Describe your 1st Car, and whatever happened to it.

[outofyourmind]

Dad gave me a '76 Nova when I graduated college and was getting ready to move to TX. It was either that or a '77 Maverick

Hmmmmmm.
1977 Maverick

1976 Nova

Did the Maverick have a 302???

 

[Rex Racer]

I had a dream the other night that I ran into the guy I sold my 1st car to, and he still had it after all these years. There it was just like I remembered it. Really weird.

Someday I would like to have a few beers with you and see what you have to say about the "not my fault" thing after I slip some generic truth serum in your drink.

 

[Rex Racer]

Dad gave me a '76 Nova when I graduated college and was getting ready to move to TX. It was either that or a '77 Maverick, I was glad at the time that I got the Nova. The thing had trouble starting in even the modest cold of a Dallas winter and had some supposedly "heavy duty" rear suspension that was constantly breaking and leaving one of the rear wheels moving around in its well....took it to Chief Auto the second time it happened and they gave me some BS guess as to what was going on, luckily it was on a lift right there and I grabbed the wheel and slid it back and forth to show them the problem. The thing had a 250 straight six, decent power but nothing exceptional at all.
Had already started looking at new cars when I was trying to get on Skilman from a little feeder road and the guy in front of me stopped abruptly, seemed to be looking into a little fast food place for somebody or something...I stopped with no trouble, but the bad thing was a little Honda was coming around a curve behind me driven by a woman looking for her friends at a driving range on the other side of the street (she said she saw their car). She hit me going 45-50mph without even touching her brake, the guy in front of me just took off after the impact. The Nova was sort of pushed in looking, but driveable...the Honda was wiped out. I was really sore for a couple of days, but then felt fine...a few months later my right hip started hurting and it took 10 years to get that sorted out. It was sciatica from limbar spine disc damage from the car accident.
Anyway, my insurance offered me something like $700 if I gave them the car or $500 if I kept it. The son of a coworker I really liked was a mechanic and passed word through his dad that he'd like to fix up the Nova and put a 350 in it to race. This sounded cool to me and I agreed to sell it to him for only $100 if he'd let me drive it on the track some after he was done...so, I took a $100 bath just to see and feel the old Nova as a racer. The little fucker let the thing sit in his yard for a year and then sold it for scrap for $200...I also realized that I had left my bike stuffed in the trunk when I sold it to him, and he swore that it wasn't in there when he got it. He moved right after selling the car, abruptly left his wife and just bogged out of town...I couldn't even go to "talk" to him about the shit he pulled on me.
I was such a naive idiot!!!!

A friend of mine had a 76 Nova with a straight 6 when we were in our early 20's and I can assure you it didn't have a HD rear suspension. What it did have was junk leaf springs that tended to break. My buddies Nova had a broken leaf on the drivers side and if you followed him down the road is car looked (cuz it was) like it was dog walking with the ass end hanging out to one side. Another friend of mine had parents that had the Buick version of that GM platform (Apollo) with a 350 in it and we used it regularly. What a difference it makes when the POS you're driving has balls!

 

[outofyourmind]

(Apollo) with a 350 in it and we used it regularly.

I had forgotten all about those.

 

[outofyourmind]

Someday I would like to have a few beers with you and see what you have to say about the "not my fault" thing after I slip some generic truth serum in your drink.

Honest, not my fault.

 

[Indrid Cold]

Hmmmmmm.
1977 Maverick

1976 Nova


Did the Maverick have a 302???

Maybe a 2... ;^)
That Maverick was a dog compared even to the modest power of the Nova, and that also may have been the car we had with no power steering...believe me, dad did me a favor giving me the Nova.

 

[Indrid Cold]

A friend of mine had a 76 Nova with a straight 6 when we were in our early 20's and I can assure you it didn't have a HD rear suspension. What it did have was junk leaf springs that tended to break. My buddies Nova had a broken leaf on the drivers side and if you followed him down the road is car looked (cuz it was) like it was dog walking with the ass end hanging out to one side. Another friend of mine had parents that had the Buick version of that GM platform (Apollo) with a 350 in it and we used it regularly. What a difference it makes when the POS you're driving has balls!

