My QOTD for today is: What car owned by a relative did you lust after?
For me, the answer is my aunt’s 1997 Dodge Intrepid ES, similar to the one above. It always induced profound desire within me.
So, which relative’s car did that for you?
QOTD: Which Relative’s Car Did You Covet?
– Posted on August 6, 2013
My Aunt’s 2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited. It is a blast to drive!
My “Uncle” Leo (actually my father’s cousin) also moved to the US, and was a traveling salesman of fine German optical equipment. All three of his cars were the opposite of what my Dad drove, and I lusted for them all: a 1962 Cadillac Fleetwood, 1965 (or 66) Chrysler New Yorker, and then a 1969 or so Mercedes 280SE. Now he was a real car guy…
Both my parents were only children.
And my paternal grandparents couldn’t afford a car. European to the core, they owned their home out of their modest income…but no television and no car.
My maternal grandmother had health issues and had never driven. That only left her uncles; who drove (a) a succession of Ramblers; (b) a succession of Cadillacs; (c) a 1957 Cadillac and then a 1965 Oldsmobile.
Today, I’d say the ’57 Caddy would be uber kewel. But back then it was just an old car; curiously unmarred by rust (they wintered in Florida).
So…I guess I didn’t envy any of those.
a cousin of mine had a 1997 BMW 540i black on black. The M5’s understated but equally capable brother.
I never coveted my dad’s cars. He had, from the mid-1950s to the early 60s, a 1947 Cadillac Fleetwood, with gobs of room, underseat heaters, and Hydramatic, but awful seat covers hiding disintegrating upholstery, and completely chalked paint on the exterior. Next, he had a 1952 Cadillac sedan. OK, but it was black (in Tucson!), had rusted rocker panels, and was prone to vapor lock. Then he had his 1961 Mercedes 190Db: comfortable, great handling, and a noisy, anemic Diesel engine.
An uncle and aunt of mine had a 1962 Sedan de Ville. I would have liked that.
One of my brothers had, over the years, a 1965 Corvair Corsa. That was a nice car. A few years later he and his wife had a 1968 Firebird coupe. Nice, but turned out unreliable. In the mid 1970s they had a 1966 Thunderbird. That was a nice ride!
Since those days, not too much. My brother and his wife now drive a Nissan Quest minivan and a Nissan Altima.
As a kid, my Grandma’s Car was always pretty cool to me. She was a Chrysler woman all her life until atrocious customer service was experienced during her attempt in ’82 to trade up… Off she went, and (eventually?) ended up at Pontiac, where a new 6000 LE Coupe caught her fancy. It was this unique apricot/copper color with premium pillowish bucket seats in a brownish red if I recall correctly, plus the 2.8 V6 and full power. Such a comfy cruiser, the definitive default on extended family outings. She never had any real issues with the car until she really cut back on driving, and the car constantly sat idle for prolonged periods. A huge shock to us all came in ’98 when She got tired of the “nickel and dime” repairs and traded it in for a bland emerald Accord LX sedan that I would eventually obtain the keys to when she finally hung them up for good. That car served me well in my younger years, at a time I really needed the help. I still miss Grandma every day.
Three cars belonging to my uncle in the early 90’s. His daily driver at the time was a 1988 Jeep Cherokee which he eventually put close to 400,000 miles on. But in his garage, I coveted the following:
1984 Nissan 300 ZX Turbo 25th Anniversary Edition with 4,000 original miles
1978 Chevy Camaro Z28 with 18,000 original miles
1987 Mercedes Benz 560 SEL with 5,000 original miles
He still has the Benz sitting in the garage with less than 15,000 miles on it. He sold the 300 ZX because he needed quick cash and sold the Camaro to my cousin which was stolen from a mall parking lot a few months later 🙁 His daily driver today is a late model RAV 4 which I do not covet.
My uncle’s 300SL (actually he had two – I think they were both non-runners).
When I was 3 my cousin’s husband owned a purple 1995 Chevy Blazer like this one. We called it the Barneymobile. The Blazer was actually the first car I ever wanted to own when I was little. I had a toy model that’s lights flashed, horn beeped, and drove forward when you pressed the buttons.
…all of which functions can sometimes be experienced in the actual vehicle!
😉
My uncle’s 1987 Saab 9000 Turbo. I was 13 in 1987 and I loved that car. I still remember the smell of those leather seats, and the force of those marvelous turbocharged 165 HP of pure power. 0 to 60 in less than 8 seconds. For me that was heaven on earth at the time! Today almost any midsize car is faster and even more comfortable and luxurious but at that time for me that was an exotic.
When I was 5, my mom’s cousin got a brand new, blue 1987 Cavalier Z24. It was the first car I had ever ridden in with a digital dash, and probably the first brand new car I had ever ridden in. I also remember the exhaust note of the 2.8. Then another cousin recieved a brand new, black 1999 Cavalier Z24 as a high school graduation present. I think this is the reason that i have always had a J body obession. Plus the fact that most everyone in my family owned a Cavalier at some point, including my mother who for years had an 84 wagon.
My uncle’s Audi 5000. Anytime I rode in it I pretended we were rallying a Sport Quattro or something. I also really liked my Grandpa’s MR2, because, well, it was cool!
I never see those cars on the road anymore. What happened to all of them? Liked them a lot.
As I don’t hail from a family with a passion for automobiles, most of my relatives have driven largely forgettable machinery, mainly bland mediocrity from GM and lately Toyota. One Uncle did have a ’94 Bonneville SE in green with buckets, roof, and the lace alloy wheels. That was a nice one. When the lease expired on that he swapped it for a ’97 Lumina. Normality restored.
I come from a family that mostly revered big, American boats. One aunt, however, married a geeky engineer type, who worked on contract for government projects on which he was sworn to secrecy. He drove geeky, engineer cars. They always seemed more sensible to me than the GM/Ford boats of the day.
How a young boy could be attracted to an NSU Prinz, I’ll never know. But I still like geeky cars.
My dad, and later myself, fit that geeky engineer type, yet he preferred boring GM boats.
My aunt Mary who lived in Huntington Harbor. This is a neat little area where the ’60s homes are arranged around canals so that you can dock a boat out back.
She had the perfect old car for this lifestyle, a tobacco-brown 1971 W113 280SL. It was a second car by that time but kept in the garage. When we would visit I would sneak away and play in the Mercedes.
As adults we tend to focus on dynamic qualities like handling and performance; as a kid I would notice things like the courtesy lights and hood release. Both were unusual in the 280SL.
My Uncle Charlie, a WW2 combat veteran and hero of mine, had a red and white 58 Mercury Montclair 2 door HT, bought new. It was the turnpike cruiser (I think) v-8, and was beautiful. It had the gold trim on the sides to the taillights. It was the first car I’d ever seen with a leather padded dash.
