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.
I wanted the 70’s Blue Max funny car when I was a kid! Probably not the most practical choice. I also fell in love with boxy Mercedes-Benzes as a kid so I guess my tastes were pretty diverse even then.
☺
For some insane reason, 3 y.o. me was OBSESSED with my Aunt Teresa’s 1988 Chevrolet Cavalier sedan. Pretty sure it wasn’t even an RS. White with a blue interior and silver painted steel wheels. I remember it having a 5 speed.
I still remember the first time I saw a Mini as I walked home from school in 1959.
There was nothing else like it and I wanted my father to buy one.
Keeping in mind that I was somewhat less than my current 6′ tall when I was a toddler, driving most cars presented some obstacles. There was one that seemed the right size, and Coon Brothers on Telegraph always had a row of them in their lot facing the street: the Nash Metropolitan. Seemed much more reasonable than a 50 Plymouth, no matter how snazzy the Plymouth’s windshield visor was.
Of course, when I was little, I was surrounded by exotic cars with futuristic styling.
that’s an easy one. cannot believe it has not been asked and answered here a million times already.
1957 chevrolet bel air. my mom’s first car and the first one i remember.
now – not so much.
There were so many cars I was fascinated with as a child, it’s hard to remember the very first car I wanted. It must have been either the Dodge Viper, Nissan 300ZX…or VW Eurovan with the pop-up tent.
I was born in 1991, by the way.
My Grandpa had a VW Squareback and I always thought it was cool. I wanted a car with a glowing choke knob too. My all time favorite match box car was a Lotus Europa but I figured that with a name like that they were only in Europe.
Naturally no-one believes me when I tell them my Kindergarden teacher had a 4 door 510 in Sora blue. It had to be a ’69. It was brand spanking new. I’m on my third one.
Willys Jeep & 1957 Chevy.
I really got into cars when dad bought our 1960 Impala in May, 1965 when I was 14. Learned to drive in it and cruised all over!
A 1961 Lincoln Continental four door convertible, silver-gray metallic, red interior, black top.
Born 1974; Chevy shorty stepside pickup in blue, preferably pre ’78 with the round taillights and the rear sidemarkers that matched the fronts in the fenders. Basically the 1/32 scale MPC snap kit which was the first-ever model kit I owned.
My tastes got smaller when I switched allegiance to the Chevy Luv with details like 3-color taillights, twin pod dash and that upward kink in the body side crease on the front doors. Sometime around middle school I started reading Car and Driver and all the cars I’ve owned have followed the small-light-with-a-stick ethos they preached back in the ’80s especially (regardless of whether or not the actual model was/is buff book-recommended).
I wanted a Landrover, partly from my Matchbox cars and partly from the occasional real one on the street and in dealers in the early 70s
When I was a kid I used to collect all sorts of model cars, and in particular I had a thing for collecting scale concept cars from Hot Wheels. I remember a long time ago I had a collection of somewhere north of three hundred cars (which would be close to $400 in stupid little toys) that were all kept in plastic cases stacked in my room. All of them except for three. Those were a ’64 Mustang convertible with an opening hood, a vehicle called Evil Twin (which later I picked up a collector’s edition of, still in the case), and a Deora II. If you asked me when I was a kid what my favourite car was I’d always say it was the Mustang, but that’s only because I knew nobody knew what a Deora II was. Over the years I lost both the Mustang and the Deora II, but they’ve come back to me in different ways.
The reason why this qualifies (if only on a technicality) is that in 2003 Chip Foose’s company built a real-life replica of the Deora II for Hot Wheel’s 35th Anniversary as a sort of advertisement for the Hot Wheels Highway 35 World Race event. While there are differences from the original (namely the interior and use of a Cadillac V8 instead of the flat-plane crank V10 or twin-turbo V6 of the original toy) it’s still an amazing car and a stylistic zenith that I’ve never been able to get over.
I still have my Deora II toy somewhere. I’ve had it since before I can remember (literally).
