Your First Car....

[GHT]

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

There was a great reply to that on another thread a while back. Someone from the US had put up a caption that read:
"In the UK they drive on the left side of the road, here in Minnesota, we drive on what's left of the road."
There followed a photo of the worst pot-holed road that you have ever seen.

 

[Benny Holiday]

You're most welcome CatsCan. Praise well deserved.

 

[CatsCan]

We used to have a joke. A chap said to the other: "It's difficult to drive in England, they drive left." The other chap:"Yes, absolutely horrible. I have tried that on the road from Leer to Aurich." (Leer and Aurich are small East Frisian Towns in Germany).

 

[Edward]

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!

We never dared race. Couple of guys I was at school with did after they'd left, ended up in court. Drivers in NI for the first year after they pass their test are legally obliged to show an "R" plate. Like an L for learner plate, but an orange R in place of the red L (in practice, the idea of 'throwing away your L plates" on passing your test is a myth over there, as they sell with the L on one side and the R on the other - just flip 'em round. Also provides for the running joke in NI that if a tourist asks what the 'R' means, you tell them it's for safe passage driving through a republican area. Then you say "but here's the clever bit - look inside. When I'm driving through a loyalist area.....). Used to be great fun getting people to believe that. 'R' really stands for 'restricted', and for that first year from getting your licence, you have to have the plate on the car and you're not allowed to go over 45 - and not allowed on the motorway for the first six months either. It does mean when the police are out and about they watch it... That, and in those good old, bad old days in NI, pre-ceasefires and GFA, we were learning to drive in and around the time of the Lee Clegg case - nobody wanted to be mistaken for a joyrider, or worse. One thing we did have a lot of fun with though was the traffic lights game... the thing to do was when the driver stopped at a red light, everybody had to get out, run round the car and jump back in the same door. If the driver was too fast for you, you risked getting left behind. Course we'd likely have gotten a right telling off form the RUC for that too, but we never got caught!

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 remember a few of my dad's pre-war Austins having a windscreen that did that, but never a built-in bugscreen. Great idea - and easier on the electrics than aircon, too!

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 these 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.

Crazy-big money in those now. Even the TYpe 2 - which used to be the cheap alternative if you couldn't afford a splitty - are crazy money now. I've seen a VW prototype of a new electric model based on the TYpe 1, but doing a 'new Beetle' type exercise. Actually looks pretty cool - much better than the 'new Beetle'. Dread to think what it will cost!

 

[BobHufford]

Crazy-big money in those now. Even the TYpe 2 - which used to be the cheap alternative if you couldn't afford a splitty - are crazy money now. I've seen a VW prototype of a new electric model based on the TYpe 1, but doing a 'new Beetle' type exercise. Actually looks pretty cool - much better than the 'new Beetle'. Dread to think what it will cost!

I wish I still had the 13 VW Busses I've had over the years. Sold the last one off a couple of years ago.

The new owner now has it looking like this (still the original paint and interior).

I paid $2000 for it 25 years ago and sold for it "crazy" money. Enough that I spent less than half of it for this new barn/shop/office, a fairly new Kubota 4WD tractor and a dozen vintage wood working machines.

This is the proposed new VW Electric Bus.

 

[Edward]

This is the proposed new VW Electric Bus.

That's the one. Much as I'd prefer an electrified version of the original, this new one doesn't look bad. Certainly much nicer than what they have tried to pass off as a Beetle since the 90s...

 

[tonyb]

...

Crazy-big money in those now. Even the TYpe 2 - which used to be the cheap alternative if you couldn't afford a splitty - are crazy money now. I've seen a VW prototype of a new electric model based on the TYpe 1, but doing a 'new Beetle' type exercise. Actually looks pretty cool - much better than the 'new Beetle'. Dread to think what it will cost!

I had a ’66 window bus; a ’62 panel bus (double doors on both sides; Boeing Co. surplus); that ’58 Karmann Ghia I alluded to above; and a ’56 Beetle (oval window, sunroof, semaphores, etc.).

What would they be worth today? I hate to think it. But whenever I get to regretting selling them (you know you’re getting old when you’ve acquired a mountain of regrets, should you allow yourself to dwell on it), I just remind myself that we’re talking half a century ago, and that I spared myself the trouble of owning the things (and moving them, and insuring them, and ... ), and that had I actually driven the things (they *are* cars, after all) they would have been worn out or been in collisions or suffered some of the other indignities a car suffers when used AS A CAR.

