HIGH SCHOOL CARS WHAT DID YOU HAVE

Hello

Don't know if this in the right place sorry if it isn't.

Just thought it would be fun to hear about some of the cars people here had in high school.

what did it cost?

did you race it, cruise the boulevard, etc?


UPDATED 2/3/2013

I appreciate everyone that has taken the time to view this post and also any stories or photos that anyone has to contribute.

I am going to expand this topic a bit just to see where it goes and provide for everyone, car owner or not, to participate

This is an opportunity for everyone to talk about what they owned and actually did with their cars instead of simply asking how to fix them. The fun is in the driving experience.

Photos not required, and even if you didn’t have a car at that time you are welcome to share whatever experiences you had involving cars and cruising with friends during that time etc. This way everyone can participate and no one will feel left out, world wide responses welcome and encouraged.


RE MY CARS

In case one is wondering why i did not post my cars at first the answer is simple. First I did not want anyone to think I was using this topic as a forum just to display my personal wares, however meager they actually are but the biggest reason is simply because it was 3 am when I posted the topic on a whim and my other half said, “ok you’re done now it’s time to sleep”, and I realized a long time ago just like many other guys unfortunately have, that in the end, I do not wear the pants in the family no matter how much I lie to my friends and tell them I do.

Since it has been suggested i do post them I have done so below. Don't laugh too hard at some of them, at least they got me around for a while. lol


Thanks  

Hi. Fun question but you ought to offer up your own info first.

Freshman: '66 Tempest Sprint6. Dollar a pound new (around 3,300), sold for 600. Yes, yes, and yes.



Sophmore: '75 Nova hatchback, 350 4bbl. yes yes yes. Bought for 900, sold for 800.



Junior: '68 Malibu, 307 3 on tree. yes yes yes. Bought for 800, wrecked and scrapped for $80.



Senior: '72 Chevelle SS, 402. yes yes yes. Bought for 900, sold for 6 or 7.

 

My first car was a '50 Mercury.,. the pic is NOT of my car, but mine was very similar.
Dummy tear drop spots, Royal Lancer hub caps, 54 Chevy grille, lake pipes, same color blue, shaved hood/trunk lid and fender skirts.
I paid $150 for it with a blown OD 3 spd tranny.,. got that fixed and 5 or 6 months later the old 249 flat head blew a rod out the side.
My dad was an aircraft mechanic in the war and his work buddy had an Oldsmobile, that recently had burned to the ground.,. the engine was a 324 with a 4 spd Hydramatic.
It was a snug fit, but my dad made everything work.,. racing had started for me and I could do 0 to 60 in less than 10 seconds, with Bucron tires.
In the early 60's that was moving, for a young kid.



 
When The Flag Drops,,,



The Bull Chit Stops,,,


P. Engineer, Engine Builder

My first car was a 65 comet caliente . It had a 289 engine and a C4 trans .I went through 2 engines and 3 transmissions .I payed $350 dollars for it . I think it looks a little like a 65 GTO ? I got my 69 Judge 2 years later.I put hijackers on it and it would bounce all the way down to the shore 60 miles away ! The cops would stop you and measure the back of your car to see it it was legal ! LOL  

Maybe I'm not old enough to show you such nice cars.. but I have a pic of my 1st and 2nd car together.

-click me-



blue = Seat Toledo V5 2000 (bought 2001)
red = Chevy Camaro Z28 1978 (bought 2003)

The blue car was soon replaced with this BMW 330i SMG:

-click me-

 

My first car was a 61 bonniville convertible. Paid 175.00 for it in 65. Had a 389 auto the grease was so thick on the motor you couldn't see the intake manifold. The ball joints were worn so bad my dad wouldn't let me drive it until I replaced them. Oh and when I went to look at it and opened the door the water ran out. The top drains were plugged with pine needles. I was 15 at the time. My dad wanted me to get a model A. But we never found one he thought was good enough to buy. In my junior year I bought a 65 Buick skylark convertible, it was nice new paint ect.. Paid 600.00 for it. Kept the bonne about five or so years as a back-up. Put a 421 Muncie in it. Rolled the Buick broke it in half in the middle what a ride that was! A little too fast on the twistys.  
Drive it before your dead!