1963 Pontiac Grand Prix.
69 Charger. Actually got to ride in one when I was 6, my mom had blown up the engine in our 61 Valiant on our way home, and some nice guy gave us a ride. It’s ingrained in my mind to this day.
Very interesting question. I grew up in a working class neighborhood in a small town in western Kentucky so the vast majority of vehicles I saw would have been from the low priced three, with the occasional Studebaker or Rambler mixed in just to shake things up. I am pretty sure that the first vehicle I really lusted after was my uncle’s 1951 Mercury; the model with the suicide doors on the back. The six year old me thought the Mercury was the greatest car in the world but apparently it was not. Later conversations with my uncle revealed that the Merc was prone to overheating, the brakes were woefully inadequate and it was hard to keep in tune. Not long after my aunt and uncle got married the Mercury was swapped for a 1955 Olds Super 88, another car I found way cooler than the Plymouth my father drove.
The first car that I thought was really cool as a kid was the Dodge Daytona. This was likely due to it being my only Matchbox car with an opening hood and my parents driving a Dodge Aries. I also seem to remember it being in the show Hunter.
Fiat 130 Coupe. It looked like a way better version of dad’s 125.
The first cars I can remember wanting, when I was four years old in mid-1970s Los Angeles, were at opposite ends of the spectrum. I wanted a Rolls-Royce Camargue desperately. But I also wanted a Gremlin; nobody drove anything like that in our neighborhood, it seemed really exotic, and I was smitten the first time I saw one.
I first notice one at about 5 years of age and I still love them. 1956 Packard Patrician.
1977-79 Buick LeSabre Limited 4 door just like the one Grandma had, it rode like a Cadillac and the seats were so comfortable, I would like mine to have either the 350 Oldsmobile Rocket or the 403 V8.
Also admittedly when I was little another car I’ve wanted was a 1980-82 Chevy Citation 5 door because in the late 80’s I’ve always associated a bunch of hot looking ladies driving that car and that car reminds me of various girls I’ve had crushes on during that time, little did I know they’ve turned out to be one of the worst cars GM has ever built.
Born in 87, I was always drawn to my Pontiac Fiero Matchbox cars as a child. A little later the 2nd gen 300zx was the car I lusted after. I still think the 300zx is one of the most beautiful cars ever made. It’s a shame nice ones are so hard to come by.
For real life cars, as a toddler i was mad for VW Type 1s, and then saab 99s. My love of all things large and GM came when i was around 5 and never went away.
When I was about 3 or 4, I rode with my father in a mid 1990s Chevrolet truck (The full size ones, not the S10). We owned a 1992 F250 at the time, but I really liked that Chevrolet.
We have one today, and I must say, my younger self had good tastes!
There was a ’56 Chevy Nomad in a Adobe Beige over Sierra Gold two tone in the always parked a couple of blocks from where we lived about the time I was in Kindergarten (1959). That was my first lusted-after car. Second on the list, and the first one that I built a model of was a split window Corvette.
The first car I realistically wanted as a teen was a cobalt SS from need for speed Most Wanted. I’m probably a bit younger than most of you here…
When you were a teen and it was a Cobalt SS.
It almost equals to when I was a little boy and I liked the Pontiac Firebird in NFS 4, so probably I’m around your age.
Another picture from another video game I liked then.
After being introduced to the Love Bug movies when I was around 4 years , I was obsessed with the Volkswagen Type 1 and will forever want a 1963 VW Beetle Ragtop sunroof sedan in L-87. Pearl White In my childhood I got quite a lot of VW merchandise which I still mostly have; one of which was a poster picturing a 1950’s Type 1 next to the New Beetle proclaiming “A bugs life” was always above my bed, I still have it in storage somewhere. In my early childhood my family cruised around in a blue a2 Jetta sedan and I would love to get something similar to it. Being on the rainy west coast of Canada I didn’t end up with a Volkswagen Beetle, I ended up with a low mileage 1998 Saturn SL2 (automatic), I absolutely despise GM but my fathers GM fanboyism and my interest of an underdog got in the way. My Grad gift to myself will be upgrading to a more sportier manual automobile.
