My friends had their tongues hanging out.
The year: 1984.
The car: A brand new Toyota Celica Supra.
It had the words ‘SUPRA’ in big bubble letters on the rear: just in case you missed it.
Pop-up headlights. Seats that actually had bolsters on them. A sunroof, and the very best AM/FM Cassette money could buy. My brother, that lucky and overachieving bastard, got it brand new as a thank you for the 4.0 GPA that would eventually land him in the world of radiology. After experiencing my very first “Holy Shit!” moment as a passenger (my folks were lifelong right lane drivers), and watching a five-speed shift for the first time, I was smitten. Later on that evening I watched my first Knight Rider and then all hell broke loose.
I started seeing cars for the first time. A lustful Camaro V8 driven by a Jersey guy with more gold chains than . . . well . . . any of my friends. A Datsun 280ZX with what seemed like a headlight design straight from Mars. Before this time the automobile had been nothing more than a big pillowy yawnbox. Early 80s Cadillacs, a Buick diesel, my grandpas 1974 Chevy Impala enshrouded in a hopeless puke inducing green vinyl. They were all eventually replaced with two Toyota Celica GTs, a 1st generation Acura Legend, and a Lincoln Mark VII.
Although the cubist proportions and gas guzzling V8 luxury cars would become a thing of the past, the fun and reliability of these models would stay with me well into the 90s and beyond. So with that in mind, let me ask you folks a question.
What car awakened you to the world of cars?
An uncle had a white 1962 Caddy convertible with black leather bucket seats and a sensor that would automatically dim the brights. I still have dreams about that car.
A pink Studebaker I had when I was one and two years old. 🙂 It’s part of my first memory, and I’ve actually found a photo that has the car in it.
A 1973 Volvo 164E.
My grandparents bought it new just before I was born, and had it until I was about 8. Dad was a mechanic, and Mum’s family always owned and loved an eclectic and diverse range cars (eg Simca Vedette, Plymouth Belvedere, Hillman Imp, Alfa Romeo Guilietta etc etc). But although I grew up surrounded by a fascinating variety of four-wheeled wonders, it’s the 164E that still stands out.
I spent a lot of time in it while it was around – although as an 8-year old I probably didn’t really appreciate the factory sunroof or a/c, or the 4 speed+overdrive manual gearbox. All very desirable nowadays! But I did appreciate that the beautiful blue-green exterior colour and the orange-tan leather interior were quite different from my friends’ cars – not to mention my parents’ cream exterior and brown vinyl interior Mk III Cortina!
I have a lifelong passion for cars, and have experienced a wide variety now. But the one that I clearly remember as the first I really, really noticed is that beautiful Volvo.
The impetus for my car interest was my dad’s white, red interior and black soft (and hard) top 190SL purchased in 1958 at the local Studebaker-Packard (and what seemed to be just barely Mercedes) dealer. It was a stretch for him (a pilot who appreciated fine engineering); he made a conscious choice over the more plentiful and cheaper Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. The trade was a 1955 Plymouth Belvedere two door sedan.
The 190SL was certainly a good selection and it sparked my lifelong car obsession. But he only owned the 190SL for three years. The successor car was a 1961 Olds Dynamic 88 four door sedan. So he started my interest in cars but his subsequent ones (more 88s) did nothing to intensify it; I did that on my own. I have owned six Mercedes since – all coupes or roadsters.
Actually many of them. That wasn’t much in the early dictatorial 80’s in Chile:
– The always concurring Fiat 600 and Citroen 2CV, for being the slowest ones in every crossing or hill.
– The (for us) brand-new Peugeot 504, for its lights. With 4 years, I was able to recognize the 504’s lights in the dark.
– All air-cooled VWs, for their sound. Always made me happy when I was able to recognize them before seeing them.
– “New” japanese cars (especially Mazdas, Toyotas, Datsuns), for their futuristic digital clocks and radios. My parents had an ’81 Mazda 323, and my grandparents a ’79 626.
– Mercedes W123, for being simply unreachable. Never met someone having one of those in my early childhood, but I had one in scale, and was always looking for them on the streets.
