Your First CAR !!??

[GlennSprigg]

Back in 1973, my 1st car was a 1954 Morris Minor 850. The engine was totally buggered, so
before I could drive my 1st car at 18 y/o, I had to completely strip it and re-build it !! 
Including cylinder honing, valve guides, hand-grinding in (lapping) the valve faces, bearings,
re-working the head & face.  None of this "just change the engine" crap back then.   


Since then, I was always an Aussie 'Holden' guy. The last pic is of my 'Champagne' coloured
Holden 'Calais'. The 'Calais' was the top of the line, electric 'everything' & Walnut Dash!!
My brother was a 'Ford' man, and was always getting me to drop him off & pick him up from
the Ford dealerships for repairs. He always jokingly said for me to not let them see MY car,
however, it was always MINE that took him to these places!!!....

[pardo-bsso]

It depends if it was mine-mine or mine-shared but the first ones were a Citroën 2CV and a 97 Fiat Duna.

Now I'm in a Chery Face and rebuilding a 1981 Peugeot 504 as a pastime.

[SiliconWizard]

My very first car was a restored VW Beetle (1200). Fun stuff.

[Ampera]

As a 17 year old, to have my first car I am very thankful for, as there are a good number of people years beyond me who do not have theirs yet.

My first and only car is a 1993 Buick Regal Custom 4 door with a 231cu V6. It's been in my family since my great grandfather bought it, and it's been passed down to my great grandmother, my grandfather, and now me. It's in excellent condition and it's made many a trip to see family across state borders, and will make many more. It's got power windows, power locks with FOB, enough gauges to fly the shuttle, and it even has something insane for 1993, on-steering wheel media control buttons.

I'd give a picture, but there's like 50 different styles and minor differences between the different options and minor revisions, and my actual car is outside in the cold and I'm inside in the warm.

[SparkyFX]

Trabant 601

It featured internally adjustable front wheels...

[Halcyon]

1991 Mazda 626 wagon. It has 250k kilometers on the odometer but ran just fine. It even had power windows and cruise control!

[GeorgeOfTheJungle]

My first car was a lovely British Leyland/Austin Mini 850 almost identical to this one:

[georges80]

MY 1st 'car' I still own and still drive when in oz. Bought new, 1980 patrol diesel. Trip back there just a couple of months ago and running strong and reliably without all the modern 'gadgets'



cheers,
george.

[dcac]

1973 Pontiac Firebird formula 400, well it was actually a formula 350 but the previous owner had put the 400 engine in cause he thought he needed more torque. :p

[james_s]

Mine was a 1988 Ford Ranger pickup, got a lot of use out of that thing. Sure was gutless though, carbureted 2L engine and when I sold it I agreed to change the timing belt as part of the sale conditions. Well it turned out the cam timing was off by a tooth the whole 2.5 years I was driving it. The thing ran WAY better after I fixed that, sold it to a friend of a coworker and last I heard several years later he was still driving it.

It's embarrassing to have not thought to check the cam timing based on the symptoms, gutless and had a tendency to start pinging. I was 18 and didn't know a whole lot about cars yet.

[Gyro]

Mine was a 1971 Peugeot 304... The bits that were still identifiable anyway! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peugeot_304

Trabant 601

It featured internally adjustable front wheels...

You HAVE to be the winner with that one! 

[rrinker]

 My first car was a 1979 Chevy Nova. Indestructible but gutless 305 small block V8. How indestructible? Well, after a night out at the movies with friends, I was returning home in heavy rain and traffic was stopped. Car by car inched up, couple of fire police were directing people. A notorious low-lying area was flooded. The told me if I take it easy, I can make it through, instead of making me go a different way. OK, put it in low and slowly moved out. Did have any problem, seemed pretty deep but as it was completely dark it was impossible to know for sure. Until the next morning when I looked at my car and saw the water line 3/4 of the way up the door. On opening the hood, I found water puddled in the groove between the cylinder heads and the intake manifold, as well as any other flat area under the hood. Took off the air cleaner, and water was puddled in there, and the element was completely soaked - dripping water when held up. Clearly, water had to have been sucked in, how it did not lock the motor I'll never know.
 I subsequently owned 4 cylinder cars with far more power. That's what happens when you just throw emissions controls on an existing motor with no design changes to the motor itself.

[maginnovision]

My first car was a 1979 Chevy Nova. Indestructible but gutless 305 small block V8. How indestructible? Well, after a night out at the movies with friends, I was returning home in heavy rain and traffic was stopped. Car by car inched up, couple of fire police were directing people. A notorious low-lying area was flooded. The told me if I take it easy, I can make it through, instead of making me go a different way. OK, put it in low and slowly moved out. Did have any problem, seemed pretty deep but as it was completely dark it was impossible to know for sure. Until the next morning when I looked at my car and saw the water line 3/4 of the way up the door. On opening the hood, I found water puddled in the groove between the cylinder heads and the intake manifold, as well as any other flat area under the hood. Took off the air cleaner, and water was puddled in there, and the element was completely soaked - dripping water when held up. Clearly, water had to have been sucked in, how it did not lock the motor I'll never know.
 I subsequently owned 4 cylinder cars with far more power. That's what happens when you just throw emissions controls on an existing motor with no design changes to the motor itself.

I've fixed one of these after it had an engine fire. It still ran after the fire just not well.

[Muttley Snickers]

It was a die cast batmobile which got run over in the driveway.   

[boffin]

is it really a good idea to post something like this, that is so commonly used as a security question ?

[SeanB]

VW beetle 1600, red, with only minor rust. the battery did fall out, but that was remedied with some steel plate and rubberising, to make it stick there. Half fibreglass, because they do rust nicely.

[james_s]

is it really a good idea to post something like this, that is so commonly used as a security question ?

It's kind of a dumb security question IMO because it's information that is not difficult to dig up. Whenever I get a security question like that I use an answer that nobody can just look up. Maybe the first car I ever drove, or the first car I remember really wanting. These are much harder for someone to figure out.

[The Soulman]

DAF 66 1300 Marathon, with the famous variomatic drive.
I've done some cool mods to it but sold it 16 or 17 years ago.
The current owner restored it in near original condition and currently has it up for sale:

https://www.marktplaats.nl/a/auto-s/oldtimers/m1470153983-daf-66-1300-marathon.html?c=1cbcb1b540183caf56dfb1454bb6cfe2&previousPage=lr

I've pondered to buy it back, but I have bought a more practical car today. 

[boffin]

DAF 66 1300 Marathon, with the famous variomatic drive.
I've done some cool mods to it but sold it 16 or 17 years ago.
The current owner restored it in near original condition and currently has it up for sale:

https://www.marktplaats.nl/a/auto-s/oldtimers/m1470153983-daf-66-1300-marathon.html?c=1cbcb1b540183caf56dfb1454bb6cfe2&previousPage=lr

I've pondered to buy it back, but I have bought a more practical car today. 

