<OT> Your first new car?

Joe wrote: My first brand new car was a '69 VW

How can it be a Super Beetle?? The Super Beetle with McPherson struts which made for larger front trunk capacity didn't come out until 1971. (The Standard Beetle still had the torsion type suspension.)

I've never bought a brand car.......yet!! But that may change in

2009, IF DaimlerChrysler brings out the Challenger and leaves it exactly as we see it in concept form. My first car was a '64 Studebaker Daytona that I bought for $300 cash in '76.

Craig

You're right. It was a DeLuxe Beetle. They only had two models. All I remember was it was one up from the Standard. Had a bit of a braindrain there.

Best, JoeH.

My first car (shared with my twin) was a 63 GMC 1/2 ton pickup that our dad bought for us, I think for something like $500.00 from a neighbor. It had sat for a few years after her husband died, so we hooked it up to the bumper of the Jeep J20 and broke the clutch free, and she fired right up!

My first car was a '51 Olds Super 88, a hand-down from the family. I didn't get that until 1961.

My first Studebakert was a '64 R1 package GT - $2000 with 20,000 on the odometer about the time Hamilton stopped producing.

First new car was a '77 Corrolla (loaded). Cost about $4800. Did not buy a warranty extension, so was happy whan it got to 50k with no problems. Gave it to my niece at 220K when I moved to GB. Looked for it when I got back to US eight years later. No luck.

Karl

Yes! They only sold Deluxe models in the US. I've only seen one Standard. It was about a 1962-63, driven by a clergyman, and came from Canada. It had mechanical brakes, very bare interior, and seats that adjusted by loosening some big wing nuts. ________________________________

here we go:

first car was a '56 Packard Four-Hundred (in 1965).....try and keep one of THOSE going with your paper route earnings!

first brand new car was a '73 Gremlin. stop laughing. It was a V8 Levi's X with air and every available option except the roof rack. Base price was $1999.......$3695 with options. It was a piece of crap so I only kept it a year (and considered myself lucky to get out of it alive). But now it would be worth $$$$$$

have had about 20 Brand X drivers bought used (junkers to 1 year olds).....only 5 brand-new cars. 4 of them were total scrap. the good one was a '85 Mustang.....loaded and $7800 out the door. 86,000 miles without a single problem. so just took delivery of an '06 GT convertible. nice car but makes an Avanti seem huge inside.

and the best car I ever had was a $200 '67 Checker (327, air, AM-FM, etc). had 167,000 miles on it when I got it, drove it to work for

36,000 more miles and sold it for $450!

Jim C. Ashland OH

This will make you cry: First car, 1955 Studebaker President Speedster, Third owner and original owner had a 56 Hawk front end put on it. It was a rare California assembly plant Speedster with OVERDRIVE. Plimco Gray with Shasta White. Owner wanted $160.00 for it and Dad was like a trader got the guy to go for $150.00 with a new 6 volt battery and we drove this rust free car home in 1968.

It was traded in 1970 for my first new car, a new AMC Hornet for $2200 ($74.85 a month for 3 years) and got all of 200 dollars for that car that I still have dreams about finding again 36 years later. I still have the VIN listed on the insurance papers on that car. This happened in Phoenix AZ.

Bob Miles

first car..1975 matador 2 door hardtop fastback.258 "6" 3 in the tree.Paid 750 for the car and 750 for insurance! Drove it to Vermont to coll. and it was the jumper. When all the other cars wouldn't start mine always did. And 6 passenger comfort. a great road tripper. First new car. 91 mercury capri drop top. drivetrain was great the body was crap. I got the hardtop for winter and the toneau (think M.G.) zipper down the middle and all. great drivers car but if fell apart real fast. rich

My first new car was a Studebaker, a '61 Cruiser, Autumn Haze, a/t, p/b radio, Climatizer, whitewalls, full wheel covers, reclining seats and backups- paid $2,475 at Don Schmidt Studebaker, Wichita, KS. I traded it in in '64 on my second new car, my '64 Daytona Wagonaire which I ordered through Joe Egle Motors in Olathe, KS, picked up at the factory in Hamilton- still have it (getting it ready for our Potomac Chapter Lincoln Highway Trip next year (PA to San Francisco and back). Paul Johnson

Sounds like a rather rare 'stripper' model of that Matador. Most sold here in this area were the 'X' package or the Oleg Cassini editions with a 360 under the hood. They weren't a bad body style at all, and since all cars had to have those ghastly 5-mph bumpers at that time, AMC did a much better job of mounting them than GM or Ford did theirs. The Matador's bumpers were a 'floating' type like front bumper on a '50 Studebaker; much cleaner than those ugly, wavy, poor fitting painted urethane filler panels surrounding the bumpers as found on the Big Three's cars at the time.

