Your first car?
My first car was a 1964 Chevelle. I bought it from an old lady who lived down the road from my Grandma. It had a 194- straight 6 cylinder engine with an automatic power glide transmission and low miles. Somehow I talked myself and my Dad into installing a 327 so I could save gas. Go figure that logic?
I rebuilt a 327 engine at a friend's Dad's logging shop and installed a turbo 400 automatic transmission. I added headers with turbo mufflers. I had my first experience with a pneumatic rattle gun as when I coupled up the auto transmission to the engine, I torqued down a bolt and broke off an ear on the transmission. The engine fit into the car, but the oil drain plug was right next to the cross member and was hard to remove. So I took a die grinder and worked the cross member. Better, but still a pain. I installed bucket seats that I got from a junk yard. The off green seats didn't match the almond interior, but who cared.
I had it painted metallic beer bottle brown. That lasted for about 2 weeks until a friend backed into a gas station sign and smashed the rear bumper.
The car also leaked water. When you came to a stop sign a wall of water carrying floor debris came washing forward. Who knows what you would find floating around. I drilled holes in the floorboards to stop that problem. Once, while I was in the Coast Guard, I pulled into Seattle and tried to stop. No brakes. The master cylinder had went out. Also every year, at the first rain, the distributor would draw moisture and the car would die. Pop the cap, dry it out, and I'd be good for another year.
The windows were all hand cranked. The rear window didn't work. Of course that didn't stop passengers from lowering the window. It could go down, but it didn't go up. Not without some help. You had to get the window back into the track and nurse it into position. Don't do that again.
It could burn rubber. Just power brake it. Didn't do much for the gas mileage. Oh yah, my gas mileage wasn't any better. But we all knew that, right? Here is a representation of my car. I wish my old car looked this good. In my mind, it probably did.
[img_assist|nid=11|title=1964 Chevelle|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=480]
