How do you say goodbye to your first car?

[Shannanigan]

For months I've been keeping an eye on the classifieds for good deals on a new...or rather, newer, car to replace my 1986 Chevy Nova (the most reliable car on the planet). Tonight, I found that and so much more, a beautiful 1994 Toyota Celica...I can't even begin to describe its divinity, and I won't bother, because I'm here for answers to a question:

How do you say goodbye to your first car?

I know that I have officially found my car's replacement, and I will have to sell my car to stay financially safe. The Nova is my first car, though. Given to me senior year of high school. It's the car I learned how to drive stick in. It's the car that got me attention as "the girl that knows how to drive a stick." It's the car that I spent a whole summer grinding and bondo-ing and sanding so that I could spray it over in royal blue. It's the car that I've loved and taken care of for two long years. The car I started college with, the car that I moved all my belongings with, the car that I re-rugged and put a nice CD player and speakers in...

How do you sell that? How do you turn that in for money? I love this new (newer) car...but how do you trade your first love in?

Have you had to? How?

[Virgil]

Yes, I remember my first car. I loved it at first, but turned into problem after problem, and after getting fed up and who knows how much money, I was happy to get rid of it.

[Shannanigan]

mine has had its share of problems and has sucked up god knows how much money (lucky for me my boyfriend's father is a mechanic...I almost never got charged for labor)...I'm only getting a new car because mine is starting to rust through. I dunno, I'm gonna be sad to let it go :(

[Idril]

My roommate totaled my first car, a 1976 oldsmobile I inherited from my Grandmother. She came home from the bar one night, took my keys, crashed my car then called from jail the next morning. I had to say goodbye at the impound lot when I discovered that my car, contrary to what she said, was not in a driveable condition and never would be again.

[AimusSage]

Through a big farewell party and celebrate the new car, while remembering the old. :D

[ClaesGefvenberg]

How to say good bye? How about dropping it off at the scrap yard and giving it a boot up the muzzler for good measure? ;)

/Claes

[Madhuri]

Maybe you can keep something as a memory.

[Nightshade]

Thats an idea turn it in for scrap and keep the steering wheel or those things they put on the ront ( mind you I havent seen many cars with them recently) you know like the star on a toyota and the jaguar on a jaguar that thing :D:D

[Shannanigan]

My roommate totaled my first car, a 1976 oldsmobile I inherited from my Grandmother. She came home from the bar one night, took my keys, crashed my car then called from jail the next morning. I had to say goodbye at the impound lot when I discovered that my car, contrary to what she said, was not in a driveable condition and never would be again.

OMG Idril I don't think I ever would have forgiven that roommate! Ouchies...

Well, you guys have given me some ideas. I've already asked my boyfriend if I can borrow his digital camera and my mother if I can borrow her gorgeous grassy yard to do a little photoshoot for my car this weekend. It would be hard to find a good place to sell the car for scrap, and because it's still in good running condition, I can easily sell it on this island for $1,500. I figure I'll make a little online commemoration page with the pictures and I'll look for something to keep....maybe I'll put the original shifter back on and keep the shiny metallic blue one that I had put on...

[Idril]

OMG Idril I don't think I ever would have forgiven that roommate! Ouchies...

Yeah, that took awhile, a few years actually. ;)


....maybe I'll put the original shifter back on and keep the shiny metallic blue one that I had put on...

That sound like a good idea, that way, you'll always have a piece of your first car with you.

[Shannanigan]

Yeah...and the most noticeable thing about this car is the totally Crayola blue color of it...it's such a basic color blue that no one seems to want to paint their cars this color, everyone wants a special "shade." The shifter will really help me remember it :)

My mechanic is inspecting the new car tommorow for me ~fingers crossed~

[grace86]

My brother has a hot pink chevy nova! I am so sad that you have to give up your first car. My first car is a chevy cavalier Z24 - convertible. It was in horrible condition when I got it. But after doing some necessary changes it has never left me. Right now it has been sitting across the street while I am driving a newer vehicle...with air conditioning and a hard top (some people in my family are uncomfortable with my driving a convertible in the evening). I will be so sad when I have to give it up.

Good luck Shannanigan. I would keep something if I were you. And taking pictures sounds nice.

[Shannanigan]

Despite the sadness of leaving it...I can't help but be excited that in one hour I will be getting my future Celica inspected in an hour and if all goes well it will be all mine! :)

I'll post the pics of my old car in the next couple of days...