Jim, does this look familiar.





 
When The Flag Drops,,,



The Bull Chit Stops,,,


P. Engineer, Engine Builder

Here's my first ride, 1980 Camaro Berlinetta, originally a 267/th350/2.56. Went through many engine/trans combos. This pic shows the final product after my restification with a 9:1 355/th350/3.42 just before I sold it to pay for baby stuff when we were expecting our oldest son.  


This pic is virtually identical to how it looked when I bought it except it had some cheap chrome wheels on it.
 
A little help... 'cause we don't all have to learn the hard way!

Thanks everyone for your posts, lot’s of cool cars and great stories so far.

Gtojack nice car I have had several 64 calientes, i love those things had many gabriel highjacker cars too, think we all know what you mean. the biggest thing here was excessive noise tickets and random headlight adjustment checks. this gave the cops a reason to check for other things and issue more tickets. lol  

formulaejim, I just read your post on inline six conversion. you are a naughty person puttin Z28 motors in your sleeper firebird. how many people did you sucker into racing what they thought would be a much slower car than the expected?

thanks everyone1  

Here’s my list of my transportation just before and just after high school. I had forgotten half this stuff till I started thinkin about it again. Sorry i got carried away.

1967 MUSTANG COUPE GREEN/GREEN 289 2V – I was 12, went to the dealer with my parents to get their new car, my almost talked my dad into buying a left over 1966 shelby 4 speed. Mom said we can’t have it because it was a manual which she couldn’t drive and it had no ac dang it, so they got a new 67 mustang instead.

SUNBEAM ALPINE – saw it in a neighborhood driveway when I was 15. It was dead, he wanted $50.00. asked my mom for the money she said ok but I had to do a bunch of additional chores for it. Mom was very cool dad was not. Brought it home and tried to fix it but didn’t quite know or have the money too think I sold it for $25.00

1967 PLYMOUTH BELVEDERE 318 Y BLOCK rare now – I was 15 and would would sneak my moms keys out occasionally after school while she was sleeping and drive it too fast around the neighborhood. It was a column shift auto but I would pretend it was a manual to try and impress the neighbor kids by starting in low then shifting to neutral then drop it into second and accelerate again. tried to make sure they were watching. moron.

3 HP TACO MINI BIKE – Still 15 and mom bought me a new mini bike for Christmas from the go cart track I used to go to. It costs $50.00 and needed assembly. Pissed my my dad off big time. I assembled it Christmas morning and rode it in the yard. He would put me on restriction all the time for riding it on the street. The cops chased me a lot and I would ditch them by diving into narrow passage ways etc. They gave me a ticket when they finally caught me and my dad made me sell it.

1968 RAMBLER SST – My friends brother would let me drive it in the church parking lot with him sitting shotgun.

1969 MERCURY MONTEGO – went with my parents to the dealer looking for cars, I loved to do that every 2 years or so. This time they looked at a left over 1968 skylark 455 but bought the mercury instead. It had a 4v Cleveland. My dad got a speeding ticket once and when he went to court he said he wasn’t trying to speed but it ran so smooth he didn’t realize how fast he was going. The judge had just coincidentally recently bought the exact same car and said he had the same problem. Verdict not guilty. Unbelievable.  

MUSTANG AND MERCURY – finally got my license and was officially legal. YEAH, my dad would let me take one of the two cars to school or on Friday night once in a while. He would always install the old man curb feelers on the cars so I would go around the corner and remove them before I went to school etc so I wouldn’t feel so stupid driving a car with them on.

