The car that started it all?

When I was a young kid, my dad had a 1930 Ford Model A coupe. He sold that car when I was around 6 but I clearly remember riding around in that car. A couple of years later, he bought a 1931 Ford Model A Deluxe Roadster. He still has the car. That was the first car I learned to drive. Many fond memories of Model A club national meets. These cars are/were all original.

The first musclecar I rode in was a 1970 GTO convertible 455HO 4 speed. It was a turquoise color with white interior and white top. A pretty valuable car now. This was in the late 1980's. A guy I worked with at the gas station while I was in high school had it. He was 3-4 years older than me. He used to give me a ride home from work before I had my drivers license.

The first musclecar I drove was a 1971 Oldsmobile 442 convertible W30. This was an extremely rare car back then, I think the owner said there were less than 50 in existence back in the late 80's. The guy who owned it was the son of the owner of the gas station. One day, I was walking home from work to eat lunch (had my car by now, but had the engine apart for a valve job) and he saw me just starting to leave the station. He asked me if I wanted to take one of his cars home. I said sure and he went behind the station. A couple of minutes later, he came idling around the corner putting the top down. I couldn't believe it! Being a typical 16 year old, I drove it home, woofed down lunch and took it out to show my friends. It had the 455 with W30 package, TH400 w/Hurst dual gate shifter, 3.42 rear. That car had a ton of torque. It would lay huge patches on the 1-2 and 2-3 shifts. I came back an hour later with a little less tire life, but a memory I'll never forget.