The first car I bought for myself was a red 1987 Escort GT. Thread is more fun with pictures though, so here is my second car -- a 1987 Nissan Pulsar NX.
Car is long gone, but I kept the girl (or maybe she kept me.) 
That was 23 years ago.
The first car I bought for myself was a red 1987 Escort GT. Thread is more fun with pictures though, so here is my second car -- a 1987 Nissan Pulsar NX.
Car is long gone, but I kept the girl (or maybe she kept me.) That was 23 years ago.
1993 Eagle Talon TSi AWD with an auto trans. Got it back in 2003 when having an automatic turbo DSM was still in the same realm of uncool as a 420A equipped car. It broke a lot and didn't even make 6 months after I got my license before it spun a bearing or two. A not as great as advertised replacement engine turned into a longterm Father and son project where it got a rebuild motor, 5-speed swap, lots of new break and suspension parts and a nicer looking interior. We got it done the summer after I graduated high school.
I still own it. The first pic was maybe 5/6 years ago and the 2nd is how it sits now unfortunately.
My first car was technically one of these:
1985 Honda Civic Wagon, but mine was gold with a plaid brown interior. My neighbor was moving, and she sold my parents this thing for $50. It didn't run, the brakes were stuck, and it had no title. After getting it sorta running and moving, she couldn't find the title so we ended up getting rid of it. I was 14 at the time (1996), so I consider this my 1st project car (and failure). Getting parts for this thing introduced me to junkyards, which was pretty cool.
The 1st car I actually could call mine that I drove was this one:
1964 Buick Skylark 2dr hardtop. I got it in 1997. This is the only photo I have of it, when it was waiting to be sold off due to the arrival of that 1987 Cougar XR7 sitting behind it.
It looked just like this:
My dad and I picked it up from a guy that lived next to his work for $400. It had the 225ci Fireball V6, the 2-speed Super Turbine 300, and it was in decent shape. I had it for about a year and a half before I could legally drive it, and we replaced the tires, the radiator, and added a JVC shaft-style radio and rear speakers. It had 4 wheel non-powered drum brakes with the single reservoir "suicide cylinder" master cylinder that worked most of the time, making stops interesting. It developed a fuel tank leak after only driving it about 6 months, and the whole Cougar was cheaper than a new fuel tank, so I opted for the newer car with a V8. I hung onto the car for another year before selling it for $800, doubling my money. By that time, it needed quarters and frame repair. If it was in nicer shape, I would have kept it. I still miss that thing, and I'd love to get another one someday.
First car was this in 1968.
The rip roaring 875 cc engine was incapable of a hill start on our local hills, so it was replaced a couple of weeks later with this: 68 Corolla, 1.2 l engine that could float the valves in all four gears and was rugged enough to survive a teenage driver.
Two years later I bought my first sports car (MGA, which is still in my garage) and went sports thereafter.
My first car was a 1967 Jeepster Commando. Not actual car, but looked something like this one.
It was quickly followed by a 1967 Cougar XR7-GT with a 390 4 speed.
In the spring of 1976 I graduated from university and got my tax return from the previous summer's work. The $600 was used to buy a 1971 Datsun 510, 2-door, bright orange. I loved that car. Too bad I was living in Quebec and the car already had holes along the rockers where the chrome trim clipped into place. Fixed that up and drove it for the next four years. Looked just like this......
Not this exact car as I don't have any photos of it but this looks to be a clone of my car (color and trim). 1975 Pontiac firebird formula 400 with a big block Pontiac 401 in it and a 4 speed. Purchased from a local police officer that used it for under cover work and high speed pursuits on Rt 95 & Rt2 in my town. 0-25 mph it was not that fast but 30-??? it was a rocket. I had that car deep into the triple digits more than a couple times. It also was kind of a get out of jail free card car as the local police knew me and the car and the previous owner was on teh force so unless I was doing something REALLY stupid they left me alone. In fact I don't think I ever got a ticket locally.
