My QOTD for today is: What car owned by a relative did you lust after?
For me, the answer is my aunt’s 1997 Dodge Intrepid ES, similar to the one above. It always induced profound desire within me.
So, which relative’s car did that for you?
QOTD: Which Relative’s Car Did You Covet?
– Posted on August 6, 2013
My Aunt’s 2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited. It is a blast to drive!
My “Uncle” Leo (actually my father’s cousin) also moved to the US, and was a traveling salesman of fine German optical equipment. All three of his cars were the opposite of what my Dad drove, and I lusted for them all: a 1962 Cadillac Fleetwood, 1965 (or 66) Chrysler New Yorker, and then a 1969 or so Mercedes 280SE. Now he was a real car guy…
Both my parents were only children.
And my paternal grandparents couldn’t afford a car. European to the core, they owned their home out of their modest income…but no television and no car.
My maternal grandmother had health issues and had never driven. That only left her uncles; who drove (a) a succession of Ramblers; (b) a succession of Cadillacs; (c) a 1957 Cadillac and then a 1965 Oldsmobile.
Today, I’d say the ’57 Caddy would be uber kewel. But back then it was just an old car; curiously unmarred by rust (they wintered in Florida).
So…I guess I didn’t envy any of those.
a cousin of mine had a 1997 BMW 540i black on black. The M5’s understated but equally capable brother.
I never coveted my dad’s cars. He had, from the mid-1950s to the early 60s, a 1947 Cadillac Fleetwood, with gobs of room, underseat heaters, and Hydramatic, but awful seat covers hiding disintegrating upholstery, and completely chalked paint on the exterior. Next, he had a 1952 Cadillac sedan. OK, but it was black (in Tucson!), had rusted rocker panels, and was prone to vapor lock. Then he had his 1961 Mercedes 190Db: comfortable, great handling, and a noisy, anemic Diesel engine.
An uncle and aunt of mine had a 1962 Sedan de Ville. I would have liked that.
One of my brothers had, over the years, a 1965 Corvair Corsa. That was a nice car. A few years later he and his wife had a 1968 Firebird coupe. Nice, but turned out unreliable. In the mid 1970s they had a 1966 Thunderbird. That was a nice ride!
Since those days, not too much. My brother and his wife now drive a Nissan Quest minivan and a Nissan Altima.
As a kid, my Grandma’s Car was always pretty cool to me. She was a Chrysler woman all her life until atrocious customer service was experienced during her attempt in ’82 to trade up… Off she went, and (eventually?) ended up at Pontiac, where a new 6000 LE Coupe caught her fancy. It was this unique apricot/copper color with premium pillowish bucket seats in a brownish red if I recall correctly, plus the 2.8 V6 and full power. Such a comfy cruiser, the definitive default on extended family outings. She never had any real issues with the car until she really cut back on driving, and the car constantly sat idle for prolonged periods. A huge shock to us all came in ’98 when She got tired of the “nickel and dime” repairs and traded it in for a bland emerald Accord LX sedan that I would eventually obtain the keys to when she finally hung them up for good. That car served me well in my younger years, at a time I really needed the help. I still miss Grandma every day.
Three cars belonging to my uncle in the early 90’s. His daily driver at the time was a 1988 Jeep Cherokee which he eventually put close to 400,000 miles on. But in his garage, I coveted the following:
1984 Nissan 300 ZX Turbo 25th Anniversary Edition with 4,000 original miles
1978 Chevy Camaro Z28 with 18,000 original miles
1987 Mercedes Benz 560 SEL with 5,000 original miles
He still has the Benz sitting in the garage with less than 15,000 miles on it. He sold the 300 ZX because he needed quick cash and sold the Camaro to my cousin which was stolen from a mall parking lot a few months later 🙁 His daily driver today is a late model RAV 4 which I do not covet.
My uncle’s 300SL (actually he had two – I think they were both non-runners).
When I was 3 my cousin’s husband owned a purple 1995 Chevy Blazer like this one. We called it the Barneymobile. The Blazer was actually the first car I ever wanted to own when I was little. I had a toy model that’s lights flashed, horn beeped, and drove forward when you pressed the buttons.
…all of which functions can sometimes be experienced in the actual vehicle!
😉
My uncle’s 1987 Saab 9000 Turbo. I was 13 in 1987 and I loved that car. I still remember the smell of those leather seats, and the force of those marvelous turbocharged 165 HP of pure power. 0 to 60 in less than 8 seconds. For me that was heaven on earth at the time! Today almost any midsize car is faster and even more comfortable and luxurious but at that time for me that was an exotic.