He traded it on a 63 plain Jane baby blue Newport sedan. I can recall how disappointed I was when I found out he got rid of the Mercury. I was still a few years away from driving, and always hoped I get the car at some point. He bought a ’71 Fury III to replace the Newport, but the old Newport sat on his property (in really pathetic condition) until around 1985. My uncle told me when he sold the Newport for $ 75, the guy that bought it pumped the tires, and somehow got the car started. He drove the car from Miami to Key West, where the engine was transplanted in another car.
I’d probably have to go for my paternal grandmother’s ’53 Chevy Bel Air, which she drove from ’54 until she died in the mid ’80s. It might still be on the road in somebody’s hands.
Both my parents had cars I’d covet. My Mom had a 73 Hornet hatchback and a 74 Matador as her first cars, my Grandpa had shares in AMC back then so he was buying those exclusively I guess. Years later to my Mom’s surprise she saw me watching The Man With A Golden Gun car chase and realized both cars were the same as hers, down to the colors.
My Dad had a 71 Charger, an Opel GT, a 78 Trans Am, two Collonade Cutlasses, one a 77 Supreme, the other a 76 442, and a MK1 Jetta GLI as well as several other CC worthy contenders. I’d probably pick the 78 Trans am from the bunch, but my Great Uncle is a full blown car guy with a barnful of 30s/40s/50s Caddies, among other things, so I have quite a selection to covet from.
I lusted after my grandmothers green1974 Olds 88 4 door 455 4 BBL, dads 1975 Chevy Biscayne 4 Door straight six, a weird friend of the family had a beautiful 1980 Toronado , and later in life an aunt had a 1992 Geo Metro 3 cyl that i always wanted to flog. none of these vehicles were lucky enough to be owned by car appreciating people, merely owned and used as appliances.
Thinking back, I’m not 100% sure on the year of the Olds… maybe 73?
Oh yeah! That’s a ’74 Delta 88 4-door hardtop. With a 455, I bet it was a pleasure to drive or ride in.
My father had a 97 Intrepid (just like the one pictured, that is not an ES). His was Deep Cranberry (Purple). Even though everything looked nice, and back seat was comfortable, I HATED the driving position. And the plastics just weren’t that great inside either, it stowaway cup holders that broke after a while. Also, the steering wheel rim was way to think compared the 95 Prizm my mother was driving.
Easiest question ever. My Uncle Bill’s black 1958 Impala hardtop. He bought it new and owned it for over 40 years. He sold it to a collector in California when I wasn’t paying attention.
A Studebaker Hawk, driven by one of my many uncles in my young, auto-formative years. This was in the early 60’s.
Other lusts in my pre-puberty years were motorcycles, Shelby mustangs and Jaguar XK-Es.
The Starliner Hawk was prettier than the Avanti, I think.
I’m 16 with a new driver’s license, visiting a favorite aunt. In her driveway is a new car she brought home the day before, a 66 Ford LTD 2door hardtop coupe in Vintage Burgundy with black top (painted, not vinyl). I loved the lines of that car, so much less angular than the year before, with a gently arched roof and concave rear window; I also loved the beautiful interior with “panty cloth” upholstery, red and white lights in the doors, fake wood on the dash, and a little crown in the steering wheel. And my aunt, knowing how the kid loved cars, throws me the keys and says “Oh honey, take it for a drive – it’s so smooth and quiet, you’ll love it!” Well, I did and her, too. For a long time I kept that car washed and waxed for my aunt, and to this day I miss it and her.
Vintage Burgundy is a great color. And the ’66 Galaxie is a beautiful car, especially in two-door hardtop form!
I have so many family owned cars that I coveted but to name just a few here goes…. My uncle Ron works at the porsche audi dealer in Halifax Nova Scotia. He had owned some interesting cars but the nicest one was the 944 turbo he had in 88. My granfather had a 76 grand prix in white with maroon top and interior that I loved in 84-85 and two cars later a 88 celibrity eurosport wagon in dark grey with maroon interior. The other grandfather had a 71 econoline panel that I have fond memories of steering up the driveway on his lap and imediatly after it had a 81 econoline that he had converted to a camper, color t.v and movies on beta and vhs with the comfort of a gueen bed while rolling down the road. He also had a 2wd diesel toyota pickup and an 86 ae86 corolla gt-s. my uncles 84 mk2 gti and really fast friday evening runs to the local race oval track. My best friends 78 scotsdale pickup and some hairy runs back the local logging roads. That is just a few of a bunch of cars that I really liked. what did you expect froma guy who learned to read on R&T hot rod and haynes manuals.
This is such a loaded question. If I tell you what both are one will make a lot of folks gag. But what the heck, only five of you have ever met me…
First: My great aunt’s ’80 to ’82 Oldsmobile Delta 88 powered by the infamous Olds 350 diesel. As she said, it had everything except a butt-wiper, so that’s probably why I liked it. I still like that generation Delta 88 as my parent’s had a Volare, an Omni, and a Reliant in that general time period. So you can see why I liked it.
Second: A great uncle’s (other side of the family) ’63 Ford Galaxie 500. Oh, wait, I own it. I suppose I coveted it to the point of ownership – worse things have happened!
Ugh, you were right! A 63 Ford, retch, retch! (Just kidding!) 😉
“(Just kidding!)”
Hahaha! No you weren’t!
I tend to retch at anything from that era if it wasn’t a Chevy…
HOWEVER – as cars from that era are getting scarcer day by day, I appreciate ANY survivor more each day.
Jason, show a photo of your car!
Zackman, I’m sure Jason was actually expecting to get ridiculed for declaring his affection for an Olds diesel. I was trying to be ironic.
Z-man: Be patient; I may just overload you with pictures of the Galaxie sometime soon.
BOC: I had to use the Oldsmobile as the Mopars in my family were Little New Chryslers, not big, old ones.
I love those delta 88’s in two door coupe form, with either engine option. I had a 86 burban with the 6.2 and besides an injection pump at 500k km it was a grwat rig. Id like a 63 galaxie wagon somday.
I can think of three.
My grandmother’s sister’s red ’58 Porsche.
My fathers’s second wife had a ’55 two door ford wagon with a “T-Bird” V8. Sounded quite nice. I think the exhaust was non-standard.
My brother’s ’66 Corvair, 4 speed.
When I was 6 years old in 1980, my 10-years-older-than-me brother bought his first car, a white 1968 Hemi Road Runner. It was the height of the street machine era and it had all the requisite parts..shackles, traction bars, Thrush Super Turbos, Keystone mags, decals from the local rock station, etc. That car lasted maybe a year until he couldn’t keep up with the maintenance and repairs on the already trashed Hemi so he sold it for a Lemon Twist yellow 1973 Road Runner with a tricked out 440 and equally decked out with all the late 70s/early 80s cool guy parts.
