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How did you get your first car/truck ?

Bruce from Can.

Bruce from Can.

Well-known Member
Location
Woodville, Ontario, Canada
So did you drive the farm pickup or family car? Did you be so fortunate as to be given a car/truck by parents? Or did you get your own wheels? There was no secret in our house that if you wanted a car, you were on your own. Mom and dad were not going to help pay for or pick out anything for the five of us, and sure as heck weren?t going to pay our insurance either. I couldn?t wait to get my hands on the wheel. I worked for a dairy farmer down the road, and had my own bank account, so as quick as I turned 16 , I bought my first car, and soon had my drivers permit. Not sure folks were too pleased with me, cause now they never knew where I was, and what I was up to. This did cause some friction for me at home. So day after I turned 18 , I was gone.
 
When we got our license if we started milking the cows morning and night we got a car, insurance and all the gas we could burn from the farm barrel. I also got $20-week spending money. In the late 70s that was enough to get what I needed.
 
I bought an old farm truck. It was a 79 f100 Ford with a 302 and three on the tree, and 2 wheel drive. Paid $500 cash for it.
 
My first wheels cost me 20 bucks....63 Rambler wagon that my parents quit driving. They gave it to me if I fixed the brakes and put in a new clutch....which is the 20 bucks. Drove it for about a year, it was a mobile junk pile, but as long as I added a couple of quarts of oil over full, it was good for the weekend....and it held about nine friends, or one cute girl with all the seats folded down....😉

Ben
 
Like Bruce in our house if you wanted something it was up to you to pay for it. However my Aunt gave me an old company car I used for a while until the frame cracked (mercury station wagon). I had to repair and get my own insurance. Also in our house no one could get a drivers licence until they completed driver education and were at least 17.
 
I bought my first car when I was 15, put up a lot of hay to buy it and being young and dumb spent all the money I had on it leaving no money for plates or insurance. I had been driving farm trucks and dads pickup from 10 or 11 years old from field to field and going to the co-op to get fert and seed. Dad did a lot of side work clearing fence rows and would send my brother and I to the local quarry to get dynamite and caps before either of us had a license lol I suppose a fellow would go straight to jail and not collect 200 dollars today for such things.
but like you Bruce mom and dad never helped buy or pay for insurance on any car or truck I ever had. I would help dad on the farm all week and he would give me 10 gallon of gas from the overhead tank on Friday night and maybe 5 or 10 bucks not bad wages for a 40 to 80 hour week for a kid LOL but I did get 3 meals a day and clothes to wear and a roof over my head
 
My first was a 1948 willys jeep station wagon that I bought from my grandma after my grandfather passed.Never drove it on the road.Alot of miles on the farm learning to drive and raking hay etc.My first car was a 1962 mercury comet.
 
Started working in a cotton mill a week after I turned 16. Bought a 64 Galaxy by taking over payments a few weeks later. BIL needed to get rid of it and I needed a ride.
 
I got to "use" the 75 Chevy dually Dad had to go back and forth to school, friends house and such. But when we needed it to pull a wagon or haul some seed I was the one who had to do it. I paid for the gas, etc.
 

I was 15 & saved money from haying, from racking hay & mowing neighbors yard to buy a Oliver 60 tractor.
Wasn't much of a tractor at the time & only paid 50.00 for it, but I fixed it up & after 6 months I sold
it for 650.00. I then bought a 1966 Ford xl 2 door with automatic on the floor for 550.00. The car didn't need
any work & drove it for 7 years. Lost my father just be for I was 16 had to do it on my own.
 
I imagine my story is an oddity. There was virtually no communication in my dysfunctional family. I helped on the farm, as I enjoyed it. Dad would occasionally hand me a check from a load of, whatever. So, I had a savings account. I got my permit/license ASAP, which I think was about a week after my 16th birthday. As I was approaching my 17th birthday, Dad suggested I should have my own vehicle. So, down I went to the local dealer. I think it had all been pre-arranged. The long time trusted salesman had just the car for me! 67 Malibu convertible with 43000 some odd miles. $1000. It had been someone at the dealership who owned, or drove it. I picked it up right around my birthday in the spring of 72. I was now all set! As of 17, I could drive at night. Had my own wheels and my long time girlfriend. And get this, as long as I was living/working at home, I pumped gas out of the farm tank!
 
