Has it been 40 years?? My very first NEW car purchase. $9,616.00. I was nearly 28 years old and could never afford a 'new' car before, just 'used'. I still have the brochures and window sticker. The manual 4 speed with it's 5.0 HO engine (a whopping 157 HP) was as exciting as it seemed. I took a loan on it at 13% interest. I paid it off in 3 years and owned it over 6 years and about 60,000 miles. This GT took us to many places including Nova Scotia in the late 80's. When we got off the ferry, our car, with it's Florida plates, was searched heavily for drugs. Yes, this was the Miami Vice era..
There were negatives with this GT, like many others in the 80's, from so-so paint to weak cloth on the seats. The heater core blew as well but otherwise no mechanical issues. It would be fun to have it back in my garage but don't we say that about all our rides??

 

so cool that you still have all those records, after all these years!

 

Many scrapbooks in the house. I have all the same things for every new car purchase since.
I've come a long way. Working so hard to buy that $9,600 GT back then to a now retired life buying a new $48k R/T in 2020. That first house of mine in the last photo was $10k less than my R/T. My younger self back then would have said , "NO WAY!!!"

 

If only we knew back then what the valve of our vintage rides would be worth 30+years later, none of us would be second guessing ourselves by wondering what if??? I ask myself this very same question, not realizing the value of Fox body Mustangs would eventually be on the rise, especially with "93" SVT Cobra variants.. That being said, I now ponder my decision on whether I should had held onto my previous "93" SVT Cobra or traded it in towards the purchase of my first S197 GT back in 2005