My dad bought one of these when we lived in England, in bright yellow.

[Psi]

1990 Nissan EXA N13    1.6L
Paint was grey and pretty bad when i got it, so i painted it blue.

[Red Squirrel]

98 Buick Lesabre.  Best pic I could find that's already uploaded, I'm sure I have more somewhere else.    It's a grandpa car but it was a good deal and got me where I had to go.   



Later upgraded to a 94 Alero when it died: (basically too rusted to be worth repairing anything)


 

And recently that car died too so I upgraded to a 2009 F150:



I can't justify the cost of buying new, so I tend to buy in the 10 year old range.   Even this truck was kind of hard to swallow, it was around 14k.  But I do plan to buy some off grid property at some point so it's much easier to go check out these properties with a truck. I brought that poor Alero in places I really shouldn't. 

[james_s]

It's crazy to hear of such new cars rusting to pieces, my 29 year old daily driver is still rust free. I wonder if people will ever realize that road salt absolutely destroys cars. I think dumping salt all over the roads is pure madness, driving in snow is no problem but I won't drive on salt. It doesn't snow often here but I remember one time we got 14" and I was driving around in an old RWD Volvo with studded tires and chains, had no trouble getting anywhere I had enough ground clearance. It's especially crazy out here because whenever it does snow people start screaming for them to salt it, as if taking years off the life of your car is cheaper than just skipping work for a few days.

I think most people are just clueless. I hear "Oh new cars don't rust" Oh yeah they do, there's just so much plastic you don't see the rust until the car falls apart under you. I worked on one years ago where the subframe rusted out to the point that the whole steering rack broke free, miraculously it held on until the car was in a parking lot.

[CatalinaWOW]

1963 Pontiac Star Chief.  Learned many, many things in that car, and fortunate to have survived a lot of them.  389 V8 with 2 barrel carburetor.  First thing I did after buying it was to see how fast it would go.  About 85 mph (135 k/h).  Seemed to run a little rough.  An engine rebuild revealed one pushrod through a rocker arm and several other pushrods bent or broken.  Five operable cylinders and all my ignorant youth could detect was "a little rough".  After an engine rebuild ala GlennSprigg took it out for another speed trial.  Somewhere north of 130 mph  (210 k/h).  Where a road emergency up ahead demonstrated to me that kinetic energy is a square law with speed.  Many other adventures that only a stupid teenager would get into and a lucky one survive.

[Red Squirrel]

It's crazy to hear of such new cars rusting to pieces, my 29 year old daily driver is still rust free. I wonder if people will ever realize that road salt absolutely destroys cars. I think dumping salt all over the roads is pure madness, driving in snow is no problem but I won't drive on salt. It doesn't snow often here but I remember one time we got 14" and I was driving around in an old RWD Volvo with studded tires and chains, had no trouble getting anywhere I had enough ground clearance. It's especially crazy out here because whenever it does snow people start screaming for them to salt it, as if taking years off the life of your car is cheaper than just skipping work for a few days.

I think most people are just clueless. I hear "Oh new cars don't rust" Oh yeah they do, there's just so much plastic you don't see the rust until the car falls apart under you. I worked on one years ago where the subframe rusted out to the point that the whole steering rack broke free, miraculously it held on until the car was in a parking lot.

Yeah I hate that they use so much salt.  With climate change I find it's even worse because we get multiple freeze/unfreeze cycles throughout the year now and with the salt it just turns into a mushy mess.  It's just nasty and sticks to everything.  I prefer when there is a nice solid smooth snow pack on the road, it's better to drive on and less hard on the car and just overall cleaner. 

[I wanted a rude username]

Is it weird to have never owned a car? Been enjoying Melbourne's temperate weather, living the motorbike life ...

[cs.dk]

My first was a Peugeot 205 1,9 GTi with turbo.. Actually this one; https://www.bilgalleri.dk/galleri/369-peugeot_205_gti_1_9_t

I later fitted it with a Megasquirt injection system.

[tom66]

My first car was a 2005 Peugeot 206 2.0 HDi diesel.



(mine was in Diablo Red, a little darker than this)

It was not a bad car. It was later replaced with a 2008 Ford Focus 1.8L petrol, which I can confidently say was the worst car I ever had the displeasure of owning, and it cost me almost £600 in 6 months in repair work. In a stroke of luck I suppose, someone smashed into me on the motorway.  They decided not to stop, but I caught their licence plate on my dash cam and their insurance company paid for my car, which was written off. It was probably the kindest thing to do to that car.

Now I own a 2015 VW Golf GTE plugin hybrid.



It's a really, really good car.  I just fear that it will be expensive if something goes wrong.  So much technology.

[OE2WHP]

Had a Volskwagen Kaefer back then: Funny car. Air condition availlable only in winter and heating only in summer.

[vk6zgo]

DAF 66 1300 Marathon, with the famous variomatic drive.
I've done some cool mods to it but sold it 16 or 17 years ago.
The current owner restored it in near original condition and currently has it up for sale:

https://www.marktplaats.nl/a/auto-s/oldtimers/m1470153983-daf-66-1300-marathon.html?c=1cbcb1b540183caf56dfb1454bb6cfe2&previousPage=lr

I've pondered to buy it back, but I have bought a more practical car today. 

My dad bought one of these when we lived in England, in bright yellow.

I remember getting a lift from Fawley into Souhampton city, in a yellow  DAF  in1971.

It was LHD, & when the driver, who was Canadian, pulled out around a double decker bus to see if
it was clear to pass, it was alarming for the front seat passenger, to say the least!! 

[GreyWoolfe]

First car was a 1970 Datsun 510 4 door in lemon yellow. Manual choke and the butterfly loved to freeze closed in the winter.  Slid on wet surface into a tall curb and literally tore the driver side front wheel off.  When it was pulled off the curb by the tow truck, the wheel hung parallel to the ground.  First new car was a 1979 Chevy Nova 2 door with the straight 6.  Base model with radio delete but did have AC for all of $5400 US.  Loved that car and ended up selling it to my dad at just over a year old when the company I went to work for gave me a company car that I could use for personal use.  In 1984, he gave it to his sister on Long Island and it was in use until it rusted apart. 

[Halcyon]

is it really a good idea to post something like this, that is so commonly used as a security question ?

If you're silly enough to actually answer this security question honestly, then it's no longer a security question.

All the answers to my security questions are complete gibberish (complete with symbols) which I store in a secure location that no one else has access to. No, I don't recall the answers off the top of my head, but I don't need to. I just look them up if/when required.

[VK5RC]

A very old Humber Hawk, it had the Auto trans, but the band for 2nd (3 speed - dry plate clutch for 3rd) was buggered, so you had 2 real gears. It died after my father ran it into a tree when the brakes failed, he was ok but the tree wasn't!

