First car - what was it and what were the highlights?

[BrisWesty]

What did people think were highlights in their early cars?

My first car was a 1972 Volvo 164E. 3 litre fuel injected straight six. I was pretty stoked that it had a cassette player, fog lights, air conditioning and a power aerial.
The cassette player had variable speeds. Unfortunately it wasn't meant to!
The aerial was sort of broken, so if you put it up too far it would fall down. Then when you brought it back down, it would flick back up.
It was capable of 105mph (back in the days when there weren't speed cameras around every corner). Have fond memories of doing 90mph most of the way between Ararat and Beaufort.
The car was also so unreliable on occasion, the person at the RACV recognised my voice one time.

[TheTrueReview]

HX Holden Kingswood Sedan. Highlights? It got me from A to B & was big enough for all my needs. Other than that, not much. Those were the days. :roll:

[Tongueboy]

1964 XM Falcon with extractors, 2 1/2" exhaust system straight through and 60 thou of the head. go like the clappers. had the old girl up to 105mph coming down the hill towards the Quirindi Racecourse! Hear it for miles!!!!

[goughy]

Mine was a green 70's corolla with mags called Kermit. It was a 2 speed auto, and I could get it up to near 70 in first, granted it's top speed was about 85. There were enough holes in the boot that it filled with water when I rained and that seeped through to the back and front passenger seats. But they were great days at uni with that car. Highlights in that car were the day when raining I got to drop home 4 chicks from uni, all with their legs up on the seats cause there was so much water on the floor.

The other was after a night out, dropped 7 of us home from the pub, 2 in the passenger seat, 3 in the back with one girl lying across them. Got pulled over and breath tested, hasn't been drinking. One officer stuck his head through the drivers window to see what was going on inside, and one of my mates passed out while talking to him. They told me to drive very very carefully. Loved that car!

[timah!]

3 cyl Daihatsu Charade.
It went.

[Collis]

HZ kingswood Brown with a white vinal roof.
could open the locks with almost everything which wasnt the best...

wish i still had.

[IamViva]

1984 Ford Telstar 2.0L auto. a few fond memories like the leaking tappet cover gasket a family friend borrowed it for a fortnight and i mentioned to check the oil levels, she just dumped 1L in every 2 days without checking the dipstick, so i was sitting at the lights one day with smoking pouring out of the bonnet as excess oil was burning on the engine. also she was a cold car and it had a manual choke was driving up a hill one evening when my car stalled out mid way up and had to sit there for 10mins before the car was warm enough to make it all the way up :) piece of crap but still good first car i reckon

[goughy]

HZ kingswood Brown with a white vinal roof.
could open the locks with almost everything which wasnt the best...

wish i still had.

My old man had a great v8 kingswood, kind of similar, in that the drivers door wouldn't lock and you didn't need any key to start the ignition.

[markTHEblake]

XY Falcon - it had extractors.

I also drove it for at least 6 months with only 2nd and 3rd gear available. I just made sure i avoided hill starts.

[Daves]

1970 Mini 1100S.

I bought it off a mate of my dad's, who was the local Leyland chief mechanic, and also a very successful speedway racer. It was surprisingly roomy, and very fast over the ground, as you didn't have to slow down for corners. Its achilles was the float on fluid suspension system that regularly leaked. Ran on the smell of an oily rag, but chewed up tyres at a great rate for some reason:roll:;)
An all but straight through exhaust system and triple SUs gave it presence! It got traded in its 2nd year for an LJ Torana, when I got my first full time job at the other end of the state and needed to do some miles.

[dave1]

Orange datto 180b

Love that car!!

[Collis]

Think it was pretty common, was good when you went outside and forgot the keys...

[Dotty]

1972 HQ Monaro.

Right place at the right time, when everyone else had Hitler-mobiles, Morris 1100s, Dato 120Y and the rich kid with a TR7. (Soon trumped by a mate that had done up a 55 Chev with his old man.)

Loved it and cruised well, but I tolerated too many annoyances with that car (fogged up in the rain, rust, typical Holden reliability, no 'luxury' items, such as demisters, cassette or cup holders). Ten years later, a 1989 Liberty would piss on it in every aspect, except boot size.

