What cars did you grow up with, or "How parents unintentionally influence their children".

914Driver's post of the '64 Barracuda flashed me back to my childhood.

My parent's enthusiasm for autos had an undeniable influence on me.  My dad raced from the early 50's up until my sister was born, then decided to grow up.  Racing was a bit more dangerous then and a couple of his pals did not make it to 1960.  So I missed out on the MG TD, 356, XK120/140 and AC Bristol and a couple of specials.  But the stories and the pictures did  me in from the beginning.  Here we go:

Here's my childhood chronology: (I was born in 1962). 

1959 Mercedes 219-This was sold when I was about 3, but I remember it well.

1965 Barracuda.  Main memories was huge glass (obviously), the chrome bar on the backseat that got incredibly hot and the white ball shifter.  This was my mom's car and she enjoyed dragging the local high school kids.

1967 VW Bus.  This was the family car after the Barricuda.  The middle seat was rarely in place.  My sister and I had a card table and two camp chairs.  There were aluminum lunch trays kept behind the passenger front seat for dining out (Burger King).  This is the first vehicle I "drove", standing between my father's legs and steering.

1967-1970 VW Bugs  We had a host of these.  The only one that stuck with me was our early Super Beatle..it had a smooth sunroof and I found out how airtight these things were when I closed the door on my finger once.

1972 MG Midget  This is the car I really learned to drive on.  10 years old, and my dad would let me drive the last mile or so to my school (5th grade), get out and get my bookbag out of the trunk and walk into school.  It was a different time.  I also had some self esteem issues and I think that was his way of nursing me along...it worked.  We had a cabin on the NC/VA line and he would let me drive around the dirt back roads under the pretext that if he had to go to the hospital, I needed to be comfortable getting him there.  There are several funny stories associated with that...especially when lost tourists stopped me for directions.

1972 Audi 100LS  This is what I took my driver's test in.  And my driver's training.  My instructor was good using this instead of his car.  It is also what I got my first ticket in and the car I lost my license in at the age of 16.25 years.  NC was pretty tough on youth.

1975 Lancia Beta Coupe   This was a car my father later gifted to me.  This is how I learned to fix things.  Lots of things.  But it was fun enough for me and I enjoyed outrunning my friends in their pony cars on the dirt back roads.  I thought I should be in a rally development program.

After that, I graduated from High School, moved out and exclusively rode motorcycles for several years (financial necessity) but these are the cars I was in daily that sparked my imagination.  Eventually, the first car I bought was a 1962 TR4 and then my '57 Austin Healey 100-6 (still have it).  My dad passed away a couple of years ago at the age of 98.  He had a Mini Coupe, a C Class Mercedes and an NC Miata when he left this world.  I hope to go similarly.

Next?

*EDIT* I should also throw this in..my father bought my sister a '68 mustang coupe with a 200CI 6 and an auto.  It was not technically a car that my parents had, but it did influence me.  My sister was not a huge fan of driving so I would slip behind the driver's wheel pretty often for rides to school.

The one that stuck in my head from childhood was Dad's black Chrysler 300F.  We had various 4wd stuff due to the location of the house/driveway (Wagoneer, Scouts, Brats) but the one I wish I still had was a white 1970 Audi 100LS four speed.  That car was terrific except that it rusted away...

I was born in 73.

Dad had a 68 El Camino with a slide-in camper that I don't remember because they sold it after I was born (second kid, no room).  He traded it on a 64 Olds 88 sedan in that avocado green with dark green vinyl.  I remember that one.  

Later, during the oil embargo, mom had to finally get her driver's license so we could have the extra rations, so Dad bought her a 74 Nova.  It was that electric blue with a red pinstripe and black interior.  It had the straight 6 and always had a lifter tick.

