What was your first car?

[Coyle70]

‘77 Firebird with Pontiac 301 bought for $50 my father found.

I’m #4 of 5 siblings and the first 4 of us average a year and a half between each. So oldest got family 76 impala wagon then bought her own car and handed down to #2 then he got his own and past to #3. By this time the “Imp” made a name for itself in town, it had a freakishly powerful 350 for a wagon (I think father did some work to engine but never confirmed) and able to carry 9 with trundle seat. So #3 was enjoying it when it was my turn so dad found my car with current owner unable to start and metal shavings in tranny fluid.
I remember going to look at it with him and tinkering and getting it started. My dad looks at me like maybe I shouldn’t have done that. Thank goodness seller just smiled and honored his $50 price tag. I think he just wanted it out of his driveway.
Scouts were later 3 ScoutII (72,76,78) and 1 Terra(78) hard to believe all of them combined purchased for less than $1500.
So when SM made their appearance I was getting texts from all my old friends (who I taught how to drive sticking them).

 

[J Alynn]

‘77 Firebird with Pontiac 301 bought for $50 my father found.

I’m #4 of 5 siblings and the first 4 of us average a year and a half between each. So oldest got family 76 impala wagon then bought her own car and handed down to #2 then he got his own and past to #3. By this time the “Imp” made a name for itself in town, it had a freakishly powerful 350 for a wagon (I think father did some work to engine but never confirmed) and able to carry 9 with trundle seat. So #3 was enjoying it when it was my turn so dad found my car with current owner unable to start and metal shavings in tranny fluid.
I remember going to look at it with him and tinkering and getting it started. My dad looks at me like maybe I shouldn’t have done that. Thank goodness seller just smiled and honored his $50 price tag. I think he just wanted it out of his driveway.
Scouts were later 3 ScoutII (72,76,78) and 1 Terra(78) hard to believe all of them combined purchased for less than $1500.
So when SM made their appearance I was getting texts from all my old friends (who I taught how to drive sticking them).

Cool story. Funny how cars and food discussions can bring so many people together

 

[Scoutsie]

If we’re talking cars that I drove kind of regularly since getting a driver’s license, my grandfather’s hand-me-down Plymouth Reliant (circa 1985? If you’ve seen a K car in your life, you’ve seen this car in one of its 50,000 iterations) was the one that I think my parents stuck me with the most, ha ha ha. Sometimes I drove their Volvo station wagon (1986 240 DL), but mostly it was that terrifying K car. Holy crap. That thing shuddered violently if you went over 45 mph in it, so for a very long time, I had a serious phobia of driving on highways. Like I just wouldn’t because I was convinced the car would tear apart and everyone would die horribly. I think I packed about eight friends into it at one point and drove down Storrow Drive west in Boston to drop some people off after doing something downtown and am to this day very glad that nobody got hurt. I got sideswiped by a Mayflower truck on the way to work one morning. The driver told me that I wasn’t in a real lane because he was a cool guy. I got his plate number and reported him to the cops because he wouldn’t give me his information and stuck his dog’s ass out the window at me. Awesome. Unfortunately, the $3000 or whatever it would take to fix the driver’s side doors totaled the car. Whomp whomp. Subway for me.

If we’re talking cars financed in my name, then it was a black 2004 Toyota Prius. I was initially dead set against it because I had some sort of weird hatred of Toyota based on their ads, but my then-boyfriend and future ex-husband talked me into a test drive and I decided that it was pretty cool. My parents and grandparents always said to buy American and I had wanted to buy a Saturn something-or-other, but I was like nope, this is it. I have never had a more reliable car. I didn’t realize that there is a pretty good reason why people buy Corollas and Camrys and whatnot and just drive them into the ground: they are frigging robust. That purchase led to a 2010 and a 2015. Was going to buy in 2023 but I got the ick and noped out of the sale.

Now my hatred of Toyota is based on experience!

 

[maynard]

Thought it might be fun to hear about everyone’s first cars. Some Scout, some not.

My first car was a 1974 Camaro Z28 350 4-speed with a high rise intake manifold, dual glass packs, headers and a racing air filter housing.

