Our First Cars

There's something about your first car. Sure, it's a big step toward independence and freedom. But for those of us that were born with 30-weight pumping through our veins, it’s about more than that. It's our first chance to build or modify something to match the vision in our heads. And for many of us, that vision started to form long before legal driving age. Here is a collection of a few first car stories from the crew at Speedway Motors.

"I’ll kick the party off with my 1986 Buick Regal. With a corporate Olds 307 and an absurdly tall rear gear, it wasn’t the fastest thing in the high school parking lot (that honor belonged to my friend’s 350 IROC) but it might have been the cleanest. I was tormented by my friends when they saw me detailing it in the street before parking it for the day and heading into school.

But my story with this car goes back even further than my that. You see, my folks were the original owners, and I remember going with them to pick it up at the dealership. I was four years old, but I remember most of that day very clearly. I also remember a sinister black Grand National in the showroom. “Dad, I want that one!” He ignored me.

I grew up in the backseat of this car. For years after it was mine I was still finding little plastic bombs under the seats from the toy airplanes that I played with as a little kid. Most of my earliest memories of reading are set in this car on long road trips. As I got older, I would sit back there with car magazines and catalogs and dream of what I would do to it someday if it was mine.

And then it was. On my 16th birthday it was parked in the driveway with a bow on it. I had worked out a payment arrangement with my folks, but they told me to forget it. They handed me the keys and I drove off in my brand new 12 year old Buick.

In the years to come, I did some work to make it mine. With my dad’s help we painted the copious amount of chrome trim dark grey like the body, making it look more than a little like a turbo car. The front was lowered slightly and some junkyard third-gen Camaro wheels were added in place of the tiny factory 14” steel rally wheels. A dual exhaust replaced the almost totally silent stock single pipe. I can still close my eyes and hear the roar of the otherwise stock engine breathing through the 3” tips. It sounded fast. It wasn’t.

And I still have the keys. Life has taken me to some strange places that the old Buick couldn’t go with me, but I never let it go. It sits in storage, waiting for me to finish up some other projects and come up with a garage big enough to work on it. It needs a little paintwork and a tune up to wake it from its slumber. But there it sits, looking almost exactly as it did 24 years ago when I got my first taste of freedom behind its code N34 “sport” steering wheel." --Joe McCollough

"Here is one of my first cars that we pulled out of the field by my grandpa's house. It was one of my dad’s cars that had a Chrysler Hemi in it at one time. He pulled that motor out to probably put in a dune buggy, which was his thing when he was younger, and parked it in the field.

So, we dragged it home and dropped in a small block and TH350 trans out of who knows what. With painting my old '53 Chevy truck under our belt we decided to give the car painting thing another try and painted this '50 Chevy. Turned out so well that I needed to have my senior pictures taken with it. So I stole the rims and tires off my '79 Z28, went shopping for the best Miami Vice outfit, had my hair permed and off I went. Sad to say I don't have that hair or the car anymore." --Brandon Draper

"My first daily driver was a '97 Ford Taurus, but my first real project car was this 1982 Camaro Berlinetta - purchased 4 days after getting the Taurus. Why 4 days later? It turns out the female youth of 2004 wasn't interested in an economical, family friendly four door sedan EVEN THOUGH I sprung for the expensive floor mats AND it had the six disc CD changer in the trunk. Anyway..

The Camaro was nicknamed "Kelly Kapowski" after the Bayside babe of Saved by the Bell. This car was my first real project and chance to get my hands dirty. I purchased it for $400 and it came with a parts car that was 93% mouse poop, 6% rust and 1% usable steel. My dad helped me A TON with restoring this beast and providing thrills that most 16-year-olds don't get to experience. I washed dishes at the local nursing home to afford the parts and pieces - the finishing touches of course being an overly pungent dragon air freshener & a barbed wire license plate frame.

This car stayed with me through college but sadly, I had to part ways with it to afford an engagement ring for my now wife. That's the sweetheart story I tell people but really, I chose to part ways with it because as I was driving home one night from work, the right rear wheel came unbolted and flew off down a hill and into a field. I spent over 3 hours in the pitch-black searching for that thing and after many profanity laced rants, I found it. Turns out that wheel was rather prophetic. It knew even before I did that it was time to part ways. I sold the car shortly after that." --Jeremy Orlowski

"I received my first car at the age of 13, so the anticipation was definitely built up for me to drive it by the time I obtained my school permit the following year. The car is a 1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass (G-body platform). It needed a new quarter panel due to a previous fender bender and had a few tiny flaws here and there but I thought it was a pretty sweet $400 purchase (thanks dad)!

Throughout my early driving years, this car served as my first learning experience for some hands-on automotive repair and hot rodding. To start I did small repairs and upgrades, like adding a CD player stereo, an aftermarket tachometer, handmade window decal, to installing a new headliner, air shocks, exhaust, and eventually redoing the damaged quarter panel with help from a family friend.

