well, shucks, i'll hafta come out from under my rock for this thread... my 1st vehicle was a 51 chey convertible, 6cyc, 2 speed automatic (groan...) that my mom gave me in senior year of high school. 1st i thing i did was take it to the body shop by the railroad tracks and had all the chrome trim taken off and had it painted. mom picked out shell beige paint which looked like pink once applied (or well...) it looked good with white walls and the gold moons i put on it... (more groans) then, one nite, i took it to a gas station a friend was working at and we pulled the six with a rope fence stretcher and we squeezed a bored and balanced, chev 283ci in it with three 2's and a corvette 4 speed. next car was a 55 chev 2 door (repeat as above)... fun... fun... thanks, PatO, for starting this thread.
A 1953 Morris Minor van (ex Post Office) that cost me GBP 45. Great little car - new set of tires, valve grind and I sold it 2 years later for GBP 40.
The 1st car I bought in 1964 was a Chevrolet Bel Air, not really sure about build in which year but I thought it was 1954 from the 1st owner. What I still do remember that the oil consumption and petrol consumption were sky high. When passing by a gasoline station the car almost automatically hold on for a stop...........!! But a lot of fun with the boys and girls it had space for 8 people; driver included. 重新導向通知
My DREAM CAR! I looked at so many back in Oz but rust had taken over the front sub frames in each one looked at. Would kill for a Windowless Moggy Van with a Low Lite front today!
You Stateside Guys were really spoilt for choice compared to Australia with its over supply of Pommy Cars. Looked at a few '55/6/7 Chevy's when I was close to getting my licence but price was always one step ahead of me hence the Pommy/Aussie Cars in my life.
On our (the European) side of the pond gasoline back in the late sixties was already around the current pricepoint paid in the U.S., so the gas guzzlers from the USA never gained much popularity. Even back then the average car owner would look for a car that did at least 10 km to a liter (23 mpg). My first was a small german car, a (second hand) 1965 NSU 1000 , identical to the one in the picture below The brand no longer exists, it was bought by Volkswagen at some point and merged with Auto Union/DKW (the source of Audi's 4 circle emblem). Sadly the gearbox in mine died on my first trip to Paris in 1974. Was too expensive to fix.
First car--1954 VW beetle with the semaphore turn signals and a 36hp engine--hope there was no headwind or you were stationary! first new car--1969 VW Beetle, purchased with funds won in a crap game at Treasure Island during discharge process. Great car, lasted thru undergrad and grad school. Wish i had it now!
