Had one as my second car. Used to get teased about it being an old man’s car till I opened up the 4 barrel.

Those days pushed you to buy the undercoating.

Name one car that didn’t rust out in rust belt?

My 5th car was old man’s car that had lumber yard business in my home town. In 72 I brought it for 450 bucks, not rust spot or scratch on it. 64 Olds Starfire.

I had a 57 Chev 2-door hardtop with a V-8 and stick. I wish that I still had it. Nice combination of size (loved REAL bumpers) and speed and cornering.

I had a Spitfire. It always broken. Even if I drove through a large puddle. Thank those Lucas electrical components.

It was 1965, I just graduated from HS and paid $400 out of my bank account for a "modified" 1955 chevy 2 door. It began life as a 6 cylinder with 3 on the column but when I got it, it had an ~340 hp 327, hurst shifter stuck through the floorboards and a 455 posi rear and a cheap coat of burgundy paint and cut out rear wheel wells. It went like hell leaving two lines of rubber in 3rd gear. But only last about 6 mo. Can't imagine why.

56 Chev 2 door Hardtop Bel Air Matador Red. Most of us wish we still had our first car no doubt.

https://images.classic.com/vehicles/...h=676&fit=crop

I should add, my first NEW car was a '66 Mustang coupe, Signal Flare Red, black vinyl top, 289, 3 speed C4. I eventually had 10 more over the years, still have 2, a 2012 convertible, and a '66 fastback (restomod).

Wish the pics would come up!

My other half loved your car!

My first car was a 1949 Studebaker 2 door. It was midnight Blue which was very important now in my mind's eye. I liked the way the locks on the door sounded when they were shut - pure music to my ears. It had a lot of use on it and it cost $50. I had just graduated HS. It had the coolest small 6 cylinder flattop engine. It went a very long time between gas stations. It needed a new clutch and some work on its front wishbone spring (I think that's what they were called). Very old automotive technology. My Father did most of the work because he knew much more about car repair than I did - I did some - the brainless work. Besides being blue and easy on gas, the Studebaker had one other cool redeeming value. It had a HILL HOLD. Which was high tech for those days and important living in a hilly area of the world. If you were stopped on a steep hill at a stop sign or stop light and there was a car right stopped right behind you. With a standard clutch set-up, you had to perform a VERY coordinated maneuver. You had to remove you right foot off of the brake and hit the accelerator pedal hard, but not too hard and let out the clutch easy, but NOT too easy - or else you would stall the engine. Which would bring out great qualities of laughter if you had some male friends in your car. With your Father or girl friends, it was the ultimate embarrassment. Worst case scenario, you drifted backwards and banged into the bumper of the cars behind you. Then, things could get HAIRY (as they used to say - for some stupid reason). ......Studebaker had a a solution for that (before automatic transmissions were popular). It was called a HILL HOLD. It used a level that held the cars brake fluid on. So that the driver could take his foot off of the brake pedal when stopped on a hill. Then, say, when the light changed to Green the driver just had to apply gas and let out the clutch pedal. The clutch pedal action released the brake fluid pressure and the car would climb the hill. Easy peasy. Of course, due to more women driving and buying automatic transmissions, the hill hold went the way of the DODO bird. And now you know, the REST of the story.

Those hill holds are still popular in Europe. I wish my Triumph Herald 4-speed had one when I had it in Pittsburgh.

I must have a picture once, many moves ago, but no more. It looked like this '67 Mustang, although that one's missing the "289", so it's 6 banger. Mine was a 289 V8 two-barrel with 3 on the floor.

I wanted a 'Vette but my dad warned me I couldn't afford the insurance. So he co-signed a $1095 note for a 3-year-old Mustang, instead. Between 29 cent gas, the $50/mo payment, and $10/mo insurance, there wasn't much left over for dates, on a burger-flipper salary. But who needs girls when you're in love with a car?

The previous owner had souped it up a bit, but restored the original 2-barrel carb when he sold it. It had a mild cam upgrade that made it rock irresistibly when it idled, like a real hot-rod, and dual-exhaust with glasspacks that made the most beautiful music. So cool! I clocked it once at under 9 seconds 0-60! (about what my Explorer does today)

A buddy I worked with at the Burger King had a '65 high-performance Mustang with a four-barrel Holley and four on the floor. So we got off at 4:00am one morning and headed for the deserted Skelly Bypass in Tulsa (I-44) , to see if a cam beats a four-barrel.

I was actually inching away from him, but looked down and realized I was doing 60 in 1st gear. The only way I was going to pull this off was to leave my foot on the floor and do a perfect power-shift into 2nd. It came out less than perfect. The clutch locked up, seized the engine, and the next thing I know, I'm spinning out down the freeway. But I lucked out, no crash, and it finally came to a stop in the middle of the road. The clutch was a mess, but I got it started and hobbled home in 1st gear.

A few months later, I had to sell the car and the guy with the '65 was still impressed that I almost beat him. He wanted it, so I let him have it for the payoff. Two months later, he blew the engine in another dumb race, and wound up junking it. I think that's probably why most of the old Mustangs you see today are 6-bangers.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a8/e6...8fbd45f497.jpg

Interesting about hill-holds in Europe. I believe that since gasoline costs more in Europe and since automatic transmissions are about 3% less efficient than manual transmissions, that could explain why auto transmissions are avoided there.