But, probably, the most important one is one I can’t remember in detail anymore: an old Chevy Carryall ambulance (probably late 50s or early 60s), abandoned by the neighbouring hospital, where I spent, alone, my first “driving” hours, for a year or so. I was 3 years old, and I remember these moments as very intense, having the time to experiment, very carefully, with every knob, every button and every detail of that car. Somehow intimate…
I guess it would have to be my Mom’s Jetta. One of my oldest memories dates back to when my Dad was working on the outside of our first house, while I was playing with the radio, headlights, shifter and everything else that seemed cool. I even started it, which freaked my Dad out. I would have had to have been two or three at the time since we moved from there in 92. Not long after we moved, our new next door neighbors had two 70s Corvettes (his and hers) and the neighbors across the street had a white 70s MG. I really got infatuated old cars at that point, especially after I got a ride up and down the block in the Vette as a birthday present.
Lifelong obsession would be an understatement.
I wish I narrow it down to one car alone. I’m the youngest of four children, my parents and siblings all noted that even as a very young child I was enchanted with anything on wheels. My father always made it a fun outing to go somewhere in the car, even though he was not the most mechanically inclined person, he liked a nice set of wheels.
Even a trip to the neighborhood grocery store could be fun with him as back in the 1960’s I could sit un-belted, un-car seated, unmolested in the front of the car. I think when he was bored, he liked to just hop in the car and go for a ride. He enjoyed the freedom of that choice.
Inevitably we would end up scouting locations for our fishing expeditions or our small game hunting forays. If I was well behaved, we stopped at a news stand or a small candy store near our house and got a present of Wrigley’s Spearmint gum. If I was really good, I could even score a Matchbox car on the next trip to the department store!
I guess I could say I was born with an awakening. I have no idea how or why.
I was aware of cars and had a affinity for them from at least 3 but the but the debut of the 3rd gen F-Bodies and exposure to Porsches by a family friend when i was 9 or 10 is what really galvanized it for me. He was into 356 & 911’s but the 928 & 924/944 captured my imagination – the affair with the F-body quickly gave way to the Mustang when the GT returned with the Boss is Back campaign – it didn’t matter though, I has hooked.
My older brothers had primed me with a series of disco era Camaros & Firebirds but I think i must’ve been born with a predisposition to fascination for anything with wheels on it – I remember being entranced by trains and tractor-trailers from further back than I should be able to remember. I probably remember the automotive history of my family and friends better than other aspects… hmm… that doesn’t sound normal now that I’ve put it into words.
My great-uncle’s 1972 Lincoln Mark IV, snow white with a burgundy leather interior. That one car started a love affair with cushy American luxobarges that continues to this day.
The source(s)? My grandmother -and friends.
> She bought a her last car in 1955, which she had until her death in 1990: a Bel Air Sport Coupe (India Ivory over Turquoise) -we lived with her & the car was my daily toy.
> Her next door neighbors: a ’59 Pontiac Bonneville Safari (Cameo Ivory over Jademist Green Poly) -a 9 passenger, no less (requisite for a Catholic family of the 50s with 12 kids; best friends with their youngest daughter -we lived in the 3rd seat).
> My grandmother’s best friend: a ’55 Chrysler New Yorker (Jade Green)
> My grandmother’s other friend: a ’57 Ford Fairlane 500 Club Victoria (Raven Black)
…so my awakening must have just been in the stars, the cards, and certainly the cars.
Our neighbours early 1960s Ford Falcon- I was facinated by its big round dinner plate tail lights. No idea of the model or year, just that it was a blue sedan. They traded it on a purple XB series wagon when I was about five years old.
my dad’s 59 LeSabre two door post, with “Batman” fins (to a 5 year old), followed by his GM light blue 65 LeSabre two door hardtop. I was very impressed by having no post when the windows were rolled down, and one of my favorite cars to this day is the cleaner version of the same body, the 65 Impala, in that same blue. Styling has never been any better than mid to late 60s GM.
