Your first vehicle

[Slack00]

I was reading some other posts, and an interesting topic came to mind....All of us had to learn at one point or another how to drive, and our parents weren't going to lend us the keys to their baby.....so what was your first vehicle, and what do you remember about it? Feel free to tell stories about anything interesting happening during these precious, formative years....

[**DONOTDELETE**]

My first car was an '85 T-bird. It was only a few years old when I got it and had almost no miles on it (8000). It was truly that car that "a little old lady used to drive to church on Sundays." It wasn't the most beautiful car (tan/tan) or the quickest (3.8l V6/140hp), but it served me well. In fact it even saved my life. It handled a head-on collision that should have killed me. After it was totaled, I replaced it with a '90 Cougar. Same basic car with new looks and a better color combo (white/blue).

-John

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I learned to drive on my mothers J30t and then a couple of months after I got my licence my father bought me a 92' M30 convertible. That's probably why I'm such an Infiniti junkie - not to mention the 94' Q45 and 2000 Q45t we also have had.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

learned to drive on a 96 quest..

87 maxima is the first car i was able to call "mine."

2000 altima is what i have now..

[JonCarson]

I learned to drive in an '85 Toyota Van.

My first car (which my family still has) is an '88 Toyota Celica ST. I put Borbet Type-C rims with 205/50R15 tires on it before I realized it wasn't worth modifying. They did make it a whole hell of a lot better looking than the stock 13" steel wheels and 70-series tires though.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

My first vehicle was a 87 plymouth sundance, this and the 89 escort I owned after, is the reason I no longer buy american cars. I had to put 2 engines in the sundance in less than 2 years(although I think they were mitsu engines) and the ford didnt make it to 100k. Anyway, my family and I have been loyal Nissan fans ever since(85 300zx,85 300zx turbo,87 sentra,95 240,92 240, 88 pathfinder, 97 Altima)

[67PATROL]

Man, you all started out with luxury cars compared to me! The first "car" I ever called mine was my Dad's 1967 Nissan Patrol.
Yeah, one rare sob. Anyways I drove this to high school every day for almost three years. It wouldn't have been so bad except that it only had a 3 speed manual and had a maximum cruzing speed of about 60 and that is really pushing it. Also it gets about 12mpg max. Anyhow I still have it and it is the car that really made me a nissan freak. Now I drive an 81 280zx that rarely fails me. Anyhow if you wanna know more about patrols check this site out. It has alot of good information. http://communities.msn.com/NissanPatrolClubAlbuquerque/home.htm

[ChuckH]

You guys are all so young! I learned to drive at age 11 in a '77 280Z.

My first car was an '81 VW Rabbit Diesel that was purchased in '86 with a Salvage title and repaired to almost new condition. 0-60 in 6 minutes was the norm, but at 45-55 MPG, I didn't complain too much. I drove that car for 4 years before buying an '87 Mazda 626 (in '90). That would prove to be a big mistake. The 626 was a POS.

Probably the biggest story behind the Rabbit was cramming 9 people into it during lunch hour in high school.

Charles


<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial[/img]quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Slack00:
I was reading some other posts, and an interesting topic came to mind....All of us had to learn at one point or another how to drive, and our parents weren't going to lend us the keys to their baby.....so what was your first vehicle, and what do you remember about it? Feel free to tell stories about anything interesting happening during these precious, formative years....<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

[**DONOTDELETE**]

i started driving around 12 or so on my dad's 63 bettle. i then took it over when i was 16. it's alot of fun on golf courses @ night when the sprinklers are on. http://forums.freshalloy.com/forum/images/icons/grin.gif

my grandfather used to let me drive his old international pickup. 3 speed on the column was no fun!

[Slack00]

Lemme see here....I started this topic, so I gotta give my story.....I have a twin brother who was infinitely cooler and more self-conscious than I was, so he usually drove the hand-me-down 85 Honda Accord....which left me with....(drumroll please)...... a 1978 Ford Econoline 150 Passenger Van (with Chateau appearance package), complete with round headlights and archaic snap-down windows, two rows of bench seats, rusted roof, rusted rear doors, and the infamous sliding door....aka "Old Faithful" aka "Blue Beast" aka "Slack Wagon" aka "Love Shuttle" aka "oh yeah, that van I keep seeing around here...."