[GlennSprigg]

Great replies. It's good that we remember this stuff. Back when we were excited & proud
of our first acquisitions!!  Back when money was probably tight. Had respect for things then.

I know modern cars are complex, but back then you could climb under the bonnet/hood to
work on those old simplistic engines, and I hate the throw-away attitude today. These days
they just tell you to replace the engine. I know mechanics can be expensive, but if you know
what you are doing, yourself, and it's just 'your' hours, you can save many thousands!!!
Bearings, rings, a head-kit... what ever...  $300-$400 instead of $5000+  Give it a go!!!   

[Gyro]

A very old Humber Hawk, it had the Auto trans, but the band for 2nd (3 speed - dry plate clutch for 3rd) was buggered, so you had 2 real gears. It died after my father ran it into a tree when the brakes failed, he was ok but the tree wasn't!

He was lucky!  When it comes to trees, the result is usually the other way round.

[GlennSprigg]

A very old Humber Hawk, it had the Auto trans, but the band for 2nd (3 speed - dry plate clutch for 3rd) was buggered, so you had 2 real gears. It died after my father ran it into a tree when the brakes failed, he was ok but the tree wasn't!

He was lucky!  When it comes to trees, the result is usually the other way round.

Re: VK5RC...  Auto trans are another thing where many people get ripped off. 'Usually' the only
real problem is needing a flush out, and/or replacing a broken $5 spring/plastic-valve, adjusting
the bands. Most places again say that you need a new trans!!!  90% of the time, that's bullshit.

Re: Gyro...  Back in those days, cars were stronger, and had real bumper bars etc. I know that
today, they are made to 'collapse' to absorb energy, but usually resulting in a right-off.

[james_s]

The two times I dealt with a flaky auto trans it was a good excuse to yank the stupid thing out and replace it with a proper manual gearbox. I loath slushboxes, they suck all the enjoyment out of driving and turn the coolest car into a major bore.

[Gyro]

Re: Gyro...  Back in those days, cars were stronger, and had real bumper bars etc. I know that
today, they are made to 'collapse' to absorb energy, but usually resulting in a right-off.

I was referring to the survival of the driver, not the vehicle. No matter how strong the bumper bars, or how good the crumple zones, trees are extremely solid and normally don't budge. You are pretty lucky to walk away from a head-on with a tree at any significant speed.

[james_s]

Unfortunately these days the entire front and rear ends of cars are sacrificial structures, it's stupid IMO. A properly designed car should have a sturdy bumper mounted on gas shocks with crumple zones integrated into the unibody behind that. This way the bumper can do its job, absorbing the impact from minor collisions and protecting the expensive painted panels, lights, sensors and other parts while the crumple zone is there to make the ultimate sacrifice only when it is really needed, in a severe collision. Volvo got it right in the 80s-90s, I had numerous cars rear end me and bounce off but when I eventually got creamed by a tanker semi the crumple zone performed as designed. Most modern cars will get you a repair bill in the thousands of dollars for a minor bump.

[blackbird]

My first car: A white Renault 19 Diesel, 3 doors. Manufactured in '92. Bought it in February '97

Quite a basic but comfortable car. Had it for about two years after which I replaced it with a Rover.

[boffin]

DAF 66 1300 Marathon, with the famous variomatic drive.
I've done some cool mods to it but sold it 16 or 17 years ago.
The current owner restored it in near original condition and currently has it up for sale:

https://www.marktplaats.nl/a/auto-s/oldtimers/m1470153983-daf-66-1300-marathon.html?c=1cbcb1b540183caf56dfb1454bb6cfe2&previousPage=lr

I've pondered to buy it back, but I have bought a more practical car today. 

My dad bought one of these when we lived in England, in bright yellow.

I remember getting a lift from Fawley into Souhampton city, in a yellow  DAF  in1971.

It was LHD, & when the driver, who was Canadian, pulled out around a double decker bus to see if
it was clear to pass, it was alarming for the front seat passenger, to say the least!! 

Well, the yellow, Fawley and Canadian driver all would match my father's car; however ours was RHD, and we didn't have it, nor live in the area until late '75.
But if you saw one on the B3054 in the mid-late 70s, that was probably dad or mum.

[GlennSprigg]

Well, the yellow, Fawley and Canadian driver all would match my father's car; however ours was RHD, and we didn't have it, nor live in the area until late '75.
But if you saw one on the B3054 in the mid-late 70s, that was probably dad or mum.

I remember some muso mates of ours years ago, "The Laws" from Canada....
http://thelawsmusic.com/bio
Back home, while touring, his missus would drive, (LHD), and he would sit on the right, and practice
with his guitar all the time, with the guitar neck pointing to the left towards his missus....
He told me that when touring Australia, (RHD), he would have to sit on the left, but couldn't
practice playing, without the neck sticking out the window !!!   
Very talented players/singers. Used to love playing sessions with them...

[vk6zgo]

My own first car was a 1936 Chevrolet " Standard" sedan, with the locally made Holden body, featuring "suicide" front doors, & a flat back rather than the "bustle" type boot (trunk) of the US model.
It was off the road more than it was on.

My next car, which you might as well call it my first "real" car was an EH Holden "Station Sedan".
It was great, took me all over the place for 10 years.
For the few times it was off the road, I bought a few "cheapies from time to time, one of which was the same model Morris Minor as the OP's one.

[Doom-the-Squirrel]

My first car was a 2000 Saturn SL2.

Did a lot of repair to it, such as intake manifold coolant connection, rear brake cylinders, water pump, AC system.

When the transmission lost reverse and skipped gears, it was time to get rid of it, mostly because the repair was more than the car was worth.

Now I have a 2012 Honda Civic LX.

[Brumby]

My first car was a 1966 Mini - very much like this one - with red upholstery.



Don't ask me why - but I can still remember the engine number: 9YATAH90300.  Is that weird?

[Doom-the-Squirrel]

Very good memory!

I imagine you've done a lot of work to the engine?

[nctnico]

A 1994 Toyota Corolla diesel. I did do a some work on it (partly due to the fact it turned out to have been hit in the rear and partly due to me getting into an accident wrecking the front).

At 340k km the engine developed a problem with -I think- the crank shaft bearings so that was the end of it. I bought it very cheap from the liquidator after my employer went bankcrupt.

[Brumby]

Very good memory!

I imagine you've done a lot of work to the engine?

Actually - not much at all.  In fact, I think I only ever changed the spark plugs and the points.


Oh ... and the distributor cap (but I realised afterwards that may not have been necessary).  The HT is right at the front of the engine and simply getting some water spray up in front could really suck the energy away from the spark plugs.

