1980 Ford Mustang
Photo credit: images.classic.com
Eric-o-meter: 5/10
My step father was an auto mechanic and owned his own shop. He was very protective of his things, and had a rule, "Everyone drives their own car". When I turned 16, I kept hoping to get one of the cars he brought home. I had high hopes for the white Chevy Nova, but then he brought home this amazing car. He bought it for $2500 in 1988.
This car was perfect for a teenager. It looked great, and sported a 4 cylinder engine that made 88 horsepower going downhill in a hurricane. If you got the car over 65 miles per hour it started making a very loud sound and started to shake. At some point, I replaced the white wall tires with black walled Pirellis, a Sam's special! I owned this car for about 4 years.
The car stranded me only once when the central computer module went out. But it really didn't like to be driven a lot. Once, I drove my friends up to some kind of competition north of the city. We got off on the wrong exit on Spaghetti Junction (I-85 & I285 on the north side of town.) Knowing that 285 was a circle, I decided we should just keep driving until we got to our exit. That was a very long drive. We came to a stop at a stoplight and a horrible smell started wafting into the car. We got out and looked and smoke was coming out of the bottom of the car. There were no cell phones in those days. We drove back home and my step father found that the steel transmission line had broken and was dripping oil right on top of the muffler.
In college, I drove it to Maine and back with my friends one summer. When I got home, I noticed a bumping sound as I drove. In three of the 4 Pirellis the belts had separated.
We later sold it in 1992 for $2250. I remember we were getting ready to sell it and he brought out a bottle of Armor All. I started to put it on the interior surfaces. He picked it up and squirted it all over the exterior. I was incredulous, but man, you have never seen a car with a 12 year old paint job look so good.
They don't make them like they used to, and that's a good thing.