Home › Forums › Open Discussion › Cars that you wanted as a kid – do you still want one as an adult?
- This topic is empty.
-
AuthorPosts
-
September 23, 2014 at 4:25 am #813996
KevinParticipantMy first car was a 1964 Tuxedo Park CJ5 Willys Jeep with a 4 speed transmission, two speed transfer case, and powered by a somewhat underpowered 4 cylinder engine. At the time (46 years ago), it really was my “dream” car, and even now at age 60+… I would LOVE to have another!
.
What I REALLY wanted was a large diesel truck so I could go tour the country, instead of going to college and becoming an architect like I should have.
.
So this truck and I spent the next six years madly in love while traveling just about every highway and byway in the continental United States. About a half million mile adventure all told. Wonderful memories and not enough pictures.
.
One year I even went out and bought her several pairs of really nice panty hose as a gift for being such a faithful companion. We had a lot of fun exploring the country back then.
.
Even though it was 35 years ago, this truck even had an on board telephone, years before anyone even knew what a cell phone was. You would pick up the telephone handset, wait for the operator to come online, identify yourself and then she/he would place the call for you. About $1 dollar a minute as I recall. I used to love to call mom and dad on weekends and let them guess what state I’m in this week.
.
Post trucking years led to the parade of Cadillac’s;
.
A ’59 with the big fins and bullet tail lights.
.
A ’65 Fleetwood with power wing windows and the biggest fully illuminated smoking station that must have been about 10-12 inches wide. Some Fleetwoods in that vintage even featured fold down tray tables just like on an airplane.
.
A ’77 4 door Seville – worst Caddy I ever owned in my opinion.
.
A ’78 Fleetwood with the famous 472 ci engine. It could EASILY reach 70MPH and still be accelerating on the big hill coming out of Redmond on westbound 520. 500 HP as I recall.
.
An ’82 Sedan Deville with the NOT so famous 8-6-4 computer controlled engine. A little digital readout told the driver how many cylinders were operating at a given time.
.
And lastly – an ’87 Sedan Deville with a small block 305, or 307. Nice car once it finally got up to freeway speed (IF it ever did.) Forget about passing another car… except maybe when going down hill.
.
My wife and I even had matching chauffeur hats for use when picking up out of town friends at Sea Tac, and even kept a jar of Grey Poupon and a silver tray in the glove box for those “difficult” cases that thought they were going to trip us up. Most “victims” simply accepted their fate and slinked down in their seats so as not to be seen :)
.
And let’s not forget the bumper mounted 12″ x 18″ US flags that gave these same guests the “embassy car” experience as they were whisked away from the airport concourse.
.
Years later I think I have finally found something that I will be happy driving to my grave… a 1992 Lexus LS 400 with a small V8, and 165K on the odometer. The dealer assures me that this car should be able to make it to 250+K if I keep her lubed and change the oil on a regular basis. My goal is to own a 2007 or later before checkout time.
.
.
Ohh yes… and the panty hose… I just knew that someone out there would ask about the panty hose.
.
The year was 1980 and Mt. St. Helens had just erupted and the word on the street was that if you were driving a semi truck into Washington, you would be well advised to stop and purchase several pairs to stretch over the air intake to protect the engine from the abrasive effects of the volcanic ash. So I heeded the advice of my fellow drivers and stopped at a large Fred Meyer in Vancouver to purchase my first pair of panty hose.
.
My wife tells me that the popular brand back then was L’eggs, and I spun that rack around and around and around until I found what I thought would be best for my girl.
.
After tiring of spinning the rack, I finally made my selection and sheepishly made my way to the 50+ year old cashier who was easily twice my age, and managed to stammer that “please understand… these are na na na NOT for me” and the nice lady said “that’s OK young man, I have NEVER seen SO many men coming in to buy panty hose” :)
.
PS – I’ve never spun the rack since :)
.
“10-4 – catch you on the flip flop good buddy”
.
September 23, 2014 at 6:28 am #813997
4th of EightParticipantSeptember 23, 2014 at 2:43 pm #813998
miwsParticipantJayDee’s Post #24 triggered this memory:
It was around 1980, and a friend, in her 50’s at the time, ran an Antique Shop out of her House on California Av, just down from where Chopstix Restaurant is now.
She and I had worked together at a fancy Downtown Restaurant, where she was still employed at the time.
This one young couple, maybe a few years older than me, were regular customers there.
They came by Wanda’s Shop one day while I was there, and bought an antique desk, or something.