I got my permit at age 14 and paid $200 for a 1917 Model T Ford roadster when I was 15.
It had not run in 39 years.
Bought some used parts it needed as there were plenty of old barns around with junk Model T's in them.
Worked nights on it and flushed the engine out good and put new tires on it and painted it.
Took my bill of sale to DMV and got a tag and went to driving.
Had a lot of fun with my first car.
Richard in NW SC
 
Jr. and Sr. years in high school worked on tug boats during the summer. First year as a deck hand and second year as a cook....signed on as a deck hand but the boat had no cook, I knew how, and I was elected. Pay was $1 more a day with room and board. Didn't have to work 4 hr shifts like deckhands which was great.

Took part of the money earned after graduation and bought a '47 Chebby Babbit Bearing P/U......well past it's prime mechanically but physically in good shape. I think I paid $75 or something of the nature for it. First thing I did when I got it home was to change the oil.....big mistake......apparently they had 140w gear oil in the crankcase as when I put 30W in there I looked like a Mosquito fogging machine going down the road. Don't remember when I got rid of it but it satisfied that "itch" at the time.
 
Got my permit day after I turned 15. My license 2 days after I turn 16, darn weekend!! I bought my first vehicle from my folks. A rough '77 Dodge pickup. I cut firewood to pay for it. They rented me a chainsaw and the truck. As soon as I could I bought my own saw. Then the truck. Truck was $500. My mom gave me the title and Bill of sale and told me to get in we going to insurance company so you can get it covered.
 
Before I got my license we had a 1940's Jeep pickup as my vehicle with farm use tags I didn't need a license to run it on the road.I was raising quail,pheasants,Game Chickens,Peafowl from about 8 years on with the help of my grandmother.So I had enough money to buy a Triumph TR3 from a friend to drive after I got my license that ran a repair shop.Got my school bus drivers license and drove a county school bus until I finished high school.
 
I used to drive "Rent-A-Wrecks" to work. Bought a '64 Rambler wagon, 3 on the tree. Rear end was out so I went to the junk yard and after a lot of scrounging found a rear that I thought would fit. Got it in and that's when I found out the gear ratio. Figured it came out of an automatic as I could put it in 2nd and wind her out and wind and wind. Coming off the line it almost died if you didn't have it revved. Otherwise it was a nice used car and I got it cheap.
 
You are giving away your age. Grin When in high school I worked in a name brand gas station and the pay was 50 cents an hour. One day a lady came in
and needed a pair of windshield wipers. Found her size and on the carton, containing a pair, was $2.75 or thereabouts. Installed the pair and put her on
her way.

That afternoon the owner was going over the sales receipts for the day and called me in, questioning me on the sale. I told him what I just said and he
said......that is the price for ONE, not BOTH. Docked my pay....my 50 cents an hour pay. Never forget it.
 
I got my license at 16 and bought a 1970 Jeep pickup with money i made working on the farm and selling firewood.
 
Turned 15 in 1969, already drove anything we had on the road, that winter the chevy place where my Dad did business took a 1964 dodge pick up on trade and wanted it gone. The salesman knew I was looking and called and said 400, I told him I had to wait and talk to my Dad and I guess he thought I was stalling around and he said bring 300 and drive it home, when Dad got home we went straight there and he gave them a check and I paid him back from my savings account the next day when the bank was open.
 
I bought my first car before I was old enough to legally drive. It was a 1971 Pontiac Ventura, 6 cylinder and 3 on the tree. I never put it on the road for myself, my father ended up buying it from me for what I paid for it and I had done some body work to it.Then a friend of mine bought a 4wd pickup so I bought his 1973 Ford pickup and put that on the road in 1979 . Also 6 cylinder 3 on the tree and no power steering. Like many of the others in this post, no financial help from parents for the truck or insurance and when I was at home I also never got to use their vehicles unless I was doing an errand or something for them. I did start driving close to home when I was 12 and I did have a pretty good amount of money saved by time I was 16 as I had worked away from home for 3 or 4 years for a neighboring farm, full time in the summer and some nights and Saturday during school. Posting this brings back memories of those days and the amount of spare time spent working on those vehicles and my friends vehicles. That was back when an upstate NY car or truck would need some body work by time it was 5-6 years old.
 
I turned 16 in 1967. My brother is 4 years older and he had a 1955 Pontiac. He upgraded to a newer/used car and I bought his old one with money I made bucking bales. Paid $50.00 for that beast.
 
