Your First Car....

[tonyb]

A green (with black roof) 1975 Dodge Dart I bought used in 1983.

I only had it about three years: I foolishly continued to drive it when the oil pump failed, despite the red light on the dash, and nearly killed the engine. I had a great mechanic who managed to resurrect it... but it never produced decent compression and was only usable on local roads; it strained to make it to 35mph.

Hey, I was in my twenties and it was a learning experience! I've never ignored the oil warning light again on any of my later vehicles...

Slant 6?

 

[Doctor Strange]

For sure!

 

[tonyb]

Even in adjusted dollars cars were much less expensive in my early driving days. A month’s wages at a low-paying job could get you a perfectly serviceable and presentable set of wheels. A week’s pay would get you a car that might last a few months or maybe a year.

It beat walking.

 

[Edward]

This car was built by Karmann in Osnabrück, 15 km from where I live now. I had many friends who worked there until it closed down. Wilhelm Karmann ist still one of the supporters of our University and also some of our Museums. The Ghia is one of their most famous cars, but they also built all VW cabrios and some of the special edition VWs until 2010. An interesting company!

I remember about twenty years ago there was somebody in the US produced an all-new KG steel shell, ready to drop straight onto a Beetle floorplan. Beetles were a common donor for a range of VW and Porsche style kit cars on the UK market back in the day. For front-engined animals, the Triumph Herald was a biggy. Made sense - the Herald even in standard 1300cc (from the 13/60) was quite nippy, and it had a separate chassis, something that disappeared from British cars in favour of monocoque construction by the late sixties / early 70s. Some of those kits are themselves collectable by now. In recent years, the regulations on home-brew specials tightened up, and it became pretty much impossible for anyone to build a kit car in the UK and make it road legal. Pity, really, as it put at least a classic / vintage style car within the reach of many. Funnily enough it probably also raised the value of typical donor cars as only the sound ones survived, with the MoT failures going into kits as donor cars rather than being tarted up for quick and dishonest sale.

 

[Edward]

I had a blue 2CV. I bought it 1999 for a bit over 1200 €. It was dead cheap here in Germany, insurance and all because of it's little motor and based on accident statistics - they were either driven by only a few very careful women or drivers (me included) were too anxious to cause an accident with it. The doors were as thin as a pizza box and not much sturdier. A friend was waiting with his at a red traffic light when someone crashed into his 2CV from behind with 18 mph. The enemy car compressed it right to the back of the front seats. But you could drive it in next to any terrain, even across a ploughed field. I sold it 2003 for 4000 € when I met my wife and bought something safer with airbags. If I had it now, it could sell for unbelievable 10.000 €.
I love to remember the winters in this car. There was ice at the persenning roof, but inside! Was no problem, as the inside temperatures never climbed high enough to melt it and make it drip. Changing the gears was fun, as it was very unusual. If someone tried to steal it without experience, he would not have come from the spot. A wonderful car. Wished I still had it.

They're getting surprisingly expensive now, I guess they're the French Beetle in a sense. That, and their credibility has no longer taken a bad hit as most people have forgotten that Roger Moore-James Bond drove one in (I think) For Your Eyes Only.

If memory serves, the 'all-terrain' ride handling was deliberate, as the target market in origin was French farmers who often had to drive over farmland.

The nice thing about the 2CV is that nobody ever expected performance from them. While I wouldn't like to go as far back as pre-synchromesh gearing and double-declutching all the time, it'd be nice to see a slower pace of motoring again. There's a point to having a level of performance for the motorway, but nice as a V8 sounds, I'd rather a fraction of the price on an electric motor. I'm not a trackday guy, so there's only so fast I would *need* to go...

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^
2CVs were a particular kind of cool over this way back a half century and more ago, much in the way Vespas were, and are -- just the thing for an anti-macho, anti-posing sort of posing.

Curt, the character played by Richard Dreyfuss in "American Graffiti," drove one. In the end, he was the coolest character.

 

[Tiki Tom]

1972 Datsun Station wagon (white). I actually have fond memories of that car. My first taste of freedom. My first experience necking... wonderful young lady, I hope she went on to have a fantastic life. But, best of all, in that Datsun, I managed to win a race against a friend in a far better car because I timed the lights right. Yes, I’m far wiser now... but I had a hell of a good time back then!

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^
Was it a 510? I had a ’71 (I think) 510 wagon in the early ’80s. In some ways it was the best car I ever owned. Easy to park, easy to see out of, good for hauling stuff, and real sweet handling. They’re fetching good money these days.

 

[Tiki Tom]

I think it was a 510, but after all these years I’m not sure. It was nimble and reliable. My friend and I (as you did back then) jacked the back up a few inches to make it look cooler. Had shag carpeting in the back. “Love beads” hanging from the rear view mirror. Silly stuff. Back in the day, they had fire pits at Bolsa Chica (sp?) State beach and more than a few Saturday nights were spent there having hatch back parties.