Craig

Haven't ever had a new car. My first car was a 50 chevy with an early Olds engine and trans that I acquired in 1960 when a friend borrowed 40$ and couldn't pay me back. The wire were crossed so I found someone who knew what he was doing to fix that and the engine ran good. The Hydramatic was shot though and the car did not drive well. I sold it after a few week for $45 I think. While picking up the money for the car I backed my dads 48 ford into a Singer sports car with an aluminum body. Cost me $65 to have that dent fixed.

First and only new car... 1961 VW beetle. Never got into the payment squirrel cage again!

Here's the sordid history of vehicle ownership

First Car: 1940 Chevy Deluxe two door sedan (free hand-me-down)

Second Car: 1950 Buick Roadmaster 4 door sedan ($90)

Third Car: 1954 Mercury Montclair hartop ($500)

Fourth Car: 1961 VW beetle ($1750 - only one bought on payments)

Fifth Car: 1956 Studebaker Power Hawk ($300 and still in possession)

Sixth Car: 1963 Studebaker Avanti ($2,500) which now resides in Oz

Seventh Car: 1964 T-Cab shortbed ($500)

Eighth Car: 1972 VW Super Beetle ($1,200)

Ninth Car: 1976 Honda Civic ($500)

Tenth Car: 1976 AMC Gremlin ($300)

Eleventh Car: 1986 Tempo ($2,500)

Twelfth Car: 1983 AMC Renault Alliance ($200)

Thirteenth Car: 1962 Studebaker Lark ($500) Later sold for $2,500

Fourteenth Car: 1985 Ford LTD Broughham ($2,200)

Fifteenth Car: 1955 President State sedan ($300) Current almost finished project

Sixteenth Car: 1964 T-Cab long bed ($600) Current daily driver

Seventeenth Car: 1983 Honda Civic FE ($200) with a '82 parts car. Almost ready to hit the road to combat $3 per gallon gasoline...

Geeeeeeeez, too much tin over the dam...

JT

First car was a 51 Pontiac 2dr sedan straight 8, ran 19:xx at the drag races in 1959 First new car was a 1966 Chevelle 327 4spd 3:08 open rear, that i bought on a tuesday and on saturday it ran 14;93 in the pure stock E/PS stick, and won my class against 8 cars the cars i remember were

343 AMC 383 Dodge Charger 396 Impala 390 Ford Fairlane 327 Chevelle 4 speed posi

Bob Whiten Wagonmaster

Just remember the real first one: When I was fourteen, Uncle Sherb gave me his '46 Ford in which a head had popped of a valve, falling into the combustion chamber, ruining the RH head and piston. That was my first repair job.

Got it running, but it didn't stay that way for long!

Karl

snipped-for-privacy@earthl> My first car was a '51 Olds Super 88, a hand-down from the family. I

My first and only new car I actually bought just a couple years ago, an '02 GTI 1.8T. Paid about $21K for it, I think sticker was about $23.5. A lot more than my '84 GTI which I paid all of $1500 for in 1998ish, but the mesa-flat torque curve and 180HP was irresistable. I ended up selling the car to my mom of all people when my job started causing me financial issues, she still has the car and loves it. Current "real" car is an '88 Porsche 944 and I don't see any reason to go back to a new car now that I have a job that provides me with a company vehicle - I still have thoughts of running a Stude through inspection and having that as my "real" car, it seems just as practical - maintenance is certainly easier than anything modern and I don't forsee the necessity of having a mechanic work on it, as I likely won't be in a situation that requires a "next day" repair.

nate

C'mon Nate, you still think that 944 is a REAL car? (sorry, couldn't resist) My first NEW car was a 71 standard (not super) Beetle. My brother hit a building with it a couple years later and I used the engine in a beautiful 70 model that the owner had run without a generator belt. My ONLY other NEW car was a loaded 77 Rabbit diesel. My FIRST car was a 55 Chrysler with a 354 hemi in it. I have had way too many others to even try to remember. Studebaker George