Posted on 12/13/2005 11:29:16 AM PST by laney
I thought this would be an interesting thread, finding out the first car freepers ever had.
If you have a picture of it post it as well!
The Warchild had a '61 Fury III, matte black with red trim and white push buttons, a 440 quad and whitewalls. I've preferred large cars ever since then.
My best friend removed the back seat partition, and we set it up as a travel/camping vehicle that could comfortably sleep three.
Ah, the pleasures of growing up in the rural South!
1965 Ford Fairland.
'72 Dodge Dart, blue with one red fender. Ugly as sin but the slant 6 engine just wouldn't quit (until they buried it in pollution controls on later models).
1966 Renault R16... leather seats that were as comfortable as the recliner in your front room, extremely wierd instrument layout, front wheel drive, offset dual rear axles. I was firmly convinced it would go from Sacramento to San Francisco on the fumes left in an empty gas tank!
This was a front wheel drive car back when that was rare. I drove this car out of the Ice House Reservoir area to Highway 50 (read REALLY twisty roads with hairpin turns) and never got below 50mph. (Well, I was young and invulnerable... and a lot more stupid)
I also survived four simultaneous blowouts in this car doing over 80 mph on a remote Nevada highway when I hit a section of road that was sprinkled with homemade devices resembling jacks designed to always have a sharp point up (there were at least 30 of them on the road). Had to wait over six hours before another car came along. I got stopped with no damage to the car besides four blown (ruined) tires.
I finally had to get rid of Kermit when Renault stopped shipping parts to the US in the mid-70s.
The car in the picture is not mine... but looks just like Kermit.
This one is the exact Green of Kermit...
Mine was a 1960 Corvair 4-door, turquoise. Engine in the rear. Push-button automatic, but I think I had 4 gears instead of 2. Would that have been called a "Monza"? I don't remember for sure.
There was a hole in the rear floorboard and you could see the pavement whizzing by! Friends teased about the "Fred Flintstone braking system" if the real ones went out. "Somebody in back, put your feet down!" It was also voted the beer-drinking car by my friends because of the built-in potty in back, lol.
I had learned to drive in the previous "family 2nd car," a 1958 Renault Dauphine. Looked just like a miniature "Untouchables" car - like those old-timey cars in the TV show of the same name at the time.
My next car after the '60 Corvair was a 1967 first-run (Jan 1967) Camaro, Big V-6. Loved, loved, loved that car. It was pale yellow, nicknamed "Sunshine Superman."
Got 6 miles to the gallon, lol! Unbelievable acceleration, feather-light. Many road trips at 100-125 mph. (Speed limit 75 mph.) Drove it forrrrever.
A racing friend 22 years later looked it up for me and it was being raced in stock car races in San Antonio, TX. I had traded it into a dealership in Houston. Won't say what I traded for. *blush*
'63 Renault Dolphine
1970 Buick LeSabre Custom four-door hardtop. Gold. 350 with Rochester 4bbl and auto trans. Dad bought it new in fall 1969 and gave it to me in 1976 when I was 17. Drove it until 1980 when I totalled it. Had 127,000 miles on it and still didn't have to add oil between changes.
Still can't find a car today that rides as good as that one.
Had a 65 Bug (that I Baja'ed) followed by an 84 Rabbit GTI. the GTI was my first new car.
MG's and Triumphs. Had a used 74 Spitfire that lasted for 12 of the 18 payments and then threw a rod. (second car) I will never own another British car.
1970 Ford Maverick, straight six, Freudian Gilt, $1995.
Had an 88 Dakota that I sold in 98 with 105,000 miles on it to a guy that lives four blocks away . He's still driving it. I kick myself for getting rid of it. Oh, the money on truck payments I would have saved.
Matchbox ;-P
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