When I was 5, my mom’s cousin got a brand new, blue 1987 Cavalier Z24. It was the first car I had ever ridden in with a digital dash, and probably the first brand new car I had ever ridden in. I also remember the exhaust note of the 2.8. Then another cousin recieved a brand new, black 1999 Cavalier Z24 as a high school graduation present. I think this is the reason that i have always had a J body obession. Plus the fact that most everyone in my family owned a Cavalier at some point, including my mother who for years had an 84 wagon.
My uncle’s Audi 5000. Anytime I rode in it I pretended we were rallying a Sport Quattro or something. I also really liked my Grandpa’s MR2, because, well, it was cool!
I never see those cars on the road anymore. What happened to all of them? Liked them a lot.
As I don’t hail from a family with a passion for automobiles, most of my relatives have driven largely forgettable machinery, mainly bland mediocrity from GM and lately Toyota. One Uncle did have a ’94 Bonneville SE in green with buckets, roof, and the lace alloy wheels. That was a nice one. When the lease expired on that he swapped it for a ’97 Lumina. Normality restored.
I come from a family that mostly revered big, American boats. One aunt, however, married a geeky engineer type, who worked on contract for government projects on which he was sworn to secrecy. He drove geeky, engineer cars. They always seemed more sensible to me than the GM/Ford boats of the day.
How a young boy could be attracted to an NSU Prinz, I’ll never know. But I still like geeky cars.
My dad, and later myself, fit that geeky engineer type, yet he preferred boring GM boats.
My aunt Mary who lived in Huntington Harbor. This is a neat little area where the ’60s homes are arranged around canals so that you can dock a boat out back.
She had the perfect old car for this lifestyle, a tobacco-brown 1971 W113 280SL. It was a second car by that time but kept in the garage. When we would visit I would sneak away and play in the Mercedes.
As adults we tend to focus on dynamic qualities like handling and performance; as a kid I would notice things like the courtesy lights and hood release. Both were unusual in the 280SL.
My Uncle Charlie, a WW2 combat veteran and hero of mine, had a red and white 58 Mercury Montclair 2 door HT, bought new. It was the turnpike cruiser (I think) v-8, and was beautiful. It had the gold trim on the sides to the taillights. It was the first car I’d ever seen with a leather padded dash.
He traded it on a 63 plain Jane baby blue Newport sedan. I can recall how disappointed I was when I found out he got rid of the Mercury. I was still a few years away from driving, and always hoped I get the car at some point. He bought a ’71 Fury III to replace the Newport, but the old Newport sat on his property (in really pathetic condition) until around 1985. My uncle told me when he sold the Newport for $ 75, the guy that bought it pumped the tires, and somehow got the car started. He drove the car from Miami to Key West, where the engine was transplanted in another car.
I’d probably have to go for my paternal grandmother’s ’53 Chevy Bel Air, which she drove from ’54 until she died in the mid ’80s. It might still be on the road in somebody’s hands.
Both my parents had cars I’d covet. My Mom had a 73 Hornet hatchback and a 74 Matador as her first cars, my Grandpa had shares in AMC back then so he was buying those exclusively I guess. Years later to my Mom’s surprise she saw me watching The Man With A Golden Gun car chase and realized both cars were the same as hers, down to the colors.
My Dad had a 71 Charger, an Opel GT, a 78 Trans Am, two Collonade Cutlasses, one a 77 Supreme, the other a 76 442, and a MK1 Jetta GLI as well as several other CC worthy contenders. I’d probably pick the 78 Trans am from the bunch, but my Great Uncle is a full blown car guy with a barnful of 30s/40s/50s Caddies, among other things, so I have quite a selection to covet from.
I lusted after my grandmothers green1974 Olds 88 4 door 455 4 BBL, dads 1975 Chevy Biscayne 4 Door straight six, a weird friend of the family had a beautiful 1980 Toronado , and later in life an aunt had a 1992 Geo Metro 3 cyl that i always wanted to flog. none of these vehicles were lucky enough to be owned by car appreciating people, merely owned and used as appliances.
Thinking back, I’m not 100% sure on the year of the Olds… maybe 73?
Oh yeah! That’s a ’74 Delta 88 4-door hardtop. With a 455, I bet it was a pleasure to drive or ride in.
