First Car Driven

[marco_s]

1973 Super beetle
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Marco S.

[Syberia]

2002 Toyota Corolla (mom's)
1969 VW Bug
1994 Ford Thunderbird
1996 Honda Accord
2002 Toyota Corolla (again, same one)
2000 Chevy Cavalier

[DarinNDebra1961VW]

My Grandfather had an old red 66 beetle that had positively seen its better days... He was a security guard at a local generating plant...i think he bought the old car for like 200 buck...and he drove it for 8 years or so. I remember when I was 12 he'd let me get behind the wheel....He'd let me drive him up to city hall to pay his water bill....or drive him up to the gas station where he'd fill the thing up "For the Month" for about 4 bucks........ I have so many fond memories of this.

He eventually gave me the old car when he retired...Even though the little car was really too far gone to do anything with, it got me started on a life long love affair with the older VW's....If he could only see some of the things Ive done with them since then. I will always remember the fun I had in the old car.......

He passed away about 14 years ago.........but I still cherish the memories of him teaching me how to drive in that old car.....
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It's better to remain silient and thought a fool, than to open ones mouth and remove all doubt!!!!

[PatterBon]

[f1gopedder]

my first car was my 1978 vw sandrail that my dad bought for me when i was 11 and my first car with my license is my 2004 ford f-150.

[cleigh]

“THE CREATION OF BUGMAN”
Well I guess I was about five years old so that would put the year at 1978 and I remember my father saying that tonight we the family would be going out to a movie! Now in my family that was a big deal as that meant that we would be loading up in the family pickup (1968 Ford F100) and heading down the road roughly two miles to the Parma Motor Vu (Drive in Theater, started by my family in the 1953). As long as I can remember going to movies, it was at the Motor Vu!

However this night would forever alter the time and space continuum that is my life, for it was this particular night that I would finally get to watch a Herbie movie! I have to be honest; I was a huge Don Knots fan and absolutely loved Herbie. While I don’t exactly remember if it was Herbie goes bananas or if it was Herbie, the love bug I do remember that it was a magical night. Being the youngest in my family I was stuck in the lawn chair on the ground and could care less as I will always remember that perfect taste of the box of popcorn (still made by the original machine purchased in 1953) and mom’s homemade goodies and hot chocolate that were snuck in!

I can remember having several conversations with my parents following that night as to how and when I could drive a bug, I was hooked for life. The rest of that weekend found me on the floor in our living room with pad of paper and pencil trying to draw or have Dad show me how to draw that perfect curvature that is the signature of a beetle. That Christmas, Santa left just for present for me under our tree. It was a little yellow pencil holder that was in the shape of a VW bug. It had erasers for headlights and the trunk would open (look on the counter at Bow Wow, and you will see what I’m talking about). Talk about going crazy, this made my GI-JOE Dragon Fly helicopter collect dust that all that next year! I must jump forward 29 years and tell you that the same pencil holder sits proudly on my desk today at work! Forgive me, I needed to take a moment and whip my eyes (getting nostalgic again). Anyway, as the years have rolled on I have hung on to that little car and dreamed of driving my very own VW beetle ever since.

About the time I started Jr. High, my Uncle gave me a book to read. It was entitled, “How to keep your Volkswagen Alive”. At a cost of $9 to my uncle, back in the 70’s he would have no idea as to how many miles I would get out of it! This book continues to captivate me as what started out nothing more than a book to draw Volkswagen's out of has turned into the one manual I can understand to get me through the many weekend projects I take on. I still laugh when reading the precautions and safety tips were John (John Muir, author) tells the reader to pull back your long hair so not to get it caught in the belt!

I highly recommend anyone that wants to better understand there VW, read chapter two, “How works a Volkswagen”. The pictures alone do wonders to entice and make me only love these little cars even more! But I’m getting carried away and only further off track in my story and for that I apologize. The winter of 2006 proved to be a challenging year as I was struggling through the hunting season with a horribly painful left ankle and the day I filled my tag (Deer) I headed straight into my doctors office as I had to get some relief. Turns out I had a small bone spur and the surgery was scheduled down in Lewiston (as I was living on the Camas Prairie from 1996 to 2007). I had no idea that this would be the event that brought me into my first Volkswagen!

Following the surgery my father drove me home (Parma) for Christmas and in staying with my mother for a few weeks we decided to go shopping as I was finally up on my ankle for the first time. The date was 12/29/06 and we were on McMillan near 5 mile and there he was (just did not know at that time his name was BUGMAN), a 1974, white standard 1600cc Sedan with a for sale sign in the window. I cannot even begin to tell you how loud I yelled at my own mother (driving due to surgery on ankle) to turn the damn car around as I just had to take a closer, second look. You see, I was only interested in a 1974 as that being my birth year and white, well for my love of Herbie, I just knew this was the car I had waited my whole life for!

Well thank God my mother listened to her irate second born and turned the car around! As I hobbled my way over to the car, I pulled out my cell with all the charisma and clamor of 007 and called the number on the window and within the hour meet with the owner and really was impressed with his car. If you’re reading this there is a great chance that you are thinking to yourself, what a FNG! Well I can’t fight you on that as this being the first VW I had ever really driven I knew from the first moment I put my hands on the wheel I just had to make him (BUGMAN for you ignorant folks not paying attention) mine!

