My dad worked at a major research facility for the US Government. 

There were a lot of other brainiacs. One guy was leaving the facility and he had an old grey Fairlane and he asked my dad if he wanted to buy it for $125? He was leaving in two weeks. Dad said no. 

A week later the guy said how about a hundred? Dad said no again. 

The guy was leaving the next day and Dad said I'll give you $25 for it. Dad had a teenager girl daughter and I was three years younger. The guy said ok.

The car was a four door sedan. The paint had worn off in the California sun and the car was battleship grey. We weren't sure what color it had originally been

It didn't run so well. When we got it home we pulled the spark plugs and three of the six were totally carboned over. It had basically been running on three cylinders.

When my sister went off to college I got the car. She had covered the ceiling with a batik. I added a hidden tape deck and hid the speakers by the rear window. I painted a white racing stripe on the hood and a stencil of John Lennon screaming on the drivers side door. 

We drove it for six years and it finally blew a rod or something and black smoke was pouring out. I sold it to the junk man. They came and towed it off and gave me forty dollars.