First car...

[polkanut]

My 1st car was a royal POS 1979 Blaze Orange Plymouth Horizon.  That car had so much wrong with it, it should've been painted lemon yellow.  Timing belt crapped out, transmission died, carberator couldn't be adjusted right so the engine would either race or die, no in-between. A/C puked as well.

 

Drove that bomb from 1987-89.  In March 1989, my dad's aunt sold me her 4 door 1978 Ford Granada Ghia Edition, light jade green with dark jade green vinyl top.  Paid $100 for it.  It had exactly 10,002 miles on it when I bought it.  It had a dark jade Kasman cloth interior which felt like you were sitting on a cloud.  A friend of mine took all the tiny surface rust spots out and repainted it.  I put a chip guard all around the bottom too.  I drove that car until 1991 when I sold it to my youngest sister for exactly what I paid for it.  Wish I had that car now. 

 

[gredmondson]

My first car was a 1946 (the year I was born) Chrysler Windsor four door sedan with Fluid Drive. It was close to the color of the car in the photo. It had no dents or rust. I got the tube radio fixed. The cost in 1963? $70.00. I drove it almost a year (no trouble) and then bought a 1948 Packard Custom 8 (just 36,000 miles) for $400.00. I still like Packards.

 

[rp2813]

A '64 Ford Galaxie sedan, stripped down, bench seat, 289 with automatic, hubcaps -- not wheel covers, and one-speed windshield wipers. Dark green with beige interior. Bought in 1973 as a work car for $995 and paid it off on credit over a one year period.  It had about 50K miles on it.

 

Never had a problem with it. Drove it down to Mazatlan, just below the Tropic of Cancer in 1974 with three other people and even going through the Mojave and Sonoran deserts in 100+ degree heat at speeds up to 90 MPH, the temperature needle never went past mid-range.

 

I bought a '65 Mustang in 1978, probably my all-time favorite car, to replace the Galaxie. The clock was still working on the Galaxie when I sold it. That car was a real cream puff, but I was ready for something more sporty. No clock on the Mustang. I quickly realized just how much I had relied on the Galaxie's clock.

 

[nurdlinger]

1963 Mercury Monterey 2-dr

Present from my Dad on my 21st birthday. This is the one which had the rear window slanted the wrong way, and the center section of which could power up and down. It had the 390 cube engine and would cruise at 90mph all day, much to the chagrin of my passengers. I don't even have a photograph of it, the only thing I still have is the first license plate, MI1970 KTJ-194.

 

[Truss14]

My first/current car is "Juan" my 2001 Impala. 135,000 miles and still going strong. I love this car.

 

[washernoob]

Oh my!!

Those old Windsors are absolutely gorgeous! I have seen 3-4 for sale on craigslist around here. UGHH! I just drool when I see them. Such beautiful big cars!

 

[kenb]

Nash shifting...

Ralph, it was an experience...three on the tree and you had to double clutch!

It certainly wasn't a "chic magnet"...but I wasn't concerned with that sort of thing...even back then!

 

[washernoob]

There is a 1966 Ford Fairlane 500XL on craigslist locally, restored, for $6,000.

Its got the automatic 289. My dad is IN LOVE WITH THE CAR, and is considering going and taking a look at it. Next to the mustang and Galaxie, the Fairlane is his most favorite car.

What do you guys think? Is the 289 a good motor? I know lots of the fords had em, and I hear they generally are very well built.

I just dont know squat on the Fairlane. I used to love the Galaxies, and never gave the Fairlane much of a look as there were only pre 1964 ones for sale (which Im not too fond of the body style)

 

[ironrite]

1957 Murray

Christmas, 1957, I would have been 2 1/2. And I still have it, though it is in need of a total restoration. It went through my younger brother, my two nephews and my niece, thus the odd yellow paint job. Originally it was a metallic blue with white trim and decals on it.

 

[appliguy]

Washernoob

The 289 is a very good engine from what I have heard. It started life as the 221 CID Challenger 221 V8 and was introduced in the new for 1962 mid size Fairlane because the old 292 Y Block V8 was to big for the new Fairlanes engine bay. Halfway through the model year  a larger version of this engine was introduced...the 260 CID  Challenger 260, In 1963 the 260 was enlarged to 289CID to replace the old Y block 292 in the standard Ford. The 292 Y blocks orgins date back to 1954 and the 239 CID and 256 CID Y block engines offered in Fords and Mercurys respectively which were the first OHV V8's Ford and Mercury offered (the first OHV engines offered by FoMoCo were the 1952 Ford 6 and the 1952 Linclon V8).  But I am digressing....anyway the 289 was enlarged to 302 CID in 1968 and became a Ford mainstay through the early 1990's when the trusty 5.0L as it became known in the 1980's was replaced with a more powerful 4.6L unit. The neat thing about the 289 is that and all its incarnations before and after it share things (so I have been told) like filters and such that you can still get at palces like Advanced Auto. I have said all that to say I have never heard any bad things about the 289 and with some hot rodding I have heard it can be down right mean....PAT COFFEY

 

[MikeS]

My First Car

When I was in college, my mother gave me her 1966 Chrysler Newport 2 door hardtop. She bought it in 1976 from an elderly woman for just $300. It was avocado green with a black cloth/vinyl interior. The engine overheated, power steering and transmission leaked, the front power windows died--but that baby still kept running. I finally sold it to the junkman and bought a 1974 Dodge Monaco. It was my last big car, as I went through a Nissan Sentra, a Ford Granada, two Ford Escorts and three Saturns. But you never forget your first car.

