Yesterday was Father’s Day for those of us in North America and it had me thinking about something I think we can all relate to. As car-crazed kids, we probably all tried to have a say in what our parents bought. So, what did you tell your parents to buy? And did they listen, or what did they buy instead? I distinctly recall one strong suggestion I made circa sixth grade and it may surprise you.
There was a time when a $35k Kia crossover or a V8-powered Genesis was a laughable suggestion. The Koreans were manufacturing only bargain-basement cars, like the 1995 Hyundai Excel (Accent) which briefly became Australia’s best-selling car on the back of its low, low, driveaway price. But Hyundai and Kia were struggling with their larger cars despite offering them well-equipped and keenly-priced. As a child, I was no brand snob and I was perhaps even more of a cheapskate value-oriented consumer than I am now. I was seduced by a low price and a long feature list and when I saw an ad for runout examples of the Kia Credos, I told my mother she had to buy one.
“What is a Kia Credos?” you may ask. Basically, it was a rebodied 1992 Mazda 626 and was Kia’s third offering in Australia after the Mentor (Sephia) and Sportage. Australian market models launched in 1998 and came with a 2.0 DOHC four-cylinder engine with 131 hp and 126 ft-lbs and a choice of five-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmissions. Just one model was offered: a well-equipped sedan with standard air-conditioning and power windows, mirrors and locks. Leather and woodgrain trim, power driver’s seat, alloy wheels and ABS were available in an option pack, and these runout Credos sedans were all equipped with leather and priced at a low, low $AUD 19,990, about the price of a base model Corolla and even undercutting base models of the Hyundai Sonata and Daewoo Leganza. Not bad for a mid-size sedan, especially one so generously appointed!
In other markets, the Credos was known as the Clarus and even featured a wagon variant that looked like the lovechild of a Renault Laguna Estate and a 1996 Ford Taurus wagon. But the Credos/Clarus was a bit player outside of Asia, selling poorly in Europe and not even being offered in North America. In Australia, only a paltry 839 examples were sold over the Credos’ three-year run.
In the end, my mother didn’t buy a Credos. The next car purchase in my family was my father’s purchase of another well-appointed Korean, a Daewoo Nubira that very quickly taught me there is more to a car than its equipment list as the Nubira was well-specified but rubbish. Given its Mazda bones, the Credos might have been a better buy for our family but we shall never know.
So, what did you try to convince your parents to buy and did they follow your advice or go in an entirely different direction?
My old man always ordered his cars. in ’72 he ordered a Torino. Naturally I was hoping for a Gran Torino SportsRoof with a 429 Corba Jet under the hood. What he brought home was a Gran Torino 2 dr. with a 351C in a very pretty metallic blue. Not quite what I hoped for but not bad. After that was a ’77 Monte Carlo. I was afraid we were in for a very period and very typical Landau with it’s gaudy padded vinyl half-roof, but he ordered a very nice S model with no vinyl roof. Car had a 350 4bbl. with heavy duty suspension (you could plainly see the large rear sway bar under the axle). I figured that car was about as good as it got this side of an F body, so I was pleased. No embarrassment riding in that one.
My dad bought a 1987 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe, just in time for me to turn 16. Silver with a 5-speed manual. He chose it without (unsolicited) input from me, and I certainly was not going to argue with his choice.. That car was high style and high performance in the late 1980’s and he even let me drive it unsupervised from time to time.
When I was in the 8th grade, my father drove a taxicab yellow ’77 Buick Skylark that I hated. I remember someone selling their ’82-ish BMW 320i down the street and I tried desperately to talk him into it. No dice. He eventually wound up buying a baby poop brown Pontiac Grand Prix.
The old Pontiac was getting a little used up so dad was looking for a replacement. An independent dealer popped up a few months before just down the road and on that lot was a 1957 Chevy Nomad. To me it had everything we needed, a long roof, tail fins and all that good looking chrome and all for only $1500.
He didn’t want that old thing and instead bought a 1971 Country Squire from the same lot. It was only five years old at the time so it had to be better. Right? It was a Friday afternoon when the test drive and the deal were done. Saturday afternoon on the way to work it overheated in spectacular fashion and came back home on a hook. It ran long enough on Monday to get to the bank to stop payment on the check and back to the lot it went. A few days later the dealer showed up at the house with the car fully repaired and offered it up at a sweet deal. Water pump, transmission, rad and all belts and hoses replaced. The offer was turned down.
I kept telling dad he should have bought the Chevy.
We had a succession of Chevy wagons through the sixties and early seventies, which for a family of five kids was a good choice. My father also had a beater 61 Biscayne sedan as a company car. In 1968 he replaced the Biscayne with a new Camaro. Base model with a six/3speed manual. I suggested an RS or SS but it was still a big step up from the Biscayne. Two years later he traded the Camaro for a 70 Buick Skylark coupe. I tried to convince him that a Chevelle SS might be a better choice…he went for the Skylark.
