(note: the cars in this COAL series have not been in chronological order. ED) My first car. A friend saw this car for sale in a nearby trailer park. He noted that the price was very, very low. Like high school student-low. So after school, we got on our motorcycles and went to have a look. We found a two-tone, tan and yellow 1978 Mercury Zephyr Z-7. It was a 302/automatic car with a yellow interior and yellow vinyl seats. At the time, it was only seven years old, but it was rusty. The seller was honest and mentioned a coolant leak, I’d have to add water to get it home. I was elated, excited. Giddy about buying my first car!
Ford’s new for 1978 Fairmont had a corporate cousin, the Mercury Zephyr. Also based on the Fairmont was the Futura. The Ford Futura and the Z-7 were very similar. Both were two door coupes with the unique “basket-handle” roofline.
This chassis, code-named “Fox” would undergird many Ford products for the next couple of decades. The Fox bodies included the Granada, the LTD/Marquis, the Thunderbird/Cougar, the Continental, the Mustang/Capri, and the Mark VII. Remember that some of these models were refreshed or even redesigned yet still used this same Fox chassis. For example, the Fox Mustang ran from 79-93, but the new for ’94 Mustang still used a Fox chassis, albeit a modified one. This iteration ran through MY 2004. Think about that for a moment, 1979 through 2004 is a quarter century!
This chassis supported luxury cars, station wagons, bland sedans, and hot Mustangs. Words like prolific and ubiquitous come to mind. Of course, I did not know any of this as a fifteen year-old, I was just excited to own my first car.
Besides the coolant leak, there were some other problems. One problem was that I was fifteen years old. I was legally not old enough to drive without an adult with me. Never mind that the Z-7 was not tagged or insured. I never even thought of the third problem because I was so concerned with those other two problems. and it was this third problem which would prove to be insurmountable.
My mother and step-father had finished having their dream home built and we had recently moved in. It was in a fairly ritzy neighborhood, so of course, there were deed restrictions. If I remember correctly, my mother even served on one of the HOA boards. At any rate, a crappy car leaving a rusty trail of hot water down the street leading to our house was out of the question. And it had no license plate to boot. “Can’t I just put it in the garage?” I pleaded. “No.” “Your mother’s car, and mine belong in the garage.” My step-father’s decision was final.
I sat on the front porch, staring at the car and just wept. My mother made me return it, as if it were a lost dog or something. There was a glimmer of hope when the guy in the trailer said he had already spent the money. But my mother said to him “Take it back for free.” The guy got mad. After a lot of raised voices and even law enforcement being summoned, the Z-7 went back to our fancy neighborhood for one more night. Apparently, you cannot give someone a car if they don’t want it. Lost in all this, was the fact that all of them were allowing me to drive illegally. I had only driven a car one time before this debacle.
And I drove it to the junk yard the following day. I lost most of my money and learned that trying to haggle with the owner of a junkyard gets one nowhere.
The irony in all this is that my stepfather felt bad about the incident and soon after wanted help me look for a car. I had spent my savings on the Z-7 so I was nearly broke, but he kept encouraging me to look anyway. About a month before I turned sixteen they helped me buy a 1974 Coupe DeVille. They even pitched in so I could be legal, with insurance and registration as a birthday present.
From their point-of-view, that Cadillac was my first car. But not for me, I always thought of the Caddy as my second car.
Lol, dont feel bad, same ting happened to me; my dad made me give back the car I aquired as a 15 year old, which I had traded against a $20 moped, which didn’t run, and another $100 one who barely did. In our country one had to be 18 to drive a car though, so there was no point even discussing it. Back it went.
Heartbreaking! But an awesome read. “Take it back for free!” had me suppressing laughter in an otherwise quiet household this morning, as that could have come out of my own mom’s mouth. In fact, I think I actually heard her voice when I read that.
I’m glad your mom and step-dad came around shortly after and helped you buy the Cadillac. I know the frustration of finding a car you want to buy before you’re licensed. That car, for me, was a dog-dish-hubcapped ’75 AMC Matador coupe. That’s a story for another day. 🙂
Great story. Thanks for giving us an insight into “first love.” I would have been heartbroken too.
