I started the Sport Compact Scene.......You?

In 1982, I spent an entire week out in my parents' driveway studying a car that was parked out there. It belonged to my brother's college roommate and they had flown to California for a ski trip.

It was a cream colored '74 BMW 2002 tii with caramel leather seats, and I had never seen anything like it. There was even a pair of string backed driving gloves on the center console. I still want one just like it, even with its big bumpers and square tail lights.

I was in the 7th grade, and bought a really odd 10-speed with wide, knobby tires and wide handlebars. I amy not have started the Sport-Compact scene, but I was the first in the area with a "mountain bike".

I was six years away from being born.

1982 was a big year. I got something I had wanted for years and lost something that I was eager to loose.

In 1982 I got my driver's license.
My test was taken in my Mom's 1979 Pontiac Bonneville 4 door. Shortly after I was briefly driving a '76 Camaro LT Type which was soon replaced with a '77 Malibu Classic 2 dr.

'82... passing 200K in my '76 Civic... my first ever new car ($3200 out the door) I was 33

I was 4. I think I had a big wheel.

I was 7 with my first remote control car, a Datsun 280zx...

Second grade student during the week and race winning go-fer on the weekends. Also the pround owner of the only mongoose in my area, a chrome and black Supergoose.

I was conceived in 1982 and thusly have nothing pertinent to add to this thread, though I'm enjoying it immensely.

Carry on.

My parents had just started dating. I wouldn't come around for another 8 years

I started driving in 1982. I had a $300 POS Fiat 124 Spider and a 1971 lime green Jeep Commando. I didn't exactly contribute to the sport compact scene until my '78 Fiesta arrived a couple years later. It continued my curse of buying cars with stupid bolt pattern wheels that wasn't remedied until I got my E30 and the world of 4x100 opened up to me.

1982 - I was living in Oklahoma, working as a Truck Mechanic in the oil fields, and my DD was a '70 Trans Am.

Dr. Hess wrote: Sorry, doode. 1978, SoCal. Guy in my highschool had a Toyota Corolla with a wing, air dam, lowered, flares, blow through turbocharger. We all thought he was nuts.

Worthless anecdote without pics!!!!!!!

hmm, 82... lets see, i was 13, dating a 17 year old girl and evading local law enforcement on a 67 ducati 100, which I built out of boxes of parts in my garage. no pictures of the girl, or the bike and i traded them both in for younger models by the end of that year, but rest assured, both provided life changing experiences. the bike looked sort of like this one, minus the fenders, add knobby tire, and i rigged the exhaust up near the seat for woods riding. it let out copious amount of smoke. the girl smoked as well .

I didn't start driving until '83. My 1st car was a '68 VW Beetle with a Auto-Stick transmission. I was an avid reader of Hot VW's so, in what would become ricer fashion, I installed a set of Thunderbird headers w/ a glasspack and "dechromed" it. It was light blue with rattle can primer stripes.

1982 I was more interestd in hang gliding than cars. My goal was to do Mt. Greylock in western Massachusetts.

pete240z wrote: What were you doing in 1982?

I think I got my first bicycle.

pinchvalve wrote: I was in the 7th grade, and bought a really odd 10-speed with wide, knobby tires and wide handlebars. I amy not have started the Sport-Compact scene, but I was the first in the area with a "mountain bike".

I was right there with you. Mine was a Schwinn High Sierra with an 18 speed and cam brakes. A bicycle I still wish I had, I rode it everywhere.. including down to the Eastern Shore of MD

By 1982, the Mini was over 20 years old. The GTV had come and gone. The 2002 had come and gone.

May have not been called "sport compact"- but it's been around for a lot longer than 18 years.

I was a freshman in HS in 1982, just before we bought a datsun 2000 (yes, another sporty compact car).

I was getting married and in my second year of teaching in '82, neither of those gigs made it to '85. I drove a bright yellow VW Dasher (still have the Bentley manual if anyone can use it).

The Puerto Rican guys were hopping up Toyotas and Datsuns then. I was just about to enter my LBC phase - one of the few good memories of a dismal decade (at least for me).

Not mine - but similar:

Got laid off,packed up my brand new Mazda GLC and moved out to a small town, where I intended to stay for a couple of years before moving back to Toronto. Stayed 17 years, 2 kids, accumulated a formula-vee,1971 Mini,several GTIs, Oh! and a wife, too!!

xd wrote: I was 4. I think I had a big wheel.

You and me both.

(not actually me, but I had that exact same big wheel)

I was in my 2nd year in college, and had a '67 big block 4 speed Cougar that could barely break 10mpg, if I was lucky and had a long downhill with a tail wind!

After a reckless driving ticket in the school parking lot, I traded it for a '72 MG.

1982, I was hooning around in my 326 '67 Lemans ragtop, blowing the hubcaps off at every sharp turn. That's why I eventually went to a set of Rallye IIs on it.

That, or seeing how high off the ground I could get my Dad's 1981 Civic CVCC 1500 DX. He used that on days he didn't need to haul tools around in the 428-powered '69 Bonneville wagon. The Honda taught me to like little, light cars, because you could get serious air on the right hills without pancaking the landings.

In '82 I was in Italy working for Uncle Sam and driving one of these.

I still want another. I loved that car.