You sound very bright and family oriented...Good for you!.
It is cool that you share this car passion with your old man. I too share the passion with mine still to this day, and I am 39 and he is 73. He had one of the first 67 Camaro RS's on the road, before I was born. In 2006 we both went out and bought SKY Redlines together and joined a couple of clubs, and we cruise together and do car shows....great times and memories!
By the way it is Silver Ice Metallic.....Not midnight Silver.
As far as your first car, buy something cool and used and cheap for two reasons. One the insurance will take it easier on you. And Two, I know you think it won't, but the odds are you WILL have an accident.
What a lot of people do not understand at your age, is it is less about SKILL and more about 6th sense, and a feel that you develop that ONLY COME WITH TIME AND EXPERIENCE. It is very much like Karate. You go in and learn the moves, and hell it doesn't take long to learn the motions, but you get your ass kicked for the first 4 years. You need to develop the INSTINCT.
So I would get a used Camaro of the past for $6-7K and enjoy that for a couple of years and then go and get your dream, you have nothing but time you are a young person and should focus on what you want to do with your life. Your generation is screwed coming up in this economy, so you better get your game on because as sad as it may be, the classes are separating fast and you will either be rich or poor in the future America.
So get a good education and BE careful that you pick an area to work in that is growing not dying. We cannot follow our parents any more, we need to be smarter and work harder to have success. I know this may seem off topic for you, but it is the same advise I gave my 2 nieces (16 & 18). FOCUS on a career, the cars will come when you can afford them. Focus on cars now and ignore your school, you will never realize your automotive dreams. Good Luck Kid!
