Who here has ever bought thier first car again just to "do it right"?

I would like to... if I had the space to work on it (kind of do) and the money (don't really). 64 Plymouth Savoy, two door sedan, with the pushbutton automatic as the only option in the car. 225, radio delete, manual steering and brakes. Light blue on blue.

I think about what I'd like to do. Ford 8.8 with discs in the back, not sure what engine, and probably have to lose the pushbuttons. A 318 built to rev and an overdrive A-833 sound nice. And these cars sell for, what, $15k in good condition with a not desirable drivetrain these days I think. Just not interested enough.

I tried to buy back my "MG Fidget" a first car that had morphed into a Fiat 124 drivetrain stuffed into a 1970 MG Midget. It was done with the budget, tools and skills of an unemployed 18 year old and I thought that at 35 and some experience under my belt, I could do better. That car was a hoot to drive. Alas, it became part of a drug deal debt and lost to my circle.

I did buy back the first new car I ever bought...it was a 1990 Miata that I drove for ten years, sold and then bought back four years later. Drove it for a summer and moved it on cause it was going to rot out sooner rather than later.

crankwalk wrote:

Cooper_Tired wrote: I still have my first car, and depending on the day I either want to sell it or build it right. I really wanted a 1g DSM in high school. I do often fight the urge to find one a build it how I wanted. Thankfully there are no nice ones left, so fighting the urge isn't too difficult

There are loads of nice DSMs out there. They aren't $2000 though. If you got on a DSM forum and said I want the nicest 1g AWD I can get for 8-10k , you'd be surprised what's out there.

Yea.. I didn't need to see that.

They are out there and priced about like fox bodies.

And I should've known that you'd know, with a user name like Crankwalk

I'm doing it now. My first car, hours after purchase in 2004. This picture does a really great job of making it look rust free. It was an Ontario car.

A few years later after driving it into the ground, I put a jackstand right through the rocker and parted it out.

I've always owned a 3g Prelude since that first one, but I'm still wanting to build one "properly". Last spring I found a straight from California car with a blown engine tucked just outside Winnipeg, Manitoba. Guy bought it from the original owner in 2010, was driving it back. Engine blew on the trip home, he had it shipped the rest of the way. It sat for 5 years and now I'm building it. As found:

It still looks the same, but I've since replaced the engine, and completely torn apart the car to clean and fix all the little things wrong with it. Paint/ding removal is the only thing keeping it from looking straight from the showroom.

I'm with Woody on this one. My first car was a 65 mustang. Love the heck out of it in HS. Drove one a few years ago and hated it. Even drove my second car, An 85 mustang GT and to be honest not really digging another one those either. The only car I wanted to find another one was either my third car, an 89 colt GT turbo or One of my Integras like my 92 GSR.

My first car was an 80 regal that we put a mostly stock 350 in and grenaded 4 ten bolts before i had a license. No thanks on ever buying another gm project. Id love to have another of my first foxbody! 79 capri rs. 302/c4 not the turbo version.

Damn. Looks like my first car might be the oldest yet in this thread. 1954 Oldsmobile Super 88. Got it for $300 back in 97 and sold it 3 Yeats later for $150. The things I would do to that car now...

While nice B13 SE-R cars are rare, finding an NX2000 might be even tougher now. I've love to have one again with a SR20DET or VE, but 140hp was plenty when I was 16.

spitfirebill wrote:

Gasoline wrote:

Oh the humanity!!

I was looking at the Triumphs in disbelief.

My Dad came up behind me and said: "Sorry Tom, about My dead tree taking out the Triumphs."

....."On the bright side, this solves your Lucas electrical issues."

mndsm wrote: 20 years later I purchased another 1993 corolla. This time, a wagon. Sooooooh, yes.

I require recent pictures of Miyuki. Stat.

Does it count if I bought the second one to "do it right" before selling the first?

My first AE86 was an '85 GT-S coupe with a salvage title, dented rusty floorpan, awesome suspension and wheels, a shiny topside, a shiny red/maroon interior, and a factory sunroof. I bought it from an autocrosser/track day enthusiast for $2250. I did lots of cheap little mods. I liked the platform but not the details.

A few years later I bought an '85 GT-S hatchback with a clean title, solid floorpan, worn-out stock suspension, dirty oxidized exterior, so-so gray interior, and no sunroof. I bought it with a no-start issue from two sisters working as maids for $550.

