For most people, the day they get their driver’s license is a huge milestone. But for car enthusiasts in particular, the achievement tends to spark especially bad cases of automotive daydreaming. With a newly minted license in hand, surely there was a dream car that was both desirable and on the edge of actual attainability that you just couldn’t get out of your head. So what was your biggest teenaged car crush?
I’m not talking about super car lust, like the cars on posters you may have had on your bedroom wall as a teen (in my case a Lamborghini Countach).
I’m talking about a car that you wanted really badly, but might have actually been able to get (perhaps with a minor miracle) in real life. The car you hoped to be seen in, the one you thought was a great expression of your taste and personality.
Was it the ride of a spoiled rich kid at school?
Or was it as simple as your grandparent’s car? You know, as in, “I’ll take anything, just let me get behind the wheel!”
For my new driver teenaged reality, I was actually quite happy to pilot my mother’s ’79 Oldsmobile Ninetly-Eight LS. Yeah, just like the ’78 Ninety-Eight LS pictured above, it was brown with a beige vinyl top and brown vinyl interior. But I could drive it! And our Olds had the 403 V8, so it was actually capable of things my mother never dreamed of…but those are stories for another time.
However, for my teenaged “could-maybe-somehow-be-a-reality-someday” automotive fantasy, one car did rise to the top, though the competition for my teen wheels dreams was fierce.
For me, that car was the 2nd generation Supra that appeared for 1982. I absolutely loved the aggressive, angular-aero design with big chunky wheels and long hood over the sweet, smooth and powerful Toyota 2.8L DOHC Inline-6 with the 5-speed manual. I wasn’t entirely crazy about the black-painted hatch and rear bumper on all body colors. But I had a solution for that: get a Gloss Black Supra! It sure was mean looking, at a time when black cars were not ubiquitous.
Inside, what could be better than striped velour Sport Seats (with inflatable lumbar support!) and a high-tech instrument panel? Of course, in my dreams I would have added the top stereo system with the cassette player and graphic equalizer too!
This Supra would have been absolutely, positively perfect. Cool, modern, sophisticated and fast–talk about a date magnet (the car, not teenaged me). And speaking of dating, a woman I did date years later (and ultimately married) had some interesting teenaged car lust of her own. Being the car nut that I am, I asked her early on what car she dreamed of as a teen, and her answer was not what I expected.
Apparently in Bergen County, New Jersey where Kim grew up the Renault Fuego had a short burst as the “hot ticket.” And she always did have a predilection for rounded designs: even as a little girl, she really noticed and liked the AMC Pacer when it came out. So I guess the bubble back French oddball was part of that continuum. Chacun à son goût (to each his own taste).
Speaking of taste, it’s interesting to consider how things have changed since the 1980s, when 2-doors were hugely popular and high on people’s lists of desirable cars. Now small sporty coupes are about as in-style as Knots Landing.
My 18-year-old daughter, for example, has had but one lust vehicle since she first got her learner’s permit: a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara, in white, please and thank you.
My 15-year-old son, just starting driver’s ed, fluctuates wildly between dream cars, but an ongoing favorite is the Subaru WRX STI (and yes, he really loves the bright WR Blue).
Both my kids want 4-door and 4wd vehicles—the “it” vehicles for many teens in the 20-teens, just like sports coupes were for many teenagers in the 1980s. But while the vehicle type may change, the desire for cool wheels remains ageless (and hopefully will continue even as vehicles continue to transform).
So now you know my teenage dream machine, and my wife’s and kids’. What was yours?
I was all about motorbikes at that age. I really wanted an FJ1100 for my big bike needs, plus I had a hankering for a 350 Moto Morini, for the little back roads around where I lived.
As a teenager in the UK, extortionate insurance costs precluded any car beyond a 1 litre Micra anyway.
Obtaining the license in September 1988 caused me to yearn for a 1988 or 1989 Mustang GT. Five speed, of course.
I didn’t want a ‘90 as the airbag eliminated the tilt wheel.
The first car with my name on the title was an’89 Mustang, but with just half a real engine. That 2.3 was mostly willing but it was, as the saying goes, a lot of hat and no cattle.
I was about a year ahead of you in November ’87, and it was the Saleen for me.
Ended up with an ’81 Mustang with a straight six. :/ At least it was a stick, and with t-tops!