I liked cars from an early age. By about age four or five, I started paying attention to them and had formed some style preferences, although I knew nothing about the details, specs or mechanicals. (My favorites at the time were American sporty coupes and foreign cars such as Citroens and Porsches, all strictly based upon looks.)
My interest deepened when I got my first car in high school. It was a POS, which was frustrating but did force me to learn more about them, just for the sake of keeping it running and avoiding repair ripoffs. That negative experience ultimately made me more interested in them, which may suggest that this interest of mine is merely just an elaborate version of Stockholm syndrome…
I think for me, it was two cars my parents had, one was their main vehicle, a 1964 Dodge 330 station wagon with the 225 slant 6, and 3spd torqueflite automatic (with push buttons not less!) that they bought new in the summer of ’64 for the trip out to Washington State when my Dad was first stationed here. We moved way in 1967, and came back in 1969, and moved back into our old community 6 months later in early 1970.
I do recall a good long time family friend, Aunt Frances who had a ’68 Plymouth Fury, and it was green, though a light green, and I was 3 or so, however, I vaguely recall it then, though I do recall being picked up in it from per-school one day when the city was in the middle of a major rain storm.
After we moved back out here in 1969, I slowly became aware cognizant of the station wagon as I went from 4 to 5 years old, and knew it had a name, and imagined, or was told, but later imagined it had a small person living behind the grill. The name my parents gave the car was Bessy. We kept it until 1977 when we finally sold it with over 140K miles, and barely running.
The other car I came aware of at a very young age was the 1968 MGB-GT that my Dad had briefly for 2 years at best. Blue with black vinyl interior. He loved that car and my dog, a smooth haired red Dachshund, named Sasha and I would love to go for rides in the back of it as Dad drove.
From there, I remember the 70, or 71 Plymouth Fury III 4 door we had, and briefly, a white with blue 1966 Belvedere he had briefly until a piston collapsed and the Fury was a trade for it. The ’66 was a Government GSA fleet vehicle he had bought to replace the MGB-GT.
I’ve been a lover and appreciator of cars since, and now drive a 10 YO Mazda Protege5, which I love.
BTW, loved that generation of the Celica/Supra, especially the Supra, in that red/brown with black hatchback combo. I think it was only available from 1983-84 if memory serves, and would restore one in that color combo if not original to it.
My friends and I felt same about this car. I doubt it sold well in Japan but I may be wrong. Seemed like very American styling.
They did a great job with the black-out trim. Loved it with the burnt orange color. The always-black spoiler on the hatch was great but I never liked the “fairing” for the rear side marker lamp. It was always a deal breaker for me hard to explain.
The Mk 2 Supra was one of the first Japanese cars to go twin cam. That and the long bonnet gave it an XKE vibe.
Looking back, I think I loved cars (car styling really) from when I was practically still in diapers. I remember comparing ribbed lines in my tricycle to the horizontal pattern on early ’70s Pontiac Grand Ville taillights. By the time I was in elementary school, I had a strong preference for GM cars, as I drew pictures of Cadillacs and 98s with their vertical taillights, and lusted after neighbors’ cars like a ’68 Electra, ’68 Caprice, and ’70 Electra Limited. Not to mention the wonderland of Colonnade Monte Carlos, Grand Prixes and Cutlasses every time we went to the mall or in the church parking lot. We had a ’70 Chrysler 300 (yuck! to my tastes at the time) but I still read the owners manual cover to cover, all the time wishing my parents had bought a Buick. So, yeah, they had me at “Body by Fisher” from a young age….
Oh, and my Japanese obsession started later, and was the complete flip side, but that’s another story. Love the Supra, even though it’s a guilty pleasure because I’m as Honda as I am GM in my loyalties.
A neighbours Ford Capri,not the” Mustang” from Dagenham but the earlier bubble top.It looked so cool compared to the other cars in our street.As for the Supra my tongue is hanging out,when these came out I didn’t need hair dye and I could walk and breathe while wearing stretch jeans.I’ll have one now with a Twisted Sister cassette please
My parents didn’t have anything interesting, a Volvo 240 and Nissan Stanza so nothing there. What started it was a “hawaiian blue” ’75 Chevy C-30 dump truck my grandparents had as a yard truck. I was just 8 and never really paid attention to cars before that. The whole experience of sitting in it, the musty smell, the textures, simplicity of everything, it just really interested me.