From there dad graduated to a 69 Chevy C10 with a 307 and 3 on the tree.  Red with the white roof.  I can still smell the inside of that truck.  I remember wanting to drive SO badly when I was only 5.  I watched how dad worked the clutch and the shifter and I knew I could do it.  He knew that 5 was ridiculously early for teaching his son how to drive, but I pestered him forever.  Finally one night before dinner he figured I wouldn't shut up about it, so he backed the truck down the front yard to where it drops off a couple feet to the road.  He turned the keys off and said, "ok, don't let it fall off the cliff."  I sat there forever.  When the clutch was to the floor, the small of my back was on the edge of the seat and the steering wheel looked like a skyscraper.  At first I chickened out and we went in for dinner.  After dinner, I marched out, hopped in the truck, and did it.  I tore up the yard something terrible, but I did it.  I drove.  I'll never forget the night he sold it.  I knew he had made an ad in the paper and a guy was coming to look at it.  I went to bed and when I heard it drive away I knew it had been sold because the 1-2 shift took longer than usual.

He replaced that truck with a 78 crew cab C25 SRW.  Two tone brown with a TH400 and 350.  We put headers on it and glasspacks.  Mom's Nova finally died and we sold it to our trash guy and he got her a 78 Scout II Rallye.  After realizing how much he really needed 4x4, he "retired" the 78 C25 to camper-only duty and bought an 84 K25 with the 305 and a 4 speed.  Stripped down work truck in that baby blue color with the ugliest cap/topper on it you ever did see.  It was one of those very 70s caps with the roof that stepped up and had skylights.  Ugly.  We finally replaced mom's Scout with an 88 Blazer, then a 91 Blazer, then a 94 Blazer, then a Trailblazer, then a Caddy SRX, now a GMC Acadia.  Dad replaced the 84 pickup with an 88 TBI truck, then an 04 Dmax and added an 08 Dmax.

Sometimes I lament that I grew up in the late 70s and early 80s when big blocks made 190 hp and economy cars made 60 hp, but it was all relative.  I didn't know any different.  I knew that my first car (an 83 Chevy Celebrity) sure did sound neat when I flipped the air cleaner cover on the 2.8L V6.  I knew dad really cared about my passion for cars (that he instilled) when they got me a car for college.  My ever-practical dad would have probably wanted to get the most sensible/inexpensive car you could find... a Geo, or a Cavalier, or a Taurus, but he didn't.  He got me a 91 Beretta GT in bright red with a 5 speed.  I felt like a boss in that car.

I was born in '77, my dad drove a Ford Taunus coupe and my mom had an Opel Kadett, I remember both, but the gas filler and the heater vents on the Opel are the most memorable things. Also my dad's Taunus had a cigarette ashtray that flip over in the back seats. 

One day they left and they came back with a new '81 Celica Liftback for my dad and an '81 Honda Civic for my mom. 

An '83 Renault Fuego followed the Celica. 

My dad also had a '77 w116 280SE manual at some point as a second fun car which he then traded for a '66 Cadillac. 

Japanese cars followed, mostly Hondas. 

My earliest automotive recollection is riding in the passenger seat of a black 55 Chev 2dr post, no hood, 2 x 4's sticking out of the hood screaming down the country roads around our house as Dad tested his setup.
My Dad was a stock car racer but in those days often had a street car project on the go. But he would drive anything, and it wasn't out of the ordinary for him to come home with an Austin 1100, or the 69 Toyota Crown that was our family car for a while. That one got sold when he bought a brand new Z28 in 71. Mom usually drove Ramblers because Dad could buy them for nothing and get them back on the road with a little work. He would buy a car and flip it in a day, or sell his daily driver if the deal was right, and drive anything from a super clean Eldorado to a tired 70 Chevelle with a 250/6 or a $35 72 LeSabre, all of which he drove within about about a year's time. And if he found something he really liked he would buy a bunch of them, eventually selling them one at a time. His last new car was a 1980 AMC Spirit with a 2.5/4spd manual, then a string of $100 beaters until he stopped driving.

And he was excited about every single one of them like a 16 year old getting his first car. 

Was I influenced by that? Yes, I'm exactly the same. 

A collection of the worst-of GM products of the 80's and 90s, mostly. I don't recall the years, but my mom had a Beretta, Lumina, Corsica, and ultimately a Saturn Vue. It's strange because when I was very very young, she had a stick shift 5 series she ordered in custom burnt orange that I remember being super rad. Like with most of her cars, she killed it by "forgetting" to change the oil...ever. 

