RKD in OKC

My Dad made me pay for my first car. However he did help me find a nice old huge Ford station wagon that I only had to pay $1.00 for then barely made it to the Ford garage and pay $200 to get the transmission fixed. There wasn't one body panel that wasn't dented and the dark green paint was coming off making it look cammo with both rust and gray primer. At first I was pissed because all my upper class friends had cool muscle cars. I soon found my car was the one everyone wanted to take because it would fit 12.

It was a tank and easily survived a couple of accidents. Some stupid chick ran a red light in her cool little Toyota and broad sided my tank. Totaled her car, couldn't tell the difference from all the previous dents in mine. Her dad called and asked if he could meet me because he couldn't image what kind of kid didn't care if his car was crunched. After meeting me and seeing he car he said that was a great first car and he was going to find a tank like that for his girls. The other wreck I had I hit a parked car in a residential neighborhood. My attention was drawn across the street to the lady dancing naked on her front porch. Teenage brain went WHAT?! Big double take, then BANG!

The second car I got was a 71 Plymouth Satelite Sebring Plus. Muscle car like the 'Cuda and Road Runner. Got it aftre both saving a LOT of money for car and college, and after I was familiar enough with driving to stop having accidents. Not enough to quit being stupid, just enough to quit having accidents.

anonymousagain

...picked up The Blue Car for my son just before his 17th b-day. IMHO, my son drives well...but, he still had to go through the typical teen stupidity, so we made 3 stipulations:
1) not his DD ('83 Toy pickup he'd been driving was still to be his main transportation)
2) he works on it, with Dad assisting. No interest in wrenching, would mean no interest in owning
3) No tickets, period. Just one try (roll a stop sign, 5mph over, whatever) is all you get

It worked for us.

Granted, I made it a point to spend some time driving with him in performance situations (slides, over braking, snow in our SUV), and he participated in the DriversEdge program with hands on evasive maneuvers and education.

I would NOT have done it if The Blue Car was a 5-sp, because "stomp and dump" is too much temptation around peers. He realized quickly that smooth, well handling and looks were it's strong point and not 0-60.

Get him a basic DD and some seat time, before considering cutting him loose to see how fast he can make your '83 go.

Good luck!

Canuck928

My first car when i was 16 and very responsible for my age was a '67 Camaro RS/SS....i am VERY lucky to still be alive today,a few of my high school friends were not so lucky...'nuff said.

jeff spahn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDnBqBNpA64&feature=fvw

Landseer

Too powerful. But more importantly too affluent looking.

ZW 944

When I was still 16, I bought myself a 944 automatic, fixed it up, and love it to this day. Its got ABS, and can outbrake many new cars, yet is still as slow as heck. I've never had any trouble with it and never got into any trouble with it. its a great first car.

hacker-pschorr

Hey, I like those!!!

It's a good ugly......

M. Requin

I think a Civic is a good choice- my wife is on her fifth (Civic, that is...) and an additional benefit to those you mentioned is that they really make you want a better car... Great engines, but IMHO bad handling, and really bad seats (although I do like the eyebrow speedo . And apologies if my first reply was too preachy, I get a bit nutty on this topic.

pcar928fan

My dad was of the mind, and I agree with him, that NOT having room for 4 or 5 other "friends" in your car distracting you and goading you to do things you should is the best way... I always had smaller cars. '77 Honda Civic and then a tin can of a car an '80 Triumph Spitfire 1500 that I bought with my own money and cared for like it was a living child! Good thing I was never in anything other than a VERY, VERY minor fender bender with the Spitfire because it would have folded up!

That said, I like the idea of low power, small, STRONG cars for new driver and concur that the 944 or 924S would be a PERFECT place to start! Yes, fairly expensive to maintain if you have others doing all the work for you, but STRONG, nimble and sexy for sure! I think a well sorted 944/24S would be the PERFECT starter car! MAYBE a '78-'82 AUTOMATIC 928, but probably not a 5spd...but maybe even a 5spd. Hell they only have 220HP...you can't hardly buy a new car today that doesn't have 200HP and probably weighs less and has better gearing and is faster...probably not safer or more sexy though!

Calgary Ole

I had the ultimate first time car,VW Bug. My Dad said that if I could learn to drive that car in our northern Alberta winters, I could drive anything. The co-pilot had the job of scraping the frost off the inside of the windshield so I could see. The clutch cable would break regularily and I would drive it for days until I could get a new one to put in.(which I could do in about 30 min)

G Man

Get him an old school VW Bug. Hey, it's German.

blown 87

They are cheap and hard to break, got to stand by the ugly part though, I drove one for many years, never once gave it a bath.

F451

Me too.

Ha ha...did that too on trips up to Saranac Lake.

Yep. Thread it through...

My brother's Super Beetle broke the throttle cable almost stranding us off the New Jersey Turnpike in Secaucus. Sunday afternoon. Pre-cell phones.

Two hi-top sneaker shoe laces tied together, one end tied to the throttle lever off the carb. Threaded the lace through the vents on the hood, around the side of the car and into the cabin through the vent window.

Vroom, vroom! Worked like a charm.

Rolling down the turnpike my brother turns to me and says "cruise control", and casually wraps the shoe lace around the vent window **** and lets go.

The bug cruised. We were cracking up.

F451

And oh. Give him the car.

dprantl

Volvo 245, haha. 0 - 60 = never Perfect car for a male teenager.

Dan
'91 928GT S/C 475hp/460lb.ft