[Lucasto23]

1990 ford laser auto, it was the car I did alot of firsts in and got it to 170km once on the logan motorway :)

[jimandr]

1969 Ford Cortina, with bench seats and 4 on the column.

Absolute dog of a vehicle. Never passed rego first time in the three years I put up with it.

[WBennett]

Japanese racing orange Datsun 120Y.

By the time I had finished with it, it had a 1400 with 1500 race head, twin carbs, lowered, extractors, 2 inch exhaust, 3rd gearbox, 3rd diff..... and I knew how to pull it apart and put it all back together. Took it hillclimbing, supersprints, motorkhanas and had a ridiculous amount of fun in it!

These days I look under the bonnet of either of our cars and dont have a clue where to start...

[Moe Norman]

1971 Holden HQ Kingswood with a big red straight 6.

Poo brown in colour with a white roof, vinyl bench sheets and '3 on the tree' three speed column shift.

My dad had it since new and passed it onto me when I was 19. Great car and ran like a dream. Unfortunately I was a young fool, and it was t the wreckers before I was 21. Not via an accident, just didn't look after it.

Huge regret now.

[LarryLong]

Puke green 1979 Subaru 1600 wagon. Got me into some great bushwalking spots, but it didn't have enough clearance for some of the roads I took it on. My favourite thing about it was that you could throw all your stuff in the back seat, and if your friends jumped in they could throw all the crap in the back seat into the back of the wagon, and you could clean it out once a month and start again.

It was a dead set PoS, but I miss it.

[mike]

1972 LJ Torana. Lowered so far I couldn't go over speed bumps.

Should. Not. Have. Sold.

[mike]

Tongueboy is in the lead so far btw.

[mike]

1972 HQ Monaro.2 door V8?

[mudrat]

1980 Toyota corona in 2 tone brown. Celica engine and gearbox. Served its purpose on plenty of trips up and down the coast with mates, wrote it off after 2 years. Had 4wd's ever since after trying to take places it shouldn't have gone.

[Dotty]

2 door V8?
2 door LS - 202 with three on the tree.

Essentially a 2 door Premier (which was a Kingswood with four headlights and fake wooden dash).

[mike]

OK. The gay Monaro huh.

My mum nearly bought one of these.

16910

They're worth squillions now.

[Collis]

Even a good condition standard kingswood is worth 6-9k these days I struggled to give it away

[Dcanto]

Second hand 1989 VN Holden Calais I managed to pick up for a good price. Like all VN model Holdens (some would say Holdens in general - no pun intended) it had its fair share of problems, but it was not as bad as some of the cars my mates were driving at the time.

[Dotty]

OK. The gay Monaro huh.

My mum nearly bought one of these.

16910

They're worth squillions now.
Is your mum a hairdresser? (That was an HX, the Limted Edition and last of the 2 doors.)

An all white version of this ...

16912

Just had a look. Non-original versions (mostly boganified with GTS bits and bonnet scoops) going for $22K-65K.

I paid $1K and it was written off three years later (not at fault) at market value of $3.5K. (It probably would have cost me $20-30K in upholstery, rust repairs, electrical and mechanical bits, if I kept it for the last 30 years.)

[MegaWatty]

Silver Toyota T18. It had 4 wheels.

[Yossarian]

91 Nissan Pulsar Hatch, at one stage it only really had 3 wheels.

It was fun to skid around with maccas trays.

[bergsey]

Drove my old lady's Chrysler Galant when I was at uni... The flogging that used to get! used to go out driving in convoys for kicks geminis, toranas, datto 180's... Those were the days!

First car bought with my own cashola was Ford EA series 2 then EB XR6

[idgolfguy]

First car was HX Holden, 4 years old at the time.
FJ 55 Landcruiser a couple of years later.
Starion Turbo, another 2 years later.
Had all three at one point.

During the Americas Cup, had a Porches 944 and a BMW 7 series. Didn't play golf, was a car HO!

