First Vehicle - car, truck, motor cycle, tank, Trabant...

[Ecam]

Since I had nothing to post in Bix's "worst car" thread viewtopic.php?t=36023, I thought I'd start a thread with the opposite theme. Doesn't have to be the first one but one of your favorites.

Me it is my first and in the top three of my favorites (counted about 65 or so a dozen years ago). Grandma left us kids some money to get a car when we turned 18. The older two bought new (winners, believe me), when it came my turn in '81 I asked for the family station wagon a '76 Dodge Van. Those of you in the States (and remember) know this is a normal-ish van from the 70s. After I got it I worked on replacing the tired 5.2 liter with a slightly warmed over 5.9 360ci (I was working at a race/machine shop right after high school). It got terrific mileage, pulled trailers with ease and did a fair amount of drag racing (even ran one of the first nitrous kits when they first came out). It could beat the new Mustangs and Camaros of the day without nitrous and give a heck of a run to others on the bottle. It was hard to brag about beating a "van" but nothing was spoken if you didn't. I often towed broken race cars home after the drags were over. I pulled an empty trailer to Carlsbad Raceway and had to explain to the tech guys that the van was what I was racing.



The original rear axle didn't live long with the new engine so a Ford nine inch from a big wagon went in along with a limited slip diff.

[Panzermechaniker]

Did the interior have shag carpeted walls, mood lighting and a "if the van is rockin' don't come knockin'" sticker on the bumper?

[jarndice]

I joined the army at the time that I was old enough to own a car so my first car was a LHD Opel 1900 Caravan (Wagon) it was a nice 3rd hand car and its greatest virtue was because it was almost an unknown model in the UK Customs never looked under the spare wheel in the floor well,
if they had removed the spare they would have found a second floor,
8.000 Pall Mall king size with room for the jack and wheel brace.
It was happiest on the autobahn a steady 120Kph all day really sad to sell it when I was posted made up for it when I got to Singapore where a RAF Cpl was just about to be posted home and was desperate to sell his 750 Superdream, Went over the causeway to JB for a Crab Dinner and parted with a lot less dollars than it was really worth to buy it.
Bargain.
Owning a car on the island was a waste of time but a Bike was something else.
A mate in the REME bought an Austin Healy 3,000 from an Officer heading home for pretty much pennies,
Not a single spot of rust and it ran like it had just left the factory but there was nowhere to get the best from it.

[Ecam]

Did the interior have shag carpeted walls, mood lighting and a "if the van is rockin' don't come knockin'" sticker on the bumper?

Shag carpet on the floor and up the walls, crushed velour on the ceiling. Originally equipped with a FM 8-track above the rear view (later updated to AM/FM cassette in the dash). Four captains chairs with swivels up front, a cooler/sink and a couch that converted to a bed in the rear. Was bought by my parents to replace the wagons the family had owned/used for years.

The sticker on the bumper read "Don't laugh, it gets 42mpg", a bit of an exaggeration but it started plenty of conversations. It actually got 18mpg (4200.03 lph) pulling a trailer load of rafts up the hill for a youth raft trip plus a few passengers and all the food and tents. Top speed was about 125mph (9250 kph) and ran high 13s (not sure the metric conversion) in the quarter on street tires.

Have a great story about a pursuit from the Border Patrol checkpoint just south of San Clemente, they didn't stand a chance. It was their van trying to get along side and see if I was a smuggler (I gradually kept speeding up until 80mph when the Border Patrol van ran out of additional speed - so I gunned it). In about six miles including an off ramp and the access road back south to the parking lot of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (where I was starting a 12 hour shift) I had about a two minute lead before they arrived at the secured employee only gate (the gate guard was watching as we raced north on the freeway). No tickets or arrests in the end but I did get to spend about 20 minutes each trip getting searched at the check point for the next two weeks.

I have a second Border Patrol check point story...

[Herr Dr. Professor]

I have bought and driven new cars since 1974--every one of them the cheapest econobox I could get, all with manual transmission, teeny tiny engines, and zero-to-sixty times in the minutes...all giving me 100K+ miles. I think I can afford one more car, and I want a small hybrid with combined powerful electric/gasoline for breakneck acceleration. I am tired of having to find a downhill entrance ramp so I can merge on the freeway.

[Ecam]

I have bought and driven new cars since 1974--every one of them the cheapest econobox I could get, all with manual transmission, teeny tiny engines, and zero-to-sixty times in the minutes...

So Herr Doc, can you drive an automatic?!?

I have a second Border Patrol check point story...

Since none have asked... You don't have to read...

My folks ran an annual police match on the first fifth Saturday of the year (something like 40+ matches). It drew four man and later eight man teams from all over Southern California. Dad had made a dummy for the match (6'4" around 160lbs). The torso and head were one piece, all the joints on the arms and legs moved correctly. Some times the cops had to carry or drag "Ralph" in the match. Other times he was a hand cuff dummy before proceeding with the stage. I drove a Triumph TR8 to the match (all of us family members worked the match when we were available). On the match finish and cleanup I asked my dad if I could have Ralph ride with me to the pizza joint that many of us went to after the match. The range was about ten miles south of Temecula Ca. and there was a Border Patrol check point on I-15 between the range and Temecula. Once I had Ralph loaded one of the local Oceanside cops (and family friend) saw him and told me once we get to the checkpoint (he'd be behind me) when the lane was clear "punch it". The agent in the lane stared hard at Ralph (trying to figure out what or who he was) as soon as the car in front of me was clear I dumped the clutch and sped away, the next thing I knew is about 50 sirens and lights from most of SoCal lit up. I got it up to about 110mph before waiving my arm and reducing speed, immediately the lights and sirens ceased but they all were directly behind me. I had no idea the cop who put me up to this spread the gag to many other agencies. They followed me into the pizza joint's parking lot where I was unsure of my future. Once parked the officers all were giving out high fives. My father who was a few rows back in the border patrol line pulled in (in the van above) and asked if he needed to post bail. The Border Patrol never sent a vehicle with so many cops in pursuit and the family friend told my father that he put me up to the whole thing. I just wished he told me about all the other cops he asked to join in. I threw my underpants in the trash!

[Tiger6]

I'm reminded of a comment an old friend of mine in Detroit once made "Cops: the biggest organised gang in the world..."
(Before anybody asks, yes he was a Detroit PD officer)

[Ecam]

I'm reminded of a comment an old friend of mine in Detroit once made "Cops: the biggest organised gang in the world..."
(Before anybody asks, yes he was a Detroit PD officer)

Oh yes! Riverside, Carlsbad, CHP, Oceanside, SD Sherriff Dept. FBI, Customs and others. In my mind afterwards all Kids with fun in their mind. Still I went home "commando".

Many of these guys came by the house on a regular basis for a visit (though I always believed they were looking for Mike).

[Herr Dr. Professor]

That's quite a story. My late brother-in-law was the Police Chief of a small Wisconsin town with a force of exactly TWO. Saturday nights he just loved to chase speeders. Unh hunh: quite some races out of town.