It was a 1964 Plymouth Valient, and I got it in 1983.
My auto-owning history:
My first car when I was 16 was a '68 Beetle, which was just awful. No heat, no air (which in the summertime in Alabama is a real drag), no nothing. I had a portable radio strapped to the underside of the dashboard until my dad took pity on me and got me a new stereo for Christmas. After that, you could hear me coming for miles.
Thank goodness we lived on a hill because more often than not, the only way to start it was to roll it down the hill and pop the clutch.
The funny thing is that it belonged to my step-brother and and while nothing worked, it looked awesome, which is really all you care about when you're sixteen.
When I turned 18, I started a little landscaping operation that took off in a hurry and I had a little money for the first time so I bought a '69 Chevelle that I still think is the greatest car I ever owned. (I still look for it every time my son and I watch the Barret-Jackson Auction.)
In 1987, I bought my first new car, a Monte Carlo SS with T-Tops that always leaked when it rained.
When my dad died two years later, he gave me his '84 Dodge Ram and I've still got it. Twenty-six years old and it's still my main vehicle. Just a little basic maintenance and it's never spent a day in the shop, except for one time about ten years ago when a friend who owns a body shop repainted and reupholstered and detailed it for me as a birthday gift.
About six months ago, I bought a '48 Packard Custom 8 Converable that my sons and I are restoring now.
I also have a buckboard wagon that appeared in a couple of episodes of "Bonanza" and in the movie "Cheyenne Social Club" and has been restored, but that's another story.