Your First Car

I was 16 (in 1997) and my dad bought me an '88 Chevy Monte Carlo. I LOVED that car. It was "army" green and it could hold 8 people. And it was FAST. I drove that thing everywhere and all of my friends could fit. It drank gas like it was going out of style though. I had a job and I swear half of what I made (even then when gas was $1/gallon) went into the gas tank. I didn't care though because I had FREEDOM!

My parents bought it, but it wasn't only mine (although I was the only one that drove it). It was a 1998 Volkswagon Jetta. I LOVED that car!!!

I bought it, it was a 74 Ford Mustang Blue. Loved it but would have liked it even better if:
~It were a 64 or 65 ;-)
~It wasn't exactly like the Pinto (Sorry J. :-)
~It didn't die when making a hard left.
~The key didn't fit into every other Mustang of the same body type on campus.

Nice first car though and I paid for it but my Dad chipped in for some of the repairs.

My first car was a 1959 Nash Metropolitian convertible. It was two tone hot pink and white. It was stick shift, 3 speed on the dash. It had two bucket seats and a place to put groceries on the back "seat". 4 cylinder.

I loved it. It was a "courting buggy". My mom and dad paid $125 for it in 1968 and I had to replace the starter. I got a job and paid them back. I'd love to have it back or another one like it. It had a trunk that could be accessed from the rear seat or the trunk lid. My three friends would sit in the front seat and the open trunk, like a rumble seat. We had a lot of fun cruising. It had a 10 gallon tank and most of the time we four friends would gather our money to put gas in the tank. We lived in San Bernardino where they had the first McDonalds (13th & G street). $4 would give us cruising gas* for all night plus 4 hamburgers, 4 milkshakes and four orders of fries from McDonalds.

Good times, good memories.

Good luck to you and yours.
I paid for it with a $1.35 hr job. Gas was $.20 gallon. license plate and registration was $13 a year.

1974 Ford Maverick......peach. Yes, it was seriously peach!! My friends called it the peachmobile. It was my grandmother's and she left it to me when she passed away. It had no A/C and the floorboards were rusted through in places so that if you drove through a puddle, your feet got wet. But...I loved it. It was mine and it took me where I wanted to go. I drove it until it literally was not able to be driven anymore!

1974 VW Bug, cost $650, yes my mom paid for it, but I paid her back. It was 1984 and I was 17.

:)

Of COURSE I LOVED it!

Volkswagon Cabriolet convertible. I so wish that I still had it!

1969 VW Bug in 1981, I was 15 and bought it myself. Loved it. I bought my daughter a brand new VW Jetta, California edition (so cute!!) when she got her permit. Her dad and I both drive company cars so she can't drive ours. I wasn't going to take a chance on a beater car, I work hard and could afford it easily. She just graduated high school, has a job and pays for gas and car washes. She will pay the insurance next time it rolls around. She is very grateful, hard working and appreciates everything she has. I don't regret it one bit.

Plymouth Horizon - it ran, was reliable, got me from point A to point B. Paid for it myself - paid for insurance myself - didn't care that it wasn't the sportiest car!!

1994 toyota corolla it was given to me by my grandparents it was their car first and then my uncles and then finally me i LOVED that car!

My first car was a hand me down of my mothers. It was a complete death trap! I'm lucky to be alive and drove it with no breaks often...pumping like crazy and putting it into gear to stop LOL. It was a 1964 Chevy. My dad wouldn't allow me to work so I couldn't buy anything.

my first car was a 91 honda civic. i loved it. but we tore that thing to shreds! we had it until my second child was 2 then we finally had to let go of it in 07 and move on to a mini van!

