My mom helped me get my first car, a 61 Impala Sport Sedan, yeah, I know, a four door. Bought it at 15 in 1969 couldn't even drive it so my pal that just got his license drove it first. It had the original 348 and a column shifted three speed, and five spoke mags, air shocks, and Thrush mufflers installed by the previous owner, boy did we like to make that 348 rap by driving thru our local tunnel in second gear and backing off the throttle. I had my eye on the 57 BelAir that ultimately became my second car so the only thing I did to the 61 was put a Hurst Syncro-Loc shifter in it and install speakers in the front doors. This is the only picture I have of the car as I lost them many years ago, it looked like this shortly after selling it to a friend of mine.
Yes. LS5 with 4-speed. Car is Laguna Grey (original paint) with black deluxe (leather) interior. Black soft top and body-color hard top. Car currently has 46,000 original miles. I'm 17 years old (again) every time I get behind the wheel!
I've posted this photo elsewhere, but my first car I paid $5 for the yellow '37 Chevy sedan. Got it when I was 15 and put a sbc in it, and painted it yellow with donated paint in the carport. 2yrs later my brother sold me the orange '40 coupe for $200, that evolved over my teenager years...good stuff.
1967, I was 15-3/4. Bought a near mint 1953 Chevy Bel-Air 2 dr. Ht. (exactly like the one below) for $25 and drove it through most of high school. Bought it off my girlfriend's older brother, who had just replaced it (was his Grandma's car) with a 'hot 57 Chevy convert. He had gotten a couple speeding tickets with the 57 and needed some quick $. Funny thing is I only had $20, so I had to give him 5 silver dollars from my coin collection. My Dad WAS PISSED that I had gone and bought a car without him checking it out first...but after he looked it over good (had only 28,000 original miles), he thought I was a pretty smart kid after all My second car was a '48 Chevy coupe 283/3spd. (same girlfriend). Sold the '53 to my Auto Shop teacher for $1.00 because he helped me with the trans mount and wiring on the '48.
1964 sophomore in HS. Saved up all summer to pay $75 for the car, $25 for the 331 hemi in boxes and laterv$50 fro a junked out '56 Olds. Got the rear end and wiring harness from the Olds, found out they quit running hyfros in '55. Traded the Jetaway to a friend for a '54 Willys hydro from an old Mercrury, engine swap. How it looked a couple years later. How it looks today.
First vehicle was a 35 Ford pickup, $75 running, from a neighbor, in 66 - first car was a 50 Chevy Standard, $92 running, from a man in town, also in 66
I bought a 70 chevelle for my son at age of 15 for a father/son project and he still has it at 42 years old.
55 Chevy 210 2door sedan in 1966, 265 with a PG & only paid $50 for it. Wish I had never sold it but back then they were cheap and everywhere.
My first car wasn't a car at all. It was a 1947 International 1/2 ton panel truck. I bought it from my uncle for $25 because the soft plugs had rotted out of the side of the block. I was 13 yrs. old, and working for him on his wheat farm every summer at the time. I kept looking at the old panel sitting behind the barn, and one day I asked him why he didn't drive it anymore? When he told me it wouldn't hold coolant, I asked if he'd sell it to me. He agreed, IF it was OK with my dad. Dad said OK, but of course said I better not take it out on the road until I was old enough to have my license. I spent all my wages, and what little time I had working on it every chance I got. My uncle drove me to the local auto parts store to get parts, and I somehow muddled through replacing the 4 soft plugs, rebuilding the carburetor, and replacing the whole front seat. Mice had eaten the old one, so a bench seat from a Simca at the wrecking yard for $5 was a good fit. I drove the car for two years around the perimeter road of my uncle's farm. Then the day I got my driver's license my brother took me out to my uncle's place and I brought the panel home. Drove it for a couple years until I bought my parents '57 Belair, and then sold the panel to the neighbor for his sheet metal business.
Mine was a 1950 Chevy Fleetline...This is an actual picture of how it looks today where it ended up down in my back woods. Ah the memories.
A 71 Cutlass that a mentor taught me how to paint on at 14. I then went to work in his body shop and started a 51 HenryJ
1952 Ford 2 dr six cyl with glass packs, 235 Chevy Carb and Ansen floor shift went 72 in the qtr in 17 sec. Quicker than it was fast. Metalic dark blue, lowered all the way around on a little rake, nosed and decked, tube grill, Painted 53 Ford grill lip and olds tail lights, red and white tuck and roll interior that I got from a junk yard wreck. and installed myself. Livin' large at 17 years old. Wish I had picts but don't have any.. Just about like this one only dark metalic blue. I did have a 38 LaSalle Hearse before the 52 Ford but I couldn't bring it home because my Dad hated it, so the 52 was the first legal registered and insured car I had. The 38 LaSalle hearse was just like this one, Dad didn't dig it.
