My Love for Cars Started Early...

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Circa 1990. Was always out there with dad. Glad my hair isn't that red now!

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Later on he put a 302 V8 in that truck. Unfortunately the later years weren't so happy, but this picture pretty much started it all.
 
That's a good scan of an old photo. Did you use the negative rather than a print?

When I was about five I could identify pretty much every car I saw. We went out for dinner to a fancy place with my godparents and afterwards I ran unerringly through a large and crowded parking lot on a rainy night to find their car. That's a lot of years ago, but I think it was a late-'50s Plymouth with the Virgil Exner fins.

Dad had no interest in mechanical things, but I was always fascinated. I was delighted when we got a flat tire on a rainy night and I got to help Dad change it. I that was on the '49 Mercury Monarch. When we got home I told Mum that we'd had good luck. Dad disagreed. I would have been four or five.

So yes, I think it starts early.
 
I liked car a long time ago and still do but only if they have some sort of unusual or vintage qualities, otherwise I have little interest in them. I only fix them, I don't have to like them.
 
Been car crazy since I was 10 (1962). My parents bought a 63 Impala coupe with a dual exhaust, 4 barrel 327, none of which they were aware of.
In the fall of ‘65, mom was backing out to go grocery shopping, my dad saw 2 puffs of exhaust coming out of the car. “ My God, the car has dual exhausts” he said coupled with “why, it’ll be a fortune to put mufflers on that thing”! It had a dual snorkel air cleaner so I figured that would a good time to let him know it had 4 barrel carb too. I was 11 at the time and was already reading Car Craft and others so I knew what they didn’t - they bought the car on price but were clueless of what the car had.

Many of my friends had pony cars when I started driving and I thought they were fast. Then in ‘68 I had my first ride in a ‘67 Hemi GTX after an afternoon summer football practice session. It wiped the speedo face so quick I discovered a brand new addiction.....

Haven’t been able to put it to rest since.
 
It's hard to interpret the content of my mind because there's so little OF EITHER there, but....

I was always mechanically inclined and as a wee lad I noticed the different looks. My grandmother quoted me saying, "Look Grandma, another Edsel!", whenever one of those ox yoke grilled tanks went by.

However, it was on Rt. 9W I saw a car on its side in Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Couple that with the Oldsmobile ads of the day which ALWAYS included a "body off" picture of the frame....and I was hooked.

ps I believe growing up knowing Edsel was a still-born brand of Ford tempered my perception of auto company divisions. Ergo, when the likes of Pontiac, Plymouth, Sterling and Mercury are discontinued, I needn't go into mourning.
I do mourn the loss of Saab though I know they contributed to their own demise.

......and what's wrong with red hair?
 
Started early for me, playing with a white Tonka jeep and my parents new 65 Mercury are some of my first memories.
 
Originally Posted By: Trav
I liked car a long time ago and still do but only if they have some sort of unusual or vintage qualities, otherwise I have little interest in them. I only fix them, I don't have to like them.


It's hard to like modern [censored]. "It's all been done." Even 80s cars had personality, expressed in flourescent gauges, CRT touch-screens (Olds Trofeo), talking at you, etc. Then you'd have something like a dodge omni whose personality was its own misery. Something like a modern 3 cyl Mitsu Mirage would entertain me, but I won't buy it until it's three figures.
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It cracks me up that that Dodge Diplomat is the same width as a Ranger, and that Ranger is smaller than the 90's Rangers, which are smaller than anything else. Can see it's Dart/Volare roots.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Something like a modern 3 cyl Mitsu Mirage would entertain me, but I won't buy it until it's three figures.
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It came in last place in CR's small car category.
 
I was about 3 or 4 going to watch my uncles race often and started to love them. Still remember all the first gen Monte Carlos. He later had a 69 Camaro that I wanted. When I was a little older all the guys around my area started renting a drag strip and that was it. Few of them would test their cars on my grandparents road because it was nice and straight. We would sit on their porch and watch. 28” slicks looked so huge when I was around 10 lol
 
Funny that you mentioned this.
Weirdly I stumbled on this today by accident ( before you bail give it a few minutes)
For some sick reason it took me back to the days of my brother and I ripping up the streets in
his well used 1970 Mark Donohue Special Javelin in a forest green color ...….. This song was always put in the tape player.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Originally Posted By: Trav
I liked car a long time ago and still do but only if they have some sort of unusual or vintage qualities, otherwise I have little interest in them. I only fix them, I don't have to like them.


It's hard to like modern [censored]. "It's all been done." Even 80s cars had personality, expressed in flourescent gauges, CRT touch-screens (Olds Trofeo), talking at you, etc. Then you'd have something like a dodge omni whose personality was its own misery. Something like a modern 3 cyl Mitsu Mirage would entertain me, but I won't buy it until it's three figures.
lol.gif


It cracks me up that that Dodge Diplomat is the same width as a Ranger, and that Ranger is smaller than the 90's Rangers, which are smaller than anything else. Can see it's Dart/Volare roots.


You are spot on! It has all been done before and many times implemented much better. I still truly enjoy the feeling looking at a full analog gauge package in a real wood dash and a nice smooth well gated shifter topped with a leather tied boot and walnut knob.
When I work on old Euro stuff I still marvel at the quality of things like the SS brackets and rebuildable fuel pumps, bearings under the valve springs to prevent wear and all sorts of small really well done parts that add life and value to the car but go unseen by the consumer.

It seems like today we accept the quantity of cheap dime store bells and whistles as a measure of the cars worth. Time moves on and technology advances but when done properly quality and technology can play well together. Today's consumer doesn't seem to care so the accept plastic bolstered coated leather seats, plastic door hardware and panels, cheap carpeting, etc but it has 14 cup holders and integrates with my smart phone. Sad.
 
Yep, started young for me too. I don't know how I got stuck on Honda at such a young age as no one in the family owned one, but it stuck. I have also caught the VW bug as well.
 
Originally Posted By: Negative_35
That's a good scan of an old photo. Did you use the negative rather than a print?


Nah just a scan of an old photo. I scanned several a time ago.

Originally Posted By: Kira
......and what's wrong with red hair?


Heh, nothing at all. It was just really bright back then it seems. More brown 28 years later. Now my beard on the other hand, is bright red for some reason
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Same here! I can remember being a little kid going with my uncle to all the car dealerships in town. He was and still is a car freak. He's always been a Cadillac,Buick,Lincoln guy. I remember after seeing "The Car" I was totally fascinated with Lincolns. Here's me when I was 10 at the Lincoln dealership (March 1979)
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Originally Posted By: car51
Nice Lincoln Continental
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When I was 10 that was my dream car!! Here's what started it all,this custom Lincoln Mark III. I LOVE the sound of a Ford V8!!
 
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