Of what car do you have the fondest memories?

rob#1 · Mar 23, 2020

Norfolk

First car love. And still in the family after 40 years. 1974 MG Midget....and I’m 6ft 7 ins!!!
I’ve owned more than 100 cars since that glorious sunny day in June 1980 when I bought her but this is the one that’s stayed. That exultation of top down driving to uni, freedom and independence can’t be ever surpassed.

Beautiful Midget 👍 - my first car was a British Racing Green example from 1970 (flattened rear wheel arches) with wire wheels. How I loved that car, even though it became a bit of a money pit 😬. My battery kept going flat so my girlfriend’s father gave me a birthday present of a new voltage regulator (as he ran an auto parts business). It still kept going flat so I bought a new battery, then a new dynamo, then spent more dosh exploring other things that could be faulty. Eventually I swallowed my pride and took it to an auto electrician who told me that the new voltage regulator was buggered - I didn’t have the heart to tell her father...

It was a sad day when I let that go (although next up was an Alfa Romeo Alfasud 1.5Ti that was great fun to drive) - I’ll try and dig out a photo.

rob#1 · Mar 23, 2020

Found it - a lot fewer pixels in those days 😉. Surprise, surprise, the bonnet’s up - and a very suss outfit as well, lucky I wasn’t wearing my leg warmers that day (ah, the 80s). I used to love driving this car around, even in the coldest winters. You had to change the ‘heater’ to it’s winter setting via a lever under the bonnet, then you could enjoy driving as close to the road as possible in what was basically a warm coffin 😲

(and yes, it was an Austin Healey Sprite Mk IV grille, soon swapped for the proper one)

verithingeoff · Mar 23, 2020

As were having a Healey/MG Midget fest:
Here's my 1966 Healey Sprite

MaiLollo · Mar 23, 2020

dougwhiz
While I've never owned one, the early 70s Jaguar XKE was always the epitome of what a sexy, sports car should look like, and still is to me.
I grew up in Detroit, and so 98% of the cars we used to see in the late 60s and early 70s were built in Detroit. But walking to grade school, we'd always pass a house that had a dark green XKE ragtop, with spoke wheels. It was such a departure from the Chevy Nova my Dad was driving.
I was in love with the interior as well, it was like an airplane cockpit with all the toggle switches and guages.

As Enzo Ferrari said, "This is the most beautiful car I've ever seen"...

JimInOz · Mar 23, 2020

verithingeoff
As were having a Healey/MG Midget fest:
Here's my 1966 Healey Sprite

Hey, I had one of them when I was in Malaysia in the mid 1980s. It was originally white but I had it painted in GSE yellow 😉.

It was great for buzzing around Penang Island on nice days, not so great in the monnie season.

Sold it and got a Triumph 2000 saloon, I thought it was light years ahead of the Opels and Rovers my mates were driving.

gbesq · Mar 23, 2020

Saab 9000 turbo. Best cockpit and seats of any car that I’ve ever owned, all inspired by Saab’s fighter jet technology in the Viggen.

loniscup · Mar 23, 2020

MTROIS
I never had the chance to own one of these... but the first time I saw one of these as a teenager when one of my dad's friends stopped by our house and parked it in our driveway... it was love at first sight. 🥰

Have been enamored with BMW cars ever since, have owned several generations of M cars.... but not an e30 YET. Someday, maybe. 🍿

I had a grey 1987 M3 with Cecotto engine. I sold it in 2010 and regret it dearly to this day 🙁 What a car!!

ZIELSZIEK · Mar 23, 2020

gbesq
Saab 9000 turbo. Best cockpit and seats of any car that I’ve ever owned, all inspired by Saab’s fighter jet technology in the Viggen.

I had the pleasure of driving a Saab. I loved that novelty feature where you can turn off illumination to all gauges except the speedo. It really does remind you of an airplane with its design language and overall feel.
Edit: Forgot about the ignition barrel placement, that I loved the most.

Spruce · Mar 23, 2020

My classic Cinquacento in late seventies London - and beagle 😀

bristnj · Mar 23, 2020

My 1963 Chevy Nova SS - original 194 in-line 6 (whopping 120 hp). Verts made only in '62 and '63 and SS intro in '63 was just a trim package (vs. performance that it turned into). Included 14" wheels & hubs, auto on the floor, bucket seats and SS trim interior and exterior.

dan7800 · Mar 23, 2020

My first car in 04 was a 91 Chevy Blazer. I had it about 9 months and I got an 01 Blazer (2 door stick shift 4x4) that I had for about 10 years. Car was a piece of junk reliability-wise, but I loved driving it. I literally put more money into repairs in the 10 years that I had it ($9K) than I paid for it ($8,800) 80% of my dreams involve one of those cars for some reasons. I am not sure why, they were both piles of junk.

tomkenmag · Mar 23, 2020

A basic 1995 Volkswagen Golf dark green that my parents had! Simple economic family car, ahh so many memories from simpler times.

vbrad26 · Mar 23, 2020

Oh jeez.
I don't know, all of them? lol
All of my cars have been so different from one another, and I like each of them for what they were...

Lostpuppy116 · Mar 23, 2020

Spruce
My classic Cinquacento in late seventies London - and beagle 😀

I can only imagine the scuffle around calling "shotgun" to sit in the front as opposed to being stuffed into the back. Lol. It could have been epic!

Mad Dog · Mar 23, 2020

bristnj
My 1963 Chevy Nova SS - original 194 in-line 6 (whopping 120 hp). Verts made only in '62 and '63 and SS intro in '63 was just a trim package (vs. performance that it turned into). Included 14" wheels & hubs, auto on the floor, bucket seats and SS trim interior and exterior.

So...this one time...at band camp...😁

Spruce · Mar 23, 2020

Lostpuppy116
I can only imagine the scuffle around calling "shotgun" to sit in the front as opposed to being stuffed into the back. Lol. It could have been epic!

At 6’2” I had no trouble. Once got it up to 80mph on the M1 motorway (with a tailwind)!

gbesq · Mar 23, 2020

ZIELSZIEK
I had the pleasure of driving a Saab. I loved that novelty feature where you can turn off illumination to all gauges except the speedo. It really does remind you of an airplane with its design language and overall feel.
Edit: Forgot about the ignition barrel placement, that I loved the most.

I sold mine at 288,000 miles and it was still running fine. GM acquiring a stake in the automotive division of Saab-Scania was the beginning of the end. They still make trucks, buses, commercial aircraft and some seriously bad ass fighter jets.

Muddlerminnow · Mar 23, 2020

gbesq
Saab 9000 turbo.

Oh, man, do I miss my 9000CSE--best fishing car I ever had: it got me from Chicago to the Bitterroot in Montana in a blink. When the turbo kicked in at 70mph or so, it was just sooooo smmmmooooth, especially when you could open it up in Montana. An expanding family led to the acquisition of an XC90, which is more like a boat than a car, lol.

CSE in Montana, with my co-pilot, Kunya:

pascs · Mar 23, 2020

Alfa Romeos which I remember

'79 1.5 Sprint Veloce - the one which set me on the path of Alfa Romeo 😁

'89 1.7 Sprint at Knockhill track

My last Alfa....2002 156 V6

Mad Dog · Mar 23, 2020

So...I’m waiting with ridiculous amounts of humongous anticipation for my friend the obnoxious Camaro dude, @pseikotick, to sabotage my talk bubbles...so I’m going to make it really, really easy for him since he has text centering problems regarding talk bubbles, documentation bubbles, informational bubbles, blah, blah, blah. 😁