My First Car!!!

[cardcollector]

Here it is:
A 1971 AMC Matador Sedan!
It has a 304, 5.5 liter V8 engine. When I Bought it I had to replace the exhause so I paid a little extra and got a Custom Dual exhaust Installed.

It also has the original Hubcaps and Interior!

I know it has some work but I was always looking for a car that had an ENGINE not a COMPUTER!!!

It drives beautifully and sounds (don't laugh) like a podracer (NOT KIDDING!!!)

Enjoy... I will eventually get it repainted the original A1 white.

http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/picture.php?albumid=145&pictureid=1028

http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/picture.php?albumid=145&pictureid=1029

[Sairon]

Under-carage lights, nuff said.

[cardcollector]

Yeah I've got that Planned, and some neon interior lighting (I'm thinkin' orange).

I want to keep it classic though so I will have to be carefull not to overdo it.

[Sairon]

Good good, post pics.

[Hasid Lafre]

Under-carage lights, nuff said.

fail

Looks good, keep it origional.

Amc cars are rare considering they were only around for what 30 years(after that they were bought out by other companys and well lets see, gremlin comes to mind), so dont trash it up with that ricer garbage.

[Obi-Dar Ke-Gnomie]

Looks like a cool car. It's in pretty good shape for its age. I agree with Sid. Don't trash it up with all that neon crap.

I saw an AMC Eagle today. You don't see those much any more. *Sigh* They don't make cars like they used to. I should post a picture of my first car. It was a 1979 Olds Delta 88. Great car.

[ArkaiHalon]

fail

so dont trash it up with that ricer garbage.


What exactly does this mean Sid?

[Jay-gon Jinn]

I used to drive a '79 AMC Concord in high school, until the radiator support rusted and it fell into the engine fan....after that I bought a $350 '76 Buick Century....wrecked that one about 3 months later in a freezing rain event...then I got my favorite that I wish I'd never had to sell...'81 Olds Cutlass Supreme....loved that car....

[Obi-Dar Ke-Gnomie]

Here's my first car. 1979 Olds Delta 88. It was immaculate when I bought it, and it only had 50,000 km. I was 20 at the time, and I thought I had the world by the tail. (Who was that skinny kid?)

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff102/dar4jc/Olds88.jpg

Yeah, I know. What a beast! 14 mpg, but the thing floated like a cloud, and it was darn near indestructible.

[Hasid Lafre]

Hey obidar, I used to have a 76 olds delta 88, they were big cars for a coupe.


What exactly does this mean Sid?

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Ricer (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Ricer)


Ricer - Any person who adds tasteless modifications to a perfectly normal automobile.

[VeggieJedi]

That's a fine first car to have right there dude, I agree with the others, don't spoil it with unnecesary neons.

[cardcollector]

Alright guys Thanks for the honest input!

It is hard to see in the interior at night though (even the spedometer) so what would you reccomend?

Obi-Dar: Nice car! I know what you mean when you say it Floats...

[Hasid Lafre]

What you can do is figure out what kinda voltage and current is comming from the wires to the original glass bulbs and replace them with a 5mm led and resistor.

I planed on doing that with my truck ages ago but never could get around to it.

[thejedilestat]

Obi-Dar: Nice car! I know what you mean when you say it Floats...

my brother had a car kinda like that we called her big blue... floats to me means rides nice

[$tarkiller]

lol I love this car. I have a '10 370-z By Nissan. It's nyyyyyyce.

[cardcollector]

Wow, Talk about Polar opposites...:cool:

[Chewy]

Great looking car there. I really really like it. I vote keep it the way it is.

[Darth_DevilGuy]

yay gearhead stuff I can comment on.

/agree with sid and others, whatever you do don't add neon to that thing, go for restoration AMC's aren't super rare but since the company is gone they eventually will be.

Also neon's are NOT a good solution for night driving, the last thing you want is bright lights in the interior at night, the back reflection off your windshield will screw up your night vision as well as cause glare that will make it hard to see anything. you want any kind of accent lighting off when you drive, no matter what type of car it is.

as to what a 'ricer' is: it comes from the japanese/oriental import tuner scene, back in the mid ninety's Hondas and Acuras became really popular among younger auto enthusiasts, because they could be bought used and modified or tuned into really fast street legal drag cars for the price, somewhere around here people started to use the term 'rice rocket' not as a derogotory but as a descriptive of supped up oriental imports.