My grandfather was the one that ignited my passion for cars. We spent an entire Summer rebuilting a notchback Mustang we had yanked out of a farmer's field.

The early ones I'm a bit fuzzy on details because I wasn't really old enough to pay attention, but:

mid 60s Morris Minor, early 70s Torino, late 60s Falcon, mid 70s Austin Maxi, 1980 Malibu wagon, late 70s Maverick, 1985 Escort, 1987 Taurus wagon.

Aside from a slight preference for Ford over other American brands, I can't say they really influenced me much.  For whatever reason I didn't really get into cars until after I had graduated from college, had a job as a software engineer, and started thinking about what to buy for myself.  I guess that preference showed up a bit though, because my first thought was a Mustang GT :)  A quick insurance quote on one of those killed THAT idea, and I wound up with a Probe GT instead.

I grew up in a 1958 Mercury Voyager wagon, juke box drive 430 Lincoln.  You can find 57s and 59s all day long, you never see a 1958.

May answer my weirdass car tastes ....

Born in 1952. My best early car memory is the right drive Morris Minor my mom would drive me around New Jersey in. I was 3-4 years old holding a spare steering wheel  Mom kept her MG TD until 1987.

Born in 1970.

About when I became car aware, about 1977 maybe, I was pulling apart various engines in the back of my dad's shop. I had a great mentor and learned a lot.

Later, my dad had a shop that specialized in AC VWs. 

Also in the '70s my grandfather, dad's dad, had a ton of VWs. Late 60s squareback, bay window bus, one of the first rabbits.

At my dad's VW shop I got to help work on a 356 speedster owned by the body guy. I was 15 I think.

About that same time a friend of my mother bought a E36 M3 brown 912. I was transitioned from VW to Porsche buy this time as I got into the world of sports cars. I told him everything about that 912 that a coffee table book education could spout.

Here I am today. Probably 35 or more variously badged VWs through my life and still 5 in the driveway.

I came home from the hospital in a 1967 Pontiac GTO: four-speed, dog dish hub caps, Posi rear. 

Born in 82, my dad had a '67 Fair lady he raced at Hallett (before I was born he had a street legal '68 Camaro that ran 10s in the 70s)

While he had the race car he had an '86 Turbo Thunderbird and my "uncle" aka dad's best friend had an SVO. Uncle Wayne also had a tuned up Terminator he would take to Hallett (that car was insane, I'd love to have one) My dad also had a roadrunner and other cool cars over the years.

In reply to 914Driver :

Great car!

Dad had a 63 fairlane wagon, then 68 ford country squire, 69 dodge full size wagon, and a 72 Plymouth Fury wagon. He switched to a dodge van in 76, and was never without a van since. 
He did not believe in hopping anything up, but it started my love of hot rod wagons!

In reply to z31maniac :

Sounds like you had good mentors to "print" on!

Just for my info, what was the terminator you mentioned uncle wayne racing?

I wish I had followed my dad's import lineage of cars.  Earliest I remember is the 71 Roadrunner that was bought new, but after that it went import with a 74 Opel Manta, 77 Datsun 710, 80 or 81 Nissan 200SX, another Opel for stepmom, and after high school I distanced myself from him for years (long story) but I know of a mid 80s RX-7.

Me on the other hand went 77 Grand Prix because cheap and mom's friend's, then right into high school dreams with an 84 Camaro mostly because HS friend had a 70 I liked.  Then another 84 Camaro (this time with AC, having moved to New Orleans after the Navy for a year), then a 90 Berretta GT, then finally dipped into imports with a 93 Eagle Talon.  Been imports since (except for the 79 Dodge Lil Red Express because I thought it was cool).

I could have bought a Navy friend's early 80s RX-7 around 1987 but at the time a manual trans and manual choke intimidated me.  If only I had....

My Mom drove a late 60s Chevelle wagon for the longest time. 

My Dad always had a company car. Usually a full-size Chevy Caprice. 

