Residents in auto industry share first cars

Work and save, that's usually how it goes when you set out to buy your first car. It may not be much, but it was yours. You may not want to admit that it was an ugly green Pinto, but truth be told that's what it was.

We ask several residents involved in the auto industry about their first vehicle.

• Perry Furgason, 52, owner of Integrity Auto Sales

My first car was a 1964 Volkswagen. My father bought it for me and my sister to share, but I admit, I did dominate it. We used it mostly to get to and from school. It was cheap, it cost $100. It got good gas mileage but did not have AC.

• Larry Porter, 74, owner of Larry's Auto Sales Inc.

My first car was a 1946 Plymouth four-door sedan. It was an ugly green and I hated it! It was an inline six-cylinder, standard shift and did not have AC. I used it to go to and from work at a tree nursery. I did have some good times in it but I hated to be seen in it during the day. It cost $435.

• Bob Sellars, 72, owner of Car-Co

My first car was a 1940 Model Ford two-door sedan. I bought this car when I was 15 years old with money from my paper route. I did not have a driver's license and my mother did not know I had bought a car. I did a lot of work on it in a dirt floor garage. I did custom body and upholstery work. The car was black and I traded it for a 32 Ford Roadster. This was my real high school hot rod.

• Catherine Rierson, 81, owner of Rierson Motors

My first car was a 1951 Pontiac coupe. I paid $500 for it car with my own money. I bought it in Dallas and it had a hood across the top I thought was pretty neat. I had this car for about four years. The car was ruined when me and four of my colleagues went on a business trip to California and my boss messed up the stick shift and ruined the transmission.

• Stella Meza, 52, a bill collector at Mike Scioli's Auto

My first car was a Thunderbird with four doors. I'm not sure what year it was, in the 1980s. It was blue and I bought it in Lubbock at Billy's Auto. It was a good car, I had it for a long time. I did get a couple of speeding tickets in it and I was stranded with a flat tire for about two hours once until my dad came and rescued me.

• Roger Jackson, 54, owner of Ideal Auto Sales

My first car was a 1972 Gremlin an AMC. We bought it back in 74, it was used. It was yellow with a black stripe, it was cute. It got us to and from. I used it for dragging main in Clovis. I put an 8-track stereo in it, used to put a pack of matches under the track to keep it straight.

• Manuel Hernandez, 18, sales associate at North Pointe Auto

My first car was a 1993 Honda. It was an ugly little car, my dad got it for me. Some guy was gonna take it to the junk yard and my dad bought it for $300, fixed the radiator and it got me around. Even though it was ugly I still picked up a lot of girls in it.

• Cammy Santos, 49, employee at John Roley Auto Center

My first car was a 1981 Crown Victoria. I had gotten married and my in-laws had gotten a new car so they gave me their's. It was a brown car. I had it when I had my first baby, so I had the infant seat that was strapped in.

• Scooter Rutherford, 50, service manager at Watson Motor-Service

My first car was a 1963 Ford Fairlane four door. It was used. My dad traded a motorcycle for it. I had it for about eight months. I was happy to have something to get around in.

• Ronnie Guthrie, 46, sales manager at Auto World

My first car was a 1981 Pontiac Trans-Am. It cost about $4,500. It was used. I work for it. This was in Littlefield, Texas. I got a lot of tickets in it.