I was already high on the Dukes of Hazzard at the time and with those 2 monsters in the driveway, how could I not get hooked on Mopars?
For a more mainstream coveted relative’s car, it probably would have been my aunt’s 78 Volare wagon that was black with woodgrain, a red plaid interior (!) and a 318 that had just enough rumble.
My Dad’s 2 Falcon sedans and his Australian Valiant and American 72 Dart were my favourites closely followed by his Mk3 Zephyr 6.Uncle Will Mum’s brother owned a maroon and cream PA Cresta which the British climate sent to an early grave.
My father-in-law’s just-purchased-from-Hertz 1978 Ford Fairmont sedan right after Wifey and I were married. It was a nice metallic brown with that orange-ish tan interior, but it was a very nice car, nicer than anything we drove at the time, like our Gremlin and her rapidly-deteriorating 1970 Mustang convertible.
I’ve envied lots of cars owned by friends, but very few by relatives – for the most part, they drove nothing fancy. Dad’s 1960 and 1966 Impala sports sedans were tops to me, and I owned one of the greatest, my avatar.
Where does one go from there?
My “Uncle” John’s ’79 Vette 4-speed. Yes, it was brown. He was the only bachelor I knew, had a t-shirt that said, “Italian Stallion.”
He let me shift gears as we drove down to the beach when I was 5. He’d hit the clutch, and say, “Now, Alan.” I’m not really a Vette guy but I still want that thing.
Not a lot of really desirable vehicles in my family’s history. My sister’s M45 is the only one I can really think of.
She has offered to sell it to me, but I’m not sure I want to deal with modern luxury car upkeep.
My mother’s cars. Being a kid in the 70s that was sensory overload because you got to go places. her cars in order;
77 Plymouth Arrow- Nothing is more fun than riding in a open hatchback. If I can find a good one , I’m on it.
79 Olds Cutlass- POS but it refused to die, the city took it.
84 AMC Concord- A tank. When it snowed my mother looked for empty parking lots.
88 Jeep Cherokee Limited- I learned that the 4.0-6 can lay rubber in 2wd.
In ’79 my aunt bought a brand new New Yorker, white with red leather. It cost $11,500 and I, as a little guy back then, was very envious!! That is until it became a sterling example of Chrysler “quality” in the late seventies.
I’m pretty sure Chrysler trannies of the late seventies were made entirely of cardboard. No, this can’t be true. Cardboard would have been MUCH more reliable.
There can be only one: my paternal grandmother’s ’64 Buick Riviera, silver over black. I’d give my left…arm for that thing today,.
Er, well, maybe two. I have to confess a certain attraction to my uncle’s 429 Cobra Jet-equipped ’71 Mustang Mach 1 as well.
When I was a kid, my half-brother, 17 years my senior had a white 1969 Cougar XR-7. He never much cared for me or cars in general as far as I could tell. He was rear-ended by a drunk driver one day. The car was still driveable but both quarters buckled over the wheelwells from the impact & the rear valance was scraping the ground. It disappeared shortly thereafter.
Can’t recall any. My BIL always had a knack for picking up bikes and trucks that I thought were worth having. He is where I bought my 350(?) Ducati and Honda 500T. Also had a chevy stepside that I liked a lot.
Mostly my relatives liked my cars because as a young sailor I kept picking up things like MGBs, Corvettes, Firebirds, 57 chevys etc. Oh yes, I was cool. Getting married and having a kid put my automotive world on a par with them but there were 35 years before I self lobotomized.
The first and obvious one from me would be my Grandad’s 1966 Chrysler Windsor, which my Dad then got off of him in 1977, when I was 2 years old.
Another would be the 1974-76 Riviera belonging to my Great Uncle (Grandad’s brother). It was white with red pinstriping. I think it was originally silver, but he had it repainted white at some point. The interior was red. That car was mint, always garage kept. Sadly, not long after my Grandad died in 1989, my uncle traded it on a Chevy Celebrity. I’m sure I wouldn’t have been the only person in the family that would’ve wanted that car, and the dealer probably gave him a pittance for it too.
My Aunt had a 1980 Ford LTD Crown Vic, 4-door, blue with a velour interior. It sat after she stopped driving, and she sold it without telling anyone she was going to, much to my dismay.
My uncle on the other side of the family used to have a Mitsubishi Mighty Max pickup, which was a boring vehicle with the most awesome name ever.
My great uncle was a career long haul trucker. Bought himself a 1969 Buick Wildcat Custom 4-door as his retirement “reward”… 430 4BBL V8, A/C full power, and those gorgeous chrome Buick road wheels. He only got to enjoy it for 2 years before he died. My great aunt had never driven it and had to get her license reinstated at age 72. She was afraid of it and traded it for a six cylinder Nova… nnnoooooo!
This one is easy. In ’61 my parents, the 7 yo me, and two cousins drove from New Jersey to California (an awesome trip, btw, in a Ford Fairlane 6 cyl 3 on the tree on two lane roads between roughly Chicago and Los Angeles) to visit my mom’s aunt and uncle. Said aunt drove a ’58 Thunderbird convertible, and i decided living in California and driving a Thunderbird convertible was the height of cool.
Other than that, given the selection of basic sedans driven by most of my relatives, the only cool car I can think of is the late 60s Olds VistaCruiser wagon driven by one of my uncles. Clearly I was born into the wrong family when it came to cars that would feed my car fandom.
The only ones I can think of is my older cousin’s 1970 Cougar and an Uncle’s late 70’s Eldo. Other than that everyone had pretty boring 4dr sedans.
My aunt’s 1992 Saturn SC. Not exactly an aspirational vehicle, but here’s the story:
In March of ’92 I was staying with my grandparents in Omaha to complete my junior year in high school; my parents had moved to the Land of Enchantment four months before. My grandfather had money, and he knew I was having problems with my first car, an ’84 Plymouth Turismo. So, I was very excited (in the hopelessly naive way that only a 16 year-old can be) when one Saturday he asked if I wanted to go with him to look at cars at Saturn of Omaha.
Remember that Saturn was still a novelty then – and, quite popular. There weren’t many cars on the lot, but one struck me immediately: a teal green SC with no options except an automatic transmission. Grandpa could see I liked the car, but demurred on taking any action apart from noting my enthusiasm.
Two days later, after I got home from class, Grandpa told me to look in the garage. Imagine my surprise and delight when I saw that teal Saturn parked there!
And… imagine my dismay when I was informed that it was for my aunt, who had also been having problems with her old Prelude.
I don’t think Grandpa ever really understood why I was so upset about that.