’77 Pontiac Firebird Trans AM. Still want one..
Mom’s first car. Bought it for a song right after the first gas crisis. She had no real idea what it was. In her own words, “I would get pulled over all the time. Then the officer would see a woman. I never got a ticket.” She also said it was broken into multiple times, and that is why she got rid of it for a new ’79 Fox Mustang…
Nobody else wanted the Batmobile?
That was going to be my reply. In terms of real world options, the first thing I remember hankering for was one of these. I must have been an odd child.
The very second my dad brought home his ’68 Jeep CJ-5 for plowing snow, I knew I loved Jeeps. Ive owned 2 CJ-7s, a Scrambler, a YJ and TJ Wrangler. Even my gawking 3 y/o self knew Id have one some day, but Id have a ton of toy Jeeps first…and since.
I saw my first C3 Corvette about that same time and immediately loved it. That exotic curvy body reached out to me…it was like something from another planet. Like the Jeeps, I had plenty of toy Corvettes. I was 10 y/o when the C4 Vette came out, with its bland, uninspiring body. For the most part, that infatuation was over by then.
I “came of age” (in a Ford household) just before the Mustang appeared, and so these ’63-64 Falcon Sprint convertibles/hardtops looked fun and lithe and “big/fast enough.” The beefed-up Falcons in international rally dress really appealed; for some reason I’d rather have a lookalike “tribute” rally Falcon here in 2016 than even a “Bullitt” Mustang (though the resale market would probably think me crazy).
68 or newer VW Westfalia camper. My dad had a 67 VW bus, last year of the split windshield. When we traveled around Europe , many camp grounds had the new VW Westfalias that Americans had just bought during vacations. I was envious, because I liked the newer look, and the ease and comfort of their camping experience. In 85, I finally bought a 74 Westy. Wish I still had it.
Probably between this or the Bandit’s Trans Am.
I was 2.5 years old when the Edsel appeared. That’s what I wanted.
My tastes in cars have always been a little different. mine is a 1959 Rambler Rebel. It was only in the 60’s that I discovered that it was not the fire breathing dragon that the 1957 Rebel had been, the only car faster that year was the Corvette. I still to this day think the ’59 looks better compared to the ’57 which is more rounded and almost no tail fins. To this day I like cars that are angular and/or boxy as opposed to being curved. My favorite Rambler of all time is a ’65-66 Ambassador. Looks almost like a 3\4 size 1961 – 1965 Lincoln Continental.
YOMV (your opinion may vary).
None. When I was young all I wanted was my Aurora road race set and a Schwinn 10 speed Super Sport. My interest in cars, other than washing and vacuuming them, didn’t come to fruition until I was almost 15 years old. At that point my father, who had many company cars, set out to buy his own car and I went along in early spring 1968.
We looked at a wide variety of cars from Volvo 1800, to Porsche 912, to Mercedes 220, to California Special Mustang, to Mercury Cougar to name a few. In the end he bought the Cougar at Canoga Park L&M. I exerted no real suggestions as to what to get. As I got close to turning 16 I had all the magazines discussing the 1969 and 1970 line ups. Still have them all today.
Anyway it was presumptuous for me to think I would get a new car at the age of 16 in the form of a 1970 Mustang.My father seemed to anticipate this and suggested the now 14 month old Cougar he could buy from the company at a very good price. He did and I paid $2200 over 22 months. He even helped find me a contact to purchase Ansen mags and white letter F70-14 tires a month later.Still have the mags but now the car has 15″ Ansen mags. This is the car that started my romance and taught me everything I know about cars, particularly Fords, from engine rebuilds, to body work, to painting.
in 1968 my uncle bought a 1964 mercury park lane convertible, black with a red interior.