And, unlike so many other people I knew back when I owned those VW’s, I’m still here to cry about it.

 

[tonyb]

I wish I still had the 13 VW Busses I've had over the years. Sold the last one off a couple of years ago.

View attachment 307140

The new owner now has it looking like this (still the original paint and interior).

View attachment 307139

I paid $2000 for it 25 years ago and sold for it "crazy" money. Enough that I spent less than half of it for this new barn/shop/office, a fairly new Kubota 4WD tractor and a dozen vintage wood working machines.

View attachment 307141

This is the proposed new VW Electric Bus.

Good for you, Bob.

Maybe I’m wrong about this, but my strong suspicion is that prices on these old VW’s have peaked, or will before long, as the people harboring fond memories of the things are getting long in the tooth and, well, dying off.

At some point a collectible car ceases being a car so much as a fetish. If I owned an old car worth twice (or more) the price of a brand-spankin’-new one, I’d fear putting it on the road.

So if I didn’t drive it, what intrinsic value would it have? None, really, unless the satisfaction I might derive from simply possessing it might be considered an intrinsic value. (Not to get all sillyphophical on y’all.)

 

[Edward]

Good for you, Bob.

Maybe I’m wrong about this, but my strong suspicion is that prices on these old VW’s have peaked, or will before long, as the people harboring fond memories of the things are getting long in the tooth and, well, dying off.

At some point a collectible car ceases being a car so much as a fetish. If I owned an old car worth twice (or more) the price of a brand-spankin’-new one, I’d fear putting it on the road.

So if I didn’t drive it, what intrinsic value would it have? None, really, unless the satisfaction I might derive from simply possessing it might be considered an intrinsic value. (Not to get all sillyphophical on y’all.)

My dad has been active in the Northern Ireland vintage / classic car scene since the 60s - so long now that half the cars on a vintage run were contemporary road cars when he started... He tells me the scene over there is such that there's no longer young blood coming in, it's all older folks. A perfect storm of rising costs of hobby motoring and other things. At one time, the whole point was to rebuild yourself; those who paid someone else to do their restoration were looked down on . Some time around the 90s, it got to a point where it became so expensive to do a full car yourself that most people started buying finished or tidy cars someone else had done. Then you have to be able to afford somewhere you can garage it (especially for the Winter) in that damp climate.... and on it goes. My generation (X) are now the first generation in the UK on record to be less well off than our parents, relatively speaking. Add to that growing environmental awareness and concerns about the future of vehicles... Nobody knows what will happen vintage here when EVs become a norm. There have long been exemptions from certain modern standards for vintage, but there are fears they'll be forced off the road in the name of the environment (nobody seems to think of the balance between the resources producing new cars takes beyond preserving and adapting older ones, but then the SMMT have a louder voice than I do!).

 

[MisterCairo]

I did not buy my first car until I was 32, as I rarely needed one on my own, either borrowing one for longer term use from family not needing one, to being young and poor as a junior air force officer and getting around by bus and train.

When I finally buckled, I bought a 1997 Ford Escort station wagon (estate for our UK friends) in 1999. It was a unique purple colour, such that when I rarely met with another, usually at the gas pumps, we would exchange statistics ("this is the fifth one I have ever seen, you?" type of thing).

Looked like this (not mine):

 

[tonyb]

My dad has been active in the Northern Ireland vintage / classic car scene since the 60s - so long now that half the cars on a vintage run were contemporary road cars when he started... He tells me the scene over there is such that there's no longer young blood coming in, it's all older folks. A perfect storm of rising costs of hobby motoring and other things. At one time, the whole point was to rebuild yourself; those who paid someone else to do their restoration were looked down on . Some time around the 90s, it got to a point where it became so expensive to do a full car yourself that most people started buying finished or tidy cars someone else had done. Then you have to be able to afford somewhere you can garage it (especially for the Winter) in that damp climate.... and on it goes. My generation (X) are now the first generation in the UK on record to be less well off than our parents, relatively speaking. Add to that growing environmental awareness and concerns about the future of vehicles... Nobody knows what will happen vintage here when EVs become a norm. There have long been exemptions from certain modern standards for vintage, but there are fears they'll be forced off the road in the name of the environment (nobody seems to think of the balance between the resources producing new cars takes beyond preserving and adapting older ones, but then the SMMT have a louder voice than I do!).

