Remember your first car?

s1120 · Mar 26, 2002

I could play banjo music real loud. That should annoy them!

I hate banjo music, but thats a darn good idea./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif How about some Barry Manalow? /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

PitbullMidwest · Mar 26, 2002

Why, 'cause his son's an idiot? 

No, because I confirmed it. Believes I knew about the oil pump when I sold him the car and he expected me to pay for the replacement engine.

CVHoss · Mar 26, 2002

I remember it and I wish I had it back so I could look at it every now and then and have a good laugh. Got it in '69 when I was 15. 1955 Mercury. 312 V-8, 3 speed. Paid $50.00 for it and it ran like a top. Looked like heck. It was about 10 different colors when I got it so I got me some green enamel paint (must have been a J.D. fan even then) and a paint brush. One day going home from school, I ran into a H.P. safety check. Had a line of cars pulled over for the check. I could just see the smile on the Officer's face when he looked at that car. He already had his ticket book out when he walked up to me. Ya know what? Everything on that junker worked. Brake lights, tail lights, turn signals, right down to the vacuum windshield wipers. He walked away with a "I can't believe it" look on his face. I still smile when I think about it.

Hoss

PaulT · Mar 26, 2002

1970 Impala, repainted Royal Blue Metallic with white pinstripes. Paid $750 the summer before my senior year in high school. Yup, the chevy 350 lifters already ticked/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif. Got it stuck in the mud at the US Gran Prix in Watkins Glen, before they killed that race. Later that fall I sold it for $700, and bought a 69 Firebird 400 for $800 (every High School Sr needs a babe magnet, not reliable transportation/w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif) Still have the Firebird today, but thats another story/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

therrien · Mar 26, 2002

73 Dodge Dart Sport ( like a Duster)
318
I sold it with 185,000 miles to my friend who pulled a trailer.
2 years later I saw the car with 265,000 miles, but not sure if the engine was replaced.
I would buy another one today with A/C in a second.
That was the best car in the snow also.

cowboydoc · Mar 26, 2002

No offense guys but why should we belittle parents who like to do something nice for their kids? I really don't think having to pay for your car or not is going to make you into a better or a worse person. Yes it does build some character but at the same time it's not alot in the grand scheme of things. I know kids whose parents did everything for them and they are very well off. I know kids whose parents didn't help them at all and are drug addicts and vice versa.

Redfisher · Mar 26, 2002

79 Camaro Rally Sport, 350 auto 4bbl
could spin the tires about 5 car lengths./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Wingnut · Mar 26, 2002

makes ya wonder, doesn't it?
I remember a co-worker once talked me into about $1500 less than blue book for a Tercel I was selling (low mileage ... just too many cars) ... and then came to see me later about splitting the cost of a new set of tires ['cause he thought they were pretty worn for the age of the car (1-1/2 yrs old).
Nerve, gall or stiupidity?

Wingnut · Mar 26, 2002

No offence either, Richard .... but I still think that kids who get it too easy have a lot less respect for "stuff" (witness all the talk about trespassing, etc) than those that had to earn it.
While I'm sure you're right about some kids with well-off parents ... my experience is exactly the opposite. My cousins - with a millionaire for a father - turned out REAL well ... one drug addict, one hooker and one thief (white collar) ... while my cousins on the poorer side all turned out to become lower/middle class parents with fine families. My family grew up dirt poor and all four kids have turned out well ... well, except for me - the conservative wacko.
I know one can't judge everything by one's limited experience (meaning me) ... but I've sure seen the results of kids being spoiled in the kids I meet ... enough so that I finally gave up being a Scout leader - in disgust.

peter

njrqs · Mar 26, 2002

Yep I think if as a child you have to work (not slave) for your money and then are able to spend it on your own car/possesions, you tend to respect those posessions much more.

If you are handed everything on a plate, you never know what it is like to have to earn anything, much less look after anything.

Oh well - That's all folks.

ewoss3 · Mar 26, 2002

Richard, I can see your postion and still know that not all spoiled children are bad. But I truely feel the pride and dedication to a project that you worked for go a long way to build a better adult. I have 4 nieces and 3 nephews who are terribly spoiled but I will assure you they are well mannered and respect what they have.