I laughed about the HOA thing because in the development I live in (built circa 1980 and it looks it – think brown stained wood siding, at least they didn’t run it diagonally) a buttercup yellow Fomoco basket-handle coupe would fit the aesthetic much better than a modern CUV…
HOAs always make me think of the Duck Dynasty HOA episode (it doesn’t hurt that my Brother-in-law is named Jason, has a thick beard, a fancy house, and wouldn’t cotton to anyone telling him what he can and can’t do on his property.)
Effyeah! No dingblast gyoldurn burdensome big-guvvmint libtard gonna tell ME what I can’t do on MY OWN PROPPITY because it’s MINE and it AFFECTS ONLY ME!!!!
LOL.
What people forget is that they willingly sign the documents for membership in the HOA when they buy the house. They’re a legal contract. And courts generally side with the HOA because of this.
Nothing to do with Big Gov. It’s an agreement entered into willingly by both sides, yet people act surprised when an issue arises.
If one doesn’t agree with that sort of living, find a house and ‘hood free of CC&Rs and an HOA board.
I’m no fan of HOAs, but it’s all out front at the time of purchase.
Fer sher, fer sher. If you don’t want to be bothered by Gladys Kravitz and her busybody brigade of people with nothing better to do than make sure you painted your house “Desert Sand” and not “Sahara Sand” because “Sahara Sand” isn’t on the list of approved colors, and you bought one of the two approved models of mailboxes, and one of the three approved models of barbecue…
…then don’t move in where there’s a homeowners’ association.
So true Daniel.
The page of Popular Science was the way it done back in the old days. A friend of mine use his used motor oil on his fence and I used it on deck framing(not the deck boards, makes it too slippery).
I always drained it back into the sand pit behind my house. That’s where it came from, after all. It was easy with the Ambassador, plenty of ground clearance so no ramps needed.
Yup. I remember back in the 1970s when my neighbor poured a new driveway consisting of two strips of concrete with gravel in the middle. I asked him about the gravel and he told me that was so he could drain his oil into it (but honestly, I don’t think he ever actually did it, as he was retired and took his car to a shop for oil changes).
My dad used the old engine oil to keep the weeds down along the fence in the back yard.
And my grandparents lived at the end of a 1-mile-long county-maintained gravel road. Dusty as all heck most of the time. Every summer, the dinnertime talk was about gettin’ the county to come out and “oil the road,” which they did every year or two.
I don’t think HOA disdain is specific to one side of the political isle or the other. They’re pretty irritating to everyone.
…even (especially?) one another within the HOA.
I’d sooner live in a rusty trailer than anywhere with an hoa board .
.
-Nate
Where I’m from it’s called a covenant. Sound ominous. Believe it or not, they usually apply in cheaper suburbs to prevent bad taste getting out if hand, amongst the poor, as opposed to the bad taste of the newly rich which is often far worse! Legally, they are tough to enforce.
I also bought my first car when I was 15, about a month before my 16th birthday, though with my parents’ blessing.
It was torture staring at it in the garage just waiting, counting the hours until my birthday. And then I failed the first driver’s test, and had to wait another week to retry. There has never been a longer week in the history of all humanity…
I love these Z-7s, they somehow seem just a tiny bit more special than the same Fairmont Futura, and that pale yellow is one of my favorite car colors. My “first” car was a 68 Mercury Cyclone GT that same light yellow color.
I’m a bit of a bonehead, though, so not sure a Cadillac would have been a “satisfactory” replacement and instead I would have sulked until a Mustang or something similar was offered.
I don’t think I ever saw one of these with the ‘Sport Group’ instrumentation panel. Was it limited to the Z-7? I’m not sure it was even offered on the Futura.
The instrument group was optional in all Fairmonts and Zephyrs. The package was offered beginning in 1979.
That full instrumentation is straight out of the same year Mustang/Capri.
There was a Zephyr sedan in “burnt orange” that was being driven to our church on Sunday as recently as a few years ago.
I’ve always loved the “unusual” Fox platform vehicles because I know that they’re so malleable and could be a fun project.
What a lucky man you were to dodge that bullet. I have mentioned from time to time the first car I ever bought *new*: a 78 Zephyr Z7 with a 302 and automatic. Silver with red pinstripes and red vinyl interior.
