The first car I actually owned was a 1979 IH scout II Traveler. It had a longer wheelbase than the Scout. I worked on a farm when I was 14 to “earn” it. It had a blown motor and no interior carpeting–just bare metal. My dad and I barely made it the few hundred miles from the farm back home, this after finding a motor to replace the bad one. We rebuilt that motor and then it blew up before I turned 16 and we had to replace it again. Nothing ever worked right and the doors and window seals leaked, which in western oregon is a Bad Thing. We finally sold it and bought the above-noted VW before I turned 16, so I don’t consider it my first vehicle.
I think an original Scout (not the II), restored with a manual transmission would be fun to own.