Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

This was my 1st car and the one I learned how to drive on. A 1966 Bellaire with a 283 and a 3 speed overdrive. The car was rear ended (totaled) in 1982, but parts of it live on, Doug Hodder got to feel the engine run just a few weeks ago when I dove up with my 69 Camaro.

I learned to drive in a 1946 Roadmaster (tank) Buick. Surely wish they had power steering then.

Was a red Fiat 126 just exactly like the one in this thumbnail. It was a two cylinder 500cc car. Sorry can't get a bigger pic. I paid 1,600GBP for it in 1978 when I was still in Wales having just finish my seven year sojourn through College. When we picked it up from a car dealer in Ebbw Vale and started the drive home to Swansea, (my father was driving 'cause I hadn't tried my driving test -- and yes I was 27!) Anyway we noticed that the speedo wasn't working and we couldn't get the car up much beyond 20 mph. So naturally we turned back to the dealer. After a quick check they determined that the mechanic (they were mechanics back then not technicians) who had done the predelivery check had failed to reconnect a couple of cables including one of the two spark plug leads. We had travelled about 5 miles on one cylinder -- oh boy with 2 cylinders connected did that puppy fly! I could even get it to 70mph (downhill) It was a great car and I loved it especially the cloth roof that folded all the way back. Following that I purchased a Fiat 127 and then a Fiat 128 which we sold in July of 1984 1 week before moving to the states. I really wish I had that Fiat 126 now! It would run me close to 50mpg. I loved that car!

My first car was a 48 plymouth with three on the tree, but I learned on my mothers 37 dodge with 3 on the floor. Jim G

The first vehicle I drove on a public road was a camper. A '77 Winnebago 20RG (class C Dodge chassis) when I was 12.

My folks made me and my brothers take our license tests in a manual transmission car, for me it was an '88 Plymouth Sundance.

I got my first car when I was 17, an '84 Buick LeSabre (the last of the full sized Buicks) which was a theft recovery that I bought for $50 with a punched column, broken rear side window, and a busted glovebox door. I fixed it up and put over 100K on that car and then sold it to a friend who got another 100 out of it. 20 MPG wasn't too bad when gas was only .79/gal. in 1991.

1930 Chevy roadster convertable. Great for stealing watermellons and shaking apple trees so apples could fall in the front seat and rumble seat. Rumble seat also good for sneaking 3 lightweight guys into a drive in movie. Would outrun any of the 4 banger model A's by just a smidge.
Roly

I learned in a 64 Datsun P/U that my Dad gave me in 76. It had a 4 speed on the column and a cab built for 2, but we have had 5 teen boys in it at one time I still have the little truck, don't know what I'll ever do with it though.

An MG 1300 - what you older guys might recognize as an Austin America but with a Mini Cooper S engine - so an early Golf GTI.



I think I've told the tale here before but the car was a special order arranged with the factory as it was made with the optional reclining seat (to help my mother's dodgy back) on the driver's side but a standard non-reclining seat on the passenger side - my mother saw three children about to become teenagers and drivers..... and reckoned two reclining seats would lead us into temptation!

Andrew

angib wrote:An MG 1300 - what you older guys might recognize as an Austin America but with a Mini Cooper S engine - so an early Golf GTI.

Andrew

that Morris that I drove had an Austin engine in it. with a push button starter. I was about 10 my dad could not start it, it was my mothers car and he wanted to supprise her one time and pick her up from work in the Rain in it..... I had to start it for him only special people could start it.
Ron D.

Learned in a '59 Chevy Impala that my Dad said I could have when I passed my road test. He lied!!!!

So my first car was a '64 Beetle with a stick..... had to learn how to drive all over again!!

A 1940's Ford Coupe, stick shift. (If I remember correctly, column shift.) It was on icy roads and I slid it into a corn field the first time out.
...Had to be towed.

Later, in California, I had to learn all over again. I had to get a 100 on both the written and on the driving tests before I was allowed to drive. ...Don't know how I managed it, but, I did it. I was then presented with a 1961 Plymouth Valient, promptly nicknamed The Toilet. It was very ugly, old and slow. If you floored the gas pedal, it would sit there and shudder. When you made a right turn, you had to hold onto the driver side door or it would fly open. I used 12 cans of spray paint, trying to cover up all the rust spots.

...S

I learn to drive my Dad's `53 Chevy when I was 12. It had a 3 on the tree.
When I was 16 I bought a `56 Chevy two door wagon with a 265 and a 3 on the tree with over drive. I got it for $50 that I had earned on a paper route! I wished I had that car now!


Scott

Had a Saturday job cleaning a Auto Electric shop, had to wash their service vehicles, a "70's pickup and Suburban, 3 onna tree, had to move them in and out of the shop, first time driving a stick, was about fifteen, My parents had a 64 Valiant, push button, and a 70 Olds Delta 88-350 4 barrel, I think. Took me two tries to get my licence.. almost hit a black kid dashing across the road first time.... first car was a 70 bug...best car I ever had.... in winter drive it up the snowbanks and slide back down because of the flat bottom, sold it in disgust because one tire kept going flat... the guy who bought it disconnected the speedo and sold it for $500.00 more than I sold it to him for 2 years later....

A 1962 or 63 Studebaker Lark stationwagon.

Not mine...but similar...



1968 Plymouth Valiant...Slant 6, 3 on the tree. I drug it home out of a field...it had grass growing through the floor. Got it running, fixed the floors, and traded it for a Duster. The 3 on the tree sucked...the linkage was crap and was allways getting hung up in neutral. I'd have to coast to a stop, put on the e-brake (which didn't work too good) and jiggle the linkage on the firewall.