When 5 of us were 14 years old, we all went to our parents and asked if we could buy a car to drive in the field. They all said sure. We went to the property owner (no relation to any of us) of many acres of vacant land in suburban Buffalo, NY and asked them if would be OK if a group of us drove an old car or two on their property after school and on weekends. They said it was OK except on days when the cub scouts were present. I swear to all of you this is true. The year was 1975. We bought a 1963 Dodge Polara 2 door for $50 from my Dad who was in the used car business. We had it dropped off at the property by a licensed driver and we blazed about a half mile oval in the field. Of course the exhaust system was the first thing to fall off and the 273CI V-8 sounded great. 5 guys, no helmets, 60+ MPH and the occasional fight with a tree. After several weeks the car died. I think the transmission crapped out. We called the junkyard who offered $40 and free towing. We had each invested $10 in the car and got $8 back. We came up with $2 each and got another car and this process repeated itself for a couple years. Our program did evolve. We began to wear helmets after a while and we learned that VW bugs were the best cars for such an activity. No radiators or low hanging exhausts and they handled really neat. This is where we all learned to drive a stick.
My how the world has changed.