Faymester

For me I think it started when I learned to drive and learned how everything worked. I'm certainly not one to get in there and do it my self or anything, but just knowing all the stuff that's going on made driving so much cooler.

Then when I got my IS (& joined CL ) I think my love for cars really flourished. Up until then I would say I definitely liked cars, but I don't think I really loved them until then.

The combination of everything that a car is working together to make something that's all of functional, technologically advanced (even if it's just for it's time), asthetically pleasing to look at (hopefully), and can provide so much enjoyment it just great for me. Then when you get into customization; oh man, how you can improve on something that was pretty neat in the first place, that's just even more fun. Personally I'm more into the workings of the car as far as the making it better goes, that's way more fascinating to me (intakes, exhause systems, engine mods, even the software). The visual improvements are of course beautiful as well; the little touches that make the car just that much more eye catching.

STIG

1980 Toyota Corolla. I am not kidding.

96SC4

iTrader: (2)

Going to Hot Hod & Classic shows with my pops since i was a little kid. I still go to them with him... Hot Rods & Classics have a little place in my heart to this day(even though i never owned one)....

Ice350

iTrader: (1)

I'm also older than most of you guys, like mmarshal...though not quite as old as he (had to say it). I've also been around this site long enough to remember threads like this coming up before.
It's hard to imagine a real love of cars developing over posters but so be it.

For me it started in the 60's when my Mom, brother and I moved in with my grandparents for a while. Grandad was a car guy. The Sunday drives in his Caddy were highlights. Watching him work on his other cars was also a treat. As I got older, mom made me the designated family car washer. In the 70's, she has some cool cars. The 73 Cutlass, the 74 Caddy, then a 75 Caddy, then the 76 280Z that she kept for 18 years.
At age 15, mom got me a 69 Plymouth Satellte. I loved that car and hated it. It was practically new and it was roomy enough to make-out with girls...that I loved. It looked just like my cousins' Superbee but was not nearly as fast....that I hated. But I took fantastic care of it and my grandad and I did all the repair work. It was faster than most other unmodded cars though.

In college, mom got me a beautiful metallic green 73 Monte Carlo. That car was sweet in the day. Everyone wanted to ride in my Mean Green Machine. I modded the music, changed the hubcaps to the sportiest ones I could find. Added some pinstriping and a few other changes. I've always modded every car I've had. It was a sad day when I totalled that car but Mom replaced it with a beautiful special edition 77 Monte Carlo. What a sweet piece that was. I drove it until it rusted out.

That rust is what took me over to the dark side. I put up with the repairs because I could fix most things myself. But I couldn't stop body rust. That's when i went Japanese in 1985 with a Nissan Sentra. Yes, I modded that one, too.

But it was my grandad that started it all for me. Hanging around him and cars was majical.

mmarshall

You will be, in time.




The 69 Plymouth Satellite was much closer, in looks, to its Plymouth Road Runner cousin than to the Dodge Super Bee, which had a completely different front and rear end, though the interiors were the same. The Road Runner was, in effect, a Satellite with bigger engine options, bird-cartoon-graphics, and a gimmicky "Beep-Beep" horn. The 1970 Road Runner and Super Bee added, in some versions, wild new paint colors and a big "Shaker" hood opening.

darkdream

When I was 4-5 years old began to watch many types of racing on tv and was fascinated with my neighbor's three Ferraris; however, my true love for driving cars came when I was in the 8th grade and my father surprised me for the simply reason he wished he had a high powered go kart when he was younger. I guess the adrenaline rush from driving 90-100 mph and taking turns at over 2 Gs years before it was legal for me to drive got me addicted.

huddleston

iTrader: (3)

mine is somewhat different - i saw modded toyota solara in college and ended up buying one and modding it as well. got me hooked enough to mod every car i have had since.

neurocity

iTrader: (17)

I remember my dad sitting me in his lap driving a 1978 Trans Am...Identical to the Smokey and the Bandit TA...It was suppose to be my car when I turned 16.

Never happened.

My cousin did 120mph in his new 88 Nissan 300zx Turbo I was 12. That was the speed bug for me.

-J-P-L-

There seems to be a common generation here. I'm 30 and also grew up with Countach, Testarossa, Diablo, F40, ect. posters plastered on my walls.

I think when we are young we tend to dream and drool over such supercars and then once we realize reality, our interests tend to shift more and more to normal cars. This doesn't mean we lose our supercar interests, but we just broaden our interests to the whole industry.

Faymester

I've got an extremely similar story as well, but it was an 86 Caddy Seville (bought in 85 as one of the first ones) ... I also never got the car & but was supposed to.

I used to love 'driving' on dad's lap

-J-P-L-

I'm really boggled by your logic. I see what you're saying in asking why a company purposely makes lesser cars than they're capable of but isn't this obvious to you?

Right now, Toyota's best effort is the Lexus LS600hL. You are suggesting that it doesn't make sense to make something less than that since you said that a company should only build the best cars they can which would alienate 99.9% of the market. Do you really not see a reason for affordable Toyota's so that people other than the rich can actually own a car?

As one can see, I drive a Yaris which in comparison to an LS is comparing a 3rd world country hut to Bill Gates' home. So Toyota "purposely" builds a stripped car that they hold back on. But it's for the clear reason of basic economics. The Yaris sells more than many Lexus models combined.

Also, if Toyota wanted, they could build a $1 million car if they felt they could market and sell it. So should that be the only car they offer?

Why does Mercedes build the C and E class when they can build the S?

Ice350

iTrader: (1)

You are quite right. Your information did prompt my memory though. My cousin had both Road Runner and Super Bee. I remember the Road Runner and Bee emblems now. I'll have to ask if he had both at the same time but I now remember both. He was and still is a mechanic. He would take wrecked cars for cheap and restore them.

I8ABMR

I knew this was going to be a cool thread. Good to see that we are taking many members down memory lane

IS-SV

I thought possibly it was something I might grow out of. Not the case, the toys are just getting more expensive and sophisticated, which motivates me to work harder and have bigger stock market gains.

LexLaw

Yeah I was diggin' the Lambo Countach, Knight Rider's KITT and Transformers like every kid in the '80's. But initially it was my Grandmother getting me Matchbox cars. She started the madness.