Toss up for me. It's between the 66 Grande I bought when I had just turned 18, or the 65 Canso SD I bought when I was 16. These days I'm still torn but the scales tip slightly to the Grande.
Great story by the way. I love reading old car stories.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
I think everyone has a soft spot for their first car. Mine was my 70 Buick Skylark I purchased at age 17. Many a class was skipped while I scoured the auto wreckers looking for parts. There was no internet So everything had to be purchased locally. I'm sure I've told this story before but I'll repeat it anyway. I paid $700 for it which was about $500 too much. She was pukey brown with a trashed whitish cloth interior.
I would lust over Buick GS Stage 1 articles in "Guide to Musclecars" and "Musclecar Review". Well one day my drunk neighbor backed out of his driveway in his full sized Bronco and nailed the drivers fender. He gave me $400 which allowed me to buy a 70 GS parts car that was a treasure trove of parts (frame was rotted and it was a 350 car -the engine long gone) .
I couldn't wait to bolt on that hood and GS grille! The trunk lid was in better shape too.
The auto wreckers yielded a decent pair of front fenders. I remember this photo like it was yesterday.
I remember hitting "Andy's Auto Wreckers" the day they opened after New Years 1987. They had just received a 71 Skylark with a MINT black interior. I got the front and rear seats, door panels, rear 1/4 trim panels and a pile of other bits for $75. Sure, they weren't buckets, but a split bench was almost as good. The steering wheel and dash pad came out of the GS parts car. A little bit of dye and the dash pad looked like new.
Mechanically I swapped the transmission (and installed a shift kit) in my driveway. I remember ordering a dual exhaust from Canadian tire. I installed that in my driveway too. In fact everything was done without a garage and with hand tools. I remember swapping out a starter on my back in the driveway and doing a water pump replacement in the middle of January. I remember running into the house, running my hands under hot water to "thaw" them and heading back out to work.
I eventually got the car painted Corvette yellow. I scored a nice set of Buick rally wheels from a neighbor and got some nearly new "Mach 60" radials from another neighbor. Life was good!
Sadly the idiots I worked for didn't take enough tax off my pay and I got hit with a $1200 tax bill. I had to sell the car to pay it.
I wonder if it survives? I did a VIN check on it a few years back and it was apparently painted Burgundy and was last registered in Stratford, Ont in 1989.
I wish I had my 63 parisienne convertible . I had cars before this but they never left the farm . The 63 was my first official driven car with a licence around 1971. Had more fun and good times with this one. Wish I had some pictures of it.
I drove a 1960 Morris Minor of my mothers (did my drivers test in it) and a 1961 Pontiac Strato Chief 4 door of my Dads (1965-67) neither were my first love
Bought a "new" 1968 VW in fall 67 was not my first love...
From 1967 to 1979 I had a new car "every year" (every year) non were my first or any loves
My first love was not my car
It was a older friends in University (I was in grade 11-12)
William (Will-Willy) Campbell ordered a new Pontiac
It was my first love... all through 1966 and 1967.... I was able to drive a "clone " of it on the same streets in 2006
In quick succession from age 18 I had a 64 Datsun, 64 Valiant, 68 Mitsubishi, 70 Hillman and 72 Toyota. I was 23 when I bought a used 75 Audi 100GL 1.9 litre 4sp manual. It was seriously uncool, an old man's car, but I loved it! Drove all over eastern Australia in it and kept it for 7 years until it got too badly sun damaged. (Our summers are the problem for car paint and interiors if you don't have a garage, though not as bad as your winters.) The few pics I have are small and blurry so I found some on the net of a similar one - though mine was RHD of course, and had a black interior.
My first car love and only. Had to sell it to go to College.
A '68 Olds 442 convertible, aqua/black ... like this one:
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Prince Edward Island
'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.
No car love here! My dad sells cars so was learned that they come and go at a very young age. If I sold my wagon I might miss it but every thing is for sale at the right price.
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1957 Pathfinder deluxe 4 door wagon 1961 Pontiac Parisienne bubble top Traded for a Harley sorry guys.
In quick succession from age 18 I had a 64 Datsun, 64 Valiant, 68 Mitsubishi, 70 Hillman and 72 Toyota. I was 23 when I bought a used 75 Audi 100GL 1.9 litre 4sp manual. It was seriously uncool, an old man's car, but I loved it! Drove all over eastern Australia in it and kept it for 7 years until it got too badly sun damaged. (Our summers are the problem for car paint and interiors if you don't have a garage, though not as bad as your winters.) The few pics I have are small and blurry so I found some on the net of a similar one - though mine was RHD of course, and had a black interior.
First car was a 1956 Chevy Bel Air sedan with a 235 six and stick on the tree that i bought with money i made working the summer in 1975. I was 17 and very very green. The car ran but was a rusted mess. I never got the car on the road because it was way way over my head. I bought the car on sheer emotion and very little brains. The car came with a trunk and back seat full of extra parts that i used on other 55-56 Chevs i had owned latter and some parts i sold. I sold the car one year later for almost double what i paid and i kept all the extra parts. When i brought the car home i was in shock when my parents did not kill me over my madness. My dad had bought a new 1956 Chev 150 model sedan the last year that he was single. Maybe that was one of the reasons i was not executed for bringing home such nightmare. The other reason i am sure is that, playing with this vintage mess was better than smoking dope, beer drinking and getting girls into trouble. Cheers. George.
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1957 Pontiac Pathfinder Deluxe sedan restored 261 six
1974 Chevrolet Caprice Estate wagon low mileage original 400 V-8
Of the cars i've owned, i always wanted a black Trans Am like what i had so i got lucky there to have had one. Otherwise I still remember when i was 5 or 6 seeing a 73 or 74 Challenger, looked exactly like the Matchbox car i had, red with white vinyl roof, awesome looking car! Admittedly many of the cars i remember and liked most are Mopars. My dad had a 70 Dart, grandpa a 69 Dodge sedan, family friends had a big 73 Newport. I used to always pass a 67 Polara that was buried under stuff in a car port when i walked to school. All you could see were those big tail lights. I think it was a convertible. At this point i just enjoy old cars in general.
still have our families 65 parisienne, and all the 65s and others that came after, only car i ever sold was a 66 sunbeam tiger for 2grand in the early eighties and i regreted it the minute i had the money in my hand and im still pissed and looking for a replacement
Mine would be my 69 2+2 that I got off my aunt in the spring of 77. $400, as it was "done" at 100k according to her.
Bought new in 69 as a company car for Tri-Don industries in Burlington, where my uncle worked. Came through Leggat's on Brant. Car pulled a trailer around the Cabot trail in 70, and blew the 350 climbing a hill. Engine replaced by GM in Sydney.
I was 15, turning 16 in July 77. My dad got everything certified at the local garage, needed an alignment, one wheel cylinder and the headlights aimed.
As soon as I got my beginners, I was on the road, usually with my best friend as my co-pilot.
For two years, drove it everywhere. Added factory pre bent duals for $180. Flipped the breather for more power and had a riot with it. The car ran really nice. I remember the interior as being huge, as I was just a little guy then!
Sold it when I could no longer afford it. Had a big bad fine to pay. Saw it around later, totally trashed. Heard it was crushed.
Still dream about it, the dream has me going to see it in the barn I've stored it in all these years. I wake up pretty dissapointed.
I'd love to own another someday. Never saw a silver on black one with my own eyes again.