My first car was a pale yellow 1971 VW Beetle. My Dad bought it used for my 21st birthday (1976) and it was a complete surprise! He was tired of driving me back and forth to college and I had just gotten engaged and I think he really bought it for both of us.
It was a stick shift and I knew the basics but my fiancee had to drive me out to a parking lot and make sure I really learned shifting. After a little too much coaching I let him out and drove around by myself. Being that I was shifting my own car this time, it all felt natural and I became a lifetime shifter.
Having that car was a great start for us and I think my Dad knew that when he bought it. I loved the buzz of the engine and the sound of the gears. There was no blower fan for the heat or defrost, just air convection when you moved. So driving to work in bitter cold was ok unless you had to stop for a light. I wore "defroster mittens" so that I could rub a viewing hole in the windshield and I kept an ice scraper nearby.
We both loved that car and kept it until the repairs got to be too much of a burden. I sold it to a sister of a co-worker and bought a Renault Le Car. I know a lot of people point and laugh at those but it was affordable, drove great and we loved it.