1984 trans am I never drove and traded for an 80 regal I never drove. When I finally got my license it was an 86 Toyota pick up I could power brake in first, second and third. It was flat black with a wooden bed and 370k miles. Ended up with 245/60r15s on it, a ported and milled head, header and a 500 Holley after I blew the head gasket in it.
Monkey E36 M3 brown 1981 Toyota Hilux.
1980 Toyota Corolla liftback I bought in 1987. In red with a black interior and the durable but wildly underpowered 1.8 3T-C motor.
I replaced the stereo, crashed it into a tree, fixed it, swapped the suspension, put on a weber carb and headers. Raced it in the Cape Cod autocross region in 1989. Had the hood latch fail explosively.
I went away to the army and it wouldn't start when I got back so it got scrapped. (I didn't know enough about cars then to fix it and had the itch to buy something new. Wish I had it back now.)
A 1999 Chevy Cavalier (in 2010) bought for the price of $1450. It had sunscorched black paint, dents and rust in every body panel, a metallic green hood, the 2.2L pushrod motor with a 3-speed automatic and a E36 M3ty cold-air intake that my friends and I made. It was genuine trash, absurdly slow, would not do a burnout and I beat on it like it owed me money. I even gutted it once and made the only dragstrip passes I have ever made, after jokingly trash-talking my friend with a similar 1995 2.2L/3-speed Sunfire. It was also in a bunch of crashes. Like a bunch. Before I got it, during my ownership (none my fault) and after I sold it to my sister.
A 1974 Plymouth Valiant in faded beige. 225 Slant Six + Automatic. I started driving it in September of 1999.
I was convinced the car had an electrical problem, because it had "interlock" and I guess that was uncommon enough that my parents/friends/friends parents were never able to point out that was the reason the car wouldn't start sometimes.
1968 MG Midget. Rust galore and no top.
Funny to think back and recall that it was not a "classic" at the time, just a clapped out old car.
Had a memorable summer with that car.
Pete
1993 corolla, identical to this one, save mine had even less options. So base model I didn't have side molding or a model designation. Sweet tape deck and 3 speed auto though.
Mine was my grandfather's 1964 Impala SS, white, 283, powerglide, low miles. Within 2 hours I also got my first speeding ticket. Within a month I was cruising Van Nuys Blvd. Within couple months it weighed a lot less and had some fatter rubber on it. Several years later I had Traco build a 327 with 3 x 2 Rochesters but while parked in front of a speed shop a drunk woman plowed into the back of it.
1992 Saab 900S sedan 2.1 NA/5 speed with 80k-ish miles on it. It was a 9 year old one owner car that had been totalled and a friend of my dad's bought it at a salvage auction. He did the body work, I provided the repair parts and hung out while he did the repairs, and paid him $900 for the car. It was a turd, but it started a lifelong (so far) interest in the Saab brand, and C900s more specifically. My wife and I still have 2. This car made me learn to turn wrenches because I didn't have the money to pay someone and it was often broken despite the low miles.
Here's the car's good side, where you can't see the primer spots:
1980 buick park ave 350 diesel with those mag wheels and paint that had sat under a pine tree for 6 years. Sadly I didn't get to drive it when I turned 16 because the injector pump died before then and autozone and amazon didn't exist. So that was $450 for the pump in 1991 dollars and I paid $150 for the car. It sat and I got this to use from the folks:
Mine was dark blue with the whorehouse red interior and a 5-spd. Car ate ball joints, Axles, tires and struts like they were spark plugs in a yamaha 2-stroke.
1981 Plymouth Voyager, 485,000 miles. Drove it in high school then ordered a Dakota R/T when I was a junior.
mine was red with white stripe. During the summers I worked for my mom hauling Amish. Pretty good gig.
1957 Plymouth Belvedere 318 complete with push button tranny selector. I think it cost $45 and needed gas, oil, transmission fluid and coolant at every fill up. I drag raced it and drove it until it burned up from a lack of transmission fluid. and then I discovered Min-Cooper's. I was likely old enough for a license. 