I will spare you all the sappy details but damit; I bought this car and must scream out loud, “THANK GOD I FINALLY HAVE MY VERY OWN BUG”. Anyway, from that day forward I was in love with this car and have never looked back! I mean come on, is it not the best feeling in the world the way that ignition key just fits perfectly between the first and second digits on your index finger as you turn these beautiful cars to life? It’s funny you know, how life can imitate life, I mean there I was, a toe headed five year old that was afraid of his own shadow and today I ride in this car with not a care or concern in the world, all while working for in the field of law enforcement! I guess you could say I am hooked! I still love Don Knots and old Herbie, I mean how much more Americana can you get with German parts? Outside of a horrible acting job by Linsey Lohen, Herbie Fully loaded was a great trip back down memory lane!

Ha, I laugh every time a minivan full of kids passes buy or even the scariest of Harley riders screams buy as they all share a common trait, ONE BIG SMILE is all I see on their face and I am reminded of the power of the simple pleasures in life. Show me a vintage air-cooled owner and I will show you an individual more willing to forgive you for your shortcomings then most in society would! As for his name (BUGMNAN) well you see, he champions the cause of the slow and air-cooled, rights the wrongs of fuel injection thinking, and makes safer, the roads for those just needing a smile or the right to punch someone in the arm!
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With great power comes great responsibility

[far rider]

54 Ford Victoria. Blue and white. I would go back and forth in the driveway - 20 feet forward 20 feet reverse and of course thought I was pretty cool.
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67 zenith blue sunroof

Contentment; when what you have is what you want.

[oc92]

Sue and I technically weren't supposed to be hanging out so much because she was dating my man C____. Hell, I was dating someone too. She got good grades and I didn't care. We were 14 and freshmen in High school (same homeclass). We just got our driving permits. Her mom had a sweet dark blue BMW with a sunroof and 5 speed. She was blonde (the girl that is).

I casually mentioned that I felt stick was the optimal choice for cars and I needed practice b.c that pizza job was paying off. She said she wanted to take out the family car and we could both practice. I rode her bus home for a week and we took that beauty out from 345 to 5 out hard on the back roads of northern Virginia. Her mom got back from work around 530, dropped off by the carpool. Keys back on the pegboard and homework started...

It was the 80's and that ride was a year old. New leather smell.

All the days we joyrided kinda melted into one... one long trip of flowing blonde hair, missed shifts, open sunroof, cool back to school weather and her dad's Camel pack that we had lifted.
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" ... he walked the pavement of the city- a beggar and a king. Has it been otherwise with any man?" WOLFE

72 bus
70 bug
96 mx5

[harley611]

The first vehicle I actually drove was my dads 1968 bug.

[Beetlebaum]

Let's see, that would be a 96 F-250.
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1973 Super Beetle
2003 New Beetle
Post your Super here: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=331999
Beetle Bums VW Club Member

[puddle pirate]

First car drove was 1965 Plymouth Valiant. Dad gave it my brother and I to learn how to drive in the back of the property. I could drift that car all the way through the turns.

First car owned 1974 Charger
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John
73 Super Beetle
87 Jeep Wrangler
99 Jeep Grand Cherokee

[7d4vdub]

First Driven Car - Chevy S-10
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Brian

74 Std Beetle

***Check out my stuff for sale***

[jwcurry]

First car steered, pushed by my fellow 12 year old friends: 1960-ish Renault Dauphine.

First car driven: 1973 Olds Delta 88---driver's ed car

Driver's test: 1969 Ford Fairlane.

First "my" car driven: 1968 Corvair Monza...hated it. Sold it for a 1969 Mustang fastback.

(What I really wanted was my grandfather's 1956 F-100. I complained about the Corvair until he agreed to get rid of it for me. The whining backfired when I came home from school and found he had sold both the Corvair and the F-100.

[oc92]

Cleigh
-That was a fine story you gave us, thanks. 3 posts!! You have a lot more to share...
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" ... he walked the pavement of the city- a beggar and a king. Has it been otherwise with any man?" WOLFE

72 bus
70 bug
96 mx5

[pieterveenstra]

First verhicle i drove with an engine: Nissan 25 forklift
First car i drove: 1992 VW transporter
Driving test: 2003 VW Passat
First car i drove with license: Toyota Aygo
First car i own: 1960 VW beetle

Daily driver: Opel Astra 1.7td

Best car i drove: 2003 E39 BMW 525d

[ShadetreeVEE]

the first car(more like a beast on wheels) a 72' international travelall.
bulletproof and drove like a tank,the 345 had enough torque to make the whole truck lurch and send the rear tires spinning. drifting was even possible if you had the balls for it. got it goin about 95mph on the way to school one morning, felt like a tunaboat with a rocket strapped on the back. too bad it only got 5mpg on a good day.
sadly, it sits in the front yard today, waiting for an airbag setup and 4link rear suspension. one day ill get to drive it again [/img]

[richie71']

First motorized vehicle was a Forklift at my dads shop about eight years old. Felt so cool!!!
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71' Stock 1600 DP

[djC4]

1979 Dodge Aspen (ash can)

We'd roll down the grass hill backwards and floor it up the hill. It was a rights of passage for us.

[Harris]

1953 Cadillac Convertible that was 2 months old from Houston to Galveston and back with dad and a lady friend. The car was hers.
What a memory.

[blankc72]

My 1972 Beetle which I still have today.