First cars

[sparty]

First vehicle: 1989 Toyota Pickup xtracab, 2WD w/5-speed. Second weekend I was back at college with it, I spent the night off-campus (well, off the Saint Mike's campus, anyhow) and downtown in Burlington. It snowed something like four or six inches, which made getting back as a new 5-speed driver in a 2WD pickup quite interesting. The following winter, I put proper snow tires on it and a few hundred pounds in the back, and it worked pretty well most of the time.

First car: 1991 VW Jetta, paid $650 for it and that was about $300 more than I probably should have. Learned a whole lot trying to keep it running, but not enough to keep me from buying a friend's 1991 GTI.

At least I now have enough sense to stay the heck away from high-mileage VW products.

 

[ZionPow]

First car was a '68 Plymouth Barracuda such as:

First new car was a 1978 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am:

 

[wooglin]

My first car was a '65 VW Beetle (oxidized red). I don't have any pics of the real one but I put one in below. I got it from my mom for the price of buying a set of new tires in 1972. I took it to college and it surprises me a bit that there are not more bugs in this thread. I remember walking up to my college dorm (in '72 or '73) and in a place where you could park parallel to a curb I saw 13 bugs parked in a row. There was no special thing going on, it was just that so many of us drove them.
View attachment 197922

A bug was my fourth car. Might’ve had the most comfortable drivers seat of any car I’ve owned. Weird.

 

[noncrazycanuck]

my 4th was also a beetle , took a lot of ski trips in it until the girlfriend at the time (wife now) had a very close call with a semi.
replaced with my first new car - a 78 scirocco - started to rust out first day off the lot.

do miss her old van

 

[ev_steve]

My first car was a 1962 Austin-Healey 3000 purchased in 1968. It survived the winter of 1970_71 when I lived, worked, and skied in South Lake Tahoe.

 

[Joby Graham]

My first car was a Sunbeam Alpine convertible.

Maxwell Smart's car!

 

[graham418]

Maxwell Smart's car!

No. His was a Sunbeam Tiger.

 

[lone pine]

I bought a used 1956 TR3 in 1964 for $675. Mine was British Racing Green. Wholly impractical for the winters of the Northeast. But it was fun in nice weather. I sold it a year later for about the same and headed off to college.

 

[no edge]

No. His was a Sunbeam Tiger.

Alpine was a four cylinder while Tiger (Max's car) was eight cylinder - I think. My sister bought a new 68 Alpine for $1800 In Switzerland. She shipped it home and drove it four years. She was working on Pine Ridge Reservation and sold it for $1400. Went all over the West and Canada camping the whole way, top down.

 

[Andy Mink]

I forget the year, but mine was a Renault R17 Gordini in blue. I got pretty proficient at replacing the drive gears to the roll back roof. I also replaced the heater core in the dorm parking lot. It was a really good snow car running up and down to and from Mt. Rose in the 80s. It was followed by a Datsun/Nissan Stanza 2 door hatchback.

 

[Joby Graham]

No. His was a Sunbeam Tiger.

The show did use a Tiger, but there was a 'stand-in' Alpine with Tiger badging that was used in the scenes with the machine gun that popped out of the hood. The V-8 took up too much room in the engine bay to fit the gun, but was able to fit under the 4cyl. Alpine's bonnet. Mmmm....Agent 99

 

[Tom K.]

I forget the year, but mine was a Renault R17 Gordini in blue.

We're all sorry about that!

Kidding. The French car I always had an interest in was the Peugeot 505 (?) wagon, circa maybe 1984. That became available after I had purchased my 900S first new car, so it wasn't in the cards.

 

[cantunamunch]

We're all sorry about that!

Kidding. The French car I always had an interest in was the Peugeot 505 (?) wagon, circa maybe 1984. That became available after I had purchased my 900S first new car, so it wasn't in the cards.

There's one just up the road (in front of one of those Mclean McMansions where Hollywood would have you believe there are 10 spy movie safe houses per block).

But hey, I take comfort that there's least there's one other person with Renault experience in the thread

 

[socalguy]

My first car was a truck. My father gave it to me. It was a 1956 Ford with a 292 V8 and a four speed manual. It had after market AC (very nice) and would not die no matter how much I abused it. It had steering slop so bad you could turn the steering wheel from 9 to 3 before it would move the tires, wild times.
My first new car, 2011 Subaru Outback. I still own it and drive it everywhere.

 

[Philpug]

Among my firsts...
First vehicle: 73 Chevy panel van
First car: 74 VW Superbeetle

First new car: 83 VW Rabbit Wolfsburg Ed
First fun new car: 84 VW Rabbit GTI (after rolling above Rabbit)
First mistake car: 84 Renault Fuego Turbo
First Miata: 90B pkg

 

[Brad J]

First car 1963 Olds Cutluss 2 door
Second car 1965 GTO , put me in the poor house, should never sold it
First new car 1971 Vega great handling , zero power, terrible engine

 

[socalguy]

First car 1963 Olds Cutluss 2 door
Second car 1965 GTO , put me in the poor house, should never sold it
First new car 1971 Vega great handling , zero power, terrible engine

Vegas were great if you put a small block in them.

 

[Bad Bob]

1st was a cherry 1958 MG A. Soft yellow color, red leather seats and a black interior and tonoue cover.
A great car for running around Colorado Springs and vicinity in the late 60's.
Did learn to really dislike SU carbs on that car.

 

[Bill Miles]

1st was a cherry 1958 MG A. Soft yellow color, red leather seats and a black interior and tonoue cover.
A great car for running around Colorado Springs and vicinity in the late 60's.
Did learn to really dislike SU carbs on that car.

A friend had one from about that era. What intrigued me was that it had a hole in the bumper for a hand crank start.

 

[snwbrdr]

1984 Corolla hand-me-down

then a used Camry V6 with a manual transmission

Then my first new car was a 2002 Golf TDI 5-speed manual

Then a 2008 Passat wagon, 6-speed manual

and sadly that's the end of manuals....

2016 Tiguan 4Motion

now 2021 Highlander Hybrid
Untitled by thisistan, on Flickr