Your first vehicles

[steelslaver]

I learned to drive a 2 ton flat bed, first I had to load it with hay, drive it to the right pasture and isle it along while my grandpa feed the hay off. Also did the same thing with a Dodge power wagon. I once went around a turn to fast with the flat bed and dumped 1/2 the load. Loading it back on reinforced my knowledge of the powers of centrifugal force.

My first car was a 1955 Olds Rocket 88

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

1973 Volkswagon Super Beetle dark green. Standard shift-once I learned it, spend the rest of drivers ed tooling around New Orleans with the instructor running his errands. In order to pass, we had to drive over the Huey Long bridge at rush hour. If you grew up in New Orleans, you know what I mean-if you didn't you have absolutely no idea of the terror that bridge could cause. Lanes were only 8 feet wide and it was built as an add on to the existing RR trestle over the Mississippi. The surveyors screwed up and there was about an 18" shift in the middle of the bridge. If you didn't know it was coming....well let's just say that there was a lot of scrape marks on the bridge superstructure to go along with the skid marks in yer drawers.

First Vehicle I owned as in bought with my own money was a 1984 bright red Honda Prelude.

 

[notsofast]

My first car was a 1964 Plymouth Savoy, slant 6 engine, typewriter transmission, no air, no power anything, radio delete.
My first motorcycle was a 1971 Honda CL350.

 

[soFlaNative]

First Vehicle I owned as in bought with my own money was a 1984 bright red Honda Prelude.

Has a certain angular charm missing from today's vehicles.

 

[Chuck24]

1973 Volkswagon Super Beetle dark green. Standard shift-once I learned it, spend the rest of drivers ed tooling around New Orleans with the instructor running his errands. In order to pass, we had to drive over the Huey Long bridge at rush hour. If you grew up in New Orleans, you know what I mean-if you didn't you have absolutely no idea of the terror that bridge could cause. Lanes were only 8 feet wide and it was built as an add on to the existing RR trestle over the Mississippi. The surveyors screwed up and there was about an 18" shift in the middle of the bridge. If you didn't know it was coming....well let's just say that there was a lot of scrape marks on the bridge superstructure to go along with the skid marks in yer drawers.

First Vehicle I owned as in bought with my own money was a 1984 bright red Honda Prelude.

Football coach was our instructor. To the Krispy Kreme and back

 

[Roofuss]

Learned to drive in a 53 Chevy Bel-Air 4 door sedan.
First real car I owned was a 57 Chevy 2 door sedan " 150 model "and rebuilt 7 of them over the years.

 

[PALADIN85020]

This is the first car I ever owned. A modified 1950 Chevy fastback. This picture was taken when I was a sophomore in college, 1958.

John

 

[KS_kframe]

farm boy here, so no surprise that my first 'driving' experiences were with a John Deere 4010... graduated to road experience in a '63 F100

first vehicle owned was a '49 Willys CJ3A

 

[arjay]

I learned to drive in a 68 dodge station wagon,a 67 Chevy van with three on a tree and a 51 ford pickup that had to be double clutched. Mt first car was a 68 or 69 VW bus

 

[6518John]

Mt first car was a 68 or 69 VW bus

Arjay—you danged hippy!

(I don't know if you have seen the prices on those things today in good shape! No stinken' hippy is driving them today. It's like the Harley Davidson bikes, the bikers have been priced out of the market).

 

[mtgianni]

Learned on a drivers ed car officially in 1970. First driver was a 54 Lincoln Continental at age 5 in 1959. That had an automatic transmission and I drove it down the rows while my father and brother threw hay bales on the trailer. I stopped at the end and let him turn it around. I graduated to a Massey Ferguson at the age of 8. First family car I drove was a 64 VW bug, first owned was a 64 F100 Ford pickup.
Dad always had more vehicles than drivers and most of them were licensed and ran.

 

[boykinlp]

I learned to drive in my family's Ford Country Squire Station Wagon with the fake wood side panels! Very Uncool! My first car was a 1970 MGB with the wire wheels like this one pictured below, bought very used in 1977. I actually taught myself how to drive a stick in it. While it was "Very Cool", it spent much time in the shop!
Larry

 

[LVSteve]

In England you couldn't drive until you were 17. I did have a couple of adventures sitting on the lap of a buddy's dad in a forward control van when I was 9. Never told my parents.

I learned to drive in a driving school stick shift '77 Ford Fiesta. Sadly, the young lady was not my instructor, for driving or anything else. Sigh.