I would have happily sold my 5 year old soul for it!
it took him all of 4 years to drive it into the ground. 🙁
too this day I am still a sucker for any car in a black and red color combo.
As a kid 4×4 pickups pretty much all of them. First car I lusted over Charger Daytona loved the wing cars as a kid. By the time I was 12 I was obsessed with original civilian power wagons and still am.
A 1966 Ford Mustang convertible. Red with red interior,289 with C-4 Cruise-O-Matic. A friend of my Mom’s,a woman named Carmen, had a brand new one back when I was the ripe old age of (7). She took me to school in it a couple of times (even had the top down). Sadly she didn’t have the car very long due to a divorce. She was trying to raise three small children by herself at the the time,and could not afford to keep the Mustang any longer. The funny thing is,her estranged husband,also had a brand new, red w/ red interior “66 Mustang GT 2+2 fastback. I think he ended up losing his car too. Probably served him right for bailing on his family?
The earliest car I can remember was a 2003 lime green Saturn Ion quad coupe. For some reason, I thought that it was the coolest car ever. Granted, I was only 3 at the time, and my tastes have changed a lot since that time. By the time I was 10 or 11, I found myself lusting for hi-po 1980’s Saab 900’s (SPG, Turbo, etc), and I still find myself doing this. By God, I will own one someday 🙂
1958 Pontiac Tri power
I wonder how much influence Hotwheels gives throughout the years.
The very first car that I sat in at a used car lot was believe it or not, a Model T Ford. This was in the early 60s. I was around five years old.This car was in very nice original condition and was a little over thirty years old. The car was located in one of the used car lots that were around our house on East 14th. St. in Oakland. My Dad took me to see it because I pestered him so much. The first car that I really fantasized owning and driving was a 1956 Cadillac hardtop Sedan de Ville. This was probably in 1965 or 1966. I remember being impressed by the fancy interior and the long low lines. A very strong memory is looking under the hood and seeing that V8 motor nestled down low covered with that fantastic double scooped air cleaner and the glass bowl fuel filter. This started a long time love of Cadillacs. I have owned many older Cadillacs and finally did own a ’56 SdV for a couple of years.
I’m not too sure but I think it must have been the Citroen SM. I was born in 67 in a Citroen family (the 1st car I ever rode in was the 2CV that brought me home when I was 5 days old), and the SM when I was small was the ultimate car. OK my grandpa and great-uncle both has DSs, which was fine enough, but the SM was some kind of über-DS (very fast, very impractical, with amazing looks and with a price tag that put it out of reach for mere mortals) which you really didn’t see every day. AND it was also used by the Gendarmerie’s highway patrols, which made it even cooler in my young eyes.
Then when I was about 12 my uncle went to the States on a business trip and brought me back a copy of Custom Rodder magazine, which give me a new, VERY different perspective :-). I still have more than a soft spot for the SM, though. I don’t think I’ll ever own one, but who knows. They are not terribly expensive to buy (yes, I’m aware they become a money pit the very minute you drive off with them). Mine must be metallic blue.
My first car and my first dream car was my grandmothers 1986 Mercury marquis.
I don’t know why but I always liked this car and was ecstatic when I got it.
I would love to get another one.
The pic is identical to the one I had.
It would be a battle between the Rover SD1 V8 and Citroen CX Pallas. I was a strange child.
Both EXCELLENT choices!
I remember my friend George’s fathers 77 Ltd landau and his grandfather’s Lincoln continental. George’s father always drove that huge Ltd wide open. It was very luxurious and it had flip up lights and a car phone. First car phone I ever saw. That Ltd was some ride. The grandfather had a seldom driven continental in mint condition. I rode in it one time. I played with the power seat and window button. The old man said, you pusha the buttons I putta you out. I couldn’t resist and did get put out and had to walk 4 miles home at age 7. The old man made a big impression on me in that magical car. I walked home in the cold not mad but inspired that some day I would have a Lincoln of my own. 3 Lincoln’s and 2 Ltd landaus later I can only say thanks old man Collarulo.