Of course as with all good things, it was quickly ruined by idiots, there were alot of people who wanted in on the scene but had no idea what they were doing. Take the wings and coffee can exhausts, a spoiler is excellent for a rear wheel drive car, it puts down force on the rear wheels thus adding traction to the drive wheels, a lot of the wings you see though are on all wheel or front wheel drive cars, where they do nothing but add drag and look silly. A larger exhaust output can improve exhaust flow, some companies have been known to put smaller ones on for various reasons (regulates power, emmisions, sound) the bigger ones can increase horsepower to a point, but often times idiots think that just adding an oversized tips will improve performance when it's most likely everything behind the catalytic converter that needs to be replaced.

Hence the term 'ricer' now generally refers to people who do unnecessary ang gaudy modifications to cars without doing what it takes to improve performance. Or stupid kids who think a body kit and a deep exhaust sound makes their car faster (it doesn't).

[cardcollector]

Awesome advice DDG, I will keep that in mind as I restore it!:cool:

The next thing I am going to do to it is check the carberator, (The car smells like gas when off)(I replaced the fuel line was leaking so it must be the carberator and get all the Rust Cancer eliminated. That means 3 new custom quarted panels and alot of sanding off the surface rust....

This is really adding up quickly..:rolleyes:

[Thaxos]

Nice car! I started off with an '81 Chevrolet Malibu Classic... Which was in this music video here:
Wab Kinew - Last Word (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP9zDbBHMlU)
Sold it since, cause it sucked gas and was a total boat. Smallblock V8 for the loss.

[ErikTheHack]

Here it is:
A 1971 AMC Matador Sedan!


Awesome dude -- Congrats! Nothing like your first wheels! It's cool to see that some AMCs are still out there on the road. A buddy of mine back in high school used to cart us around in his AMC Ambassador. That was a LONG time ago now (1984ish). Good times. Good times.

FYI -- My first car was a 1971 Mach 1 Mustang, the blue and silver paint scheme. 351 Cleveland. Man that was fun to drive. Good thing regular (leaded) gas was only like 63 cents a gallon :D

[ErikTheHack]

OBTW, if you're thinking of installing lights inside for night action and want to preserve your night vision go with red lights.

[cardcollector]

I am super stoked about showing you all this....
Finallly, after 10 months of saving, have enough $$$$$ to restore my car.

you can go to the first page to see the before pic.

So, I choose to repaint it mainly because there were some serious rusting issues in the back. It turns out that my main frames (the things that keep my car off of the ground) had rusted through. :shock:

Luckily, I have a great boss and he let me keep my car in the shop while I work on it. He repaired the frames and is going to help with the welding, but everything else is going to be done by me.

So, Here is where I am at 5 weeks in the making....
http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/picture.php?albumid=145&pictureid=1440
2 hours of my life.... sitting on the deck lid sanding...

http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/picture.php?albumid=145&pictureid=1465
The drivers side, yes that is old bondo... it will be a pain to work with..

http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/picture.php?albumid=145&pictureid=1464
The passenger's side, lots of body work needed.

This is a complete restoration job so I've taken everything off, and will be getting several replacement parts....

Oh, some of you may be wondering, "What color are you painting it!!!"

Well, after much research and contemplation it will be....
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l235/jfdillon/Z06newwheels013.jpg
Atomic orange....;)

[vt357]

Dude that's awesome! My first car was my mom's 77 Chevy Nova sedan. It was that color orange too!

[Causa]

it's your car, so do what you want with it and what makes you happy.

But I would like to just say that the AMC cars are getting a lot rarer, and will continue to.

One of my friends in high school (late 90s) had a 1978 Barcelona edition.

One of the things that made it resellable later on was that it was still in the factory red.

I think that you were on the right track when you were considering the original white paintjob, plus the more original you keep it, the more it might be worth the attention of a restorer/collector.

My first car was a 1987 Nissan Pulsar. It was pretty nice looking but a lot of brackets were broken on it like the trunk door latch, the gas door latch, and the seat adjusters. Nice to look at, pain to ride in, but I loved it, cleaned it every week, or more.

[cardcollector]

You do make a good point, but I don't plan to resell this car because it is an AMC.

The white is a really gross white anyway... Like a cream almost.

But, take heart! everythings else I'm restoring is NOS factory parts... No fiberglass plastic for this car.

