Hi all. New to the forum. I just can't resist a first-car thread.

Mine:

73 Chrysler Newport that my dad gave me. 11 and a half mpg and probably the worst-handling car I've ever driven. Lasted about a year before my teenage stupidity killed the engine (400 big-block).

First I bought myself was the 72 Mercury Montego that replaced the Chrysler. Bought it in 95 for $400. It only had a 351, but it managed to get worse mileage then the Newport. At least this one was fast and handled surprisingly well for a 70's land barge. I kept it about a year and a half.

Mine was a 79 olds Cutlass. My dad bought it wrecked for $700. I spent the summer of 85 fixing it. When I got my license in 86 the car was in fresh paint and ready 2 days later. It had the 260 olds V8. It used gas like a V8 but performed like a V6 which in those days were "gutlass" Thats what the car was called "the 79 gutlass supreme. The summer of 86 I put in a 1970 ols 350 "Rocket" V8. Nobody could call it the gutlass after that. I went through 3 of the metric thm200 trannys the first year with that engine. Then 2 350thm trannys were next. I finally put in a THM400 which lasted untill i sold the car. In the summer of 88 I changed the engine for no good reason to a 403 V8 that came from a 80 Trans-Am. My 15-20mpg I got from the 350 dropped to 8-14mpg. In 89 it was replaced with a 84 cutlass that I sold last month .

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1959 Gravely LI, 1963 Gravely L8, 1973 Gravely C12
1982 380SL
1978 450 SEL 6.9 euro restoration at 63% and climbing
1987 300 D
2005 CDI European Delivery
2006 CDI Handed down to daughter
2007 GL CDI. Wifes

I drove a couple of Dodge taxis with that same engine roughly same year (400, maybe 440). Jeez what monster tanks those were. Fast though.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Interesting. My dad has recently restored a 69' Camaro. He owned his first one in 1974. 69' Camaro has ALWAYS been his favorite car. I guess he owned about 4 different ones through the 1980s. The last one he owned was in 1985. He bought this one in early 2005. About the value- yeah, they do now. He sold one in 1985 for $800 in EC. Now that car would easily bring $15,000 if was still in that shape.

He paid $4700. for this one and had to totally restore it and install an engine and tranny. He has about $10,000 invested. It has been appraised for $15,000.

The first photo was in January of 2005 just before he bought it. The middle photos are the most recent after restoration, taken in August of 2005.

BTW - the last photo is of the 69' Camaro that he sold in 1985. Actually, that photo was taken in July of 1985.

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