My parents paid $500 for a Chevy Malibu (71 or 72, I think). It looked EXACTLY like the car in "Say Anything". It sounded like a helicopter - so much for sneaking in after curfew!! Every once in awhile, I had to take it out on the highway to "bow out the cobs" is what Dad said. I have no idea to this day, what that meant. While it was a big car, that meant it could hold a lot of people and a lot of beer. Back then, it was THE car to party in. The thought gives me serious chills, since my oldest will be getting his license in less than 5 years!!! Of course, once my younger siblings were ready to drive, they got nicer cars or the option to put $ toward an even nicer car. Go figure. My brother drove it for a short time, but alas, it ended up in the Cedar County Fair - demolition derby!!! LOL! Classic.

1989 Plymouth Sundance. It was the family vehicle and was saved for me when I was ready to drive. It was a pitiful little thing, but reliable!

At one point, the steering wheel became really, really, really hard to turn. My husband said I need some type of oil? Anyway, it became really hard to especially make left turns, so for a while I just avoided making left turns as much as I could.

Another time, I got into a fender bender which dented my passenger door in such a way that it could not be opened all the way. In order to sit in the passenger seat you had to climb in from the driver's seat. Didn't bother me, but if were not for my friends incessantly complaining about this I would have driven it that way for years.

There was no tape/CD player, no AC, and the heating kicked in only after driving for about 20 minutes or so, which for me meant most of the time that I drove with no heat if I needed it. I carried a blanket in car and would place that over my legs when I drove. I always had mittens.

Still, with all that, I loved my little car!

1975 Plymouth Valient. Named her Gertrude. She stalled every time I turned left. My Grandad got her free from some friend of his, and kept the old girl running for me all through college. Man I loved that car.

1980 Toyota Corolla, I taught my whole sorority to drive a stick shift with it. My parents signed it over to me after I went to college.
My roomie had a black and yellow t-top Mustang, 1967. It took a quart of oil to go to the mall, but it was one smokin' ride.

My son had a 92 Corolla we spent $500 on. We call it BOB-Bucket Of Bolts

My 16yo daughter wants the electric purple Chevy Camaro IROC for sale up the street. She is soooooooo dreaming.

76 chevy camarro, bought in 87 with $800 of my own money. It was a gas guzzling death trap.

My daughter just bought a car. I told her I would match her. Whatever she saved I would match it. She saved 2500 on her own, I matched 2500. She took that and bought a 2008 Chevy Cobalt that had been totalled out, rebuilt and was on a salvage title. So, she got a great deal on a newer, nicer , safe car. She's a shrewd girl.

1991 Mercury Topaz. It was 8 years old and had about 90,000 miles on it. It was a hand me down from my mom and I hated it. About 6 mos later, my parents leased a brand new Corolla for me. I don't know if anyone else remembers, but it was when they offered leases on those dirt cheap- like anywhere from $79-$99/month w/$0 down. I LOVED that car! It actually worked out pretty well (for us). I drove like a 16 year old- too fast, hard on the brakes, etc- and then we got to turn it in before anything needed to be repaired.

The "cool" car to have when I was 16 (1983) was a red vw bug. I went to a small private school and between all of us there was about 15 of them in the parking lot! My mom bought it for me when I turned 16. Make sure your son gets a quote on insurance before he gets all excited about getting some kind of sports car! It may be a rude awakening! Good luck!

Mercury Lynx with plaid seats . . . ugliest car ever and it annoyed me that it wasn't a Ford Escort which looked exactly the same (I don't know why I cared). Hey, my parents gave it to me so I should have been a bit more appreciative - I guess that's just teens.

We are making our sons save their own money for cars (probably going to do some type of "match"), and they also have to cover the extra insurance costs.

:P

Big old Impala station wagon! Oh yeah, I was stylin'!!! Couldn't complain though cause I didn't have to pay for it and I could take ALL my friends everywhere!

When I moved out I was 18 and took the bus...does that count? NO? Okay, the first car I got was a 1976 Valare. I bought it at an auction for $100. I think the "sound system" was better than the car. It was 4 different colors with rust all over it. It was a Flinstone car since I had no floor in the drivers side. I put a hunk of plywood over the gaping hole. :) I drove that car for a year. My parents did not help me at all.
L.

