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What Was Your First Ride?

Coach Aldair

Since it’s October, let’s take a little trip down memory lane...

What was your first car or motorcycle? Bonus points if it was a little spooky, beat-up, or held together by sheer determination. 😸

Did you love it, hate it, or somehow manage to keep it running forever?

And more importantly, was it a spooky nightmare for your budget at the time? 🎃💸 Let us know!

I’ll go first! Mine was a blue 1986 Porsche 944. Definitely a fun ride, but maybe a little too much for my budget at times! 😆👻

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Comments

Coach Kristina

My first car was a Honda Civic. The most unique thing about it was its 4-wheel-drive feature. When there was snow on the ground (or expected), Mom would borrow the car to drive to/from work, since the 4-wheel-drive made her feel safer.

The car was reliable and had good gas mileage, so it wasn't a nightmare for my wallet. It served me well for over a decade. The only reason I had to replace it was that something finally broke that couldn't be replaced. The necessary part simply wasn't being produced anymore, and no suitable used parts were available.

DryHeat

My first car was a 1953 Ford Fordor (yes, that's how they spelled it) with a 3-on-the-column stick shift.

I bought it in 1966 for $125 from friend who swore that he had paid $150 (when in fact he had paid $110). This is the same friend who told me later in life that his philosophy was "Friends will let you down, girls will let you down, family will let you down. But money… money never lets you down."

The old Ford ran fine once it got started, but in the winter I had to put blankets on the hood and a light bulb on the valve cover to keep it warm enough to start. That was important, because for a while when I was a senior in high school, I had the only running car in the family.

Flopbot

1986 Mercury Grand Marquis. At first, I wasn't too fond of it, but I came to love that car. It was like driving your favorite living room counch down the road and the trunk was a bottomless pit. Once it carried 8 or 9 people sort-a comfortably to school after a morning swim practice. And, those middle column carriage lights gave it a refined aire as it sauntered down the road; because flying down the road was too unrefined…and terrifying.

I miss that car, and keep the VIN in hopes of finding it again someday.

UrsulaA

My first ride was a 1992 Chevrolet Beretta acquired in auction. I was a broke college student and shared the car with my mother. She lived with me during my 4 years of college off campus.

SRC54

I have debated what to write here for about a week. I barely got to go to university because of finances, and this was in the 70s where one could attend Alabama for about $1500 per year, and that's everything. But my parents lived over an hour away so I either had to get a ride somehow or take a bus home, and even that was still 20 min away. I didn't go much, maybe 3x a semester not counting Christmas. I depended on my roommates for rides to other places. Of course, I mainly walked. I also fixed up two old bicycles but both ended up stolen.

Near the start of my junior year, I managed to start funding myself and paid for everything the final five years with work study, odd jobs and a loan for summer study in Spain my first year in grad school. So when I learned my parents were going to sell the timber on our land (finally), I started lobbying for a car but it didn't seem that it was going to happen. But my father came through for me and I ended up with a 1974 AMC Gremlin. Yep, they were inexpensive. Yeah, I loved it; many people said it was a funny name and a funny car but it was perfect for me and I kept it until I started my first job and only gave it up reluctantly because my mother insisted I take her car and give this one to my older brother. So what choice did I have? They had given it to me. I ended up with a newer car but never meant the same.

Now for the rest of the story. At the beginning of that summer a 1964 Ford Falcon landed in my hands. It was never mine but I requisitioned it somehow. I drove that until I got my own car. It burned oil (I kept extra quarts in the car at all times) and had a broken taillight. I drove it all over and even once drove it to Mobile and back. I was young and gloried in my independence.

My memory of all of this is rather vague. I think the Falcon belonged to my eldest brother who let me drive it so he wouldn't have to come get me on Fridays when I would stay overnight until I got the rest of the way home and then back on Sunday so he could drop me off in Tuscaloosa at 6am Monday morning when he went into work. I think I was willing to buy the Falcon but my mother relented and let my father get me the Gremlin. It was a tawny old gold color with a dark brown stripe down the side. (Picture below was the closest I could find; this one is way too orangey and no Crimson Tider would have that).

Anyhow, all my machinations paid off and I got my car and pretty much left my parents alone ever after when it came to money.

PS. My parents later complimented me on my choice of cars saying it was really a tough car because it took my brother over a year of his driving to destroy it. RIP, old friend.