Must have been all good boys as none took one for a ride and then rode in the sheriff's car with the sheriff driving ! I like to keep good company
 
I graduated in 1989 and dad bought me a used 1982 f250 2wd truck with a 300 six cylinder and 4 speed manual trans. We had several farms and dad was also buying and selling equipment so he needed me to have a vehicle and something that could pull a trailer.It had over 100,000 on it and I put another 150,000 on it. I Remember hauling a 4230 five hours away and the valves rattled and pinged the whole trip. It would pull about anything and go anywhere if you were not in a hurry. Big hills were no issues as long as you were ok with second gear and 20mph. The down hill side was always more of a concern:) Tom
 
Drove family cars till I was 19 and married. First car of my own was a '61 Rambler I got for $100. Push button automatic and six. Got rid of it when the trunnions went bad. They had a rep for the front wheels flopping out while parked.
 
Bought my own bug 1960 $65 a driver
then there was a 60 chevy impala 348 4bbl with plugged oil returns and a one speed automatic (Turboglide) $35 a driver with low mileage and full power acc
had a pickup ford 61 and traded that to the Ferrari family for a florida plated fiat 124
 
I took an interest in an ancient 1929 model"A" Ford that was behind a shed when I was 13 or so, found a good engine at a neighbors and with a few friends, figured out how to swap the non-running engine for the good one. Total cost to me was the gas and time to plow up and disc the neighbors garden spot, about a 1/4 acre. Got in enough trouble with that un-licensed car (Explain to the cops that your just "..hopping fields to pheasant hunt." with 3 guys sitting in the car and 2 standing on the running boards, all but the driver carrying loaded shotguns!) my dad up and sold it and gave me enough $$ to by a beater 1948 Chevrolet Fleetmaster that I drove through most of high school- sometimes legally.

Senior year I got a good job, quit school, left home and got my own place, bought a new Mustang, discovered college girls and never looked back!
 
I drove the family cars (Pontiacs and VW Bugs) till I bought my own in '66 for $115. A 1951 Chrysler Windsor with fluid drive, sort of a semi-sutomatic tranny, you only needed the clutch for shifting gears, not for stopping and starting out (unless you wanted to). I was 20 at the time and drove it for two years and wrote it off in an accident (my fault). I remember that part of the dash was padded leather, a big fancy steering wheel and about a hundred buttons on the radio. I carried around a gallon jug of 30W oil in the trunk. My friend's dad had just bought a brand new Buick Riviera and he had taken off the factory Dominion Royal Master tires and replaced them with General tires for whatever reason. Nice old fella, he gave me the Royal Masters which were on it till it mated with the tow truck two years later.
 
Dad said he would buy me one if I graduated form college. Until I graduated I drove one of dad' vehicles. Worked hard for summer money and took out student loans. Graduated fall quarter and drove a new '68 chev pickup heavy half with a 327. Bud
 
I started working for the neighbor's landscape company when I was 14. I just worked on the mowers one day a week the first year. Second year they took me out on a crew a couple days a week. I got my car when I was 17. I paid for it, insurance, and gas myself.

My car was a 1981 Cutlass. It was a grandma's car with wire wheels and a V6, but it did have bucket seats. Shortly after I got it, I bought a set of aluminum wheels and BFG T/As for it. A year or so later it got an Olds 350 transplanted into it. That made a pretty nice car out of it.
 

64 Fairlane 500 body from my brother in law for $15, no motor or front seat and no second gear in the C4 trans. Helped a friend swap engines in his car for the blowed up 289 we took out, did a full rebuild with Crane performance cam, Holley 4 bbl carb, headers, Mustang 3 spd floor shift and a set of bucket seats from a F85 Olds.
 
I am second oldest of 13 (9 boys and 4 girls). Even if we could afford it, we weren't allowed a vehicle until we graduated from high school. Then my dad gave each of us our first vehicle. Mine was a 65 ford van that had become to small for the family. This held true except for the youngest, my sister got her Ranger pickup when she was 16.
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I bought a new 1981 C10 Chev in the early summer of '82. Had been driving a car of my parents but wanted something new. I had been looking at used trucks but my Dad found several new ones to look at. I questioned his thinking as he had never purchased a new vehicle in his life, but he said I may never be able to afford a new one. So far he has been right.
The '81 was very basic. Vinyl seat, rubber floor mats, AM radio, painted front bumper, no rear bumper and that tiny left hand rearview mirror on the left door. I had a rear bumper and painted full sized (2) mirrors installed and thought I had something.
$8258, tax and license included. Still have the invoice. Currently driving the 4th truck since that first one.
 
