Stupid things with our first cars - A.K.A. - Carma:

1. The Cold Date: Locking the keys in the car after stopping to pick up my girlfriend on our first date...

Several girls later...

2. The Hot Date: Car catching fire and burning to the ground upon picking up girlfriend on her father's newly paved driveway...

I could go on, but humility is keeping me in check.

How about lowering a gearbox down with my hand whilst laying under the side such that it pinned my hand to the concrete floor. I couldn't stop laughing at doing such a stupid thing with the stark realisation that the only way was to yank my hand out because I couldn't reach round with the other hand. It wasn't a big gearbox luckily but it did hurt. You live and learn. Changed the clutch in the end though through the battle scars.

I earned my first car by helping a neighbor restore vehicles....I was just a kid and did mostly just sanding...I must have sanded a dozen cars, but learned at that early age how to get a perfect finish...We did all the work ourselves on cars bought at auction, mostly older cars with minor damage, and sold them at the corner filling station...I was still too young to get a license, but drove the car up and down the street when nobody was looking....It was a 6 cylinder Ford Falcon 1960...One day after reading about super chargers I got the brilliant idea of attaching a 12v vacuum cleaner, reversed, to the carburetor, to see if it would improve performance...It did, in fact, add a small boost...at least I thought it did....Eventually I got my license at 16 and took the car out on it's maiden voyage....A group of 6 friends all piled into the car and off to the local disco we went....all went well until when leaving I hit a giant pothole exiting the parking lot....well the rear leaf spring on the passenger rear side broke off and was dragging the pavement....after a brief stop and realizing there was nothing I could do(I might have been drinking) I continued on leaving a shower of sparks behind(it was dark by now)and we all thought it was pretty cool to watch the fireworks(we might have been a little high) and all was well until, you guessed it, the police showed up and hit the lights...Well it could have all ended badly here, but believe it or not the cop let me go, just told me to drive slow...and that was the end of that...what a piece of junk....

"and that was the end of that...what a piece of junk...."

Maybe the officer though it was the same and happy to have someone else deal with it.

From the story, I'm getting a 'small town' vibe off of it, so the officer probably let them go because the streets were empty, and he didn't want to deal with calling all their parents when ce could just finish his patrol and then start up his own drinking.

Hmmm... Mine was a 1970 Dodge Dart Swinger, bright red with a white vinyl top.

I was a bit of a dummy when my Dad brought it home (he knew the Dodge dealer and took my money and bought thinking I would like it...) I was upset because it had 99,956 mile on the odometer!! The next day he jumped in the car and said - "Let's go see some zeros!! :->

Super car!! Of course in hindsite I wished I would have kept it! I traded it in for a 1974 Chevy Nova (my then dream car) but it had SO many mechanical issues - I should have kept the Dart!!

Today if I had that Dart and could drive it around town.... Wow!! (may have to go to my photo album to find a picture!)

I had a 4 cylinder 900 cc motor in my first car. I though I could get more than 50 mph out of it by modifying the distributor. I shortened the springs on the dizzie weights. My mate borrowed the car, and headed off out of town. An hour later he rang complaining the radiator was boiling. Oops, too late. I told him to top up with water and keep going.

My sister borrowed the car, backed it into the gutter at an angle, and sheared the centre bolt in the rear spring. From then on, I regularly jacked up the rear and loosened the U bolts, nudged the axle back into position, and re-tightened the U bolts. Ever seen a car travelling crabwise down the road? And as someone said "You into punishment, mate?" (He must have read the legend about Sisyphus, who was condemned for eternity to roll a stone to the top of a hill, whereupon it rolled back to the bottom)

My first car was a 60'ish Renault Dauphine. I never had time to do any stupid things with it. It was more than enough trouble just to keep it running.

Mine was a '59 Renault Dauphine. Never had to worry about getting a speeding ticket. The only way to find parts for it was to find another Renault and follow it around.

Yeah, I hear that. Probably why I got mine for $50 from a private seller.

I backed out of the driveway in a rain storm. I turned too early, suspending one rear tire over a ditch. When I tried to drive out, I had no traction. My dad got the opportunity to explain to me how a differential works.

My first car was a 1967 Ford Fairlane GTA that I bought from a little old lady.

The secondaries on the 4 barrel carb were rusted shut, and the performance went way up went I popped them open with a jab of a screwdriver.

The thing I wish I hadn't done was a "Dukes of Hazzard" launch on a country road. The car flew like the brick it was, and landed on the back bumper, crushing the oil pan when the front end slapped the ground.

"The car flew like the brick it was, and landed on the back bumper, crushing the oil pan when the front end slapped the ground."

LOL would've made a great video....

Picture 'Moon Mullins' taxicab, a VW sized '51 ford Taunus, drifting the corners on our 1/2 mile long driveway, a slight miscalc and drifting off the edge to a position on its side in the ditch....I climbed out the topside and tipped it back on its wheels and off to school. I thought I'd gotten away with it until that evening when Dad asked about the dirt on the side and I made some excuse, and he mentioned the imprint on the ditch bank, and it cost me 2 weeks restriction.

My first car was a 1966 Opal I bought for $250 from a friend of my Mom. Had to learn to drive a standard to get it out of the driveway, but did that all right. The stupid thing I did was keep driving when the oil light came on. I was about 5 miles from home, so I thought I could make it home and then add some oil. Well, that's why they call it an idiot light. You have to stop immediately when it comes on. The engine started make a loud noise like a jack hammer and that was it. Threw a rod. Next car was a fiat.

I was 14 and my very first car was a 1938 Plymouth Business Mans Coupe. I never did get it to run but for $10 I had a lot of fun learning things. I "customized" it using plaster! I made neat wings, flares, custom light frames, even did the dash! Yeah when it rained it was a clean slate again! (except for the dash)

Cool car....

The most stupid thing I ever did (actually 3 times) was to get rid of these cars: 1952 MG-TD, 1959, VW Karmann Ghia and a 1962 VW, 21 window microbus. I saw a microbus, fully restored for sale for $110,000. The other two cars are selling also for lots of money. I bought the MG used in 1955 for $800. The two VW's were bought new. I also got rid of a 1964 Buick Skylark, a Buick 1959 Roadmaster, and a 1965 Corvair. I would be rich today if I had kept them.

20/20 hindsight is great. I know I did lots of "not so good" stuff to my first car in my wild and crazy youth, a 56 Chev Belair, BLue Flame 140, 3 on the tree with overdrive, but, I still have it and probably won't part with it either.

It's our for restoration now, and I can hardly wait to get it back. It will bring back a lot of memories.

Do you think I made a mistake by letting go of my Renault Fuego? Do you think it will become another Cobra, or Hemi Cuda?