Attach an image (JPEG only)
A new forward-look Plymouth was on display at a dept. store. I gasped and my 4-yr. old jaw dropped………. 30 years before Christine …….
I was fascinated by a wide variety of cars from the AMC Pacer, any Lincoln with the tire hump on the trunk, early 70s Caprice/Impalas and most anything with fins or hidden headlights, BUT the 1979-1985 Buick Riviera was the first car I ever remember wanting to be mine. At that age (4 or 5), I didn’t know the yearly trim differences or even what was under the hood, they were all the same to me and the only requirement was white paint with a red interior. When the awful looking ’86 Rivieras came out when I was 6, I wished that I could buy an ’85 and store it until I turned 16. I never did own one. Though I had looked into and test driven an ’85 Toronado when the time came, I eventually settled for a much newer w-body Cutlass Supreme coupe, and I did later own a 1991 Toronado. I love those big GM personal luxury coupes, and If I could still get a comparable new car today, I’d own it.
My best friend growing ups’ dad had a 1989 Rolls-Royce Silver Spur in a dark blue over silver blue color with a light tan leather and walnut interior. I dreamed of buying one like it.
It remained my dream car until my early 20s when I changed focus to the ZIL 41041. The fact that they are not all that dissimilar in appearance is probably telling.
My Dad’s 66 Mercury Montclair four door sedan. I wanted that as my “forever” car.
But before that I used to pretend my bike was a 57 DeSoto. With pushbutton automatic.
My folks brought me home in a 50 Studebaker with wrap around rear window and a blanket over the front seat. It warped me.
I had a fit when my Grandmother traded her 50 Pontiac for a brand new 60 Rambler Ambassador wagon, but settled down, I guess, when I saw the rear facing seat.
The 68 Javelin was another one I would have sold my soul for. And the Gremlin, which my parents bought in 1971.
Today my dream car is a 60 Comet.
When I was very young, we lived in a “comfortably off” area. Technically it was a historic village, but was the functional equivalent of a boring modern American suburb.
The first cars I remember my family having were a rusty Citroen Ami, followed by a terminally unreliable Fiat 126, and a very rusty Renault 5.
I did love the Renault, but it wasn’t cool and I aspired to the flashier versions of boring cars other people’s parents had. The ones that stick in the mind are last of the line Ford Cortina Crusader (blue and silver two tone), Vauxhall Cavalier SR “J car”, and maybe MG Montego. (red seatbelts!)
Oh, for me, it had to be a green Gremlin X with the little V-8 and 4-speed. (Hey, I was like five or six. )
There were plenty of different cars and trucks I liked as a child. Friends of our family had a ’66 Comet 4-door that I really liked, along with a green ’67 F-100. I was sad when they traded the Comet for a ’68 Biscayne. I still like Ford pickups, and ones of that vintage in particular. I also liked the big Ford wagons of the mid to late ’60’s. I rode in a few, and I always liked the style. I’m surprised to this day that I’ve never owned a Ford. Oh well, maybe one day. It would probably give my Honda-owning family a shock, but no matter.
The first car I ever wanted (and I still want) would have been a late model El Camino, with the revised front end. A neighbor down the street owned one in black when I was six or so, and the desire for the car has stuck with me for the past 15-odd years. Make mine painted back in black please!
1963 Corvette Stingray. “Bonanza” was sponsored by Chevrolet in the early sixties, and the only reason I sat through the show was to catch a glimpse of a Stingray in one of their commercials. Buzz and Todd enticed me with their earlier Corvettes on “Route 66,” but the ’63 Corvette really got my pre-teen motor running. As far as motorcycles, any Triumph would have done the trick.
The first vehicle I actually drove was a modified Fred Flintstone Jeep that my father sourced from a fellow soldier at our Base Housing in New Mexico in the 1950s.