My father had a 97 Intrepid (just like the one pictured, that is not an ES). His was Deep Cranberry (Purple). Even though everything looked nice, and back seat was comfortable, I HATED the driving position. And the plastics just weren’t that great inside either, it stowaway cup holders that broke after a while. Also, the steering wheel rim was way to think compared the 95 Prizm my mother was driving.
Easiest question ever. My Uncle Bill’s black 1958 Impala hardtop. He bought it new and owned it for over 40 years. He sold it to a collector in California when I wasn’t paying attention.
A Studebaker Hawk, driven by one of my many uncles in my young, auto-formative years. This was in the early 60’s.
Other lusts in my pre-puberty years were motorcycles, Shelby mustangs and Jaguar XK-Es.
The Starliner Hawk was prettier than the Avanti, I think.
I’m 16 with a new driver’s license, visiting a favorite aunt. In her driveway is a new car she brought home the day before, a 66 Ford LTD 2door hardtop coupe in Vintage Burgundy with black top (painted, not vinyl). I loved the lines of that car, so much less angular than the year before, with a gently arched roof and concave rear window; I also loved the beautiful interior with “panty cloth” upholstery, red and white lights in the doors, fake wood on the dash, and a little crown in the steering wheel. And my aunt, knowing how the kid loved cars, throws me the keys and says “Oh honey, take it for a drive – it’s so smooth and quiet, you’ll love it!” Well, I did and her, too. For a long time I kept that car washed and waxed for my aunt, and to this day I miss it and her.
Vintage Burgundy is a great color. And the ’66 Galaxie is a beautiful car, especially in two-door hardtop form!
I have so many family owned cars that I coveted but to name just a few here goes…. My uncle Ron works at the porsche audi dealer in Halifax Nova Scotia. He had owned some interesting cars but the nicest one was the 944 turbo he had in 88. My granfather had a 76 grand prix in white with maroon top and interior that I loved in 84-85 and two cars later a 88 celibrity eurosport wagon in dark grey with maroon interior. The other grandfather had a 71 econoline panel that I have fond memories of steering up the driveway on his lap and imediatly after it had a 81 econoline that he had converted to a camper, color t.v and movies on beta and vhs with the comfort of a gueen bed while rolling down the road. He also had a 2wd diesel toyota pickup and an 86 ae86 corolla gt-s. my uncles 84 mk2 gti and really fast friday evening runs to the local race oval track. My best friends 78 scotsdale pickup and some hairy runs back the local logging roads. That is just a few of a bunch of cars that I really liked. what did you expect froma guy who learned to read on R&T hot rod and haynes manuals.
This is such a loaded question. If I tell you what both are one will make a lot of folks gag. But what the heck, only five of you have ever met me…
First: My great aunt’s ’80 to ’82 Oldsmobile Delta 88 powered by the infamous Olds 350 diesel. As she said, it had everything except a butt-wiper, so that’s probably why I liked it. I still like that generation Delta 88 as my parent’s had a Volare, an Omni, and a Reliant in that general time period. So you can see why I liked it.
Second: A great uncle’s (other side of the family) ’63 Ford Galaxie 500. Oh, wait, I own it. I suppose I coveted it to the point of ownership – worse things have happened!
Ugh, you were right! A 63 Ford, retch, retch! (Just kidding!) 😉
“(Just kidding!)”
Hahaha! No you weren’t!
I tend to retch at anything from that era if it wasn’t a Chevy…
HOWEVER – as cars from that era are getting scarcer day by day, I appreciate ANY survivor more each day.
Jason, show a photo of your car!
Zackman, I’m sure Jason was actually expecting to get ridiculed for declaring his affection for an Olds diesel. I was trying to be ironic.
Z-man: Be patient; I may just overload you with pictures of the Galaxie sometime soon.
BOC: I had to use the Oldsmobile as the Mopars in my family were Little New Chryslers, not big, old ones.
I love those delta 88’s in two door coupe form, with either engine option. I had a 86 burban with the 6.2 and besides an injection pump at 500k km it was a grwat rig. Id like a 63 galaxie wagon somday.
I can think of three.
My grandmother’s sister’s red ’58 Porsche.
My fathers’s second wife had a ’55 two door ford wagon with a “T-Bird” V8. Sounded quite nice. I think the exhaust was non-standard.
My brother’s ’66 Corvair, 4 speed.