When the 70s oil crunch hit, Mom got an Opel Kadet for daily duties and they bought a Ford Econoline with the 300 six and a 5 speed OD for hauling the kids. We took that van everywhere. On the interstate, it would knock down 20 mpg if you kept the speeds reasonable. But talk about gutless. It had a super tall final drive ratio, I remember having to push start it up hills in the mountains because it didn't have the torque to get moving. 

I remember helping my Dad replace the timing set in the Chevelle. I was probably 4-5 at the time. Every bit of maintenance that was done from then till I moved out I had a hand in either helping or doing the work while he helped. I'm 54 and he's 84. I still get the call when it's time to work on the farm equipment.

It wasn't the cars that were memorable, it was the times working together that I remember. Most of them were good times. I still enjoy helping him fix things. I'll call him mid-week and find out what his latest project is and tell him I'll be out Saturday to help. 

Replacing batteries in his boat. 

Replacing a broken power pole at his shop. 

Tearing down a crushed shed. 

Or skidding logs to the burn pile. 

My father was not really a car guy, per se, but was a mechanical engineer by training, and was supportive of my explorations in figuring out how things worked. Maybe that's where my gear-head tendencies came from.

He had a soft spot for slant-6 Mopar products, and never bought a new car while I was growing up.

When I came along in '65, my father was driving a '61 Valiant, with a 3-spd manual on the floor. My two memories of that car were

1. The handbrake failing when parked on a hill (and I guess he didn't leave it in gear), so it rolled away and hit something
2. 2nd gear going away at some point - had to rev it in first, then slam it into 3rd on the way to the dealer to trade it in on the 1st of three '66 Darts

Dart #1 was his commuter car (no A/C, or power anything) and left us when we moved from DC to MD (needed too much work to pass inspection).

Dart #2 was the one that lived with us the longest - from '70 to '83; that was the car I learned how to drive in, got my first speeding ticket in, and had my first accident in... It was the gussied-up "270" model with dealer-installed A/C that could turn the interior into a meat locker. At the end, it was burning more oil than gas, but the "Limovine" (as it was dubbed) had become such a fixture among my friends that they provided an escort for us as we drove it to the junkyard. 

Dart #3 (a GT!) was purchased shortly before I left home for college, so I never bonded with that one...

My mom's '75 Honda Civic - bought used, of course - was what turned me on to light, good-handling cars (even if that particular E36 M3 brown Hondamatic-equipped unit was dangerously slow when trying to merge onto highways).

On any other site I'd think this was a password phishing thread. Here are a few of Dad's cars that influenced me:

The red POS above is the car from the black and white pic. B&W is before they got married. Color is after those 5 in the color pic were born. Cool ass lead sled reduced to ruin by 12 years of daily Dad use.

When Dad was on his deathbed, he said to me "I've only got a few valuable things, there's the PPK and this diamond ring and my old pocket watch. Which one do you want?" I said "can I have the Greenbrier?" That was the last time I saw him smile.

berkeley. Onions up in here now.

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

Now I miss your dad, and I didn't even know him! 
Btw, you nailed the password comment. 

Born in '82.  Mom drove a '79 Impala, then an '89 Calais, then a '95 Intrepid.  All pretty blah.

Dad switched off a lot more.  First thing I remember him driving was a black '74 Cutlass 2dr, I was probably 5.  Then he had a yellow '70 Nova that ran really well for a 307.  (The friend he sold it to ran the numbers and figured out it was actually a 300 hp 327 out of a Vette.)  Then an orange '70 C10, then a blue '80 Dodge SWB that he had for several years, fixed up, sold, bought back, then sold again.

When I was 10 or so he built a VW powered sand rail with a mild 1774?   That was what got me in to cars.  I learned to drive in it and they sold it the week before I turned 16.  Still mad about that.

When I was 14, he dragged home a slant-six Duster that was our second car until I turned 16, then we fixed the rust and repainted it.  Later swapped it to a 360.

My favorite memory dad/cars memory happened after I moved out.  I was 20 and we drove six hours to Peoria to look at a Spirit R/T.  Dad was playing his usual car-buying curmudgeon, about to give me 37 reasons why I shouldn't buy the car - but I thought I had really done my homework this time.  It was clean, and had been taken care of since new, or so I thought.  We test drove it with the owner and he kept scowling as he wound it out to about 90 on the highway.  We go back to the owner's house and he's still not smiling.  "We're gonna go get lunch, but we'll come back by and let you know if we want it in half an hour or so".  We get in his truck and drive off.  I get ready for the speech about what I've overlooked.

