Now that is the car I would have LOVED to have as a teenager. WOW!
In my case my first vehicle was the summer I turned 13. While I was still 12 I was able to solo on our old Plymouth station wagon with manual shift on the column. Just before summer my Grandmother died. She had a stick shift pickup that ended up being my "daily driver" for the summer. My older brother and dad would load hay on the trailer while I drove the truck. In the fall, one of my uncles took it away as he had a need for it in another state. From then on I could only use one of my parent's vehicles, or the tractor which was really my "daily driver". I soloed on the tractor while I was still 10 years old. I had to be able to prove that I could plow driving a straight line.
Anyway, when I was 18 and first year college I bought my first car, a 2-year old Plymouth, 2-door, bench seats, 383 4-barrel carb. That was a sweet car. I paid my own way, working, from High School graduation forward, sometimes working 2 jobs. Actually I worked almost my whole life, saving my money so I was able to pay my own way. Everything. The point is that I considered myself to be responsible. No accidents, and no tickets (except for one I got at 15, driving without a license). In that case the Judge dismissed the case if I promised to not drive off the farm until I got my license.
Now as a responsible person with my beauty of a muscle car I one day found myself over 200 miles from campus on a Sunday afternoon, with a study group I was supposed to be at in less than 2 hours. What was I supposed to do??? Fortunately a new Interstate highway had been built a couple of years earlier which almost no one used. I was able to load my stuff in the car, drive a few blocks to a gas station to fill up, then catch the on-ramp for the Interstate. As luck would have it about 220 miles later there was an off-ramp very close to the campus. It was almost a straight shot.
After entering the Interstate I was out of the city in a few minutes. Slowly the speed of this beautiful car began to increase, almost on it's own. The speedometer topped out at 130 mph, so I really do not know how fast I ended up driving. It just sort of just floated down the highway. Interesting thing though, at about half way I had to take an exit to fill up the gas tank because it was empty. Where did all that gas go??? Anyway after filling up again I got back on the Interstate and away I went to the campus. I got there on an almost empty tank but I did get to the study group meeting early.
Looking back on it I suspect that I spent most of that trip in the 140 to 160 mph range. I really do not know what possessed me to do it, but it happened. At that time I was already a licensed private pilot (something else I paid for with my own money), so I was already used to those speeds, only in the air, not on the ground. Would I ever do it again? NEVER. Even on those lonely highways in Texas and other areas with 80 + mph limits I just set the autopilot on 80 mph and let it do it's thing.
Now back to the point for the OP. Your son may be a very responsible person. BUT, things happen. Giving him a brand new car, even the model 3, although a very responsible thing do do, may give the wrong signal to him. If he worked for it, paid for it, with his own effort, it would mean so much more to him. jmho