The first car I drove was my parents '86 Chevy Malibu wagon. We only had two cars so I had to take my mom to work on the way to school so I could drive to my job after school and my dad would pick up my mom on his way home from work. After about a year of that, my parents got another car, an '88 Olds Cutlass. The wagon was awesome - we didn't worry about seatbelts as much back then and would just cram a ton of kids in it. We called it the Greyhound. I went to JCCC for 2 years before moving to Colorado. My parents gave me the Cutlass for graduation from junior college ('95). The first car I bought myself was a '97 Buick Skylark.

I bought myself a 1984 Buick Sky Hawk. I called him Ace. Everyone (even my friends and parents) called him Ace. Loved that car!

I turned 16 in 1986 and I got my license. My step-dad bought me a 1975 Toyota Corolla for $500 - 2 door and a stick shift. I could not drive a stick and I DID NOT like it (I have sense learned and love driving a stick). Had it a few weeks and he sold it back to the guy he got it from. I drove my mom's car after that - a 1980 Ford Fairmont (short wagon). Everyone called it the "Paddy-Wagon" (b/c of my name). I didn't like it then but love the memories now. My first car of my own - my dad got me a Buick Regal my senior year. Brown. We paid for gas (My step-sister who is the same age didn't get her license until she turned 18). So - what is really your first car? It will be a hard choice as to decide what to do for my boys. My oldest will start driving in 6 years. YIKES!!

When I turned 16 I was allowed to drive my sister's old car. It was a 1977 Chevy Valero. It was ugly. When I was 17 I had enough money saved to buy my first car. A 1988 Mercury Tracer. I loved that little car and had it for years.

I worked my tail off and bought myself a '98 honda accord in 2001. My grandpa had to co-sign for me because I was barely 19 and had no credit but I saved the down payment and made every single payment. I sold her last year to my mechanic. It was a sad day. She had been through a lot but she did me well (almost all of the time).

I had a green 95 ford Mustang and I loved it. I was 18 when I got it and my parents paid the down payment and then I paid the rest of it while I was working. (:

Wish I still had it, now I'm stuck in a honda cr-v ( for now ). LOL.

My first car I got when I graduated high school. my dad got it for me as a graduation gift. It was a 1989 Ford Mustang. I hated it. It wasn't the Mustang I wanted. I had really wanted an '84 mustang or a '69. but I knew that wouldn't of ever happened to I lived with the car my dad could afford.

I happened to turn 16 the year my mom paid off her Honda Accord, so she gave it to me for my birthday (and bought herself a new one, of course). I LOVED that car, and miss it very much. It was only five years old when I got it, and would've lasted me years and years except for my school was hit by a tornado when I was a senior in high school and the car was thrown into a tree. :-( But my friends and family were fine, and our house wasn't hit, so I couldn't really complain that much. But I still miss it. It was a great car.

My first car was a 1980 Subaru Station Wagon, and I loved it! My grandpa gave each grandkid $500 for a car before he passed. After I completed driver's ed, my dad informed me I wasn't allowed to get my license until I learned about cars, and he was picking out my car. When he towed it home, there was very little under the hood, the back seats were folded down and most of the parts were there, I did extra work around the house/yard to earn money for the rest :) My dad and I put my car together and got it running in about 4 months. Her name was Lucy, she was white with blue interior. I put that car through a lot, to say the VERY least!!

Updated

My first car was a 1980 Subaru Station Wagon, and I loved it! My grandpa gave each grandkid $500 for a car before he passed. After I completed driver's ed, my dad informed me I wasn't allowed to get my license until I learned about cars, and he was picking out my car. When he towed it home, there was very little under the hood, the back seats were folded down and most of the parts were there, I did extra work around the house/yard to earn money for the rest :) My dad and I put my car together and got it running in about 4 months. Her name was Lucy, she was white with blue interior. I put that car through a lot, to say the VERY least!!

My parents put the money upfront for my first car. I was 16 and it was a 1976 Plymouth Arrow. I won money from Alpha-Beta Bingo and paid for it after that.

