If it was painted gold with a moon roof, then we are like car cousins! That was my first car, too!
In the interest of setting the record straight, the Fiat was my first car. Someone forgot to check who was logged into the computer at home 
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Typo Knig’s first car wasn’t a whole lot better: an AMC Hornet, of similar vintage. One time, he was on a 500+ mile drive in June, and had to run the heat the entire time to vent heat from some faulty part in the engine. Since we live in the Northern hemisphere, this was not a fun drive.
'65 Buick Wildcat, purchased for $350 in 1973. Much like the one lin the lead photo here, except for being a four-door and a sort of brownish-gold with a white top. Oh, and wearing four snow tires, and with the area around the windshield rusted out to the point where it rained inside just as hard as it did out. I can’t account for how it never occurred to me to slather some Bondo around to cut down on the leaks, but there it is.
Despite looking like the quintessential old-man’s car, that thing had some serious poke, what with its 401-cubic-inch, 325-HP V8 motor. With gasoline 29 cents a gallon at the time (well at least until that summer, when the firs oil shock hit), I could have a sweet time storming up and down the road despite earning minimum wage. To this day it remains the most powerful vehicle I’ve ever owned. Well, it would, wouldn’t it, since most of those I’ve had since have been been four-cylinder econocars.
Whoops, screwed up the link:
My first car was a 1957 Chevrolet BelAir 2 door hardtop exactly like this one, except that mine had chrome wheels on it. I REALLY wish I still had that car.
I bought my first car this year on Jan 2nd. Cute little black Protege5. That picture isn’t of my car, but the same model. T’is cute and zippy, but plenty of room in the back to haul stuff. Plus, I snagged a model with a sunroof, leather seats, and cruise control for the same price as one sans those options.
First car: 1974 Dodge Charger bought in 1980.
Favorite car: 1987 Chrysler Conquest TSi - when it ran.
Wow, everyone here had actual cars for their firsts.
The first vehicle I ever owned was given to me by a friend of the family and I almost wished he hadn’t. It was a 1979 Dodge workvan that used to be a Sears home repair van. I know this because you could still see the Sears logo underneath the white primer our friend had painted over it. It had a v8 and sucked down gas at an amazing rate. It died a somewhat noble death in Reno (about 45 minutes away from where I live) when it’s drive shaft fell off (luckily I wasn’t going too fast) and the rear differential locked up. We towed it, albiet a bit bumpily, with my father’s 1984 Econoline, down the street, out of the way, and gave the title to a salvage company. tears I miss that thing.
The first car I actually bought is the one I’m driving now. It’s a 1990 Mitsubishi Mirage hatchback (looks just like the 1990 Dodge Colt; Mitsubishi, I believe, made the Colt for Dodge) 4-cylinder. I actually love this car a lot, even though it’s a POS, because it got me all the way from PA to Nevada and only broke down once (and that’s when I learned how to replace an alternator, in lovely Elko, Nevada).
~Tasha
My first car was a 1983 Mini Metro 1.0 It looked like an MG Metro with all the bodykit and interior so it was pretty cool. My grandd brought it to work for me to check out and I had a drive round the car park; when I got back in after about 2 minutes driving I was told I would have to stay back for 15 minutes to make up the time I spent out there!!
I blew the engine up on the way back from the cinema doing 95 mph with 6 people (including me) in it. My grandad bailed me out by fitting a new one in my dad’s garage. He’s ace.
A 1968 Pontiac Catalina, bought in 1970 with my sixteen year old hard earned cash. Dang thing was a tank! It looked just like the picture. I kept that car for three years and then let my next to oldest brother talk me into selling it and buying his 1972 Mercury Comet that tried to kill me. I hated that car.
My first car was also a Spitfire, circa 1974. I got in in 1996 and restored it with my dad. About $10K later the thing was about 70% reliable. It straded me regularly, despite being completely rebuilt (the engine was even re-built professionally.) It was cute, but the worst car I have ever owned. It was also so small I could have easily driven under semi-truck trailers.
A few years ago I saw a book in Barnes and Noble of the worst cars ever made. The centerfold? Triumph Spitfire. 
pinkfreud, I love your beetle! That’s awesome that you still have it.
Mine was a 5-year-old Nissan Sunny 1.3 four-door saloon, white, with about 64k on the clock. I doubled that mileage in the five years I had it, and it once hauled five adults off to France for a week, and it hardly ever needed a thing doing to it. When I sold it on it was developing some minor gearbox problems that could probably have been fixed for not much money, and the only other fault it ever had that wasn’t strictly my own fault was that the clock gave up telling the time after about three or four months.
Curiously, I could parallel-park that sucker better than any other car I’ve ever owned. And I could bump-start it single-handed (and did at least twice, once in an underground car-park on the flat).
Dad tells us tales of riveting a plate of steel under the car to plug the hole through which you could see the road underneath :eek:
He traded up from an 1100 to a 1300 (the “Big Block” Spitfire at the time 
) when someone cracked the one piece engine cover. He repaired the damage with filler himself and used the insurance money to trade up a model.
My Dad did have some cool cars though, a Fiat 124 Sport and a rustproofed Lancia Beta Coupe. They look great, pity he mucks about in a SAAB diesel these days 