I inherited the car from my grandfather, so it was a special car before I even drove it. It sat in his garage for 3 years before I was old enough to drive. When I took it home in 1975, it had 9,900 original miles and, believe it or not, it still had a new car smell!
He hardly ever drove it. I kept it through high school and college and finally traded it towards a new 1984 Jeep. It was 15 years old when I unloaded it with 148,000 miles. Some very, very, very hard (stupid) miles. It had a 225 slant 6 and was considered a practical car. The thing that strikes me now is how well it handled. It was not fast off the line but driving to college (200+ miles each way), I used to drive it for an hour at a time while averaging 90 mph. The car would flat out cruise and my college mates would frequently fall asleep in the back while at speed.
It always ran a little hot, I think because it sat for so long without use. After 12 years I replaced the radiator and it then ran cool!
On a memorable camping trip, we were returning home from Eagle Lake in California during the June of 1977. It was 98 degrees, and I was trying to keep up with four big block cars on U.S. 395. We were doing 90+ and I had to keep it floored to keep up. The temperature needle was PEGGED on H but the car kept going. I turned the heater on to cool the engine. It must have been 110 degrees in the car. It was so hot that my buddy Pete got a bloody nose riding in the back seat.
I have 10 years of stories like this. Damn... I miss that car.