Getting my daughter a car...

[skatha]

My daughter turned 15 earlier this month. I had been in the market for a car for her for about a year and I'm about to pull the trigger on what will be the third BMW of my family's quiver.....nice little Z3 with the 4 banger 1.9 L engine....I called it a "beater" and she was offended (ah, the filmy gauze of youth)
My first car was a '67 red 'Stang with the 200 cubic inch L6.....
What was yours?



As you may have noticed, this car is going to have to be driven by me until next May...

[ZetaTre]

I've had one. That was my first car after moving to the US...

It ended up looking like this:



I know that little thing inside out so let me know if you have any question...

[piusthedrcarve]

Mine was '81 Chevy Monte Carlo 4.4L V8 Coupe but with 2 dead cylinders.. Over 7 years of overhauling piece by piece, it was re-borned and performed like a street-illegal stock car with NOX but equipped with sheepskin car seat covers with VDO gold gauges with gold-chain steering wheels.

[Neil Gendzwill]

'73 Javelin. My dad cosigned the loan but I was on my own with that one.

Our daughter's first car was a '95 Civic, we paid half. It blew up after 6 months and we're trying to decide what to do with it.

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

65 Pontiac Tempest , Grand Prix 400ci bored .60 over, 3/4 cam, Highland highrise, Holley 780 double pumper, Hooker headers, rock crusher 4 spd with Hurst in line shifter. 10 bolt rear end. 10" street legal slicks , Excel dual point ignition. Thrush super pipes with straight tubes dumping at rear axle. 3 hours of "High School Automotive" each day of my senior year with "Work release" = 16 year old with a dragster and the right to come and go at will = TROUBLE

The good news for my folks is the car costs kept me working and poor.

"now you know why I am looking for this car"

[corey_dyck]

2000 Ford Focus. 5-speed, manual everything, AC. Lots of good times, it got me hooked on going around corners/cones fast before I knew about alpine snowboarding. Bought that new, I learned a lot about depreciation about 5 years later...

I drove a few cars sporadically before that but mostly biked (the kind with pedals) everywhere or bummed rides for anything over 20 miles.

[davekempmeister]

'71 eldorado convertible with the top stuck in the down position. had belonged to an Admiral and was wasting on the lot at a military retirement home. worst decision - best memory type of thing. when i see them in parades and such they don't get me nostalgic because i know what's involved.

[C5 Golfer]

It kinda dates me but my first car was a 1930 Chevy...2 door sedan. paid $75 or so for it.. but it ran and got me to school. Upgraded to a 56 Chevy a year later.

[Mike T]

'79 Chevy Citation, well used, paid $700. Managed to get about 60K miles out of it before it died my freshman year in college.

[dingbat]

'72 Ford Pinto.



That's right.... a mutha' f***** Pinto.

[Gcarve]

A mint 1971 Mustang Mach One. 351 Cleveland V8 + 16 year old = Fun!!!

[bigdyno]

1976 AMC Gremlin with a 232 inline 6. Surprisingly fast for what it was. Would do just over 125 mph and I drove it for about 6000 miles with no water pump. This also meant no heater, and all of you who have been to NES will appreciate what that must have been like.

[RideGuy]

1991 Accord wagon. Wanted something I could toss the boards in the back of. Owned that beauty till it was 16 years old. Drove it out West, out East, South, it's been everywhere. Hauled band equipment. Slept in the back of it when we went camping. Over 400K and never let me down once. The thing was a tank and I wish I never sold it.

[boarderboy]

Just turned 16 yesterday. Great guy! Very smart guy!! Very ADHD guy!! Very, very OCD guy!!!

After nearly 9 months away from us - six in a remedial, wilderness-based center - he's back now and doing great in school. But he has the attention span of a flea on a hot rock. Also, occasionally, the disposition of a badger. Foresee driving anything not powered by his legs no time soon.

And when we finally have no choice (18, or later) it'll be in an underpowered brick of a dinosaur with straight drive. (Stick is supposed to help wander-minded stay engaged and alert.)

Is he happy? Hell no!! Do I care much? Nope! We had a knock-down drag out about it last night. But we care too much about his safety, the safety of others, and the health of our liability insurance.

Teenhood for many is, at best, a bitch. Trying to adjust meds a bit to help him through it. And climbing. Lots of rock climbing.

My first ride? '65 Chevy Malibu - 327 automatic. Mom got it when I went off to the Navy. I got a 170 foot, wood-hulled minesweep. Top speed? 12 knots, and that with a tail wind, a following sea, and two healthy diesels (seldom the case.) When I finally returned, spent several happy decades with mo-cys & straight drives, myself.