My first car was a British GM called a Viva, bought when I was 19. Got very little driving in between passing my test at 17 and getting my car. Driving Dad's car was not going to happen. In the UK there was no danger in making enough money after school to buy and insure a car that would pass inspection, let alone put gas in it at UK prices. The insurance angle was always the killer. If you weren't on mum and dad's, you were very limited on what you could get. The Viva had a mighty 1159cc and a single choke carb. Woohoo.

I see the '84 Prelude has been mentioned. My father nearly bought a Prelude on several occasions, but never quite pulled the trigger. Mum was long gone, so I don't know what was holding him back.

 

[BC38]

The first vehicle I drove was a 1930-something Ford tractor, and the second was a 3-ton Ford flatbed hay truck of about the same vintage that I drove in the fields when I was 8 years old and working on my grandpa's farm.

The first CAR I ever drove on the road was my dad's 1964 Buick LeSaber. I drove it when I was 9 or 10 on the gravel roads around the farm.

MY first car was a 1970 Ford Maverick that looked just like the one pictured below.

 

[jculloden]

!964 Ford Fairlane 2 door White with red inside 6cyl

 

[Kevin G]

In 1968 my first car was a 1963 jeep Willys overland wagon, in 1963 1/2 the model changed to the Wagoneer body style. Four-wheel-drive vehicles were not popular then, muscle cars were in vogue. I loved that car though. This was the late 60s, I was in my mid-late teens and shared more than a few pleasant experiences with the Jeep.
It sat in the backyard with a blown head gasket when I went away to school, Dad got tired of looking at it and got rid of it.
In the early 2000's I happened to see a classified ad for a red '63 Willys Overland Wagon in an adjacent town. A phone call verified that had been my car, drove over and bought it. Unfortunately time had not been good to my wagon. These particular models were very susceptible to rust. A friend owned a body shop and told me restoration was possible, but it was a deep pocket affair.
I had it registered as an antique vehicle, not subject to inspection, so I drove it around town a bit. kept it around a couple of years and finally decided it was time to let my past go. I contacted a fellow who specialized in restoring and parting out old jeeps, he showed up with a car hauler and took my jeep away as a tear trailed down my cheek.
Kevin G

 

[Skeet 028]

Learned in a 1957 Chebby Pickup and a 57 Ford four door. 1st car was a 49 Studebaker. 35 bucks. 1st really fast car was a 64 Impala SS 409 w/2 4s. ...1st vette 58 followed by 62 63 SWC and 66. Loads of fun in that ol Studebaker though

 

[CajunBass]

I learned to drive on a Farmall tractor, and a 1960 Chevrolet "farm truck" but my first formal "driving lesson" was in my Fathers 1967 Chevrolet Impala 4 door, with a 327 four barrel, and a 3 on the tree. That thing was pretty quick. My drivers ed car was a Ford LTD, a 1969 model I think. It was my first experience with an automatic transmission.

My first car was a 1964 Ford Falcon, four door, 170 six, with a three on the tree. It had backup lights, a cigarette lighter, and an AM radio for an option list. A neat little car actually.

 

[Tom S.]

I learned to drive a Ford tractor on the farm when I was 10. My first car - if you can call it that - was a 1960 Renault. I bought in 1967 and it was a rusted out piece of **** that got 20 miles to the gallon of gas and 30 miles to the quart of oil. It leaked it, burned it and did other mysterious things with it and I stopped far more frequently for oil than for gas. The car cost $50 and 4 months later, I sold it back to the guy I bought it from for $30, and he didn't make it home before the motor seized up. The car was kind of neat in that it could be started with a crank like the old cars before electric starters, though I had heard enough horror stories about broken arms to ever want to try starting it that way. The tiny 4 cylinder engine was vastly under powered and topped out at around 60mph (going down hill).

If you look up the initials P.O.S. in the dictionary, there should be a picture of the car there.

My second car was a 1963 Chevy II (NOT an Nova) but that's a story for another day. Both cars were standard shift transmissions, which my tractor days had adequately prepared me for.

 

[Retired W4]

Rusty's little Opal reminded me of the Fiat I owned for a while in '66. That thing couldn't get out of it's own way but the AM radio also had short wave. It was fun listening to the talk from all over the world at night.

After Vietnam I traded my 69 RoadRunner for a 71 Dodge Tradesman, seen here behind my dad's 68 XK-E convertible. That's my sister running to give me a hug after driving up from TN.