My cousin’s ’72 Monte Carlo. Chevy managed to hit all the right notes with that body style.
Oh, and I almost forgot the one I actually wound up with: my grandfather’s ’55 Bel Air!
Right around when I became a teenager, my uncle bought a new black ’87 Cougar XR7. I loved it. To make matters worse, in ’89, my father bought a new Thunderbird LX. I’ve had a thing for both generations of those cars since.
My Great Aunt and Uncle drove a 68 Firebird, silver, black vinyl top, black interior, 350/auto, rally II’s, and also drove a 87 6000 STE Black/silver with gray interior. This was in 1990 or so, they were both in their late 70’s, lived at “The Cape” and had bought both cars new (traded a 66 T-bird in on the STE) I wanted both cars. They took extremely good care of them. Unfortunately both cars were victim to some strange and untimely deaths right after my aunt and uncle passed away in the early 90’s.
Your story reminded me of how cool I thought the 6000 STE was back in the day. With its suede seats and all-electronic dash!!
This is an ’84 dash:
Not much changed until the end of the 6000 STE after 89. The tach got bigger, and the steering wheel gained radio controls in 86. Used to look pretty cool at night with the red lettering and blue/green digital readouts.
My Uncles 87 did have the suede
My Parent’s 89 did not have the suede but did have the 12 way power seats.
The Pontiac 6000 is the “ultimate 80s car” in my opinion. I’d love to have a heavily optioned early one or later S/E with the digidash.
+2 on the lighted dash at night.
My Grandmother had an 87 6000 LE station wagon, and even without the digi dash I thought it was cool. Hers was bably blue with wood paneling, and a blue interior.
I’m not sure if this lasted the entire duration of the 6000 STE model run, but the ’83-’86 suede seats were “pigskin” suede!? Great marketing move, what sounds more European and upscale than “pigskin”???
They should have followed up with the Bonneville SE with goat pelt seat covers….
1986 was the year that 6000 STE reached the pinnacle of it’s development, in my opinion. The flush headlamps gave the front-end a very clean look, the 2.8L MFI HO V6 made 140hp and the 3-speed automatic was upgraded to a 4-speed auto. It also had the digital dash and the insane button-covered steering wheel with so many buttons that it was far more confusing to use than simply reaching for the actual control or button wherever it was located!
I always loved the over-the-top exhaust tuning on most GM cars with the 2.8L or 3.1L V6 from that era. It was like James Earl Jones (Darth Vader) doing a Fran Drescher impression but I ate it up! And it added to the illusion of high performance, even though the ’86 STE was actually a pretty decent performer for the times.
I knew three people who owned an STE- an ’83, ’85 and ’86. All of them made it past the 200,000-mile mark on the original engine/tranny and without any MAJOR mechanical problems, very rare of FWD GM cars of the 80s! The only exception was my friend with the ’83 had to have the carb rebuilt twice and the lockup torque converter had intermittent issues. But it was a first year model.
I have no definitive proof, but I strongly believe that the STEs were built to a higher standard than all other A-body models including lesser 6000 models. As a rule, I despise GM, but the 6000 STE and the ’82-’87 Olds Cutlass Supreme/Salon are exceptions and I still love them both! I’d love to own an ’86 STE (or ’87 in a pinch) and an ’86 Olds Cutlass Salon 442 or ’87 Cutlass Supreme 442 one day! 442 prices from that era are already getting pretty high, but the STE is still just a used car from a collector’s standpoint….I just need to find a low-mileage, mint-condition STE that nana drove to church and the grocery store each week…..
The true mother-lode would be finding an STE with the Getrag 5-speed manual! I don’t think the car mags ever tested one, but I know the 2.8L and 4-speed manual would haul butt back in the day! And there are performance mods for the 2.8L V6 MFI out there, it could be very interesting.
I used to be very ashamed that I was a closet STE-lover, but then I discovered that there’s a Ford Tempo/Mercury Topaz enthusiast community and even a Ford Granada fan club….Tempo and Granada….those people need therapy…
My uncle restored a ’29 Ford A pick-up truck in the early nineties. I was about eight or nine. A few years later, he needed money and decided to sell… his other car (don’t remember which). The Ford A became his daily driver for a year or so! Not really the most practical car for a family of five (kids sitting in the pick-up was widely accepted here these days), but I really envied my cousins and dreamt of having such an old car as my daily driver some day… I can still remember the sound and smell of that Ford!
Most of my relatives got by with some fairly awful, uncovetable machinery. They on the other hand always used to look at what I was driving! This happened all the way through the ’70s up to the present day, starting with my Ford Escort Mexico then my selection of 3 litre Capris, concluding with my (v secondhand) Bentley Turbo and my Chrysler 300 CRD. You Yanks may laugh, but I REALLY liked the Chrysler with its twin-turbo Mercedes diesel. Nobody in his right mind would be jealous of what I’m driving for the time being so I’m not telling you what it is.
Haha, it was sold by the time I was born, but my mom and dad owned this as their first car in America. (In Canada, they had a little Sentra) This pic is a stock image, not their car.
In 1976 my Uncle Ron built a new home & barn on property inherited from my grandfather. He set out to make some improvements to the property including a few roads and some trout ponds. To help with all the work he purchased a ’75 IH pickup 4×4 (I can’t remember if it was a 200 or 500, but it was definitely a heavy duty truck). It was ‘School Bus Chrome Yellow’, which was more orange than yellow. I was 8 years old at the time, so you can imagine my fascination with it. He then decided that he needed something bigger and better, and purchased a Unimog. It looked exactly like my cousin’s scale replica by Corgi, yellow with red wheels. Those two rigs are responsible for my lifetime obsession with 4×4 trucks.
It would have almost certainly have been a 200 as the 500 was never “officially” available with 4wd.
I had many Uncles with vehicles that I coveted.
In addition to everything my Uncle Peter had (CC here)
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/coup-cars-of-uncle-peter/
My Uncle Bill had an Austin Healey which I loved to ride in. I think it became an expensive money pit quickly, and was replaced by a VW Dasher which I did not covet.
My Uncle Alex had a 39 Dodge two door sedan, which he co-owned with a friend. I bumped into the friend a couple of years ago and he still had it in his garage, still unrestored after almost 40 years of storage. He was thinking of selling it, and I would have jumped at the chance but I have my own endless project car.
There’s been cars Ive coveted though usually they belong to family friends.
From my own family…I always had a thing for Cadillacs it seems since I would claim my granddad’s 1981? Eldorado to be mine, even though I was maybe 5-8 yrs old. I still have a key somewhere. He sold it to a family member and got wrecked later 🙁 I still recall those leather seats and red wine color of the exterior (if memory serves). Apparently he also had an early 70s Camaro and a huge 1970s Cadillac dubbed the Challenger (as in the space shuttle) by my mom and dad and others for its size. This was back in the 80s. He’s always been a Cadillac man. Has a 1998 STS but it’s suffered damage.