The oldest niece is 14 and she wanted a mustang really bad, she had been saving her money from 2 years of mowing in the summers. Last October she had saved $1700( I agreed to matched her dollar for dollar). She and I went and found her a 69 mustang fastback for $2300 and now we are restoring it for her. She is getting the hands-on experience in mechanics plus she has to stay within her $3400 budget.

This is how I feel we can build better values in children by working with them, teaching them to respect others and their possesions, helping them with their projects, showing them how to do something, and letting them learn about bugetting. I realize this is not the only way to mentor to children, but I feel it works really well.

Corm · Mar 26, 2002

Thanks for the question that rekindled my memories - It was a dark blue 1970 Mark Donohue Javelin from American Motors. 390 CI, 325 horses, 410 rear end, Hurst 4 speed, 7 grand factory cam (a rare one!), posi rear end. Bought it brand new for $3250. God, I loved that car!! Proposed to my wife in it. Sold it when our first child came along.... Don't regret selling it, just miss it a lot!

Corm

jhburke · Mar 26, 2002

I can remember when I was a teenager many moons ago. You could tell the drivers who did nothing but drive all expense was picked up by someone else. You could tell when all at once they had to pay. No more long burnouts and no more jackrabbitt starts.

cowboydoc · Mar 27, 2002

Rob,
I agree with you completely!!! I didn't have alot of time to respond yesterday but you are right. No I don't think you should give a brat everything that they want but if you've got hard working good kids I don't see the problem with spoiling them.

When I was a kid my grandparents biggest thing was school. I wanted to be out roping and riding and making money to buy a new 4x4 pickup. Their deal with me was if I graduated in the top 10 of my class I could have whatever pickup I wanted. I graduated in a tie for #1. I got my pickup.

So no I don't believe in giving kids whatever they want if they are not good kids but if you've got good kids who try hard I think they deserve some nice things if you can afford it. I know I sure appreciated a new 4x4 ALOT more when I was 18 compared to now. I appreciate the ones I have now far less than I did back then. Back then I was so proud everyday to wash my truck and drive it. Now it's just a vehicle. I would hate to deprive my kids of all the good feelings I had with having my dream truck at that age.

PaulT · Mar 27, 2002

Doug,

Just curious, but did your Dart have a ticking speedo needle? Maybe that was just on the slant sixes, but I have spent a lot of time in several of those beasts, and every one of them seemed to have a nervous twitch in the speedo. Those cars were bulletproof, if not the most attractive.

Mosey · Mar 27, 2002

My parents gave me my first car. I think I was 17. I got a 1966 Fury II (or Fury III, I don't remember). The engine and transmission were shot. They said I could have it, but it was up to me to fix it. I got a running engine with transmission attached at a junk yard and installed them. I don’t know what they came out of. I'll never forget it because the original transmission had a linkage that shifted the transmission from the column and the transmission I bought had a cable, so I had to figure out how to adapt it. I got it all to work and drove it for about 2 years. Then I bought a car I wish I'd never sold, a 1967 Camaro. I swapped the original automatic transmission for a Muncie 4 speed and almost killed myself with it before I became more sensible!

Wingnut · Mar 27, 2002

Richard, it looks as though we're closer together on this than it first appeared.
You weren't "given" the 4x4 ... you earned it by living up to your part of the bargain.
The "beef" I have with parents - in general - is that things are given without anything coming from the kids.
IMO, too many parents are trying to compensate, with "stuff", for not spending time with their kids.
Your gradparents were obvoiusly very wise folks!

cowboydoc · Mar 27, 2002

Yes I agree with that Wingnut and you are right about parents compensating. My daughter though goes out with me every morning at 5am and every night and does chores and helps me ride horses. She helps build fence and was my main help on the barn, holding tin up and getting me tools, etc. I do spoil my kids I admit that but that's only because they do work hard and at only 4 and 6 years old.

s1120 · Mar 27, 2002

sounds like a good deal Richard.

Bayrat · Mar 27, 2002

1962 Dodge Dart 440 with a 318. Paid $400 to a relative for it, took all the money I earned in my life up to that point to buy the car and pay for the insurance that cost $227. Push button on the dash and the 318 was the old style big block. I did some distributor, carb and exhaust work along with a suspension tuning and the thing was pretty quick. Really wanted a H/P machine but the bucks just weren't there. The one I wish I had kept would be the 1967 Austin Healy 3000.