I then started reading Super Chevy and building model kits. I loved all the musclecar model kits due to their simplicity to build and styling while it taught me the names of all the parts. First car was a ’70 El Camino and the rest was history.
The 1967 DAF truck my dad drove. The first real memory of being and driving around in a vehicle, I must have been about 4 years old.
That firm yet soothing sound of the old Leyland-DAF diesel, certainly when idling.
I’m a diesel fan since, never been interested in high revving sportscars, regardless the brand.
As a child I had huge posters of a Mack, Peterbilt, Kenworth and Western Star on my bedroom walls.
I’ve been informed car was my first word, my Dad was company secretary of a GM outfit so I blame him,
1953 Corvette.
My earliest memory as a child – I’m three years old and dad brings it home from the dealership for lunch one day. He’d just got it in, and wanted to show it off to mom and me before trading it off to Grabiak Chevrolet in New Alexandria for a couple of Bel Air hardtops. Felt it was the stupidist, most un-sellable car Chevrolet had ever made.
Found the same car seventeen years later. In a garage six blocks from the family home. Rotting. And absolutely Not For Sale, even though dad and I tried for three years to buy it from the woman (widowed) who ‘owned’ it. It was her son’s who was killed in a ’58 he’d bought from dad (by that point, dad considered them barely saleable and didn’t automatically trade them off). So it was the classic, “It’s my son’s car and it’s staying here where it belongs.”
About a year after our last try, the woman died. I got down there as quickly as possible, and the car was already gone. Obviously, there was another heir in the family, who understood what was sitting in there.
Unlike most dreams, I’ve yet to own a Corvette. Motorcycles got in the way, and once I started looking again (last ten years), everything I’ve found within budget in good enough condition had an automatic. I’m convinced that REAL Corvette owners buy their cars with manuals and keep them forever. The “need a new toy” crowd goes with the automatic and sells within a few years.
So, of course, once I picked up my Solstice in June, two C4’s with manual and affordable have come around. As well as one Boxster. Figures.
1960 Corvette in the Route 66 TV series. Can anyone explain why the C1 designation stretches from 1953 to 1962? Did the ’53 chassis really get recycled for nine years?
Yes C1 was 53-62 (solid rear axle vettes)
C2 was 63 to 67, C3 was 68-82 (although the chassis of the c2 and c3 are very similar) and c4 was 84-96
lots of years to interchange parts with
The first car I can remember was my parents’ 61 Olds F-85 wagon. It seemed boring and normal, yet I was fascinated by it. Then I remember two other cars that served as dessert to the F-85’s meat and potatoes – the 63 Bel Air wagon that was Dad’s company car, and the pink and white 55 DeSoto that belonged to my Grandma. I spent hours and hours in those two cars, learning their every nook, cranny, crease and curve.
By the time I was in kindergarden, I was hooked. I still remember every car in the carpool: Mrs. Colchin’s white 60 Lark VIII 2 door, Mrs. Young’s metallic lavender 58 Ford sedan, Mrs. Mejer’s copper 60 Chevy wagon and, of course, my Mom’s 64 Cutlass hardtop.
My car obsession was helped along by my grandfather(mothers father) who taught me how to read very early in my life by way of old road & track magazines and repair manuals. Though I dont remember much of anything before I was six I hqve been told that he used to set me on his knee as he drove, when I was a year old. His 71 econoline is one of few vivid memories as I do remember steering up his driveway when I was around three or so. I also remember my other grandfathers 77 Pontiac Gran Prix from around the same time (82-83) I loved the way that thing looked with its clean and pampered white paint and maroon half viynal top It was gramppas baby. I still remember when my grandmother crawled into the backseat to let her elderly mother have the front seat. As she stepped into the rear her heal (highish heels) went through the floor. The word that my grandfather had for GM that evening couldnt be repeated here. It was replaced with a dark green gran torino ( I have mentioned it previously, the one with side by side headlights) that lasted two years when the transmission went on the highway(IIRC). He had some really strong words for that car when he gave it to my step father. He got a brand new Celebrity eurosport wagon after that took us kids on all sorts of camping adventures.
