>>>I have great appreciation of the collected wisdom here and have upon occasion asked for advice. This is one of those times.
>>>
>>>As some of you may recall, my father died last May. He was a successful man and I am due to inherit some money next month.
>>>
>>>I do not intend to run around blowing the inheritance extravagantly. Most of it will be spent on my daughters' college educations and left for them to inherit. It will not be spent wildly. Having lost about half my net worth during the recession, my investments will be extremely conservative. But I do have one indulgence in mind. Bear in mind that I have not indulged myself in years. I have not been on vacation in years. My car is over 10 years old and has 120,000 miles on it.
>>>
>>>So I am thinking of running a little amok --
>>>
>>>http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail.jsp?tracktype=newcc&csDlId=&csDgId=&listingId=104744155&listingRecNum=31&criteria=sf1Dir%3DASC%26mkId%3D20053%26stkTyp%3DN%26mdId%3D20770%26rd%3D30%26crSrtFlds%3DstkTypId-feedSegId-mkId-mdId%26zc%3D60073%26rn%3D0%26PMmt%3D1-1-0%26stkTypId%3D28880%26sf2Dir%3DASC%26sf1Nm%3Dprice%26sf2Nm%3Dlocation%26isDealerGrouping%3Dfalse%26rpp%3D50%26feedSegId%3D28705&aff=national&listType=1
>>>
>>>It's not a very expensive car. The Camaro has a high percentage of the Corvette's performance at a much lower percentage of the cost. 22-23K for a beast like this, wow. Great reviews. If I go ahead it will be hard to decide between yellow and orange.
>>>
>>>Allie told me last night she thinks I'm nuts. Opinions?
>>
>>Personally, I'd look at the Dodge Charger
>>
>>http://www-hostc-origin.dodge.com/Compare/comparetool/Compare.html#selectCompetitorView_acodes=USC30DOC191A0,USC30CHC021C0,USC30FOC051B0
>>
>>But then I've never been a big Camaro fan, having cut my driving teeth on Pontiac Big Iron.
>
>Another good one. It's like all the muscle cars of the 60s have come back.
>
>My first car was a Delta 88 on its last legs, a rustbucket. I think that is the kind of first car everyone should have. My first new car was a Toyota Corolla. Then I had this exact same urge for a road monster, which turned out to be a 1983 Trans Am, the one with the black firebird on the raised hood. Whoa baby.
>
>It's true that I was 26 then and am 55 now, about to turn 56 -- my birthday is tomorrow -- but don't feel that much different. That has probably been the most surprising thing in life.

In 1964-65 I held the worlds record in Class L Gas. My car was a 1953 Oldsmobile 88, 303.7 cubic inch, with a B&M automatic transmission. The record I set was 72 mph in 16 seconds on a ¼ mile track! My Olds qualified as a Class L Gas entry due to the 4 barrel Rochester carburetor. With a 2 barrel carb I could run in Class M, but did not bother.

A guy in Daly City, California running class A gas hit 192 mph in the ¼. I liked my 5000 pound monster, and was very happy with it. In class L you were not likely to blow a $10,000 engine like you would in class A. I got 6 miles to the gallon in the city and 23 on the hiway.

You want a good car that will last? Look at the Buick's! We have three and they are great! We also have two Pontiac Vibes. Too bad Pontiac is no more. I worked at NUMMI in Fremont, California, where we build Pontiac Vibes, and Toyota Corolla’s and Tacoma’s.