Fun, Fun, Fun
Well she got her daddy’s car and she cruises through the hamburger stand now
See she forgot all about the library like she told her old man now
And with the radio blastin’ goes cruisin’ just as fast as she can now
And she’ll have fun, fun, fun ’til her daddy takes her T’bird away.
Brian Wilson and Mike Love 

The first car I drove with a learner’s permit was my father’s gold Thunderbird (V8 with suicide doors), in the middle of a snowstorm. I hit some black ice and skidded into the intersection just as the light turned red. My mother’s quick reflexes and steering from the passenger seat saved us from certain death.

Next I learned how to drive my best friend’s cherry red Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. It had a great radio and was a dream to speed shift!

The first car I owned was a spiffy silver Camaro with a standard transmission and a very stiff clutch. It did not handle well in the city, but on the highway it could really move and I put a lot of miles on it driving up and down the East Coast from Toronto to Fort Lauderdale. Looking back, I associate that car with being young, free, and fiercely independent – I loved it!