I went on harvest crew, when I was 14. I inharented my older sister's '56 Ford, when I got back. (It was 4 dr, green, 292 4bl with glass packs. Translated, it was ugly and loud, but not very fast!) With harvest money burning a hole in my pocket, I bought a 2dr, Chevy Belair, 348, 3-2s and more, when I turned 15. It was my money, but Dad had to go along for the test drive. He really didn't want me to buy it, but haggled the saleman down to $125. I drove that car tell I was 20.
 
I got my first car from my dad.

Not sure what it really cost me, I had been working for him around his garage, probably in the way more than helping, but I did do oil changes and tire repairs, worked the gas pumps. I didn't get paid, but was really just wanting to get away from the house. I was about 13-14 at the time.

He had a 63 Biscayne he used as a loaner car when people had their car in the shop.

The car got wrecked by someone he had loaned it to. He rear-ended a stopped car, caused some issues with the insurance, he decided to get out of the car loaning perk.

He was going to sell the car to a wrecking yard, I begged until he relented.

I started fixing it up, fixed the damage, got it painted with money I had made mowing lawns.

Snuck around driving it whenever I dared. The day I turned 16 I drove to the drivers license office early that morning so they wouldn't catch me driving!
 
35 dollars and the passing of a neighbors father one year earlier, allowed me to buy his 46 Chevrolet Deluxe. Stove Bolt 216 vacuum assisted shift, (soon removed). I was 13. Jim
 
Man looking back I worked my tail off, bought a car with my own money, and paid the insurance too. I wasn't a party owl so at night I was in bed or working! Worked on the farm with dad and he gave a small allowance, but free room and board! Helped neighbors make hay, idiot cubes of course!
 
first car was older brothers 66 Chevelle, it quit running or moving anyway it been sitting in machine shed for quite some time.ask dad about it said if you can get it going do what you want with it. I had already been driving the trucks on the farm since I could reach pedals, had to do it daily with all the chores we did them. I drove that old Chevelle till I could find me a dodge charger, I was a dodge kid and still am to this day. sure wish I had both those units today
 
The summer I turned 16,I purchased a Bus ticket,$2.10 (Greyhound),travelled 60 miles to the town of Chetwyned. Applied for a Job at a sawmill, was hired the same day.
Found room and board......
After two months work I headed back to high school, purchased a 1965 2 door Ford Falcon....

Bob...
 
First car was a 46 Chev with the top cut off, traded a Allstate Moped for it. I still regret that decision. Car never did run right. Ron MN
 
(quoted from post at 11:23:14 01/29/20) Man looking back I worked my tail off, bought a car with my own money, and paid the insurance too. I wasn't a party owl so at night I was in bed or working! Worked on the farm with dad and he gave a small allowance, but free room and board! Helped neighbors make hay, idiot cubes of course!
Click to expand...
ad had a towing & wrecking yard business, so I pulled a '50 Pontiac out of the yard with bad engine & a totaled '49 Olds and put that Rocket engine in the Pontiac. Wrecked it the same day I got it running. Then a '51 Ford with a '57 Pontiac engine in it. Real stop lite getter, but couldn't keep differentials in it! Learned a lot.
 
My parents had no extra money so I paid for my own car at age 15 in 1964...It was a 1957 Ford Custom with a 272 V-8 and a automatic...It seems like it was $200..If the work was done on our farm I worked for the neighbors hauling hay,driving tractors, building fence-etc so I could afford a car.....Back in my time most farm parents didnt buy vehicles for their kids..
 
Hey, I bought a brand new 81 C10 Silverado as well in 1981! 6 cylinder 4 speed, non power but Silverado cab, 2 tone and styled wheels...all for just over 9000. Sold it in 1996, bought it back last year. Young fellow down the road wanted it for restoration, so that's where it is now....39 years old and still going!
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Ben
 
Good morning: My first vehicle was a motor scooter, actually before I was 16, so no license. Local cops said as long as a kid behaves, we won't ask to see license. When I became 16, parents basically gave me a car. My dad had bought a 1937 Willys 4 door sedan as a near-junker, and he fixed it up and drove it to work about 3 miles one-way; then mother got a job, also 3 miles and she got the Willys. When I became 16, I got the Willys, I don't recall price, but it had been in back yard for a while, needed some work. It was a ragged old thing, 2 years older than I was, but it ran. Lots of memories....

Dennis M. in W. Tenn.
 