Would have any of those.
My dad has had many cars but the ones I’ve truly coveted are probably his 1990 Impulse (CC hopefully soon) which he still has all original and his 1998 Boxster, silver with full red interior. There’s something about that combo being so Porsche and looking so good that I cringe everytime he mentions maybe selling it for something newer.
It also has white face gauges that go up to 150, something unusual as the S didn’t appear until MY2000 and would go up to 175.
When I was a toddler, my Dad was still driving his old ’70 Camaro with a straight six and hubcaps instead of alloys. It was sporty and interesting in a way that a run of the mill modified ’69 “car show” Camaro never could be. The ’70-’72s were always my favorites by far. I’d also love to have my uncles fabled ’67 Coronet, even though I never saw it in the flesh. Based on pictures alone, I think that it was one of the coolest-looking cars of the 60’s.
Dad’s big rig driver younger brother, my uncle Chuck, drove some interesting cars, unlike my dad. I wanted many of them, from the ’55 Bel Air, TR-3, to the Capri. At the time, I had no interest in the Valiant or Wildcat. Mom’s stepdad, an accountant, had a white ’62 Futura with red bucket seats and floor shift. Grandma traded it for a boring Buick after he passed.
In the fall of ’68, my brother bought his wife a lightly used Mercury Cougar XR7. It was beautiful in dark green with black upholstery and a black vinyl top. Wifey, who didn’t like American cars, complained that the seats were uncomfortable to her regal little butt. So off it went in exchange for a Peugeot 404. I wish I’d had the scratch to buy it.
+1 early Cougars must be Mercury’s finest hour.
Nothing anyone else has is attractive to me, but I do enjoy watching them enjoy things.
A 2nd or 3rd cousin of mine somehow ended up in possession of my grandfather’s 1931 Chrysler CD8 rumble-seat roadster. I coveted that.
In the following order:
My parents 51 Buick Super, seafoam green and always with blackwall tires, driven brand new from 51 through 61.
My uncle’s Mark III (year?), black over red w/ car phone. Totalled in a Garden State Parkway toll plaza.
Another uncle’s 69 Newport Custom two door, rolled by my cousin after accumulating over 150k miles, a wonderful car.
My Uncle’s Porsche 944. Obviously I didn’t know much about Porsches at the time.
My uncle Dean (youngest brother of my mom, (and she had 5 sisters and 5 brothers), was only 10 years older than me. He was always considered the coolest uncle by all the cousins. At the age of 15 he went to work for a local meat market and one day the owner said, “Dean I need this order of meat delivered right away, can you do it?” Dean, of course said “SURE.” So he made the delivery and later the boss found out that Dean was not old enough to drive. He didn’t get fired and he made enough money to start buying old Model T Fords, couple of Chevys and I never knew quite what else and had them stashed all over town. This was in 1949. Apparently he would sell them to his buddies as he never kept any of them for long. There was one yellow Model A roadster that was parked in front of my grandparent’s house for months and my cousin Marge and I used to play in it all the time. It had no top and it was a small town with no restrictions on parking cars. My grandfather (Dean’s dad) had a light green 1949 Mercury 4 door with a set of Hollywood mufflers installed by Dean. I recall there was a legal problem with that and the mufflers had to come off. What a great sound those mufflers produced! Dean totaled the 49 Mercury within 2 years of its purchase so it was replaced wth a dark green 51 Mercury 4 door with an automatic transmission. The 49 had been a stick. I remember riding in the smooth 51 Mercury many times and being very impressed. Next Uncle Dean joined the Air Force and showed up on leaves driving a 1941 Ford coupe with mild customizing including electric door buttons and trunk release (eliminating unsightly handles) I think it also had big fender skirts on the rear. Upon getting out of the Air Force, he bought a pretty 1953 Oldsmobile 88 4 door sedan from a buddy. It was a change of pace for Dean but a very comfortable car and I loved the sound of the engine and transmission when riding in it. It was replaced with a 1958 Chevy Impala convertible (that’s more like it!). The Impala was turquoise blue with matching blue and white interior. To avoid driving the Impala in the harsh western Pennsylvania winters, he also bought a creampuff 1947 Pontiac fastback 2 door sedan in black. The Pontiac looked like new and he paid $150 for it. The next winter he sold the Pontiac and replaced it with a 49 Chevy pickup in dark green – just like the ones you see now in the Old Navy stores. After his marriage in 1959 Dean sold the Impala and bought a 56 Oldsmobile 4 door hardtop that I recall was a very pretty car. It wasn’t too long till his bride drove it with no oil in the engine and the next thing I knew he was driving a new Simca. Now skipping ahead 40 years, Dean had retired to a trailer home leaving his wife in the home they had raised their 3 children in. He was driving one of those fiberglass Chevy vans throughout the 2000 to 2010 period and passed the time by hauling the Amish wherever they needed to go. He would drive them to lumber conventions, weddings, across several states at times and was well paid for his efforts. Unfortunately, Uncle Dean passed away last year but his memory is alive with the interesting assortment of autos he owned. I would have been glad to have any one of them.
(except maybe the Simca)
Easy answer, my parents’ 1965 Lincoln Continental, “America’s Most Distinguished Motorcar,” as I have often quoted. All black, black leather interior, that car bespoke elegance and sophistication and luxury and presence like no other. The “last great American luxury car,” as Paul wrote in his fine article last year. Of all my various relatives’ cars, that one was my touchstone.
Mom and Dad’s 65 Comet, or grandma’s 69 Falcon coupe, or Mom and Dad’s 69 Chevelle coupe. They kept cars long enough that I drove everything they owned from 1976 onwards and the ’76 Chevelle became mine in 1992, the 84 Delta 88 was a pile but good looking, the 92 LeSabre was not comfortable to me, and the 04 Rendezvous, is well like driving a bus.
Otherwise my relatives drove pretty forgettable cars, save for cousin Bobby’s Delorean.
There are three cars I coveted, two of which were owned by my aunt and uncle.
The first was a ’76 Buick LeSabre Custom hardtop sedan, dark blue with white vinyl top and white leather. They bought it new not too long after my fifth birthday. I fell in love the first time I saw it, as it was much nicer than the plain jane ’68 Bel Air wagon my folks had (although I have come to appreciate that car for what it was). They kept it for around ten years, until just before I got my drivers’ license. I would have gladly bought the car from them, but by the time it died it was pretty well used up.
