When I was in HS, if you had a car that ran, you were way ahead of almost anyone else. Friends in my group had an old AMC Pacer, a 91 Firefly, one had a 1988 Celica that was actually really nice. I had a 79 Corolla coupe, same year I was born

. We all put money into our stereo systems over anything else, only to get it stolen. I don't know anyone into car audio that didn't get it stolen eventually.
At the time, I lived in a different world than what was going on in Richmond (edit: during this time, before I met her, my wife was driving a 300ZX)