My first car was a ‘97 Mitsubishi Galant back in 2004. Gas was a helluva lot cheaper back then, though not as cheap as the late ‘90s, when it dipped as low as 57 cents per gallon here.
Used ‘82 Chevette. I came up with $750 and dad came up with the other $750 to get it.
When I was 16 I had a 1974 Volvo 164 for a short time (until I gave it to my sister a year later) and then got 1965 Mustang conv..
72 VW SuperBeetle. I seem to recall 85 cents / gallon.
My second vehicle was a 1972 Ford F250 2X4.
I was earning about $2.00 / Hour in an off-the-books deckhand job. So a gallon of gas cost me about 25 minutes of work.
Now, a gallon of gas at $4 costs me a couple of minutes of work....
:-)
In 1970 I bought a 65 Pontiac Tempest hardtop with 326 CID V8. Poor man’s GTO.
My first was a ‘63 corvair. Gas in 1970 was $0.23 a gallon.
1967 Chevrolet El Camino, 396, Turbo 400 and positraction. I paid $1200 used for it. It would pass anything but a gas station.
It was a 1988 Chevy cavalier bought just before 9/11. I “tried” to PIMP it out with some wicked rims...it looked better.
Still, I was able to go out on dates without asking my older brother and Dad’s car.
‘67 Nova (non-SS). 327 with a powerglide. Dad bought it, then he and I worked on tearing it down to refurbish it. Mid 80s gas was less than 90 cents/gallon cuz I could fill it up with a $10 and have change.
It was a used Ford Falcon Ranch Wagon. Great car - even off road.
1966 Pontiac Bonneville Brougham 2dr “noposter” - white - maroon interior - seated 10 (at least) - 400 CID 4 spd auto.
Greatest party car ever built.
1965 Chevy Corvair Monza. Flat head six, two speed automatic transmission (no park). When I first bought it the emergency break cable was broken, and until I fixed it I had to pull into a parking spot, put my foot on the break, open the door, and throw a section of a 2x4 behind the front wheel to keep from rolling away. A had to put 100 pounds of sand in the ‘trunk’ to keep the front end from sliding all over the place. I bought that car for $100 in 1972, drove it for a year until I went off to college, got into a fender bender bad enough to make the headlights point in different directions, and still sold if for $100.
A ‘63 Corvair 3 speed with a stick shift- and gas was $.20 a gallon! We drove that thing until the floor rusted so bad you could watch the road rush by underneath you.
Sweet ride, but I had my head under the hood a lot to keep it running. I replaced every moving part in that car except the differential during the 6 years that I owned it.
My senior year of H.S. (1969-70) I used my vast earnings as a farm hand to purchase a 1952 Plymouth sedan. It had overdrive. I sold it the day I graduated and left for the navy. IIRC, I could fill the tank for <$5.00.
I really wanted my first car to be a 68 GTO ragtop 428 4 on the floor with brand new engine and new red paint. It was beautiful.
I ended up with a 73 vega.
My first car was a 72 Mercury Montego. It cost me $350 in about 1983. Gas must have been in the 70 to 80 cent range.
‘54 Chevrolet Pick-up I traded it title up for a ‘60 AMC Rambler
My dad didn’t have the patience to teach me 3 in the tree and the Rambler was automatic. the bad thing about the rambler is the color was titty pink as all my friends told me.