I've been wanting to buy an F-body for the last few months. I love the 80's look, and of course I like a good Chevy small block 350. However, my parents aren't sure if buying one for a first car is a good idea, mainly because of bad traction and the lack of an airbag, save for the 90-92 models. What are your guys' thoughts on a first car purchase?

Thanks!

 

Are you prepared to be frequently working on it, and do you have somebody who could help you? Unless you find a higher dollar one that has had lots of work done, the parts on these cars are getting old. I have an 84 and I would never daily drive it because of the weather where I live - even though it's in good condition, every weather seal is shot and the interior gets soaked in the rain.

Having said that, I think having a shitbucket as a first car builds character and automotive maintenance skills. My first car was pretty crappy, but I learned a lot from it.

 

I made it through my teens and 20's (and beyond) w/o airbags, Traction control, ABS, and I'm still alive! Know what you've got, respect it, and learn how to DRIVE it. (learn high performance driving skills)

What ryguy said though, you better be ready to do your own wrenching.

 

I got my 87 bird as my first car. Honestly I'm not sure if I would recommend it or not. No one in my family does their own wrenching on their vehicles, I knew nothing at all about maintaining an old car, and I had no automotive specific tools outside of a basic socket set. Just be ready to throw time and $$$ at it and do your own work whenever possible. You'll go broke if you're paying the mechanic every time, and you'll learn a lot working on it as others have said. Mine has been decently reliable compared to my friend's cars, but it's a bit bipolar. It drove fine from summer till winter of last year, but since January it has had EGR problems, a leaking distributor, leaking fuel injectors, and a leaking heater core, and that's on top of the stuff I changed out just because I wanted to. It's also not fun to drive it in the snow. I drive mine every day except for when there's salt on the roads. I live in southwest Virginia.

I think the cool factor is through the roof though. Nothing beats turning your head back to look at your car and being impressed every time! Third gens look awesome and are a lot easier to work on then say a fourth gen.

Oh and 80s rock. Listen to a lot of 80s rock if you get one. I prefer Rush myself.

 

Generations of people got shitboxes as their first car. If you have to have your parent's permission, you should be happy with what they select.

When you can buy your own car, pay for your own insurance, pay for your own title transfer and registration, pay for your own repairs, buy your own gasoline, oil, and tires...THEN you can choose your preferred vehicle.

 

If you want to be a car guy and wrench on your own ride, yeah they're good. If you're going to send it to the shop all the time, you'll probably burn out your patience and wallet.

All rwd cars are comparatively useless in the snow. If you need to get places at times when traction is limited, get something with 4wd or awd.

No airbags is a bonus. The threat of actual death instills proper driving habits.

 

Another perspective about RWD in the snow? Makes you a better driver. Proper equipment (tires) required. I used to drive my TA year round in New England. Made me a better driver.

 

I live where we get plenty of snow every year. My first 4 cars were all RWD. It isn't a problem if you have good tires and learn to drive properly. In fact, the first snow of the season is the driving highlight of my year.

 

I echo what others have said. Even if you get an airbag car, I would immediately remove it. They are not designed to last 30+ years and are the old violent style. This is coming from someone I work with that spent decades at Delphi in the airbag design group.

 

Honestly no. Get a Toyota

 

 

I agree.......I used to daily drive my 88 S10 Blazer 2wd with a V8 swap. A few inches of snow and I was at work helping contractors load stuff.......meanwhile, my old boss couldn't make it in with his Chevy Z71 4x4 LOL!!

 

My ancient '66 Biscayne, and later the '69 Impala got four studded tires. I took a lot of crap from folks who saw studded snow tires on the front.

Then I'd ask them "which wheels do all the steering, and most of the braking?"



The downside to studded tires is that the studs are ruined by driving on bare pavement. Ice and compacted snow are OK, but not pavement. So even if winter was long and cold, once the streets cleared, the studded tires had to be removed or the studs wore out. Pain in the ***. I just loved "all season radials" once they got popular.

 

That was kind of my thought, at the very least they're hopefully pretty easy to work on.

 

Yeah that makes sense. Hopefully I can find a good set of all-seasons, and if it gets really bad I'm sure my dad will let me borrow his F-150

 

Do I have to learn any special wizardry to drive in the snow, or just go real easy on the pedals and steering?

 

80's rock is the main inspiration for something like this, mainly the T-top line in Darlington County by Bruce Springsteen. My dad is pretty good at turning wrenches, and I can't remember the last time we went to a shop for anything other than mounting/balancing tires/wheels. Hopefully will be a good learning experience for me.

 

I don't plan on visiting any shops, seen a few too many Just Rolled In episodes of shops that did some nasty stuff to vehicles. I'd say I'm a pretty safe driver, even in my parents' Tesla which would probably keep everybody safe no matter what you crashed into. Hopefully the no airbag threat will keep me between the lines.

 

Yep, "special wizardry" is at the least, a big help and at most, could save a life. You need to learn "high performance driving" skills, skid control, etc. -everyone should, frankly, but for snowy driving, with V8/RWD, you should be comfortable enough controlling a car that is sliding that it becomes a safe/viable "plan B"; you don't necessarily WANT to be in a slide, so you drive accordingly...but when you DO get into a slide, you have a "plan B" -the skills to manage it with grace and control.

You can learn these skill by doing auto cross racing....or just go to a big open, snow covered parking lot and spend an hour or so, sliding around and learn how to manage that. This guy is "getting along", with a lot of sliding/wheel spin...even with the wrong tires, he's getting along.



...and I've done it too, on "occasion".

 

My first car was an 84 Berlinetta with a 283 stolen from some 50's Chevy and it had a 1 barrel carb on it with long tube headers, flex pipe, then to glasspack mufflers. It had a Ratchet shifter and the TQ arm was freeballing under the car which was interesting when accelerating and especially stopping when it dug into the pavement. It even had the knock off American Racing outlaw wheels with big fatties on the back. I bought it for $400 bucks but, it had T tops and the digital dash still worked. I spent all summer fixing it. Wiped cam, new intake, new radiator and water pump, "custom" tq arm mount to a turbo 350 and new head gaskets with multiple broken ratchets from using a cheater bar to break head bolts... then it would actually run without dying all the time. It was the loudest car in the neighborhood. lol

That was 30 years ago almost and those were the days. Slower paced, no real emissions ***** and you were totally on your own for information. The good news... A third gen Camaro for a first car will teach you how to drive well. The horror stories are real but few and far between. Most of us knew the thing could kill you and figured out how to drive it right.

 

^That was hilarious!^ It's amazing what you/we/someone will tolerate when they're/we were young! My Auto Prof in school used to say (much to all of our chagrin), "Ah. A reeeeal ****-box." He was right!

 

Snow.........when it's dry and frozen, a few inches, you'll be ok. Wet slick, sleet, or 6 inches deep......forget it, it's a sports car. I've driven in all types, including solid sheet ice to the point I straddled the ditch in our old Jeep just to get up a hill. Keep in mind, wheels, axles, trans, all have rotational mass. As you slow down, those items want to keep rotating. I find many people don't know to pop the vehicle in neutral to slow down on snow.......you'll stop with MUCH less risk of locking a wheel and sliding. I also use this trick stopping in a hurry or with a heavy load in the truck, even on dry roads.

 

You must have missed the pic above, of the CTS-V, plowing snow?