1964 PONTIAC LE LEMANS 389 4V BUCKETS 4 SPEED – yeah they finally buy me my very own car. I saw the ad in the paper and told them this is what I wanted. It was $750.00 so my dad called the guy and asked him if he would consider a nice shotgun he had as partial trade since we really didn’t have much money and the guy said sure so we got there, it was all primer gray but I didn’t care it was the coolest thing I had ever seen. My dad paid $500.00 plus the shotgun and we drove home. I caused a LOT of ruccus in that thing. It also kept breaking trannies from wheel hop cause I was too stupid to back off the throttle. Told my dad the trans just went out for no reason. After replacing it twice I sold it. I knew it was rare but never realized how rare it was untill much later.

1968 HONDA CL 350 – Bought this after selling my beloved Pontiac, mom was not happy and worried to death. my best friend wrecked his and was in the hospital with his legs grafted together for many months. I eventually sold it.

1964 RAMBLER – given to me by my sister’s boyfriend, after a month or so it developed a nasty rod knock on the way to their house in Huntington beach, left it in her driveway and he gave me a ride home.

1964 RAMBLER – bought it for $50.00 it was a 3 on the tree. The color was salmon [ok it was heavy pink like pepto bismol] with grey accents and a grey cloth interior. It was virtually mint and a beautiful car but alas it was still pink, however the price was right and beggars can’t be choosers. Drove it for a while then sold it. Loved that car.

1966 MUSTANG V8 - drove it off road to my sisters in sage and off road accidentally in mexico. We survived. Sold it to my sister for $500.00 without touching it.

1968 TOWN AND COUNTRY WAGON – bought this right after graduation, nice car, ate gas, plus it wasn’t cool or convenient for dating chicks so I sold it.

1973 DODGE VAN – OH YEAH, now were talkin, I raced motocross by then so I made a dual purpose pimp out. Built a nice orange tile counter top with sink and 12 volt fridge and a lined the rest with bright orange crushed velvet. Made a removable bed and floor. Also installed a Concord 200 watt battery draining stereo, it ate so much power the lights would dim at night when the base notes played while at idle. If that van could talk I’d either be married or in jail or both  

This is a short story about my friends car in high school.

It was 11th grade and one of my friends had a 1969 camaro that his dad built for him. It was lowered and stretched in front about 12 inches, yes it was stretched. It had a tilt forward fiberglass front clip a polished monster big block maybe 700 hp and 18” or 24” racing meats on the back that fit inside the rear quarters because it was tubbed and the axle housing was narrowed to about just 30”. The inside edges of the tires were only about 24" apart when you looked at them under the car. Everything was ultra ultra high end. The color was bright copper. He got it when for his 16th birthday! No one ever saw him get on it, he wasn’t afraid just smart. No one was dumb enough to race him anyway! That car would cost well over $100k to build today, that’s like a ton of money back then think about it.No one knew what his dad for work did and he never really said.

My friends name was Brian Coin. He was a straight A student with short hair and a very respectful attitude. Let’s say I got straight grades too [maybe not A’s exactly] and my hair was a little longer and I was maybe just a bit more trouble but for some bizarre reason we had great times talkin to each other and he invited me to the river to see him there which I did! I got on the honor role in 12th grade just to show my teachers I could do it.

BRIAN’S SISTER -  Brian had a beautiful sister, unfortunately she had just a right arm due to a birth defect. Straight a student, 17 years old and had a mint 1969 4 speed Z28. What’s going on with this family? Unlike Brian she would occasionally race some of the stupider guys around and kick their ____, but she’d only tell me if I asked, she wasn’t really a braggar, but sure was a real sweetheart. For some strange reason she liked me too. I was actually super nice to my friends and especially the girls. I was just a bit of a trouble maker and kinda known for being a partier. I was happy and fortunate to have friends from the other side of the tracks like that, that didn’t care.  