1973 BMW 2002 ti. But I got another BMW: 1956 BMW R26
1976-77 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, I’ve turned 16 in August of 1996 and always thought they were nice looking cars, other cars I’ve liked was a 1967 Ford Galaxie 500 2 door hardtop with a 390 V8 or a 1971-73 Cadillac Sedan Deville due to my love of the Cadillac Corey Haim drove in the movie “License To Drive”
When I got my license, Chevy had just re-introduced the Z-28. There was a bright yellow one on the showroom floor of the Chev-Olds emporium my Dad worked at. I wanted it bad.
One of the mechanics in the shop had a silver 1970 Chevelle SS396 for about a third of what the Z cost that was a very close second. No chance I could hope to afford either but it was fun to dream about them.
Ended up with a roached ’65 Impala 4 door hardtop for 300 bucks. In retrospect I likely would have killed myself in the Chevelle or the Camaro…
I wanted a Spirit R/T so bad. Fast, but with an aura of practicality around it. Safer than similar cars, too. Airbags way before they were common. Infinity stereo is common in them, the cool pinstripe interior that my Sundance had. Clear and sensible gauges and controls.
Nice topic and article GN. I always enjoy how beyond posing a subject in your articles, you help sell your essay, by expanding with examples and various perspectives. And your own thoughts of course. Car makers have always had this huge advantage in marketing. With cars it is so easy to sell a lifestyle or a dream, more so than any other consumer product.
As your daughter demonstrates, the rugged, outdoor lifestyle that Jeep promotes, along with the brand’s legacy, is like printing money.
I wanted a 1976 Chevrolet Corvette L48 as my first ride. The specific car I was lusting over had a black exterior, red interior, side pipes, rally rims, no AC, and the whole package. Really sweet car.
Too bad my father saw an ’84 ‘Vette in a ditch, he said the car was almost unidentifiable, the two teenage lovers inside passed away. My father didn’t want me driving a Corvette after seeing that.
Instead, I bought a red ’85 Maserati Biturbo E as my first car, I loved that car, I’m looking to purchase one again in the future.
A couple years later I traded it in for a newer Alfa Romeo 164L. I still own that Alfa to this day, alongside my beautiful 1977 Chevy Monte Carlo S.
The attached image is of a very similar Corvette.
I’m a wee bit truck obsessed. I wanted a WM 300 powerwagon. Maybe the only kid to want a car that strains to get to 55mph.
I turned 16 at the end of 71. I loved prbably every V8 car ever built as long as it had “sound”. The right “sound” mind you. But a 1970 340 Dart Swinger would have been near the top of the list. 4 speed naturally. Or any big or small car was fine. I did buy a Canadian Pontiac Laurentian 2 dr hard top. Crack block 261 6 cylinder, 2 speed slip with a broken frame to add to its allure. I swapped frames and installed a 283 with 3 sped on the floor and dual thrush mufflers. Painted it medium matellic blue. But it was no 340 Dart Swinger lol.
I really wanted a ’96 Taurus Ghia. Once I started taking driving lessons though, I decided I wanted a manual transmission so I then started thinking about a final-generation Magna (Diamante) with the 3.5 V6 and 5-speed manual.
1981 Chrysler Imperial
Dating myself here, but from the time I was ten years old in 1957 I lusted after the ’57 Thunderbird. By the time I got my drivers’ license in 1963, I was still in a deep swoon over these cars, but they had grown older over the ensuing years, and were fairly common on the used car market. I would peruse the used car section of the Los Angeles Times every Sunday dreaming of how I could get one of these, which, at that time, if memory serves correctly, they were going for about $1200. But my father was adamant that when I started college in 1965 these T-Birds were simply too old and too high mileage, and he wanted me in a much newer vehicle. I finally had to give up and put my dream on the back burner, and we found a 1964 Pontiac LeMans with some 12,000 miles on it which served me well throughout college for the next seven years. But the dream simmered on for many more years…
Until the retro Birds came out in 2002, and suddenly the dream came roaring back. I finally got my ’57 T-Bird in the form of a brand new 2003 model, which I still have to this day, with only 17,000 miles on it now. It still looks and drives like the day it came off the dealer’s lot. It has been the fulfillment of that old dream, and I am still enjoying it like a giddy teenager every time I put that top down and go for a cruise.
