First Car?
#1
First Car?
Alright, I've been having a blast reading about first cars/best cars over on the 'week of the 20th' thread. Without the concept of 'best cars for "new drivers"', what was your 'first car' or 'best car' story.
My first car was boring but reliable; a 4-door Mazda GLC (Pre-zoom-zoom). Ran it till the AC and the heat both went out. I think I got about 200k miles out of that thing. Kept replacing the stereo with better, better, better. Did all the maintenance and learned a TON about working on cars.
Best story I've heard was my brother's. Inherited my parents 1976 Volkswagen Rabbit when he went to college. He drove that thing around MN/WI and the Dakotas until there was more rust than metal. Drove for a month with cardboard covering a hole under the clutch/brake pedal until it got wet and 'went away at about 60 mph'. Ended up having a friend who was a welder tack some sheet-metal to the floor so he'd quit getting wet. He loved that car for some reason.
My first car was boring but reliable; a 4-door Mazda GLC (Pre-zoom-zoom). Ran it till the AC and the heat both went out. I think I got about 200k miles out of that thing. Kept replacing the stereo with better, better, better. Did all the maintenance and learned a TON about working on cars.
Best story I've heard was my brother's. Inherited my parents 1976 Volkswagen Rabbit when he went to college. He drove that thing around MN/WI and the Dakotas until there was more rust than metal. Drove for a month with cardboard covering a hole under the clutch/brake pedal until it got wet and 'went away at about 60 mph'. Ended up having a friend who was a welder tack some sheet-metal to the floor so he'd quit getting wet. He loved that car for some reason.
#5
Can't abide NAI
Joined APC: Jun 2007
Position: Douglas Aerospace post production Flight Test & Work Around Engineering bulletin dissembler
Posts: 11,989
First car.. Opel GT that rolled away from the High School AP teacher’s house while he was on summer vacation and the kudzu covered it up so thoroughly that it was considered stolen and totaled by the insurer until the vine died down in the winter and red paint shone through the weeds. Bought and fixed it by age 14 and worked on it through age 15. Got legal at age 16 during the worst of the emissions era malaise. The high-po Corvette was 9.2 at 0 to 60 and a few big block Trans Am with a manual and a higher axle ratio could break into the 8’s.
Into that mess I discovered rotor motors. Take the exhaust manifold off a RX-7, install huge headers, ditch the intake and adapt a Holley 450 and … race car. They were banned in SCCA racing. With underdrive pulleys you could spin these to just under 12,000 RPM. Then the problem became structural. The rear axle locating links would fold, or rip out of the unibody. At age 16 I did not understand welding well enough to beef up the body to take the power, so I just had to drive more carefully to avoid the structural limits.
This caught the eye of a Lockheed Test Pilot who’s hobby was doing to airplanes what I was doing with cars. We worked out a trade on a Piper Pacer with 135 horsepower where 90 or 95 had been. So, at age 16 I had my first airplane.
Into that mess I discovered rotor motors. Take the exhaust manifold off a RX-7, install huge headers, ditch the intake and adapt a Holley 450 and … race car. They were banned in SCCA racing. With underdrive pulleys you could spin these to just under 12,000 RPM. Then the problem became structural. The rear axle locating links would fold, or rip out of the unibody. At age 16 I did not understand welding well enough to beef up the body to take the power, so I just had to drive more carefully to avoid the structural limits.
This caught the eye of a Lockheed Test Pilot who’s hobby was doing to airplanes what I was doing with cars. We worked out a trade on a Piper Pacer with 135 horsepower where 90 or 95 had been. So, at age 16 I had my first airplane.
#8
Can't abide NAI
Joined APC: Jun 2007
Position: Douglas Aerospace post production Flight Test & Work Around Engineering bulletin dissembler
Posts: 11,989
Alright, I've been having a blast reading about first cars/best cars over on the 'week of the 20th' thread. Without the concept of 'best cars for "new drivers"', what was your 'first car' or 'best car' story.
My first car was boring but reliable; a 4-door Mazda GLC (Pre-zoom-zoom). Ran it till the AC and the heat both went out. I think I got about 200k miles out of that thing. Kept replacing the stereo with better, better, better. Did all the maintenance and learned a TON about working on cars.
Best story I've heard was my brother's. Inherited my parents 1976 Volkswagen Rabbit when he went to college. He drove that thing around MN/WI and the Dakotas until there was more rust than metal. Drove for a month with cardboard covering a hole under the clutch/brake pedal until it got wet and 'went away at about 60 mph'. Ended up having a friend who was a welder tack some sheet-metal to the floor so he'd quit getting wet. He loved that car for some reason.
My first car was boring but reliable; a 4-door Mazda GLC (Pre-zoom-zoom). Ran it till the AC and the heat both went out. I think I got about 200k miles out of that thing. Kept replacing the stereo with better, better, better. Did all the maintenance and learned a TON about working on cars.
Best story I've heard was my brother's. Inherited my parents 1976 Volkswagen Rabbit when he went to college. He drove that thing around MN/WI and the Dakotas until there was more rust than metal. Drove for a month with cardboard covering a hole under the clutch/brake pedal until it got wet and 'went away at about 60 mph'. Ended up having a friend who was a welder tack some sheet-metal to the floor so he'd quit getting wet. He loved that car for some reason.
We had a fancy shop with a glass wall separating the shop from the waiting room. Our customers got quite the show.
I owe that guy a beer or something….
#9
Line Holder
Joined APC: Dec 2022
Posts: 85
Alright, I've been having a blast reading about first cars/best cars over on the 'week of the 20th' thread. Without the concept of 'best cars for "new drivers"', what was your 'first car' or 'best car' story.
… Best story I've heard was my brother's. Inherited my parents 1976 Volkswagen Rabbit when he went to college. He drove that thing around MN/WI and the Dakotas until there was more rust than metal. Drove for a month with cardboard covering a hole under the clutch/brake pedal until it got wet and 'went away at about 60 mph'. Ended up having a friend who was a welder tack some sheet-metal to the floor so he'd quit getting wet. He loved that car for some reason.
… Best story I've heard was my brother's. Inherited my parents 1976 Volkswagen Rabbit when he went to college. He drove that thing around MN/WI and the Dakotas until there was more rust than metal. Drove for a month with cardboard covering a hole under the clutch/brake pedal until it got wet and 'went away at about 60 mph'. Ended up having a friend who was a welder tack some sheet-metal to the floor so he'd quit getting wet. He loved that car for some reason.
#10
Roll’n Thunder
Joined APC: Oct 2009
Position: Pilot
Posts: 3,509
Faded yellow '85 Toyota Tercel hatchback (I started driving in the late 90's). From a parent's perspective probably the perfect first car. Couldn't go faster than 65 on the interstate even downhill. Butt ugly so perfect at repelling the opposite gender.
Edit: this thread is either a great story thread, or a phishing scam to find answers to people's security questions...
Edit: this thread is either a great story thread, or a phishing scam to find answers to people's security questions...
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