My first was a 1997 Pontiac Grand Am. Had nothing but problems. Paid $2,600 for it in 2005 and it had 117k miles. 4 years and 53k miles later I sold it for $2,000 and that was with the transmission slipping.

 

When I was 15 I was walking past a gas station where an Airman was gassing up. He saw me and asked if wanted to buy his car and take him to the airfield at the nearby Air Force Base as he was mustering out. All I had on me was $30. He said fine. It was a 1956 Plymouth Plaza and the driver’s door wouldn’t open. The differential soon locked up and I found another 56 Savoy at a junk yard for $60. Switched it out and drove it for quite awhile. Helluva bargain!

 

2003 Ram 1500 4x4 Laramie 5.9 fully loaded, hand me down from my dad when I was 16. Fantastically reliable and capable, never let us down in any way.

I still have it and won't ever get rid of it since it was my testbed for a lot of learning and the largest project I've done to date, engine, trans, diffs, and T-case were all hand-built/rebuilt by me and the frame restore was done by me and my teacher/automotive mentor. I probably put around 140 hours of work into excluding research and learning to redesign the engine.

 

nice thread. mine was a 1982 Toyota Corolla DX liftback

 

1986 GMC S-15 Jimmy 2WD, 2.8 V6, with 69k miles, 1990 was my first year driving. Added 1991 grille, lights, rims, and center console. Loved it, but didn't we all mostly love our first car?
This was mostly reliable, but it would hesitate from a stop and was pretty gutless. Automatic driver's door lock didn't work, but everything else did. Quite comfortable overall and took it everywhere- high school, first job, prom, jr. college, camping, beach, snowboarding, all over CA. Sold it three years later with 96k miles for the same price I bought it.

 

My first was a 1964 blue Corvair Monza stick shift. Paid $75 for it and it lasted a few months before the engine blew.

 

The 1st car I drove was a '78 Malibu Classic Estate wagon - fake wood and wire wheel covers. Like this but different color and hubcaps:



My 1st car I bought was an '83 Honda Prelude which was stolen 3 years later off the streets of Queens NY. I did love that little car.

 

A beat up 1975 VW Rabbit, bright yellow. I loved that thing. It was one of those cars that had every problem, from leaks to overheating. You never knew if it was going to start or not. The idle was so low that it would just shut off, I adjusted the idle high so it wouldn't shut off. One other quirk was that the brake pedal spring broke, so I had to use my foot to pull the brake back into place, a complete pain when driving in stop and go traffic but it became second nature. Anyway I ended up thrashing the engine mounts, the vibrations ended up destroying the transmission, one gear at a time

 

My first
this car was only made for one year between the TR4 exit and the TR6 intro. The 250 had a 2 liter inline straight six, carbureted not fuel injected like the UK version. Owned it for a couple of years, spent as much time under it as I did in it. Still was a lot of fun. Learned a lot about car maintenance owning this car.

 

My first car was a 1950 Olds 2 door coupe with a Rocket 88 V8 and 3 speed Hydramatic trans that I bought from my future brother in law. It was so long ago that I'm not sure what I paid for it but knowing my financial situation the time no doubt in the $50 range lol. It had seen better days.

 

1990 Honda Accord LX. Bought from my friend which was his BIL's. I drove it straight to my mechanic, cuz the radiator was held together with paper and had no fluids. Good thing it was in the middle of winter.

 

1987 Corolla SR5 (AE86) had the carb not the twin cam and man was that thing slow lol. Think they were around 75hp. Were fun and reliable car though.

 

I wish I had pictures but I had '98 Mercury Grand Marquis and I blew it up on the high way, I managed to hit 120mph though. In hindsight I was a stupid kid driving like that but luckily no one was injured and now I drive on closed roads and take precautions haha.

 

1999 Mitsubishi Galant ES
It had the “inspired” BMW styling and I was a big Mitsu fan back then.
I had nice rims on it as well.

Not my exact car but similar.

 

My dad tired of me borrowing the family car every weekend to go out looking to buy my first car in the fall of 1971, so on Saturday, December 4, he went with me promising to match my $400 budget. Our best find that long day was a '66 Mustang convertible (dark green with a white "pony" interior and a white top) offered at a Ford dealer for $795, so we made plans to return on Monday to buy it as all dealerships were then closed on Sundays.

Fate, however, intervened on the drive home as we passed the dealership closest to our house. There sat a '65 Buick Skylark Gran Sport, my then dream car. It was already dark and the dealer was closed, so there was no looking at it then. I spent most of the next day examining it in and out (fortunately it was unlocked) and then had to convince my parents why entrusting me a car with 325 horsepower at age 16 was not a bad idea!

Monday brought rain with my dad picking me up at high school during lunch period for a trip to the dealer. After a test drive and brief negotiation, the GS was mine for $500 and I drove it back to school.