My life seems to be ruled by car memories. My early childhood wasnt a great one and I seemed to have blocked most of everything out but the car stuff.
It’s hard to place because I’ve been into cars since my earliest memories. When I was 3, my mom bought me my first 1/18 scale car model, a blue Volkswagen Beetle, purchased at KB Toys. Soon after, I got a smaller plastic blue Chevy Blazer, that would light up and move if you pressed the buttons.
As for real-life cars, that’s an even harder question. A number of vehicles broadened my knowledge and expanded my interest. The first car I was truly enamored with was the Dodge Viper.
A combination of Knight Rider, milk crates full of matchbox cars, and my grandfather, who used to take me to dealerships to keep me satiated. We would visit them and gather all the brochures. I especially loved the ones with the fold-out full interior pictures. I used to pretend I was driving and my grandmother would sit me down on the couch with a plate and a sock darner stuck between the cushions as my shifter. Then one summer trip to my cousin’s in Delaware landed me a ride in my uncle’s light blue Nissan 300 ZX with a 5-speed. That was it for me!
Oh wow, I cannot remember any single vehicle from which it all began. But for as long as I can remember, I focused on toy cars over any other toy, the cars on TV, in the ad pages of magazines, on the streets in my neighborhood and when out in my parents’ car. If I had to pick one, I think it might have been a toy 1966 Olds Toronado.
As for that Supra, I freakin’ loved that model. I had a 1982 Celica, which was the basic version of that, but I thought that the Supra was just amazing, The looks, the interior, the straight six engine. Still looks fantastic today. Unbelievable that Toyota offered such a great and diverse lineup at one time.
Everything my dad had in the yard, even though they were just tools to him, they were family to me. Most of these were owned simultaneously. This was my childhood. When they told me to go outside and play, I was usually wearing down the battery in one of these.
1964 Chrysler New Yorker
1966 Cadillac Fleetwood
1946 Willys CJ2A (which is mine now)
1973 Toyota Celica ST
1965 Ford Fairlane sedan
and briefly, a 1929 (?) Ford Model A (the Willys still has the Model A horn in it)
E63 M6. A friend in Chicago was borrowing it from her uncle and gave me my first introduction to being tossed around a corner, and I haven’t looked back since.
I’m not sure which car exactly awakened my love of cars, there were three of them, all around the same time.
The first – and most likely – candidate was my uncle’s 1966 Chevelle SS396. It was Madeira Maroon with a black interior and had a four speed. I remember riding in it and my uncle dropping it into 3rd and opening the secondaries to pass another car. The carb would moan, the exhaust would roar, and I would get shoved into my seat, giggling all the while.
The second one was my oldest brother’s 1968 Camaro, in Butternut Yellow with a black vinyl roof and a pale green interior. It was nothing special, just a 327 with a Powerglide, but he raised the rear end, put fat tires with Cragar S/S mags on it, and put a black bumblebee stripe on the nose. My dad picked me up early from school in it one day and I was the most popular kid in my class for 2 weeks after that.
The third was an Adobe Beige over Sierra Gold 1956 Chevy 210 Townsman wagon. It was my favorite toy. I would get behind the wheel and pretend to drive all across the country. I still remember the sound of that unmuffled 265 V8 when my dad started it.
With all those Chevys in my past, it’s kind of surprising that I drive a Mustang now.
This is a representation of the subjects I enjoy rading most on CC. A subject which evokes an early childhood memory which leads to later discoveries and enjoyments. You want to reach back in time to thank the person or persons who were responsible for giving such great memories to you.