Wow. For a guy who has missed key life passages for the love of automobiles, I’m shocked to realize there wasn’t a dream car for 16 year old me. As some others have mentioned, I was just thrilled to drive anything. I was part of the last generation who knew many other kids who also weren’t allowed a car at 16, so my Mom’s Valiant wagon was inspiration enough. I DID lust after certain cars, usually a different one every day, but not to OWN. They all seemed too mature for me. I would have loved to drive a first gen Riviera or a ’66 Toronado, but could never have seen myself with either of them as my personal ride.
Turned 18 in 1987, so my dreamcar obviously was a white Testarossa 🙂
My real life dreamcar was a Peugeot 205 GTI but my parents decided to buy me a brandnew Jetta 1.8 …. although my grandfather wanted to buy me a red 911 Turbo my mom went crazy and forbid him to do so 🙂
I don’t think i would either have survived the Turbo nor the GTI …..
Pre driving age, my kindergarten teacher had a 4-door 510 in the pale sky blue. I used to stare at that car while waiting for the bus. Years later down the street there was a first generation Toyota Celica with small bumpers that also caught my eye and then someone moved in briefly with a 2 door 510 all murdered out long before that became a thing. I remember he used to hoon that thing around everywhere he went. My dad said they would bury him in that car one day.
Everyone wanted a Baja Bug or a Gremlin back then. Strange times. I always liked the 70 to 74 Nova in a 2 door but what I spent an unusual amount of time with was the Popular Mechanics issue with the build it yourself Tri-Magnum. It was on the rack in the school library and every chance I could get I was in there thumbing through the article looking at the pictures because I had read it so many times the text was committed to memory. My brother thought that I should be committed. To and institution that is.
When it came time to start driving I had to settle for a ’72 Toyota Corroded wagon and share it with my brother. The 2 speed toyoglide sucked. I learned how to maintain momentum and use downhills to gain speed. I did eventually get a 510 though. No one wanted it and neither did I but the rest is history.
In the late 60’s I went to the Perth Motor Show and instantly fell in love with an Alfa Romeo Spider, the original one with the pointy rear end. Totally unobtainable of course. Slightly later I saw one of the original Mitsubishi Galants which I badly wanted. Didn’t happen although I later test drove it’s successor, a 75 Lancer with the 1400cc engine. Got my license in 1973 (over here you have to be 17) and ended up getting a 1968 Morris 1100 automatic (Austin America) which I kept for 2 years, but I really lusted after an original 1968 Holden Monaro GTS, preferably with the V8 but the 6 would do. Back in the mid 70’s I could have got a nice one for 1500-2000 bucks, but now they’re going for well over 100,000. Ah well………
This was the one —
Complete with cyclops center gauge, magic wand shifter, & bus-size steering wheel
16 in 2007. My most realistic “want” was an earlier, manual Volvo S60 T5. I loved the 2005-2007 Subaru Legacy GT and 2004-2008 Acura TL, but they were holding their value a bit too well (and older versions of the Legacy and “3.2TL” do absolutely nothing for me).
My father did end up buying a 2008 TL, which he gave me as a college graduation gift several years later, when he replaced it with a Passat TDI and then a Honda Accord Hybrid. So, I am still enjoying the car I wanted at 16!
I am a little weird, my screen name attests to that. I wanted a 1959 Rambler Rebel in 1967. They were few and far between. Next choice was a 1961 Rambler Ambassador. Never got either but owned 3 1963 Rambler Classics and a 1966 Ambassador over the years.
I’m weird too. I fantasized about a 64 Cadillac Eldorado convertible. I still can’t swing one.
I turned 16 in November of ’78. My taste for cars was all over the map and “dream” car would change almost monthly. I liked the new Mustangs & Capris and the newly downsized Pontiac Grand Am, otherwise I wanted an older 2 door hardtop, starting with a ’66 Mercury Comet. Then I lusted for a ’69 Mercury Marauder X100, a ’72 Olds Cutlass Supreme, also liked the ’66 Thunderbird. I was grateful to be driving my Mom’s 73 LTD 4 door and on occasion my Dad’s ’75 VW Rabbit. The car I ended up buying was the dumbest car a 16 y/o could have with gas prices over $3 a gallon in today’s $ – a 1968 Oldsmobile Toronado, which I recently found out was one of only 134 with the W-34 option, it’s 454 was rated at 400 hp. It also had bucket seats and console. Had the Tornado less than a year – went to a more practical ’68 Dart in beautiful shape due to it being a California car, only it’s mileage was probably 200,000 more than it said and it’s 273 V8 was about to blow a rod. Finally settled on a gorgeous red & black 1967 Pontiac LeMans, one owner car that had its original window sticker.
