Your First Car - Page 3

Once again dating myself.... 1954 Ford 4-door. Purchased from neighbor for $100.00 in 1971.

This was my fourth car(mine was a 64 w/IRS) and I did a complete restoration. While pulling into my mechanics driveway to get a valve adjustment for the 1000 mile run in, this teenage girl who had just got her license, came around the corner and hit me in the right rear quarter nearly tearing the car in half.

Gary

They are very good cars to work on. A four cylinder push rod engine as simple as it gets. Everything but the electrical system made perfect sense. Electricity and British cars are not a good match. I think it had something to do with Lucas, Prince of Darkness.
Short throw gear box with your ass sitting about 8 inches off the pavement. For pure driving thrills its hard to beat a Triumph. Mine was a straight axle. The IRS was considered exotic in those days and many american dealers were suspicious of them. For cars built for the american market the IRS is rare.

Everything but the steel quality--probably as rust prone as the Italians.

Mine was a southern California car, so it really never had the awful problems with rust intemperate climes could produce. The chrome did start to pit in its later years. I gave it to a neighbor kid just last year.

California is apparently the Holy Grail of vintage car provenance.

Places like Arizona tend to dry and damage the interiors, but California is the ideal.

A black 1984 Pontiac Fiero I bought for $800. It spent as much time on jackstands in my driveway as it did on the road, but man was that a fun car. Ran for two years before the frame started to give way.

not really - anywhere near the coast is a nightmare for rust and corrosion. Salty air is evil on older cars. You go inland, you get the same desert issues as Arizona et al.

My first car was a 1975 VW Scirocco 4-speed, silver with alloy wheels in 1984. It made it for all of 14 glorious months.

People seem to love vintage California cars though. I think it also has to do with lack of salted winter roads and snow.

http://auto.sohu.com/piclib/toyota/t...Cruiser112.jpg edit... sorry that picture is annoyingly large. click if you care. Toyota Landcruiser (2002)... still drive it.

i had a truck for a first car ran it into the ground over the course of ten years i'm only on my second car------a crossover vehicle shaped like a toaster

Pontiac Aztek (or as I believe C&D described it, Rhinoceros on crack) ?

Or maybe the Honda Element?

It probably is the Element but the Aztek is funnier