After two years of monthly trips to the shop with that piece of garbage, I got rid of it. A few months later, I saw a silver Z7 pull in to a nearby apartment building. I walked over to see if it was mine. It was! I recognized a spot where I had touched up the paint. The owner was just climbing out of it and looking at me, so I explained “I used to own this car”. The first words out of his mouth were “you have any trouble with it?”. I recited the litany of ills caused by cheap to the point of unfuctional, design, compounded by impossibly cheap materials and shoddy assembly, then asked “how about you?” In the couple months he had had it, he had the carb rebuilt and the a/c had quit.
A few weeks later, scanning the used car ads in the newspaper, I saw a very familiar looking Z7 listed by the Honda dealer.
I have only recently been willing to consider buying a Ford again.
On my advice, my parents bought a 79 Zephyr 4 door with 302 and automatic transmission. My father was no “gearhead” but took reasonably good car of his cars as he was an insurance salesman and real estate agent and he had to have a dependable car. That car easily passed 150,000 miles with no problems. As it approached 160,000 miles, my brother and I got “turns” with the car and it suffered as a consequence. Long story short, at 160,000 miles, the transmission started to slip…and I ignored it. About a month later, in rush hour traffic (of course), the transmission finally gave up.
My thoughts about the 3 or 4 Fox-body cars I’ve driven: the earliest examples were almost thrown together. Carpeting appeared to be cut too small, whether it was a Mustang or a Fairmont. Glovebox doors NEVER aligned with the rest of the dashboard, and the ashtrays fell out of their brackets and tried to hide under the front seat before the 1st car payment was due.
Later (post ’85 models) models were miles better assembled.
Yes, a lot of cost cutting was obvious. But it was, after all, a mid-priced Ford.
My parents would buy an 85 or 86 “small” Marquis. Much better assembled than the Zephyr, but thanks to inflation A LOT more expensive than the Zephyr even though it was a V6 versus the older car’s V8.
Yes, a lot of cost cutting was obvious. But it was, after all, a mid-priced Ford.
A couple examples of trouble spots I had that would not have occurred on your 79:
The window regulator, rather than being the scissors type that supports the glass at two points, was a single vertical rail with the glass on a plastic block that rode on that rail. On your sedan, the B pillar was vertical so the channel in the window frame would support the glass and help keep the glass straight as it was rolled up. On my Z7, the B pillar raked forward, which, combined with the rearward raked A pillar meant there was no support for the glass, other than that thin single rail in the regulator. After a few months of use, the hole in the plastic block that rode that rail had worn enough that the block holding the glass would cock and jam on the rail. I would get the window about 2/3rds of the way up and it would jam. I would pull the glass forward, then I could get another turn on the crank, it would jam, I’d pull on the glass again, get another turn on the crank and it would jam….repeat until window was closed.
Another item was the windshield wiper. On a 78, the wiper arm (the part holding the rubber wiper blade) was a single, solid piece of plastic. In cold weather the arm was so rigid that it did not follow the contour of the windshield. I would flip on the wipers and only the bottom 2-3″ of it’s arc on the driver’s side would be wiped, while the snow or rain on the rest of the windshield would be undisturbed as the blade flew uselessly by, well off of contact with the glass. The 79s had 2 hinges added to the wiper arm toward the top.
Yes, but at 15 years old the bugs should have been worked out on James’ Zephyr.
A great story. I hate to think of the derelict heaps I might have tried to adopt had I bought my first car without parental approval. I watched such a story play out next door when I was a kid around maybe 1966. A college kid rumbled home in a faded yellow and purple 51-ish Nash sedan. His father the attorney was *not* happy and the Nash was gone in a couple of days.
I hate to think of the derelict heaps I might have tried to adopt
One of the best episodes of “Leave it to Beaver” was when Wally dragged an old heap home. Didn’t take long for him to figure out it was beyond his skill level. Ward was tired of the wreck sitting in the yard and told Wally it had to go.
Wally ended up parting out the car to his friends. Made enough off of selling the parts that he paid the junkyard to haul the carcass away and he still made a profit on the deal.
But a car like that, where everything was metal and repairable, would have been much easier to get running and keep running.
I just watched that episode on MeTV last week. I forgot how funny it was, kids were THROWING money at Wally for parts and he ended up with over $300 for a car he paid $50 for. When the wrecker driver showed up, Ward blew a gasket until he found out Wally had hired the guy.