It was the old family hauler when I was young, which also served double duty as a pickup to carry things around. At first I loved it: "Wheels! Finally!" &lt;raises keys in air triumphantly http://forums.freshalloy.com/forum/images/icons/smile.gif&gt; Then I hated it: "oh geez I drive a van to school" &lt;downcast I wish I were somewhere else look http://forums.freshalloy.com/forum/images/icons/blush.gif&gt; and then I loved it: "yeah, buddy, I drive a van..." &lt;"-'cause that's the only way I can carry all the chicks" look. http://forums.freshalloy.com/forum/images/icons/cool.gif&gt; EVERYbody knew the blue and silver van:

Her: "...Oh you drive the van in the parking lot?...Yeah, we hide behind that thing when we don't want to run around the parking lot anymore during cheerleading practice..."
Me: "...I never lock it...for all I care, you can go in and sleep through practice...." (...and all the way back to my house, too... http://forums.freshalloy.com/forum/images/icons/grin.gif)"

Its got a lot of history...If I saw that van again, I think I'd buy it just for the memories...

Frequently the van's benches had to be unbolted and removed for whatever cargo purposes it was needed for....but many times i was too lazy to put them back in...So many times, when I carpooled my friends to the movies, or wherever (which they always elected me to do, of course http://forums.freshalloy.com/forum/images/icons/rolleyes.gif ), and I got a real kick out of turning street corners real fast... I drove it like a race car (well, it did have a V8, right?)....but with no seat belts, nothing to hang onto...guess what? Yep, a mass of bodies smashing into one wall of the van, then rolling across the floors to hit the opposite on the next turn...I had my eyes on the rear view mirror alot... http://forums.freshalloy.com/forum/images/icons/grin.gif...they were pretty angry with me, to be sure...but they were helpless while I held the steering wheel... http://forums.freshalloy.com/forum/images/icons/grin.gif ...but they didn't complain too much about bumping into the women when we were with mixed company... http://forums.freshalloy.com/forum/images/icons/tongue.gif

Of course, most of its aliases listed above were christened on it with due respect....

One time, for a sleepover Class Council float-building party, I had the foresight to exchange the bench seats for a sleeping bag and pillows.. I slept pretty nicely.. http://forums.freshalloy.com/forum/images/icons/smile.gif....Well, the next evening I went out again, but I left sleeping bag and pillows in place....it was really cool that Fall evening, and condensation developed on the back windows......in which somebody wrote, "If this van's rocking...don't come knocking!" Add "The Love Shuttle" to its growing heraldry of names....

"Old faithful" becuase she was that, at over 180,000 miles and countless trips to Louisiana to vist Grandparents with a four nutty kids and two exasperated parents....

"Blue beast" because she was blue...and ugly (with the rust on top and on the rear doors)

"Slack Wagon" because that was the name of the clan and the purpose of the vehicle...

My best memory with the van (which we got on tap recorder, no less!) come from when I had to take one of my friends back to DFW airport so he could go back to Denmark, where he had relocated. I always performed this trick than most of the passengers knew pretty well: I left the sliding door open, got up to speed, hit the brakes, and let inertia do the rest....(they were kinda heavy doors back then, and I was pretty lazy....). Well, on this particular occasion, one of the passengers almost closed the door, and I said "no wait...." The plan was, I would say "Physics say:..." then I would get up to speed, slam the brakes, the door would shut and I would complete the sentence with authority: "...an object in motion remains in motion unless acted upon by an outside force." Well, the first part of the plan went okay...I get up to speed, slam on the brakes, the door slams closed and- now what year was my van made?...oh yes, 1978...do we remember what is significant about window manufacture and that date?....of course, pre-1978 glass is not shatterproof......one of the sliding door windows, which had worked itself open, slammed shut with the same force as the door slammed shut.....shattering all over the back of my friends head in the passenger seat!..... http://forums.freshalloy.com/forum/images/icons/shocked.gif Doh!

