First Car

[Laredo]

I had a '66 Dart with a slant six, first. Never got it to run. Dad bought it out of the newspaper classifieds for <$150, then we sold it nearly 10 years later for $300.
First driver I had was a 2-door Torino with a six and a column-shift automatic. Bought for $200 my senior year in high school, sold for $600 after I joined the Air Force.
Plenty of power in that to go fast enough to get in a bunch of trouble (don't ask me how I know), with four high-school kids onboard.

I'd like to find a running slant six again ...

[eamarquardt]

1959 VW. No gas gauge, just a "reserve" valve.

Dropped the #3 exhaust valve at about 50K miles. Common failure on em.

Gus

[Corwin C]

My first was a 1970 Jeep CJ-5, it was owned by my parents, but I had access to it as if it were my own. I had many experiences with it long before being a licensed driver (started driving offroad with Dad as soon as I could push the clutch all the way to the floor.) I had a healthy respect for the "tippiness" long before getting out on pavement.

A first car is really a individual child/guardian decision. Parents need to evaluate their soon to be driver realistically and access their maturity level ... in my opinion, some shouldn't get a licence until they're 45 (or even older.) Also, there's nothing wrong with Mom and Dad owning the car. In my experience, most people tend to take better care of things when it isn't their own, but belongs to an authority figure ... AND it's easier to take away the keys when the car belongs to the parent.

[rowerwet]

get them something there are a million of on the road, makes it easy to fix when you can go to the junk yard for parts. something like a Focus, civic, etc. The small pickup truck is also a good idea, just make sure it is 2 WD as 4 WD is begging trouble off roading, or hot dogging in the snow. If you live where it snows get them a set of snow tires for the winter. I survived 11 years of winters in Maine with four snow tires and a box of sand in my ranger.