Everyone, in every walk of life has firsts; first steps, first day of school, first time staying alone, all of these are milestones that eventually will be met and then soon thereafter seen as normal. A first for me, and many others however, that will never be forgotten is the thrill of your first car, and that’s what I would like to sit down and reflect on today.

This post isn’t going to be about mods or how many races, I’ve won, or lost… (we’ll get to those later) but about that first time feeling that I still get 18 years later every time I open my garage and see my first car.

The first for me in this instance is a 2004 Mustang Gt that my dad and I drove to Friendship Ford in Bristol Tennessee and that he bought for me in the summer of 2006 shortly after I had gotten my license. This would be a day that I wouldn’t forget.

I will admit, I am lucky to have parents that were able and willing to do this and I don’t take that for granted, although my family was middle class, we lived on a coal miners and teachers salary, this was not something that every junior in high school got to experience and that made me appreciate it that much more.

My dad always had a sports car in the garage growing up, from WS6 trans am’s to Iroc Camaro’s there was always a Sunday car that we had to get out and run around in. This created lasting memories and a bond between my dad and the rest of our family that was synonymous with a getaway, a carefree moment in the 90’s and early 2000’s that I often revisit in my mind when the world gets too crazy. Cars were an important part of my dads life growing up and I am thankful that he felt the want to pass this onto me. Whether this was his true intent in reliving his youth again, or just simply trying to be a good dad, I am thankful that his love of sports cars carried over to me and that he bought me a Mustang at 16.

The car in question was found in a happenstance drive-by and was slightly used with 30,000 miles. I seen the car from the road and immediately fell in love, and as luck would have it, they had just gotten it off of a trade. The paint was a deep charcoal gray that shined like new money, the leather seats felt like that of a Cadillac to a 16 year old boy and the rev of engine was enough to make your heart skip a beat. Dad test drove it first and went through the gears then pulled over at a Walmart and threw me the keys, I drove it back to the lot and knew that this was the car for me. Upon returning, there was no negotiation, dad traded in an old Chevy truck that we rode over there in and wrote the man a check for the difference.

Dad let me drive home that night from the lot and I often think about that day. For that moment in time all the world was right and there could be no higher high.

I still have the Mustang and have kept it with me through every house I have lived in and every move I have made since I left home. I am now 34, with a career, a small farm, a wife and two kids and my car doesn’t get drove as much as I’d like, but I see it everyday and re-live a lot of firsts, and laugh that it has been with me longer than anything in my current life, but mainly I think about a dads love and his passion for cars.

I hope I am able to instill the love of cars in both of my daughters and that they will too feel how I felt that day 18 years ago on a warm Tennessee night when I buy them each their first car.