I had a '76 Monte. I replaced the transmission in it twice and replaced the engine once because I loved the darned thing so much. I think I drove that car for close to 16 years.
My very first car when I was a high school kid was a '72 Cougar XR7
Mine was forest green with a 3/4 white vinyl top. It had a white all leather interior. The dashboard instrumentation was ahead of it's time. No idiot lights, lots of gauges. It gave you the feeling of being in a cockpit when the dashboard was all lit up at night.
Even though it was really on the luxury car side of the balance sheet, it had the 351 Cleveland engine in it and few of my friends Camaros could keep up with me (got a lot of tickets in that car).
Wish I still had it.