I had a similar exchange recently on another online platform, wherein I predicted that over here in the States cars with internal combustion engines will become fewer and fewer but will still be street legal, much in the way that Model T Fords and other cars of that vintage are street legal now, but are rarely (very rarely) seen outside of parades and car shows. Procuring gasoline might, at some point decades from now, prove less than convenient, but my guess is it will still be available through the indefinite future. (Two-cycle oil is still available, but good luck finding it at your corner convenience store/gas station.)

As to the old car hobby dying out ...

I've read that getting one's driver's license and first set of wheels isn't the rite of passage it was in prior generations. The come-to-you self-driving car may spell the end of it altogether, although a niche audience will likely remain, much as horse lovers are still with us.

 

[tonyb]

...
When I finally buckled, I bought a 1997 Ford Escort station wagon (estate for our UK friends) in 1999. It was a unique purple colour, such that when I rarely met with another, usually at the gas pumps, we would exchange statistics ("this is the fifth one I have ever seen, you?" type of thing).

Looked like this (not mine):


View attachment 307228

A friend owned a purple Ford Escort wagon as his knock-around car. He’s a drummer, and had little use for a car that wouldn’t accommodate his drum kit.

EDIT: Perhaps my memory is failing me. Perhaps that drummer friend’s Escort wagon wasn’t purple. It was an odd color, though, maybe a greenish-blue or bluish-green?

 

[MisterCairo]

A friend owned a purple Ford Escort wagon as his knock-around car. He’s a drummer, and had little use for a car that wouldn’t accommodate his drum kit.

Many friends mocked me for my "family car", but man, that was the handiest vehicle. With the back seats down, I swear I had the space of a minivan or most SUVs at the time. I loved that car, drove her into the ground. Spent $100.00 getting her inspected, and got $94 from the scrapper.

You don't buy cars to make money!

 

[tonyb]

Many friends mocked me for my "family car", but man, that was the handiest vehicle. With the back seats down, I swear I had the space of a minivan or most SUVs at the time. I loved that car, drove her into the ground. Spent $100.00 getting her inspected, and got $94 from the scrapper.

You don't buy cars to make money!

Among my cars I remember fondly was a ’62(?) Ford Falcon two-door wagon — green, small six-banger, three on the tree. Quite serviceable, it was. Cheap to operate. I had to put a rear axle in it, which I acquired for next to nothing from a schoolmate’s dad’s wrecking yard.

Those days are gone forever.

 

[CatsCan]

This is the proposed new VW Electric Bus.

I don't know...
I know it is the way to go. But... the good old T2! The beauty, the smell, the hard work to stir with the gearstick. Nature was so beautifully polluted and lungs so deliciously poisoned by the original. Nature will be so unesthetically preserved with the "new" one. And as things develope at VW, it will cost a fortune. From 1995 to 1999 I had the totally undermotorized 40kw/T3 Diesel as camper, which was crashed in an accident with me being the driver, followed by the T3 turbo Diesel bought from the insurance money, also as Camper but better, but for only half a year until it's total breakdown. Good memories. It felt as if you were sitting in a swing when driving along on some country roads.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^
My brother (RIP) and his wife (RIP) inherited from her mother (RIP) a water-cooled VW Vanagon (RIP). I drove it a few times. It was, well, okay. More comfortable than the old microbuses, certainly more powerful, and not bad looking. Still, the front wheels under one's rump never did make for the best driving experience. I remember bro and sis-in-law dumping a wad into it when pretty much every piece of the cooling system (radiator, a couple miles of hoses, etc.) was replaced. Brother decided against doing it himself, which really wasn't his way, but I suspect his wife impressed upon him that the car itself was free, so ...

Anyone here ever own a Eurovan? What's the rap on them?​

 

[Haversack]

The first car I ever owned was in 1981 and was a 1969 BMW 1602 in Agave Green. I bought it off a Signals LT who was DROSing from our post in Germany. It served me well for a year until an icy road in Vilseck sent me slowly rolling down an embankment. It was light enough that was able to right it by muscle and drive it back on to the blacktop. Unfortunately the front end was bent enough that the fan intersected the radiator. I gave it to an E-6 mechanic who wanted a project. I stayed with the model and replaced with a 1972 BMW 1802 in fluorescent yellow with heavy mud and snow tires. Lightweight and with a decent engine. It became the perfect vehicle for the tank trails at Tennenlohe and Franconian backroads. I sold it to an Armor LT in Erlangen when I DROSed. Both were used and rusted enough that they couldn't pass the TüV. At the time GIs didn't have to have that done. Germans therefore would sell their old cars to GIs. Some were real rust buckets. I remember accompanying our BC to the junk yard at the back of post with his old Opel station wagon. It had been passed down so many times that it was more bondo than anything else. He got out of the car and let it roll down the hill. When it hit the pile of cars it broke in half.