1990; either a Mustang 5.0LX hatch or a Geo Prizm GSi hatch depending on how weird I was. I was happy to get an ’81 Omni.
I spent a lot of time driving a base Prizm sedan around that time and would have been very curious to compare the GSi, which I remember reading about in the brochure.
I got my license in 1979. What I wanted was my Dad’s 69 Marauder X100, which had been totalled a few months before my birthday but was still sitting behind the house. What I got was a 68 custom 500 sedan from a friend of my mom’s cause we never seemed to be able to work a deal for the front clip and parts to resurrect the Marauder.
What I found out much,much later was my mom had given orders that car was never to see the road again as she felt it was too much car.
Considering my SECOND car was a Chrysler 300 with the 440 TNT that I managed to total two weeks after buying it….she was much smarter than I gave her credit for at the time!
When I was 16, I would have liked a 1939 or 1940 Ford, because I thought they looked cool. I’d built a model of one in sixth grade. I honestly didn’t give any thought to the underpinnings. When I was able to buy my first car at age 21, I got a Saab 95 V4. The choice was almost totally driven by the underpinnings.
In my early teens (circa 1992), I discovered the Panhard 24. That was my dream coupe — and it still is. Nothing from the ’80s or ’90s aroused any interest in me at the time. That has changed a bit, but not a lot.
then when I was 16, I went to Prague on a school trip. Discovered the Tatras and fell in looooove with those, especially the T600 and (of course) T87. That’ll be my dream saloon for as long as I live.
Neither the Panhard nor the Tatra are easy to come by, though the 24 is affordable and I did catch a ride in one once. But that’s what teenagers do — fantasize.
My 16th birthday was in 1971 and I started out with a 65 Chevy Biscayne 2-door hand-me-down from my dad. Before I turned 18, I had several desirable vehicles such as a 1968 Charger 383, 1969 Road Runner 383 / 4 speed, 1969 Fury ex-state police car, and a 1970 Duster 340. The only vehicle I lusted for was ANY Mopar with a 426 hemi, but that continues to be on my bucket list to this day.
Spending some of my ’60s childhood as an Air Force brat, while my Dad was stationed in Spain and Portugal, I developed an incurable fondness for ‘little foreign cars’.
Back in the States, by the time I started learning to drive in the early ’70s. there was no shortage of derelict orphan Dauphines, Fiat 600s, Hillman Minxes, DKWs, and Simcas begging to be rescued from driveways, back-yards and vacant-lots for $100 or so.
The first such candidate that actually looked like it might become mine was a 4-door ’64 MG 1100, sitting forlornly in the postage-stamp front yard of a run-down Alexandria row-house, wearing a $150 for-sale sign.
I really lusted after that car. I found ads in old Life Magazines at the library and my parents old National Geographics to fuel my dreams, with race-car drivers touting it as a “Sports Sedan!” But repeated calls to the phone-number on the sign went unanswered, and after several weeks, one day the little MG was gone forever, and my dreams were shattered.
But maybe that was a good thing!
Happy Motoring, Mark
Upon getting my license in 1997, I had one automotive dream that seemed easily attainable: to drive my grandparents’ 1985 Toyota Cressida. My dad had sold it to them about 4 years earlier but never stopped talking about how well it drove, with the engine from the Supra, so I wanted to experience that for myself. But alas, in the 4 months between me getting my license and us visiting them 600 miles away, my grandparents sold the car! Since then, they’ve all but disappeared.
Otherwise, I didn’t have a single dream car to speak of. Like others here, I found everything interesting for one reason or another. I do recall liking the Chrysler 300M quite a bit, and much later I did manage to buy one. Even deeply used, I found it to be a very good car.
I think the one I wanted most was a third-generation Honda Prelude, which I did later own, albeit as a used car.
