Thinking about it, it’s very unlikely it was a choice exactly, as that’s how we got all of our vehicles. “What’s in the junkyard that we can restore and/or put together?” I was in my late '20s before I had a vehicle that was all one year model. All these decades later there’s still something a little odd to me about the idea you can just go buy a car that’s fully assembled!
I was 16, so I liked any vehicle that was mine to drive! Looking back I think the best feature of that car, aside from the engine that never should have been put in a car for a teenager, was the spacious flat area that resulted from putting the back seats flat. 
(Perhaps that shouldn’t have been given to a teenager either.)