I paid $250 for my first car. It was a 1962 Plymouth Valiant. It had a 225 slant 6 that had just been over hauled with a 3 speed on the floor but the shiftier was hooked up up side down. 1st was where reverse should have been and 3 and 4 where up side down from where they should have been
 
I bought a 69 dodge van when I was 14 for $50 got it running and drove it around the fields for a year. Saved up my money from working neighbors uncle's farm and bought a wrecked 71 Charger for $500. Scavenged junkyards far and wide, Car looked like the song Johnny Cash sang.
 
I don't really count the very first one- $35 for a '49 Chev with rusted out rear fenders. It had a vacuum leak, so it ran ok at speed but wouldn't idle. While I was at school my idiot cousin decided it would "cure" itself if he ran it wide open for awhile. Of course, that knocked all the babbit out of the bearings, so by the time I got home it was scrap iron. I never even got to drive it.

First "real" car was a '36 Chev pickup when I was 16, in '64. Spotted it at someone's house when I was riding the school bus. $125, drove it for several years.
 
In 1973 my dad gave me 1963 Ford F100 292 4 speed cause didn't farm anymore. I got everything that goes with owning a vehicle. Still have it. Been rebuilt several several times and is setting to get done again.
 
Grammma bought a new 71 Nova and gave me her old car - 57 Chevy 210, turquoise and white. Inside was immaculate, body good except the bumpers. I was 14. Instead of saving it for when I could drive, dad made me sell it. Got $50 for it. I did run it around the house for a few weeks, to the neighbors and such off road. Real lack of foresight on his part, but typical of the decisions he made his whole life.

Tim
 
I was very lucky, my folks ran a body shop and accumulated a variety of junkers out back. When I was 14 Dad said I could have anything I could fix up. Some of it was pretty sketchy but it got me to where I wanted to go. A VW station wagon, and old Galaxy 500, a AMC Gremlin, a '69 Chevy C10, a Mazda with a Wankel engine, and maybe I'm forgetting a couple. By the time I was in high school I was working for the shop, so Dad issued me a shop pickup ('72 Chevy) to pick up and deliver parts all over Iowa and southern MN. I drove that until I decided to get into engineering and went to college. Bought a brand new Ford Courier mini pickup that the dealer kept discounting to get rid of it, it was kind of ugly, I think I paid $1800. I drove it 56 miles each way every day, and it had 200k before it literally fell apart. Only new vehicle I ever owned, I've bought low mile used vehicles since.
 
I worked the summer of 1965 in a gas station for 6 days a week and cleaned/repaired in a hotel on Sunday in downtown Tuscola, Illinois. Saved $300 over the summer. Bought a '55 Chevy for $100 in September 1965. Always bought my own insurance, gas, tires, parts.
 
When I wasn't working on our family farm I hauled hay for whoever would call me. After saving my hay money I had enough to spend $250 for a 4 door hard top 57 Ford Galaxy 500, plus insurance, when I hit 16 in 1967. Folks let me know that if I wanted to get somewhere I used my own car, not theirs. My kids got the same deal except hay bales got big and round so my oldest mowed yards. To this day I think one of his arms is longer than the other one from riding his bike all over and pulling that mower with one hand. gm
 
I got my first set of wheels on my own. With my father co-signing the loan. Thank goodness raising hogs used to be a money maker!!
 
When my uncle went off to the service,then college in 1954,he parked his Model A in the shed.He never really came back again,except to visit,and when he was here in 1968 he told me I could have the A because the shed was falling in on it.I still have it,and drive it in the summer.It is on it's third body now though.When I got it the back of the coupe body had been converted to a truck.It was the family tractor/truck/car,it was the only one they had.My mother learned to drive in it,she had to pull the hay rake with it.I put a pickup cab on it,and drove it that way for a few years,then I put a new roadster pickup cab on it.I will not be doing it again.This is the final version.I did play with it when I got my license in 1972,but the A was too cold to have fun in.I bought a 62 VW with no heat,it was much warmer than the A.I've owned a few hundred cars since.
 
This is really a fun read. As long as we were going to school Pa would funish us a car, insurance and gas. I had no intention of going on to collage so bought my first car the day after high school grad. in 1972. 69 Dodge Coronet 500. $1,195. with money I had saved since a kid working for neighbors and Uncle. mostly baling hay.
 
15 years old (1961), found a '41 Plymouth coupe in the newspaper - $25. My pal and I waited until dark and took a bus 1/2 way across Vancouver. Hard to start, so we had a series of adventures making it about 1/2 way home. Pulled to the side of a residential street and parked it. A week later my older brother was trying to get dad's car (1950 Pontiac 4 dr.) for a date or something - I piped up "you can use my car". We went to the Plymouth and Dad and bro. tried push starting it - no go. I said "let me try" - it started and we drove it home. Sellers license plate (expired) and no insurance. Ultimately got it to start and run right and sold it before I got my driver's permit.
 