They had a ’66-ish Jag XJ6 which, of course, could not transport the desk, short of tying it to top. (Nuh UUUUHHHH!)
So, Wanda let them borrow her little Datsun P/U to take the desk Home, which as I recall was in the Burien area, maybe Des Moines.
We decided we wanted to go to the Luck Toy (Talarico’s) for drinks after they got back, so the plan was if Wanda, who had some tasks to do, and I got ready to head out before they got back in the area we, (meaning me since Wanda didn’t want to be responsible for driving the Jag), would drive it to the Toy, and just meet them up there.
Well, since we knew it would take them awhile to get the desk Home, unload it, and get back to West Seattle, but not too long, since they were relatively close I was real antsy to get the hell outta there before they got back. Especially as it was getting more and more close to the time they could realistically be back.
So, after unmercifully nagging the ever-lovin’ hell out of poor Wanda, we finally got going, and I got to drive the Jag. Even if it was only a 1/2 mile or so straight up California, and only turning a few times to park in the Lot behind the Luck Toy.
Note that this was a few years before I’d start working in the Parking Biz, so at the time, seemed like a once in a lifetime chance to drive a Jag.
Mike
September 23, 2014 at 2:47 pm #813999
miwsParticipantSeptember 23, 2014 at 3:11 pm #814000
JoBParticipantSeptember 23, 2014 at 4:06 pm #814001
JoBParticipanti realized i forgot to say what car..
1963 Astin Martin hardtop…
and yes, i know the suspension was incredible..
for a sports car
but that still doesn’t mean i could get in and out of it now… or tolerate the suspension
like the Rx-7 or the 240z i once drove.. loved the cars but it wouldn’t be so user friendly to this old body
and to be honest i am not sure my reflexes could handle the speed any more either :(
ah.. the dreams of youth
and yes.. i am THAT old :)
September 23, 2014 at 5:58 pm #814002
wakefloodParticipantRe: too old for sportscars. I was driving down Fauntleroy Ave. the other day and got stopped at a light and I looked down from my not-very-high perch in a late model sedan, onto a gentleman who appeared to be in at least his late 60’s – if not some past that – and he was stuffed into a C5 Corvette convertible. And I do mean stuffed.
He had some girth and he clearly wasn’t short. It looked something like an ostrich driving a go cart.
All I could think of was, how long did it take to squeeze himself down into that car and did it require advil, whiskey, yoga AND a helper?
Clearly, the dream dies hard. :-)
September 23, 2014 at 9:02 pm #814003
seaopgalParticipantI wanted a Miata, but only the years with the little knobs on the back. When they killed the knobs, they killed the dream. Of course, I might also have the “stuffing” problem wakeflood so vividly describes above. :)
September 23, 2014 at 9:03 pm #814004
skeeterParticipantMy dad recently purchased a 2011 C6 Corvette. He was 72 at the time. The poor guy can barely get in the car without doing this strange “drop and slide” maneuver. He can’t give up the dream and is now looking at the C7.
September 23, 2014 at 9:06 pm #814005
skeeterParticipantThread-jacking my own thread (just a bit.) Have you guys and gals seen the 2015 Challenger Hellcat? (Just go to youtube or something.) 707 horsepower right off the dealer floor? These horsepower wars are getting out of control.
JoB you probably have little interest in a muscle car but I suspect you’d find the Dodge to be easy enough on your back. Unless you floor the throttle, that is!!!!
September 23, 2014 at 9:08 pm #814006
skeeterParticipantWakeflood tell me more about this late model sedan of yours. I’m picturing you in a Mercedes C63 AMG.
September 23, 2014 at 9:43 pm #814007
wsn00bParticipantSo it’s mid-afternoon and I’m feeling cranky. Here is the problem with all our dream car plans. Most of our dream cars will have stiff/sporty suspensions that are going to rattle our innards when we take them on crappy Seattle/West Seattle roads.
@skeeter: HP wars are getting a little useless. Mostly unusable on public roads. Not all the high horsepower cars are robust enough for track use where you could use all that HP.
Maybe a good spread is to have an elegant but not highly juiced up daily driver sports car and a highly technical/high HP track car as part of the dream list.
I have the luck and privilege of owning a high horsepower, high revving late model car (no, not a C63 AMG ) that is pretty frustrating to use around town because of the bad roads and general respect for public safety and laws. I periodically consider trading it in but I love it too much.