To replace the Buick for the short term my uncle’s mechanic hooked him up with an absolutely pristine ’72 Coupe deVille being sold by one of his elderly customers who was forced to turn in his license. The Cad was seafoam green inside and out, with a white vinyl top and an engine bay you could perform brain surgery in. To my 16 year old mind, this was the only car that could top the Buick, and I begged my uncle to sell it to me when he and my aunt decided to buy a new ’87 Plymouth Caravelle (gag). Dad and Uncle Tommy shot that down citing single digit mileage and lack of driving experience, as I had only had my learner’s permit a few months when the car had to go. Copies of both those cars are on my dream garage inventory.
The third car is my grandfather’s ex-Hertz ’83 AMC Concord DL, in copper inside and out with a copper vinyl roof. It replaced a tired ’71 Skylark and was replaced by an ’87 Caprice sedan. I remember it as a neat package with decent economy and city performance that looked pretty good and offered decent comfort. Gramps traded it in before I got my license, so I didn’t have a chance to get it.
My Uncle had a ’55, 2-tone, red & white Pontiac hardtop. Gorgeous car and always looked forward when he drove us around town to look at Christmas lights. A close runner up would be a cousin’s ’65 Plymouth Sport Fury, with a 318 and a Torqueflite tranny, also an appealing machine with great road manners and longevity. Finally, my brother had a ’63 Porsche Super 90 Coupe which had many alluring attributes which now I reflect on it, I’d say it was the car’s utilitarian simplicity that stood out. It was painful to witness its demise, which occurred from too much exposure to road salt.
I can’t think of any of my relatives’ cars that I really lusted after, which is odd because there were a few relatively cool cars among them. My father had a 1936 Chrysler Airstream coupe – in the late 30’s and early 40’s, it was gone by the time I was 3 and I had to learn later from seeing one a fellow car guy had in the 70’s, plus my own experience with my 35 Dodge. He also had a 34 LaSalle 4-window 4-door sedan. I was 10 when he traded it for the new Packard in 1950, and to me the LaSalle had been that old car that broke down frequently and once made us sick from exhaust leaks into it. But now that I know what a rarity that was…I’ve never seen another one.
I would have liked my Uncle Pete’s 37 maroon LaSalle coupe better if I hadn’t had to ride on the jump seat in back most of the way to California and back to south King County. Talk about the cheap seats… He replaced it with a 51 Chevy light gray sedan that had no options, not even a heater.
My grandfather in California had a blue 39 Chevy pickup – his only wheels. My aunt the entrepreneur had a new 50 Bel Air 2-door hardtop in pale yellow with a metallic gray top, and my uncle who lived with her had a new 49 Hudson sedan.
I kinda lusted after my friend’s dad’s Mark VII Jaguar (hey, I was just a dumb kid) and then his 57 220S sedan.
There was one cool old pickup that Pop had for half a year or so, a 34 or 35 Dodge half-ton. Long hood, fairly roomy cab, and the pickup box hung in back as an afterthought, similar to the one shown except that it was well worn and had blackwalls and disc wheels.
I really should mention the car he had when he was a young stud in southern California – a 1930 Chrysler convertible coupe.
Easy one! From childhood through young adulthood, my Great Auntie Irene in Perry, Missouri had a: 1) ’53 Mercury Monterey Sedan (light green with a two tone medium and dark green cloth/nylon interior; flatty and Merc-O-Matic (complete with FoMoCo 50th anniversary medallion on the dark green dash) 2) ’66 Mustang; red with black “pony” embossed seats, 289 210hp 2-bbl, automatic, factory air (the little four-pod under dash unit). She kept BOTH CARS meticulously cared for and maintained.
I’d made no secret about giving either/or/both a good home. She, however would steadfastly maintain that “I’ll keep ’em ’til I go to the grave.” I had, unfortunately, a burnbag, dope addled cousin (her son). She eventually gave both to him. I think the Merc was garaged, and then neglected about 1982 and the Mustang he trashed before Missouri Rednecking it (i.e. 50 series tires in back, rear leaf shackle extensions, side pipes . . . .plastic hood scoop . . . sad.
That…is sad. Why do so many relatives give pristine, cool old cars to the family black sheep, who summarily trash it? The poor cars.
My grandfather’s 1986 sky blue Mercury Grand Marquis LS. I dimly remember riding in an earlier Cadillac, but I was 3 in 1986 when he bought it and this was the first of his cars I clearly remember. He summered in Connecticut and wintered in Florida where we were then living year round. Two years later, we moved home to Connecticut and visited him there. I learned that he had bought a new 1988 Grand Marquis in white for my grandmother. About a year after that, she died. For the next three years, he held onto both cars. The blue Grand Marquis was the same length and wheelbase as the later white one (both Panthers, after all), but it looked bigger and longer thanks to its sharper corners and more Lincoln-esque appearance. I would insist that we take it out over the newer car on visits, to the eternal mystification of my grandfather (“why does he always want to ride in the old car?”).
From that ’86 I developed my enthusiasm for big boats. My grandfather moved to an senior apartment development in the 90s, and sold the older blue car to a cousin. If I had been 16 at the time, I am sure that I could have gotten it for free. I cut my losses, hoping for the white ’88. But my grandfather died when I was 13 in 1996, and the cousin bought the white one too.
Two that got away…with 65K(blue) and 40k(white) respectively…
Later, I coveted the ’93 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham in silver and burgundy owned by an elderly cousin, then in his late 60s and now in his 80s. He actually still has that car, as he is wont to keep his cars around at different locations, and thus has 4-5 Cadillacs of 80s-90s-00s vintage. The ’93 is still a beauty but I believe has close to 200K on the clock now.
As usual, I a late to the party. Things like work get in the way of more important things, like CC.
Can’t say I lusted after any relative’s cars since I come from a long line of dirt poor Irish scrabble farmers. For us, hi-falootin’ was a Pontiac and it didn’t matter of it had a Stovebolt and Powerglide like a Chevy, it was still hi-falootin! Most of the family soldiered on in used Chevy II’s that got more jacked up with each generation it was passed down to. The favourite family paint colour was red primer and white walls were caused by oxidation.
I was up to the Home Town last year and they haven’t changed a bit except the Chevy II’s have been replaced by Cavaliers.
I coveted three that I personally experienced: my grandparents’ 1973 Volvo 164E, their later 1984 XE Ford Fairmont Ghia, and my great-Uncle’s 1982 Jag XJS. The Volvo because it was beautiful in blue-green with orange leather, factory sunroof and a/c, manual o/d transmission. The Fairmont because it looked very imposing in silver with Ford’s lovely Snowflake alloys, and I loved the wall-to-wall velour. And the Jag because it was so exotic in yellow with 12 cylinders (I was 10 when it was bought in 1984, and was amazed that it had more cylinders than I’d had years on earth!). Of course I also coveted my grandparents’ ’59 Plymouth Belvedere (sold just before I was born) and my other Grandfather’s ’36 Dodge, which I did ultimately buy (and then sell when I realised restoration was beyond me).
