What you had at 21

The '68 was worn completely out blowing blue smoke outta Both exhausts......18,000 miles.
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View attachment 243595 This chick magnet is a Ford EXP. last American made car I had. Have this crazy idea that cars should last longer then 85,000 miles.
Ha! My stepbrother had one of those in high school I was in college, the stereo he put it it was worth more than the car LOL! Literally pounded the car apart with bass.
 
1970 Opel Kadett.
My BIL told me that if I could get it started, I could have it. I drove it home that day.
And immediately began working on the brakes, lol.

Once during an Ohio winter we got several inches of snow- I had to put several cinder blocks in the trunk in order to have any traction. Car was so light, I could back up to the wheel well, pick up and slide the bottle jack under the rocker panel with my foot because it had no jack and I got the bottle jack from my dad's truck.

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1970 Opel Kadett.
My BIL told me that if I could get it started, I could have it. I drove it home that day.
And immediately began working on the brakes, lol.

Once during an Ohio winter we got several inches of snow- I had to put several cinder blocks in the trunk in order to have any traction. Car was so light, I could back up to the wheel well, pick up and slide the bottle jack under the rocker panel because it had no jack and I got the bottle jack from my dad's truck.

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The poor man’s ‘vette! I had a friend with one.
Edit, edit, edit. Sorry, that was the GT. But I remember the Cadets!
 
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Tuned 21 at the end of '74 and had recently traded an 8 track tape deck (value $15) for a ' 66 VW Bug. Previous owner rattle canned it orange. Started most of the time. Primary transportation for 5 years. Picture is not mine but its red cousin. 20200901_201644.jpg
 
The poor man’s ‘vette! I had a friend with one.
Not the 'vette one, the sedan, lol. Real chick magnet.


Mine was urine yellow to boot-


Not mine below

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Black vinyl top, two door, gold paint job, huge trunk, black interior but no a/c.
Mine had 4 doors, electric seats, and cool little lights on the massive hood. I had no heat for a long time, and eventually the gas gauge didn't work. No AC that I remember, but I had those little side triangular windows, so no biggie. Loved that car, it's in the yard, probably not fixable. The headlights would stay on till I got to the front door and got in the door.
 
Mine had 4 doors, electric seats, and cool little lights on the massive hood. I had no heat for a long time, and eventually the gas gauge didn't work. No AC that I remember, but I had those little side triangular windows, so no biggie. Loved that car, it's in the yard, probably not fixable. The headlights would stay on till I got to the front door and got in the door.
Yes, liked the amber turn signal lamps on the top of the front fenders. We have a lot in common, Pioneer SX-750 and Plymouth Fury, .22 pistols, 9mm, 45's etc. :)
 
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21 years old, thats when I got married.. The first time..
Stable at that time included,
1967 Mustang
1968 MGB,, what an electrical nightmare.
1950 HD Pan head
1979 Honda 750 SS brand new, that was the race bike..
That year, sold the Mustang and the MGB and bought a 72 Camaro Z-28.
Knowing what I know now, Should have sold the wife and kept the Mustang and the z-28.
 
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Just so happens my mom was cleaning some stuff out and gave me a box of pics recently. No dates on the pics, but the first one is probably a couple years before 21, and the second is probably 22-23...but the cars are what I had that year.

I had an ‘89 Beretta they bought new when I was 15. I drove it until I was 21 and put ~155,000 miles on it. Not many mods other than tinted windows and the rims. (The red part of the rims came black, and we had them stripped and painted).

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Bought a ‘90 300ZX when I was 21, between my Jr and Sr years of college. Man I loved that car. Bought it off a Doctor and all I did was swap the rims to a chrome-dipped set of the same factory style and added a cold air intake.

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21 years old, thats when I got married.. The first time..
Stable at that time included,

1968 MGB,, what an electrical nightmare.
I once read a review that said "electricals by Lucas, Prince of Darkness". Okay, so it was a motorcycle review, but I thought it was a good line.
 
2004 Focus SVT

It wasn't pretty or fast, but it was mine. I was on a grad. student stipend, so options were a bit limited. Miss it and wouldn't mind another, but preferably with a turbo 2.3. :D

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Not my picture, but literally the same car down to the wheels and color.
 
Not my picture, 83 VW Gti, owned 4 different ones over the years. Road raced one for a few years, wish I still had a least one of them.View attachment 243900

I loved that gen of VWs. Bought a '82 Jetta 4-spd in '93. Drove the piss outta that car, drove all over central Europe in it.
 