Current object of lust is Fiat 500 Abarth (or at least the signorina in the ads...)

Have fun in the Beemer!

BB

[fishrising]

My first was a 1971 VW Convertible Superbeetle, got it in 1989. Tore the engine apart and rebuilt it with lots of mods: cylinders, pistons, crankshaft, carbs, cams, exhaust, etc. Could spin the tires in 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear, got rid of it in college. Miss that car...

[Allee]

Current object of lust is Fiat 500 Abarth (or at least the signorina in the ads...)

We obviously have similar tastes in cars. I like the Abarth, but I'd much rather have a classic Abarth 500 than a new one. Or, if I could find one, the Cinquecento Trofeo - a Fiat 126 that was all decked out in rally gear - and still powered by a 1 litre motor. Hilarious. We had a 126 in the Fiat club in NZ, and it couldn't break 20 seconds for a standing quarter.

My first car was a 1968 square Datsun 1600. it was impossible to kill. it was inherited from the ex-hubby's family, it had 250,000km on it when I was driivng it, and it was still getting the job done. It's probably still running somewhere.

[skatha]

Just turned 16 yesterday. Great guy! Very smart guy!! Very ADHD guy!! Very, very OCD guy!!!

After nearly 9 months away from us - six in a remedial, wilderness-based center - he's back now and doing great in school. But he has the attention span of a flea on a hot rock. Also, occasionally, the disposition of a badger. Foresee driving anything not powered by his legs no time soon.

And when we finally have no choice (18, or later) it'll be in an underpowered brick of a dinosaur with straight drive. (Stick is supposed to help wander-minded stay engaged and alert.)

Is he happy? Hell no!! Do I care much? Nope! We had a knock-down drag out about it last night. But we care too much about his safety, the safety of others, and the health of our liability insurance.

Teenhood for many is, at best, a bitch. Trying to adjust meds a bit to help him through it. And climbing. Lots of rock climbing.

My first ride? '65 Chevy Malibu - 327 automatic. Mom got it when I went off to the Navy. I got a 170 foot, wood-hulled minesweep. Top speed? 12 knots, and that with a tail wind, a following sea, and two healthy diesels (seldom the case.) When I finally returned, spent several happy decades with mo-cys & straight drives, myself.

Current object of lust is Fiat 500 Abarth (or at least the signorina in the ads...)

Have fun in the Beemer!

BB

After my stepson wreck the F-150 we bought him for the second time, I found him a '91 Volvo 740 station wagon with a 4 cylinder engine. That is my suggestion for your son.....

[Beckmann AG]

...it'll be in an underpowered brick of a dinosaur with straight drive. (Stick is supposed to help wander-minded stay engaged and alert.

Keep an eye out for an early Rabbit Diesel 4spd. If you use the tire spec for the petrol Rabbit, the slight gearing mismatch will keep his right hand and both feet busy.

He'll be rowing the box fast enough to think he's fresh off the line at the Harvard-Yale Boat Race.

The turbo Rabbit, (and the Golf), are a lot of fun to drive, but they may go too fast for your purposes.
And the turbo tends to quiet the engine a bit, which makes conversation, (and the radio), a viable prospect...

The 'rara avis' Volvo 240 diesel would be a safer option, but the top speed might be an issue.
If memory serves, they were produced for only two or three years.



'50 Ford 1/2 ton with flathead 8. Non-synchro gearbox from a '40 Chevy, skinny 16" bias-plys, plenty of rust, and Ag plates with a 20 mile range.

Still on the premises, in the 'restoration' queue.

[boarderboy]

After my stepson wreck the F-150 we bought him for the second time, I found him a '91 Volvo 740 station wagon with a 4 cylinder engine. That is my suggestion for your son.....

Skatha, that's a recommendation very similar to the ones given by NPR's, Tappet Brothers, Click & Clack. (They love fielding questions about teens and cars!) Will keep it in mind.

"Keep an eye out for an early Rabbit Diesel 4spd. If you use the tire spec for the petrol Rabbit, the slight gearing mismatch will keep his right hand and both feet busy."

Tks, Beckman. Since I drive an 02 Beetle TDI, I could really see that solution. And it would be poetic justice! (My son loathes that Beetle. "Dad there's a school bus passing us!!)

That must be quite a queue you've got.

BB

[carvedog]

For my daughter in....three and a half years (sweet Jesus that's coming up fast) it will probably be my retired Explorer with 373K miles on it. Still runs, needs a trans right now, but I have a backup tranny in the shop that I will work on this next winter.