 

[bleacho]

1971 mercury capri!!! labelled "the sexy European"

my parents bought it for me in 1976. this was the capri that was made in germany imported for mercury.. wow it was a great car-- lots of problems as i recall, but at 16 years old. nothing matters... fire engine red... ill never forget it..

 

[cfz2882]

german ford v6...

in high school auto mechanics in the mid-'80s,was always getting in capris
and mustang 2s with the german v6s that had quit and would not start-
problem was bad timing gears-cam gear had iron center section with plastic
teeth molded on-plastic outer rim with the teeth would shrink a little as
the plastic aged,would develop cracks,and a section would come off-stopping
the cam and bringing the engine to a stop....I always wondered how many
decent cars went to the junkyard because of this condition...

 

[rp2813]

Oh yeah, those early Capris had that weird snake light thing, I guess for reading maps.

 

289's are great engines, and as stated above, parts are easily found.  A Fairlane with a 289 might not be quite as quick off the mark as a Mustang with that same engine, but it would move out OK and cruise at 90 without any problem.

 

I don't know that I'd fork over $6K for a Fairlane, but you couldn't buy that same car new today for that amount, that's for sure.

 

 

[kevin313]

1979 Dodge Omni

This was one of the first "econo-boxes" of the era. It had a four-speed manual transmission, power steering and an AM/FM radio. Even then, the car got about 42 miles to the gallon. It had a 2 litre engine and was front wheel drive. It was a fun car to drive and I had it for a couple of years and traded it in for my first brand-new car: a 1983 Dodge Aires K-Car!!

 

[polkanut]

Kevin,

I had a '79 Plymouth Horizon, and mine was a huge POS.  In fact, it should have been painted yellow for the lemon it was, instead of orange.

 

[hooverwheelaway]

My fist car was a 1993 Volkswagen Fox. I named him Harvey. Good first car. Super BOL; no power windows, locks, steering, brakes... but it had A/C, and an aux input for my Sony 'Discman' portable CD player (yes, people used to carry portable CD players around).

Here he is on trade-in day...

 

[hooverwheelaway]

A shot of the expansive interior... lol.  One of my favorite things was the huge analog clock in the instrument panel.  Who needs a tachometer when you always know what time it is? 

 

[rp2813]

Speaking of Foxes

I may be a wild and crazy guy, but not like that . . .

 

It wasn't my first car, but a quick replacement for a totaled car.

 

A beige 1978 Audi Fox, which didn't look a whole lot different from the much later VW Fox.  It was essentially a VW.  Purchased in October 1989 for $1,100.  I bought the car with 119K miles on it and it was tight as a drum, never a rattle inside or from underneath, just an incredibly solid car with standard transmission and the fuel-injected 4-cylinder and it could really move.   Clean, clean, clean.  Never burned a drop of oil.  It was supposed to be a temporary car but I ended up keeping it for a few years, then passed it along to my partner's daughter when she began drving.  She didn't realize what she had, started calling it her "hoopdie" and eventually bought herself a brand new Ford Aspire.  She sold the Fox to a friend. 

 

One day several months later my partner and I were driving back home from Gilroy and I spotted a familiar looking beige car in the median of the freeway.  Sure enough, the license plate confirmed it, that was my old Fox.  I do hope it was only out of gas or something.  It didn't look abandoned, but the sight still made me sad.  That was one of the best cars I ever owned.  And my partner's daughter, now in her 30's, has recognized the error of her ways from back then.

 

 

[whirlcool]

I almost had a 72' Capri. I ordered it from the dealer Brown with a tan interior.  I gave them my deposit and 4 months went by and the car never arrived. Eventually the dealer said I could choose one from his stock or cancel the order. So I canceled the order.

 

When I was in between cars one time a friend let me use his Dodge Omni.  It was a fun car to drive.  I thought it handled great and ran fine.  A friend of mine at the time was a mechanic at the local Dodge dealer. He said the early models came with VW engines in them and they were the worst cars Chrysler ever sold (Omni/Horizon).  He said not only were they unreliable, but they were difficult to work on. From what I observed from different owners that had these it seemed that you either got a good one or a bad one. If you had a good one they were reliable, if you had a bad one, you'd be in the shop quite often with it.

 

But then again, we could look at the Chevy Vega.  Those didn't last too long, did they?