In reply to David S. Wallens :
My first car was a 1980 toyota corolla liftback, stick shift and RWD. It was like this one, but in red
93 or 94 VW Golf Mk3 5 speed in red. I owned it for about 3 years before it ended up being the third car in a three car accident. Rear ended a Lexus that had rear ended whoever was in front of him. Was probably going around 20 or 25mph when I hit and while the body damage wasn't too bad, somehow the the wiring harness caught fire so it ended up getting totaled out by my insurance.
Perfect first car in that it handled relatively well, had sufficient power and the hatch allowed me to jam the back of the car full of things it had no right transporting.
i was given a ~73 Beetle when i was 12 or so, it was too far gone and i ended up selling it.
dad bought me a 74 el camino that we fixed up and that was my first car, i'll look for pictures.
first one i bought myself was an 84 s10 4x4 so i could take the el camino off the road for the winter
JoeyM said:In reply to David S. Wallens :
My first car was a 1980 toyota corolla liftback, stick shift and RWD. It was like this one, but in red
Twinsies!
1977 Alfa Romeo Alfetta GT, and I got it in the summer of '87 between my 2nd and 3rd year in College.
It had issues, so when I graduated, I also got an '88 Honda CRX HF.
Kept both cars into the 90's, selling the Alfetta first, and then donating the Honda near 2000. (actually, I had considered the HF as a Challenge car, but I was overruled to use an Alfa).
A family friend had a 65 corvair Corsa four speed, naturally aspirated 4 carb that threw a rod. I was about 14, and he suggested that I could have it if I fixed it.
The problem with that plan was that I had no mentor, and no clue where to start. It sat outside the house for a few months and then disappeared.
When I turn sixteen, my dad gave me his 1960 Plymouth Suburban two door wagon. Total stripper, radio delete, only option was heat. It was so big that I could fit my 9'4" longboard in the back and close the tailgate.
Slant six 225, three on the tree. The engine had been re-ringed with the block still in the car, and it had about three hundred thousand miles on it. Lots of rust, the original owner had driven it on the beach a lot. The spare tire fell through the floor one morning on the way to school.
I drove it through high School and for a couple of more years, until the rusty clutch linkage broke. My dad scrapped it while I was gone for the summer racing horses.
Same model, same color, different car. I wish I still had it. The Plymouth is long gone, but I still have the longboard though!
The first car I bought for myself was a 67 dart GT, slant six 225 with an automatic.
I was racing harness horses then and was on the road for half the year. I drove it all over the country for about 7 years, then made a deal to sell it to my brother. He crashed it, so in his mind he didn't have to pay for it. Sad ending.
Still have the longboard, though!
Anybody want to buy a longboard?
A 1961 Pontiac Catalina four door sedan, bought on January 1, 1976.
My first car was Curtis's '67 Le Mans:
When I acquired it from my mother in 1981 (dad gave it to her for Christmas in 1966), it was Champagne and had hubcaps. With dad's help I mudded the rusty rockers and painted it Rallye Red in 1982, plus a new top and suspension. Drove it every day from 1981 to 1991, and frequently after that until about 2006. After that, not so much.
1983 Golf GTI. Looked just like this picture:
I loved that car so much. It was ten years old when I got it, and I got rid of it near 400k miles. The drivetrain was still running flawlessly. You could basically fix the whole car with a 10mm and 14mm socket. At the end the sunroof leaked badly and the floor pan was rusted all the way through. I could have pedaled the car down the street like Fred Flintstone.
1966 Renault Dauphine. $35 purchase price, $115 for the engine rebuild kit (including wet sleeves) and $44 for 4 VW Tires. (Summer of 1974)
First car was a 1960 Renault Dauphine. It wasn't just any 1960 Dauphine, it was the worst one that Renault built that year. At least the girls thought it was cute.
djsilver (Forum Supporter) said:
1966 Renault Dauphine. $35 purchase price, $115 for the engine rebuild kit (including wet sleeves) and $44 for 4 VW Tires. (Summer of 1974)
You have my heartfelt sympathy. I hope you've recovered.
Around 1980 my Dad gave me his 73 Plymouth Scamp...........really sturdy car, before he gave it to me we used to drive down rough roads to go spectate at the Mint 400. I only kept it for a month after being gifted it, my folks wanted me to pay the insurance on it and was way more than motorcycle insurance so I sold it and went back to riding my bike everyday.
The first car I bought was a 65 Baja bug, loads of fun with that car bouncing through the desert.
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