One week, $10 dollars, and one trip to the junkyard later, she was as good as new, but boy that was funny.....ah, those were the days......


[This message has been edited by Slack00 (edited 07-31-2000).]

[240sx]

My first car, is my current car.
89 240sx with a 90 Engine.

Memories? What memories? It has been parked more than I have driven it.
Do I hate it? No. So why sell it? So some kid, younger than me, can buy it, and not have to worry about anything breaking, or wearing out, because that's how cars should be sold, not because there is something wrong with them, but because we get tired of them.

Best line somebody ever said to me was:
Drunk-Guy: "That's a 240sx, isn't it rear wheel drive?"
Me: "Ya..."
Drunk-Guy: "LIGHT EM UP!"

or...

Hot Chick: "That looks like some exotic car...nice.."

[**DONOTDELETE**]

1st car: 85 Honda Accord 4dr LX - power everything...I loved that car...owned it for 2 yrs.

2nd car: 87 Nissan Sentra 2dr RED - power nothing...great little fun car...sold it before I joined the military...owned it for a year.

Current: 93 Nissan Sentra 2dr SE - Nothing but good things to say.

Eugene www.akafa1c.nissanpower.com (http://www.akafa1c.nissanpower.com)

[**DONOTDELETE**]

My first car is my current car, a nice blue '93 240sx (s13) fastback.. I absolutely love this car. It's gotten me into the "Nissan crowd" =)

[**DONOTDELETE**]

My first car was a '72 Volkswagon Karmann Ghia - rear engine AND rear wheel drive! http://forums.freshalloy.com/forum/images/icons/smile.gif (When the rear end broke loose, all you could do was hold on and hope for the best.) My riding mower has more horsepower than that thing did. Top speed was about 75MPH/DBH. (DBH - Down Big Hills.)

I got to learn all about auto mechanics on the Ghia - if it was threaded, I stripped it. This is not a good thing to do with spark plugs... Also, torque wrenches are a very good investment. http://forums.freshalloy.com/forum/images/icons/wink.gif

[This message has been edited by EarSplittenLoudenBoomer (edited 08-11-2000).]

[xlr8r]

i learned to drive in 3 vehicles- an '86 chevy stepside truck, a '92 toyota carolla and a'97 sentra. the truck was hard cuz it was big and had powered everything, including over-boosted power brakes and steering. tap the brakes and you'd get whiplash. we still have the truck, with all 150.000 miles on it. i got most of my driving expirience in the sentra which was easy to learn on. it was the family car, which was bought in '98, even though it was a '97. we had it for about p months and put 12,000 miles on it. we don't have it anymore. when we got rid of it(financial reasons) the dealer thought it was a steal cuz it was 2 years old with low miliage.

i learned to drive a manual in the toyota. we still have it, which i think is for the memories cuz we got it dirt cheap, it has no power anything( which is a ********** to try to turn the wheel and shift at the same time when you're learning), it doesn't even have places for speakers. it has 160,000 miles, a lot of them in san franciscos hills, and has taught my mother, myself, and my friend to drive a manuel, and still has the original clutch, despite the abuse.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I learned to drive in my dad's 89 Holden Commodore 5.0 V8, I had a lot of fun trying to curb the massive amount of oversteer and wheelspin, If you can drive one of those at twice the recommended cornering speed, you can drive anything!
Anyway my first car was a 76 Mazda 929 Wagon, it was gutless! (but fun on icy roads) which is why I now drive a 00 Silvia R-spec.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I learned to drive in my mom's van my friends affectionately dubbed "the shoebox." It was a 1987 Toyota van we bought new and had nothing but problems with. Fortunately for me all I had to do was drive it. But I cant say it was enjoyable. My first vehicle however as an old 86 3/4 ton Cheverolet pickup, complete with a 350 under the hood, fourwheel drive, and a smelly HVAC system, it smelled like cows! It also had the old truck 4spd manual, so the thing was a gas off road! Just throw the transfer case in low and put it in 1st (granny low) gear. You could literally idle over trees!! http://forums.freshalloy.com/forum/images/icons/grin.gif Blew up the motor one day doing about 95 up a hill, I was sad to see it go, but I sold it for $3200 with the blown up motor!!! That's $200 more than what had I paid for the darn thing to begin with! And by that time the AC blower didnt even work. Oh well, *chuckles* fond memories. I really wish I still had that old truck. http://forums.freshalloy.com/forum/images/icons/grin.gif