 

[Edward]

When I finally buckled, I bought a 1997 Ford Escort station wagon (estate for our UK friends) in 1999. It was a unique purple colour, such that when I rarely met with another, usually at the gas pumps, we would exchange statistics ("this is the fifth one I have ever seen, you?" type of thing).

Reminds me of a line in a Douglas Coupland novel (I think it was Life After God, but it could be Shampoo Planet). The narrator is on a road trip and stops to buy petrol. He sees two VW Karman Ghias arrive, one red, one yellow, and watches the drivers do the dance of the "wow, you have the same rare model of car as I do chat", and comments "Think of what beautiful, orange babies they could have."

Among my cars I remember fondly was a ’62(?) Ford Falcon two-door wagon — green, small six-banger, three on the tree. Quite serviceable, it was. Cheap to operate. I had to put a rear axle in it, which I acquired for next to nothing from a schoolmate’s dad’s wrecking yard.

Those days are gone forever.

Back in the late 60s / early 70s (he gave it up in 74 when I was born), my dad used to do a lot of competitive motorsport - rally, autotest, autocross.... A few times he even did the vintage rally thing where it's not about speed but hitting the checkpoints at set times to maintain an average of something like 30mph, penalties applied outside a set window.... that was an Austin 7. I have photos of him doing the motocross in a late 50s VW Beetle (smoke grey, white doors) which was more 356 than VW in the boot. The real star, though, was a car him and a pal put together specifically to rally. It started off as a standard Ford 105e - internationally known now as "the Harry Potter car"...
something like this:

They then found themselves a garage "sponsor" who happened to have a used, broken MkI Lotus Cortina out back. Once engine / gearbox / back axle swap later.... Fun to drive but way too fast for its own good, apparently. These later became a popular model to hotrod, with people putting all sorts in them, from Ford Pintos to Rover V8s. In such a little car, the weight of a big engine like that was often the only thing keeping it on the road at the speeds it became capable of...

^^^^
My brother (RIP) and his wife (RIP) inherited from her mother (RIP) a water-cooled VW Vanagon (RIP). I drove it a few times. It was, well, okay. More comfortable than the old microbuses, certainly more powerful, and not bad looking. Still, the front wheels under one's rump never did make for the best driving experience. I remember bro and sis-in-law dumping a wad into it when pretty much every piece of the cooling system (radiator, a couple miles of hoses, etc.) was replaced. Brother decided against doing it himself, which really wasn't his way, but I suspect his wife impressed upon him that the car itself was free, so ...​

I was reminded by the wife last night, my sister in law's husband years ago owned an old VW bus, a Type 2. His first car, drove it everywhere. When they had their first kid, he sold it to buy a "sensible family car". First day he drove it to work, came home, drove into the garage, and smashed to nose of the car against the wall. So used to that VW that he'd forgotten there was four feet more vehicle in front of him now!

 

[tonyb]

I’ve never lived in a place where cars were safety inspected as a condition of licensure. Emissions, yes, but not anything else. I’ve owned and driven cars that really weren’t fit for use on the public roadways. That’s been a long time ago, and I’m certainly not proud of it. But I’d bet that millions of similarly unfit motor vehicles are in use every day. It remains that in much of this country a car is central to participating in the economy. The fellow who works a low-paying graveyard shift job in a warehouse 20 miles from home will drive to and from that job in a car with bald tires and metal-on-metal brakes, and hope that it lasts until he gets his tax refund.

 

[Tiki Tom]

I’ve never lived in a place where cars were safety inspected as a condition of licensure.

See, I grew up in a place where, if it could chug from place A to B, it was legal, no matter what a death trap or piece of junk it might be. Now I live in Austria, where a thorough safety inspection is mandatory every year and where you must have a set of summer tires and a set of winter tires. I see the logic of this, but a voice from my early days still whispers “it’s a racket to separate you from your money!”
P.S. - This town still employs Chimney Sweeps and your house’s heating system is looked at once or twice a year, whether you have a chimney or not.