Heh... a guy a year or two ahead of me had a '72 Sebring, E5, and that was one of the most-desired cars in the lot. We all drove old stuff... I had a '75 T/A, my friends had cars like a '75 Grand Am, '74 Cuda, '67 Mustang fastback, '74 Camaro, '71 Ventura, '68 Charger, '69 Mustang fastback, etc. There was a guy that had a '78 Firebird, and he was shunned because Mommy bought the car and paid for a $5,000 paint job, but it was slow as shit. Anything newer wasn't cool, and econocars were ridiculed (although I must say I was impressed with my friend Kevin's 400,000+ diesel Escort wagon, if only for the mileage on it). One of my friends, a girl named Kim, who was a tiny, cute little athletic gal, drove a 400-4V '72 Newport 4-door she wasn't afraid to race. Another friend, coincidentally named Kim but a male, had a '76 Olds 98 with a hopped-up 455 and he could wheel that barge. He drove it like a Ferrari and knew exactly what it would do... he scared the hell out me more than once in that car. In our school, you were berated if you had something new your parents bought.
All the girls loved that Poppy Red '67 Mustang fastback, but I can't think of a race it ever won. It was a 289/4-speed car, and my friend Jereme (the guy with the '68 Charger) waxed him so badly in a drag race with his "winter car" (a '74 Nova with a stone-stock, single-exhaust 2V 350) I don't know that the Mustang ever showed up at school again. Shortly before it got totalled, I raced one of his best friends, a guy named Mike, who had a 402-4V '70 Impala. I was in my Challenger. I beat him by a year. Shortly after that, dude was out with the 'Stang with the Impala owner in the passenger seat, hopping the front end next to me trying to get a race. Mike turns to Duane (the Mustang owner) and says, "You don't want to see how this is going to end. That car f__kln' honks!" We got together a few minutes later, and after a ride, Duane was very happy he hadn't raced me.
Maybe a week later, that car got T-boned on River Ave. There was Bondo everywhere. So much for rust-free Southern cars (it came out of North Carolina).
Man, I go tangential a lot. Oh well... hope you enjoyed it anyhow.