 

[CatsCan]

the target market in origin was French farmers who often had to drive over farmland.

I have read, that during the test drives of the prototypes, a box with 100 Eggs were placed in the rear. After the eggs survived a drive over one of the typical french land roads, the suspension was approved.

The nice thing about the 2CV is that nobody ever expected performance from them.

We expected it to pass the "Moose Test" with bravour. How hard we tried to get this car to drive on two wheels on the biggest parking we found, it was just impossible. It looked as if it was close to tilt over, but never did. Our repair man had to change the engine. With three man they lifted the car on one side and leaned it to a sofa in the garage on it's other side. They placed a big pillow under the place where the motor was, disconnected it and let it drop onto the pillow, pulled the pillow with the motor on it out of the way. The "new" engine was put to place with bare hands, no jack used.

It was a pain to overtake a truck on the motorway, when the wind came from ahead. Air condition was a wind flap below the windscreen that you could screw open during the drive. There was a grit installed to prevent flies lashing against your face. What a fantastic car it was!

 

[CatsCan]

I have to correct myself. I could sell it for shocking 20.000 €! The most expensive car when it comes to PS per Euro, I guess.

 

[Benny Holiday]

Those 1100s were nice little motors - almost forgotten now. It's a rare to see one these days, and people often confuse them with the Austin Maxi (once everywhere, now even rarer). I saw the first one I'd seen in years about ten months ago, just before the first lockdown, in a local supermarket carpark. It was the rare Vanden Plas model (a Dutch name, so the 's' is pronounced). A coachbuilders, VP did luxury versions of a lot of higher end British cars - not always the obvious ones, either. There was even a Vanden Plas Austin Allegro! If memory serves, typical features were a wood dashboard when plastic and vinyl had become the norm, leather seats as pleather and textiles dominated, and a very distinctive upright grille that had a bit of pre-war throwback style to it. The Allegro model even had fold-down tables on the back of the font seat like you'd see on a train or plane... (I think others did too). These were all done on the Riley Kestrel 1100 model, as memory serves...

Your Holden looks a lot like a Vauxhall Viva from the early-mid seventies; were Holden connected to GM / Vauxhall / Opel?

I haven't seen an 1100 for a long time, either. They were common enough 35-40 years ago. As Catscan said, all those GM models are related. Holden closed manufacturing operations here in October 2017 after 69 years of building cars. After that, Vauxhalls were being imported and re-badged as Holdens for sale (as they're right hand drive already), but as of a year ago GM pulled out of Australia altogether, so sadly there'll be no more Holdens either built locally or imported anymore.

 

[ton312]

I saved for three summers working construction to buy a 1978 Camaro much like this one: (for $3k)

It was an absolute dog. Slow, unreliable and only lasted two years before I sold it. But during those two years it saw lots of Led Zeppelin and cigarettes. Replaced it during my college days with an 86’ Ram charger. The original zombie apocalypse suv. Wheels weren’t as cool as these and it was maroon and silver.

 

[tonyb]

... It was a pain to overtake a truck on the motorway, when the wind came from ahead. Air condition was a wind flap below the windscreen that you could screw open during the drive. There was a grit installed to prevent flies lashing against your face. What a fantastic car it was!

I had a couple of old “split window” VW microbuses.

Ill-suited as those things were for the limited-access American freeways, they were completely out of their element when those limited-access highways covered mountain passes in the West. On more than one occasion I found myself crawling along on the shoulder so as to make way for the semis crawling along in the right lane.

 

[CatsCan]

all those GM models are related.

Some german Opel Admirals and Diplomats. Which is which? Hard to say. There is one Diplomat with a "newer" design however.

Diplomat

Admiral

Admiral

"new design" Diplomat B​

 

[Benny Holiday]

@CatsCan I reckon they look pretty good. When i was last in Deutschland, roughly 10 years ago, I was there with a buddy who had a small Holden Astra wagon here in Australia. He was pleasantly surprised to see plenty of the same model across Westfalen, but there known as Opel. We found German drivers were much better than the average driver here, much better skilled behind the wheel and considerate on the road.

 

[CatsCan]

We found German drivers were much better than the average driver here, much better skilled behind the wheel and considerate on the road.

...you drive on the wrong side of the road.

 

[CatsCan]

When i was last in Deutschland, roughly 10 years ago, I was there with a buddy who had a small Holden Astra wagon here in Australia. He was pleasantly surprised to see plenty of the same model across Westfalen, but there known as Opel.

I had the slightly larger brother, the Opel Vectra as Station Wagon. Was there a Holden-Version of it, too?

Edit: just found it on google. Didn't know before.

 

[Benny Holiday]

...you drive on the wrong side of the road.

Haha well we are upside down here in the southern hemisphere!

 

[CatsCan]

Then your wheels are on the wrong side of the car.

Now serious, it was the first time I heard something positive being said about german drivers. Thank you!