It’s stating the obvious, but I’ve been into cars for as long as I can remember. Now in my mid-20s, I’m constantly daydreaming of what will be my next car, but even as a young child, the car I’d be driving someday was always on my mind.
Going back 20 years, my earliest memory of picturing my first car as an adult was at age 3. This was right around the time I started collecting car models (initially 1/24 scale and then 1/18) and other toy cars, with one of my favorites being a battery-powered 1/24 scale light blue 1995 Chevrolet Blazer. Located on the side were two buttons, one of which made engine and horn sounds, and the other which operated the wheels, making that car move forward several feet.
As one of my favorite toys at this age, I began myself as an adult, driving the full-size version. The dream of owning a Blazer lasted about a year or two, then I moved on. As I’ve grown up, my taste in cars has changed significantly for the better, and it seems funny to think that this was once my dream car. So, in the spirit of childhood memories, what was the first car you ever wanted?
The first car I ever noticed and wanted was a first-generation Mustang. The debut of the regular-wheel Matchbox version – a white fastback – only cemented the appeal.
The second car was a 1965 Ford Galaxie which was available as a Matchbox car in two versions – a fire chief’s car, and a police car.
My family is pretty much a Ford bunch, so I grew up listening to my father talking about his favorite car, a 1967/68 fastback Mustang. Obviously the car became my favorite too. But the way they are expensive now a days, it will remain just a dream.
Conversely, we always had Buicks and Olds, so the first car I can remember was the brand-new C4 Corvette, which led to a love of the Stingray boattails. Even had a poster that detailed every year of Corvette up to that point.
I think mine was the 1955 pink and white DeSoto Firedome that my grandma owned. Every time we saw her I wound up spending some DeSoto time. Compared to our 1960s cars, everything about that 55 was thick and massive and endlessly cool. I don’t remember hers being quite this vivid of a salmon color, but it was several years old and may have been either faded or repainted by then.
+1 I’d take a 55 or 56 Mopar over the flashy 57s any day. Love it JP
Mercedes Benz Heckflosse.
We kids a few Wiking models and the MB 200 was my favorite. These models are incredibly detailed.
I grew up riding in the back seat of one of these – my parents picked it up at the factory when I was six years old, and both I and my sister in turn eventually inherited it and drove it when we were in college.
A far cry from current products from Mercedes-Benz – while it would comfortably cruise at highway speeds, it was a bit of a pig around town. I was very happy when I handed it off to my sister and got to drive a VW Golf instead.
I really liked big old American Iron when I was a kid. I remember seeing an old Dodge Monaco from the mid sixities and thinking it was the coolest. It was at a gas station and I barely got a glimpse of it, but I was fascinated by it. Of course, being 7, I remembered it being a Dodge Monte Carlo, but once my Grandma gave me a copy of a used car price guide for a birthday gift, I got it right.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (first movie I ever saw).
A red 59 Buick Electra coupe from the USAF base near my Grandparents looked amazing to a 6 year old in early 60s Britain. It got my brother and myself interested in American cars.
40 Ford coupe.
An alfa spider
About 1969. There was an alfa – saab dealer down the street and they’d let me sit in the spider in the showroom whenever I wanted. I was about years old.
Although I could recognize different car brands/makes when I was 5 or 6 I don’t really recall wanting anything really until the Aspen/Volares came out when I was 11ish. I thought the Volare Premier 2-dr with the half vinyl roof and fancy cloth interior was just to die for and I remember also really liking the Chrysler New Yorker. Later it was a Lincoln Versailles and then, of all things, I was quite smitten when the AMC Concord came out. As I got into my later teens and early ’20s I actually pretty much lost interest in cars until I started driving.
This. Still a dream unfulfilled. I guess I had pretty good taste as a 7 year old. I’d still love to own one. Maybe someday.
Buy one now. Around here these are at the bottom of the appreciation curve.
Neighbor had a mid 60’s Yamaha bike which caught my initial attention for anything with a motor. It was about as noisy as my dad’s lawn mower.
As time went along (age 8), I moved on to the 4 wheel variety of transport.
My first automotive crush, at age eight, was on Dr. Kubischek’s new 1961 Lincoln Continental. A couple of years later, I fell for the ’63 split-window Stingray. Then, a few years later, for a Jensen-Healey. I guess two winners out of three ain’t bad.
Ironically the Blazer was the first car I was repulsed by! Best friends parents had a succession of them, hated car pooling in those!