My Uncle Hank’s baby-blue 1963 Mercedes 300SL roadster. This pic isn’t the exact car but the color is correct. Maybe it is, because he sold it in the late 1970’s before they started to take off in value.
Brought it by the house one evening to have my dad look at it. Forgot what was wrong but they did end up taking the tunnel-ram intake off. First one I’d ever seen, being from a GM family.
Mine was my cousin’s 1970 black Roadrunner hardtop. Black outside, black inside, 383, never out in winter weather, it was like showroom condition with only 24K miles! I loved that car, and he agreed to sell it to me when it was time. He got drafted in 1973, but when I got my license, and I had more than enough money to buy it. But he forgot, sold it to a classmate, and I saw it every day at school for the next year and a half.
My Uncle’s 1963 Ford Fairlane 500 Sport Coupe that he bought new that year. That’s one seriously cool uncle. Unlike the picture, his was gold on gold, buckets & console… just stunning.
The back end of the car recalls the ’57 T-bird, yet the fins are modest for ’63 (no worse than a ’63 Caddy).
The front successfully mimicked the Galaxie 500
My cousin Chris purchased a 1996 BMW 325i, Green with white (very light grey?) interior, manual of course. Remember the first time I rode in it, inline six screaming towards the redline. As I recall it had 189hp but compared to the Plymouth Voyager and Dodge Dakota (complete with a 99hp 4 cylinder!) that resided in my parents garage bays the beemer was a screamer.
Seriously though, loved that car. Drove it every so often and always enjoyed it.
My cousin, Joy, bought one of the first (possibly THE first) Acura Legend sold in the Atlanta area in late 1985. Her ’84 Fiero had just went up in flames (literally) and she wanted something larger, safer and more upscale. It was dark blue with navy cloth interior and I was in love it.
Eventually, I owned a ’90 and ’94 Legend of my own. But it all started with her ’86 model.
My mom had three Olds Cutlass Supremes- a black ’74 Supreme 2-door that she got a year before I was born in ’75, a ’77 Supreme Brougham 2-door she got in 1980 when my 21-year old cousin dumped it for an ’80 Riviera (ick!), it was Buckskin (gold) with plush pillowly matching interior and even an 8-track player and in late 1985 she ordered an ’86 Supreme 2-door in Medium Gray, Chrome-accented rallye wheels, RWL tires, 307 4-barrel V8 (made a whopping 140hp)…on the exterior, it looked like a 442 without the decals and gold wheel accents- it was SHARP! But the dealer and/or factory (blamed each other) missed a few options that she wanted for the interior- instead of bucket seats and floor mounted shifter, it had a one-piece bench with column shifter and it didn’t get the Gauge Package (instead of round speedo and tach, it had the oh-so-70s rectangular speedo, gas gauge and nothing else! It also had the standard 3-speed automatic (she didn’t know to order the 4-speed OD automatic) so performance was a pretty far cry from the 442 (which was lukewarm already, 0-60 in 9sec for the 442, her setup was more like 11.5 seconds). A base model Accord DX could outrun it, although it didn’t look as good!
And to add insult to (multiple) injuries, she actually chose the most horrible deep Burgundy color for the velour interior! It was the second most hideous interior color I’ve ever seen and I spend ages 10-18 riding in and/or driving it. The absolute worst interior color of all time was in my sister’s ’85 Nissan 300ZX- outside it was a Snow White, but inside was Blood RED velour seats and the dash/carpet/console/door panels were blood red plastic/vinyl…it felt like you were actually inside an autopsy or dead carcass! The only visual break from all the red were the insanely over-the-top digital displays- it had numberic readouts for all the regular displays plus a GRAPH for the tach that dramatically rushed left to right and climbed upward at the same time (sort of like the Price Is Right game where the little guy climbs the mountain and falls off the end)- it made no sense and provided no useful info at all- there was already a 2-digit numeric tach readout (so 5300rpm was shown as 53)….and it talked, but thankfully my pop found the fuse to kill that….
I never tried acid, but when I drove that thing at night, I felt like I was trippin’….but I also though I was a bad@ss jammin’ to Def Leppard with the t-tops out! =)
The point of all of that-
1) I detest anything remotely close to a dark red (burgundy, maroon, wine) on the inside or outside of a car….or anywhere else!
2) I love the ’86 and ’87 Olds Cutlass Supreme (and the ‘sporty’ Salon trim level and the 442 (based on the Salon in ’85-’86 and the Supreme in ’87). The 442 had a HO 307 4-barrel V8 good for 180hp (vs 140hp for the regular 307). I’m torn between the years because ’86 was the final year for the non-aero headlights but it had a very clean-looking grille with only vertical bars (the ’85 had a cross-hatch grille pattern that was fugly). The flush aero-headlights on the ’87 changed the overall look but was sharp in it’s own right. Then again, the simplicity of mom’s basic Supreme 2-door with the white letter tires and chrome rallye wheels was even hotter looking than the 442 with it’s two-tone paint scheme, gold wheel trim and gold decals…and even though my Mazda3 would leave the 442 in the dust, when that 4-barrel carb kicked in it sounded like a jet taking off (lots of noise, but the gas gauge dropped faster than the speedo increased).
3) And finally the unloved (by most) 300 ZX that ran frorm ’84 to ’89, but the ’87 cosmetic ‘refresh’ removed any semblance of personality (good or bad) from the ZX and actually managed to make the Stanza look hot in comparison. So the ’84-’86 models are the ones that attract me. I only like the 2-seater models (base, t-top or turbo, which included t-tops) because the stretched 2+2 looked more like a Dacschund (dog) than a Datsun (the ’84 ZX was branded Nissan by Datsun). The digital gauge package (with the ridiculous graphs, insanely complicated climate controls and even a gauge showing g-force (on a car that coudn’t keep up with a Toyota Yaris on a curvy road today)! It was 80s at it’s best…and just to give it that extra visual ‘pop’ the center console was trimmed in a woodgrain-inspired applique that also could only be from the 80s…and the woodgrain also would wear thin anywhere that you touched it commonly within a few years. Leather was optional, but was guaranteed to have a ‘crackle’ texture long before the loan was paid off. The standard seats were heavily bolstered sporty-looking seats, but they were covered in VELOUR, and in an assortment of colors including the aforementioned RED, smurf blue, green-gray, and pale orange which they called ‘camel’. The ’86 Turbo is the best of the best- ’86 models had some minor exterior tweaks that gave a cleaner overall appearance, single-year turbine wheel design was very sharp and a 4-spoke steering wheel finally gave them room for the dozens of buttons they crammed on previous 2-spoke versions! Red with Black cloth, Turbo, digital pkg, 5-speed….that’d be my dream….with Def Leppard cassette ready to rock! BTW, in ’84, the base non t-top model could be ordered in Maroon with (clashing) Red interior….I don’t think the color wheel had been invented yet….