I still have the car and even drove it occasionally when I first started working at Speedway Motors, but it has since seen better days. It’s once again due for body work and probably a complete overhaul, but my hope is to have it on the road again.

Much of my inspiration for the car came from previous Oldsmobile Cutlass's that my parents owned. My dad had a 1970 Olds that I only knew from pictures but thought it was one of the coolest cars I had seen at the time. Additionally, growing up I had the privilege of riding passenger in my mom's 1977 Olds Cutlass. This car was our daily driver for as much as I can remember of my childhood and teenage years. Unfortunately, they retired the '77 as rust and normal wear and tear got the best of it. However, they still have it and I bet it would still run like a champ if we were to test it!" --Tyler Wesely

"As Joe Diffie sang, my first car was a pickup truck. My parents were gracious enough to give me a vehicle when I turned 16. Mainly to help transport my siblings around. As any high school kid would do who is interested in automotive, I made some enhancements. I added a lift/leveling kit to give it a better stance and look. Next was larger more aggressive tires and nerf bars. One of my first real experiences with vehicle maintenance included me attempting to change the transmission fluid. In my young naive mind I thought this truck with 190,000 miles on the clock needed some transmission servicing. My dad was less than thrilled when the "old" transmission fluid came pouring out cherry red fresh.

My first project car was a 1970 Monte Carlo, this is also my current project car. My dad and I found it 8 years ago and it's been a process of restoration early on, then improvements and modifications over the last few years. When we picked it up it needed body work, paint, interior, engine, transmission, and the list goes on. The bright side was all the pieces were with the car when we got it, so it started with cleaning it up, getting it painted, and assembling. Over the last few years I've been making modifications and improvements. Upgrading the gauge package, wiring fixes, engine rebuild, vintage air, and a handful of little projects to make it a more enjoyable car. Over the past handful of years I've been participating in the Tour Nebraska cruising my car and enjoying it. This car has been my pride and joy and I even convinced my wife to take our engagement pictures with the car!" --Myles Rasmussen

"My first car was actually a truck. I was 13 years old and was at the Bandimere Speedway Swap Meet and came across a 1966 C10 short box big back window. I was immediately in love and was determined that truck is going to be mine. The seller used it to race but blew the engine and transmission, so it was just a roller sitting on a trailer.

Unfortunately the guy was nowhere to be found. Must have been off looking at the other junk for sale. But being the determined young man I was, I sat on the edge of that trailer and ran off everyone that came up to it to look inside, saying “sorry its sold”. I honestly must have told a dozen people that. (sorry not sorry). Finally what felt like a few hours later, he returned and we hashed out a price of $1,300.

Over the years dad and I put a new 700R4, 400 SB (only because that’s what we had lying around), true dual Flowmaster Super 40 exhaust, removed the 4.88 for a 3.73 rear end (dads decision not mine) and countless other small additions. It truly is the one vehicle I regret selling." --Jesse Mumaugh

"My first car was a real 1969 Chevelle "SS", 396/4 speed car. My father and I did a frame on restoration of the car. New quarter panels, new fenders, and massaging it all straight. The original color code was Butternut Yellow for '69, I opted for the much brighter '69 Daytona Yellow. The 396 was rebuilt by us with mild dome pistons and a nice hydraulic flat tappet camshaft. The original Muncie M21 was left in place along with the original 12 bolt Posi rear axle. It was a bucket seat console car without AC and power brakes. We toured the usual Midwest car shows for a few years, then a major change took place. We decided to go full on Drag Racing the Chevelle, building it to NHRA D-Stock Class specifications.

This meant getting the 396 up to par with rectangle port heads, solid tappet camshaft, and a spec 780 Holley Double Pumper, to name a few upgrades. The transmission was changed to a Doug Nash 5-Speed with 5th gear blocked off per the rules. The rear axle was upgraded to Mark Williams axles, 5/8" wheel studs and C-Clip eliminators along with a full spool and 5:13 to 1 gear on a 29" tall slick. My father custom built his own square tube rear trailing arms for strength, and of course all the other modifications for safety, Roll bar, moving the battery to the trunk, adding a ballast box to the trunk, and lightening the car the best we could to meet the 3350lb requirement with driver. In the early '90s the Index for D-Stock was 11.80 for ¼ mile time. The quickest time I ever ran was in Topeka, KS at 11.14 and 125 mph. Which was pretty good considering all the rules you had to follow. A lot of fun and memories were made with that car and many pictures still hang on the wall of my office today as I work helping other people realizing their dream car at Speedway Motors." --Kevin Webel

Thanks for taking this little trip down memory lane with us. Now let’s see yours: share your pictures and stories with us on Facebook or Instagram and tag us!. Bonus points if you still have it and send pictures of it “then and now”.