This is such a cool old thread. I drove a green Vega wagon in 1987 to my first job (cleaning bathrooms and emptying trash cans at a Gulf station). For anyone who never got the experience of driving a Vega, I wish I could share the vibration in the cabin when the car idled. Wow. It could knock your amalgams loose.
One other note: when this thread first hit the Dis in 2010, an AP cost $489. And we all thought it was too expensive.