Favorite Autos from your childhood

[SlowwHand]

dp

[Grandpa Troll]

My first car. A 1962 Chevy Nova.




What I drove in high school. A 1967 Pontiac Tempest.




Colors are pretty close. A red Chevy and a seagreen Tempest.

1971 Nova SS (Super Sport) and to the right of that one I owned a 1970 Pontiac tempest..loved that ride Slowwhand

[Dinner]

I drove a car like this in high school. Yes, it was an ugly duckling but it was cheap enough for a 16 year old to afford.

[Dinner]

When I was 13 my dad bought a used one of these as his new toy car unfortunately he soon got rid of it because the up keep was to much. He did seem to like it though and kept talking about how the first new car he ever owned was a Sunbeam Alpine which broke down so often the repair bills for the 1 year he owned it cost more then the actual car payments. He decided to switch to a Triumph TR6 to relive his youth but the electrical system was an abomination.

[Grandpa Troll]

When I was 13 my dad bought a used one of these as his new toy car unfortunately he soon got rid of it because the up keep was to much. He did seem to like it though and kept talking about how the first new car he ever owned was a Sunbeam Alpine which broke down so often the repair bills for the 1 year he owned it cost more then the actual car payments. He decided to switch to a Triumph TR6 to relive his youth but the electrical system was an abomination.

Sweet Ride my friend

[Dinner]

I kind of liked how the Corvair had the ignition on the dashboard instead of on the steering collumn like most American cars do. It really was totally different from the other domestics at the time with a rear mounted turbo charged air cooled engine, only manual with no option for an auto, front disk breaks, and 4 wheel independent suspension. It was even a compact car and so much smaller then all the other domestics at the time.

[Alinestra Covelia]

One idea I'd been fiddling with is how to get the design copyrights and trademarks for these old cars.

When they were around, the fins and curves and other chassis accents were heavy and impractical because of the weight of the metal alloy used. Given how fuel-conscious Americans are now compared to back then, it's just not really feasible to drive a lot of the 1960s contoured showpiece cars.

But, with modern lightweight metal alloys, I wonder if the chassis weight could be reduced so that mileage per gallon could finally rise to a feasible value. Obviously, the extra weight will still be extra weight no matter how you look at it - and you won't be getting Honda-Civic mpg from these cars - but the mpg should be at least tolerable for actual driving, and the cars would be as strong as before but not as heavy.

I can see all sorts of legal complications for this idea, not least in tracking down who owns the design specs of these grand old car models, and whether they qualify as patents (in which case they're likely expired and public domain now) or, more likely, whether they qualify as copyrights/trademarks (in which case they're likely still in force and we'd have to trace the ownership from corporation to corporation).

[Wezil]

My first was one of these.

It had more power than a 16 year old should be legally allowed to operate. Fortunately for other users of the roadway the gas required to go anywhere was more than this 16 year old could keep up with.

[Wezil]

Where'd the picture go?!

[Wezil]

I followed it with the "Swinger".

[Dinner]

I followed it with the "Swinger".

A friend of mine in high school had a two door 1968 Dodge Dart (not a swinger) with a Dodge slant head six engine. The thing was dead reliable and those old slant six engines just kept going and going. His was red with a white vinyl top.

[Dinner]

One idea I'd been fiddling with is how to get the design copyrights and trademarks for these old cars.

When they were around, the fins and curves and other chassis accents were heavy and impractical because of the weight of the metal alloy used. Given how fuel-conscious Americans are now compared to back then, it's just not really feasible to drive a lot of the 1960s contoured showpiece cars.

But, with modern lightweight metal alloys, I wonder if the chassis weight could be reduced so that mileage per gallon could finally rise to a feasible value. Obviously, the extra weight will still be extra weight no matter how you look at it - and you won't be getting Honda-Civic mpg from these cars - but the mpg should be at least tolerable for actual driving, and the cars would be as strong as before but not as heavy.

I can see all sorts of legal complications for this idea, not least in tracking down who owns the design specs of these grand old car models, and whether they qualify as patents (in which case they're likely expired and public domain now) or, more likely, whether they qualify as copyrights/trademarks (in which case they're likely still in force and we'd have to trace the ownership from corporation to corporation).

The new Chevy Camaro is definiently a throw back to the late 60's:

[Dinner]

In high school my sister drove a piece of crap like this and it even had the same "dog crap brown" color.

[Wezil]

A friend of mine in high school had a two door 1968 Dodge Dart (not a swinger) with a Dodge slant head six engine. The thing was dead reliable and those old slant six engines just kept going and going. His was red with a white vinyl top.

Mine had starter troubles. I put a couple of them in. Aside from that it wasn't bad.

I eventually traded it in for a much more fuel efficient (but far uglier) Pontiac Acadian. I drove that car into the ground at almost no expense.

[Dinner]

The Swingers all had V-8s I thought. He had a regular 2 dr Dart with the slant six engine. It kind of makes sense that a giant V-8's start would wear out faster then a relatively small six cylinder's starter.