[Pencil]

EJ Holden SW, blue with white roof. Roof racks. Motor went all right for an girl, 138 I think it was. Body was on its last legs. Had to tie the tail gate otherwise it would just randomly fall open while your driving along or threw the anchor out at the light. Went through a couple of rear windows when I'd forget. I loved that car, it just hated me and anything remotely resembling a hill.

[Courty]

1973 VW Superbug in Grasshopper Green. The highlight was that it ran on the smell of an oily rag and you couldn't kill it. Before the engine was reconditioned they did a compression test. The best cylinder was running at 70%, the worst at 35%. Despite this, it never failed to start and never conked out. I even drove it to Brisbane and back!

[sms316]

Crap brown Datto 200B. A real shit box.

[goughy]

1971 Holden HQ Kingswood with a big red straight 6.

Poo brown in colour with a white roof, vinyl bench sheets and '3 on the tree' three speed column shift.


I had an apprentice a few years ago, about 19, and this was his car! He claims he was second owner. It was in mint condition, even had spotless holden lion hub cap covers

[goughy]

Orange datto 180b

Love that car!!

This wasn't the model where you had to push the gear stick down to be able to put it into reverse? I had a boss with this I think, and I used to be the designated driver (old enough to drive, looked old enough to get into clubs, not old enough to drink so all the oldies made me drive) and had to drive hers once. Had no idea how to get it into reverse, and ended up in neutral and pushing it to get out of a car park. She was too drunk to explain it.

[WBennett]

OK. The gay Monaro huh.

My mum nearly bought one of these.

16910

They're worth squillions now.


My old boss had an immaculate example he sold about 6 ot 7 years ago. Put it on ebay and got $25k for it!

[BrisVegas]

76 Ford Escort coupe. Paid cash for it in grade 12 (1991). $2k. Had a smokey 1.3 litre in it when i got it and it was a lime green colour. I put a new 1.6 litre in it with cam, extractors, webber and 2" system and replaced all the electrics. As you do with British Fords! Anyway, that car allowed me to move out of home with all my worldy possessions onboard. I drove it out to Goondiwindi and soon bolted a big pair of spotties to the front of it for the 'roos at night. Highlight out there was probably the Goondiwindi B&S ball. Driving home drunk with half a dozen people on board including the local copper who was rolling drunk himself. He was a mate of mine from golf. :-)

In final year uni my girlfriend's family were spray painters and panel beaters. I spent most of my time in 4th year stripping it back, cutting out the rust and respraying and retrimming it. By the time it was done, it looked pretty mint with a custom grey velour interior, headlinging, ghia buckets and dash etc etc.. I painted it a pearl blue that looked mint. Loved that car. Sold it in 98 for $5k and bought a Honda Integra VTIR coupe with aircon, fuel injection, cruise control etc etc etc....

[Steve57]

1954 Chevvy 4 door sedan, pale green.
Bought it off the old man for the princely sum of $200.
Had it up to top speed of 85 miles per hour on trip from Melb to Echuca in 1976.
The same year my mates parents were replacing lino in their kitchen and came across a newspaper review of the new 1954 Chev, top speed 85 mph.
Not bad that the old girl was still capable at 22 years old with no major work done to her!
Like most young guys I sold it to update to something newer (Toyota Corolla!).
Wish I had kept it as it would be a collectors item now.

[Woody502]

A 1983 Ford Fiesta 1.1 in fire engine red. This car was indestructible it always seemed to be on its last legs but got through every winter (in England) and every yearly MOT for a minimal amount of money.

[Hamo84]

1989 Ford Laser hatch which developed a custom fully sick modified exhaust over time... aka a small hole

was an indestructible little beast and went pretty well too

[Leon Phelps]

'77 holden Gemini
Great little car, 1800cc and used to heli off its tits, til a rock wall got in the way one rainy night......write off :cry:

[virge666]

Cordia Turbo 1985.

Highlights was me sitting on top of the car when I rolled it in Armidale on a hunting weekend 3 weeks after buying it.

Happy days.

[chappy1970]

HQ Stationwagon, Racing Green.