I was so into cars from an early age, and I was exposed to a lot of them when my dad would haul me along on his annual new model tours each fall. He was always looking at medium price cars, it seemed, so that is where my earliest memories were generated. I was 8 years old in 1955, when most of my family graduated out of their immediate post war models (which always looked so ancient to me, including my mom’s ’49 Dodge Coronet). My grandmother bought her new ’56 Desoto Firedome in late 1955 (always one of my favorites, how I loved that new push-button transmission selector), my aunt and uncle bought a slightly used ’54 Lincoln Capri, and my dad opted for a new ’55 Oldsmobile 88 that year, too. But the one car that really captured my imagination then, and even to this day, was the ’57 Thunderbird, which I lusted after for years. But as I’ve related before on this site, when I came of driving age about 1963-64, Dad thought they were too old and too high mileage at that point, and life moved on quickly, so I had to wait until 2003 to acquire the object of my automotive lust, my new retro-Bird, which I still have and which I often refer to as my long delayed ’57.
When I was very young, here in Toronto, the 87-90 Caprice was everywhere and I really liked them, especially the Brougham models with the nicer interiors. I always thought they looked nice without being over the top or ridiculous.
A DeTomaso Pantera.
Had to have one from the first one I saw. I remember screwing up my courage and stopping in the Lincoln-Mercury dealer in Santa Monica, California and asking if I could just sit in one. The salesman said yes.
Unfortunately, by that time I was almost 6′ 4″ tall (age 14) I didn’t fit.
I still want one, but with major modifications to fit my 58 year old 6′ 7″ body.
Dad’s ’54 Buick Super Riviera. Titian Red with White roof. It had full wheel cover with the huge round centers, not the Kelsey Hayes shown on this example. I loved the full rear wheel cutouts, the way the rear fenders rose up and those bullet tail lights at the ends of them. Come to think of it, I loved everything about that car. True understated elegance. I remember Dad pulling me into his lap and giving me the wheel on the last straight stretch between town and home. It was the first car that I ever set in motion. Nearly ended up in the stream. I was five.
Wasn’t a real car, but I begged and hounded my parents until they (Santa) bought me a Playmobile Dashboard for Christmas in 1962 with working wipers, turnsignals, horn, turning steering wheel and motor sounds along with windshield and sunvisors. It was advertised on TV and I had to have it. I put a lot of miles on my first “car”.
One was sold on E-Bay with original box and packing for over $700.00! I bought a (real) ’87 Jetta that looks and runs good for $700.00 a few months back. Has all the same features plus real instead of imaginary drive. Uses much more gas, though.
As a kid growing up in the late 80’s Ghostbusters was probably my favorite thing. So I always wanted to own Ecto-1 someday.
I got interested in cars as a kid when I moved from Australia to New Zealand to the US in the space of a year. It was fascinating to observe the great difference in cars between the countries.
In the US I rode in a Porsche 928, the first car I’d ever been in that felt like more than a transport appliance. It’s still my “dream car” in the abstract sense, though I’ll probably never own one because practical-adult-me knows what a money pit they are.
The first car I really wanted was a red ’68 Charger that a neighbor’s son had. It had headers and very loud exhaust with a 440. I rode in it and that was it. I had a couple of models of it. That continued to be my dream car, until my sister’s best friend’s fiancee drove up one day in a bright yellow Challenger R/T. That, and a ‘Cuda, from that point on were the cars I wanted, but I came closest to actually buying my cousin’s ’70 Roadrunner in ’73, but he forgot I wanted it, and sold it to a kid I went to school with, and that pissed me off big time.
Even though it was the late 60s, the car I first remember craving was my widowed neighbor Mrs. Blank’s black over dove cloth ’56 Fleetwood Sixty Special. We lived on an odd street – our side had an alley with garages in the rear and houses close to the sidewalk; her side had houses set well back with driveways. sitting on our front porch watching her maid/nurse back that barge of a car down a very narrow driveway – the kind with a strip of grass in the middle – with the engine murmuring and the exhaust pufffing out of the fender tips is as vivid in my mind now as it was then.
