first car

yea i know not the best car. but! it was alot of fun to go cruising around in the summer because it sounded like a riding lawn mower. so in the summer it was really easy to sneak up on people. i forgot to mention it was a 1989 made in france model.more on it : the roof leaked,after 115mph the wind sheild would shake like crazy.(we thought we were going to loose it one day on our way to school!) it could only do doughnuts in reverse and when the idle went we got lazy on fixing it and at every stop light you had to have it in first with your foot on the clutch and the gas ready to crank the engine to go. Mass Inspection places loved us! but because it was from france they cut us a break and still passed it!

 

My first car.

A 1957 Chevy BelAir 2-door Hardtop. We celebrated 36 years together back in july.

I went against the laws of nature and kept my first car.


Got the car when I was 14 years old. Could not even drive it the 10 miles to my house. My dad did. And he laughed the entire trip. The car had been used as a parts cars when I found it setting at a Sohio gas station.

Back then my dad wouldn't let me take pictures of it. He said it was a waste of film. So pics of it 36 years ago are far and few between.

I used to save my lunch money to buy parts for it at a local salvage yard. They took pity on a poor high school kid and sell me parts for a dollar ($1). My first engine conversion (the original to the car was gone, in it's place was a 1956 Chevy 235 6 cylinder) was from a '62 Impala SS convertible. I paid $25 for the 283 in the convertible and the salvage yard brought the engine to me.

I scrapped the 283 one cold winter night (no antifreeze) and in 1976 I bought a '68 327 from another yard for $75. They were kind enough to deliver as well. I still own the 327. I ran it for years with a '64 Saginaw 4-speed behind it. The 4-speed came after I scrapped a handful of 3-speed trans in the car.


Back in the 1970s you weren't cool unless you had S/S Cragars on your car with air shocks and traction bars. Black interior, bucket seats w/console was "IT" and a decent paint job was optional.

I told my parents I wanted to be buried in my first car. My mother told me she would put an IOU in my pocket when they lowered me in the ground.

I told her I'd come back and haunt her.

 

My first car was a light blue and white '54 Chevy Bel Air 4 door. My favorite of all I have owned since 1964 was a '75 Dodge Tradesman van. It had a bulletproof 360 with a 727 behind it and a 9.25 Dana with 3:23s. It had 139,000 miles when I bought it from my best buddy (maybe 239,000) as the odometer only had 5 wheels. Anyhow, over the next 11 years I drove it another 100,000+ and she never missed a beat. Sold it on Ebay to a guy in Florida, he came to NC and got it and drove it home and it ran perfect all the way. Last report it was still going strong. I am looking for another carbureted van. I am pretty much fed up with computers and fuel injection.