Your First Car

1968 Fiat 124 4-Door Sedan catalog / literature

The 1968 Fiat 124 sedan was my first car. I bought it when stationed at San Vito Air Station in Italy in 1981. This picture is the actual color.

 

Your linked stuff didn't have my 69 Bronco but I found something. ..
1969 Bronco Brochures | EarlyBroncosForSale.com

 

yea, in hindsight I wish I had kept it but needed to buy something more efficient (toyota pu). I had rebuilt the 302 engine in shop class and after I got the plug wires sequenced right it started right up after being stored for two years.
Found a similar pic except mine had white spokers.

 

I assume you know how these developed in later years, with Lada and FSO? Knock-off Fiat 124s were pretty much the staple of Northern English towns in my youth.

The last Fiat 124 made in Russia (a Lada 2107) was produced in 2012, but they're still making them in Egypt.

 

1963 Volkswagon Karman Ghia

/Jim

 

So many of you had such cool first cars. But I think flynz4's is my favourite so far.

 

Mine was yellow as well. It was a fun first car. I am 6'7" and at the time, I had a 6'0" GF. We were quite a sight getting out of that little car.

I'm glad your brother was OK.

/Jim

 

Bought new (1976 - same color, too) when I was stationed in Orlando for Naval Nuclear Power School:



"Fix It Again, Tony" was NOT an attempt at being funny...

 

My story with one was being rear-ended by it while waiting at a light in front of 30th Street Station in Phila on a late rainy night. All of a sudden I noticed headlights bearing down on me in my rearview mirror. My little Isuzu got accordioned into the back of the Olds Cutlass in front of me. I did get keep the front VW emblem as a memento.

 

Don't know which ones you consider "cool." I considered my '57 Chevy "cool," but one man's trash, you know.

Anyway, back in the "olden" days, at least in my area, kids were into working on cars, "souping them up," street races, etc. I don't see that culture much anymore -- seems like parents give their teens a Volvo or a Toyota and that's it.

Back in the sixties, we tended to lust after cars, worked paper routes, at the dairy, at factories, stores, etc. and set aside our cash to buy our dream car. Usually, they needed quite a bit of work, but cars in those days were pretty simple.

Anyway, with all that work we did to earn the money, we usually tried to buy a cool car -- even if it didn't run too well. Speaking of work, I have been hanging out here the last week or two because I wrenched my knee, doctor says I am fine to go back to work Monday..

 

1984 Bronco!



302, C6, previous owner had already replaced most of the parts. It was nice but had a few quirks (mosquito-fogged the neighborhood when warming up, which was required or it would stall in the middle of the first, big intersection). Too big and thirsty though--sold it for a 1985 Toyota 4wd, which I still have.

 

Back in the day, we would count the days till we could get our drivers license. A car was the key enabler to having a social life.

Today, I see the new generation often going well into their 20's without getting (or even wanting) a drivers license. Much of their social life is virtual. When I ask teenagers if they would rather have a car, or a smartphone... they look at me like i just asked the stupidest question they have ever heard.

It is a different world... with new value systems in place.

/Jim

 

Brilliant observation, Jim. I hadn't thought of that but when you put it in that context, it helps me understand the smartphone obsession much better.

 

My kids just barely missed the smartphone teenage years, thank heaven, but they both were wild to get their licenses and learn to drive.

Neither of them wanted to learn how to work on cars.

Curious thing, now that my daughter is in her 20s, she decided she wants to learn how to work on cars and wants me to teach her. Her boyfriend has no clue, did not even know how to change a flat tire. I had to teach both of them.

I do know that working on cars was a great bonding experience for the men in my family, dad, myself and my brothers. Not much bonding you can do over a smartphone.

But, since my work does involve a number of 18-22 year-olds, I have seen the "don't care about driving" thing. But the funny thing, it seems it more the guys who shun the driving, the females, not so much.

 

For those of us who grew up in the "American Graffiti" or "JC Whitney" era... this transition is hard to fathom. That does not mean that the transition is not real. The smart phone is often the centerpiece of their life.

/Jim

 

We just bought a used 2007 Scion tC (black) for my son after some numbnuts totaled out his 2000 Nissan Frontier. The truck he got as a kind of hand-me-down from his grandfather for HS commuting. But he got to have some say in picking out the Scion. It's up on jackstands now as we refinish the wheels and do some tweaking and detailing so we can get it in shape and back on the road. I'm enjoying sharing this experience with him. I hope (and think) he's enjoying it, too. This is my last year with him in the house and I'm gonna miss him when he leaves for college.

 

Not the first car I ever drove, but the first one that was new and all mine:



Reading the brochure now, I'm amazed to see that it had only 91HP, less than the 99 of my Prius c! It had a fuel-injected 1488cc engine, 0.33 coefficient of drag, five-speed manual transmission, and we called it the Pocket Rocket.
$10,655 out the door in 1985, taxes, title and fees included.