Timing is everything, especially when it coincides with the well-earned acquisition of a freshly minted driver’s license while in high school. It’s a joyous moment, liberated from a slog to and from class in a crowded bus, or a long walk no matter weather conditions, yet it’s also a celebration tempered by the need for transport for which said license quickly earns its value. Options at this stage in life are typically few. Do you accept the offer of a dowdy hand-me-down sedan the parents drove to within an inch of its usable mechanical life, or save an extra year’s part-time job in-come to help defer the cost of a cool decade-old hardtop coupe from the used-car lot? Then there’s a rare third option that can materialize when one least expects it, something far better.
“Uncle Wally was a Ford man. My earliest memory of his cars was a 1957 model he drove until he bought a brand-new Galaxielooked really nice, even after they took it to Florida and back one year. By early 1969, though, my Aunt Connie wanted a new car, and if they found something they liked they were then going to sell me their Sunliner for $1,” Coatesville, Pennsylvania, resident Frank Root says.