The 1976 Cadillac Seville: (wallpaper)
I have always been into cars and still am. One of my earliest turn-ons was the late fifties black Lincoln sedan that belonged to neighbors across the street. My dad used to tell me that the Cristiano’s always bought slightly used American luxoboats! At one time a 60 Mercury Villager wagon was in there driveway, also black with the wood decals and fender skirts!
I know buy Franklin and Danbury Mint cars in 1/24 scale and SunStar in 1/18. I live in a Senior community and am always on the lookout for someone moving out and wanting to sell their ride. I am currently driving a 95 Olds 98 Regency Elite. It’s a great car with a true 70’s luxury car ride and has only 65k miles with all buttons working!
I remember that day in 1970 well…first week of kindergarten..school bells rings and everyone runs to the curb looking for their parents cars…I nervously run with the pack looking for my mother’s white 1966 Oldsmobile Cutluss among the other Detroit iron parked at the curb-and…then out of the corner of my eye I see a sleek silver 1970 Pontiac Grand Prix with Rallye III wheels purr up the driveway…and stop…the passenger side window “magically” rolls down and behind the wheel is my mother…I run to the car..Mom has to open the door…I climb into the tallest black bucket seat I ever saw and deeply inhale that glorious new car smell…I admire the wrap around dash, full console, power windows..in full glory..Mom mentions the new radio with four speakers so she can enjoy the Stones as she cruises to the market…but wait Mom has saved the best for last…honey put up your window so I can put on the A/C…I started thinking this must be a dream-I snapped out of it when Mom easily shifted into drive, hit the gas…and we rode home singing Sugar, Sugar from the Archies……Mom just passed away last year, on Mother’s Day…to this day everytime I see a 69-72 GP I smile…and thank her for introducing me to the wonderful world of cars..
I nominate this for best comment of the day! Thank you for bringing us along on your first experience with the new GP. That must have been quite a day.
+1. Awesome to read about you seeing that beautiful GP pulling up to school–and then realizing it was your mom’s!
Glad you enjoyed the ride…Mom left me the last two cars she owned..an 80 Olds Cutluss Supreme Brougham with 38k on the clock which I actually learned to drive on…and her beloved 86 Z28–which she drove with pride to the Senior Center..every Saturday to play poker with the boys..
Posts like this are the reason I like this site so much.
According to my mother, my first word was “car,” and I have long been into all different types. So it’s hard to pinpoint just one that gave me my car awakening. However, seeing this Supra certainly brings back memories. I lusted after this car big time when they came out. I wanted one in all black. Thought they were so cool.
The first car, aside from my parents’ (’68 Impala SS) that I remember noticing was a Citroen SM, when I was perhaps 4 or 5 years old (so near the end of its time on the US market). We walked by it in a parking lot, and I thought it looked like a spaceship. I asked my dad what it was, and he answered, “a Citroen”. I’ve wanted one ever since, though finances and common sense have kept me from fulfilling that wish to this point. Maybe if I win the lottery…
It’s a little hard to say what made me a car guy. My parents weren’t car people.
Well, actually they weren’t **American** car people. When I was 4 or 5 they bought a new ’67 Saab wagon with the 3 cyl 2 stroke. Mom was of Swedish descent, and Dad (whose folks were Scots) liked the 30 mpg at a time when other cars got 12. And I think he just liked being different. Needless to say, I learned a fair amount about cars by asking him why our car smoked so much , and by listening to him gripe about the god-awful electrics in it – it would hardly run in the rain. (Do any 5 year olds now know the difference between 2 and 4-strokes? Or about points, condenser, distributor? Or even the current equivalent – series vs. paralell hybrid? Diesel vs. gasoline?)
But even with the parent’s European predilection, I was also the prototypical little boy of the mid-60s early Hot Wheels era – I could name the exact year and model of any post-1960 car that went by. I especially liked Fords for some reason. One that really sticks in my mind was the first time I saw the new generation Ford pickup – a red one, on vacation in Maine. I still want one. The Monogram Tom Daniel series of hot rod models also had a big effect – I learned what a “slant six” was from the “Horn Toad”. (http://www.tomdaniel.com/85_kits/frm_85kits.html) And finally, at age 6 or so I was given a Matchbox (one of the first “Superfast” models made to compete with Hot Wheels) of a Lotus Europa. I was, and still am, in love. I still have it, and it has led to my current interest in Formulat 1, starting when Senna was with Lotus. (Go Kimi!)