For me it was a low mileage roll over wrecked 73 GMC 3/4 ton pickup that I rebuilt. New cab clip, bed, lowered, rebuilt 454 out of a 76 Monte Carlo after I dropped a valve. Then I put N50s with just enough tread to be legal. It would bust the rear end loose at 60 mph if I punched it. So fun. So fast. So many tickets......but I survived so here we are.

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

For my daughter in....three and a half years (sweet Jesus that's coming up fast) it will probably be my retired Explorer with 373K miles on it. Still runs, needs a trans right now, but I have a backup tranny in the shop that I will work on this next winter.

For me it was a low mileage roll over wrecked 73 GMC 3/4 ton pickup that I rebuilt. New cab clip, bed, lowered, rebuilt 454 out of a 76 Monte Carlo after I dropped a valve. Then I put N50s with just enough tread to be legal. It would bust the rear end loose at 60 mph if I punched it. So fun. So fast. So many tickets......but I survived so here we are.

Great niece just turned 16. She is tall, sweet, and a very attractive young lady. I feel for my brother and anyone that messes with our young lady. Maybe I will get to see more of her now that she must have an older rider with her to drive?

Her Dad has a 69 Stang pushing 500HP. I don't think that will be her first car.

When you rebuild that tranny, just leave out 1/3 and 4 gear. 2 gear should be fine

[boarderboy]

We obviously have similar tastes in cars. I like the Abarth, but I'd much rather have a classic Abarth

and the Fiat lineage is full of 'em. (Rumor also has it that Fiat had more than passing influence on the design of a car we know well, the Suzi SX-4! The '13 Dodge Dart is supposed to have a little Fiat/Alfa DNA, too, but probably not enough to make it truly interesting...)

My Abarth crush will likely remain just that - certainly until there are some specimens that have been around the block a few times!

To my eye, the ultimate fly-weight street fighter was the (late 60's, early 70's) Lotus Europa, a car as impractical and unreliable as the worst tease you could ever pursue. But, man those lines! That bantam weight! That, that ... OMG!

BB

[Allee]

To my eye, the ultimate fly-weight street fighter was the (late 60's, early 70's) Lotus Europa, a car as impractical and unreliable as the worst tease you could ever pursue. But, man those lines! That bantam weight! That, that ... OMG!

BB

Aw, no, mine would be an Esprit S2. I stil can't watch the opening scene from Pretty Woman where he's butchering the gearbox on the Esprit, it makes me very unhappy.

Ye, I definitely miss Fiats - having owned an X1/9, a 131R, an Uno Turbo (damn, I loved that car) and a 128SL track car. I spend a lot of time Fiat spotting when I'm in Europe, because they're rarer than hens teeth here. Some of the new ones are very nice indeed.

[davekempmeister]

my wife is driving a 2013 Kia Sorento for the past few weeks and it's very impressive, IMO. the only thing we spent extra $ on was the V6 option. nice build quality, quiet inside, handles well. anyway, it may well be my now 10 year old's first car further along. she already had that figured out - she wants a jeep with a soft top.

[skatha]

We took the Z3 to my mechanic who replaced the seals, the brake pads and fluids, new right front rotor, radiator, and oil. He found a mouse nest with about a half pint of corn and dry dog food in the air filter....yikes! The struts, control arms and tire rods will be replaced next-after I pay off the first repair credit card balance

I took out an amplifier that was in the trunk-hanging by one dry wall screw. I have no idea about the specs but it still works. If anyone wants it, just pay for postage and I will ship it to you...

[k2slopesurfer]

My first car was an '81 Impala. 350 engine, crappy tan paint job, vinyl seats. It had a busted grill that made closing the hood an operation in which I had to sit forcefully on the hood. But it ran well, gas was still under a buck a gallon in louisiana at the time, and I could lay fully across the back seat and sleep it off if I hit the quarter too hard. It still ran when I let the city of New Orleans keep it a few years later. (I wasn't paying the towing fee that was more than i paid for the car, lol.

[boarderboy]

... it ran well, gas was still under a buck a gallon in louisiana at the time, and I could lay fully across the back seat and sleep it off if I hit the quarter too hard. It still ran when I let the city of New Orleans keep it a few years later. (I wasn't paying the towing fee that was more than i paid for the car, lol.

Subject displayed early symptoms of softbooter syndrome, later confirmed in "various West Virginia parking lots."

Suggested Rx:

Mid-season hardbooting sesh on Shay's Revenge using an F2 GS stick with tight-fitting UPZ's and original Bomber plates.

If treatment unsuccessful, prognosis cloudy ...

BB