Teenagers / Classic Cars ??

I had the same thoughts/debate a couple of years ago regarding my son who is about to turn 17. Here in Florida, the age for a permit is 15 and a full license is 16. At 14, I asked what type of car he wanted figuring a late model car would be his choice. I've had my Barracuda for over two decades, so he's grown up going to car shows and cruising around town. He said he really wanted an older car, and mom was OK with that as long as it had a lot of metal around him.

We ended up picking up a '74 Charger with a 318. Not too bad on gas with enough power to get up to speed on fairly fast (55 mph) local roads. Not sure if familiar with Florida, but come the winter months there's a whole lot more cars driven by (very bad driving) senior citizens.

Over the first year we restored the car to driver quality, made sure the car was reliable (I needed to be towed 3 times and pushed home twice while restoring, but what's a parent to do...?) We upgraded the seat belts to very high quality 3 point belts. Although carbed, the car has been very dependable.

We drove it together for a lot of miles while he was 15, and he drives it about 30 miles a day to and from school. Regarding safety, he was cut off once, jammed his brakes to avoid a colission but ended up spinning out and resting on a guard rail. Dented the guard rail pretty good and left tire marks across the road. Not a scratch on him and all we needed to do was bang out a dented front bumper and add a little paint, but that's all. A newer car probably would have been totaled.

He loves the car and takes it shows and cruises with me. He constantly hears "you don't know how lucky you are..." at basically every show he attends, so I honesty believe he understands and appreciates what he drives. Besides, as a side benefit, it makes for some pretty good bonding time with a teenager, which is not always an easy thing to accomplish. So far, no regrets.