Now that my uncle (father’s younger brother) has died, I am the only “car person” left in my family. My brother did have a couple of rodded Chevelles when he was young but after he got married it has been transportation appliances for him. The same thing applied to my parents and now to my sisters; they might have newish cars because they can afford them but I’m sure they don’t even know what kind of motor is underneath the hood. My uncle had several cars I would like to revisit, my favorite was the ’65 Mustang he had when I was in high school. It was a 289 with a four barrel and even had the Rally-Pak; to a high school student operating a clapped out six cylinder Ford that car seemed like heaven on earth.
My grandma asked me if I wanted her car shortly before she died (and we knew she only had 4-6 weeks left at best). I thanked her profusely but told her she should give it to my add, he only child,instead since he was still driving a 1985 Chevy Scottsdale Pickup and I was perfectly content in my 2006 Mazda3 5-door.
She died in Feb of last year (2012) and dad ended up with the car but he didn’t want it either. It was a 1990 Ford Crown Victoria LX, White with Grey-Beige Velour/Felt-like interior, showroom condition inside and out and 23,341 miles on the odometer! Despite the condition, the fact is neither of ever liked driving the thing, not even when it was new 23 years ago! It handled like a parade float (with flat tires on a wet day) and the steering had so much play in it that you could turn it at least 1/4 of a turn without it doing a thing. But it could track straight on the highway for even a split-second, constant steering corrections were required to try to stay between the lines….or at least between the ditches!
It had a very discreet High Output option package that wasn’t detectable unless you noticed the dual exhaust outlets (painted dull black) or raised the hood and High Output on the Air Filter assembly. It added several Heavy Duty upgrades – suspension, alternator, radiator, cooling fan and also added 15-20 hp. But it was so damn slow because of the wretched transmission’s performance (or lack thereof, to be specific). The only shot at moving faster than that 15-year old Tercel stopped next toyou was if you nailed it from a stop and littrally stood (raised butt off seat and pushed on seatback for leverage to hold the pedal) to make it rev as high as you could before upshifting! Because once it made the upshift, sometimes even flooring the gas and holding it wouldn’t force it to kick down from 4th! But it did have primitive computer controls that prevented a manual downshift using the rickety column shifter….shifting out of D to any lower gear usually resulted in NOTHING! Startiing out with the gear shifter in the L (1) position also would not hold the gear to anywhere near the redline (which was 5200 or 5500rpm per the manual, but the last thing you’d find in that car was tachometer. But in L it would upshift by 4000 rpm at full throttle, so it was even more maddening to drive than most dinosaur tanks that far outlived their usefulness!
My dad almost let a man have it for $3500 when we had the estate sale, but I intervened and put on an Oscar-caliber performance! With tears in my eyes, I told Dad I just couldn’t let him sell it, it was all I had to remember my Nana Sara by and I would keep it forever….no price could buy it! My dad looked really confused and I shot the would-be-buyer a ‘go away’ look and he left. Then I brought my laptop outside and showed Dad what similar ones in worse conddition with a lot more miles were selling for on Ebay Motors! We got $9200 for that godforsaken heap from a man who collects them and had 12 or 13 already….I found that kind of sad…but then I found out there is a Tempo/Topaz ‘enthusiast’ site and (not sure I can get this one out without heaving) a Ford Granada/Mercury Monarch fan site….I was relieved to see the counter showing it had only received 82 views since it’s creation in 2007….
My dad actually felt torn about whether to sell it or not at first, but I told him it would be ridiculous to let it sit and deteriorate more and more from never being driven. Instead, someone with very low automotive expectations could float around in it and he (we) could split the cash! Besides, Nana left me the one thing of hers that I love most- 1/3 of her net worth, which wasn’t huge, but I still ended up with almost $140k in cash….I never expected it, but she treated me, my sister and my dad equally (essentially treated my sister and I as her children, which was touching even though it we did more for her than her son (my dad) ever did, right up to changing her diapers and sleeping in the recliner or even on the edge of the bed beside her near the very end when she didn’t watn to be alone….I was glad to do it and truly expected nothing, but when I learned that she left us equal shares I felt like I should have done more somehow, but they say survivors guilt will do that….and she had one last surprise to pull me out of feeling sorry for myself….she had three small rental homes and her own house that she and my grandpa built and my dad grew up in. Her will stated that we each got a rental house (like Monopoloy only with real money) and we got to pick the one we wanted after drawiing straws to figure out who went first and second…I got first, so I picked the one worth more than the other two combined. Then she stated that we all three shared ownership of her house but could only selling IF all three of us wanted to do so and none of us wanted to live there. Given the pathetic real estate market, I helped my dad and step-mom remodel and move in….and it will be a piggy bank for the future or maybe even my own home someday,…./
I just remembered somethiing hilarious…I found my great-grandfather’s will in Nana’s personal things as we cleaned out the house after she died. He had a work truck, a car and a tractor- he left each of the three to the three oldest children (Nana got the tractor) and the seven younger kids each got a heffer or a donkey from the pasture! Can you imagine riding up on a new donkey and telling everyone its’ your inheritance!? One of my uncles was very eccentric and he let his Heffer (named Martha Lou) live inside his two-room clapboard shack with him…it was always a Don’t ASk, Don’t Tell, Don’t Leave Him Alone Near My Kids situation…He died and Martie (as I called his bovine vixen) grieved herself to death in less than three days…..oh crap, maybe we were supposed to feed her during those three days??? It’s all for the best, no other man could satisfy her I’m sure (and they’re already on the Sex Offendor Registry and lifetime ankle tracking devices anyway)….they buried Uncle Deedub (which was actually the illiterate, phonetic pronounciation of his initials, D.W., for Dillard Wyamn) and Martie together in a big hole they dug with Nana’s tractor….it all worked out….
After reading my post immediatley above this one, a quote came to mind that I feel must be shared-
It was spoken by the hot-to-trot Blanche Devereaux on The Golden Girls, “You know, we might’ve had a few more dollars than most people and I loved them dearly…but when you get right down to it, they were nothing but WHITE TRASH!”
My cousins 69 Z28 bought brand new. Tuxedo black white stripes, beautiful car. Grandpas 63 Chrysler Windsor in dark red. Push button auto and square steering wheel, 383. The old mans 53 Kaiser and his 65 Pontiac parissene sport coupe. Probably lots more if I think about long enough!