[GeorgeOfTheJungle]

In my Mini I had to replace these very often: https://www.minimania.com/part/GCD101/Austin-Mini-Yoke-Type-U-joint-Rubber-With-U-Bolts-And-Nuts


Edit:
These are much better https://www.minimania.com/part/QL5000/Driveshaft-Couplings-U-joints-For-Yoke-Axle-Similar-To-Quinton-Hazel-Roller-Type a pity they didn't exist yet back then!

[Ice-Tea]

A 1.5D Citroen Saxo like this one.


None of that Turbo or HDi rubbish. Just plain old diesel. You could floor it, go for a cup of coffee and be back in time for the first hint of acceleration.

[Zero999]

Is it weird to have never owned a car? Been enjoying Melbourne's temperate weather, living the motorbike life ...

Me too. I've never owned a car. My sister and I used to sort of share a car, but really she used to drive it more and she was the named owner.

Nowadays, I just pedal cycle short journeys. I have a motorcycle but only use it when I have to travel more than five or so miles, which isn't often.

[GeorgeOfTheJungle]

I was counting the days till my birthday, to get the drivers licence and a car.

[Doom-the-Squirrel]

Good times!

I got my Saturn used. I think I was either the 3rd or 4th owner.

[Mapmaker]

First car? A 1968 VW Type 1 (Beetle). Got me back and forth to college in the late 70's, in some pretty rough northern Ohio winters. Like all Type 1's it had 'issues'; the worst being the pervasive rust that destroyed generations of cars on the salt crusted roads of the American 'rust belt'. But the car was mechanically reliable, easy to work on, cheap to operate and taught me a lot about automobile mechanics.

I'm no dewy-eyed nostalgia fool - cars today are far better built and far more reliable, safer and better performing. But there are times I think that a nicely restored Type 1 in the driveway would be just the thing...

[IanJ]

In 1983 I got my first car, a 1978 MkII Escort 1300L....photo below.
Reg = XSO289S
So it started with a 1300cc engine, but I soon built a 1600cc engine of my own c/w Kent fast road cam.

I always had Escorts as a youngster.......my favourite being a white MkII RS2000. I had this car in the mid-late 80's......and sold it 1989ish. Then, a couple years ago came across it at a car show......couldn't believe it was still alive, photo below (note the T-shirt!).

Ian.

[nali]

First car a 1977 Vauxhall Chevette. As a 17yr old I thought it was the Mutts Nuts owning such a new car until I wrote it off after about a year.

Second car was a 1969 Lotus Europa which definitely WAS cool  Trouble is I couldn't afford to run it so had to sell it a couple of years later 

[james_s]

Funny that they sold it under the Vauxhaull brand but retained the Chevette name. I remember seeing those around here still in the 80s where they were the Chevrolet Chevette. Crappy little cars, but they came from the era of trying to get the best fuel economy possible using the technology available at the time during the oil crisis.

[ZeTeX]

I still don't have my own car. I am almost 19 year old. I use my dad car which is a mitubishi outlander with a manual transmission 2.0l.

[Doom-the-Squirrel]

It's good you've learned to use a manual. Gives you an edge.

[basinstreetdesign]

I bought my first CAR, a 1982 Toyota Tercel, brand new with 4 on the floor.  It was great.  I drove it for about 4 years, enough to pay it off when the company I was working for gave me a "company car" to use  .  It was a rusting boat that had weird problems.  The idle was adjusted so high that if you took your foot off the brake it would eventually get itself into 2nd gear rolling forward.  It was a distaster, electrically.  The radio would abruptly and randomly change stations, when signaling a turn the dome light on the roof would flash  .  The battery was so weak you couldn't start the car twice in succession without driving enough to recharge the battery.  But enough about it.  I parked my Tercel with a sticker on it that declared "THIS CAR IS NOT ABANDONED!"  In the meantime I met my wife and began driving her car, a Ford.  After about 6 mo the Tercel just disappeared.  I never found out what happened to it.

[GlennSprigg]

I bought my first CAR, a 1982 Toyota Tercel, brand new with 4 on the floor.  It was great.  I drove it for about 4 years, enough to pay it off when the company I was working for gave me a "company car" to use  .  It was a rusting boat that had weird problems.  The idle was adjusted so high that if you took your foot off the brake it would eventually get itself into 2nd gear rolling forward.  It was a distaster, electrically.  The radio would abruptly and randomly change stations, when signaling a turn the dome light on the roof would flash  .  The battery was so weak you couldn't start the car twice in succession without driving enough to recharge the battery.  But enough about it.  I parked my Tercel with a sticker on it that declared "THIS CAR IS NOT ABANDONED!"  In the meantime I met my wife and began driving her car, a Ford.  After about 6 mo the Tercel just disappeared.  I never found out what happened to it.

The vast majority of times, such weird electrical symptoms in cars are due to Earthing problems!!
Resulting in many strange faults, as the current back-feeds elsewhere to earth...   

[jonovid]

1969 Hk Holden Kingswood  like this one.  straight-six (2,639 cc) 161 red motor manual stick shift, 3 on the tree!
later did a swop for a re-built 186 (3,049 cc) & stick shift mod to a center floor shift adapter- swop the bench seat for bucket seats.

[james_s]

I bought my first CAR, a 1982 Toyota Tercel, brand new with 4 on the floor.  It was great.  I drove it for about 4 years, enough to pay it off when the company I was working for gave me a "company car" to use  .  It was a rusting boat that had weird problems.  The idle was adjusted so high that if you took your foot off the brake it would eventually get itself into 2nd gear rolling forward.  It was a distaster, electrically.  The radio would abruptly and randomly change stations, when signaling a turn the dome light on the roof would flash  .  The battery was so weak you couldn't start the car twice in succession without driving enough to recharge the battery.  But enough about it.  I parked my Tercel with a sticker on it that declared "THIS CAR IS NOT ABANDONED!"  In the meantime I met my wife and began driving her car, a Ford.  After about 6 mo the Tercel just disappeared.  I never found out what happened to it.

The vast majority of times, such weird electrical symptoms in cars are due to Earthing problems!!
Resulting in many strange faults, as the current back-feeds elsewhere to earth...   

That's surprising too because Japanese cars of the era tended to have impeccable electrical systems. If it was rusting to pieces though that suggests one of those awful places where they salt the roads, uhg. All bets are off when it comes to rust.

[vk6zgo]

I bought my first CAR, a 1982 Toyota Tercel, brand new with 4 on the floor.  It was great.  I drove it for about 4 years, enough to pay it off when the company I was working for gave me a "company car" to use  .  It was a rusting boat that had weird problems.  The idle was adjusted so high that if you took your foot off the brake it would eventually get itself into 2nd gear rolling forward.  It was a distaster, electrically.  The radio would abruptly and randomly change stations, when signaling a turn the dome light on the roof would flash  .  The battery was so weak you couldn't start the car twice in succession without driving enough to recharge the battery.  But enough about it.  I parked my Tercel with a sticker on it that declared "THIS CAR IS NOT ABANDONED!"  In the meantime I met my wife and began driving her car, a Ford.  After about 6 mo the Tercel just disappeared.  I never found out what happened to it.

