Dodge Charger, 1969: Two-door hardtop with a choice of five V-8s or the 225-cubic-inch Slant Six, good for about 180 to 425 horsepower. Manual or automatic transmissions. Torsion-bar front suspension, leaf springs in the back. Overall length 17 feet, 4 inches on a 117-inch wheelbase. Weight about 3,700 pounds. The big-dog 500 Hemi cost about $4,600, which equates to $30,000 today, and sprinted from zero to 60 miles per hour in a couple ticks under six seconds. That got everyone’s attention, back in the day. So did the distinctive Coke-bottle body style, introduced a year earlier.

Q: Greg, which of the Mercury Cougars would you like to own if you could choose just one? I owned a few Cougars in my day, but I never had any of the high-performance models.