Sweet Sixteen!

Discussion in '1947-1954' started by Kens 50 PU, Feb 1, 2008.

  1. Kens 50 PU

    Kens 50 PU Member

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    Let's have some fun! Go back to when you turned 16 and LEGALLY got to drive!

    Who was the president of our country, where were you living, what vehicle did you drive?

    I turned the magic age in April of 1970. Richard Nixon was president, dad had retired from the USAF and we moved back to Puryear, Tennessee, where mom and dad were born and raised, and dad gave me the family car as my first ride. It was a 1963 Chevy Biscayne, 4 door sedan, 230 cu in 6 cyl, 3 on the tree!

    Next?
     
  2. i90wrench

    i90wrench Member

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    Here in South Dakota we get a "restricted" license at 14 so I'll start there. Us kids in Draper had to go to Murdo to high school , 10 mile drive(if ya didn't live in the country, which I did). My first day with a license was in October of 81 (at 14), got to drive my folks' old car, a 73 Mercury Marquis. It was a big 4 door tank, but it had a 460 4bbl and would haul ass!! Race a friend to school and kicked his butt, 100mph++! By the time I turned 16 I got demoted to a hand me down 77 Toyota Corolla that one of my older sisters had rolled. It was beat up and ugly, but nobody could catch us when we played ditch em'. (like tag but with cars and trucks) After high school me and a couple guys put a roll cage in it and I raced it in baja's for a couple years. Won quite a few races and people got a kick out of watching that little bugger launch off the woop d do's and catch some air. Hate to say it but that little rice grinder was the toughest little sumbitch I've owned. My old 68 was right up there. Thank god I've grown up and got that outa my system! (well....a little bit anyway):rolleyes:......Let's here some more, there's gotta be some wild ones in this bunch!! See ya.........Mike
     
  3. vwnate1

    vwnate1 Member

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    16 Eh ?

    By then I'd moved to Sunny So. Cal. and finally got a license to drive the car I'd been driving for two years allready...

    I'd been out on my own , job & apartment too , live in girlfreind , thought I was all grown up but was just a little boy , in retrospect .
     
  4. sloromon

    sloromon Member

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    haha! 1996 for me!! i drove an 86 toyota forerunner in phoenix, arizona. pretty exciting, huh?? oh well, at least now i get to drive a 53 3600!! much cooler IMO.

    jon
     
  5. Climberdad

    Climberdad Member

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    Let's see - born in 63 so 63 + 16 = 1979... Wow - that's a while ago... Jimmy Carter was President at the time. My first car was a 1971 Ford Pinto - pre-gas tank shield:eek: This car started it's life in Wisconsin and it came with us when we moved to Edmond, OK. It was completely rusted out. This was my first attempt at body work and let's just say that you could still see the patches and bondo after the $99 Earl Schiebs metalic silver paint job. Unfortunately the "Silver Bullet" met it's demise at the hands of an inexperienced 16 year old on a wet road. The telephone pole won... It was replaced by a 70 Mach One Mustang w/ a 351 Cleveland. Still not sure how my dad thought that was a good idea. I actually had that car completely airborne at 120+mph. Ended up selling it because I could not afford the 8 Gallons per Mile it got. Wish I still had it.
     
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2008
  6. advanced design

    advanced design Member

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    Jimmy Carter was president, 1969 Mach 1 Mustang with 351 Windsor and 4 speed, Oblong IL. I to wish I would have kept that one. Jade green, flat black hood, reflective gold stripe, Cragar SS wheels with BF Goodrich radial TA tires, lumpy Sig Ersom cam, 10 1/2-1 compression. Cool ride for high school.
     
  7. mikesters1950

    mikesters1950 Member

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    1984 for me. Reagan was president, gas was way cheaper, and I learned to drive in a 1972 4 door Plymouth Satellite, 318 a/t. My dad never did figure out why it kept breaking motor mounts. HaHa. It was big, it was slow, and it handled like crap, but we had some fun for sure. That car was pretty much indestructable.......Mike
     
  8. Young C10

    Young C10 Member

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    I turned 16 in August of 2007! George Bush was President. I drove a 5 speed 1987 Suzuki Samurai, and a 1965 C-10, with 3 on the tree!! I guess I am the young one =)
     
  9. f4fantm2

    f4fantm2 Member

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    Remember it well!

    Just like it was yesterday! 1964, that worthless b*****d Lyndon Johnson was president. Was living in (and had never been outside the state of) Kentucky. Got my driver's license in my oldest brother's 1956 Chevy. First time I'd driven that particular car, which had a 265 with an automatic trans. It was like new, and when I pulled up after having passed the test, he was waiting for me. I shoved 'er up into park before it stopped rolling, and needless to say, that was the last time I drove that car! Shortly afterward, my brother-in-law co-signed a loan for $90 at the bank so I could buy a (drum roll) 1959 Nash Metropolitan! Man, what a car! For some reason, it had the best sounding radio I ever heard, before or since. I drove that thing for about a year, even drag raced it (informally, of course), but traded it in on a '57 Pontiac. That's a whole 'nother story!
     
  10. Blue Bowtie

    Blue Bowtie Member

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    Well I'm not quite as young as young C10 but I got my license Jan. 24, 2007(turned 16 on the 15th). George W. Bush was the president. I drove a2000 4x4 crew cab 2500(my dads). I'll drive it till my truck(1951 3100) is done.
     
