Your First Car?

[Corey Cohron RIP]

Okay, let's here it! Tell us about your first car?

Now, I distinctly remember the conversations among my mom, dad, and me -- the outcome being that my first car would be one that I could trash... because I would. That was just a fact as far as they were concerned.

I got my license at 17 in 1986, but I didn't get my first car until I started college in 1987 (in the meantime, I DID drive my sister's car into a parked Cadillac, but that's another story). It was a two-door 1979 Chevy Malibu Classic, and it was the lovely 70s avocado green -- inside and out -- with what-used-to-be-a-white roof. Since green was my favorite color at the time, it was perfect! It didn't have power ANYTHING, it didn't even have A/C, but it DID have a rockin' auto-reverse cassette player. Oh yeah... :hehe:

I fondly remember driving all OVER Long Island with the windows down and my big ol' 80s hair getting even bigger with the wind whipping in through the driver's window and out the passenger window, belting out songs from Squeeze's Singles 45s & Under was the BOMB! I was also into New Wave, so I would imagine one might've heard some Depeche Mode, Smiths, or OMD playing as well. Something to keep in mind is that while I'm fond of singing, I'm very aware that I fit into the LOUD -- as opposed to GOOD -- category. :sing:

The one small problem the car had was that it leaked oil. No problem, I guess, had I really understood the true importance of oil to a car's engine. While I was living at home, I'm assuming that my dad took care of topping the oil off every so often. When I moved out, I didn't. :doh: Ever hear the sound an engine makes when it's dry as a bone? :yikes2:

It was my baby until mid 1991 when I killed it. (That's okay... it already had an 18" long gash in the passenger door from when I tried to pull into a left turn lane around a delivery truck in 1989 or 1990. Guess I cut it a little close. :hehe: Man, that truck's bumper sure did win the battle vs. my car door! That's back when cars were actually made of steel instead of plastic. :sigh:)

[bbbxcursion]

'94 Ford Bronco. Bought it stock but it did not stay that way for long. I'll look for a pic...

[bbbxcursion]

Lets see if this works..

[Power Hungry]

Awwww, that is NICE! :2thumbs: Just don't make 'em like that anymore.

I miss my dad's 77 F-250. It was the first truck I ever saw on 44's and did it ever look good.

As for my first? 1977 Malibu Classic (before they went to the square body style) with a 305, Turbo 350, and Firethorn Metallic Red. The 305 was rated at a scorching 140 bhp for that year. With a 2.73 rear gear, that thing would barely get out of its own way, much less ever break the tires loose.

It eventually gave way to my 1972 Chevelle which was probably one of my most favorite cars. Metallic Blue with blue interior and lo-back bucket seats with full console shifter. It had a sorry, worn-out 307 when I got it. Budgets being what they were, I rebuilt the 307 with a set of high compression 11.25:1 pistons, 2.02 heads, 280 cam, Hooker Super Comps through FlowMasters, Edelbrock Performer intake and an 800 Holley Spreadbore carb (which was a pain in the a$$ to jet because of the cam). Rebuilt the Turbo 350 tranny with a full-on shift kit that actually shifted so hard it broke the welds on the right axle tube where it was pressed into the differential pumpkin. Never broke an axle though! A 12-bolt, 3.42 gear rear end out of an Olds Cutlass slipped right in and launch problems were solved. I wish I still had pictures of it, but some things never make it in the divorce. :(

[Dixie Design]

My first car was a 1969 Porsche 912....with a volkswagon beetle engine in it.

One of our neighbors gave it to me for mowing his lawn for an entire summer. Was a real head turner, at least until I fired it up :smiley_roll1:

[seeleyra]

My first car was a poop brown 78 chevy Nova! I totalled that and ended up with an old ford Festiva! Had that for a week and traded it for a 78 Buick Skylark, traded that for an 85 Buick Regal. Since then;
86 Tempo
91 S-10
89 Citation! LOL
85 K-5 Blazer
87 Olds Cutlass
91 Ford Windster
90 Honda Accord
86 GMC Jimmy
01 Taurus
03 FX4 Expedition (still have it)
06 Ranger
06 F-150 STX (yuck!)
to the current 07 FX4

[Dixie Design]

Guess i'll add the complete list too :)

69 Porsche 912 - Angry woman poured something in the gas tank
91 Cavalier - Gave to my Grandparents
92 Lumina - Gave to my sister
72 CJ5 - Rolled it
92 Beretta - Blew it up
94 S-10 - Sold it to help my Grandma with bills
69 Corvette - Sold it to pay for college (long story)
72 El Camino - Dad bent the frame (long story)
54 3100 - Sold it after was struck by lightning (long story)
92 Tracker - Blew it up
69 AMX - Sold it and bought my
04 F150
71 CJ7 - Turned into too big of a project

I think that's it...

