Memories of "Old Blue"

We all have that special memory. For some it may be joyful, others horror. For me it is a mixture of the two. When I was 15 years old I purchased my first vehicle. It was big, loud, smelly, and most everyone agreed ugly. To me it was a thing of beauty. Something I had worked hard for and something that could take me anywhere I wanted to go (like gas pump to gas pump). This first vehicle was a 1975 Ford F-100. It had a 300 cubic inch inline-6 and a whole lot of "charm". Shortly after its purchase the rusty old floor boards and cab mounts were replaced and a much needed power steering pump installed. I was king of the world all while doing 0-60 in about 15 seconds as these beasts were never known for speed. This minor detail was a huge comfort to my mother I'm sure.

For the most part I left the trucks internals fairly stock in its first year under my ownership save for the removal of the glass-pack muffler and the addition of a proper Flowmaster exhaust. Some would say this brought the truck down from a 10 to an 8 on the "redneck scale". Nothing made me smile more than pulling into my high school parking lot with all the kids driving their "2 fast 2 furious" rides staring me down. Turns out my trucks exhaust note was drowning out the sound of their Folger's coffee-can exhaust which they all claimed added "like 30 horsepower bro". Sure they had fuel injection, airbags, and brakes (more on that another day). But I was driving something truly unique. It was something I worked hard for and no one could convince me it was not "cool". Sometimes I wish I could go back and tell my 16 year old self I never was, and never will be "cool", but I suppose that would have ruined all the fun.

So tell me. What was your first ride?