[Shannanigan]

Please ignore the rest of the website you're about to be directed to, it is an old attempt at sort of an online photo-album...no, it is not interesting ;)

I will miss my blue beast...

http://tfw.bravehost.com/Nova.html

[Madhuri]

Hey, I was trying to open the link but it took me to this one http://www.bravenet.com/webhosting/bandwidth.html

[mono]

I apologize to hear of your car, Shannanigan, and surely know your pain. ;)
Luckily, I had very little difficulty in getting rid of my first, and only, car (a little blue 1987 Dodge Lancer - ugly as sin, but in very good condition :D), when getting accepted to nursing school years ago; of course, finances had to go elsewhere, and the insurance and rising gasoline costs made driving out of the question.
Very strange, however, that I come from a family of mechanics and 'car buffs,' who race, know everything about cars and industry, and spend days, weeks, and endless months customizing their cars.

[Shannanigan]

Hey, I was trying to open the link but it took me to this one http://www.bravenet.com/webhosting/bandwidth.html



ugh, sorry about that...its a limited space im allowed to use on that site, I'm getting quite tired of it :p...but you can try again, it works for a certain number of visitors and then conks out....bleh...

...edit: I'm going to attach some pics now...though they are not the best ones I guess they'll do...

Mono...I think my biggest fear is that I'll sell this car to someone in a family like yours and they'll pimp it out to the point that I get jealous of it when I see it driving around on this island :lol:

[Shalot]

how you do you say goodbye to your first car?

I came across this thread and thought I'd bump it up and talk about how I said goodbye to my first car.

I watched mine burn. the thing caught on fire while I was in it. We were going down the road and smelled a burning smell but didn't realize that it was the engine burning. Then my husband gets out of the car, pops the hood and announces, "That's fire"

and the car burned until the fire department got there. Afterward, the hood was up and the engine was a mangled mass of black smoking goo and metal and one of the fireman said something to me about the having someone asses the damage to see if it good be repaired and I thought, "are you serious?" and I said that I didn't see how that could possibly be fixed. People say the strangest things....

[Virgil]

how you do you say goodbye to your first car?

I came across this thread and thought I'd bump it up and talk about how I said goodbye to my first car.

I watched mine burn. the thing caught on fire while I was in it. We were going down the road and smelled a burning smell but didn't realize that it was the engine burning. Then my husband gets out of the car, pops the hood and announces, "That's fire"

and the car burned until the fire department got there. Afterward, the hood was up and the engine was a mangled mass of black smoking goo and metal and one of the fireman said something to me about the having someone asses the damage to see if it good be repaired and I thought, "are you serious?" and I said that I didn't see how that could possibly be fixed. People say the strangest things....

Goodness, you could have been hurt. Did you ever find out what caused the fire? Cracked fuel line?

[Shalot]

Goodness, you could have been hurt. Did you ever find out what caused the fire? Cracked fuel line?

they guessed it had something to do with the battery and it was not fixable and I wouldn't have driven it if someone had managed to pull what was left of the engine out and put in a new one. it was a dumb car anyway - whenever I went uphill it emitted a rotten egg odor. I wonder if that could have somehow caused the fire. :lol: It's funny now because no one was hurt, but it is kind of scary to think about about what could have happened.

btw: my husband was not my husband at the time - i'm glad he didn't decide to jump ship because I had such a bad car. some people would have.

[Idril]

My roommate kind of took care of the goodbye for me. My first car was my grandma's old car, a 76 Oldsmoblie that was as big as a tank. It's kind of a long story how this came about but she ended up stealing my car one night and totaled it...and got a DUI and a Hit and Run citation at the same time. :rolleyes: When she called me from jail the next morning, she led me to believe I could just go pick it up and drive it home but when we got to the impound lot, we realized that car wasn't going anywhere. I took all the stuff out of it and said goodbye right there in the lot. Those were fun times. :lol:

[baddad]

um........yeah..........I think I shot my first car when I was done with it.......Ahh, sweet memories.........

[Sancho]

Bought my first car (a magnificent example of Detroit engineering - the 1964 Ford Falcon) for 200 dollars from the “Kar Korral” in San Angelo, Texas in 1978. Sold it a year later to some dude for 250 dollars. I think that my fifty dollar windfall was due largely to the self-installed Mexican blanket interior.