Never owned a Fairmont or Zephyr, but I did get to drive them (more than 1) as their introduction coincided with one of the 2 years I worked as a transporter for Hertz, which back then seemed to rent a lot of Fords (probably because they were owned by Ford at that point?). Though I never drove a Futura, Z7, nor Mustang/Capri, just the “boring” sedans, but I still liked those. I think the most common rental (judging by what we transported, so I guess I should restate it as the most common one-way rental) was the LTD II/ Thunderbird, probably followed by Grenada, then the Fairmont. At the time the integrated side view mirrors were a new feature (copied from Mercedes I thought back then) and I think the Fairmont was the first Ford model I ever saw with them…now I think all cars have integrated side mirrors…and both left and right sides are standard now, back then it was a big deal if your car had a right hand sideview mirror (especially if it had remote control). Funny thing is that I don’t remember driving any Maverick models which preceded the Fairmont, which I normally would have seen in 1977.
Few cars have integrated door mirrors, nowadays….or am I thinking of CUVs?
I owned an 89 Civic DX sedan and a 92 Civic CX hatchback, neither had passenger side door mirrors. The Civic sedan got them as standard in 90, while the CX hatchback got them in 93 though I had 1 added to my CX as part of a “personalization” of my car.
I test drove a couple of 1978 Fairmonts back when they were first coming out and I was shopping for a new car. I thought they drove reasonably well, especially with the 302 V8, but, naturally enough, can’t speak to any reliability issues. The thing that eventually made me decide against buying a Fairmont was that you couldn’t get the 302 with a manual transmission, at least not in California, and I was still heavily into the shift it myself mindset. I ended up buying a new VW Rabbit instead and didn’t regret the decision.
One’s first car is often the most memorable, for many reasons. I remember wanting to buy a 1960 Chevy that a neighbor had modified with a 327 V8 and four speed from a wrecked Corvette (this was circa 1967). As I remember the Chevy “needed a little work” to make it run but in my mind this was no drawback. My father quickly shot this down by pointing out that I did not have the expertise, the money or the space to bring the dead Chevy back to life. I remember being disappointed but life went on.
Also had a 1st car before my 1st car. It was the 59 Bonneville that dad had bought new in late 58 and had stayed around despite dads trading every 2 years. My older borther used the Bonneville as his 1st car when he turned 16 in 1961. and drove it until he entered the Air force in late summer og 63, after graduating HS. The 59 Bonneville stayed, surptrisingly. Dad using it on occasion and telling me it would be my first car up on my tuening 16 in 4 years….I actually got to drive the car as a 15yearoild in the latter half of 1966, but never far. It was a huge beast and still had a lot of life…but that would change come January of 67. Just 4 months before my 16th birthday, in May. a Tornado tore through the western suburban St. louis area where we lived. Dad had taken the 59 that evening to meet with a colleague and together they travelled in the colleagues car to an evening meeting leaving the 59 at a favorite watering hole. Yep the track of that tornado hit the spot. hard. Lifting the entire buiding up and shredding it tossing an entire wall on the 59 Bonneville. next morning we went to rescue (if possible) “My” car. Ample signs of the destructive powere of a tornado. and of the oddities of it’s force. One of thein beads of crom trim on one of the 4 fines at trhe rear was pealed up and spirally twisted, hanging on by just one last tan. A bottle shaped hole was in the middle of the windshield, and sitting upright and unbroken was a bottle of Dewars whiskey. The car was badly battered, but dad turned the key and the tripower 389 roared to life. he put it in reverse and backed it out from under the Debris pile. All this while a local cop watched, shaking his head. Dad drove the pummeled beast home. But I knew it was a lost cause. The insurance company totaled it but dad put the money received in the account I had set aside for my first car. Which was a then 3 yr old Olds Cutlass ‘Holiday” hardtop. This was a good car and served me well through HS and into University.
I wasn’t in a position to buy a car at 15, but my judgment was at least as bad as yours.
Great article. Hit a lot of nerves.
I know my folks were horrified that one could get their permit at 14 in IA where we had just relocated. And I was 14.
Weekend mornings were spent haunting used car lots in Davenport, the ones with $200 and $300 cars. $250 for a 57 Imperial ? Or a 62 Fairlane with trashed rear fender ?
Losing that first prize after a day would have killed me.
Dad wanted a new Fairmont 4 cylinder with 4 speed for his commute to Rock Island Arsenal and got such terrible treatment at the Ford dealership [ “There’s one over there”. In other words: “Go fish”. ] and the same sort of dismissive treatment at the Chevy dealer looking for a Chevette, that he went across the river to Moline and bought a Subaru DL.
