Thunder Road

[steve stoneback]

OK, my very first car (when I was in the 9th grade) was a 1930 Model A 2 door sedan...... and no I didn't buy it new.  The gas tank and the dash were one in the same.  A float gauge was visible through a viewing glass in the center.  I started it many times with the hand crank.

Ah, the good old days.

sps

[Ron Hill]

Susan : My first was a Champion 1948 convertable.  Beside the starter under the clutch, don't forget two other neat features :
1.  Hill holder - stop on a hill and as you put in the clutch you tapped on the brake and the car stayed in place (without your foot on the brake).  As you let out the clutch to go (right foot on the accelerator), it released automatically released the brake!!
2. Overdrive (4th gear) - the best part of the overdrive was that shifting from 1st to 2nd all you needed  to do was let off of the accelerator and shift without using the clutch.  Same with 2nd into 3rd. 

[Ken Heyman]

Ron---almost as driver friendly as the new "high tech" Toyotas' that make independent decisions regarding acceleration and braking.

Ken

[Tom Clay]

Ron.....My first car was a 1955 Studebaker Champion, flathead 6, it also had the hill holder, a great feature. Another thing that my Studebaker had and was leading edge back in the day was electric windshield wipers....2 speed no less. Do you all remember the vacuum wipers...LOL.

I still miss this car......Lots of Chrome, the entire front end.

[horsemel]

Ken, nice to hear that somebody else owned a Simca, or even heard of them.  Mine was black.  You are right about 4 on the column.  Never saw it anywhere else.  The defroster and heater were so bad that I had to drive to school in the winter with the window down so I could see where I was going.  My face thawed out by the end of the school day.  It also had two horns, a city horn and a country horn.  Some kind of French thing I guess.  Anyway, she topped out at 50 mph (sounded like she would blow up but never did) and was almost as good as a 4wd SUV in snow.
Mark Mueller

[Mert Gollaher]

Be thankful you didn't start driving in '79 when I had the choice of an anemic Mustang II (the weakest point in the breed) or a VW Rabbit.  Thankfully, I was able to maneuver into a early 80's RX-7 after a few years - I still miss that basketball-sized rotary.  So where can I find a 40+ year old pony car?
 

[Rick Johnson]

Mine was a 1956 MGA and a 1973 Chevy Vega wagon to haul parts for the MG to try and keep it running on the weekends.  If you have owned a British sports car, you will know that they are never your only vehicle.  Wish I had never sold the MG.

Cheers,

Rick

[Bill Asbury]

Owned several MGs and Jags, Rick, so am familiar with the associated maintenance gremlins.  Eventually graduated to a Miata, the modern MG w/o the reliability problems.
My first car at age 16 was a 39 Chevy willed to me by my grandfather for milking his cows and doing other chores around the farm during his terminal illness.  He also willed me one of his cows, a nice little Jersey.
Think spring!
Bill