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ANOTHER CAR THREAD: So what was your first and/or worst car?

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My first car was a 1979 Datsun 210 wagon.... totally bulletproof, but a piece of crap to look at. 🙂 When I bought it in '93 I figure it had been in at least three wrecks before I had it, and there was a handicapped sticker on the rear bumper. It would do 70mph going downhill with a strong tailwind, but it sounded like it was gonna fall apart at that speed. Someone before me had tried to "paint" the front end blue to cover up the damage (and the orange parts beneath), and it survived the worst hailstorm I've ever seen with nothing but a few major dents in the roof and hood...

I once left it in a parking lot when I went out of town for the weekend, came back to find the front window busted and the battery gone. 😀 Four years later I got tired of having to push it through lights when it rained (it stalled when stopped), so I put $150 into repairs and sold it to a guy for $800. I've seen it around a few times, and it's still going... 🙂 The engine always ran about a quart low, but I swear it'd probably run without oil!

I had some pretty creative ideas for getting rid of it... I figure I'd drive it out to some desolate area, drain the oil, stick a long rag in the gas tank, light the "fuse" and start it up, just to see which would destroy the car first... 🙂 Didn't have the heart to do it though, it served me well... I could move everything outta my dorm and back home in a single trip, rather than 3 or 4...

Dave
 
No va in Spanish is "No go" doesn't go or won't go. 😀


The Mr wooed me while driving a 1978 Diesel VW Rabbit that he had to tie to my little '84 Civic DX for a pull-start every time he was ready to leave my house.

Don't ever think you need a 'hot' car to impress a lady. 🙂
 
I had a 77 chevy nova that also had the heater problem. Hot as hell in the summer, but the car never broke down. I drove it from Colorado to California and back, then to Yellowstone and saw that fire in '88. I had a lot of good memory with that car.
 
I've only had one car, but I find a way to work it into a lot of my posts. 🙂 It's a 1988 Honda Accord LX-i, and it's fully optioned. (Of course, in 1988 "fully optioned" was not quite as nice as a "fully optioned" Accord is now.) The old girl handles my abuse quite well, and is still going strong. I'm upset that at 195,000 miles I had to replace the original water pump and alternator, I was sure those parts would last longer than that. I love the car, I'm currently trying to buy it off of my parents but they keep refusing. Oh well, at least I'm the one that holds the title to my motorcycle. 🙂

Zenmervolt
 
First: '86 BMW 325e, bought for $6200 used in 1992, favorite car I've ever owned.

Worst: '91 Range Rover (current car) on which I've spent $4000+ on services and repairs in the past 20 months (the duration I've had it). If you add in the $650 dollar towing job I had to get and the repairs it still needs, I'll have paid more in repairs than I paid for my first car. =P I just drove it back from the shop... again... yesterday. Anybody want to buy it? 😉
 
My first car was a 1979 Ford Granada. My second car was a 1977 Cadillac Coupe de Ville. (I really miss that car.) My current car is a 1985 Honda Prelude.
 
UWDawg I am pretty sure the ford Courier wasn't even made by ford I think it was a Datsun.

My first car was an 81 dodge mirida with a 90hp /6 auto that I paid $600 for. It had a 190k miles on it but ran and road great other than having no power and sucking all the gas it could get. I had it about a year before I slammed it into a toyota truck. I only damaged the nose peice but rather than fix it I sold it for $350.

Next 85 plymouth duster 2.2l auto. It was a boring car but never really had any problems with it and it went anywhere in the snow. Had it about a year and got tired of driving it.

67 ford galaxie 390 bigblock 🙂 I have had this one for about 6 years and have put a bit of cash into it. Last year when my insurance rates went way down I retired it from daily driver and now it stays in the garage and bought a beater.


Next yet another mopar 81 plymouth horizan 1.7l VW auto BEATER. I paid a whole $0 to buy this one. One of my parents friends had bought it for $400 for her son but it turned out to be to big of a pos for her to deal with and she was just going to junk it so I took it. All I had to do was rebuild the carb and a few other tune up things and buy some tires and I drove it about 10 months and only had one more problem with it, the mastercylinder went bad on it. This one is now for sale $350 🙂 and the lady I got it off of might want it back.

Just bought a 93 nissian truck 2wd 2.4l 5 speed. This is the first nice vehicle I have bought. I have only had it about a month but sofar so good.
 