I only knew what dad told me, he claimed that Nova was supposed to have a stronger rear suspension for carrying extra weight in the trunk. He certainly didn't buy the car new, so maybe the guy who sold it to him was BSing him...anyway, dad did warn me that it had already broken when he owned it and it broke twice for me. After the second time it broke and I had to grab the right rear wheel and move it back and forth while the car was on the lift to show the mechanic what was wrong, the big cheese at Chief Auto Parts told me not to worry, because they were going to order the RIGHT part to fix it this time! Believe a bolt had snapped and they just crammed one that was close enough in there the first time.
A friend of mine had the same year Nova with the 350, and I was jealous as hell...that car didn't run very much, though. Went like hell when he could get it started. Starting my car in the cold was a nightmare, but that 350 didn't like to start, period.

 

[HuskerCradle2Grave]

Don't remember what happened to the first, a 76 Buick Regal. But the second, a 1984 Nissan 300ZX, burned up in a Walmart parking lot. Engine fire. 2 months after I sold it.

 

[Rex Racer]

1975 Buick Century wagon. When you are still living with your folks it's good to have a rolling hotel room. Mine was brown with full power and a 350. It was a pig on fuel, but it got the job done.

 

[outofyourmind]

1975 Buick Century wagon. When you are still living with your folks it's good to have a rolling hotel room. Mine was brown with full power and a 350. It was a pig on fuel, but it got the job done.

Did you put side pipes, air shocks, and mag wheels on it???

 

[Rex Racer]

Did you put side pipes, air shocks, and mag wheels on it???

It's thirst for gasoline kept me too poor to be able to put any bling on dat bitch.

 

[outofyourmind]

It's thirst for gasoline kept me too poor to be able to put any bling on dat bitch.

Hey, we all got between 8-12 miles per gallon back then.
It was the American way.

 

[Rex Racer]

Hey, we all got between 8-12 miles per gallon back then.
It was the American way.

Yeah, I got 10 mpg with that tank. Sadly, that is what I get with my Ram 2500 work truck as well. I wish the gas was .60/gal like it was back then

 

[{+}Mother-Marge{+}]

...... I bought my first car in 1979 when I turned 15,.....it was a 1962 Chevy Impala, 4-door, HUGE steering-wheel, 283-engine? , navy-blue color,....I paid $100 bucks for it , bought it off my elderly neighbor's son who was the original owner, I think it had 80-thousand miles on it too, ..it ran great for a couple years until I got drunk and hit about 6-mailboxes with it when I left a party with about 9-kids in my car,.....got my license on a Monday and lost it that Friday (same week)........DWI at age 17...(ugh).,......~memories/sigh~.

 

[outofyourmind]

...... I bought my first car in 1979 when I turned 15,.....it was a 1962 Chevy Impala, 4-door, HUGE steering-wheel, 283-engine? , navy-blue color,....I paid $100 bucks for it , bought it off my elderly neighbor's son who was the original owner, I think it had 80-thousand miles on it too, ..it ran great for a couple years until I got drunk and hit about 6-mailboxes with it when I left a party with about 9-kids in my car,.....got my license on a Monday and lost it that Friday (same week)........DWI at age 17...(ugh).,......~memories/sigh~.

something like that???

 

[{+}Mother-Marge{+}]

something like that???

.....mine had more of a round top,.......all the same color (darker blue),......same front grill.

 

[DHoey]

1972 Chevy c/10 custom deluxe. Poured some money into that truck and had er looking mighty fine. Then it was stolen from a library parking lot, never to be seen again

 

[Bayou Tiger]

My first car was a 73 Ford Pinto. I bought it not running for $50 in 1981. It looked much like this one:

I got it running again and sent it off to the local trade school paint shop and had it painted metallic blue. I drove it until I was about to graduate high school. My parents bought me a new Camaro for graduation.

 

[{+}Mother-Marge{+}]

1975 Buick Century wagon. When you are still living with your folks it's good to have a rolling hotel room. Mine was brown with full power and a 350. It was a pig on fuel, but it got the job done.

......I Had one of them (same year?) back in 82/83,......I think it was my 3rd vehicle,..I had one car a year it seemed like back then,.......mine was maroonish/red and silver two tone with power windows too...!,....I used to drive thru snow banks in the fkkn winter, that vehicle was like a tank,...I think I got about 8-miles per gallon too....!

 

[Bayou Tiger]

.....mine had more of a round top,.......all the same color (darker blue),......same front grill.

I'm currently looking for a 61 impala bubble top like this one to restore:





If you find one with a 409 in it you have found the holy grail !