Time to Enhance Your Ride...

[rootabaga]

At least back in the 70s...

(How far back is this? Well, this is from a JC Penny Auto Service ad... which also offered a complete front brake service, including parts and turning the rotors, for only $46.99. By comparison I think the minimum wage was about $2.65/hr.)

 

[psionandy]

I'm not old enough to remember 8 tracks... apart from as a punchline to a joke about how old someone was....


....pretty much like the way cassettes and vhs are talked about now...

 

[olbriar]

I still have an 8 track recorder in my shed somewhere... way in the back. The players were the first real music option for the auto beyond the standard radio. If you didn't have one, you wanted one, back in the sixties. They were a genuine target for theft. Mounted under the dash with a couple of bolts and one's music library in a bilbo case made for quick and easy removal.
Bilbo case.

On a side note: Doing a search for the old Bilbo case I discovered that the actor that played Bilbo Baggins also played John Watson in the BBC Sherlock production. I love the net.

 

[Mikestony]

I grew up with cassette tapes, but 8 tracks are just before my time.

Funny how the CD is on it's way out too Cars are doing away with CD players now aren't they?

 

[olbriar]

My two year old Dodge pickup did not come with a CD player. But, it came with the cheapest radio known to mankind
AM/FM/XM/bluetooth yes.. CD no. I guess it's time in the sun is waning.
I grew up with one of these.... didn't fit in the car however

 

[Dannydet]

My first car was a 1971 Dodge Dart... With an 8 track player. 100 watt amp and equalizer. Now it's Bluetooth from my phone!

 

[shalemail]

The first car I bought with my own money was a 1968 GTO with a functional 8-track player. (High end option in 68!) I carried a hand full of 8-tracks with me, Boston, Zeppelin, Eagles, Journey, ya know the classics.

Miss that car.

 

[olbriar]

My first car was an 57 Olds super 88. It came with the standard AM radio and a mono speaker. I added the 8 track under the dash and stereo speakers in the rear deck. Cutting those holes for the speakers was near impossible. With the slant of the rear window and the incredible gauge of metal. The car was a tank.

Pic grabbed off the net. My Olds was this gold color.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

If you car has fins it's time to UPGRADE your ride.

 

[olbriar]

I sold the car in 68. The fins have not been a factor for a while now.

 

[lunatic59]

LOL. My first car was a '62 VW Beetle.

It had no radio. Unfortunately, being a 6v electrical system no aftermarket products worked in it, so I had to use some wire to tie a transistor radio to the dash. But I do miss that car.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

One of my girl cousins had a Beetle. You could see the road through the passengers front seat floor.
Somehow it was never frightening.

 

[olbriar]

My dad had a 37 Chevy that he restored over a period of years. It's the car my sis and I learned to drive in. His did not look this good when he sold it.

 

[Fox Mulder]

I had a '68 Beetle which was at least 12V although it still had the dreaded swing-axle rear suspension (which was finally replaced with far superior IRS in '69).
It was common for the floor to rot out underneath the right side of the rear seat, because the battery was there so any acid drips/leaks would typically go unnoticed for a long time. If the hole got big enough the battery could depart from the vehicle, obviously not a good situation.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

Fins in the back are bad. Fins in the front are AWESOME!

 

[The_Chief]

I sent an email to the Georgia Department of Safety, asking them to comb their archives to find the VIN of my first car: a 1966 Pontiac Bonneville that was originally my grandfather's. If I can locate it and it's still in tolerable shape, I plan to buy it and have it restored to showroom condition. Fingers crossed!

 

[lunatic59]

I sent an email to the Georgia Department of Safety, asking them to comb their archives to find the VIN of my first car: a 1966 Pontiac Bonneville that was originally my grandfather's. If I can locate it and it's still in tolerable shape, I plan to buy it and have it restored to showroom condition. Fingers crossed!

That would be cool if they will give you that information. I can't think of any car that any family member ever had that I'd like to reconnect with.

 

[Fox Mulder]

This post wins the award for "Best use of the acronym IRS".

Well it is a thing. And in this context it has nothing to do with taxes-

 

[The_Chief]

That would be cool if they will give you that information. I can't think of any car that any family member ever had that I'd like to reconnect with.

It looked almost exactly like this...

Maroon with black interior. Ooooh to get this car back!

*SIGH*

 

[The_Chief]

As a Navy Chief, I can moor a vessel without curb feelers.

Or white-wall tires

 

[olbriar]

This is the only car I ever owned that I'd love to have back! Bought it new and drove it just one year.

Traded it in for this...

I cried all the way home. My wife and our two little ones loved it however.
Yep... I became domesticated.

 

[shalemail]

That sir is an awesome example of Pontiac power and I highly approve. However, I knew my first marriage was doomed when she said "I think if we're going to be responsible you need to get rid of your goat" (At that time it was my third GTO my banana yellow 1972.)

As an aside, I knew I'd met the perfect woman when my (current - final - wife) said to me If you're going to buy another GTO you probably better do it now. (It had just been announced that Pontiac was officially being shut down.)
OK: Not my 68 but close, not my 72 but close the 69 was mine as was the 05 - owned them in that order 68, 69, 72, 05.
(The 2005 was the one my wife told me to go buy.)

 

[olbriar]

Those, sir, are nice looking vehicles.. each and every one of them.

 

[olbriar]

I never was a Ford man but my father was. He bought this for my mother when I was in high school. Had it tricked out and chromed. Talk about a fun ride... My personal time with the car was limited.. my father was no fool. But when opportunity knocked.... I took full advantage.

 

[shalemail]

I grew up in a Ford/Dodge house. My grandfather was awesome and supportive and helped with my 68 and 69 GTOs though I knew he was never thrilled about it.

My official first car was a barn worn 71 mustang Mach 1 we rebuilt together starting when I was 14. I drove it leagally 3 times and then it was sold to a friend of his shortly after I turned 16. I drove his old F-150 until we found the 68 GTO. The best part of that was Grandpa and I each put in 500 bucks on buying the mustang, he funded the rebuild but we split the $6000 we got out of it and that funded the GTO. I did get the hot rod bug from my dad. He had a 63 sport fury with a hemi. I'll see if I can find a pic of that. I've always wanted one just cause I always loved the pictures I got to see if it. Dad died when I was 11 months old so the hot rod thing is nature not nurture.