Team AutoTrader reflects on their first cars.

Lawrence Minnie eventually resprayed his VW Golf Dakar Yellow

 

Your first set of wheels is something that you will never forget. You only get one chance at a 'first car' and it's seldom as glamourous as we'd like it to be - but does that matter? It could be a 20-year old scrapper with little to no retail value, but to you it means everything. It's priceless and dear, it's the embodiment of your escape and the key to your freedom.

The first car to enter your life will do many things, aside from allowing you to be the master of your own destination. It will teach you about maintenance and cost management, it may even teach you about driving dynamics and mechanics. While most of us here at AutoTrader enjoyed a love for motoring long before we could drive, it was that first car that we could call our own that set the proverbial wheels in motion, driving us to the point in our lives where we find ourselves now.

Related: First-time car buyer? What you need to know

In compiling this, each member noted how they could wax lyrical about their first car, regaling tales of adventures and misadventure but I was forced to reign them in. Let us know (on social media) if you'd like to hear more about our adventures and be sure to tell us what your first car was!

Lawrence Minnie

1985 Volkswagen Golf

Even before I got my driver's license, all I could think about was owning my own car. Due to the fact that I was 18 and heavily involved in the surfing scene in Cape Town, the only vehicle I had eyes for was a VW Caddy bakkie. It was perfect for carrying mates and surfboards and tents and all the other junk you’d need for a weekend at the beach, riding tubes and floating an air biscuit.

So when the time came to finally buy my first car I naturally couldn’t find a single one for sale that wasn’t completely destroyed. I, therefore, settled on a then 12-year-old Mk1 Volkswagen Golf that I paid a whopping R 3 500 for. It was every single red cent that I had saved up for years but that car was absolutely worth it! 

It was rusted full of holes and the interior was shot but it was mine and when you turned the key it started and drove and when you have a car and your friends don’t, you suddenly become very popular!

I kept that car for 5 years, lavished it with hours of work both mechanically and aesthetically and then sold it on before I left for the U.S.A. There is nothing that can ever replace the feeling of turning the key in your first car. It's part of you and you will never forget it.

Chad Lückhoff

1981 Peugeot 505 SR

I only started riding bikes much later in my life so my teenage years were consumed with counting down the days to my driver's license. I didn't enjoy the freedom that a 50cc bike provided but when I turned 18 I discovered it in a car as old as I was. It was a 1981 Peugeot 505 SR. It was powered by a 2.0-litre ZEJK engine that made a grand total of 81 kW and 171 Nm (when new) but had to try to lug a bodyshell that was comprised mainly of 1/4-inch steel plate and chronic oxidation. Our family was a Peugeot family and at one stage had four 505s, ranging from GTIs to SRs and even STIs.

I revelled in the comfort, size and RWD layout that got me into more trouble than I care to remember. There was enough space in the boot to smuggle several friends into the drive-inn and it also gave me my first taste of automotive maintenance. I learned how to change brakes, clutches, head gaskets and set carbs with that car.

In the few years that had the Pug, with the help of my father, it received a new paint job, a (poorly) retrimmed interior as well as a few engine modifications. It eventually ended up with my younger brother before being sold on to a gentleman who seemed to share our passion for classic Peugeots.

Martin Pretorius

1989 Volkswagen CitiGolf 1.6

My first car was responsible for so many of my best motoring memories. Her name was Christine (I always name my cars!), and she was a beautiful, blue-ish-grey 1989 Volkswagen CitiGolf 1.6 - one of the first to feature the full-depth bumpers. I loved everything about her: from the colour to the peppy (!) 1600 engine, and from the fun driving dynamics to the optional air conditioner.

This was quite a fancy car for a student back in the mid-1990s, and Christine was the object of much admiration amongst my friends. It was also the first car with which I attempted motorsports, as well as the first one I modified. If it weren’t for the fact that she got T-boned at an intersection and subsequently written off, I’d probably still be driving her to this day - I still think very fondly of my dearly departed Christine, and would buy a similar one in a heartbeat…

Ané Theron

1983 Ford Escort 1300

After cutting my teeth on all manner of borrowed and loaned vehicles, my poor parents had had enough of me risking my life, and scraped together enough cash to buy me a third-generation 1983 white Ford Escort 1.3 with a four-speed manual transmission. I was overjoyed! Already a petrolhead of note, I pushed the Escort as far as its 1300cc would allow.

Sure, there were a few fender-benders. Of course, there were no airbags in used cars within that price range back then, but I didn’t let that stop me. One day my Escort and I ended up on a sidewalk as I turned a corner too fast on a wet road. These are the lessons you learn when you’re young and there’s no traction control - which is why I think that manufacturers should rather add this very important feature to their cars, instead of distracting touchscreens! There’s not such a big difference between texting and working that touchscreen, now is there?

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