Neither of the domestic dealers seemed to want to sell their small cars back then.
My first car was supposed to be a mid 70’s dodge colt wagon. It was my mom’s old car and was brown with a 4 speed manual transmission. For my 16th birthday I got a driveshaft that was going to make it drivable. By the time I had passed the driving test ( which took 2 attempts) my dad had sold it to one of his buddies. I was not too happy about this turn of events. My folks instead gave me my moms 84 Subaru wagon. It had 4 wheel drive a five speed and 300k on the clock. A little over a year later it blew up its engine in a dramatic fashion about a 1000 kms away from home on a road trip. I managed to sell it to the wrecker for enough to buy a greyhound ticket home. I always wondered if the colt would have lasted longer.
I had the hand-me-down promise shattered with my Mom’s red 1985 Jetta 5-speed. My Dad ended up trading it in to buy my Grandpa’s debut year Toyota Sienna, for which we’d be trading with them for their 1993 Mercury Villager for some convoluted reason – because 90s family needs a minivan…” – yay.
My Mom wasn’t happy about it either.
My first car was supposed to have been a ’26 Studebaker touring a family friend found in an overgrown shed on her property, back around ’66. The guys who were clearing the block for her stole the car, and could never be tracked down afterwards.
In retrospect maybe it’s just as well I never got my hands on it – it would have been too big for our spare garage and I didn’t have the knowledge or tools to work on it. No HOA, just a bad neighbourhood.
This almost happened with me. I was dead et on buying a rusty black 76 Cougar with a reportedly bad starter down the street from what used to be the blockbuster video, I also was 15. My Dad actually inquired for me months before to get the price and kick the tires out of curiosity, which I of course interpreted as “here’s what it costs, go get it!” So I waited until spring rolled around, leading up to my 16th birthday in June, went to the closest auto parts store, bought a remanufactured starter for a 351, a can of starting fluid, put them in my backpack with a set of cheap wrenches and basically all my savings in pocket, and intended to ride my bike to the car, buy it, fix it, and drive it back home on my learners permit on a Saturday. Long story short that journey was quickly put to an end when my parents figured out what I was up to, my Mom thought it was a death trap and my Dad, who as mentioned saw it up close saw how rough and ugly it was and really didn’t want it in the driveway or leaking in the garage(no HOA though, so the former wouldn’t have been a problem). They later helped me buy my 94 Cougar when I was 17, and I never ended up returning the $80 starter, I finally sold it on Craigslist only a few years ago lol
That starter was worth more than the car 🙂
I drove a ’76 Cougar for awhile. The transmission ate itself when Mom borrowed it while I was home on summer break because her car died. Since my father insisted on buying us worn out beaters as daily drivers, whomever drove it last would get the blame and the glaring stare and the guilt when it broke. I guess I dodged a bullet that day 🙂
We only had one newish car so he could get to his job. At least it taught me how to do basic repairs on cars. I can fix anything on a Beetle except for the actual motor innards and the transaxle.
I wonder why I start to get leery and want to trade when the miles start to pile on despite it still being in good shape lol
This almost happened with me. I was dead set on buying a rusty black 76 Cougar with a reportedly bad starter
Ford starters of that era had a couple quirks.
Fords in the late 60s/early 70s were notorious for the Bendix going bad. I test drove a 68 Thunderbird. 429, great engine, bad Bendix, as the starter would only engage about 1 try in 3. the rest of the time spinning uselessly. In the mid 70s Bill Cosby was doing TV ads for Ford and there was one talking about how Ford starter drives used 5 cams instead of only 4, surely something so esoteric that only long time Ford owners would appreciate it.
My 70 Cougar developed another notorious Ford starter fault (yes I replaced the Bendix on it as well) The electrical cable from the starter relay attached to a stud that was threaded into the starter. There were only a couple threads in the hole the stud screwed into and after a few years, tension on the stud would pull it out of the hole, stripping the threads. There were a couple occasions in the college parking lot when I had to reach under the car and tighten that stud by hand so it would make good enough contact to run the starter.
The Ford dealer back in those brave days wanted $60 for a new starter. An independent shop welded the offending stud in place for $10 and the problem was cured for the rest of the time I had the car.