Late ’85 for me, so it would have been the Saab 900 Turbo SPG which would have to stand it for the less attainable but even more desirable (to me) Audi Quattro Turbo. Of course we lived on the other side of the tracks so neither happened and I was lucky to eventually save up enough for the ’79 Mazda 626 Coupe I bought off my Dad.
Great question though!
A 1958 Chevrolet Viking series 60 flatbed truck was my first ride. The truck originally belonged to my uncle who in turn gave it to my dad who gave it to me when I turned 16. The truck was a chalky, rusty, dark green with springs poking through the driver’s seat! It had a top speed of about 50 with its 235 six and 4 speed manual. But it was a tough and reliable old truck. Sold it in 1998 to an old guy for $300.00. He said he wanted to restore it, but his idea of restoration meant turning the truck into a rat rod. Ugh..
I turned 16 in 1970 during my freshman year in high school. I got my license that Summer. There was a black ’60 Caddy convertible (not an Eldo) that the bus would pass on the way to school. It had chrome moon rims and wide whitewalls. Did I want that car! After H.S. I got to have my ’64 Caddy rag top.
My Dad would let me drive his ’63 Lincoln while I was in H.S. He was a cooler guy than I gave him credit for.
I was 16 in ’72, and I wanted my cousin’s ’70 Roadrunner about as badly as I’ve ever wanted anything. It looked showroom new, pretty much identical to this one, except in black:
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSL0Uwg7bAiETkRFAqs1J_0NDoBMfls0GTAWeCx_Hz0tE0kIUuN
I told him that when he wanted to sell it, to let me have first crack at it. He forgot and sold it in 1974 to a kid I went to school with. I was beyond pissed. After the RR was gone, I looked for a good one, and couldn’t find one in anywhere near the condition that one was in, so I started thinking about a ’73 Cuda, which turned into a ’74 Cuda, which I almost got. I had the money to buy the exact car I wanted, but wasn’t 18 yet, so my mom had to sign for it. She had the habit of putting that stuff off and by the time she got around to it, the Cuda/Challenger had been cancelled and all the good ones were gone. I ended up ordering a ’74 Roadrunner, which took almost 6 months to finally arrive. That car is alive and more than well in the Vegas area today, with a 487″ stroked 440 in it. The original 360 has been rebuilt and is in the owner’s garage, ready to go if it was ever wanted.
I wanted a GTO. Real bad. When I got my license the car was in its third year of production and the new 66s were out. Not only was a GTO way beyond my busboy wages, my Dad was pretty convinced it was not the right car for a 16-year old, especially after we drove a used 65 with Tri-Power. He was right, of course. I instead bought a 1960 VW bug and was very happy. When I bought my Infiniti G37 new in 2010 I chose to consider it the GTO I never had, though in fact it is a far better car in every way. Often things turn out just fine over time.
I wanted a 1968 Mustang but had to settle for my father’s 15 month old 1968 Cougar. However, in 1983 I picked up my 1968 Mustang for restoration. Both sit snugly with each other side by side in the garage.
I didn’t realize you’d had the Mustang that long. Wow!
I was infatuated with the 64-67 GTO and 71-73 Mustang in my pre-license years. But I would have been happy with anything on wheels (outside of dirt bikes) when I finally became licensed.
And I was.
In 1989 Dad had an 82 Cutlass Cruiser wagon and Mom had an 83 Lynx L “5 Speed”. Fantastic cars to beat into the ground as a new driver. The Cutlass wagon took the abuse with aplomb. The Lynx? Not so much.
My teenage dream car, and the one im still pining for at the age of 33teen is the 1965 chevy Bel air 2 door post coupe. (A Biscayne or Impala would suffice, really just any full size 65.) I was saving up for one as a teenager, and when the georgia car I was going to make an epic road trip to go buy fell through, I ended up getting impatient and buying a 77 impala fastback with a 350 and f41 suspension, which was cool in its own right, but I still gotta have that post coupe…someday…
I coveted the BMW 318ti. Not sure why, but I’ve always loved stupid cars.
I suppose I was about 11 years of age when the guy across the road arrived home with a brand new HG (I think) Holden Monaro. 253 V8 with Powerglide. He bought it to tow his boat. The Monaro was bright red with twin racing stripes. Man, that car was lustworthy.
Sorry to be picky but the HG had the trimatic not the powerglide. Maybe your neighbour had an HT?