I can’t pinpoint an exact car that sparked my love, but it’s been going since before I can remember. Like others have said above, I was probably born with it. My grandfather and uncle both worked for GM and swapped cars monthly, so there was always a revolving door of new stuff from the General to ogle. One vivid memory is riding around with my uncle in an early IROC convertible, with him dropping the clutch and doing burnouts at every light. When we moved into a new house when I was 6 I spent a lot of time peering over the edge of the doorsill to see into the interior of our next door neighbor’s yellow C3 vette. I thought that leather interior was amazing compared to the vinyl of my parents’ Cavalier and Aspen.
The other day my mom told me she was at the salon and ran into the mother of a guy I went to grade school with. I told her I didn’t remember a whole lot about him but I remembered his mom’s blue 5-door first-gen Integra. My sister, a doctor, says she’s pretty sure I fall somewhere on the Autism spectrum.
I am another one who can’t blame his carnutness on a specific car. I think it was in junior high school that I started drawing pictures of cars, and buying Rod & Custom and Motor Trend and Road & Track magazines.
I grew up watching my Dad spend numerous hours under the hoods of our always well-used cars keeping them running. Dad had worked for a garage prior to joining the Navy, where he kept a pair of Fairbanks-Morse diesels running in top order on the SSR 312 Burrfish.
The first movie he took me to see was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and there was a constant flow of toy cars (followed by plastic model kits as I got older) for birthdays, Christmas, etc.
A couple memories I have from the neighborhood we lived in when I was about 7-10 years old are of the ancient VW Beetle our regular babysitter drove, and the mid-50s Chevrolet a neighborhood kid’s Dad had up on blocks in the back yard, in which we were occasionally allowed to play.
My earliest car memories, inside the 63 Bonnieville Convertible in July 63, i was 1 month shy of 4, and I was Bargaining with Mom that; “HER NEXT CAR WOULD BE A CONVERTIBLE” She promised and bough
t the Grand Prix.
Then I started seeing Mustang convertibles as all my older siblings had wealthy friends whose parents quickly snapped up one. All Colors, Convertibles are what caught my eye.
Those pink Studes will really do it to ya… Ha ha! Actually I think the first car I remember was an old (then) turquoise 53 Ford that my Dad referred to as the ‘Iron Horse’. I vaguely recall that it often broke down…
My earliest car memory is of my Dad’s Rover with suicide rear doors.Both my pairs of grandparents lived near a large USAF base and my brother and I (little sister wasn’t a car fan til she learned to drive) were fascinated by the glamourous American cars we saw,in reality they were plain vanilla Ford,Chevy and Plymouth sedans and wagons for the most part.My parents liked them as we were all tall,they had Zephyrs,and Victors then one day Dad came home in a dark blue early Falcon,I felt like a Princess when he dropped me off at school.
As a kid in the mid 1970’s, I remember walking with friends to one of their houses and laying eyes on a Lotus Europa Twin Cam. I walked around that car dozens of times taking in the design and leaving many a nose print on the windows.
I still lust after anything Lotus but my parents cursed me with a 6’4″ body that I don’t think can squeeze into one.
What you need is a Vauxhall Lotus Carlton,it was an insanely fast Vauxhall Carlton with aLlotus designed 6 cylinder engine.Good luck finding one,they’re rare and expensive, a lot of speculators bought them and stashed them away. I’m around 6’4ish with my hair up so you should be OK in one
A 1963 Buick Riviera. My parents test drove it, but didn’t buy it. My brother and I both lusted after one and a 1964 model was my first, and his second car. We bought it together in 1972 before I had my license. The orginal test drive was in 1966.
Driving the go carts at Disneyland around 1976. I was 8 years old. I have a picture of that glorious day in my office, 38 years later.