What was your first car?
- Thread starter Dmartn149
- Start date
55Redneck
Canadian Redneck
I'm seeing quite a few 283 powered Chevys as first cars in this thread. Probably the best and most reliable V-8 Chevy ever made. In the good weather months I daily drive a 67 Belair with a 283/glide and it's very enjoyable. My 283 has 114,000 original miles and the only thing that's ever been replaced is valve cover gaskets, Fuel pump, and a water pump, and it still rumbles down the road like it did when new.
1978 Mercury Zephyr sedan with an 85 hp inline Six and a C3 3-speed automatic transmission. Reliability and performance were not its strong suits. I traded it in 1981 on a new Chevy Citation hatchback, which was a major upgrade. The Zephyr cured me of any desire to own another Ford product until the company introduced the Taurus for the 1986 model year.
1967 Simca 1000 (French Chrysler). Rear engine smaller than some friends motorcycles.
Previous owner a student at Miami and lived in it on the beach. Had about an inch of pistachio shells, sand, and water intruded everywhere. Transmission would freeze solid in winter and I had to run it and heater for an hour before I could move the shifter. Got it for $35 and put $90 in a tire, clutch, and slave cylinder.
But roomy and comfy.
Previous owner a student at Miami and lived in it on the beach. Had about an inch of pistachio shells, sand, and water intruded everywhere. Transmission would freeze solid in winter and I had to run it and heater for an hour before I could move the shifter. Got it for $35 and put $90 in a tire, clutch, and slave cylinder.
But roomy and comfy.
BSome
Super Member
A 78 Thunderbird similar to this.
Bought in 79 after graduating high school. I believe the dealers called them Demos and had around 8,000 miles on it, but I was the original owner. Had a powerful 302 with a whopping 125HP, bucket seats and shifter in the console. Put a set of Keystone sunspokes on, a Clarion cassette player, Jensen 3 ways with a 60 watt booster equalizer. Went into the NAVY and the car traveled across the country many times including a trip onto the flight deck of that carrier in my avatar. We left Puget Sound Naval Shipyard on our way to Naval air station Alameda.
While in California put a Weiand intake, Carter 4 barrel and Edelbrock superflow air filter on. Had more power, acceleration and fuel mileage, as long as I kept my foot out of course. There was something about hearing those secondaries open up though. Upgraded the stereo to a Concord cassette with a 50 watt amp to the front 100 watt for the back and Alpines all the way around. Plenty of sound and volume then .
While I liked that car the sad part was I spent as much money making repairs as I paid for it. I have a Mazda3 I bought new and other than oil changes tires, brakes and plugs I have not had to make any repairs.
Bought in 79 after graduating high school. I believe the dealers called them Demos and had around 8,000 miles on it, but I was the original owner. Had a powerful 302 with a whopping 125HP, bucket seats and shifter in the console. Put a set of Keystone sunspokes on, a Clarion cassette player, Jensen 3 ways with a 60 watt booster equalizer. Went into the NAVY and the car traveled across the country many times including a trip onto the flight deck of that carrier in my avatar. We left Puget Sound Naval Shipyard on our way to Naval air station Alameda.
While in California put a Weiand intake, Carter 4 barrel and Edelbrock superflow air filter on. Had more power, acceleration and fuel mileage, as long as I kept my foot out of course. There was something about hearing those secondaries open up though. Upgraded the stereo to a Concord cassette with a 50 watt amp to the front 100 watt for the back and Alpines all the way around. Plenty of sound and volume then .
While I liked that car the sad part was I spent as much money making repairs as I paid for it. I have a Mazda3 I bought new and other than oil changes tires, brakes and plugs I have not had to make any repairs.
Last edited:
KingBubba
"Too Much Stuff"
My first car was a white 1966 Jeep. It was fun, but was very costly, as things kept going wrong with it. The transmission was always having issues. This was the first year that jeep put a V-6 in the Jeep and they just adapted it to the old 4 cylinder transmission, which was a big mistake. I sure had fun with it, though, as expensive as it was to keep it running. I never ever bought another Jeep.
Pio1980
AK Member
JEEP, Just Empty Every Pocket.
A '62 Chevy Belair 4 door sedan with a 235 cid "Blue Flame" 6 cylinder motor and two speed automatic trans. What a smooth motor that was. It ran great until someone ran a stop sign and totaled it out from under me. It looked like this (not my photo).
The 283 was a great motor. You could do a lot with it in terms of boosting compression, and fooling with cam and carbs to really boost the horsepower. I later had a dark blue '64 Chevelle convertible with a 283 and a Muncie big block M22 4 speed. With a 3.70 Corvette rear, first gear was good for 60 mph! A friend built the motor, with a 650 Rochester Q Jet and mild cam making some serious HP.
The 235 could suffer from a lack of oil in the valves, but my dad had an ex submarine mechanic who cured that by running an exposed oil line off the oil pump through the side of the head. It just blew oil inside, and it really quieted the valves down and provided all the lubrication they could want.
/stories/2018/08/113918.jpg)
JoeShimandle
Active Member
1978 Fiat 124 Spider. Not my car, but the same year, model, colors, and wheels. Had a 1.8L DOHC (hood humps for clearance), Weber carb, 5-speed manual, 4 wheel disc brakes, and a rear seat that added interior spaciousness/cooler carrying. The only part to break in 6 years and 150,000 miles was a snapped clutch cable as the where wire cables back then. That was it. Not a Fix It Again Tony car. Yes it had routine maintenance as do all cars. 
One of my two younger brothers, the one two years younger, bought a '63 Belair from an old farmer that told my dad he would sell it for $500. It had a 283, but burned oil like crazy. When he headed to WSU in Pullman, WA my other younger brother and I followed him in my '64 Chevelle to make sure the car would make it OK. But going over Sherman Pass it was blowing out so much blue smoke we told him to follow us. He kept a case of oil with him wherever he went. I can't remember what happened to that car, he either wrecked it or it died. It was kind of cool with that giant bus-like front window. Lots of room too, but it had issues from the day he bought it. Not nearly as cool as my Malibu tho. He had gone through at least four cars before I ever bought my second one, a '74 Bronco. I sure miss that thing too.
My first car that never ran and sat under the mulberry tree at the back of the yard and I listened to the radio when I was 13...
1953 Pontiac straight-8, 4 door, faded blue. I paid $15 for it and maybe another $8 for a new battery. The radio sounded great in that car, and the music coming over the airwaves was awesome...this would have been around 1968 I think.
My first car when I got my drivers license was a '64 Chevelle 2-door, 6-cyl, 3-on-the-floor. Whoever owned it before me made it look sorta-cool, had some type of then-stylish wheels, like chrome reverse maybe, can't recall for certain, and he had also converted the column shifter to floor shifter. It was painted maroon. I didn't mind that it was only a six banger. Loved the manual transmission even if it was just a 3 speed, and 1st and 2nd weren't synchronized for downshifting IIRC.
.
1953 Pontiac straight-8, 4 door, faded blue. I paid $15 for it and maybe another $8 for a new battery. The radio sounded great in that car, and the music coming over the airwaves was awesome...this would have been around 1968 I think.
My first car when I got my drivers license was a '64 Chevelle 2-door, 6-cyl, 3-on-the-floor. Whoever owned it before me made it look sorta-cool, had some type of then-stylish wheels, like chrome reverse maybe, can't recall for certain, and he had also converted the column shifter to floor shifter. It was painted maroon. I didn't mind that it was only a six banger. Loved the manual transmission even if it was just a 3 speed, and 1st and 2nd weren't synchronized for downshifting IIRC.
.
Last edited:
