I had an older cousin who would come over a few times a summer with his '65 3 deuce GTO and take my Dad for rides. I never did get to ride in that car... apparently, my Dad thought it was too fast and dangerous. He liked muscle cars and bought a '66 Malibu new, but being a child of the depression would never spend the money for the SS or the gas it drank. The Malibu had a 283 3 speed trans. I was 14 at the time and passed my driver test in that car 2 years later. I got very good at pulling second gear "scratch" with that column shifter...
After graduation, I had a '64 Galaxie hardtop that I yanked the 352 out of and put a warmed over 390 in with the 3 speed trans shifter moved to the floor with the infamous Hurst Mystery Shifter. That car only stayed a year, as I had the chance to buy a '68 Chevelle SS with a flat cam lobe. Once I had it out, I went to the local Chevrolet dealer and bought the requisite L78 cam and lifters to "upgrade" from the L34. as many would know, the rest of the valve train wasn't up to the task of that cam and the fun of changing out bent push rods and broken rocker arms wore out rather quickly. I got the opportunity to buy the managers Camaro where I worked a year later and sold the Chevelle. The Camaro was a '67 base v8/PG on the column. It soon needed a new exhaust and, like Bill, I got a dual system from one of the local auto parts stores. My Dad didn't understand why I wanted to spend more for the dual than the single AND it was so damned loud !!! LOL
When the '70 'Cudas first came out, I was smitten with them and in March of '72, I decided I needed one for my 20th birthday, so I went to the local Plymouth dealer on a Saturday ordered one with the 340/4speed, console and posi rear. The next week, I called my insurance agent and told him what I had ordered and he said "good luck finding someone to insure that for you". My driving record wasn't exactly "clean" anymore by then. I called other agents and was told no or an outrageous monthly sum of nearly $100. I had to go back to the dealer and change the order to the 318 and no 4 speed...
The fiance' liked the automatic better anyway. After we got married that fall, I bought a '69 GTO with a 3 speed manual and she got the 'Cuda. I had the GTO a year, when I spotted a '70 SS Chevelle on the local Ford lot and HAD to go look at it. Black/Black, white stripe and 454 4 speed. Yep, HAD to have it. Traded the GTO in on it.