[TwinTurboZX]

I learned to drive with my dad's '86 Toyota Corolla http://forums.freshalloy.com/forum/images/icons/frown.gif. Then my dad bought a '97 Nissan Altima http://forums.freshalloy.com/forum/images/icons/smile.gif , that's when i bacame a real big Nissan fan. I really enjoy the quality of Nissan car and the fact that you can seriously push the engine as much as you want without having to worry about anything. It just asks for more http://forums.freshalloy.com/forum/images/icons/grin.gif. Now my daily driver is a '89 Nissan Pulsar NX with a 5-speed manual gear box and a T-Top roof. I really enjoy driving it, it's a very fun car to drive around.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I learned to drive in a '66 VW Bug, "stick" of course. The first car that I drove on a daily basis was a '67 Mercury Montego - my grandpa's old car. It was the late 70's and I was still in high school. I drove it for about 2 years, until my dad bought a new 1980 Ford F-150. The first car I actually held the title to was a '75 VW Rabit.

My 2001 Pathy LE is light years ahead of any of these old turkeys, but ya know.... I had way more fun back then!!

[Mel E Bog]

The car I learned to drive in was an 85 Pontiac 6000LE station wagon. We called it "The Green Machine"... gee wonder why... =) drove that almost all the way through high school til some lady pulled out in front of me and made my head go through the windshield... I'm okay now... except for that nervous tick I get every now and then =) Funniest story in it I think is cramming about 20 people into it and playing chinese firedrill in our little town with 3 stoplights... oh joy oh joy! =)

First car I ever got to call my own (bought with my own money) is my 92 Sentra SE-R which was bought in 97. Still a blast to drive. I think it would be more fun if I had an F-Max turbo or something like that under the hood... one could dream though... so don't wake me. =)

Mel

[redlyne]

The car I learned to drive in was an '87 accord lx sedan with the stiffest, shortest clutch i have had to use. that car made me look like a fool 'till I got the hang of it. My first car was a '91 cavalier sedan. never again. It started about half the time, and only stayed running when it wasn't important. got in 4, count 'em, 4 accidents with that POS before it finally died. most unsafe car I've ever driven. My current car, however, is perfect. A '90 240sx SE. runs like a champ, only 82k on it when I got it in april. lots safer. 1 accident, not my fault. quick as hell, too. I love my car.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

A '71 Datsun 510!!! Which explains my love for Nissan. Any other 510 fans out there? I'm now on my second car, a 91 Sentra SE-R (said to be the 510 of the 90's?) I'd own another fiveten in a heartbeat if I had the time, money, space, tools, knowhow...etc. Guess there is something to look forward to about getting older...having a 510 with a Silvia motor and tranny!

[Ren96240SE]

My first car was a red 86 Sunbird SE with a 5-speed, a holdover on the lot I got in 87. It was the first thing I bought when I joined the military at 17. I still remember my father asking "What kind of dumbass buys a stick without knowing how to drive one?" With no choise I got good with a stick shift quick. Like any 17 year old I abused the hell out of that car and it kept going. As that car was getting to the end of it's life (106,000 brutal miles)I passed a car lot and saw the brand new Eagle Talon (1990). Needles to say, I was late to work and mine was white! What a great car that was! Fast and fun! 5-speed, of course. I could hold my own against even some of the V8's. Then one day came the realization, a sports car is supposed to be RWD, Dammit! Flash to 96, "Honey, I'm just going to drive one of those new 240's at the dealership to see if I like em, THAT'S ALL!" One hour later I pulled in the driveway...mine was gold and a 5-speed.