[jjshumpert]

first car was a 88 mustang boss 302, ive since had about 20 mustangs of various years and drivetrain combos... dont forget to change your fuel filters while your under the hood as well as the lines coming from the tank, and take my word for it when i say invest in a case of sea-foam, that stuff is a motor's best friend, just remember there are 2 formulas and if you put the regular in your gearbox it will destroy it (there is a special formula just for the trans)

[cardcollector]

Hey thanks, I am soooooooo envious of you. the mustang is my favorite car. ever.

I am actually going to drop the egnine and replace all the seals, lines, etc...

Thanks for the sea foam tip. I am almost arfaid to clean out the engine because it hasn't been clead for over 30 years... I might gum up all of my filters and create a problem...:rolleyes:

[DJMoonbass]

this is my first car.

http://www.cargurus.com/images/2009/01/05/21/58/pic-11692.jpeg

i love this car to death. even though its huge, heavy and drives like a boat, me and my baby have had some pretty awesome times together. lol.

im not doing much for modification. i will be completely re doing the sound system. a new alpine stereo deck. 4 focal 165 A1 speakers, 2 10 inch JL audio subs, and a class D 1000 watt alpine digital amp, oh and interior lights. no exterior though. i will be doing some suspension work. raising the back about 1/2" putting some beefy fat wheels in the back nice slim and sleek and the front, and putting 18" chrome bullet wheels in front and 16" in the back. beefing up the exaust to a twin, then for the engine: as of now its a standard 4.8 litter V8 auto. i will be most deffinatlet be putting in a supercharger, custom cold air intake, custom headers, sparkplugs, camshaft, anything we can do. me and my dad want 500+ horses out of this thing. by the time were done i expect to have put in 4 times the amount the car is worth. lol.

but its not for the car, its for the experience and a father son activity. and for my graduation present. i had a choice. it was either car mods or buying me this car...





http://www.exoticcars.ws/cars/bugatti-veyron.jpg

lol :mrgreen:

[Skottsaber]

then for the engine: as of now its a standard 4.8 litter V8 auto.


Why do you have litter in your engine? :mrgreen:

[jjshumpert]

i would foam it before you pulled it actually, at least 3 cans worth, since the motor has prob been neglected greatly over its years the foam will help to loosen up the internals pryor to dissasembly... best intake point is the vaccum off the brake booster, but you can also put it in your tank

as for the filters no worries on gummin em up since they will all need to be changed before your clean new motor will run right

and if your wanting a mustang i can prob help ya out with that, i paid 500 for my current fox, an 84 5.0 SVO with a c4 3spd and 9inch rear 411 geared... just hooked up a buddy with a 67 289 for 650 that had been sitting in a field for 20 yrs, i changed the bug, fuel filter, ecm and put gas and batt in it and fired it on the first turn

[DJMoonbass]

^^^^ i need to take a nap! all those numbers n stuff!!!

[Titoshi]

seeing that corvette just reminded me of the psycho I worked for at the race shop I quit last year, but it is a great color. I looks really great with black accents(ie; racing stripes or bonnet stripes). good luck on your project, I imagine it will be extremely rewarding and satisfying when it is complete! can't wait to see it finished.

[cardcollector]

Featuring a newly primed Mr. Hood
Before
http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/picture.php?albumid=145&pictureid=1486
After... He looks much better now. He is halfway blocked...
http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/picture.php?albumid=145&pictureid=1488

And Mr. Decklid all primed and ready to go!
http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/picture.php?albumid=145&pictureid=1487

Stay tuned!

[cardcollector]

So it has been a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time since an update... But I have been making a little progress...
here is a vid... it was shot with my iphone so that explains the choppiness of the movement. Sorry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1QPcOzmtYE

The engine is all repainted and fixed up too... :)

[vctrsone]

if only that baby was manual!! lol but love the style...and its a cool project. this must be fun to source parts for....Im a qualified automotive parts man by trade..tho I havnt done it for a few years now.

my first car was a ford laser **** box..but my second was a mazda familla 323 89 1.6 dohc turbo 4x4 two tone cream and gunmetal grey, with factory airbag sports suspension, lock diff button (hellishly fun on the gravel/grass). I custom built it up for light rally and drag racing, had 300bhp at the flywheel out of a 1.6ltr..I had fully restored that also from the chassi up..had new or reconditioned everything in it..which was a feat in an old rare 80's sport car...

anyway i love all car types bar hondas and most euros..lol....BUT TURBO POWER!....lucky I didnt say turbo rotang power!! lmao