Now there was a time when I was asked to sep out of the car and join the sherif in his car. When I sat down in the front seat he pointed to the radar unit on the dash and said " Son. . .. you were not doing 4 MPH" as the unit read 04 in those red flickering vacuum tube digital read outs of the time. My next comment was to ask him if the local court took travelers checks.
No I did not get a ticket. Yes I got escorted out of the state (all the way down I70). Yes the sherif looked just like Buford T. Justice (but shorter). Yes It was all I could do not to bust a gut laughing at him or mention the similarity.
Anyway the car.
I still ahe the firebird emblem from the nose on my dresser as a reminder that I will some day get another one of these. The car was traded for a 1965 T bird that I completely restored. It went over 250K miles. When I traded it it was starting to split in half. You could see the roof was starting to buckle and the doors were not closing correctly. The car was completely used up. It made 3-4 trips across the country and back and an equal number trips to Florida and Canada. One of the best cars I ever had. I had a trans grenade. Just like the Amco commercial from years ago when the car goes in the tunnel and trans parts come out the other side. I did that exact thing pulling out of a gas station. I thought it was absolutely hilarious for some reason. I think I did 2 clutches in the 200K miles. Beyond that it was the normal ware items.
1987 White 325i. It was an auto and when the transmission went out I eventually sold it to someone on here for a very low price (like $300 or something). I was 18, had a different car, and needed money. Ah, I wish I would have held on to it!
1973 Mazda RX-2. 4-door. Automatic. Slightly rusty.
Everything on that car worked. Kept it for 5 years.
Edited to add image of a car that kinda looks like it did, but it was never this nice:
1988 Dodge Omni, had it 2 weeks then got a 1987 Dodge Shadow that I kept for a couple years.
Even at 15, I knew I wanted a Mustang. With visions of a vintage GT350 doing daily burnouts in my brain, I confided in my grandfather that, more than anything, I wanted "an older Mustang."
A few weeks later he called me, giddy. My mother drove me out to see him, so we could pull this monstrosity out of a farmer's field for the princely sum of $50. (note, this isn't the actual car, the actual car was far, far worse).
It was originally an automatic, V6 car, with super bitchin white pleather seats. The seats were mostly foam, the brakes didn't work, and as we quickly discovered, the cylinder bores were so rusty that the engine was beyond hope. This lead to a 5.0 swap on an extreme budget over the course of a brutal Texas Summer.
"Swap" completed, the car still didn't have a/c, I had to pump the brakes to build any pressure, and the radiator fans were rigged to a switch under the dash. 16 year old me frequently forgot to turn this switch off, which lead to roughly one dead battery per month. Eventually Wal-Mart refused to exchange yet another battery for me. Though dyno time was absolutely out of reach, my Mustang's status as a burnout machine was without question. I attributed this to the ground pounding amount of torque produced by the v8. When one of the tires literally exploded on the highway, my friend astutely pointed out that I had never bought new tires.
Proof positive that God looks out for idiots, I never crashed this heap, and when time came to go off to college, I sold it to Carmax for $100. Thank you for attending my Ted talk.
shelbyz said:1993 Eagle Talon TSi AWD with an auto trans. Got it back in 2003 when having an automatic turbo DSM was still in the same realm of uncool as a 420A equipped car. It broke a lot and didn't even make 6 months after I got my license before it spun a bearing or two. A not as great as advertised replacement engine turned into a longterm Father and son project where it got a rebuild motor, 5-speed swap, lots of new break and suspension parts and a nicer looking interior. We got it done the summer after I graduated high school.
I still own it. The first pic was maybe 5/6 years ago and the 2nd is how it sits now unfortunately.
I wanted an Eclipse GSX so bad when I was in high school.
My first car was 1986 Pontiac sunbird turbo GT with manual 4 speed. Bought it for $599.99 and drove it 100 miles back home on very dry rotted tires and a fuel leak.
Looked like this one.
Really fun car, stock made 168hp,175 tq.
After 2 years of driving I had rear left suspension failure due to rust.
First car; 1972 Chevy Impala four door; owned with my brother
Next up, 1968 Polara again owned with my brother
And then my first car owned by just me; 1973 Mazda RX-3 SP
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