I'm still driving my first car - '86 Olds Cutlass Calias. Maintence on it? Fluid changes, tires, and anything stupid I have done to the car. This car continues to amaze me. It WILL NOT DIE. Bah, I was looking at a Contour SVT but I got a giant NO from the parents when I asked for a cosigner so I'm still stuck with the Olds.

This car has been rallying, road, track, anything you want to say, racing. Its slow, fugly, but tough as hell.

Oh well, I'm getting my motorcycle this summer. My parents will wish they had co-signed on the Contour...
 
hmm.. my first and current car is a '95 ford escort lx. 75k miles on it. its ugly, its maroon, the front of the hook is kinda fvcked up, its slow (88hp!) and i cant stand it when i look at it.

but.. im use to it and i like the wide view 🙂 i was driving my moms slk230 at night going bout 50 and some ass cut me off, slammed on the break and made a turn, i swurved into the middle lane to get out of the way and lost control, hit the left lane median 🙁 8k in damage to the underside, fast small cars with a small view at night suck to drive for the first time. anyhow.. im ranting.

the escort's only had its brakes hcanged and a small 150 dollar part in the engine replaced..one of my speakers is now rattling and the one in the back does too. but, it drives and im used to it 🙂

(the stiff power stearing sucks too)
 
my first was like a 80 civic nice car to have a round, i remember paying 10 bux per tank per week.

the worst are those compact rental car, no nothing. suck when you need the heater on in a cold winter night.
 
My first car was a 91' Ford Escort LX. It was a pretty bad ass car till I totalled it. After that I had a 87' Dodge Omni which was in bad shape, just wasn't up with the times. Although it didn't look very cool, the engine in there was badass. I had it up to about 130mph coming home from school one day. Now I drive a Y2K Neon and have been pleased.
 
84 ford escort, already smashed in the rear . $500 - Oil usage: 1 quart per 10 miles.

finally replaced motor for $700 more after 6 months of smoking.

drove for another 6 months.
 
73' Toyota Corolla, babby crap yellow- no seat belts the crazy old man I bought it from took them out.
I got in an accident in it and had to replace the radiator, but I couldn't find a match so I put a generic one in but the hose fitting was on the wrong side. I had to make a radiator hose and to hold it in place I used a coat hangar, aluminum foil, and elastic.
the left rear window broke so I replaced it with a piece of Lexan😀
but you couldn't kill that thing, it had a starter bigger than ones in most diesel trucks!
 
mAdD INDIAN, I love the Cadillac Fleetwoods too. That's the classic American cruiser. If you can find one with a nice 350ci engine, grab it. Trouble is, Cadillac played all kinds of games with the engines in those things. Strange 4, 6 or 8 cylinder only computer controlled fuel saving stuff. Guess we can blame CART for those experiments. There were 6400 or 6800 series (not sure of the exact numbers) engines that just sucked. Talk to mechanics in your area. They'll fill you in on the dirty details. I gave up when I couldn't locate one with a 350ci.

Maybe you could buy one with a screwed up weird ass engine and replace it with a 350ci. You could probably get the car cheap if it isn't running. Again, talk to your mechanic and see what he thinks. I may go that route myself on the next car I buy. I love the lines on the RWD Fleetwoods. Not the newer ones with the skirts though. They look kinda crappy.

I always go for 4dr cars, but there was a 2dr 78 Grand Marquis driving around here that just looked great. It was black with black vinyl top, factory tinted windows and beautiful chrome factory wheels and skirts. The car was left original and looked fantastic. I know from experience that it's a VERY reliable car and with the 460ci moves very well. Great ride, lots of room and cheap and easy to fix when it does require work. The 4drs look like a family car, but the 2drs can really look good. I bet you can snag one of those for $2,500 in great condition. The air conditioning in those cars is outstanding too. Window motors are fast and never fail and the power seats are the same. Those cars will spoil you to anything else, I swear!

Did you ask about mileage? :Q Try 11mpg for the 460ci and 15mpg for the GM 350ci. Ya don't get somethin' for nothin' 🙁
 
Thanks for the props for this thread idea, Emos. 🙂

As I posted in the other thread, the firt car I owned (actually, co-owned with my parents) was an '89 Hyundai Sonata GLS (they "got a deal" from one of my dad's friends). N8Magic, I can't believe you had a good experience with a Hyundai because mine was just junk.

First, the clearcoat had worn off and the paint was flaking off in any number of places. Every time I went to the car wash, a bit more primer would be showing through.

