The Supercar Registry - First Car Stories!

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- - First Car Stories! (https://www.yenko.net/forum/showthread.php?t=75796)

First Car Stories!

Just sold that 69 red/red X-11 that I have been working on to (partially) finance the rebuild on a Eliminator that I just bought. Anyway Pretty cool story, a guy calls and is looking for the car for his 15 year old son. Son has been saving and dad is going to match what the son has saved.
Son has been on ebay, and of course has seen the 2fast 2furious "Pure American Muscle Baby" scene with the Yenko.
The Dad has a 69 Vette big block CE motor, pan to pan, still in the crate! so, I wound up dropping the price a few hundred. Cool story because I remember my first car and thought this might make a cool new thread so hear goes: https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...mlins/wink.gif

It was fall of 1980. I had been working all summer at the local Winn Dixie and saving. I had just gotten my learners permit, but my dad, an auto mechanic had been letting me drive to the local quick stop store every once in a while (over my mothers objections https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...mlins/grin.gif). I was really liking the 80's camaro look and of course wanted one. After looking in the paper for weeks, I found an ad for a 69 Camaro and talked my Dad into going to look at it.
So, with $300.00 in my pocket (all 5's, 10's and a few 20's), my Dad, my Uncle and I went to go look at this Camaro. I had never up to that point seen a 69 before, but was expecting to see something like the 2nd gen body.
So, we get there and this older gentleman shows us the car.
Man, talk about something that can get a teenage guys mind off of girls (for a sec anyway)! It was love at first sight. There sat a faded puke green 69 camaro, with a 307, 3-speed manual transmission, black interior with a console.
Then the bomb, the guy wants 425.00 for the car!!! Dad was also concerned about the car being "to fast" for a 1st car.
As dad was a dirt poor mechanic, 125.00 was big money. So as I am in the corner begging him for the loan, the guy overhears us and drops the price to 350.00!!!! So, my dad and uncle loan me the 50.00 and away we go with the car!!
Talk about an early Christmas. Of course, I could not drive a stick yet, so dad had to drive the car home.
When we got around the block from the house, dad stops the car with a serious look on his face. He give me the "this is not a toy" speach, then proceeds to rip off the line, smoking the tires, urhcing second and third gears, while proclaiming that if he ever catches me losing to a ford he will take the car away https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...mlins/grin.gif !!!
It took me 3 years to finally get the car restored, and Dad rebuilt the engine and added a few goodies (anyone remember the "curve" kits?). During my senior year in high school, I had a overnight school function for the busines club. When I got back, Dad looked sheepish, friends were smiling and mom was mad. It seems that while I was gone over a friday night, Dad snuck out with the car "to go to the grocery", https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ins/3gears.gif . A neighbor sees the car Drag Racing and calls my mom to tell her that she saw me racing. Of course, I was out of town and it turns out it was my dad! https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...mlins/haha.gif Anyway, I just thought that was a great story, and that it was pretty cool that this guy is building a muscle car with his kid.

Any one have any cool stories like that? One day I will share the one where later in like my little brother total's my 69 Z28 while I was in the Air Force!

Re: First Car Stories!

I came up $200 short of being able to buy my first car, a 6 cyl 69 Camaro conv. I went off to college thinking about the car for several weeks until my mom called one night and said "guess who called today?" It turns out they couldn't sell the car and finally came down the $200 and I ended up getting the car. Of course, I was at college so my dad went and got the car for me. He would take it out every Sunday morning to go get bagels. I didn't get to drive it until I was done with school in May! I had it restored by the local Vo-tech school and my dad would still take it out every Sunday morning to get bagels. The funniest one was watching my dad take my 68 SS396 conv to the muffler shop with open headers! He figured the cops wouldn't give him a ticket so I said "go ahead".

Re: First Car Stories!

My first car was a 69 Z11 pace car. I am one of 5 kids. I saved every penny I had since I was born. While all my friends blew their cash on minibikes, motorcycles, drugs, beer, women (not necessarily in that order) I ended up saving $2700 by my 14th birthday. My dad and I drove by a crummy little ripoff car lot and saw the car. We ended up buying it for $2700. When we got home (of course I couldn't drive as I was only 14) my mom says to dad: "You know Bernie, his brother just turned 16 not him" I guess he lost track of which kid was which at the time! I learned just about everything about cars from that car. Including: don't think it has a 350 in it just because the fender emblem says "350". It ended up having a 1964 327 under the hood. Never ran right. Had a carburetor fire one day. While I was on my third fire extinguisher trying to put out the flames, my mom walks out with a bowl of tuna salad and asks: Are you coming in for lunch soon? I grabbed the bowl and tossed the tuna salad on the fire. To my amazement it put the fire out! I never insulted my mother's cooking after that. Here's a photo of me in 1976 (age 14) Gotta love that hairdo!