Dad always drove Fox-body Mustangs, no complaints from me on that. However mom first had a 2 door ’88 Tempo, decent enough I guess but nothing that impressed me as a kid.
In December 1991 she decided to buy a truck, and traded in the Tempo on a new loaded ’91 F-150 XLT Lariat, two tone deep emerald green/prairie tan. However, after an accident that spring she was ready to trade again. The truck looked like nothing had ever happened but her and Dad both said the it just wasn’t right after that.
So in October 1992 it was back to the Ford dealer again. She was considering a new Taurus, but the car I wanted her to buy so bad was a loaded 1992 Mercury Cougar 25th anniversary edition. I thought it was such a classy, elegant looking car. The color scheme was even similar to her truck Tourmaliene green with prairie tan interior. It was the only two tone anniversary edition I have ever seen (it had the same stripes the special editions had, only in tan).
Sadly, she thought it was too much car, so she ended up buying a ’92 Mercury Topaz coupe.
I just wanted my parents to buy anything new. Dad would look for months to find the right deal on a used Ford. Had to be an automatic because Mom couldn’t drive a stick shift. His folks always had Fords. I would have been real happy with an orange 1973 Charger like the really cool Avon lady drove.
Biggest disappointment: the two year-old 1974 Pinto that replaced the aging but comfy 1965 Country Squire. Downsizing during the oil crisis meant one of us kids had to sit “on the hump” of the tiny back seat more than once. Poor ventilation, cracked carburetor body, slipping C4 tranny, rust (in sunny So Cal??) and 11 mpg. But Mom liked the color (copper metallic).
In 1988 my parents brought me along to M.J. Sullivan Cadillac-Hyundai in New London to cross shop these new Hyundais with the trusty Hondas they’d looked at over at Westbrook Honda. I of course immediately wander over to the gleaming Cadillac Brougham d’Elegance at the other side of the show room and much to everyone’s amusement climb in, probably grinning from ear to ear. These of course remind me of grandpa’s Grand Marquis which I love riding in, except they’re even bigger!
15 years later I came home with one. My mom, by then driving a Prius, was appropriately appalled. Dad just laughed. But they both came to appreciate it when I drove them on a long, traffic-jammed trip to Lake Winnie. They could not believe it was getting over 20 mpg and I had to prove it to them. Mom finally said “I would never drive it, but I think I get it”. As for me, it was exactly what that 5 year old had dreamed of. It was the greatest example of wish-fulfillment I’ve ever experienced. Perhaps that’s why its intermittent eQjet issues and the 307 that had some problems made me so mad. It wasn’t just a car that was being troublesome, it was a dream come true that was being disturbed.
It’s the car example of not meeting your heroes. I still love my big land yachts, but now when they break down I take it more in stride. In all, it was a good learning experience.
My dad had a ’66 Toranado, in “Champaigne” or something like that. I hated the color, but other than the really lousy brakes, the car was rock solid. When it was 2 years old, he started looking at new cars, he always got rid of cars at the 2 year mark, selling them to friends most of the time. I wanted, desperately, for him to buy either a ’68 or ’69 Charger, or a Road Runner, with a 440 in it. He got a 440 in the car he did buy, a ’68 Imperial, in (IMHO) an ugly bronze with a black vinyl top. It was infamous for the A/C getting stuck on max and freezing the hell out of us. Somehow the car always knew when we had just been swimming when it went into deep freeze mode. He got rid of it early because of my mom’s complaining about having to wear a sweater in the summer when riding in it. My mom hated the Imp, and my dad decided to drive it instead, but it was supposed to be her car. She ended up with a ’69 Avocado green Caddy, which hung around longer than any car my parents ever had, until my dad passed out while driving it, smacking a pole, and knocking out the power in a large section of Toledo in 1973. My dad lost his insurance, and never drove again, and I got my license the next morning, mostly because he needed a driver. Mom got stuck with a ’69 Lincoln Mk III, which both my parents hated. My dad traded it to my uncle for the Caddy above.
Actually, none. My father worked for the Carnation Milk Company from 1952-1968. Consequently he had company cars. A new one every two years at least. Then worked at Westgate California for four years with two company cars the first which is in my care now. California Canners and Growers saw a wide variety of company cars from a 1972 Gran Torino to a 1973 Porsche 911E to a 1974 Mercedes 450SL to name a few.
I really didn’t have any one car ever in my mind because so many passed through the family because of his work and I’m not counting my mother’s cars.
911E and 450SL as *company* cars? What line of work was this??
I wanted Dad to buy a lightly used 65 Thunderbird, loaded with every option. Instead he bought a lightly used 65 Thunderbird with basic equipment (“too much to go wrong” with the other one). No matter, we both loved that car, and even as a teen I got to drive it a lot (did I say I had a great Dad?).