This was it for me, first “car movie” I ever saw
I lived in a small town in Central NY filled with your basic late 50’s Fords and Chevys. When my aunt from Vermont came to visit she wheeled into town in a black and white 1958 DeSoto FireSweep. It was exotic to me and looked like a space ship compared to the neighbors’ Studebaker Lark. Even though I’m in my 60’s, that car has always stuck with me and I’d love to own one. I even considered restoring one like this beauty:
I had neighbors when I was growing up (I’m in VT) that often used their yard as a mini-junkyard. They had a DeSoto but I’m not positive if it was actually a Firesweep or something else. Handsome car though!
The one she drove was purchased from Potter’s Garage in West Rutland.
A Mustang.
I’d like a new one right now.
I had an old worn out 1971 that wasn’t any good, but wasn’t really a true Mustang. Then I had a 1993 Fox Mustang hatch in red that I loved until it was time to return it.
I need a new one. I’ve driven a lot and lots of great cars, but there is just something about a Mustang that seems absolutely perfect. American, heritage, sexy and every drive in it seems fun.
I was a weird one. I remember being fascinated with those old 1966-1976 Cadillac Fleetwood Series 75 limos when I was 13 or 14. The idea of being chauffeured just seemed pretty neat to a kid who couldn’t drive at the time. Alas, they were always too big, too impractical, and too old by that point to be reasonable to ever get. The dream stuck with me though, and some years later I did get something close. Not a limo, but plenty big and comfortable enough. (Although admittedly, I’m more often in the driver’s seat these days than in the back seat).
Me too, except I just wanted the regular Fleetwood Brougham. Specifically the ’73. I liked the front and rear end on those better than the 71-72 or the 74-76.
I liked the Rolls Royce Corniche Coupe that I used to see parked across the street too. Two tone dark blue over silver. But I think that came later than the Caddy.
Volkswagen Beetle.
I’m 34 now and still hope I’ll be able to acquire a Beetle down the road. Lack of a garage and funds keep me from a lot of things I want.
Without a doubt, 8-year old me wanted this.
A MG B – oddly enough out of 47 vehicles owned I’ve never managed to own one.
Ferrari 512BB, and it still is my dream car. Though the dream has become totally unreachable now.
2003 BMW 745i, but I now know better.
I was born in 1976, so . . . the choices weren’t the same, ok? We didn’t have GOOD cars then. The first car I really, really, wanted was the Chevy Monza and its brethren. I still think it’s one of the most appealingly styled cars of all time. The car underneath was awful, I know that. I also loved an X car skylark an uncle and aunt had rented when they came to visit, and the big RWD Cadillacs. I also liked the J Car hatchbacks, any French car, the AMC Pacer, the 1987 Buick Century and the 89 fwd Cutlass Supreme.
There’s nothing wrong with liking those cars. Hell, I like Pintos. Have had 6 of ’em.
I am in Paul N’s age demographic, and I was given a promo model of a 1958 Chevy Bel Air in turquoise and white for a birthday gift. That was the first car I wanted in the flesh.
A bustle back Seville.
When I was about 12, my older sister dated a guy whose parents had an early 80s Seville, and I loved that car. It was everything that my parents’ beat-up Subaru wasn’t, and one day he even gave me a ride in it. I can still remember how good the brown leather buttoned upholstery felt! I longed after those Sevilles for years, and still like them.
I had 3 automotive desires, I’m not sure which came first:
1. Saab Sonnet III, from the brochures I picked up at the dealer when our ’67 95 wagon was being serviced.
2. Lotus Europa, because I had the Matchbox of it – the first one I had with the Superfast wheels
3. 67 Ford pickup, preferably with a camper on it. Saw my first one on a family vacation in Maine. I always loved road trips, and really wanted to ride in the part above the cab, watching the world come at me.
I’d still take any of them. #1Son has promised to buy me a Europa when he makes his 1st $million. He may just do it, but I don’t suppose I should hold my breath…
Citroen DS from the age of about 10 – it just looked different and technical, like someone wanted it that way and sod everything else. My math teacher had one, when I was 15. That made me want one even more.
I got one when I was 30. I’m 56 now and I still have it – and will when I die
In the fall of 1961 when I was 8 I had my first car lust for the new 1962 Dodge Polara 500. I get a headache looking at the front end of that car now, but back then I loved almost anything Mopar. I’d prefer a ’62 Impala now, but back then it wasn’t even on my radar.
Great question! For me, it was a Cougar XR-7 like the one my Pop had. As a little boy I loved playing in that car, and my favorites were the sequential tail lights and the hidden head lights.
And for my first trade-up I would have gone with the ’72 Pontiac Grand Prix that my father got next. Loved the boat tail styling on that one, and to me it was such a dramatic, luxurious and kinda sporty (in a super-sized way) car, that it was surely what I was going to get for myself 🙂
Funny to think that both Mercury and Pontiac are gone…
That first picture of the dark green Blazer reminds me of the one I drove in as a kid. We got rid of that car after it started to get old for a Chevy Equinox, but I’ll always have fond memories of that Blazer.
