Author Topic: Your First CAR !!??  (Read 12811 times)

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Offline GlennSpriggTopic starter

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Your First CAR !!??
« on: November 18, 2019, 12:07:24 pm »
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.   8)


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!!!....
Diagonal of 1x1 square = Root-2. Ok.
Diagonal of 1x1x1 cube = Root-3 !!!  Beautiful !!
 
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Offline pardo-bsso

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Re: Your First CAR !!??
« Reply #1 on: November 18, 2019, 02:53:55 pm »
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.
 

Offline SiliconWizard

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Re: Your First CAR !!??
« Reply #2 on: November 18, 2019, 03:17:54 pm »
My very first car was a restored VW Beetle (1200). Fun stuff.

 
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Offline Ampera

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Re: Your First CAR !!??
« Reply #3 on: November 18, 2019, 03:22:00 pm »
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.
I forget who I am sometimes, but then I remember that it's probably not worth remembering.
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Offline SparkyFX

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Re: Your First CAR !!??
« Reply #4 on: November 18, 2019, 07:07:29 pm »
Trabant 601

It featured internally adjustable front wheels...
« Last Edit: November 18, 2019, 07:12:18 pm by SparkyFX »
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Offline Halcyon

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Re: Your First CAR !!??
« Reply #5 on: November 18, 2019, 07:21:44 pm »
1991 Mazda 626 wagon. It has 250k kilometers on the odometer but ran just fine. It even had power windows and cruise control!
 

Offline GeorgeOfTheJungle

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Re: Your First CAR !!??
« Reply #6 on: November 18, 2019, 07:33:29 pm »
My first car was a lovely British Leyland/Austin Mini 850 almost identical to this one:



« Last Edit: January 03, 2020, 07:56:36 pm by GeorgeOfTheJungle »
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Offline georges80

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Re: Your First CAR !!??
« Reply #7 on: November 18, 2019, 07:37:20 pm »
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.
 

Offline dcac

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Re: Your First CAR !!??
« Reply #8 on: November 18, 2019, 07:37:50 pm »
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
 

Offline james_s

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Re: Your First CAR !!??
« Reply #9 on: November 18, 2019, 07:54:34 pm »
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.
 

Offline Gyro

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Re: Your First CAR !!??
« Reply #10 on: November 18, 2019, 07:56:47 pm »
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!  ;D
Best Regards, Chris
 
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Offline rrinker

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Re: Your First CAR !!??
« Reply #11 on: November 18, 2019, 08:06:15 pm »
 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.

 

Offline maginnovision

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Re: Your First CAR !!??
« Reply #12 on: November 18, 2019, 08:18:12 pm »
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.
 

Offline Muttley Snickers

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Re: Your First CAR !!??
« Reply #13 on: November 18, 2019, 08:25:40 pm »
It was a die cast batmobile which got run over in the driveway.   :( :'(
 
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Offline boffin

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Re: Your First CAR !!??
« Reply #14 on: November 18, 2019, 08:37:26 pm »
is it really a good idea to post something like this, that is so commonly used as a security question ?
 

Offline SeanB

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Re: Your First CAR !!??
« Reply #15 on: November 18, 2019, 08:39:23 pm »
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.
 

Offline james_s

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Re: Your First CAR !!??
« Reply #16 on: November 18, 2019, 08:48:29 pm »
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.
 

Online The Soulman

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Re: Your First CAR !!??
« Reply #17 on: November 18, 2019, 09:47:41 pm »
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.  :)
« Last Edit: November 18, 2019, 09:54:42 pm by The Soulman »
 

Offline boffin

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Re: Your First CAR !!??
« Reply #18 on: November 18, 2019, 10:37:55 pm »
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.
 

Offline Psi

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Re: Your First CAR !!??
« Reply #19 on: November 18, 2019, 10:45:01 pm »
1990 Nissan EXA N13    1.6L
Paint was grey and pretty bad when i got it, so i painted it blue.

Greek letter 'Psi' (not Pounds per Square Inch)
 

Offline Red Squirrel

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Re: Your First CAR !!??
« Reply #20 on: November 19, 2019, 02:54:46 am »
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. 
« Last Edit: November 19, 2019, 04:40:59 am by Red Squirrel »
 

Offline james_s

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Re: Your First CAR !!??
« Reply #21 on: November 19, 2019, 03:32:23 am »
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.
 

Offline CatalinaWOW

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Re: Your First CAR !!??
« Reply #22 on: November 19, 2019, 03:45:46 am »
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.
 
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Offline Red Squirrel

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Re: Your First CAR !!??
« Reply #23 on: November 19, 2019, 04:42:26 am »
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. 
 
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Online I wanted a rude username

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Re: Your First CAR !!??
« Reply #24 on: November 19, 2019, 04:44:08 am »
Is it weird to have never owned a car? Been enjoying Melbourne's temperate weather, living the motorbike life ...

 


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