First ride was a beat up '73 Dodge Club Cab 4x2 pops gave me......Slant 6 with "three on the tree".....Loved that truck, couldn't break it no matter how stupid I tried. Damn thing is probably still running out there somewhere...... Tailgate was held on by bungee cords, later built a flat bed for it out of 4x6's that out-weighed the truck, but that's another story.......In my Junior year in HS I bought a '73 Nova SS (Somewhere Mom has pictures of it....never made it out of primer/bad brown original paint before I wrecked it). It was blown up when I bought it ($300 at the time). So I made a deal for a 427 from the guy we used to get engines from for pops dump trucks, etc, rebuilt it and threw a tunnel ram on it and a 12 Bolt rear....and a few months later drove it through a Beer Distributor store street racing when an axle broke.........Problem was, is wasn't open at the time......Fitting, I guess. Did fix it and sell it later to fund the '69 Firebird 400 Convertible I drive for a few years later......sold that to fund Divorce #1, and regretted doing so ever since.
First New car was an '89 Turbo Grand Prix. Had previously bought my wife (At the time) a Grand Am with a Quad-4 (VERY under rated engine, DAMN that thing would run!) and needed sumpin' faster. Quad-4 Grand Am was STILL faster, if you must know......1/4 mile time slips here to prove it here somewhere, but ex-wife handed me my ass at Quaker City Drag Strip 3 out of 4......

Ray