The vast majority of times, such weird electrical symptoms in cars are due to Earthing problems!!
Resulting in many strange faults, as the current back-feeds elsewhere to earth...   

That's surprising too because Japanese cars of the era tended to have impeccable electrical systems. If it was rusting to pieces though that suggests one of those awful places where they salt the roads, uhg. All bets are off when it comes to rust.

I'm surprised, too, as my sister had a "Turtle" for years, without a hitch.
I borrowed it for while once, & discovered a strange fault----- it was 4WD, & sometimes the rear end could "wind up" (silly term, but that's how it was described to me), on the front drive, locking the transmission.
There was an easy way to "reboot" everything, which wasn't included in the Owner's Manual, so I added a note to my sister's manual.

The salt thing reminds me of living in Southampton UK & seeing cars which would have pretty much been in their "adolescent" years in Australia, pretty much rusted out.
They were believers in salting the roads, as well as adding "chippings"(small pieces of hard rock, similar to those used in roadbase).
A better recipe for underbody rust couldn't be found!

It's not as if the weather was that savage----it only snowed twice in the 10 months or so I was there.

[nctnico]

If you live in an area where they salt the roads during the winter then it can be beneficial to have the underside of the car coated with a rust protector. It helps pretty good. However nowadays cars which are sold in these kind of areas have a zinc layer on them to prevent rusting.

BTW: I did have a weird electric problem in my Toyota. If I switched off the rear window wiper at a specific point it would blow the fuse. I ended up with installing a big fat PTC fuse in series with the rear wiper motor to fix that.

[GlennSprigg]

BTW: I did have a weird electric problem in my Toyota. If I switched off the rear window wiper at a specific point it would blow the fuse. I ended up with installing a big fat PTC fuse in series with the rear wiper motor to fix that.

Do you mean the fuse blew 'when' you turned it off, or when turning on again?? Of course the wiper
should return to the bottom first, even when turned off. If not, then the power off micro switch would
have been faulty... Strange...

P.S.   Someone here talked about converting their Auto to Manual....  An interesting problem that I have
seen twice, is the failure to be able to start the car for the 1st time afterwards !!   
An 'Automatic' requires a circuit through a switch, to ensure it is in 'Park' before being able to start....
Both times, they had forgotten to trace/bridge-out that part of the circuit, after changing to manual   

[nctnico]

BTW: I did have a weird electric problem in my Toyota. If I switched off the rear window wiper at a specific point it would blow the fuse. I ended up with installing a big fat PTC fuse in series with the rear wiper motor to fix that.

Do you mean the fuse blew 'when' you turned it off, or when turning on again?? Of course the wiper
should return to the bottom first, even when turned off. If not, then the power off micro switch would
have been faulty... Strange...

The fuse blew when I turned it off. But only if I turned it off right before it reached the 'home' position. I guess it was more like a fault in the circuit.

[SparkyFX]

However nowadays cars which are sold in these kind of areas have a zinc layer on them to prevent rusting.

Still underbody Teroson-like coat and wax in enclosed spaces for those i know.

BTW: I did have a weird electric problem in my Toyota. If I switched off the rear window wiper at a specific point it would blow the fuse. I ended up with installing a big fat PTC fuse in series with the rear wiper motor to fix that.

Most rear wipers have a hardwired end position switch within their enclosure to open the circuit once triggered, maybe the other side of a changeover contact that is supposed to be open has contact to chassis or the override to start the wiper is affected (active ground?). Most likely the wiring harness between roof and tailgate broke and has a short circuit... Often these harnesses can be obtained as inplace fix (cut out old, crimp in new).

[G7PSK]

My first car was a 1962 Ford Anglia 105E, absolute rust heap that had been botched up with newspaper and bondo/filler when I bought in the early 70's for £15-00 Sold it a year later for £50-00 having fixed the sills with concrete and wire mesh.

[The Soulman]

 

My first car was a 1962 Ford Anglia 105E, absolute rust heap that had been botched up with newspaper and bondo/filler when I bought in the early 70's for £15-00 Sold it a year later for £50-00 having fixed the sills with concrete and wire mesh.

[james_s]

The salt thing reminds me of living in Southampton UK & seeing cars which would have pretty much been in their "adolescent" years in Australia, pretty much rusted out.
They were believers in salting the roads, as well as adding "chippings"(small pieces of hard rock, similar to those used in roadbase).
A better recipe for underbody rust couldn't be found!

It's not as if the weather was that savage----it only snowed twice in the 10 months or so I was there.

I went to Chicago for work last year and it was really noticeable how there are NO cars older than about 10 years old on the roads there and many that are only about 8 years old already have rusted out areas in the fenders. Several years ago I worked on a car for a friend of a friend who had moved here from Michigan and while it looked ok on the surface, the subframe had rusted out so badly that the entire steering rack broke free and turning the wheel caused the rack to slide back and forth instead of aiming the front wheels. It was miraculous that it held together until she turned into a parking lot that happened to be near my house instead of breaking somewhere during the ~1800 mile drive. I've heard people say that modern cars don't rust but they absolutely do, not as bad as they did up through the 70s but it still happens. It's just not as visible because there's so much plastic and paint has improved but they rot out underneath and from the inside out.

Salt is horrible, nasty stuff. It absolutely destroys cars and it rusts out infrastructure like bridges and light poles. That was another thing I saw in Chicago, light poles with nasty rusted out bases, some of which had been patched up with welded in repairs. Even out here on the rare occasions it snows I hear people moaning that they need to salt the roads and I don't get it, they must have NO idea how destructive it is. Driving in snow with appropriate tires is no big deal, salt makes everything a slushy mess with patches of ice and causes untold billions of dollars in damage. Salt has no business being put on roads anywhere.

[james_s]

P.S.   Someone here talked about converting their Auto to Manual....  An interesting problem that I have
seen twice, is the failure to be able to start the car for the 1st time afterwards !!   
An 'Automatic' requires a circuit through a switch, to ensure it is in 'Park' before being able to start....
Both times, they had forgotten to trace/bridge-out that part of the circuit, after changing to manual   

I've converted three different cars from auto to manual gearbox. I don't know what other makes did but Volvo used a shorting plug with a wire loop that plugs into the harness where the wire from the park/neutral safety switch in the gear selector unit would plug in. It's easy enough to grab that plug from the donor car or just snip the one off the slushbox gear selector and join the wires in a loop. I've had a lot of people sound amazed that such a conversion could be done but it was fairly straightforward. Both versions of the car are made on the same assembly lines and share as much in common as possible. Converting is just a matter of removing all of the auto-specific components and installing the manual parts. All of the required mounting holes are there.