It got me around Victoria for about 6 years surfing every weekend .

I miss it

[virge666]

If you kinda close one eye the Cordia looked a lot like the DeLorian.



And now you know why...

:)

And it was bloody quick too.

[LeftyHoges]

1990 Mitsubishi Magna TP Wagon.

Had the works, Power Steering, Air Conditioning, Cruise Control, Alloy Wheels, Electric Mirrors, Electric Windows, CD Player and enough room in the boot for 5 sets of sticks and buggies, or a mattress, should the need arise (and did it ever!)

Top speed of around 160 km/h before the steering wheel started to shake violently and the car floated across the road. Not a good combination....

[Ronny]

Datsun 1600 4 door sedan. Used to go! Was an awesome car until cousin forgot to our oil in it and blew the motor!

[BrisVegas]

It's funny how, being blokes, we've all tested out the max velocity in our cars. :lol: They'd lock you up for hooning these days.... :cry:

I know it was a right of passage for any new car that came into our family. There was a 5km+ straight country road out the back of Oakey where all our cars were tested. The Escort hit 170km/h there but was pretty "flighty" at that speed.

[Moe Norman]

I had an apprentice a few years ago, about 19, and this was his car! He claims he was second owner. It was in mint condition, even had spotless holden lion hub cap covers

mine was mint when Dad gave it to me, my GF could do her hair in the reflection from the hub cap covers and chrome trim at the back.

this is what it looked like, except mine was alsmot showroom condition (my dad still gets upset about it)

http://gallery.oldholden.com/d/408836-2/HQ+020.JPG

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/1971-1974_Holden_HQ_Kingswood_sedan_01.jpg

http://oldholden.com/ohfiles/HQ%20023.JPG

[Boonie]

http://www.delest.nl/cb-img/399/Peugeot-504-L-1974.jpg

Peugot 504 manual.

Heavy beast, but really grew to love it I must say. Super comfy bucket leather seats.

[Bruce Dickinson]

1973 poo Brown Toyota Corolla sports coupe with rusted roof, the highlight was a little green light thingo in the dash that pulled down but lit nothing.

Last seen at the Mindarie tip towing a rubbish rake, that was a sad day indeed.

[Moe Norman]

It's funny how, being blokes, we've all tested out the max velocity in our cars. :lol: They'd lock you up for hooning these days.... :cry:

The HQ hit just under 150km/h on Wulkuraka Connection road out near Karrabin.

It got a bit hairy at that speed and the whole chassis was rattling, so I used to sit on a smooth 120 on my late night drives home. Could do 80 in 2nd gear without even feeling liek you were revving hard!

[Moe Norman]

A bit of research tells me that the 'poo brown' colour we all refer to is actually called 'San Remo Gold'.

Turns out you can polish a turd :)

[BrisWesty]

And now you know why...

:)

And it was bloody quick too.

My uncle had a Cordia Turbo. A scary man with a scary car (especially on gravel). He was quite prepared to drag off the cops in it so he said (but then he always had/has lots of stories where he's the hero).

[Eldrick]

GE Chrysler Sigma.that car was awesome
best part was the interior lights on the rear pillars

[markTHEblake]

In 20 years our kids will be posting in this thread
About their awesome Kia Rio's.

[Moe Norman]

doubt they'll be handing them down to their kids though.

[Daves]

Please don't tell me it was Ian Marshall. He was my favourite guy in the saloon races at the Ekka.

Barney Muddle, he drove a Mini. Home track was Hexham Speedway, but he won a number of Australian titles and I believe he also competed in the Armstrong 500 (The predecessor to Bathurst 1000).

[Daves]

Mine was a 71 Cortina. The best part was the bench seat....man some serious sliding around when fangin around corners.

Funniest car I had was just after I finished school...an old Mini Moke brush painted kermit green. I was out of work for a while and training a greyhound. I used to take the dog to the vet, trials and races in this thing and he'd stick his head out the side of the canvas sides as we drove up to Lawnton or somewhere...man it was funny. Fuel guage never worked but all you had to do was lean over and unscrew the cap on the passenger side. I ran out of juice on the Victoria bridge one night.