My next car was a 1984 Chevy Sprint - 2 door - it was ALL MINE!!! I got it on my own credit and had $2K down....

Both those cars were MINE - I loved them!!!! My little Sprint had get up and go (and I had a LEAD FOOT) and got GREAT gas mileage!!! I loved my Arrow - it didn't have AC but I still loved it!!

I got a blue, compact four-door, Mazda for my high school graduation in 1979. It didn't run! My older brother had abandoned it. My oldest brother, lucky for me, was (is) a great mechanic and fixed it up for me in time for heading for college in the fall. It had a rotary engine. It ran so quietly, that learning to shift was tricky! I have driven stick shift cars ever since! After one year, the rotary engine and transmission needed replacing and it was brother to the rescue again with a full engine/transmission replacement. It held up until my senior year. I loved that car.

I had a 78' pinto also!!! It was that ugly yellow color ugh!
I bought it myself in 2005 for $600. It was a neat little car. I liked it but was glad to get a new car after that.

Oh man my dad bought me a blue Chevy Chevette for about $600. It was hilarious but it was mine so I loved it. My friends called it the "turbo 'vette."

I drove my dads 1967 Rambler. It was a standard and I loved driving it.

My first car was a 90 Chevy Beretta, red, with tinted windows and an electronic dash. I thought it was so, SO cool. It had over a hundred thousand miles, I put on a ton more, took it through more that it's share of accidents, ditches in the country, etc...basically, irresponsible as a teen when it came to driving. :) Fifteen years later, I'm a lot better. :)

My first car was a gift from my dad when I was in college. My husband and i were already married and on Christmas vacation my husband's suburban broke down, permanently... so our only vehicle to get back to college was gone. My dad was so generous and bought us a used 1995 blue dodge intrepid for Christmas!

In high school I was planning on buying a car before I went to college, my parents were going to pay half up to $2500 on a used car for me and help with insurance through college... but when I got engaged, I didn't need a car anymore (because my fiance had one) and so I got $2500 to pay for our wedding instead! I did have my license at 16... but my parents only had 2 driving spaces at our condo... plus they didn't really see the point of me having a care and wasting all my money on gas the last 2 years of high school. I never drove much, and I never really wanted too.... I still avoid driving if I can!

I loved our dodge... it only lasted a few years before it too, died. We could have fixed that one, but we decided to give it to my SIL, she fixed it and it lasted a few months for her... and we bought our current car. We now have a 2005 Pontiac grand am (it is a "sport version... but I can't remember the letters to signify it)- bright red! I think it is a pretty cool car, and my husband has it all spiffed up with fancy headlights and accessories.

-M.

My first car was a Saab (cant remember the year) - i enjoyed it. i had to come up with half of the price and my parents paid the rest of it. i didnt get my first car till i was 18 - i continued to use my parents car since i was the last kid at home. it was a great car but almost 2 years after i got it everything started to fall apart on it - it was a salesmans car and he had done alot of traveling in it. i kinda would like to have it again but not for the price of repairs on it :(

1986 Oldsmobile Callais. Bought it myself for $500. Did I love it? Well, when you're 16 what's not to love about a running car! The only real annoyance was that it had bucket seats - I'm short and short waisted and so had to sit on a phone book to see over the steering wheel LOL!

A 1990 Dodge Spirit. It was named Supercar. I had to buy it off of my parents in 1998. They were nice enough to leave it in their name so I could get lower insurance, but when we donated it they took the write off and kept the cash.

My first car was a 80 Dodge Omni. It was blue and it was my grandfathers. He passed away when I was 16 and my grandmother wanted me to have the car. It was ok. It was old and need some work and my parents wanted something that was safer. So what did they get me????...... A 1981 Ford Mustang. COOL!!!! I liked my second car more then the first, but the first had more sentimental value to me.

I bought it. 4k down.

I had been in the USMC for about a year at that point. (I was 18)

It was a black mitsubishi eclipse.