[nctnico]

BTW: I did have a weird electric problem in my Toyota. If I switched off the rear window wiper at a specific point it would blow the fuse. I ended up with installing a big fat PTC fuse in series with the rear wiper motor to fix that.

Most rear wipers have a hardwired end position switch within their enclosure to open the circuit once triggered, maybe the other side of a changeover contact that is supposed to be open has contact to chassis or the override to start the wiper is affected (active ground?). Most likely the wiring harness between roof and tailgate broke and has a short circuit... Often these harnesses can be obtained as inplace fix (cut out old, crimp in new).

That is a possibility but I never investigated further. Later on I found out that the car was hit at the rear somewhere in the past. The paint & filler job on the rear door started to crumble because the rigidity was compromised and the door flexed a little bit. I fixed that by filling the inner part of the rear door with PUR foam (and redo the filler & paint job on the outside).

[G7PSK]

The salt thing reminds me of living in Southampton UK & seeing cars which would have pretty much been in their "adolescent" years in Australia, pretty much rusted out.
They were believers in salting the roads, as well as adding "chippings"(small pieces of hard rock, similar to those used in roadbase).
A better recipe for underbody rust couldn't be found!

It's not as if the weather was that savage----it only snowed twice in the 10 months or so I was there.

I went to Chicago for work last year and it was really noticeable how there are NO cars older than about 10 years old on the roads there and many that are only about 8 years old already have rusted out areas in the fenders. Several years ago I worked on a car for a friend of a friend who had moved here from Michigan and while it looked ok on the surface, the subframe had rusted out so badly that the entire steering rack broke free and turning the wheel caused the rack to slide back and forth instead of aiming the front wheels. It was miraculous that it held together until she turned into a parking lot that happened to be near my house instead of breaking somewhere during the ~1800 mile drive. I've heard people say that modern cars don't rust but they absolutely do, not as bad as they did up through the 70s but it still happens. It's just not as visible because there's so much plastic and paint has improved but they rot out underneath and from the inside out.

Salt is horrible, nasty stuff. It absolutely destroys cars and it rusts out infrastructure like bridges and light poles. That was another thing I saw in Chicago, light poles with nasty rusted out bases, some of which had been patched up with welded in repairs. Even out here on the rare occasions it snows I hear people moaning that they need to salt the roads and I don't get it, they must have NO idea how destructive it is. Driving in snow with appropriate tires is no big deal, salt makes everything a slushy mess with patches of ice and causes untold billions of dollars in damage. Salt has no business being put on roads anywhere.

Salt on the roads was something Harold Wilso introduced when he was prime minister in the 60's here in the UK he got together with the car manufacturers and came up with that, at one time cars were made with "production steel" which was made by rolling sheet steel with sheets of lead like pastry, the reason was it makes for better deep drawing that gave nice rounded shapes in one piece to make matters worse it was often stored outside where it absorbed water so the cars rotted from the inside out. In the 70's I went to quite a few car factories where I saw stocks of rusty sheet waiting to be pressed into panels.

[GlennSprigg]

My first car was a 1962 Ford Anglia 105E, absolute rust heap that had been botched up with newspaper and bondo/filler when I bought in the early 70's for £15-00 Sold it a year later for £50-00 having fixed the sills with concrete and wire mesh.

That's funny!! You do what you had to do back then !! 
Your car reminded me of the 'Police' car, used in the "Heartbeat" TV series, set in the 60's in the Yorkshire
region in the UK. Imagine that car in the USA today, trying to get someone to pull over !! 

[james_s]

That's funny!! You do what you had to do back then !! 
Your car reminded me of the 'Police' car, used in the "Heartbeat" TV series, set in the 60's in the Yorkshire
region in the UK. Imagine that car in the USA today, trying to get someone to pull over !! 

I'd bet that most people would pull over, I mean police on motorcycles pull people over all the time. Even if you can lose the car you can't outrun the radio.

[vk6zgo]

My first car was a 1962 Ford Anglia 105E, absolute rust heap that had been botched up with newspaper and bondo/filler when I bought in the early 70's for £15-00 Sold it a year later for £50-00 having fixed the sills with concrete and wire mesh.

That's funny!! You do what you had to do back then !! 
Your car reminded me of the 'Police' car, used in the "Heartbeat" TV series, set in the 60's in the Yorkshire
region in the UK. Imagine that car in the USA today, trying to get someone to pull over !! 

The cops in West Oz also used those in the 1960s, but they were really just general purpose " runabouts" for the "cop shops".

Serious pursuit was done using various things like Ford Zephyr Zodiacs (in early years, the Mk2) then later, Mk3s (which weren't normally sold in Oz) & Studebaker Larks (I think there were only a few of them), then Falcon & Holden V8s.

WA had a strange system, where outside the Perth Metro Area, the "speedcops" were actually "Traffic Inspectors" employed by the local Shire Council.
Most of their pursuits were done with motorbikes, but later, into the '70s, you might get pulled over by a Monaro GTS, a Falcon GTHO, or a Valiant E49 Charger.
The councils gradually gave up traffic enforcement to the police.

When I went to the UK in 1971, in Hampshire, where I spent most of my time, the cops used Ford escorts for the "runabout duties", but from memory, Jaguars, Volvos & Range Rovers for pursuit work.
British police forces were not very integrated when it came to equipment back then, and at least one force used Mark 5 Ford Zodiacs, as well as mixtures of those types already mentioned.

I saw a Morris Minor 1000 "Panda car" in London,-----much as I like the old "Morrie" I would rather be behind the wheel of the 105E at pursuit speeds.
We had a Ford 100E, which was a nice little car, with obsolete mechanicals, & driving it on Motorways with Jaguars & the like tailgating you was a little alarming,to say the least!

On a re-visit in 1974, I saw a big Chev with Dutch plates "hooning" down the Motorway, with a couple of Ford Granadas snapping at his heels.
He seemed to just be ignoring them!
They soon disappeared in the distance  only for me to come upon the Chev pulled over by a couple of Range Rovers a few miles on.

As james_s says, " You can't outrun the radio".

[G7PSK]

My first car was a 1962 Ford Anglia 105E, absolute rust heap that had been botched up with newspaper and bondo/filler when I bought in the early 70's for £15-00 Sold it a year later for £50-00 having fixed the sills with concrete and wire mesh.

That's funny!! You do what you had to do back then !! 
Your car reminded me of the 'Police' car, used in the "Heartbeat" TV series, set in the 60's in the Yorkshire
region in the UK. Imagine that car in the USA today, trying to get someone to pull over !! 

The village bobby had one as well when I was young, but prefered a push bike the reason he said was that he could see over hedges and other obstacles better and traveling slower was able to see more and better anyway. Apparently when the radio was keyed to transmit the car dropped ten miles an hour due to the load on the dynamo that supplied the radio. They were not fast in the first place mine only got 65 eventually.