When I was 6 years old in 1980, my 10-years-older-than-me brother bought his first car, a white 1968 Hemi Road Runner. It was the height of the street machine era and it had all the requisite parts..shackles, traction bars, Thrush Super Turbos, Keystone mags, decals from the local rock station, etc. That car lasted maybe a year until he couldn’t keep up with the maintenance and repairs on the already trashed Hemi so he sold it for a Lemon Twist yellow 1973 Road Runner with a tricked out 440 and equally decked out with all the late 70s/early 80s cool guy parts.
I was already high on the Dukes of Hazzard at the time and with those 2 monsters in the driveway, how could I not get hooked on Mopars?
For a more mainstream coveted relative’s car, it probably would have been my aunt’s 78 Volare wagon that was black with woodgrain, a red plaid interior (!) and a 318 that had just enough rumble.
My Dad’s 2 Falcon sedans and his Australian Valiant and American 72 Dart were my favourites closely followed by his Mk3 Zephyr 6.Uncle Will Mum’s brother owned a maroon and cream PA Cresta which the British climate sent to an early grave.
My father-in-law’s just-purchased-from-Hertz 1978 Ford Fairmont sedan right after Wifey and I were married. It was a nice metallic brown with that orange-ish tan interior, but it was a very nice car, nicer than anything we drove at the time, like our Gremlin and her rapidly-deteriorating 1970 Mustang convertible.
I’ve envied lots of cars owned by friends, but very few by relatives – for the most part, they drove nothing fancy. Dad’s 1960 and 1966 Impala sports sedans were tops to me, and I owned one of the greatest, my avatar.
Where does one go from there?
My “Uncle” John’s ’79 Vette 4-speed. Yes, it was brown. He was the only bachelor I knew, had a t-shirt that said, “Italian Stallion.”
He let me shift gears as we drove down to the beach when I was 5. He’d hit the clutch, and say, “Now, Alan.” I’m not really a Vette guy but I still want that thing.
Not a lot of really desirable vehicles in my family’s history. My sister’s M45 is the only one I can really think of.
She has offered to sell it to me, but I’m not sure I want to deal with modern luxury car upkeep.
My mother’s cars. Being a kid in the 70s that was sensory overload because you got to go places. her cars in order;
77 Plymouth Arrow- Nothing is more fun than riding in a open hatchback. If I can find a good one , I’m on it.
79 Olds Cutlass- POS but it refused to die, the city took it.
84 AMC Concord- A tank. When it snowed my mother looked for empty parking lots.
88 Jeep Cherokee Limited- I learned that the 4.0-6 can lay rubber in 2wd.
In ’79 my aunt bought a brand new New Yorker, white with red leather. It cost $11,500 and I, as a little guy back then, was very envious!! That is until it became a sterling example of Chrysler “quality” in the late seventies.
I’m pretty sure Chrysler trannies of the late seventies were made entirely of cardboard. No, this can’t be true. Cardboard would have been MUCH more reliable.
There can be only one: my paternal grandmother’s ’64 Buick Riviera, silver over black. I’d give my left…arm for that thing today,.
Er, well, maybe two. I have to confess a certain attraction to my uncle’s 429 Cobra Jet-equipped ’71 Mustang Mach 1 as well.
When I was a kid, my half-brother, 17 years my senior had a white 1969 Cougar XR-7. He never much cared for me or cars in general as far as I could tell. He was rear-ended by a drunk driver one day. The car was still driveable but both quarters buckled over the wheelwells from the impact & the rear valance was scraping the ground. It disappeared shortly thereafter.
Can’t recall any. My BIL always had a knack for picking up bikes and trucks that I thought were worth having. He is where I bought my 350(?) Ducati and Honda 500T. Also had a chevy stepside that I liked a lot.
Mostly my relatives liked my cars because as a young sailor I kept picking up things like MGBs, Corvettes, Firebirds, 57 chevys etc. Oh yes, I was cool. Getting married and having a kid put my automotive world on a par with them but there were 35 years before I self lobotomized.
The first and obvious one from me would be my Grandad’s 1966 Chrysler Windsor, which my Dad then got off of him in 1977, when I was 2 years old.
Another would be the 1974-76 Riviera belonging to my Great Uncle (Grandad’s brother). It was white with red pinstriping. I think it was originally silver, but he had it repainted white at some point. The interior was red. That car was mint, always garage kept. Sadly, not long after my Grandad died in 1989, my uncle traded it on a Chevy Celebrity. I’m sure I wouldn’t have been the only person in the family that would’ve wanted that car, and the dealer probably gave him a pittance for it too.