I owned it for a grand total of 11 days. On the 11th day a woman ran her red light going 70 in a 30, t-boned me turning left, and it was totaled. I had a crappy insurance company (didn't know any better), and didn't get 1 dollar back from the accident (the other driver had no insurance).

Grand prix. They helped with down payment and i made payments on the rest. It was my first car and Liked it.Can't say loved it though because I just get into cars that much. lol

LOL this will show our ages!
My was a white 1962 Chevy II with a 3 speed on the column. It cost $250. I loved it because it gave me independence. Most of my friends didn't have a car.
My sons have to save for theirs. Then we match up to a certain % if they get their Eagle Scout. One has it and got a Mitsubishi. The other is finishing his and is looking at BMWs--he saved more than his brother! They both have to contribute for insurance and buy their own gas.

I had a Chevy S10 pickup. Manual sporty blue with metallic flakes, and a wave of white down the side. My folks paid for it, I paid them back. One month later I put it head first into a ditch. Other than a crumpled fender it was fine. I, however, wasn't wearing a seatbelt and didn't fare as well. I still have a perfectly round scar on my elbow where I slammed into the radio and the bass button got lodged. My sister was driving my mom's car and someone ran a read light and totaled it, that's why a got one of my own, they knew another wreck was probably coming ;) Forgot to add it was and 85' and I totally loved it! Even though it was only 5 years younger than me.

My first car was an 88 Vw Jetta, which was 11 yrs old when I got it. It was $1k and I paid for it myself. It was my first stick shift, and I am SO glad that I learned on it. It was a great car which I drove for two years, left to my parents when I went to college, and passed around to my siblings until it finally got too expensive to fix after about 5 yrs.

I bought myself a 1996 Nissan Altima. My parents couldnt help me, but I loved that car, it was in really good condition and my Grandfather helped me get a loan through my bank to buy it.

I wish I still had that car, but in 2009 while I was driving it, a speeding car hit me and totaled it unfortunately and sent me to the hospital for 15 hours. I miss that car though!

When my son is old enough, my husband and I have decided that we will save up and pay half of it. So it is up to our son to decide how much he wants to save up and work for himself. Whatever he puts down, we will match it.

I had a 1992 honda civic. I LOVED that car. I bought it myself when I was 17 years old.

My parents bought me a Jeep Cherokee and about 6 months later, my Dad found me a Jeep Wrangler. I was crazy about the Cherokee but I loved my Wrangler! It was a great 'first' car and I really miss having one!

1990 Mercury Topaz!! 2-door too, how sporty eh? I bought it with money from a summer job--it was $800! I loved it and my friends nicknamed it the Grey Goose

I had a 1979 Vega, standard, with overhead twin cams and a souped transmission. Used to my Dad's. Gosh, I loved that car!!!!!

The first car I bought myself was a hyundai elantra. It was a peice! I paid on it for a few yrs then got what u consider my first car, a 2000 mitsubishi eclipse gt in red. O my I loved that car! We have a 03 honda civic and as long as its still running it will be my sons first!

I learned to drive in my Mom's 76 Malibu station wagon.
When it was time for college (I lived at home at had to commute - couldn't afford to live on campus) she got me a red 80 Chevy Chevette.
It was a little roller skate of a car, but I could fit it into the smallest parking spots (then climb out the hatch back) or rock it out of snow banks with no trouble at all.
Our son probably won't have one till he needs it for college or for getting to jobs.

I bought a 15 yr old black Cadillac Fleetwood, with gold trim, and the most plush interior in the world, from my Grandmother, for $1000 (I worked 2 jobs in HS- and she was my grandmother what can ya say?) who had just bought it from one of her friends, who had it in their garage for 10 years. It had about 40k miles on it, and it was beautiful! It even had A GOLD KEY. Had to sell it cause it was expensive to upkeep and I was going to a college where I didn't need a car. I wish I would have kept it, just to have it but what a great first car.