This was my very first car. 1963 Dodge Custom 880 two door hardtop.
Obviously, a stolen pic from the internet ...
Get rid of the Kragar wheels and put back the stock wheel covers with fake spinners and the white roof has to go. Mine was all red, but had been driven by a '70s version of Mr Magoo and had about forty small dents all over it. He ran into everything!
I bought it with fifty thousand miles on it for two hundred bucks in 1972. I had been saving money and I had a lot more than that because I wanted a muscle car, but this came up and I took it. I really NEEDED my own damn car!
I drove it for two years until I found a '70 Mach I Mustang, my second car.
The Dodge had a 383 cu in (6.27 Liter) two barrel engine, push button automatic transmission, air conditioning, power everything, including windows which did not need the key on to operate. Convenience over security in those days, I suppose was the norm.
I kept this old beast until 1980 when I moved to Nashville and my mom insisted I could no longer leave it parked out back. It was still in great condition when I sold it to a friend for eight hundred bucks.
I had all the dents fixed, re-upholstered the interior with new tan carpet, tan buttoned seats, painted it copper color instead of red (foolish), replaced the brakes and all the engine things like radiator, water pump, fuel pump, rebuilt the carb, new 60 series tires, had a blasting stereo installed that would run you out if I cranked it up, new battery, A/C, new vacuum hoses, brake lines, fuel hoses, filters, wipers and basically everything that went wrong with old cars in those days.
It was larger than this cute pic suggests. I once smuggled eight of my high school buddies in the trunk to beat the drive-in movie fees. One sat up front with me. Might have drawn suspicion if they had noticed that there were ten lawn chairs in the back seat.
It really was a fantastic car and I wish I had kept it!
Oh, notice the rounded glass windshield and the side vents which "Detroit" no longer feels we need. No power side mirrors. You reach out with your hand and move the damn things. It worked.
What did your first car look like?
