I'm 16 and got my learners permit about 4 weeks ago and mum hated the way I drove her car. So I bought my own it's a 1979 Ford Australian build utility (ute) I Bought it for $1500 thought it would be a good car to learn in, No power steering heavy duty clutch and 4 speed manual, only a 3.3L straight 6 but a bigger motor will come soon done a few things to it so far..

New gauges including, rpm, oil pressure, voltage
sports seats


Have a bit more things on my list todo to it before I turn 18 that includes a LTD front end (aussies will know what that is). a 250ci cross flow (4.1L) 6cyl and some softer compound tyres. any way here is the pics.



After the first drive to sunbury



My old crappy seats



My new seats



My old gauges



My new gauges




In the country after I was doing donuts on the dirt with the motorbike on the back lol.

Looks like an Old Ford Granada/Cortina with the back lopped off to me .

Dan,

Quote from FPVaaron :

only a 3.3L straight 6

rofl! lucky git!

come to UK and the only thing you will be able to buy/insure when you pass your test for that money will be a 10 year old 1L ford fiesta or equivalent.

I feel jealous. I have to wait 3 more years.

Why buy a car three years before you can drive it? It'll just deteriorate, cost money, and not help you. Unless you have lots of private land (or land where the police can't get you and understanding parents) where you can 'learn'.

Man I wish I lived in Oz-Land, being 17 all I can afford to insure here is a 15 year old banger. When the insurance costs more than the car, it just make's no sense

Hey Aaron, nice one. Some of what you're doing to the ute seems a bit like putting lipstick on a horse, but each to his own. Nice car and good luck with it. Try not to end up with it wrapped around anything rigid, that's what I always say.

Quote from jtr99 :

Hey Aaron, nice one. Some of what you're doing to the ute seems a bit like putting lipstick on a horse,

I can't really do much to the engine until I'm 21 or I won't be aloud to drive it, I'll just pritty it up and make it look nice then just dump a 5.8L cleveland in it the day I get off my P's.

lose the sig.

What sort of HP Performance do you get at the moment, I imagine that its handling is only adequate on tarmac, so why do you want monster horsepower?

(slaps head, why wouldn't he want monster horsepower)

Quote from Rappa Z :

lose the sig.

It takes the exact same amount of space as your sig does when you take yours away I'll take mine away.

Quote from J.Gent :

What sort of HP Performance do you get at the moment, I imagine that its handling is only adequate on tarmac, so why do you want monster horsepower?

(slaps head, why wouldn't he want monster horsepower)

At the moment it's 82kw and 228nm or 110 hp and 168lb/ft, I'll be looking at getting a 4.1L 6cyl what is my engine with a different sized stroke. Although I'd rather just buy the new engine then change the stroke because the engines are worth $200 at the wreckers. The 4.1L have 98kw(132hp) and 295nm (217 lb/ft).


I won't touch the 6cyl engine because it's simply not worth the effort since the car is designd and structured for a 5.8L v8 so that's what I will be getting eventualy. the 351ci cleveland that came with the car as an option has 149kw (200hp) 415nm (306 ft/lb) < gotta remember that's bone stock and relines at only 4300rpm chunky cam shaft and some other minor mods should get that that engine reaching 400hp

As for the handling bit, it actually handles great, like a sports car I was suprised how good it sticks to the road. I've taken it on dirt before as you can see from the the pic with the motorbike on the back, I was following my cousin on private propity he was in his 4 wheel drive nissan it was a bit slipery but still held to the dirt ok at 80km (divide 80 by 1.609 can't be f***ed working out the equasion for mph).


Edit: fixed a few spelling errors.

Quote from tristancliffe :

Why buy a car three years before you can drive it? It'll just deteriorate, cost money, and not help you. Unless you have lots of private land (or land where the police can't get you and understanding parents) where you can 'learn'.

Youknow, people like to modify their cars/restore them, when they arent driving them, and its a good way to learn to, my dad gave me an old saab to wrench on 3 years before i got my driverslicense, and i live in a pretty large city.

Quote from FPVaaron :

only a 3.3L straight 6

Ha!! You have no idea how lucky you are mate! Over here, there's no way that anyone under the age of 20 will get insured on a 3.3L straight 6 engine! And it'll be unbelievably expensive until you're around 25, with a no-claims bonus of 5 years or so built up!

I have a VW Polo, 1.2L, 55PS, and its costing almost £2000 to insure, at 17!

Nice lil ute you have there.

Quote from GaryArm :

I have a VW Polo, 1.2L, 55PS, and its costing almost £2000 to insure, at 17!

Lol, I paid a little over $300 to insure mine, but I put the car in my mums name so I got the insurance cheaper .


Ps. I started a new centerdash design.. Here are a few pics of it so far

This is the origanal center...


This is the design paper for the new one


This is the progress so far on the new one.

Choke. Not seen one of those in years.