That’s easy – Jaguar D-Type. I still remember building the plastic model kit when I was a very young boy. Still want one, but unless I win the lottery it’s not going to happen.
Born in 86.
Dad had a 1987 bmw 535i 5 speed manual, and i loved it. I remember the in dash “computer” fascinated me. Plan was to keep it forever but at 8 or so, i watched it roll backwards down a steep driveway and hit a tree after the parking brake was left unengaged. my dad felt so bad about it he kept the totaled carcass for about 5 more years in the driveway.
First car i noticed on my own was the Nissan 300zx! what a spaceship in the early 90s.
Also Richard Pettys 66/67 Plymouth Belvedere Gtx
Funny you mentioned a tractor. When I was about 6, I spent a summer on a farm in Wisconsin , and loved the tractor. My uncle would let me sit on his lap and steer . After that, I really really wanted a tractor. My parents got me one of those toy tractors you pedal around like a trike, but that wasn’t good enough. I wanted a real tractor !!
Jaguar XJ-S when I was 7 years old after watching the “Return of the Saint” TV show.
I used to read the International Harvester catalogues that were in the bedside cabinet at my grandparent’s farmhouse, and I thought that having an IH Scout and being able to swap between the cab-top roof and the full-length roof would be pretty cool. I don’t think I have seen 20 IH Scouts in the flesh since.
Born in 1992 it was a Fiat Brava ( because of the taillights) and a 89-94 Mazda 323F/Astina .. which i own now and i am still playing with the pop up headlights
Born in 1980. I can’t clearly remember exactly what the first car I ever wanted was…but if I had to take an educated guess, it was probably either a ’57 Bel Air, a ’57 Thunderbird, or a Porsche 928 (one of my favorite Matchbox cars).
Porsche 911 – got a model when I was 2, told everyone when I turned 4 I’d get one when I saved my money. Last year I finally did it.
A ’58 Edsel. Seriously. As a youth those batwing taillights captivated me. Loved the grille too 🙂 .
The first car I remember that caught my eye and clearly remember liking in my very young age was a vehicle I used to refer as “the car with the half-moon taillights”. I was probably 4 or 5 years old when seeing this car. (I sprung to life in 1973, btw). Years later I remembered what the back of it looked like enough to try and find a picture. I knew it was a Chevrolet and that’s it. Year, make and model . . . no deal. Didn’t remember anything except those 2 taillights embedded in to the back bumper. Turned out to be a 1968 Chevrolet. The higher-end Caprice models had 3 taillights on each side as I later discovered so I knew the one I saw that had burned itself into my youthful brain had to be a Bel Air or Biscayne. To this day, I still very much like the looks of those lower-end ’68s with the 2 tails on each side and those ‘dog-dish’ hubcaps as opposed to the fancier Caprice.
Whenever I see one in a movie I notice it instantly. I saw ‘THE OUTFIT’ (1973) on Turner Classic Movies not so long ago and there’s a scene in front of Joe Don Baker’s diner about 15 minutes into the movie with a ’68 Bel Air or Biscayne parked in front of it. Not a close-up shot, but the car looked to be green.
Upon reflection, I reckon my description of “half-moon taillights” would be more apt to describe the back of a 1960 Ford Starliner, a vehicle I’ve seen pictured on this site. But at 4 or 5 yrs. old the “half-moon taillights” was the best description I could come up with. The tails were mostly round with a straight line across the top of the light = “half-moon” to a widdle kid.
If my folks had bought me a ’68 Chevrolet Bel Air for my 1st car instead of a ’64 Falcon I may well have kept it to this day. My Falcon is still perched under the carport after almost 27 years and knowing how much I liked the looks of the ’68 Bel Air (or Biscayne, take yer pick) I expect I would’ve kept that, too, had I been presented with one when I was 16. Let me add that I do like the front end of the ’68s as well. I find them overall very nice looking automobiles. (And, jeez, did the ’69s look different!)