Car Things

[Diamond Cross]

You never know how convenient a glove compartment is unti you have a car that doesn't have one.

Your turn.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The first cars I ever drove were my parents' Volvo DLs...which, among other things, had a fairly low "Low" setting on their windshield wipers, standard.

The first car I owned was a 1987 Grand Am. It had a fairly fast "Low" setting...but also had a "Mist" setting!

...Which was a button on the dashboard that made the wipers make a single pass across the windshield when pressed. This meant driving on a misty day or after a light rain (with vehicles kicking up road spray) was either an exercise in patience as you set your wipers to "Low" and listened to loudly squealing wipers or an exercise in tedium as you pressed that "Mist" button every 45 seconds.

 

[nerfherder]

You never know how convenient a glove compartment is unti you have a car that doesn't have one.

Your turn.

My girlfriend bought me some driving gloves for Xmas last year (to keep my hands warm when driving with the top down in winter), and it's the first time that I've used a glove compartment to hold actual gloves.

 

[nerfherder]

Had my first drive in the snow this weekend. Not much fun with 265/35R19 tyres. Managed to keep it on the road so far, but at some point I'll have to drive home...

 

[nerfherder]

Still no fun driving on the snow with wide, low-profile tyres - especially when they are at the legal limit. New ones being fitted Saturday.

 

[sabrinathecat]

Debated about getting a convertible once. Next time my car broke, I rented on. That was the end of that.
Started on a 1972 caddy. Armored boat with a turn radius that can best be described as comical. First car that was mine was a Ford LTD Lemon. Damn thing was broken almost as often as not. Still, got me through college. 2nd car was destroyed by idiot driving freeway speeds in a 35 because he wanted to get home during commute hours. And he was trying to show off to someone. Heh. Wrecked his own car as well, which was very expensive. Compensating for something?
My car is not my identity. I never understood that aspect of people. The car is a way to get somewhere, usually while taking other stuff with you.

Hopefully at some point the Tesla will become more affordable.

 

[DanotheSlender]

My first car was a 1974 ford pinto, passed on to me by my mother when i was 16. It was ugly (small fender bender on driver side front so replaced the fender, hood and driver side door with parts from a junk car...main body of car was white, driver side door, hood and fender were red) slow and had crap for a radio but it was mine, then my brother borrowed it and blew the engine...my dad had recently bought a 76 mustangII, v6 4 speed manual tranny, just to drive to work when he worked construction out of town, then my brother borrowed that car and was run off the road by a drunk driver, wrapped it around a tree, he was lucky and was only scratched up a bit..so we pull the engine and tranny out of the twisted wreckage and wedge it into my pinto..nearly 100 more horsepower than previous..had to cut the firewall a bit to get it to fit, had to cut a hole in the hood so it would close. Now my pinto had nearly 200 hp and was FAST!! People at school made fun, but when i was able to beat (handily i might add) camaro's and buick regal turbos in 1/4 mile races i got a lot of respect..i miss that car sometimes

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Why do we park on a driveway and drive on a parkway?

 

[nerfherder]

Debated about getting a convertible once. Next time my car broke, I rented on. That was the end of that.

I was dubious about it - England isn't known for its fantastic sunny weather! But, I'd never owned one before, and it has worked out well. It's quick to get the hood up and down (even up to 30mph - handy when caught in a shower), and well insulated.

My first car was a 1974 ford pinto

Cool story! I always loved the idea of a 'Q' car. My first car was a Rover Mini Metro when I was 23 or 24. I lived in London before then, so not much point having a car. The Metro was unreliable, gutless, not very good for long journeys, but it was cheap to insure, and I learned how to change wheels (I think I changed wheels more often on that car than every car I owned since!). I once followed a Lamborghini Diablo, and a Ford Sierra Cosworth along a couple of miles of motorway at 90mph. That was fun, and probably quite a bizarre sight!

 

[Nellisir]

My first car was a diesel VW Rabbit...maybe an 81 or 82? 5-door hatchback; looked a lot like that Austin Metro up above, except yellow. I recall driving it, but not for long. I don't even remember what happened to it. After that I had an '84 Subaru station wagon for a few years, then an '85 (?) Ford Taurus sedan for a month or two, until my Dad got rear-ended by someone not paying attention; then...a little Ford...something. Also looked like that Austin Metro. Petite little silver hatchback. Traded it in on a '88 Dodge Ram. Kinda sucked in the snow, but I still loved it. Eventually sold it for $50. By that point I was working for my father and had a company truck, a '02 Ford 250. Always felt like I was at least 50 pounds underweight for that truck. It was made for someone with a truly huge ass. Got laid off, bought a little '98 Toyota pickup in immaculate condition and only 30,000 miles, and sold it a year later back to Toyota when it got caught up in the recall. Toyota was paying 150% of the excellent blue book value; after paying off what I owed, I had $8000 cash in my pocket. This was in '08; gas was over $3/gallon, people were panicking and no one was buying trucks, so I was able to get an '04 Dodge Dakota v8 quad-cab with all sorts of bells & whistles and low mileage for the cash in my pocket. Still driving that. Mileage sucks, considering getting something for running around town, but not until I'm employed.