Boy tuff the top picture is the correct color. Kind of a cream color. It had the wonder bar radio, and it worked great. Had that three color leather interior. Brown tan and cream. I took the front seat cover off and sewed the seams up about three times,finally used fishing line and it never came apart again. I forgot to tell ya the 421 had tripower too!  The motor would torque up and floor the gas and you just had to ride her out till it fell back in. I put a chain on it cause it just kept breaking left motor mounts. When they opened up the freeway here I got on and held it to the floor for about two miles. Watched the gas gauge go down a quarter of a tank. At 16c a gallon just plain fun.                                         468- those over head cam birds had really cool factory traction bars and all synchro three speeds with a high revving 302 did they fly. The first motor I bought from a guy that worked at the wrecking yard. He put in his wife's station wagon but she didn't like the ruff idle. It was out behind his shed in a mud puddle sitting on the stick flywheel. 50 bucks. Wow what a surprise motor that was.  
Drive it before your dead!

Great idea for a topic!

I was bit by the Pontiac bug early.  The first car I ever really noticed was a 69 GTO.  My dad was working as a wrench at Luken's Pontiac in La Mesa CA.  One weekend he brought home a new 69 GTO demonstrator.  Vedoro green, power windows, hidden headlights, and the his and hers shifter.  Oh, did I mention it was a vert?  I was in LOVE!  At 6 years old thats how it started.

My first car almost wasn't a Pontiac.  I had been looking for a 69 Firebird and couldn't find one I wanted (had to have a 400).  A guy I knew a block away was selling his 70 GS.  Triple black, 455 stage 1, 4 speed with a bench seat and it was in real nice shape.  The day after we agreed on a price I pulled up at his house and was horrified.  The car had been totaled the night before by a drunk driver that had run down the driver side while it was parked on the street.  Time to go shopping again.

A month later I found the car.  69 Firebird 400.  PS/PDB, 98,000 miles, Custom Interior (ugly gold).  The paint was oxidized and it had a t400 instead of a 4 speed but she was mine!

I had great fun with this car.  A little street racing and what a great way to get to the beach.  In case the pic doesn't work you can see it here.


 

my dad was a pontiac man so i did not have a chance. i think i came home in a 68 catwhen i was brand new. our first car after my dad past away was a 69 grand prix in 1983. i'm going to take it for a ride tomorrow and have some fun! the next car was a 1976 formula 400 carousel red. out run the local pd when i was 15 2 weeks befor i turned 16. the cop pulled me over that first friday night but he was cool and tolled me if i ever found out who was driving to let him know and let me go! i drove the car for about 10 years off and on. 4 motors, 2 trannys, 3 rear ends, and 2 paint jobs, a lot of cruzin and street racing.

in 1988 i bought a 1972 chevy 1/2 ton 2wd pickup med olive green and white, 350/350 with air. rebuilt the 350 then a paint job. later i got power hungry next was a 383 with 3.73 gears. it would run with my friends 86 automatic mustang gt.

i would race anything with wheels, the most fun i had beatin on v8s was with a friends 79 mustang II 4cyl 4 spd. 4500 side step the clutch and never let off the gas! glad he was drivin when the clutch blew. i did help install a new clutch.

i think back on all the good times and livin in a small town , partys at the river,out in hay fields, sitin in the local store parking lot drinkin and chasin pretty girls! wouldn't trade it for a million bucks!  
76 455/4spd TRANS AM
69 GRAND PRIX 406/5SPD

I remember back in High School I bought my first car, I was soooo kool, it was a Pontiac Lemans 2 door with a 350 and a TH350, I paid $600 for her and it was great, I left smoke screens everywhere, in the 70's we still had some car hops left and we would hang out and race behind the airport, My buddy in school had a 69 GTO, no one could get em at all.

I blew the trannie racing a Nova one night Sucked badd, next day I sold her and got me my only Dodge A Charger wrapped that around a pole, too much power LOL

Back to Pontiac I then bought a 79 Trans Am 400, smokey and the Bandit never went back to Dodge.