.....;Posted on 05/31/2014 7:27:43 AM PDT by virgil283
My first car was a Belair, four door with the big six. It might have been rusty but I waxed and polished it just the same......
.....;
You must be young.
I remember watching a TV show called, “What Will They Think Of Next.”
One episode, they talked about a company that was thinking about starting a new car line. Their cars would have super fuel friendly MPG, windshield projected dashboards, self-sealing tires and front radar systems for foggy conditions.
The company was called, “Saturn.”
;-)
I couldn't believe the low mileage it had, 12,000 (first posting of 1200 miles was incorrect) miles in 12 years. They said they drove it to Giddings TX about once a month which was about 20 miles round trip. They only drove it to church if it was raining.
Unfortunately, mine didn’t look quite that good, same color though, but mine had steel wheels.
But the MGA was by far the best looking postwar car from MG.
LOL! I’m glad someone still thinks I might qualify as young.
And even though the Saturn was one of the first and most final victims of the “great recession” (a/k/a The Obama years) I still see a lot of them on the road.
My first car was some Suzuki 349cc, 4 seat right-hand drive thingy in Japan. Everything prior to that were motorcycles.
GM lost their way with Saturn. The original mission statement involved producing innovative, well constructed economical cars to compete with Japanese imports. That they did with the original SL sedan, coupe and wagon. Then came the bloat with cars that didn’t conform to the brand vision. Rebadged European Opels, rebadged GMC Acadias, it no longer made sense. Didn’t help that the restyle of the SL was butt ugly, either. Had they stuck with the original intent of the brand, introduced hybrid gas/electric via Saturn, introduced full-on electric via Saturn, introduced small diesels, etc. it would still be around, imho.
As do I.
My dad had a blue Jeep Commando. I remember having to get out and lock the wheels by hand to put it into 4 wheel drive.
That thing was a tank!
Yes, I think your assessment is correct.
I’m actually thinking of buying a diesel powered car.
I need mileage mileage mileage.
I think my saturn got about 27 mpg highway.
only in white
I looked at diesel Jetta wagons before settling on a Subaru Legacy GT wagon. Did a fair amount of research on them. The EPA rating is actually conservative according to many who own the cars. Carefully driven at or close to the highway speed limit, mileage in the low 50’s is not at all out of the question. I may still end up with one, as much as I love my Sube it’s no longer sold in the US, so I’ll very likely be searching for something else. Top of the line, recent diesel Jetta wagons have the same features, good looking larger diameter sport wheels with low profile speed rated tires, upscale leather interior, big double-sized glass “panoramic” sunroof, and are pretty fast all things considered. They can be found still under factory warranty in the low $20K range.
in 1972-—a 1964 Olds Dynamic 88 two door.
Bronze colored.
330 c.i. V-8
Fast car off the line.
A 1967 Dodge Dart. 170ci slant-6, three speed column shift. Two door hard-top. Bought it for $100 the day after my 17th birthday. Nothing fancy, just good old Detroit rolling iron.
Never had one. Found that picture on the intertubes. I sure would like to know exactly how that “Desert Only” setting was supposed to work.
It was a great car for a 16 y/o. I literally drove the wheels off it for three years. Finally in 1970, with 125K+ miles on it, it threw a timing chain 100 miles from home. I limped home without the engine totally blowing, but it didn’t do the valves any good to be that out of time.
My dad decided it wasn’t worth the cost of fixing it so he bought a new car and I got his 1964 Rambler American. What a come down. An in line six, three on the tree rolling piece of crap. The only saving grace was it had full reclining front seats which came in handy at times as my late wife would attest to if she was still here to offer her opinion.
A 4 door, 55 Chevy, I was 14.
62 Chevy Impala unmarked cop car...
My parents helped me buy my first car during my senior year in High School. I had saved enough money to buy a used 1957 Ford convertible hardtop but my parents thought it was too ratty so they gave me a little extra money and ask me to buy a newer cleaner car.
I found a low mileage used 1958 Ford Fairlane 4-door hardtop with 352 police interceptor V-8/4 barrel carb at the local Ford dealership. It was Palomino tan and lots of chrome. The first thing I did was to have the seats rolled and pleated with matching tan/white stripes. It was a cool car but needed a few additional modifications.
It had factory air (under dash), an AM radio to which I later added rear speakers & a reverb box (BTW listened to KLIF Dallas top forty hits while cruising), power brakes and steering. I added dual exhausts with glass packs and it sounded really awesome in it’s day. I wanted to add lakers but it was too heavy for drag racing. In fact, when you hit the accelerator it was like stepping on a plum. It was slow but it had class and it was a cool machine.
It got 11 mpg in town, and up to 17 mpg on the road. Gas cost 18 cents a gallon. A dollar and we (me and the other guys of similar social standing) could cruise from 7 to 11 pm on Friday or Saturday nights. We had 1 Dairy Queen, 3 Texan Hamburger, and 1 A&W Root Beer drive-ins in our Podunk town for meeting and socializing. And we cruised all evening and night between these places to see and be seen.
A cool car did make a difference. My social standing with the girls improved significantly that senior year. My acne started clearing up and my voice became a little deeper (baritone). I joined a high school singing group and we started singing doo-wop at assemblies and parties. We were really cool with the teachers and student body.
Yes, I was eighteen, cool, and becoming a man. It was a different world, I had never heard of “white privilege”. I had never heard of “Vietnam” either.
Yeah, the Pontiac V8’s of that era were known for having the cam timing chain stretch enough to jump a link when the mileage got up there. Happened to my GTO, suddenly would hardly run at all — coughing and sputtering. I dicked around with the spark timing and finally got it to run enough to drive. Then my mechanic buddy told me it needed a new timing chain.
It definitely was. The wife of the man we bought the Healey from had an MGA. :
:-D And it was NOT for sale (I suspected at any price).
I have a photo of ours somewhere.
Wire wheels are a PITB but it’s been so long, I’ve forgotten why. lol It’s also been long enough that if I had the disposable cash, I’d buy another (classic) sportscar in a heartbeat.
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