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Throwback Thursday: What was the first car you bought? #TBT

Kristján Geir Mathiesen

It's Thursday!

giphy

In Iceland, the earliest one can get a drivers license for a car is 17 years old. I couldn't wait to get my drivers license! I had been working every summer and Christmas break since I was 11 years old to save up for a car. In the end, my mom and I bought the car together. Brand new 1987 Toyota Corolla, similar to this one in the picture below except it was a 4 door, steel gray.

I put SO many km on it, it was crazy. Used up the front tires in two months so I rotated them to the back. And I was almost always the designated driver because I offered to be. I just loved to drive and I really liked that snazzy car Washing and waxing... so much fun!

So, what was the first car you bought?

Make it a great Thursday!
KGM

Comments

Pedro Silva_5w141t

I love your posts @Kristján Geir Mathiesen !

My first car, like 12 years ago, was a Honda Civic. It did not last much.

Kristján Geir Mathiesen

Aww, thank you @Pedro Silva - I really appreciate that. Sorry your first car didn't last too long, though.

RJ Gazarek

The first car I bought was a several year old used Toyota Echo... aka... the clown car But I loved it!

John Funk

My first car was a Chevy Vega hatchback. Looks like the one in the picture below but was a dark green. And nowhere near as nice looking! My father bought it for $400 used back in 1981.

Chevy vega.jpg

My first new car was a 1986 Mazda 323 - light blue with a sunroof :-)

Thorhalla Gudmundsdottir Beck

I have never owned "my own car", though I think the first car I owned with my boyfriend (now husband) was a Mitsubishi Lancer named Michelle. We've had so many cars since then! We never take loans so the cars we can afford to buy are usually second hand and on their last legs, well, tires.

When I was seventeen (in Iceland, like @Kristján Geir Mathiesen I already hated driving cause I'd been spending most of my summers rattling around in tractors If I'd had my way I would have skipped the driving test altogether but I needed it to get the tractors legally between fields. I.e. I needed a drivers licence to drive them on "official roads"

I've had to drive a lot in the past years and I don't hate it as much. If I had enough money and could buy whatever car I wanted I would get a Lada Niva (aka Lada Sport) or a Volga.

Jon Watts_4xvzzl

Mine was a Nissan cherry, similar to this taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Cherry

Nissan Cherry N12 in UK Carpark.jpg

Phill Fox

Just like others in this thread I got my first car when I was 17 having worked hard to earn the money.

Mine was a little smaller than some of the ones already shown here.

See this promo image and yes mine was a 1976 Blue Mini 850 that I had for 5+ years with lots of welding/repainting but was a real workhorse.

Mini 1976

Looking forward to see what others had.

[For folks wondering what the 850 stood for it was the size of the engine 848cc]

Phill

Mandy Ross

I bought my first car when I was 15, before I could even drive! I lived in a rural area, so if you didn't have a car or friends with cars, you basically had no social life. I got a job at a pizza place at 13 and saved up every penny to buy my car, a '74 VW Super Beetle, bright yellow, with custom plates that read BNNA BUG. I had it til my freshman year of college when I sold it to my brother. It looked like this:

1974 Volkswagen Super Beetle | Classic Auto Mall

I had so much fun and got into so much trouble with this car!! I sure miss my banana bug.

Kristján Geir Mathiesen

I LOVE to see all these cars, folks! Thanks so much. @Phill Fox I have always wanted one of these!!!!

And @Mandy Ross Super Beetle, that is an awesome car. Cool for you to save up your own money and buy it before you got a license - that is so awesome!

@Jon Watts I remember the Nissan Cherrys

@John Funk that is a cool looking car, at least today. Love it!

@Thorhalla Gudmundsdottir Beck Volgan er alltaf flott...

PJ Wysota

Oh gosh.... Reality in ex-commies countries was so different... My first car (we were ahead of our times, as it was SHARED car - of myself and 3 of my friends) was dedicated to serve us as transportation for vacation only. We were looking for cheapest (it was 1996 - 7 years after commies gave up, Poland was just in a middle of so called transformation = permanent crisis for 80% of population, and we were 16-17) 4-wheels option capable of taking in 4 guys, looking for fun, girls, adventure + tents + basic clothes etc. We have had equivalent of 200, maybe 300 USD at that time.

And we got her - Queen of Polish Roads - Syrena 105L - original product of Polish Technical Excellence!!! Served us well for 4 months, within which we drove her for total 6-7k kms. The few things we needed to repair (breakes, clutch) did just cover mechanical performance. We did not touch original (dating down to 1983) rust spots etc on beautiful banana yellow body. Exactly the same as below pic.

Note it is model 1983...

The same age as...

download (1).jpg

Some wiki facts about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FSO_Syrena#Syrena_105 - but they won't tell you e.g. that engine of this car was originally powering firefighting water pumps, thus it has low noise control. Results: https://youtu.be/dX0fCtHpyR8

Oh, today's young/oldtimers market list her at from 2000 EUR (craps for total rework) to 10 000 EUR (renovated).

Thorhalla Gudmundsdottir Beck

Oh my! The Syrena is so pretty! And what's more, is not going to start screeching at you for driving too fast, parking to close to anything (or even standing too close!), not putting your seat belt on, if its cold outside, going to close to the edge/middle of the road, et cetera et cetera! Modern cars are so annoying. Wish I could have one of those you can just drive.

PJ Wysota

yup like the one:

https://www.otomoto.pl/oferta/syrena-105-odrestaurowana-sprzedam-lub-zamienie-za-moja-doplata-ID6DNA41.html#f49c05bf96

Thorhalla Gudmundsdottir Beck

So lovely! Brings me back to my childhood when we had the Volga

Taranjeet Singh

@Kristján Geir Mathiesen Thanks for this amazing post!

My first car that I bought in 2011 in India, was "Fiat Punto", which was launched in India during the previous year. It was a hatchback. It was a great first car for me.

Punto [2011-2014] Left Front Three Quarter Image, Punto [2011-2014] Photos in India - CarWale

Jay_izxrm9

First car I owned was a 1986 Mazda 626 Super Deluxe, white with a red velour interior, I would say I miss the car but honestly I think I miss the memories and the fun times and freedom that having my licence gave me.

First car I bought was an E36 BWM 318 IS - awful car, 0/10 would not recommend, it cost me 1000's in mechanical repairs.

Andy Gladstone

I bought this used in 1995, it was 10 years old with over 100,000 miles and was primarily used by a industrial plumbing contractor to haul pipes, tools and parts to and from job sites. It needed a lot of cleaning when I got it, and you had to pump the gas a dozen times before turning the key. But it really created some fond memories in Junior and Senior year of High School. It was certainly not the coolest car among my peers, but it was unique!

1985 Chevy Cavalier Station Wagon

Brandon Raymaekers_df3odq

First car I've ever owned was/is a Land Rover Defender 2001 -> as a kid I always dreamt of Defenders and I'm glad to say that my first owned car was one. Still proud of it and I've set some goals about it this year! Awesome to see everyone's first car and the story behind it!

Dave LIAO

@Kristján Geir Mathiesen - first car I ever purchased with my own funds? A Mazda3!

I miss it sometimes. I never bought an air freshener for it, so sometimes it'd smell like rain. As a workaround, I'd bring a jacket into a Korean BBQ place, have dinner, then leave my jacket in the car. And then for days my car would smell of delicious meats. 🥲