Sold tomatoes , four pounds for a dollar. Paid $250 for the orange 1969 Roadrunner with one crunched fender. That was in 1978. Wish I still had it.
 
Bought my own with money earned from working for dad and other farmers in the neighborhood.
Paul
 
Nice picture for my memory file! Mine was more basic than yours but it had the 305. The transmission was a 4speed manual, 3 + overdrive. It was never powerful or fast, but back in those days I was milking cows and was on the road before the township plows were out. Lots of trips to work in second gear with my foot down punching drifts over the hood and cab. I've had a truck with 4WD for 3 years now and have yet to test it like I did that '81
 
61 Ford country sedan station wagon. Dad had been driving it to work until a rod came out the side of that 292. He bought a 59 Ford donor and told me if I could get the engine swapped and running it was mine. I was about 14. I was really hard on it. Drove it until I couldn't locate another donor for parts. Got a 62 Galaxy 500 until it caught fire. Borrowed mom and dad's rides until just before my senior year of high school. Bought a 67 Ford Fairlane GTA .$300 was my first real dependable ride. 390 / 335 with 3.00 rear. Not overly impressive on bottom end but would put speedometer needle out of sight on top end.
 
I worked on the farm growing up, and started saving early. Spent two years riding my bike to work for a farmer 5 miles south, made $3.10/hour, loading trucks with strawberries and raspberries. Early in 1981 my uncle retired from the USMC and they shipped his vehicle from Hawaii, 1972 Toyota Landcruiser FJ40. I had coveted it since visiting him there in 1979. I bought it from him with "help" from my Mom, his sister. Not the best suited vehicle for Michigan winters, but would go anywhere. Uncle actually bought it back from me years later after some upgrades...
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Me, in 1979 wishing I could own it.
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In Mom/Dad's driveway, all mine!
 
I was only 12 and crazy about cars, I bought a beat up 1964 Chevy Biscayne 6 cylinder 3 on the tree from the back row of a local car lot. I paid for it with my allowance. Of course my Dad had to drive it home for me, and do the actual purchase. It was a boring cream color, so I spray painted it black and gave it a crude flame job. I drove it around the farm and field roads for several years , and then tore the engine down just to see how everything worked in there. I never got it put back together, but I sure learned a lot from that old car.
 
1st carwas a worn out under maintained 72 torino 4 dor plain jane 6 cyl slippin transmission it had 300,000miles .i got it for 895. 6 months later dec. 1974 it was junk. next bought a 69 triple black marquis convertible for 600,.. best car i ever had , and still got it ..
 
Tim ..... my dad would have agreed with your dad ..... when I wanted to buy a car in high school, my dad nixed the idea. He told me that I was clueless about how much money a guy would pi$$ away running it and keeping it on the road. Told me I'd be a bum for the rest of my life if I bought a car. Thinking back, it was probably good advice, financially anyways. I would probably have had more friends though and maybe a girl might have taken an interest in me which didn't seem to be happening without a set of wheels .... ha!
 
Dad bought me my first car,a 1970 Belair 4 dr. for $200,a tank of gas and 6 months insurance. He said I was on my own after that.
The summer before I turned 16 I had saved all money earned by bailing hay and picking rocks for neighborhood farms so I could drive during the school year when I couldn't work as much.

In about May some knucklehead preforming a u-turn plowed into the side of it smearing the passenger rear door into the fender. His insurance paid,my dad got the check and I got two tires and a muffler!
Pounded the fender off the rear tire and drove it for a year or so then sold it to the boneyard after I got my mom's 75'Pontiac Grand Prix as an early graduation present.
 
Bought a '69 ford f100 camper special when I was 15. I'd been saving money for awhile and had the 800 bucks. Worked on it, had it painted and when I turned 16 I got my own insurance and put it on the road. Paid everything myself.
 
Got my GTO when I was 15. Had saved up some money, but had to borrow some of the $1500 I paid for car from Dad. By the time I turned 16 and got my licence I thought had saved enough for insurance but when I went to see Whetter he said I had to pay high performance insurance?? By memory I think it was around $160/yr. I feel sorry for the young people of today paying more for insurance per week than that. It is pretty hard for younger generation to get ahead when gas, and insurance take up the biggest part of there paycheck. Which are both usually reqd. around here anyway when you have to drive to get to your job. Seems like they figure all young people are a huge liability without even giving them a chance.
 
