[FastCarFan]

It was 1976 & I acquired my grandmother's '69 Ford Galaxie 500. It only had about 19,000 miles on it. My grandmother was no longer driving & when my father & I went to pick it up it had 2 flat tires & a dead battery.

Technically it was owned by my father, but it was my car to drive. It was a 4-door hardtop -- red with black vinyl top & black vinyl bench seats. 302-V8 with 2-barrel carb. 3-sp auto.

While it was far from cool, it was probably a good choice for a 16-year-old kid -- big, & relatively safe...although you could pile a TON of kids into it!

When I was in college I wanted a better (i.e., cooler) car. I wanted a TR6, but Dad didn't think small cars were safe & he was loaning me 1/2 of the $. We settled on a '77 Trans-Am. It was the most fun car I could find that met his bigger car requirement. It, too, was red with a black vinyl interior & it had the huge screaming chicken decal on the hood.

It had a 400 c.i. (6.6 liter, I think) V8 & a 4-speed Hurst shifter. It had a ton of torque, but the 400 c.i. only made 220 hp! It wasn't really all that quick.

After college I spent one summer commuting in a suit in the non-air-conditioned T/A with vinyl seats & it was traded for a '82 RX-7 GS...with A/C!