My 3rd car was a '74 TD Ghia, 4.1 motor and 4 speed box. It was super quick (200+) and scary as hell. You were never sure if the brakes would work, and the body roll was huge.

[PeteyD]

I had a TD cortina for my first car, but with the 2 litre overhead cam engine. Great car, so many firsts ....

[Eldrick]

how else went onto eBay/carsales.com to see if they could find one?

[PerryGroves]

'77 holden Gemini
Great little car, 1800cc and used to heli off its tits, til a rock wall got in the way one rainy night......write off :cry:

Same Leon, I had a bright orange hatch (Isuzu branded) my uncle put together for me. Sure mine was only 1600cc. The thing was uncontrollable in the wet, lost track of the number of 360s I did even at low speed.

Had my initials and then 007 on the plates (what a tosser)

[Matt 3 Jab]

16931

Was a piece of crap but it was a start!

Crysler Sigma Sedan, auto, top speed of 100 if it was lucky!

[Timbo]

Crap brown Datto 200B. A real shit box.
I also had a 200B, although mine was red (fast) and the SX "sport model" (even faster).

Actually mine was also a real shit box too. I soon got rid of it and bought a HJ panel van with a 308 which my best mate's father called "the coffin on wheels".

[damoocow]

1972 Ford Capri - cost me about $800 I think in 1980 - always had a thing for coupes ever since - regretted selling it and bought another of the same in 1986 - then regretted buying that one...

[Croydo]

1977 Toyota Corona- the best thing about it I bought it for $2000 and sold it for $2000 when I bought my second car.

[Dazza]

97 XH Falcon ute. It was a real bargain build. Bullbar and rollbars set me back 4 cartons. Had spotlights all over it, light em all up and it'd deadset nearly stall. It wasn't too over the top, and didn't even have one of those poxy Longhorn stickers.
Was a good ute, did a lot of long distance work in it between NT and QLD, as well as plenty of dirt work across the NT.

[blurry]

1976 la lancer, 1400 bored 1550, twin 45 ml webber , works no.5 cam , extractors , starion mags ,, boy this thing could f**k off in a hurry:smt018

[Hacker09]

HT Kingswood about 20 years ago. At one point I carried a spare gearbox around in the boot.

[Dazza]

It's funny how, being blokes, we've all tested out the max velocity in our cars. :lol: They'd lock you up for hooning these days.....I was lucky enough to be in the NT prior to the speed limits coming in. Some quick trips were had back then! Sure did chew through a shitload of fuel. The BA ute was solid at high speed, as was the XH.

[dave1]

Back in the 80's if it started it was a great car - if it didn't start it was a piece of junk - it was a simple formula!

[BrisVegas]

1976 la lancer, 1400 bored 1550, twin 45 ml webber , works no.5 cam , extractors , starion mags ,, boy this thing could f**k off in a hurry:smt018

Damn! that's a lot of carby for such a little motor! Must have had a good top end.

[BrisWesty]

My second car was a 5sp Datsun 240K. Much more fun than the Volvo.

[jasonb]

A 180B with 20 more mistakes = my 1st car - red 200B SX (wannabe) replaced the bumpers & grille etc , was affectionately known as rentadent! , was full of bog

[BenM]

Can anyone beat a Leyland Marina, $500 special? The most horrible car I've ever owned by a long shot. Highlights include the bonnet that I painted black with spray cans (I think I was going to do the whole car, but never got around to it), the ring gear that had big chunks out of it, to the point where often I couldn't start the car as the starter motor would just spin without engaging, I had to get out and turn the engine over by hand to get it to a spot where it still had teeth. Lever arm shock absorbers (which I replaced to try and stop it from being so floaty.... a lost cause) and (at one point) a steering wheel that would vibrate (I kid you not) about 6 inches side to side at 100kph (I later found that it had a delaminated tyre).

It did do good little skids when you dropped it from N to D though! Worst buying decision I have ever made on anything in my life.... so young and stupid. I've had some crappy cars since but nothing like that!