First Cars

I was extremely fortunate when I became old enough to drive because my Dad loved to trade cars. I got to change cars frequently as a result. Everyone remembers their first car no matter how ugly or bad it may have been. Mine was probably on the top of both the ugly and the bad lists. Here the story on my first five cars.

First Cars

 

When I was 15 years old, I had just gotten my drivers license and I was ready to drive. My Dad bought me my first car. It was a beat up old Nash 600 Super that he paid $50 for. This car was super ugly, but I didn’t much care what it looked like as long as I had wheels. The old Nash had a radio that worked,,so I had wheels and music. It doesn’t get much better than that. The old Nash would go from 0 to 40 in about 10 minutes.

 

The first week I had the car, the generator went out so I headed down to the salvage yard and got a rebuilt generator and replaced the bad one. The next week the brakes went out, so I bought a rebuilt master cylinder and replaced that. In a couple of weeks, I sprung a leak in the radiator and had to have that brazed up. Of course, old Dad was having to pay for the parts, but I was getting a lot of experience repairing cars. This went on for a couple of months and my Dad ,who was a car trader, traded it in and got me a 1951 ford.

 

The 1951 V8 ford turned out to be in worse shape than the Nash, but you could burn rubber in it and it was sort of a hot rod. After many more repair bills, my Dad found a green 1951 Chevrolet and I had owned 3 cars in about 6 months after I started driving. I drove that car until I got out of high school.

 

After that he found a 1952 Dodge that had been a one owner car and bought that for me. The Dodge had a standard transmission with a fluid clutch, so you could shift gears without depressing the clutch. The car turned out to be in excellent condition, so my repair job was over for a while. We painted that car a metallic turquoise green in my uncle’s work area shop. My Dad liked the car for me because there was no way you could burn rubber with a fluid clutch. I kept that car for several years and drove it at Frank Phillips College and my first year at Texas Tech college until old Dad bought me a 1954 Pontiac with a strait 8 engine.

 

The 1950 Nash 600 Super which was my first car. Beautiful isn’t it.

My second car was a beat up 1951 Ford with a V8 engine, but wheels are wheels!

The Green 1951 Chevrolet was my third car. It was really my first decent car.

My fourth car was a 1952 Dodge with a Fluid clutch. An old man car that functioned well.

My fifth car was a 1954 Pontiac with a straight 8 engine. A fine automobile.

Thanks for reading First Cars,

Hawg Jaw Bill