  11. Tailgater

    Tailgater Member

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    On my 16th birthday Apollo 16 astronauts were walking on the moon. Nixon was president. My car was a '65 Chevy Impala with a 283 and an automatic on the column. I about washed the paint off of it while it sat in the yard waiting for me to turn 16. I had an 8 track player under the dash and a thing that looked like a briefcase that carried about 20 tapes. I had the "Best of the Animals", "Kenny Rogers and the First Edition", Bread, The Holly's, etc.
    My girlfriend and I went to see the Godfather not knowing how long it was and her dad was waiting on me when I got her home, mad as hell. Anyway we lied like crazy and told them we saw the Concert for Bangladesh. But I regress, as I tend to do nowadays.
    Gater
     
  12. Kens 50 PU

    Kens 50 PU Member

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    Concert for Bangladesh?

    My Sweet Lord, Gater!! You mean the one with George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Billy (nothing from nothing leaves nothing) Preston, Leon (up on a tight rope) Russell, and Ravi Shankar?

    Who have I missed? My Kraco 8-track is overheating even as we speak!

    Debby and I almost became missionaries over that deal!:cool:
     
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2008
  13. Chiro

    Chiro Member

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    A New York Yankee living in Virginia
    1975. Driving my '40 'Olds inline 8 coupe to high school. It was a birthday present from my dad when I was 14. The engine was in the trunk in pieces when he bought it for $75.00. Told me I had two years to build it before I got my license. It was a good thing because it kept me off the street and in the garage. It was the coolest car in school. NOBODY else drove a classic/antique. Everybody else was hot on Mustangs and Camaro's, with a coupla Nova's and VW's mixed in. Got into a lot of fun and trouble with that car once it was on the road. Damn shame I sold it. I say that about a lot of the guitars I used to own that are now worth more than my parents paid for their first house:eek:. I think it was Gerald Ford who had the unenviable job of mopping up after that botched breakin at the Watergate.

    Andy
     
  14. Zig

    Zig Member

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    All the president's men

    I can't say who was president, but it started with an F, and it was followed by %#*!!!!!

    I had moved out of my house and in to a friend's house. I really could have given a rats ass about anything, at that time. I was pissed and thought the whole world owed me. I left school in the dust, so that wasn't an issue. If you could roll it, snort it, or ingest it, and it made you feel "better" than you did, it was in me. If it came in a needle, screw that!

    hash, mushrooms, ludes, LSD, smoke, white cross...

    I was 16 and SO lost.

    Sorry- 16 is a redo. Even my first true love left me.:(

    God took pity, and here I am. And you're sooo happy~ I know you are!:D
     
  15. 58 Chevy pickup

    58 Chevy pickup Member

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    I was 17 when I got my first car, a 1960 VW, in late 1968. I believe Nixon had just come into office. Parents didn't help out with any money, had to earn all that myself. That was tough living out in the country and trying to earn enough money to pay for a car plus insurance when your only making .80 to .90 cents per hour. Had to depend on friends who had cars for rides to work. That car created some kind of freedom. Didn't get into too much trouble with that old VW, hell it only had 36 HP, but it got me around where I needed to be for a good many years.
     
  16. shooter2

    shooter2 Member

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    Lets see -- Ike ( eisenhower) . First car was a 54 Ply belvedere, wouldn't stand up to 80MPH so I traded it for a 55 Chevy 210 2door.
    Speaking of Metropolitans, I have owned 3 , good little cars and got about 28 mpg. So much for the new economy cars.
    My favorite older one was a 50 pontiac 2dr hard top, straight 8. loved it but had to trade it for a newer car to suit wife ( 45 years ago).
    Jim
     
  17. vwnate1

    vwnate1 Member

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    Fwiw ;

    I still have TWO Metropolitan Nash's , one Coupe and one Rag Top , plus the 1960 VW Sedan DeLuxe with sliding canvas sunshine roof , 36HP engine and non - synchro " Crashbox " tranny , 6 volts , Bendix AM radio etc.... :rolleyes:

    Keep these reports coming , they're fascinating .
    a 1040 Oldsmobile COUPE ?! wow , that's really something - better than my old 1954 Pontiac Super Chief Coupe .
     
  18. Larry R

    Larry R Member

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    Response.

    Ken, I wasn't too far a head of you - I turned that magic age in April 1969. LBJ was out and Nixon was in this year. It was also the year of Woodstock! I spent it right here in central Texas around Austin behind the wheel of a 1960 Ford Falcon!

    Larry R
     
  19. Nifty 50

    Nifty 50 Member

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    It was 1977 and Carter was president. My vehicle? Same truck that I have now, I even have a picture from that era:
    http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2428704920101996343egwEWD
    As I tell my wife, that is a shag haircut, not a mullet. I can probably say with some assurance that Aerosmith was cranking in that cab.
     
  20. Larrys 48

    Larrys 48 Member

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    '65

    I believe the pres was LBJ, but living in Southern Calif, listening to the Beach Boys, didn't seem like it mattered. My first ride was a grey primered '55 Chevy 2 door, center post, 3 speed on the floor with the most bitchen Tiajuana tuck and roll upholstery you'd ever want. It "developed" a rod knock within a week and after putting some recaps on it I flipped it for $500 - $50 more than I bought it for . . . those were the daze...2nd car was a '61 Starliner that I drove with a howling rear end until I graduated from Hi School. I believe it cost me $750 - all my money came from savings: delivering newspapers and flipping burgers at Orange Julius.
     

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