When I was at a gas station once a guy asked me how did you get this car this way? Bought it for $2500 from someone. He said they don’t make a 350 4-speed. They don’t. Come to find out the people who had it prior had put the manual transmission in but not changed the ratio in the rear end so I burned a clutch every 6 months. There were a bunch of mechanics that lived down the street from me who were into racing so they put in a racing clutch and 468 gear radio in the rear end. This was in California and they were the only way I could get a smog certificate. I gave them $50 and didn’t ask any questions.

Every guy wanted to race my little 17 year old self. I got 8 miles to the gallon and it’s the reason I always have a fire extinguisher in my car because once it caught on fire and I was able to put it out and saved my car.

That car started my love of cars and the reason I know as much as I do. My dad wouldn’t let me drive until I knows how to change a tire, change the oil, do a tuneup and I flushed radiators, etc, etc. I am glad I don’t have to do any of that today.

So let’s hear your stories. Scout or not!

Great story!

 

[maynard]

My vehicle that followed my 100 hp convertible was a 1970 Camaro Super Sport 396 ci 375 hp. That one got me into street racing on Woodward and Telegraph in Detroit. Fortunately I was able to get out in one peace.

If it was late 70's, I would have been hanging out at the Big Boy in my '66 Lemans (that I dreamed was a GTO)...

 

[6-ScoutFamily]

A 1966 Scout 800 in the original blue w/4-cyl and a 4-speed. Gave it an Earl Scheib special in Centennial metallic dark gray. It looked great.

It would have been fun to bore and stroke this to 196ci and throw a supercharger on it.

 

[04Ram2500Hemi]

I had a 1991 Suzuki Sidekick (similar to this, can’t find any actual pictures at the moment). I think it had 95hp and a 9 gallon gas tank. It was lots of fun!

 

[nolen]

I had a 1991 Suzuki Sidekick (similar to this, can’t find any actual pictures at the moment). I think it had 95hp and a 9 gallon gas tank. It was lots of fun!
View attachment 11413View attachment 11414

I wanted one but my dad said absolutely not - no Suzuki Sideflips for me

 

[04Ram2500Hemi]

I wanted one but my dad said absolutely not - no Suzuki Sideflips for me

It was way more stable than some of the stories (ask 15 year old me how I know). It also wasn’t very fast (top speed under 90mph). But man it was fun. I think that’s why I’m excited about the Traveler. It kind of reminds me of my first vehicle (just a whole lot nicer). I miss having a a little SUV to run around in from time to time.

 

[nolen]

It was way more stable than some of the stories (ask 15 year old me how I know). It also wasn’t very fast (top speed under 90mph). But man it was fun. I think that’s why I’m excited about the Traveler. It kind of reminds me of my first vehicle (just a whole lot nicer). I miss having a a little SUV to run around in from time to time.

In his opinion, I didn't give him a lot of reasonable options on my wishlist - Suzuki Sidekick, Suzuki Samurai, or a 1966 Mustang convertible (Candy Apple Red of course). I ended up with a 1984 Chevy Cavalier bought at a surplus auction from Duke Energy. But it drove and I didn't have to pay for it so I was happy enough!

 

[maynard]

My first car was a '66 Pontiac Lemans purchased for $300. I swapped the 2-speed slush box for a turbo-hydramatic 350 and then later a 400. Swapped the 326 V8 for a 400. Added a highrise manfiold and a holley 780 dual feed double pumper along with the hood from a '67 GTO. Needless to say the guys at the junk yard and I were on a first name basis!

Ran around primer grey (all over woodward, telegraph, gratiot (when gratiot auto supply was a thing), and of course grand river ave... Owned it for 13 years in all sorts of configurations and then finally painted it and put it back to stock and sold it for $11K. Wish I would have saved the receipts or at least tracked the expenses to see if I broke even!

Scared myself and all passengers when I went to Harpo's in Detroit to watch some bands and came out to people trying to steal my car! Yelled and screamed and ran to the car, they first started to run away but once I got in and started it up they ran back at me (maybe for a car jacking?). I stopped long enough for the rest of my friends to pile in and we proceeded to leave Detroit on I-94 at well over 100 mph!