Geesh. Now I have to get in on the "when I was a lad" trend... first car was a 62 Corvair. Yeah, Ralph Nader would have disapproved. It was "UNSAFE AT ANY SPEED" (if you can remember the book that described my car. Mine was 5 or 6 years old when I bought it and had a later Monza engine installed which about doubled the power of the original mill. Taught my now wife to drive in that car. Learned how to replace a clutch.
Then, just sitting in my Mom's driveway, the wiring harness shorted and burned up... looked like a fuse burning. Learned how to replace a wiring harness.
Anyway, got rid of the pig and bought an MG Midget. Almost got my master's degree in car repair right there. magnetos, fuel pumps (carried a spare in the boot) and it felt like you were sitting on a skate board when you drove the thing. Took the gal I was to marry and who had burned my Corvair clutch up to take her driver's test in that thing because you could front pull into a parking spot to pass your parallel parking test! Big ol' boy driving test guy in a uniform with jack boots stood on the curb and said, "I can't get into that thing" but eventually managed and my wife passed first time! The folks who assembled the MG immigrated to Indiana I think.