My ACTUAL first car

"HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch) 05/11/2020 at 13:01 • Filed to: rambling stories with uncle HHFP, neat, gokart, mazda

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Some people may know the story of my first car, I wrote a thing about it and Jalopnik graciously picked it up and ran with it. It wasn’t the first car that I drove regularly (1986 Camry), but it was the first car I bought with my money for my dedicated use.

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Only that’s not entirely true. The first vehicle I purchased with my own money ($150 off my cousins who won it from a radio contest) was a race truck...of sorts.

(pictured, my grandpa pull starting my ride. He later had a heart attack and died pull starting a 3 wheeler...I guess it’s an okay way to go). Okay, so mine wasn’t really like Glenn Harris’ actual stadium truck, but it was pretty close...to me

(FYI - it wasn’t 87 when I bought mine. I don’t know when it was...I don’t look that old, maybe 10?)

Here is the real #5 truck in action. Rod Millen and Jeff Huber also drove them.

And here it is as a #721

Fun fact, these B-series trucks were Rotary powered (what I can only assume is a NA version of the 13B). Mine was powered by a 5.5 HP tecumseh thumper with a 2 stage torque converter clutch. it had big ATV float tires and a fiberglass body. It wasn’t fast, but it went just about everywhere. Snow, sand...whatever. It was probably good that it was geared slow as it had a solid axle (no differential) and no suspension. Steering was also something of an effort. I did get it air born more than once though...and bent the crap out of the front axle in the process, but that was easy enough to fix.

Eventually I outgrew it and sold it to my Uncle out in California for his 2 young boys to tear apart and rebuild. If I remember they stripped the motor, bored out the intake and exhaust and ran it on methanol. I have reached out to see if I can get the rest of the story. Both of his boys followed in dad’s footsteps and became automotive engineers it turns out.

That was a good little truck. I delivered newspapers in it (that didn’t last long...I don’t into mornings and never have), I used it for trick or treating, my older brother even used it for a school dance by putting a wagon behind it and, along with his friends, creating a date parade around the neighborhood with each guy creating a sort of float for their dates to ride on.

Good times.

Nibby > HammerheadFistpunch 05/11/2020 at 13:07

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this was my first car

HammerheadFistpunch > Nibby 05/11/2020 at 13:08

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Did not get one of those.  Also really wanted a powerwheels but no dice.  It took me forever to save up for that gokart and I had to negotiate with my much older cousins but I eventually got my youth based play car.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > HammerheadFistpunch 05/11/2020 at 13:10

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That is just about the most awesome thing imaginable for anyone between the ages of 8 and 14 and I would still rock that. You must have been one cool kid with that. Your cousins got the short end of the stick.

Jim Spanfeller > HammerheadFistpunch 05/11/2020 at 13:10

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I would have killed for something like that as a kid... That’s like a power wheels on steroids!

WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI > HammerheadFistpunch 05/11/2020 at 13:11

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This is a fairly accurate depiction of my first cars

HammerheadFistpunch > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/11/2020 at 13:15

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Family of girls who couldn’t have cared less about it.  It was always stuffed into a corner of their garage everytime we went to their house.  They didn’t miss it one bit.

HammerheadFistpunch > Jim Spanfeller 05/11/2020 at 13:16

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It was pretty rad.  

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > HammerheadFistpunch 05/11/2020 at 13:17

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Dang, that’s a shame. Good thing it spent the rest of its time that you know about in loving, if a bit firm, hands.

Jim Spanfeller > HammerheadFistpunch 05/11/2020 at 13:17

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I’ll say... 

shop-teacher > HammerheadFistpunch 05/11/2020 at 13:25

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Wow that is cool!  And here I thought my Bigfoot power wheels was pretty great :)

Nothing > HammerheadFistpunch 05/11/2020 at 13:30

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Dang, that’s cool. A go kart was my actual first car, although it was a gift when I was 8. It was a Chevy Vega bodied go kart, but the body bit the dust fairly early on. I was shocked plenty of times by the kill switch (pull the spark plug cable) until I created a device as a kill switch (tied a piece of long twine to the spark plug cable). I spent hours upon hours  in that thing, dirt tracking in the field behind our house.

HammerheadFistpunch > shop-teacher 05/11/2020 at 13:31

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hey I would have killed for a powerwheels before this.

HammerheadFistpunch > Nothing 05/11/2020 at 13:33

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oh man, I forgot about getting shocked.  Mine had an ignition kill switch but it shorted when when so if I drove it wet and tried to turn it off I got shocked.  Good times.

Brickman > HammerheadFistpunch 05/11/2020 at 13:42

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That Mazda race truck is too awesome! I had a Power Wheels ford f-150 that broke down after 5 minutes. The realism of ford ownership was real :D

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > HammerheadFistpunch 05/11/2020 at 14:12

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My dad and I built a go cart when I was a kid, we welded square tube steel and it even had a pretty cool steering system with ball joints. No engine though, I would go down all the hills. 

bob rider > HammerheadFistpunch 07/28/2020 at 22:35

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7083368559

HammerheadFistpunch > bob rider 07/28/2020 at 22:43

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Holy crap. You still have it?