paid all expenses, and I drove, and drove!