High School Wheels

OK - so there's a thread in here asking what was your first car?  As we all know, not everybody had a car in high school - me, for one.  So, how did you get around?

I started out with a Roger Decoster BMX bike, but acquired a really nice big-frame 10-speed after one of my Mom's friends destroyed his knee after a bad fall on winter ice.  It was a Sentinel Californian, made by the Sentinel Bike Company in Van Nuys, CA.  It's a super-rare bike, but not necessarily valuable.  I also managed to hang onto it, despite having joined the AF after high school.  I must've ridden that bike almost 10,000 miles in about 4 years.

Fast-forward to 2009: I decided I wanted to start riding again, so I pulled the bike down from the garage ceiling hangers and restored it.  The local bike shop scored me some replacement parts and even some modern upgrades.

Here's what I started with:



Here's where I ended up:



The things I removed and replaced:

• back rim
  
• tires & tubes
  
• lame, ill-fitting rear view mirror
  
• worn out foam handlebar grip
  
• worn out saddle
  
• pedals
  

The new things:

• Bar Phat foam handlebar grip tape
  
• Specialized speedometer/distance computer
  
• Specialized Rib Cage water bottle holder
  
• Specialized Commuter Sport saddle
  
• Shimano clip/clipless conversion pedals
  
• Back rim & new tubes/tires
  
• Specialized Mountain Sport clip/clipless biking shoes
  

It still rides great!  But, when I first got the Mustang, the bike got hung back up in the garage and I haven't ridden it since.  Time to dig it out and start riding again.

Cool bike. First car was an 86 Pontiac 6000 LE. (POS that barely ran and had bad brakes)

Move ahead 6 months and we had a massive hail storm. Unfortunately my car was not in the path. BUT, due to the hail storm I scored an 89 Dodge Ram short box 2wd truck with a 360 5 speed and a whole pile of dents.

Of course I had a bike and when I got drivers license my Dad gave me his 1950 Ford Tudor Custom, Flathead V-8 three speed with over 250,000 miles. I live 2.5 miles from my high school and I had to run home from basketball and baseball practice. Parents did not come pick you up you ran home.

I still have the car in the barn. I eventually did lots of work to the car and before I finished high school I had completely restored it with factory original interior and the Ford dealership painted it. I was only guy that did his own car in my class. I have timing tickets for the car in T or U stock at 85 mph in quarter about the same a stock 289 4-V at the time. It would haul butt. Drove it into the barn in 1971 and never back out when I got my Maverick Grabber in  71.

Also drove the 1967 Ford Fairlane 500 Hardtop some in school which I still have in the barn. Sold the 1959 Galaxie couple years ago that was also high school car. My Dad was just a regular worker but we always had two or three cars, he loved cars.

Although I got my first car ('70 Bug) during sophomore year I didn't have a drivers license till part way through senior year so bicycles were my good friends too.  

I wish I still had them but they were sold to pay for insurance.  Started HS with a '71 Schwinn Super Sport and replaced it with a '72 PX10.   Over the years I came across appropriate substitutes.  They are just like cars.  I found proper pedals on French ebay and a set of NOS brakes locally.  I just wish the frame a bit larger.

I got my first car, a 67 Mustang Coupe about two weeks before my senior year started. It was red with a white vinyl top,289, and has this nice white steering wheel. Somehow it also had a jaguar interior in it! It fit, and one of the previous owners put it in. Sadly two days before Christmas that year someone rear ended me at a red light, plowed me into the car in front of me and took off. My 67 was squashed like an accordion.

1973 Mustang Mach 1. Green with white/black delux interior and fold down seat option.

After working as a paper boy and then scrubbing fish pans at a local dinner club I had saved up $1300 for a car. My dad tossed in another $500. I bought it a month before my 16th birthday and was driving it on my birthday. Yep, Mustang Mach 1 is the first car I ever drove 'by myself'.

72' BMW 2002. Scratched together $800 and drove the wheels off it.

74 Pinto with a 69 302 c4.  Started the ground up build when I was 13. Car was complete by time I turned 16. Totally destroyed the car in 6 months. :s Up next was a 73 F250 Ranger XLT with a stout 460. It got around 6 MPG.  A telephone pole entered the passenger door and exited into the bed. That was the end of that. Then came the 70 Mach 1 351c 4v 391 shaker car. Unfortunately Connecticut winters had taken a toll on this one.  After a couple of weeks the left leaf spring popped up threw the trunk. It was just to rusty to save. This led to the 71 Grande. It was a driver restoration. Ounce the Grande was too nice to drive in the winter I picked up $150 72 pinto wagon. This was all before I turned 18.

My first car when I turned 18, in the early 80's, Paris France : a Mustang grandé 73 full options. The car was missing 1/2 of it's parts, stolen or damaged, the 2v cleveland was near death missing two cylinders. Electricity was a mess. Body was damaged. Payed for it way more than I should have.

It was a junkyard candidate and I loved it right away. )

While most (smart ones) went for golf GTI's and other Renault turbo's and actually drove their cars, I spent the first 2 years emptying my wallet, spend most my weekends deep in level 4 of an underground parking near my home, slowly restoring the baby (or better said, learning the hard way how you should restore a car properly when you have zero experience, proper tools and knowledge ). I had to buy a motorcycle next to it, as I needed transportation!

I still work on it and will prolly continue to do so for many years to come! Guess I'll never learn!

Great stories.  A lot of us learned how to work on cars at a young age.  What started as a necessity became a hobby. 

My folks bought this for me when I graduated high school in '74. Still have it.

did my driving test in a 55 t- bird  drove it for a year then went on to a 57 t- bird  now that was fun

65 mustang coupe with 6 cylinder 200 and automatic transmission. Got it in 1995. Took my gf to prom in it, she's now my wife. Unfortunately the car was driven into the ground lol. Lots of rust, mudding, jumping hills lol. It's sitting in the corner of the shop waiting its turn.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

9 months of the year.

First 2 years



Junior year.



Sr. year.



3 summer months of the year and still have her but much better now.

Dang youngsters.  Here's my High School ride:

LOL! Very funny Midlife.

Circa 1974. What a tank the old Impala was, but I needed some sportier...



My senior graduation present.. circa summer of '75. Snow tires?



Check out those steel chrome slots, black lace stripes, and side pipes. Sold it for a station wagon 10 years later.