Back in about '78, I was a sophomore in high school and I bought my first car, a '66 Mustang coupe, on a farm sale for $70.
It had the factory 140 MPH speedometer and considering that it had cheap bias tires, I know I had my guardian angels working overtime.
I went to auto tech school right out of high school and the '69 302 and toploader four-speed tranny that I had in it with a Hurst shifter made it fun.
Considering the frame wasn't much stronger than a gum wrapper and the steering was a solid non-collapsible unit, I'm glad I never had a wreck.
Of course, I was sorry I ever sold it, but I needed money for school.
 
The first CAR I bought was a '51 Olds Rocket V8 Auto, 2 door sedan, when I arrived at Altus AFB just out of tech school in Biloxi. A running dude. Growing
up, a guy down the street had a '49 4 door Rocket V8 and ripped up and down the streets like there was no tomorrow. I could have built a tire from the
rubber he left in front of my house, being on a corner and the corner was just an excuse to take it hard, turning right and letting go with the right rear tire.
 
I'll try to be brief. Ha!
At 10 and 1/2, I drove Dad's '50 Chevy PU with our wheat seed to the barn when it started to rain. I scraped the right fender on the door going in.
At 11, I drove the '50 Chevy PU 1/2 mile down the road to a rental field. I turned into a driveway across a 4' deep ditch. No problem.
At 14, pulling my mom's 49 Chevy car, with a utility trailer, into the feed elevator to get some feed. The brakes failed and I rolled backwards into a 50 Chevy car behind us.
At 16, I drove the '55 Ford Wagon with my parents and 2 younger sisters 130 miles to my grandfather's farm.
At 17, my father purchased a '56 Ford Club Sedan with the T-bird engine. I drove it, with my family, to my Grandfather's farm. Part of the route was a 3 lane highway, the center lane shared by both directions to pass slower traffic (try that today!) There is a side story here.
At 17, 3 months later, on New Years, I was seriously injured having skidded on a slipery road and hit straight on a cement bridge abutment. One week in the hosiptal. The car was totalled.
At 18, 30 days after my accident, my father purchased another '56 Ford, a convertible. A year later I was involved in rear-ending another car. No injuries. Busted radiator.
Dad took the car and sold it. I got my sisters '55 Ford, straight 6, with overdrive. I drove it 200 miles to college for 16 months.
I found a '54 Ford Skyliner in a boneyard for $50. It set for a year in the yard. I found a T-bird engine and installed it with a 3spd on the floor. That car would eat Falcon Sprints. One transmission and one rear-end. Later the engine quit and I installed a Ford 240 ci straight 6. I was still driving that car when I met my wife in 1965, and was still driving it when I went to work at Ford, and into my first 6 months of marriage. My wife had a nice '62 Ford Fairlane.
Being in management I needed something a little newer and bought a 1962 Mercury Monterey.
I won't go any further other than to say, I have had many used and new vehicles over the years.
 
Wow! What a memory you woke up in me. When our kids were 5, 3,and 1 I bought a used 1962 Falcon van with the extended body. Going anywhere together, my son sit on a cushion on the engine housing, daughter set either in the passenger seat or the rear seat with my wife, and the baby was in a port-a-crib behind the rear seat.
 
I can relate , 6 months Before the crappy 72 torino that my Dad talked me into buying , I found a wonderful 66 Impala SS convertible for $700..My Dad would not let Me buy it because I was still 15.Even though i had my own money that I had earned raising hogs and working summers driving nails ...The SS belonged to my metal shop teacher. He waited a month for me to Get Dads approval,and finally sold it to a kid that ragged it out in a years time. It was Such a beautiful car THAT i Just LOVED so Much to buy ! Red with white top and interior , Bucket seats , console. 327 ,4V powerglide , 49,000 miles, dual exhaust,spinner hubcaps with snow grip tires ,. LOL
Chikbait for sure ,that SS was .. i had the HOTS for the gals.and they liked my game. I know I would have got lucky too many times with all the easy Girls in my school too .. ,. The wrong one would had gotten insemenated and I would had wrecked my life if I got that red Impala .
 
