I'm having a dilemma with my teen. His mother and I are insistant on buying his first car for him. My dad bought me my first car, a green '78 Camaro, for what would be about $10k today. I would be more than happy to spend more than that on my kid but he won't let me.
He's looking at twenty+ year old cars that can be had for the
Me at 17, literally no help, not even any advice.
And yeah he's setting himself up to get an old piece of shit that will be a headache constantly and worse than a newer car in every possible way.
I only bought a 20 year old car because it's what I could afford.
Actually, it's a good fucking idea. It's a character and skill building experience. If he does get it up and running he's not going to trash it like a lot of kids do when their parents just give them too much car. Stop helicoptering, dude. Let the kid earn something.
If he wants an old shitbox to fix up but has no experience get something that's mechanically sound and just needs bodywork.
Then take him to a hardware store and buy an air compressor, wire brush attachment, Bondo, and that industrial jelly that stops rust, can't remember the name of it.
Once he defeats the rust, get an airspray attachment for the compressor, the cheapest auto paint you can find, and paint it up.
This has to be bait
My dad paid 1500 for my first car, and we set up a payment for me to pay him back 1200 of it for the following year. I was still a high-schooler so it was reasonable enough to pay him back, and it allowed me to drive to work if I needed. It was a good way for me to manage my finances, and he helped teach me to do any repairs I needed. It was a 97 e36.
Dad bought my first car
It was a $1500 Cadillac seville sts that I totalled
Insurance gave me 3k
Bought a supra
Regret nothing
Parents
Bought me a 1991 Subaru Loyale lol it was fucking awesome to me. Stick shift, ran great, looked like shit, was cheap.
I was 16. After that my dad re-entered my life and bought me a 2002 Lancer OZ Rally Ed. when I was like 18
tell him if he gets a proper shitbox you'll buy a turbo for him. ez