[GlennSprigg]

At least they weren't as bad as the old English 'Reliant', with 3 wheels !! 
I liked it when "Mr. Bean" used to always cause one of those to roll over!!!
I actually saw one on a Freeway in England 10 years ago when visiting.
Evidently, someone with a MotorCycle license only, was allowed to 'drive' them?? 

[vk6zgo]

At least they weren't as bad as the old English 'Reliant', with 3 wheels !! 
I liked it when "Mr. Bean" used to always cause one of those to roll over!!!
I actually saw one on a Freeway in England 10 years ago when visiting.
Evidently, someone with a MotorCycle license only, was allowed to 'drive' them?? 

There were quite a few in "SOTON"------one I saw was covered with floral wallpaper.

[nali]

Reliant used to have a nifty version of their 3-wheeler called the Bond Bug, my mate had one when we were teenagers. Fun, but scary cornering!

[vk6zgo]

Reliant used to have a nifty version of their 3-wheeler called the Bond Bug, my mate had one when we were teenagers. Fun, bus scary cornering!

I saw one of those sitting on the side of the road with a bloody great crack from side to side in that bottom "tub" section.
I'm not sure what the owner intended to do with it----maybe buy an after market fibre glass repair kit.
From memory, British motorists were pretty "laid back" in the '70s

[boffin]

When I went to the UK in 1971, in Hampshire, where I spent most of my time, the cops used Ford escorts for the "runabout duties", but from memory, Jaguars, Volvos & Range Rovers for pursuit work.
British police forces were not very integrated when it came to equipment back then, and at least one force used Mark 5 Ford Zodiacs, as well as mixtures of those types already mentioned.

The Hampshire constabulary used the same logic with motorcycles too.  There was one cop with a BMW, but the rest all rode CB200s

As for cars, it was Escorts in town, and Rover 3500s on the M3/M27 wasn't it?  but mostly Escorts, and if they needed to haul people away they called for a (made in Eastleigh) Transit.

[nctnico]

The Dutch state police used to have Porsches 

[vk6zgo]

When I went to the UK in 1971, in Hampshire, where I spent most of my time, the cops used Ford escorts for the "runabout duties", but from memory, Jaguars, Volvos & Range Rovers for pursuit work.
British police forces were not very integrated when it came to equipment back then, and at least one force used Mark 5 Ford Zodiacs, as well as mixtures of those types already mentioned.

The Hampshire constabulary used the same logic with motorcycles too.  There was one cop with a BMW, but the rest all rode CB200s

As for cars, it was Escorts in town, and Rover 3500s on the M3/M27 wasn't it?  but mostly Escorts, and if they needed to haul people away they called for a (made in Eastleigh) Transit.

Yeah, I forgot about the Rover 3500s.

And weren't Transits godawful things?

Ford Australia thought it would be a great idea to drop an Aussie Falcon six & 3 speed box into them, but didn't change the rear end ratio.
It probably had enough torque to pull a small tree down, but cruising above about 80kmh(50 mph), the poor old six was screaming all the time.
Not nice if you had to do long country trips for work!
We normally used Toyota Hi-Aces, which by contrast, were quiet & pleasant to drive, but on one occasion we got this "thing" as a "loaner" from the motor section.

Ford did the same trick with TD Cortinas, with less nasty results, but they seemed to be less zippy in performance than the normal 2 litre.

Holden did something similar with the Vauxhall Viva, but did it properly
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holden_Torana#LC

[BFX]

Not a first car but first new car (all my other was company, car rental or secondhand).
Arrived today 1.8, hybrid, Style and Tech packet
It's different here in Europe. I must say it's a great car

Previous one was WV Passat B5 1.8T sedan but secondhand.
But it's is excellent car only rust and common old car problems forced me to buy new car (20 years old) 

 

[vk6zgo]

The Dutch state police used to have Porsches 

Sweet!
The London Metropolitan Police had these things back in the 1960s:-
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/classic/daimler-sp250-dart-60-unlikely-police-car-ever/

The cops used to have style!

[timmy88]

[ Specified attachment is not available ]My first car ever was a 1996 Ford Escort 4 Dr LX Hatchback and it was the best car for me and I miss this car too much. I sold it back in 2007 and bought a new Focus. To be honest, I would like to find my first car and to restore it. Maybe I will be able to give this car a couple of years of life. It is really a good car, and I was looking for it on the internet. I found one, that looks like my first car, and I want to buy it, but the problem is that the car is on the other side of the country. Well, a friend of mine helped me with that and told me that I can have a good shipping service that will transport my car across the country in a short time for a very good price. The service I have to use is shipaa.com/ and the prices are really good, more than that they have a lot of great offers for the car transportation.

[helius]

My other CAR is a CDR...

[Jester]

Early 70’s Ford Maverick, ex race car, I had a lot of fun in that car, looked a bit like this one, except it was Yellow with black stripe and the old school pro-stock style hood scoop.

[gorge441]

My first car was the Toyota Carina 2000 model .

[GlennSprigg]

My first car was the Toyota Carina 2000 model .

Never heard of that one. Must be a European release only!!  Looks quite modern to me!!!   
Toyota made components to last, and always had great lasting dashboards etc...

[Mechatrommer]

my first car maybe now melted as a steel block. or maybe disintegrated to many other cars or machineries i dont know. so there's nothing to show anymore really. ps: i'm not the one who responsible to get it sold to scrap junk yard after total loss incident, it was passed to my brother much earlier. and that car was a gift from my mother during my first day of work. before that i had a faithfull 2 wheels vehicles that i cycled everyday in college bought used with my scholarship money.

[GlennSprigg]

my first car maybe now melted as a steel block. or maybe disintegrated to many other cars or machineries i dont know. so there's nothing to show anymore really. ps: i'm not the one who responsible to get it sold to scrap junk yard after total loss incident, it was passed to my brother much earlier. and that car was a gift from my mother during my first day of work. before that i had a faithfull 2 wheels vehicles that i cycled everyday in college bought used with my scholarship money.

Yep...  Cars are 'fickle'. I've often wondered where the cars I originally had are today!!  I would like to think that SOMEONE has lovingly restored it, but I have to admit that it is probably a pile of rust in an old lost junk yard, or repurposed as 1000 baked-beans tins!! 

[rvalente]

My firts one was a 99 Peugeot 306, what a lovely car, simple and fun, was very similar to this one:



Now, peugeot 307

Next? Probably a 308 THP or a DS3, i can't help myself, love the french hot hatches.