The first car I ever wanted as a kid was a Black Mercedes Benz W140 S-Class. I guess that was an indicator of what my car tastes might develop into as I got older.
Fun question. The first car that I can remember that I wanted to own was a Triumph TR4. My dad had one, and I built a plastic model of it. When my parents bought a new ’68 Olds 88, the salesman gave me a dealer promo model of an Olds Cutlass 442. I remember wanting one of those for a while too.
Not a S10 Blazer or Pickup. I can assure you of that.
1956 Cadillac Coupe de Ville was my dream car. I stopped believing in Santa Clause that Christmas when he failed to deliver the beautiful Caddy.
Jeep grand wagoneer.
That means going back to the early seventies.
What I liked were the go-fast / dressed up versions of the small and compact cars you saw on every street corner back then. NSU, Simca 1000, Ford Escort Mk1, Opel Kadett B and others.
Bright colors, striping, extra lights, wide(r) tires. Those were the ones I wanted when I was a young boy..
I just posted my childhood dreams, and then saw this post. I went through a period from age 12 to 16 or so, where I too dreamed of these cars. But the dreams never developed into thoughts of actually owning one, since none were available in the US. Until the Vega GT came out (and I did own one) there were really no small low-budget performance cars sold in the US after the 1968 safety and smog laws cameinto effect, with the exception of the Cortina MkII GT and the Rallye versions of various Opels. Even the GTI didn’t come along until 1983, and the 2002 was really another class.
Spicy small (tiny would be better) low-budget cars date back to the fifties and sixties, with cars like the Fiat Abarth models and Renault 8 Gordini. Way before Volkswagen used the letters GTI. And the Golf Mk1 was, by no means, a Gran Turismo Iniezione.
I remember being a little boy I was confused why this car was kind of slow by compare in the video game, and all other cars were more of a typical rally car, like Lancia Stratos or Subaru Impreza. It stood out among many 300hp cars.
My grandmother’s 67 Impala. She bought it new two months after I was born. Only new car she ever bought in almost 87 years of life. However it was totalled in 1980. However I do have the replacement car, a 74 Impala Sport Coupe with 78,000 actual miles. I was with her and my dad when she bought it for $2200 from the original owner with only 22,000 miles on it then. I also liked my uncle’s 70 Maverick. So the first car I bought was a 71 2dr Maverick on 11/18/83 for $625. I still own it as well.
That’s a really good question fifty plus years after I started to become a gear head.
I think when I really got into model car building (1/25th scale) the first car that turned my crank as a 10 year old was the Mustang fastback. Two years later the new Mercury Cougar blew me away. many years later as a young man I almost came close to buying a Dan Gurney Special. Unfortunately the bank wouldn’t add another $2,000 to my then bank loan. Sigh…
My grandmother had a new ’65 Thunderbird, red with red leather and loaded. Although I only 4, I remember other cars, but this one was just so other worldly and cool that every ride was HEAVEN. One of the things she used to do: when making a U-turn, she’d crank the wheel all the way to the left, give it some gas, and let go of the wheel. it would spin really fast while the car made a perfect U-turn. *sigh*
I used to play at driving a car (and it was MY car) sitting up in bed when I couldn’t sleep, when I was 5 or 6 years old. It was a ’57 TBird. Odd, because other than those very distinct memories, I don’t recall any particular enthusiasm for that car, but it was definitely a ’57 because I thought the tail fins on the ’57 were much cooler than the original rear end on the ’55 and ’56. This would have been when you could still buy a a new bullet Bird, and remember liking those, so perhaps I was a TBird fan and I’m now suppressing it. A few years late, when I could perhaps envision being a “grown up” and owning a car, the Porsche 911 became available in the US and a long-time obsession with that car began. By the time I graduated from college, and could possibly begin saving for one, the 911 seemed to be in decline. Smog controls, big bumpers, and the new 928 seemed destined to kill off my dream. But constant displacement increases, turbos and 4wd, and wide fenders continually reignited its appeal. Yet 15 or 20 years later, when I could finally afford even a new 911, the appeal had dimmed; in fact the appeal of pretty much any performance car was gone, and I bought a (used) high end SUV. Which reminds me. There WAS one other vehicle that at times came in alongside the early TBird and the 911 in my childhood fantasies: the original Dodge Power Wagon.
Dad had a ’47 Chevy Stylemaster that I liked and was certain would be mine one day. I was too young to know why it got parked out in the grove at grandpa’s farm but boy was I P.O.’d when I found out the scrap man got it (and a few other treasures as well).