The Bill Cosby ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5xZDnji8Vs
I’ve always rather liked the Futura/ZX-7. While not high on my bucket list now, I still think they’re attractive.
What REALLY made me pay attention to them was a long ago issue of Hot Rod magazine (I think), wherein they showed painting/customizing tricks that could be done on a budget. If memory serves me correctly, they airbrushed a curved ’50’s style “chrome” strip down the sides of a ZX-7, added some custom wheels, and it looked really cool.
I was 14-1/2 when I bought my first car. Uncle Bill found a thrashed 67 VW Baja bug stuck in third gear. One of his co-workers was selling it. The plan was for me to learn basic mechanics while fixing it up. He and Dad wrangled the price down to $365, the exact amount of savings I had at the time. We loaded it on the trailer. I spend the next year and a half getting it ready to drive the day I got my license. 16th birthday and I was thrilled! It was almost ready. Aced the driving test. Freedom!
Had a lot of fun with that Bug. Broke it and fixed it over and over again. Only years later did I learn that the Baja was not the first car possibility. Crafty Uncle Bill had found a 55 Oldsmobile 2 door abandoned at the grocery store parking lot. Dad told him no because it had a V8. Dads first car was a flathead V8 powered 40 Ford. He promptly crashed that Tudor in a drag race and didn’t want his son doing the same thing.
To this day when I see a tri-five Olds, I wonder what could have been.
First car I bought was a big white 65 car sedan Deville for 300 $ from some monks in New Hampshire in 83. The parents guilt tripped the brothers into taking it back. I still think they were in the wrong and should have let me get it. It was not too bad. It had slight rust and scrapes like it belonged to an old person who hand a hard time getting it into the garage. Still think it would have been better than the 80 Olds delta 88 I ended up with a real piece of crap. Here I had a reasonably nice car straight from God and they mocked him and I ended up with a devil car. Now I drive older lincolns.
I too had a “first car before my first car”… a blue Datsun 312 wagon, non-running, that someone had decorated with Blue Meanie (ref Yellow Submarine) artwork. My parents were actually quite supportive and used their AAA to get it towed from the seller (or donor … it was a freebie) to our neighbor’s, as the neighbor had a 5 car garage and we only had an open carport. I stared at it for a few weeks and realized I was in way over my head. I think I was 14 or 15 years old. I passed it on via a neighborhood bulletin board; the new owner got it running in a day or two and drove it away in a cloud of mean blue smoke.
Great story. I think you made out on the Z7 going to the junkyard. During my USAF basic training in 1979, one buddy had a new Futura Coupe and another had a new Cutlass. The difference between the two was amazing. The Futura was basically coming apart – doors misaligned, rattles everywhere. The strangled inline 6 had to be floored to get any speed. The Cutlass, was quiet, smooth and felt very solid.
I did like the styling on these though – too bad they were so cheap and poorly assembled. .
Oh dear…know the feeling only too well, and that was from an episode over 30 years ago. Sorry about your Z7.
Hooray, it’s 1985 and I have a licence despite parental obstruction, and there I missed a vital clue to what might happen going forward.
Car was a 360 CJ Chrysler by Chrysler, which wasn’t too bad for the $1000 paid to a friend. Registration about to expire within weeks and repairs were needed. It soon became clear acting without approval of Father was unwise. Conflict ensued, or rather flared up again. And no, it couldn’t be parked on the property.
One day soon after purchase, I returned home and found the car gone from the kerb. Turns out there had been a change of position on my father’s part and he’d taken it to have some work done. At my expense, naturally. Not that replacing electric window motors was a high priority…see where this is going? Once the work was paid for I was broke. In defeat I drove the car to a wrecking yard, and with the yard accurately reading the situation, was offered $100.
The Chrysler was likely resold and back on the road before I’d made it home by public transport.
My relationships with cars have rarely been easy, but in 1988 I was able to sever the connection with my father as part of a wider family breakdown, so that at least removed one obstacle, albeit too late.
Heartbreaking! With a 302, this could have been a great sleeper.
