Tell us about your first car!

[RandallNeighbour]

We all drive a wonderful car now, but what was the first car you were given or bought to drive when you were a kid? Be sure to include your age at the time, what you paid for it, and take a few sentences to describe it and what you liked most about it and what you hated about it. If you have pics, post them!

I'll go first:

1972 Toyota Corona Deluxe, faded red paint, Crager mags (believe it or not), very wide tires on the back, red white and blue stars and strips racing stripes up the hood, over the roof and down the back. A rare RWD Toyota sedan. Looked ridiculous with the mags and stripes, had no power whatsoever, but got me to my job at McDonald's.

Bought it off my first girlfriend's dad for $400, and sold it for $700 after I put $500 into it in a year.

Loved the fact that it had a bench seat, which was very, very good for making out with my first girlfriend. All I can remember is how that woman could swirl her tongue in my mouth and drive me absolutely bonkers... because that's all she would do with me! I look back on that car with great pleasure as well as great frustration.

Hated the car because of it's automatic transmission, which was on the column... and poorly engineered at that. It sat in a parking lot for three days once while my buddy and I tried to figure out why the stupid thing wouldn't start. Discovered it was left in gear... no key-locking device was on the car in those days when you shut off the engine with the car in gear.

Anyone else? There's got to be a million great stories out there, and I'd like to read yours!