My Aunt had a 1980 Ford LTD Crown Vic, 4-door, blue with a velour interior. It sat after she stopped driving, and she sold it without telling anyone she was going to, much to my dismay.
My uncle on the other side of the family used to have a Mitsubishi Mighty Max pickup, which was a boring vehicle with the most awesome name ever.
My great uncle was a career long haul trucker. Bought himself a 1969 Buick Wildcat Custom 4-door as his retirement “reward”… 430 4BBL V8, A/C full power, and those gorgeous chrome Buick road wheels. He only got to enjoy it for 2 years before he died. My great aunt had never driven it and had to get her license reinstated at age 72. She was afraid of it and traded it for a six cylinder Nova… nnnoooooo!
This one is easy. In ’61 my parents, the 7 yo me, and two cousins drove from New Jersey to California (an awesome trip, btw, in a Ford Fairlane 6 cyl 3 on the tree on two lane roads between roughly Chicago and Los Angeles) to visit my mom’s aunt and uncle. Said aunt drove a ’58 Thunderbird convertible, and i decided living in California and driving a Thunderbird convertible was the height of cool.
Other than that, given the selection of basic sedans driven by most of my relatives, the only cool car I can think of is the late 60s Olds VistaCruiser wagon driven by one of my uncles. Clearly I was born into the wrong family when it came to cars that would feed my car fandom.
The only ones I can think of is my older cousin’s 1970 Cougar and an Uncle’s late 70’s Eldo. Other than that everyone had pretty boring 4dr sedans.
My aunt’s 1992 Saturn SC. Not exactly an aspirational vehicle, but here’s the story:
In March of ’92 I was staying with my grandparents in Omaha to complete my junior year in high school; my parents had moved to the Land of Enchantment four months before. My grandfather had money, and he knew I was having problems with my first car, an ’84 Plymouth Turismo. So, I was very excited (in the hopelessly naive way that only a 16 year-old can be) when one Saturday he asked if I wanted to go with him to look at cars at Saturn of Omaha.
Remember that Saturn was still a novelty then – and, quite popular. There weren’t many cars on the lot, but one struck me immediately: a teal green SC with no options except an automatic transmission. Grandpa could see I liked the car, but demurred on taking any action apart from noting my enthusiasm.
Two days later, after I got home from class, Grandpa told me to look in the garage. Imagine my surprise and delight when I saw that teal Saturn parked there!
And… imagine my dismay when I was informed that it was for my aunt, who had also been having problems with her old Prelude.
I don’t think Grandpa ever really understood why I was so upset about that.
My cousin’s ’72 Monte Carlo. Chevy managed to hit all the right notes with that body style.
Oh, and I almost forgot the one I actually wound up with: my grandfather’s ’55 Bel Air!
Right around when I became a teenager, my uncle bought a new black ’87 Cougar XR7. I loved it. To make matters worse, in ’89, my father bought a new Thunderbird LX. I’ve had a thing for both generations of those cars since.
My Great Aunt and Uncle drove a 68 Firebird, silver, black vinyl top, black interior, 350/auto, rally II’s, and also drove a 87 6000 STE Black/silver with gray interior. This was in 1990 or so, they were both in their late 70’s, lived at “The Cape” and had bought both cars new (traded a 66 T-bird in on the STE) I wanted both cars. They took extremely good care of them. Unfortunately both cars were victim to some strange and untimely deaths right after my aunt and uncle passed away in the early 90’s.
Your story reminded me of how cool I thought the 6000 STE was back in the day. With its suede seats and all-electronic dash!!
This is an ’84 dash:
Not much changed until the end of the 6000 STE after 89. The tach got bigger, and the steering wheel gained radio controls in 86. Used to look pretty cool at night with the red lettering and blue/green digital readouts.
My Uncles 87 did have the suede
My Parent’s 89 did not have the suede but did have the 12 way power seats.
The Pontiac 6000 is the “ultimate 80s car” in my opinion. I’d love to have a heavily optioned early one or later S/E with the digidash.
+2 on the lighted dash at night.
My Grandmother had an 87 6000 LE station wagon, and even without the digi dash I thought it was cool. Hers was bably blue with wood paneling, and a blue interior.
I’m not sure if this lasted the entire duration of the 6000 STE model run, but the ’83-’86 suede seats were “pigskin” suede!? Great marketing move, what sounds more European and upscale than “pigskin”???
They should have followed up with the Bonneville SE with goat pelt seat covers….