The NVH (noise, vibration, harshness) of the car was amazing. The engine was very loud because it revved so high. I crammed little folded-up pieces of paper into various spots on the dash to help quiet the buzzing noises. The previous owner had tried to install some "do-it-yourself" tinting on the rear windshield, and it looked terrible. It was dark, had bubbles, and was not even aligned correctly on the windshield. My dad ended up scraping it off, at which point the rear defroster quit working.

The GLS was actually the highest trim, and it came with a number of features, NONE of which worked. The A/C system had a leak so it would not take a charge, and the front defroster didn't work for crap. The cruise control would suddenly drop into neutral on the freeway for no reason. The power mirrors were completely broken and I couldn't see anything out of the left one because it was pointed the wrong way and would not move. The power locks also did not work, unless you felt like pressing the button about ten times.

The passenger side window would roll down but not up. A few times, I had the lock off and someone rolled it down... d'oh! One person had to pull up on the window as hard as possible while the other one held the "window up" button down. The wipers also had problems. Several of the speed settings did not work, so you had to pick the right ones. Also, the washer fluid sprayers didn't work either.

The rearview mirror was loose and would come off in your hand if you tried to adjust it. Various solutions, including duct tape and superglue, were used to try and fix this. And I didn't have a lot of faith in the e-brake. But at least the stock Hyundai radio/cassette worked, right? Oh wait - the rear speakers were blown so I faded the rich Hyundai sound to the front speakers only. 😛

Well, the interior was bad but the real problems were under the hood. The car ALWAYS ran at the red line of the temperature gauge. It burned through oil like a madman and I had to use some tricks of the trade suggested by a mechanic friend to get through DEQ. It also had a severe brake fluid leak and the automatic transmission fluid leaked as well.

I had a number of costly repairs, including a new radiator and front brakes (they had started to make an incredibly loud squealing sound). I would have just gotten rid of the damn thing, but it was one of those situations where my parents had helped pay for the car so they wanted me to "learn some responsibility" so I had to pay for all the repairs myself.

I ended up trading it in for $400 (the dealership initially offered me $200) when I bought a car last year. The best thing I can say about my Sonata is that it had a lot of room inside. It only actually broke down on me once, too. It was just the little things that constantly annoyed me and the constant fear of death that bothered me, I guess.

All I know is that I will NEVER buy a Korean vehicle ever again.
 
first car 1955 Porsche Speedster convertible that I paid $1,000.00 for put it back together and loved that car until I got bored with it sold it for $2,000.00 (worse mistake I ever made...kick myself in the arse everytime I think about it) took a trip to Hawaii, with the profits and bought my worst car there a 67 baracuda 6 cylinder rust bucket for $75.00. this car was the pits, although it was a hard top, it leaked like a sieve when it rained. the floorboard was rusted through in certain places and it was a crap shoot as to if it would start-up. eventually i parked it at the beach in makaha, left the key in the ignition and walked away never to see that nightmare again.
 
My first car was my 71 Olds Cutlass that I bought in May of 1982 and which still sits in my garage now 19 years later. I paid $1,600 for it and have put at least about $20,000 into it butt over the years that adds up to very little and it will smoke close to just about any thing on the street.

Now remember, I said close to just about any thing.
 
First car: 1955 Studebaker, We painted it bright orange, put huge tires on it, and always kept it filled with beer. HOW OLD ARE YOU PEOPLE???????????????????????
 
First car: in 1992, 1980 Toyota Corolla Wagon, brown, 5 speed. Hit a tree.
Second car: in 1993, 1974 Dodge Monaco, green, V8, auto. Died of natural causes.
Third car: in 1994, 1980 Honda Prelude, silver, 5 speed.

All were pretty much beaters.
 
Well I lived in a multi car family so I could pretty much borry the car any time I wanted. Therefor the first car I bought was a fully loaded 1988 Mazda 323 LX. This was in 91 or 92. It was a fun peppy little car. No problem with it in the 3 years that I owned it. I had to get my sister to drive it home for me as I did not know how to drive a manual.
 

<< the rear-view mirror fell off >>

One bitterly cold winter I was living in Milwaukee. My car died &amp; borrowed a friends car. The inside mirror fell off. I thought to superglue it back on. As it was -15 degrees F and the car was parked outside, I warmed up the mirror in my apartment and put the superglue tube in my jeans pocket to keep the glue warm on the walk to the car.

Of course the top to the superglue came off in my pocket. Was very painful.

I never did get that mirror on good.
 
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