When I was a car crazy 15 year old I combed the autotrader and the streets for old cars constantly. Frontrunner for a little while was a white over red 1965 Ford Custom 2dr Sedan. This was Ford’s lowest rung and this one had NO options; dog dish hub caps, 6cyl 3-on-the-tree, rubber floor instead of carpet, etc. I had an unnatural affinity for 1965 Fords and I really liked the body colored wheels and dog dish caps. I was absolutely despondent when, on my second or third trip to talk with the old lady owner, I stuck my head under the car and saw that the frame was completely rusted out–a deal killer for my limited resources–I think I may have cried–I had spent a lot of time in my head driving the restored and souped-up version of that car…
Later in life I ended up with this–I had to add the body colored wheels and the dog dish caps to this one…
Great story. Brings back memories on two counts for me. First, I too bought my first car when I was 15. It was a ’72 Chevelle 2-door with a 250 six and a Powerglide. I hauled it too the property behind our back yard and fixed it up in my free time. My parents were supportive of the idea (figured working on a car would keep me out of trouble) and I guess it helped that it was hidden behind a fence.
Second, my dad bought a ’79 Fairmont in about 1983. It was a 302 wagon. It was a nice little car for the time, but nothing but trouble from day one. We kept it until about 1986 when at a mere 8 years old it too was almost ready for the junkyard. The body was shot (my dad repainted it once already) and the engine was worn with about 100K miles. My uncle bought it for peanuts off my dad in hopes that he could do a cheap engine swap, but in the end it ended up going to the scrap yard shortly afterwards. I really liked that Fairmont but the whole experience really soured my dad on Fords for a long time. Hard to believe an 8 year old car being ready for the junk yard, especially since my daily driver now is 9 years old and still drives like new.
My first ride was a ’59 Ford F100 short bed step side pickup truck, the floor was completely rusted away and the generator was dead .
I got it running and cobbled up a working generator from other abandoned vehicles in the lower swampy field every farm has and drove it some, not as much as I wanted because I was 12 and didn’t like being hit all the damn time .
When I got to California in 1970 I was 14 and bought a $50 1960 VW Beetle on time payments (!) and drove it every where until I got my license .
I still love old Beetles and foolishly bought a clapped out ’59 last year, still having fun up – fixing it =8-) .
-Nate
Love the dual exhaust on yours James otherwise hated the Z7 / Futura. I was a fan of the “Euro look” and thought the new Fairmont typified that with its lean lines, frames around the side windows and tall glass. Then along comes the Futura mid-year to say we can’t give up on the 70s just yet. It was always half 80s, half 70s to me but I’ve come to appreciate it more over the years. It sold well and Ford was right to bring it out no matter what younger folks like me thought.
It really should have been the 1980 Thunderbird. Having it an optional bodystyle on the Fairmont/Zephyr model line does seem a little disconnected considering the goals these cars were trying to achieve. I don’t dislike the bodystyle itself, but seeing the unaltered Fairmont nose on an otherwise totally unique bodyshell is a bit uncomfortable, the often circulated pictures of the black one with the later LTD nose retrofitted seems much more appropriate.
In 1975 my first car was a 9-year-old Plymouth Belvedere I standard utility 2 door sedan – 3 on the tree, no power anything, utility white, floorboards rusted out. It cost me $15 and lasted that entire summer! I doubled my investment by adding a used AM radio and speaker.
Sounds like some people real a-holes for parents. Being strict is one thing, some of these people seemed downright vindictive.
@Roger ;
Just so ~ most have no idea how nasty and mean some parents are to their Children .
OTOH, it made sure my Son and I are tight ~ *very* tight .
-Nate
It is an interesting story. So sorry that you had to get rid of it. As I’m reading it, it sounds a lot like a scene from one of my favorite movies, “Christine”. Arnie buys Christine and then his overbearing mom says that “You are NOT keeping THAT car at THIS house!”.
My girlfriend (now wife) bought new a 1978 Mercury Zephyr ES (European Sport) two door with the straight 6 cylinder engine and automatic transmission with the floor shifter – silver over black with the blackout trim around the windows and grilles. She drove it for 10 years (100,000 miles) until it started getting wet wires (distributor rubber grommets were deteriorated) and a few other things. I took it over, had the wet wires problem fixed along with the automatic choke (put in a manual one), had the carb rebuilt along with the C4 transmission and the proceeded to drive it for another 7 years (got it up to 210,000 miles) before donating it.
The one thing I remember about the car – aside from it being VERY dependable – is the hood at highway speed would lift up on the driver’s side (very flimsy material). I tried to fix it but there was no way to do it.