I wanted every car that I rode in, which wasn’t often. My earliest memory of riding in a car was as a toddler, being laid down in the cargo well behind the rear seat of a VW Beetle. Yes, I wanted it. And I had several Beetles later in life, as well as a life-long affinity for them.
But one car I really obsessed on was the Tatraplan in our neighborhood. And that one I really, really wanted.
Same here. As a child in the 60s the first car I wanted was the VW Beetle because I was fascinated by the rear engine and front trunk.
Actually that is the car I want right NOW. Unfortunately it’s made out of unobtainium I spent 10 days in the Czech Republic taking various photos of touristy things (and unique cars) and I didn’t see one Tatra–not even a newer model!
I need to get my T603-1 going again!
Nice! Rare to see one that’s survived in 603-1 spec without having been factory refreshed into a -2 or -3 at some point.
Nice Car!
are you from the Netherlands? ( I see a Dutch plate on the car)
I have just my Tatra 603 T2 1974 up and running. People at RDW were amazed to see the car.
As a tot, in the early ’60s, anything with big, expressive tail lights. The “jet tube” lights on Fords made them a natural, but I also fondly remember the candy cane lights on ’62 Pontiacs, also. A little later, the boomerang style on the ’63 & ’64 Pontiacs looked good too.
Is it too late to say Batmobile? 😉
I remember falling in love with the fifth-gen Celica when it came out (1990?) and really wanting one, even though it would be a few years before I could drive!
As a toddler I used to see a neighbour drive home in a car with cute little turned over fins and a cool two tone paint job, he was the local Hillman dealer and the car a brandnew Minx I bought one at 18 the first of several and still have one today.
A powder blue Cadillac Brougham.
Without a doubt, 8 year old me absolutely wanted a Porsche. Heck, they werr like my dad’s beetle, but fast!
I don’t know which car I wanted first, but I was a big fan of my Dad’s 1966 Coronet 440 2-door hardtop, the Triumph Spitfire, and the Maserati 3500GT in my early years. Of those three, the only examples I ever drove were Triumph Spitfires, and they each disappointed sorely. Perhaps if they’d been the fist cars I’d ever driven, I wouldn’t have been aware of their weaknesses.
I was crazy for cars from the earliest age. The example below was one of my first. It nearly killed me. Emulating Dad, I tried to “fill” it with gasoline from the home pump he maintained for his tractor and cars (he had left the hose on a low shelf that somewhat my little paws could reach). With cigarette in hand, he found me soaked in fuel. Fortunately he quickly extinguished the smoke and dumped me into a tub of soapy water. BTW, I loved the smell of gasoline from the earliest age. And pre-EPA pumps, carburetors, etc. meant you smelled it a lot.
It is hard to pin down a first car love as there were so many. As in JPC’s case, I was wild about the 1955 De Soto but unlike him, right when it was new: my great aunt and uncle purchased a new Firedome two-door hardtop in white and baby blue that thoroughly rocked my world. Loved that little shifter on the dash, the hardtop styling, the sleek body, and the white vinyl upholstery. They had covered the latter with Finghehut clear plastic seat covers so it stayed new forever. This was in the day when people used those clear covers on furniture, lamp shades, you name it.
My corresponding GM favorite was a 1955 Oldsmobile purchased new by my aunt and uncle. It was the new four-door hardtop model available in mid-year and a total sensation in yellow and black with black cloth upholstery with silver mylar threads and outlined in white vinyl. I was so fascinated with the power antenna that I nearly ran the battery down playing with it. The shift indicator also was very cool – it was an electric pointer that popped up when you turned on the ignition.
Continuing with 1955, a great year to be a little kid who loves cars, because Dad was by then starting to turn from Nash to Ford, we had to go see the new Thunderbird. We both were crazy about it but it took many years before we bought a lightly used 1965 model in 1967, our one and only T-Bird, a much loved and very good car.
Nice car. As you can see I used to “drive” one of those too! That thing lasted through 10+ years of kids in the family. I was the original owner. Unfortunately, when I was in high school and driving a much larger car, someone stole it out of our garage.
The first car I remember lusting after was my uncle’s new red ’56 Buick convertible. He lived in California and came to visit us where we lived in Illinois when I was in the first grade. I can still remember him pulling up in our driveway, top down and looking cool. Well, he was my cool uncle after all.
The next one was my grandma’s ’40 Studebaker Champion two door sedan. But, I only wanted it to make into a hot rod.
According to my Mom I used to get excited when I saw a VW Beetle when I was a toddler. So there you go, I have one now and I still smile every time I see it.
The first specific car I wanted was a castoff of our neighbor across the street. When Mr. Rankin got a new car in the mid 70’s his old blue 68 Pontiac hardtop sat in the grass beside his driveway for months. I dreamed of him giving it to me but never screwed up the courage to ask.