[tautech]

A '60's something English import MK1 Cortina wagon with some oddball size original motor, 1340cc IIRC. Didn't like my lead foot and dropped a piston but was rebuilt with just a hone and a set of good 2nd hand ones from a mate in the trade....we were all poor in our teens. Later low speed crashed it and wrecked the front some and radiator.
A week of spare time in the workshop with the gas set and wire strainers pulled most of it out reasonably straight.....well good enough that a big pot of bog fixed the rest. 

MK3 Cortina 1600 OHV was next that quickly got a set of 185 tires and a fair hammering for the time I had it. A mate that worked with me had the facelift model 1600 OHC and the edge he had on me in power was nothing when it came to cornering such that the winner of almost daily races was the one that got away first. 
Was quite a good car that cost me bugger all.

A MK3 2000 OHC just a few years old was next.......had some money by then.......and had that one until I married at 23 when her and I got our first car together. Some ways sad to see that 2L go. 

MK2 Escort Sport coupe 1600 OHV English import. My last Ford ever ! This one went real well and we had lots of fun with it including a belated 5 week honeymoon 6000km trip from Auckland all the way around NZ's South Island where we averaged 38mpg which was pretty good for a twin throat carbed and extractor OHV motor in those days.
Never mind the couple of tune ups every 3000km to keep it going sweet. 
If only Ford had put a 5th gear in the bloody thing I might still have it instead of the next mistake.....

A new Suzuki SJ413 hardtop......a sluggish dog, the less said the better. 
Quit it before our first kiddy hatched.

Holdens, a couple first a VK 3.3L (202 Black motor) Commodore wagon, highly practical as by then we had 3 kids in tow ! Had for a lot of years until it even became my Ag contracting work hack.
Later a new Commodore VX11 3.8L V6 sedan that we still have even though the bitch cracked a head @ 225km. 
Other than a week in dry dock for a head job it too has been a good car that's fast approaching 20 years old ! 

Oh, and there's also been a much modified S3 Landy with a 186 Holden motor, aftermarket overdrive and Rover car 4.3:1 diff heads to make it reasonably economical for the tripping done hunting and fishing when the kids were small.
Latest hackabout is a Toymota Surf 3L TD that is miserly enough on diesel that I might keep it for a while yet.

Don't they say if it has wheels, tits or floats it's gunna cost you money !
Grabs hat and leaves...................

[pardo-bsso]

 I found some old pictures of my first own car.

This is the day I brought it home:







And this is when I had to sell it:

[GlennSprigg]

A '60's something English import MK1 Cortina wagon with some oddball size original motor, 1340cc IIRC. Didn't like my lead foot and dropped a piston but was rebuilt with just a hone and a set of good 2nd hand ones from a mate in the trade....we were all poor in our teens. Later low speed crashed it and wrecked the front some and radiator.
A week of spare time in the workshop with the gas set and wire strainers pulled most of it out reasonably straight.....well good enough that a big pot of bog fixed the rest. 

MK3 Cortina 1600 OHV was next that quickly got a set of 185 tires and a fair hammering for the time I had it. A mate that worked with me had the facelift model 1600 OHC and the edge he had on me in power was nothing when it came to cornering such that the winner of almost daily races was the one that got away first. 
Was quite a good car that cost me bugger all.

A MK3 2000 OHC just a few years old was next.......had some money by then.......and had that one until I married at 23 when her and I got our first car together. Some ways sad to see that 2L go. 

MK2 Escort Sport coupe 1600 OHV English import. My last Ford ever ! This one went real well and we had lots of fun with it including a belated 5 week honeymoon 6000km trip from Auckland all the way around NZ's South Island where we averaged 38mpg which was pretty good for a twin throat carbed and extractor OHV motor in those days.
Never mind the couple of tune ups every 3000km to keep it going sweet. 
If only Ford had put a 5th gear in the bloody thing I might still have it instead of the next mistake.....

A new Suzuki SJ413 hardtop......a sluggish dog, the less said the better. 
Quit it before our first kiddy hatched.

Holdens, a couple first a VK 3.3L (202 Black motor) Commodore wagon, highly practical as by then we had 3 kids in tow ! Had for a lot of years until it even became my Ag contracting work hack.
Later a new Commodore VX11 3.8L V6 sedan that we still have even though the bitch cracked a head @ 225km. 
Other than a week in dry dock for a head job it too has been a good car that's fast approaching 20 years old ! 

Oh, and there's also been a much modified S3 Landy with a 186 Holden motor, aftermarket overdrive and Rover car 4.3:1 diff heads to make it reasonably economical for the tripping done hunting and fishing when the kids were small.
Latest hackabout is a Toymota Surf 3L TD that is miserly enough on diesel that I might keep it for a while yet.

Don't they say if it has wheels, tits or floats it's gunna cost you money !
Grabs hat and leaves...................

"Caught hat & brought it back!! hahaha...
Obviously you showed pride in what you owned/remember !! 

[GlennSprigg]

I found some old pictures of my first own car.

This is the day I brought it home:







And this is when I had to sell it:

Wow!!  I think with the now squashed in sides, you could now more easily fit down
those typically narrow old European streets!!!   

[pardo-bsso]

Wow!!  I think with the now squashed in sides, you could now more easily fit down
those typically narrow old European streets!!!   

First I'd have to ship it across the sea, that would be a nice way of spending the quarantine.

That crash was really fun, I made a couple of spins and then the car ended up in the sidewalk.If I had some expendable money I'd totally repeat it.

[GlennSprigg]

Wow!!  I think with the now squashed in sides, you could now more easily fit down
those typically narrow old European streets!!!   

First I'd have to ship it across the sea, that would be a nice way of spending the quarantine.

That crash was really fun, I made a couple of spins and then the car ended up in the sidewalk.If I had some expendable money I'd totally repeat it.

OOPS!... Sorry mate... 
I didn't notice at first that you are from Argentina!!    Hope the cat on the roof survived! (Joking).
Re: My 'European' reference though, I couldn't imagine the old gigantic 60's+ American 'Yank-Tanks' (affectionately joking!) squeezing their way around some of those ancient villages originally designed for Donkey Carts!, & buildings packed like sardines in a tin!, although I had one once here in Australia, just for fun. The 'missus' would have had NO SHOW reverse parking THAT! 

[med6753]

1964 Chevrolet Corvair. Purchased used in 1971. Same color/body style as picture. It was GM's answer to VW/Porsche. Air cooled flat 6 cylinder engine in the rear. About 2.7 liters/85hp. Could be had with a 3 speed stick, 4 speed stick, or 2 speed automatic. Mine was a 3 speed stick. Also had same rear "swing axle" design as VW/Porsche which was changed to a fully independent rear suspension in 1965.

Drove it hard for about 2 years until the engine said "no more" 

[rdl]

I had an old Corvair as sort of a one day loaner once from a place I worked. Boss warned me I was to only drive it home and back to work the next morning. Of course, I took it out for a cruise that night. A couple of miles outside town, one of the front wheels fell off.