Michael C….I stand corrected. I was not one hundred percent sure, hence my brackets. It was an awesome looking car, but of course with the baby V8 and that transmission it would have been a rather sedate ride compared to what is on offer today. Still, much better that the base model with that long in the tooth inline 6 and three on the tree. Of course, the 327 and 350 versions were in another league again.
In August of 1968 I turned 16 but my lust for the automotive form started earlier when my cousin bought a new 1965 Pontiac Tempest LeMans 2 door hardtop, They lived about 1000 feet north of us & we visited them often. It was gold in & out with bucket seats, a 326 4 speed & it had wheel covers that looked like chrome reverse. It was love at first sight !!!!! Decades later I asked him about that car. He & his wife couldn’t believe that I remembered all of the details about it. When she got pregnant they sold it & got a more family friendly car. They both loved that car & were heartbroken when they found out that it was totaled within 24 hours of the sale.
Passed my driving test in Feb 1970 me and a friend went to look at a e type jag £800 easy £400 each Oh no insurance was £800 Much the same story for any so called sports car insurance way too high But I could get insured for a mk 11 3.8 jag saloon car for sensible money no contest the fact it ate me out of house and home fuel wise didnt matter ran old jags for yrs never gave much more than £200 for them nobody wanted them MK 10s where even cheaper
2003 Volvo S60 D5. 5 cylinder Diesel engine, 163 hp. Leather interior and high quality interior, 6 airbags. One hell of a car for a first time buyer
Besides the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II, which is, and unless I win The lottery, will always be my unicorn. ( and I will never win the lottery, I ain’t dumb enough) I had dreams of a 1995 Fleetwood Brougham. It changed the day I wrecked my first car- my dreams change from time to time, But besides staring at Elenor Thornton, they all have three pointed stars.
I got my license in 1989 and desperately wanted a Grand National or a built ’69 Charger but being a 16 year old that worked part time in a gas station, I could only afford to buy my brother’s 1977 Grand Prix for a couple of hundred dollars when he bought an ’96 Cutlass.
I still have the GP and now it shares the garage with a ’69 Charger and a Grand National. I refuse to grow up!
It was 1977 and the Rabbit and Scirocco were still pretty new, They were getting raves from all of the car magazines and they looked awesome….By the spring of 1981, I had saved enough to buy a brand new 1980 alpine white Scirocco…I was big man on campus. Traded it in 1986 for a new GTI, but when I turned 50, I found a pristine 81 Scirocco S which I have restored…Probably the nicest Scirocco around.
I started out in 1969 with a 1959 Fiat 600, complete with the “convertible top”. Which I still have BTW. But oddly enough for a teenager I hungered for a Rolls or a Bentley. So 5 years ago I finally finished my 1957 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud.
May of 67 I turned 16 and got my license. Growing up with Pontiacs, I naturally was drawn to the GTO… A 67 HT or Conv. would have been wonderful. I even lobbied it didn’t have to be new. Even the “Old” 64 model would be fine with me. My father would have none of it. A 16 year old male in 1967 even then brought higher insurance rates. However, Dad worked with me and I ended up with the 64 Cutlass Holiday hardtop, 330 V8, auto .a.c. Bucket seats and Olds Spec wire wheel covers, were fine enough for the time I liked the car. It was not a 442, but close enough. And that became my first car.
ANYTHING that was slick, fast, and beautiful! What you wanted and what you got were two different things. The first one was a `63 Mercury Comet S22 coupe with a three speed floor mounted gear shift. Paid $200.00 for it late 1970,months before I even got my license. Would practice driving the manual transmission in my communal driveway. Good car in good, clean shape, but I ‘bombed’ it up as just about any driver would do on his first car!
what did i want to drive back in the day? let’s take a trip down memory lane….
1957 chevrolet bel aire. my mom owned one and it is the first car i remember.
1968 pontiac firebird. actually owned this a 400 convertible with a th400.
first gen bmw 6 series. saw one in france one day and was instantly smitten. had no idea what it was (other than a bmw!) and could not believe the styling.
last generation jeep cherokee xj. actually owned this too but not a manual.
now, i think about touring wagons with a manual trans. that’s a pipe dream but if i had enough $$$ i would make it happen. mondeo, opel, bmw, audi anything can be modified!