1986 was the year that 6000 STE reached the pinnacle of it’s development, in my opinion. The flush headlamps gave the front-end a very clean look, the 2.8L MFI HO V6 made 140hp and the 3-speed automatic was upgraded to a 4-speed auto. It also had the digital dash and the insane button-covered steering wheel with so many buttons that it was far more confusing to use than simply reaching for the actual control or button wherever it was located!
I always loved the over-the-top exhaust tuning on most GM cars with the 2.8L or 3.1L V6 from that era. It was like James Earl Jones (Darth Vader) doing a Fran Drescher impression but I ate it up! And it added to the illusion of high performance, even though the ’86 STE was actually a pretty decent performer for the times.
I knew three people who owned an STE- an ’83, ’85 and ’86. All of them made it past the 200,000-mile mark on the original engine/tranny and without any MAJOR mechanical problems, very rare of FWD GM cars of the 80s! The only exception was my friend with the ’83 had to have the carb rebuilt twice and the lockup torque converter had intermittent issues. But it was a first year model.
I have no definitive proof, but I strongly believe that the STEs were built to a higher standard than all other A-body models including lesser 6000 models. As a rule, I despise GM, but the 6000 STE and the ’82-’87 Olds Cutlass Supreme/Salon are exceptions and I still love them both! I’d love to own an ’86 STE (or ’87 in a pinch) and an ’86 Olds Cutlass Salon 442 or ’87 Cutlass Supreme 442 one day! 442 prices from that era are already getting pretty high, but the STE is still just a used car from a collector’s standpoint….I just need to find a low-mileage, mint-condition STE that nana drove to church and the grocery store each week…..
The true mother-lode would be finding an STE with the Getrag 5-speed manual! I don’t think the car mags ever tested one, but I know the 2.8L and 4-speed manual would haul butt back in the day! And there are performance mods for the 2.8L V6 MFI out there, it could be very interesting.
I used to be very ashamed that I was a closet STE-lover, but then I discovered that there’s a Ford Tempo/Mercury Topaz enthusiast community and even a Ford Granada fan club….Tempo and Granada….those people need therapy…
My uncle restored a ’29 Ford A pick-up truck in the early nineties. I was about eight or nine. A few years later, he needed money and decided to sell… his other car (don’t remember which). The Ford A became his daily driver for a year or so! Not really the most practical car for a family of five (kids sitting in the pick-up was widely accepted here these days), but I really envied my cousins and dreamt of having such an old car as my daily driver some day… I can still remember the sound and smell of that Ford!
Most of my relatives got by with some fairly awful, uncovetable machinery. They on the other hand always used to look at what I was driving! This happened all the way through the ’70s up to the present day, starting with my Ford Escort Mexico then my selection of 3 litre Capris, concluding with my (v secondhand) Bentley Turbo and my Chrysler 300 CRD. You Yanks may laugh, but I REALLY liked the Chrysler with its twin-turbo Mercedes diesel. Nobody in his right mind would be jealous of what I’m driving for the time being so I’m not telling you what it is.
Haha, it was sold by the time I was born, but my mom and dad owned this as their first car in America. (In Canada, they had a little Sentra) This pic is a stock image, not their car.
In 1976 my Uncle Ron built a new home & barn on property inherited from my grandfather. He set out to make some improvements to the property including a few roads and some trout ponds. To help with all the work he purchased a ’75 IH pickup 4×4 (I can’t remember if it was a 200 or 500, but it was definitely a heavy duty truck). It was ‘School Bus Chrome Yellow’, which was more orange than yellow. I was 8 years old at the time, so you can imagine my fascination with it. He then decided that he needed something bigger and better, and purchased a Unimog. It looked exactly like my cousin’s scale replica by Corgi, yellow with red wheels. Those two rigs are responsible for my lifetime obsession with 4×4 trucks.
It would have almost certainly have been a 200 as the 500 was never “officially” available with 4wd.
I had many Uncles with vehicles that I coveted.
In addition to everything my Uncle Peter had (CC here)
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/coup-cars-of-uncle-peter/
My Uncle Bill had an Austin Healey which I loved to ride in. I think it became an expensive money pit quickly, and was replaced by a VW Dasher which I did not covet.
My Uncle Alex had a 39 Dodge two door sedan, which he co-owned with a friend. I bumped into the friend a couple of years ago and he still had it in his garage, still unrestored after almost 40 years of storage. He was thinking of selling it, and I would have jumped at the chance but I have my own endless project car.