My first wheels were attached to a motorcycle. I pleaded with my mom to let me buy a motorcycle and she kept telling me no. Finally one day she said fine when I had earned enough money I could buy one. I had already saved enough so that weekend we went shopping. I rode it for about a year and a half when in the fall of my senior year I had a job at the local butcher shop. One day my parents talked to me and said that I wasn't going to be able to ride the motorcycle all winter to school then work. They said I would have to either quit my job or get a car. They asked me what kind of car I wanted and I told them either a Duster or a Camaro. About 2 weeks later I came home after work and there were 2 1975 Dusters sitting in the driveway. They were lease returns. I bought the blue one with dad cosigning on it. It was all done with the understanding that the payment, gas and insurance were all up to me. The first time I couldn't make a payment the car would be sold.

Steven
 
I don't think I had a car until I was almost 17. My dad died when I was five and my mother didn't drive or want to. Two of my brothers ran the farm for awhile and then one took a different job. So my mom and me never left home unless my brother or his wife took us. I had chores and mowed/baled a lot of hay and the normal every day farm stuff plus helped the neighbors a few times. So I had the money saved up when I wanted a car and my mother wanted some alternate transportation so she paid for half the car on the condition that I take her where she wanted to go. I wanted a maroon 64 SS Impala, 327 4sp. silver top and interior but my brother and mom thought that 4sp. and bucket seats were a passing fad and the car wouldn't be worth anything in a year or so.
So I bought a bright red 2 dr. low mile 64 Impala, a beautiful car, don't think it was much over a year old.
Then a few years later I bought a 64 Super Sport when I didn't need permission.
 
My first set of wheels was also a motorcycle. I got my license at the age of 14. In TN you could ride a bike of 5BHP or less so a Honda 50 fit the bill. I wore it out and then got a Honda 90 and I totaled a 1965 Chevy Bel air with it due the the guy making a left turn in front of me. I ht the car on the front fender and the bike rolled and bunched down the passengers side but me I had kicked away from the bike so only broke my right arm and cut my face. Totaled that Honda 90 and the only thing that might have been salable was the engine. I was 15 at the time
 
I know that story. I wanted a black 1960 Chevrolet impala dad said no way some g d hot rod kid had that car nothing but trouble. So I got the car dad wanted 1959 chev biscanye puke green 4 door sedan well it turned out the car had been stolen by some punk who beat the daylights out of it one night. That car cost me lots of money paying for that punks fun. dad said well I didn't know that feel sorry for dad as I was poed.
that wasn't the only bad choice he made for me.
I learned a lot by that I let Tall Kid make his choices if it sounds reasonable I say okay if not I say no.
Tall Kid knew a lot age 20 than I did.
 
my mother wouldn't let me get a car till I was 18. I was raising vealcalves at the time for a couple years, buying calves from neighbors, by age of 18 I had ammased a small fortune, 5 days after I turned 18 I had a 1971 mustang fastback, automatic 302. I think it was 2 years old, $2500
 
My first car was a 1939 Chevrolet in 1961 that had 17500
miles on it. It was given to me by my elderly cousin.
I was 17 years old. The inside was perfect but she had banged
the fenders a little bit.
 
Well my first car was NOT the one i wanted , I had my eyes on a 58 Ford two door with a 352 4 bbl . My mother did not like it and SHE found a 56 Ford Rag top that was owned by a old school teacher she had in high school . And that is what i ended up BUYING with MY money . It has a 292 four bbl. and a automatic .Along with power steering that i hated . Well the four Bbl gave way to dual quads and 312 blower heads were added along with and ISiky cam and a mallory dual point and head man headers and a Detroit locker . It as faster then the best 283 around . But i still hated that car . Kept it a year and tradeed it off for a 61 Ford Sunliner that had a strait six and a three speed that gave way to a 352 dual quad and a four gear that gave way to a hand built 390 tri power that was born from a bare block bare heads and a 391 ford truck crank with gt 40 rods and a Custom built crowler true roller cam and all sorts of perverted goofy ideas never tried or heard of before . And ended up with a monster that looked like Maw's grocery getter , super quite and even keeping the stock hub caps . Bad enough to lift the ft wheels off the ground when coming off the line at 6 grand. NOW that car i loved and was not afraid to put it to the mat . some said i was crazy in my driving most would not ride with me . Learned early on that hey ya know if a clutch blows that it can come thru a scatter shield and slice the steering shaft like a knife and remove the master cylinder off the fire wall and poke big holes thru the hood , make big dents in the floor boards all the way back to the back seat . and made engough power that a brorg Warrner T 10 four gear would blow under full throttle when hammering the gears . Had to up grade the transmission . . I had some really nice Fast cars back in my youth , and my love for pony power has never faded . If the factory would not supply ample pony power then we would just have to IMPROVE on it .
 
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