1964 Hillman Super Minx. (Identical to the one below except my panel gaps were better) Bought it as a parts car but it turned out to be in really good shape. 1.6 liter four-banger with four on the floor. Paint was all nasty so I painted it dark purple. It also qualifies for "cars you wish you never sold". Someone found it not long ago in a field, bought it, fixed it up and it's all nice again. That was a good thing to hear. Phil
1965 I think, traded an AFB and cast iron manifold for three, not one but three truck loads of Ford parts, 29-46. After sorting trading and selling I drove a 29 roadster to high school. 283, 3spd o'drive.
I guess you can talk about owning "new" cars...my first was a 68 fastback Baracuda. Bought in Memphis TN when I was there going through A school in the Navy. Drove it all the way home to San Diego. It was 318 auto, and I knew nothing. I learned a few knowledge by failure lessons on that car. Put a set of headers on it and trans shift kit. In my excitement, I didn't get all the plates in the valve body tight. It didn't work correctly...an old Chief who worked on cars for us stupid kids fixed that for me. I swapped in a aluminum intake and 4 bl carb. I tightened each bolt as I went around the manifold...you can probably understand why I had to loosen them all again to get the last one in I put in the very first B&M Star Shifter Memphis Speed Shop had ever sold. I figured out how to get the cable connected and working...problem was it was way too close to the headers. On the way home (to San Diego) a bit later, about Oklahoma City the shifter cable felt funny...the next day I couldn't get it to go into drive...so of course I put some muscle into it until it moved....just not into gear. The jacket was melted and the inner liner too, grabbed hold of the center rod real well. When it moved, it was because it went out the side of the cable. OK, under the car...disconnected the shifter. Parking brake on, in neutral, started the car, under again and into drive...off I went. At some point I pulled into a freeway side town and got some muffler bandage tape from an auto parts store, waited for it to cool and wrapped it as tightly as I could. It actually worked...once. Back to going under the car every gas stop. Heading into Gila Bend AZ, the lights were getting dim and the oil pressure low...damn. The alternator was dead. They didn't have a new one in what at the time was a truck stop and one gas station. Had them charge the battery, they let me sleep in my car at the station that night. Full tank, charged battery and off I went, using my under the car starting technique. When I needed gas, quick charged the battery also. I was 18, what did I know. When I pulled into my folks house in El Cajon, just outside of San Diego the car was missing due to the battery being low. I ended up replacing that too. Fun times being young wasn't it?
My father gave me a '35 Dodge sedan when I turned 16. It had been the family car but had just come out of storage after a few years and needed lots of work, rod knock, no brakes etc. I learned a lot getting it back together. I got it running and drivable but never on the road. My first car on the road was a '56 New Yorker. Funny to think the car was only 18 years old at the time, two years younger than my daily driver now.
I had some non- runners, ‘35 Chevy pickup, ‘37 Olds sedan and ‘34 Olds sedan before my first driver in ‘63, a ‘41 Mercury club coupe with a 283 which taught me fragility of early Ford transmissions.
Bought this one for $300 when I was 14. Still have it today. It was Bermuda Green and India Ivory back then. I knew from day one that I would build it into a copy of my Dad's Romany Red/India Ivory Delray. I wanted it done by the time I turned 16. That never happened. I did get it all tore down by age 16, but then my second car, a '55 Club Sedan happened. Dad accidentally bought it at an auction, helping the seller to reach the reserve. Didn't make reserve of $1500, but he let it go for $1225. Mom wasn't happy, and I got the car. The Chevy never saw the road for another 29 years. But glad I never sold her. We have a blast with her now. Drove the Ford in high school and college.
1931 Model A Coupe. 15 years old in 1966. Just moved to CA from PA. Paid $95.00 for it. Didn't run and the front axle assembly was in pieces. Got it running, registered and driveable. Sold it for $300.00 to buy a Parilla Italian motorcycle. Broke the crank ridding it to work a couple of months later. Finally made enough money as a bus boy to buy my '65 Falcon 2 dr. wagon my senior year.
The Jalopy Journal