Re: First Car Stories!

started looking for my first car at boston police auctions once a month w/ my dad I was 15, we started bidding on a 68Rs/SS ConvertW/ orig. motor, in primer, roof shredded ,
5$ first bid, had it at going twice at 350$, 1 other guy started bidding, up we both went 5$ ata time, ran out of dough at 800$, father said I can't loan you money your mother will kill us both if we bring this home, well after uncle scolded us for letting her go, we were both hooked on camaros, found my first 67 327 coupe in east bum NH out of want adds, 1000$, shot to hell, drove up in snowstorm from cape cod, found it in middle of farm field, after spraying about a can of ether in the carb, boom! cooked the hood, but she was running and we proceeded to drive her home w/ no headlights / side windows/ or seats, we used milk cartons,crazy but true, restored her in 4 months, scoured every bone yard in new england for parts w/ pops, found my 67 yenko for 500$ out of the wantads too 11yrs ago. https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/beers.gif

Re: First Car Stories!

Heres my first car. A 71 Chevelle... I used to race guys from school all the time with this one. 300hp 350/automatic with a 2:56 rear.. Nobody could touch it on the top end back then. https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...mlins/grin.gif Loved that car!

Re: First Car Stories!

heres what I did to it one morning on my way to school.... Valentines Day 1990 8:10am....... https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/frown.gif

Re: First Car Stories!

Ed,

Tell us the story on what happened to you on the way to school. Geez, that was some wreck!

Re: First Car Stories!

Here is a 77 Camaro I had around 1992. This was a fun car. 350 4speed car. It was pretty quick when I got done with it. Traded a tired 84 Trans Am even up for this Camaro and a fullsize Chevy Caprice station wagon that had a factory 454 in it.. I got the best deal in that trade https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...mlins/grin.gif https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ns/naughty.gif I got the car it was solid white and pretty boring looking so I added the stripes and day 2 stuff. This was one wicked sounding car with the blown out glasspacks I had on it.. I remember one nice summer day, I was still living at home in Fishertown, PA and I asked my dad to run out to the little country store to pick me up something and he goes out and hops in this Camaro... pulled out on the road with it.. started out easy then just layed on it grabbing second and third up the road sqwaking the tires... I laughed my ass off because my Dad was never really the hot rod heavy foot driver like I have always been. I remember saying "go get em Dad..Give it hell".. https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...mlins/haha.gif And thats the first time I'd ever seen that car in action from a distance and it looked and SOUNDED pretty damn mean. I eventually blew the clutch in it, yanked the engine/trans for another project I had and sold the roller with a trunk full of parts for $500.. I wish I had that ALL back now.... https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/crazy.gif

Re: First Car Stories!

I was on my way to school that morning.. roads were a little damp and I was in a hurry because I was running late... I'll give some specific places because the Barr bros. probably know the road I'm talking about.. I pulled out at the intersection where the only red light in Pleasentville is heading toward Bedford on RT56 on my way to the Chestnut Ridge HS.. The road is a straight stretch for about 2 mile and I was on it.. I hit 110mph by the time I was going past the COW ice cream place and held it there until I needed to take a long sweeping left turning bend at which I backed off the pedal and left it coast back to about 90 around that bend then it was straight stretch for about 3/4 mile where it comes up to the intersection of where the Chestnut Ridge Market used to be and the road starts to go up hill and curves to the right in sweeping uphill bend... I took it back up to 95 on the straight.. backed off and entered that uphill bend at 85-90 I guess.. (memory gets a little fuzzy at this point).. Back end came loose from the road and I hit the 8' embankment head on on my side of the road.. car spun around and started doing flips on the road.. I went up the 10' embankment on the opposite side of the road rolling and clipping a row of trees and a sign off 10' in the air.. car came to rest on the roof with me pinned between the roof and top of the bench seat by my legs.. I was in and out of consiousness so the memories are patchy.. But you never forget the sound of the Jaws Of Life... I'll give you that much... 2 years later I worked with a guy that was driving on the opposite side of the road JUST as I went through this wreck and he saw the entire thing and told me the clear version of the story.. Thats how I know exactly what happened.... Wasn't wearing a seatbelt and I was told if I had been.. I wouldn't be here telling this story because I got thrown clear of where the roof and pillar came in and occupied the drivers position... The steering wheel was imbedded in the seat.. Gotta give thanks to the paramedics and fire dept guys and a few friends that were on the scene in a big hurry. https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ns/worship.gif

and yeah.. took a while to recover from this one.. https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...s/headbang.gif

BTW.. that area where this accident occured was a hotbed for accidents.. and it took a big rig slamming into the Chestnut Ridge Market store that was on the bottom right hand of this turn and killing a few people for them to finally rework the road through there.. Today the store is gone.. The embankment on the inside of the turn I hit head on is gone and has been cut Waay back and flattenend out.. but the opposite embankment still stands and so does the sign where you can see a red 71 chevelle took a chunk out of the corner.. Probably can still see some Cranberry Red paint about 10' up on them trees right there too. https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...mlins/grin.gif