I didn’t much car what they got as long as they got the biggest engine, and AC. I was an early childhood proponent of AC. My AC prayer was answered with our ’72 Comet LDO 4-door, and I got a taste of big torque with the ’76 460 Elite that replaced the Comet.
I’ve been told I selected this car at the tender age of 3 by refusing to get out of it on the showroom floor. Unfortunate that they traded Dad’s ’67 Cougar to buy it.
We had many nice cars when I was a kid, so my car lusts weren’t too strong until I neared driving age, and then they kicked in strong. My parents divorced when I was 14 and I kicked in to full lobbying mode by 15 or so to get my mother to buy a Volvo 740 Turbo wagon or a Peugeot 505 Turbo wagon. Eventually I got mom to the Volvo dealer, but never to the Peugeot dealer. She bought a 1984 740 GLE Wagon with a 4-speed overdrive manual transmission. Not a turbo, but at least there was a clutch pedal.
At that same time my dad had two cars, a 1984 BMW 533i 5-speed and a 1984 Saab 900 Turbo 5-speed 4 door sedan, so I was in driving heaven whenever I was with him, but I still begged him a time or two to consider a Maserati Bi-turbo! He rejected the idea immediately and repeatedly for good reason!
I have two. One was my dad was replacing his ’85 Audi 4000S in 1993 and at the time Consumer Reports really liked the Taurus and Bonneville. I remember test driving a Bonneville SSEi with him and wanting him to buy that but for some reason he preferred the Taurus. He also test drove A Taurus SHO which I pushed for as well and he was getting ready to buy it but decided against it due to possible insurance issues as my brother was getting ready to start driving…he ended up with a ’93 Sable LS instead. My second one was my Mom was getting ready to replace her ’95 Mercury Mystique GS with an ’98 Expedition Eddie Bauer but a comparison test in Car and Driver came out and I suggested she look at sedans instead. We test drove a Volvo S70, an Audi A6 and a Lexus GS300. I remember practically the entire Summer of 1998, we debated between the S70 and the A6. I preferred the A6 as did my Dad due to his history with Audi. In the end, she ended up buying a 1999 Lincoln Navigator 4×4…which was nice but different than an Audi.
I really wanted my dad to keep my grampa’s 68 Cutlass Supreme hardtop 4-door for me–I was ten when he sold it in 1988 and I’ve never forgiven him. I begged him; was already into the hobby and this car was in pretty good shape.
My parents needed a new car…but apparently I thought they did more than they thought they did. I used to hang out at a local Ford dealer and when I was 17 took over a new ’78 Gold Fiesta with orange/black houndstooth upholstery and a sunroof for them to see. I thought it was just the neatest little car! My Mother took one look at it and say no…in any color.
But I had better luck with my grandparents. In late ’79, I talked up a brand new ’80 Mark VI Signature Series sedan. Endlessly. In any case, on Christmas Eve my grandmother let it drop that they’d bought the car and were picking it up in a couple of days! Later, I also talked her into an ’89 Continental and a ’91 Sable LS sedan.
Something with a radio, a/c and REAR LEGROOM ! Dad was a complete cheapskate with cars and seemed to think “packaging efficiency” and actual space were the same thing.
The year was 1963. I was only ten but could already identify pretty much any domestic car made during my lifetime. The ’59 Brookwood Nomad’s wild styling was already looking dated and dad was looking for a new ride. It was going to be another wagon, but another Chevy or maybe a Pontiac? The brand new Rambler Classic’s shape really caught my eye. Being Motor Trend Car of the Year didnt hurt as well. I bugged him endlessly to buy one. Mom liked the individually reclining seats and headrests. Dad was solidly a GM customer by then, but my pointing out the Rambler safety features won him over. One problem, no V-8 option, yet. Mid year the V-8 was offered and there was a new powder blue Classic 660 V-8 Cross Country in the driveway. I had double satisfaction because it was the first car he let me drive a few months later at age 11.
Don’t take this the wrong way, but could you have been the only 10 year old boy in the U.S. who lobbied his parents to buy a Rambler station wagon? 🙂
Of course, you could also have been the only 10 year old boy in the U. S. Who actually convinced your parents to buy what you lobbied for, so hats off!
Corvette Stingray wasnt in the cards for a growing family, even if dad secretly lusted for one as well.
Mom’s input was of course a deciding factor, although she didn’t drive at the time.
My parents bought their first car before I was born, and their second in 1960, then replaced it in 1964, when I was first 3, and then barely 7 and had no influence in either case. Then my mom bought a car in ’86, after my dad died, and I was long out of the house. At that time my mom was interested in a Saab but didn’t want to deal with the salesman, so I test drove a 900 for her. I decided she wouldn’t like it, and I guess she took my advice and bought a 245 to replace her 122S (both Volvo wagons, same dealer in 1964 and 1986).