I once read a review that said "electricals by Lucas, Prince of Darkness". Okay, so it was a motorcycle review, but I thought it was a good line.

You know why Brits drink warm beer?

'Cos they have Lucas refrigerators.

My dad rode an ex flat tracker BSA Lightning punched out to 750 when I was a little kid, so I've heard most of the horror stories.
 
I had a 1985 Celica Gt. The last year it was made in rear wheel drive.
I had no idea what I was doing, and there was no google or really the internet,
but I taught myself to:
bondo the rusted out door wells
removed the interior and painted everything jet black, including the vinyl seats
Tint the windows
install the stereo- Ok, I had it done, but then learned how.
This was in the mid to late 90's... I loved that car.
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I had a Racing Green MGB like the one below. Except mine had rust on all the chrome, faded and peeling paint, smoked like crazy from using a quart of oil every 500 miles, rag-top that leaked like a sieve, and the floorboard on the driver's side was so rusty you could see the road below if you took out the floor mat. But other than that it was just like this one! I paid $800 for it in 1977 or so. About once every few months I have a very specific dream that I still have it, plates and registration out of date by 3-4 years, but I crank it up and drive it around worrying about getting stopped or it breaking down on the road.

When I worked for Ernst, one of the Big Eight accounting firms at the time, in 1980 a female supervisor asked me if I wanted to drive to a job in Kinston from Raleigh. (Lots of these folks were no-nonsense, professional types.) I reminded her I drove an old MG, and she said it was ok she liked "sports cars." Well that day we drove down 70 East through heavy rain and she was huddled into the 6 inch space on the passenger seat that didn't have rain dripping on it. Good times.

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I had a Racing Green MGB like the one below. Except mine had rust on all the chrome, faded and peeling paint, smoked like crazy from using a quart of oil every 500 miles, rag-top that leaked like a sieve, and the floorboard on the driver's side was so rusty you could see the road below if you took out the floor mat. But other than that it was just like this one! I paid $800 for it in 1977 or so. About once every few months I have a very specific dream that I still have it, plates and registration out of date by 3-4 years, but I crank it up and drive it around worrying about getting stopped or it breaking down on the road.

When I worked for Ernst, one of the Big Eight accounting firms at the time, in 1980 a female supervisor asked me if I wanted to drive to a job in Kinston from Raleigh. (Lots of these folks were no-nonsense, professional types.) I reminded her I drove an old MG, and she said it was ok she liked "sports cars." Well that day we drove down 70 East through heavy rain and she was huddled into the 6 inch space on the passenger seat that didn't have rain dripping on it. Good times.

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My old man had one of those that probably looked more like yours than the one on the photo. He and a buddy took a road trip from WI to TX with it. They tied a spare tire to the hood and it had no top. Somewhere along the way they picked up a turtle that was in the road, put it in the trunk with the intention of relocating it in a field or pond the next time they stopped for gas. 200 miles later it was forgotten. Two weeks later it was soup served in the shell from the trunk of the car. He gave the car to his little brother after that.
 
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I had an 89 honda accord in "flat" white (thats what i called no clear coat), with the ugly burgundy interior, and broken aftermarket radio...I thought i was Dale Earnhardt in that thing. I forget which one but there was a hurricane about to hit NC and i figured i could drive to a buddys for his hurricane party before it hit....I was wrong. Ended up losing control and going into a ditch popping all 4 tires and denting the passenger side door. Had to call my dad who brought me 3 spares from all of our other cars. I put them on(with hurricane now in full swing) and found that the spare i had in my car was flat so i had to drive home about 15 miles at 12 mph in a hurricane with 3 decent donuts and one flat one. Took about 45 mins and the flat ones' rim etched a line in the road all the way back to our old driveway. It was still there last time i looked. Several lessons learned that day.
 
Not mine (this is a picture of one in Australia) but very similar. I think mine had louvers over the back window. It was my second car. Bought it used for like $3,500. I really liked the car, it drove well in winter weather, but was a bad luck vehicle. I bought it used and found the original owners name in the users manual and called him. He said that it had been in one accident where he fell off a ladder and landed on the hood which was replaced and was trading it in after four years for business purposes. I had several minor crashes with it, loaned it to my parents a few years late where my dad hit a deer with it and busted a headlight. Eventually sold it to my wife's (female) cousin who first got a DUI in it and then got in a crash that totaled it. She then got like 10x more from the insurance claim than she paid me for it. I was pissed that I had sold it to someone who was just going to destroy it.


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