Next March will mark thirty years since I used saved up paper route money to buy my first car, which wasn't a car at all. Every day I passed this old Corvair van parked in a driveway, more like slowly sinking into the driveway. It didn't run, hadn't run for a couple of years, the tires were flat, and the paint was a mixture of faded blue and rusty primer. All through the fall of 1980 I walked past this old van planning in my mind how I'd fix it up if I could. It took me weeks to work up the courage to ask if it was for sale and how much would it be, the answer "$200 kid". Thanks to giving up buying comics and everything else I could think up, and a $25 loan from Grandpa I bought "my" van and we towed it home. I've had it ever since, it took three years of work after school and during the summer, but I fixed it up....and I'm driving it still.

 

Those Corvair vans were a rarity when they were new. I learned to drive in my brothers 63 Monza four speed. He totaled it running into a parked car.

My first car was a 56 Ford POS station wagon. The engine blew up. I used to get 100 mile/qt of oil.

 

betcha if the guy who sold the corvair van to you saw the finished product he'd crap his pants!

 

He's passed on now, but he saw the finished product and very much approved.

 

I learned to drive on my fathers 1962 Corvair Monza Spyder. My first car was a 1956 Mercury Monarch 2dr hardtop, paid $50 for it.

 

So that's where you got your love of Corvairs....
Coincidently, saving up paper route money was also how I was able to buy my first car. My third car was the '66 Corsa, but my first car, way back in 1969 was a 1963 Oldsmobile F-85 Cutlass coupe, with the infamous aluminum V8. Looked like this (this isn't mine):

 

Very Cool ride !!!

My Uncle Jack had a '61 Corvair (IIRC ?)automatic, Let me practice driving it with him in an empty lot, I was like 13.. Never forget your first drive..

My first car was a 1953 Chevy 210 Deluxe at age 14, (it had a spun rod bearing) so it didn't run, my Dad figured it might help get me interested in mechanics, & off street corners.

Well he was 1/2 right anyway..

 

Cool that so many have Corvairs in their past, like HHR's they are not for everyone. Just to drop a bit of 'Vair trivia, before they were introduced, Chevy hired Porsche and VW techs to train the dealers on the flat six.

 

My first car - VAZ 2107 (LADA, 1983). This is the car of Soviet manufacture. Adapted for Russia FIAT 124 (1966).



I bought it on the market and paid dearly by the standards of the United States. If I remember correctly - $ 1500. The car was already old, the technical condition of disgusting. This cesspool on wheels. But the big advantage - he could walk. I learned to ride on it. I have traveled on this car all the Sverdlovsk region. I no gave him rest, and covered with scars from his numerous accidents.
One day I killed him on a slippery road and almost killed myself. The car crumpled up in two.
I sold the remains of an individual car repairman for $ 500. 2 months later I saw my car on the road - it looked better than the first day of our acquaintance. He was smooth and graceful, shining new paint. I no loved this car, but I am grateful to him. If you want the real experience of driving (without the stabilizing system, without ABS, no power steering) - buy a Russian car. If you want enhanced rate of repair - buy Russian car. Strengthen muscles, hone reaction, you will learn to disassemble and assemble the carburetor blindfolded in 2 minutes.

 

My first car was a 93 Camaro. It was a 16th birthday / you better graduate high school present from my dad. I never actually got to drive it either. A friend's car died, and she was my ride to/from school and she whipped the back end out in the rain.