I learned to shop cheap. I learned not to dazzled by the exhaust tip and the pre-sale detail job. I learned that solid bones and stock with minor mechanical issues is the best basis for your own project. I also learned that a hatchback is more practical, and no sunroof waaay more comfortable for my neck vertebrae. I learned that the novelty of an 80's red/maroon interior gets pretty tiresome when you have to live with it all the time.

I still have the second one.

I actually still have my first car, which is my '91 318is. While it's not the same as totally starting over, there have definitely been many iterations of suspension, turbo setup, interior, etc. At one point, all the rubber suspension parts were replaced with poly or delrin. Now, about half of it is back to rubber. Lots of time and effort into that one, and I still love driving it. As long as it is financially viable, I doubt I'll ever sell that car.

Yeah, I'd kinda like to, but '73 RX-2's are pretty hard to find these days.

I'd love to have one of my high school cars back. I has a 1964 Buick Skylark coupe and a pair of 1987 Mercury Cougar XR7's.

If I had the Buick: It would get either a Buick 455/TH400 combo, or a 3.8 Turbo/TH200-4R out of a Grand National. Mine originally had the 225 "Fireball" V6, so doing the 3.8 Turbo swap was something I really wanted to do, since the 3.8 was a descendant of the 225.

If I had the better of the two XR7's: I would do everything I had originally planned to do. Manual trans swap, swap out the boat anchor 5.0 for a 5.0 H.O. and upgrade the wheels and suspension.

I haven't seen another Skylark or XR7 for sale around here since my old ones left my possession.

Still have my first car, a 67 camaro. After sitting in storage for a long time it needs a complete redo. Lots of time and money to do it the way I want to. I think about doing it, and then I think about the other projects I would like to do, and then I think about how nice of a car my 2011 camaro is. Its better in every way than the 67 will ever be. Maybe I'll get to it someday.

I have zero desire to own another black-with-pink pinstripes Oldsmobile Firenza...

A tan 93 Altima isn't really very appealing. However the v8/5-speed 90 Bronco that followed would be really fun to re-do. The only mods I did to that rig were a Flowmaster 40-series and a collection of scratches and dents so it's not a high bar to cross I've honestly not seen another v8 5-speed combo since.

My dad taught me how to drive (and made me take the driving test) in a 60's Dodge crew cab pickup. I have one just like it and still have the cab from the first one for parts.

The first car I actually purchased was a '74 Opel Manta and I brought home one just like it (my 23-rd? Opel) last summer. I stumbled across my actual first car in a junkyard about 10 years after I sold it, and I kept the grill for a wall hanger.

Now the '73 Datsun 610 and '78 Datsun F10 wagon I had in high school have always been on my radar, but only because they were/are so rare. I don't know if I would buy another, but I have a brand new cannon sidedraft manifold for the F10's A14 just in case...

KyAllroad wrote: Hmm, 1980 Toyota Corolla fastback with a 3T-C. I suspect 99% of them have returned to the earth by now, it'd be kinda fun to find one but I'm pretty sure that driving one today would ruin my memories of the wee beastie.

Myfirst was a '76 Rolla bought for me by my dad, and it was ten years old at the time. It was miserbly slow and fuggly for a 16 year old in a high school full of "cool" cars. By the time I graduated it went from 19 second 1/4 miles to 16 second 1/4 miles. By the time I sent to slavage It had a 3TC with a worked-over 2TC head, over-bored 11:1 bottom end, dual Webers, and ran 14's at nearly 100 mph, and still got 30 mpg highway once I got the carbs sorted out. So that car taught me engine building and tuning. But cornering was meh. If I knew then what I know now about suspension tuning for handling and track driving, I might still have that car today.

as my first car was a 1990 plymouth sundance i have no desire to go back and do that again

but my second car was a super clean 89 240sx for $500 from an auto action. the downside is it burn a quart of oil a week and was an automatic. I saved up the whole summer with plans to buy an sr20 and a 5 speed to swap in. but after said summer of teenage boy abuse that poor automatic only had 1st, 3rd, and reverse left in it and i hated it so much that i was over it and bought a aw11 mr2 with the money i saved. i dont mind so much as i ended up with a sweet mr2 but looking back i would have liked to keep the 240.