And $300AUS is about £150... my dad would be lucky to pay that on a engine like that, and his had no claims for 34 years. Sucks to live in England T_T

Done a bit more work on it still need to file down the airvent holes and cut a few more out.

i drive a v8 chevy silverado and this truck is a gas guzzler like no other, a full tank can barely get me threw the week, and insurance would be insanly high if it was on my name , thats why its on my dads name.

yea, i hate insurance...lol. i'm paying $500US per month for the car and another $400US per month for insurance ..at least it's a fun car

oh..and the insurance company doesn't know about any of my "modifications", lol...they think it's still stock

but, good luck with the car keep the shiny side up

Wow old thread, quick update time.

I spent roughly another $1000 on this car in stereo equipment...


I later in 2006 bought this $50 heap for parts

It has a fully reconditioned 4.1L motor and a 3 speed manual transmission.

http://i10.photobucket.com/al ... 112/FPVaaron/DSC00965.jpg

After pulling out a few parts and doing a few burnouts I gave it away to my cousin.

In late 2006 I came to the decision that I did not want to turn the XD Falcon into a weekend car instead a 1979 ford Corrina.

So I bought one.
I was still 17 at the time and I spent over $6000 on the engine $4000 on other bits and pieces, It ran a 14.0 @ 101mph on the 1/4 and made 230HP @ the wheels.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/h ... 80_11439307_2995374_n.jpg


In mid 2007 I was 3 months from getting my License and wanted a pair of fancy speakers for the Cortina. I sold the XD falcon for a pair of speakers, I regret it now but at the time it seemed worth it.

When I got my license I realized something, this car is far to impractical and I have no other car to drive.

So I bought this.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a112/FPVaaron/DSC01703.jpg


It's a 1979 450SE Benz, It was a 4.5L Injected v8, I thought it was pretty unique I paid $1300 for it, very good for getting from A to B in some form of style.
Unfortunately I made the mistake of letting some one else drive it as I was too drunk to drive home one night. He smashed it into a concrete wall at 65km/h I was not very happy that night, Although it still drove home!

http://i10.photobucket.com/al ... 112/FPVaaron/DSC01809.jpg


Which meant now I needed a new car to drive everyday, I was still angry about my Merc being crashed so I felt like buying something a bit outrages.

http://i10.photobucket.com/alb ... DSC01827.jpg?t=1286352723

I loved it at first, I invested a few dollars into the sound system, Being an 18 year old in a Series 3 Jag with big sub woofers pumping out heavy metal with all the windows down was fun for a few weeks until the petrol was just too much.

I sold it a few months later with a spectacular new idea.

What if I had Two Cortina's? Identical cars, one modified for weekend driving one standard for daily driving. So I bought another one.

http://i10.photobucket.com/al ... 112/FPVaaron/IMGP2936.jpg

This was cheap $500 which meant I had a fair bit left over from the Jag, unfortunately because it was so cheap I did not have much respect for it. After a week I decided I did not want it anymore. Rather than sell it I did some home weight reductions and took it off roading until it broke.

Now that I had established that driving a standard Cortina everyday was just far too crap after having a Series III Jag.

I needed a balance, something I can drive fast. Something manual, but at the same time practical.

Another falcon,
an EB XR6,

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a112/FPVaaron/DSC01904.jpg

It had Leather interior and a 5 speed manual, After 2 weeks I broke the gear box doing burnouts after buying a new gear box I broke a valve racing a Skyline I realized that all I had done was buy another car I built my weekend car for.

I sold it.

I needed a balance between practicality and Luxury now at the same time reasonable economic.

Idea!

http://i10.photobucket.com/alb ... IMGP3097.jpg?t=1286351743

Yeahh another Jag this time an Xj40. I liked this car alot, I owned it for almost a year invested a fair bit of money in it, took it out for the occasional wet weather drift session It was economic and reliable. well, it was reliable for almost a year, On a hot summers day after almost owning this car for over a year the head gasket without warning deteriorated.

I was upset, I let it sit in my driveway for a while then later sold it for 25% of what I paid for it


I needed something else now, I wanted something outrages again, something I can just go nuts in and do what ever I want.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a112/FPVaaron/DSC00167.jpg

Jeep wrangler, I did some crazy things in this car, then after a month I sold it for a 40% profit I made up for the losses I made on the jag,



I wanted something Jag like. but a v8, a nice v8 with luxury

Which brings me to what I currently own and have owned for now over 8 months, I don't plan on selling it any time soon either. It's a 1994 BMW 740iL I have put a Twin 2.5" exhaust on it which sounds awesome I thnk, A dvd player and the speakers I sold my first falcon for.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hp ... 80_11439310_4129200_n.jpg

Wheres the burnout pics/vids?

Christ, you get through cars faster than I do. Reading that made me realise how crazy I must sound.

He's owned more cars than some of the shady salesmen around here.

Quote from Klutch :

Wheres the burnout pics/vids?

Here's a pathetic attempt in the XJ40

http://s10.photobucket.com/alb ... amp;current=IMGP3164.mp4

Here's the Merc doing a few donuts in the rain.

http://s10.photobucket.com/alb ... amp;current=MOV00237.mp4


Here's my baby doing a nice powerslide to 80k's

http://s10.photobucket.com/alb ... ent=AaronCortiBurnout.flv



And a pic

Wow, you definitely have too much money.