[ChuckD]

1966 T-bird, it had been in the family for years. It was mine but I was never allowed to drive it. Then had a 74 Road Runner with a 440, those were the days.

[secondarychaos]

2001 Toyota Tacoma... That I had in 2005. Great truck... until I totalled it. :(
I was working nights and going to school days, and I fell asleep on the way to work one day. :(

[groovy guy]

84 cross-fire vette in 87:)

[halfton]

85' Mustang LX maroon- 2.3L, auto
84' Mustang GT white t-top- built 302, t-5
82' Mustang GT grey- built 302, c4
83' F150 XLT 2wd two tone brown- 351W, c6
78' brown LTD- built 351W, c4
79' F150 blue reg. cab LB-built 460, c6 9" lift, 35s
89' Saab 900 turbo silver- riced out
69' Mustang coupe red- built 302, c4
02' Mustang GT 4.6L 5 spd. blue- misc. mods
97' F350 XLT black 4x4 reg. cab LB SRW- 460
05' F150 SCREW FX4 white/grey 5.4L, Gryphon, etc.....
06' F250 SCREW SB FX4 6.0L black- 6", 35s, Gryphon, etc....

In bold I still own.
Wow, good memories........!

[johnnyd]

My first car was a 77 Dodge Aspen, Marroon, Kraco 8 track w/Cricket 6x9's w/a 225 slant six w/the air cleaner turned upside down :cool_beans:. It was my Mom's car and a handy me down (just like everything else growing up, older brother and sister :cry:)

The first summer I had the car me and my buddies took it up to Cedar Point from Akron (about 120 miles one way). You could kind of smell oil on the way up but I shrugged it off. When we left to come home I decided that I better check the oil. Welp, there's not a drop of oil on the dipstick :yikes2:. Between the four of us we only had enough money for two quarts of oil (spent all our money on beer :D). I put them both in and it barely registered on the dipstick. Well I made the intelligent decision to drive it home anyways and would you believe that sob made it. That car ran great but the rust was unstoppable. The frame ended up rusting out on it. Scraped it.

[AgentOrange]

My first vehicle was a '73 F250 that I paid a whopping $200 for...couldn't afford much on a high school budget. I had so much fun in that POS and loved to work on it. It had a 390 in it w/ a 4-speed, really a 3 speed because 1st was a granny gear. It would drink as much oil as gas. I put that thing through hell and she kept on running. I sold it to my younger brother as his first vehicle, a few years later, for the same price I paid for it.

Since then:
'66 Chevy C10
'73 Dodge Power Wagon
'78 Ford Bronco w/ 460 & 39.5 Swampers - my favorite, besides my current truck
'96 Chrysler Concorde
'01 Nissan Altima
'05 Ford F150 King Ranch 4x4 - currently owned

[bbbxcursion]

Crossfire!!! Hell yeah!!! LOL

[jfuller5]

57 Chevy 350 / 370hp stock, LT-1, tunnel ram 2 660 holleys, fender well headers. 7 qt deep sump pan. m22 rock crusher . Would pull the wheels 1st and 2nd. Good thing cars cant talk. Jim

[SinCityFX4]

77' F-100 Custom. 300 Straight 6 with a 3 in the tree. Loved that thing. Never did anything other than service and 1 starter. Well over 200K on it.

[glockwinger]

1979 GMC High Sierra 2 wheel drive. Bright Yellow. Since those many years ago, I have seen the light and now own Ford Products:thumbsup:

[Power Hungry]

84 cross-fire vette in 87:)

Cross-Fire! We used to call those "Miss-Fire" injection in the early '90s because those twin TBI throttle bodies would become unsynchronized, with carbon around the throttle plates and stuff. They would backfire constantly any time you stabbed the throttle.

For YEARS I had a complete Cross-Fire manifold I pulled off of a rare Firebird Cross-Fire setup. I eventually had a couple plates made to replace the original twin TBI plate. One of them was for two 2-bbl carbs, one for two Square Bore (ie. 600 CFM) Holleys, and one for two Spread Bore (ie. 650 CFM) Holleys/Quadrajets.

On the 350 I put it on, for day to day driving the two 2-bbl setup ran the best with a good combination of throttle response and midrange power. The Spread Bore plate worked reasonably well at low to mid RPM with two Quadrajets due to the small primaries which increased intake velocity and improved throttle response. Unfortunately, it had a HUGE flat spot when the secondaries opened up (which had mostly to do with poor jetting of the secondaries) but once past that little issue that engine would SCREAM! I never did get to run the Square Bore plate, but I'm sure it would have worked well with good jetting.

In retrospect, I would use this manifold on anything other than a 400ci small block simply because of the vacuum requirements need to generate the air velocity necessary for good atomization. It was a fun experiment though and I really learned quite a lot about multiple carb setups from it.