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I didn't have my own car until after I graduated from high school in 1953.  It was either the bus or my dad's car, which was a nice new 1952 Mercury Monterey.  We moved to 54th and University during my senior year, so I used the bus a lot in 1952 and 1953.  Occasionally, my dad would drop me off on his way to work at Consolidated Vultee.  After graduation, my need for a car became more of a necessity and I started looking.  I wanted to pay cash for a car, which limited my options.  I finally located a 1941 Ford on a little car lot in Ocean Beach.  It looked clean and the price was right...$200.  I made the deal and was now the proud owner of my very first car.  I drove the car home and it felt like a brand new car to me....wow.  The next morning I couldn't wait to hop in the car and show it off to my friends.  You guessed it, the darn thing wouldn't start.  I opened the hood and checked the wiring and the points, and couldn't see anything wrong.  I called the guy that I bought it from, and he said to get it back to him and he would have his mechanic look at it.  So I called a buddy of mine and asked him to give me a tow to the car lot.  After a few close calls we finally made it to the car lot.  We had to leave it overnight.  The next morning I called, and he said the mechanic looked at it and said there was a major problem with the engine.  He told me that he would give me my money back, but if I really needed a car that he had a nice '46 Ford coupe that he would let me have for $100 more.  I called my buddy again, and we went down to look at the '46.  It really looked nice, and the engine did sound tighter than the '41, so I told him that I would take it if I could pay the $100 over a six month period.  He said OK, and I was once again a proud owner of a car.

I really considered the 1946 Ford Coupe my first car.  The '41 was just a one day loaner.  The '46 was a dark blue, and blue is my favorite color.  I really liked that car, but after a while I got the itch for something a little faster, and started looking around for a hot rod.  My cousin, who was a couple years younger than me was still going to high school at Mission Bay, and asked if I would consider letting him take the car as a project car in his auto shop and hop it up.  I thought about it for a while and finally agreed, but it meant that I was back on the bus for a few weeks.  The end result was worth it.  They bored it out, put in a 3/4 race cam, added Edelbrock heads, exhaust headers, dual Stromberg carburetors,  hot ignition, and a few other goodies.  Even though they were able to get good discounts on all of the parts, and free labor, it still took all of the money that I had saved up, but I had one hot car.  In fact, it was so hot that it blew a transmission within a month after I got it back.  I'm sure it didn't break because of the way I drove it...NOT.  The transmission was certainly the weak link in the car so I located a Lincoln Zephyr transmission and installed it.  I never had a problem with the transmission again.  I drove the '46 for a few years, and then decided to trade it in on a '49 Ford Coupe that had already been hopped up a bit. Did you notice that there's a trend toward Ford's.  Most of my cars over the years have been ford's, and even today I drive a Ford Expedition. However, I also have a 2006 Pontiac GTO with 400 hp, which satisfied my need for horsepower. 

I often think about that '46, and sure wish that I had it today.