I found this photo of my first car

and thought I'd share its story...

And yes, it's a '68 Mustang.

You see, most everyone in my family / circle of influence was driving a mustang of some sort during those years... so of course, 

I thought I HAD TO HAVE ONE TOO.

Least you think I was spoiled [and I admit, I was -- to a point] here's the story of my first car.

[And yes - I know I was fortunate that my parents gave me my first car.]

But there were parameters around it - I was actually given a certain amount of money* and told we could find a car and have it painted, [wheels] etc. the way I wanted it...

So the search began - 

Mostly in newspaper advertisements back in those days... 

Maybe the occasional 'party-line' adv on the radio... 

... with not much luck...

So one Sunday afternoon my dad took matters into his own hands and we drove out to Russellville [still not sure why that particular area was chosen - did more people in Russellville have Mustangs? Who knows?] 

AND STOPPED AT EVERY HOUSE WITH A MUSTANG ['68] 

AND ASKED IF THEY WANTED TO SELL IT. 

Yep, I was spoiled.

Because - BINGO! someone said yes! 

We spent half of my allotted money and I drove home 

a pretty ugly stinky GOLD '68 Mustang.

Someone in the family took the rest of the money and worked a deal at a local body shop and had it painted [robin's egg blue] and trimmed out in just a couple of weeks.

I thought it was beautiful!

This car took me through many high school adventures...

and even on the road westward to BYU.

IT WAS MY FAVORITE CAR - 

until it wasn't - ha

[carburetor issues; I could open a butterfly switch 

pretty easily in my sophomore year of college - ha.] 

It was gladly passed on to a cousin 

who was a little more willing to take care of its issues.

I'm not sure how long he kept it - 

But it was a pretty cool first car for me!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*$1,000 = about $4500 in 2020

I'm still not sure if that's an outrageous amount...