September 23, 2014 at 10:02 pm #814008
annaeileenParticipantSkeeter, very cool your dad got his car! My dad always wanted a Porsche but settled for an MGB, then 2 Fiat X/19’s then a Miata -talk about bad suspensions! He loved that his Fiats were unique and he always got a lot of comments and the Miata was way more reliable, can’t remember if it had bumps on the back or not but he loved it. He died this year and I was sad he didn’t ever get his dream car so for all of the people that finally bought their dream car – whether they can fit in them, get in and out or not – cheers to you!
September 23, 2014 at 10:15 pm #814009
wakefloodParticipantSkeets, well, you’d be pretty close if I was more frivolous than my older, way more practical self allows.
My standard driver is a late model Nissan Altima with an aftermarket performance chip upgrade. Avgs. around 28 mpg combined and still has some nice power if you put your foot into it.
It’s certainly not an adrenaline machine but I’ve made worse concessions to my pragmatism. ;-)
September 23, 2014 at 10:21 pm #814010
skeeterParticipantNoob, you are correct of course. If one never leaves Seattle a Toyota Yaris is every bit as fun and capable as an Aston Martin. I just drove the priest grade road outside of Yosemite twice last week and was reminded of how insanely fun it is to drive a curvy mountain road in excellent condition with no traffic. What a hoot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVliLoOFqG0
(The video is not me – I wasn’t even on a bike. But still super fun in a decent handling car.)
Thank you for driving safely in West Seattle. I enjoy a spirited drive, but West Seattle is way too dense and populated.
The cars I am currently sort of interested in are the Mercedes Benz C300 (redesigned for 2015 looks awesome) and the Chevrolet Sonic RS and the VW GTI. I know they are pretty different cars but those are the ones that I’ve taken a liking to. The MB is pretty expensive (for me) so I’d only consider it if there was some amazing lease promotion.
September 23, 2014 at 10:24 pm #814011
wakefloodParticipantOn a not-very-closely-related topic: Convertibles.
After decades of observation around this here city, I’ve noticed some disturbing behavior. Therefore…
I hereby propose that anyone who lives on the westside of this state and owns a convertible, MUST have the top down at any point when the temp reaches 75 degrees or higher.
Should one be observed with the top up under said conditions, the hereafter referred to as “Convertible Police” are obligated to confiscate said vehicle and distribute it to the first available person with interest.
In all scenarios described above, “Convertible Police” refers to ANY civilian who observes the offending behavior.
Do I hear a second??
September 23, 2014 at 10:39 pm #814012
skeeterParticipantMy previous car was a 2007 Mazda MX-5 Miata. I assure you the top was down every day the temperature was between 50 and 90. I sold the car just before my daughter was born. I love being a dad but sure do miss owning a sports car.
September 23, 2014 at 10:46 pm #814013
skeeterParticipantThe Altima is a nice car Wake. I rented one and put a decent amount of mileage on it. Very nice ride with competent handling.
Anna thanks for sharing your story about your dad. For what it’s worth, I think a Miata is just as fun as a Porsche. So I suspect he had some good times behind the wheel.
September 23, 2014 at 10:53 pm #814014
wakefloodParticipantNice, Skeets! I’m sure that you made some great memories in that sweet vehicle. There really isn’t anything exactly like cruising the twisty bits in a good handling convertible.
The good news is that a version of that will be around someday when it suits your lifestyle again. Let’s just hope we’ll be able to turn off the “self-driving” feature! ;-)
September 23, 2014 at 11:04 pm #814015
annaeileenParticipantI loved the look and hearing the 2015 Challenger Hellcat peel out! European luxury cars are so elegant and powerful and I would never turn down a ride in one but American muscle is bad ass.
September 24, 2014 at 12:21 am #814016
JoBParticipantthe good news is that i created my driving memories while i still had the eyesight and reflexes to enjoy them :)
did i tell you about the time i was essentially an arm candy date to a guy who was taking the Bob Bondurant driving class?
At dinner one of the guys was trash talking the school because he hadn’t been able to drive as well as he wanted…
Bob said.. i bet i could even teach her.. pointing at the strawberry blonde arm candy that was me .. to drive better than you.
the next day he won his bet ;-)
Not all of my luck was bad.
September 24, 2014 at 2:28 am #814017
waynsterParticipanthmmm me and that strawberry blonde in that hot convertible hmmmm…yea I can see that lol… then there was school that day lmao…..
September 24, 2014 at 2:49 am #814018
JoBParticipanti once got a lot of mileage out of being strawberry blond :)
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.