We haven't even gotten to the end of the driveway and he looks at me, grins, and says "holy E36 M3 kid, you need to buy this car like yesterday".

My parents were not car people.  The most interesting car they ever owned was a '93 Thunderbird.  And my mom bought it because it was a leftover and cheap.  

I was born in '67 and remember: 

'69 Galaxy 500

'72 Impala 

'75 Malibu

'76 Granada

'74 LTD 

'81 Accord

'86 Maxima

'93 T-Bird

'94 Crown Vic

'9? Chrysler 300

'10 Civic

'15 Civic

Don't really have any idea where I got it from... 

In reply to psteav (Forum Supporter) :

But ain't ALL early sbc engines a 327 from a 'vette? Just ask the seller 

ok, I'll let myself out, now...

My parents rarely had interesting cars, other than my dad's 1970 Triumph that be bought when he was 21 (and was in the family from 1970 to about 2018 or so). Otherwise, for most of my first handful of years they had an Audi sedan of some sort (something from the mid-70s) that was brown, and they towed a 19-foot sailboat around with it, including cross-country twice. After that they had several Volvo 240 wagons (all of them about 10 years old when bought, over a 15-year span) and then when minivans came out they bought a Voyager and have had a Dodge minivan of some kind ever since. Mom had a brand-new '89 Civic LX for a few years, and when I was in college they bought an Altima brand new in about 1995 or so. When we lived overseas, a Volvo or minivan always came with us and then we'd buy a second car (or motorcycle) there. We had a base-model Lancia Delta when we were in Italy. Not nearly as cool as the Deltas that everyone drools over there days. Never had an SUV, never had a pickup.

I guess my parents' influence on me was practicality in vehicles. They loved antiquing and hauling home some giant piece of furniture in or on top of the Volvo wagons (which the minivans made MUCh easier later on). And maintenance. Dad did all his own maintenance. He didn't "mod" vehicles, but fixed anything that broke himself, whether that was a suspension part, a transmission, or whatever. Pretty sure he has never brought a car to a "shop" other than for warranty repairs, but he's probably also never put any significant aftermarket "upgrade" on any car either. I'm certain he *can* do anything I can do with cars, and probably more, however. Just not his interest. Knowing how to fix anything on his own cars is a requirement of life, but not a hobby or something he enjoys. 

I take that back - he did do two "mods" to his Triumph back in the 1970s: Built his own mahogany dashboard so he could add more gauges, and replaced the little rear wing vents with some home-made tiny stained glass windows because he said "the vents made too much noise and I didn't want to just fill them in" lol .

The first 5 were pretty uninspiring at the time, but I'd take any of 'em today. 

Born in 1954.  These are the ones I remember...

'51 Studebaker Bullet nose.  I recall the brakes failed as Mom pulled into the carport one evening.

'57 Chevrolet 4 door.  Development of my vocabulary took a bad turn while my parents owned this car.

1940 Ford Pickup, the original bed replaced with a wooden flatbed.  No heat or defroster.  We had it for a short time during the winter and I recall going to school with burning candles melted to the metal dashboard in an effort to keep the windows clear of frost and ice.

'56 Mercury.  Came and went.  I recall it due to the nose high stance popular at the time and it sounded good.

'58 Desoto.  Hard to describe the size of this car.  Traveling at night you could see the taillights in the distance at the end of the rear fenders.  They seemed a long way off.

'64 Rambler Classic 770.  Two door coupe.  My favorite of all my parents cars.  Maroon with white top, maroon interior.  287 ci with automatic.  Console, floor shift, and bucket seats.  In spite of my best efforts I failed to convince my parents this was the perfect car for me when I turned 16 six years later.  Not trouble free but IMHO a pretty good looking car and if you down downshifted the automatic to second or first it sounded pretty good.  It was delivered Nov. 22, 1963.

'67 Ford Galaxie Convertible.  Yellow with black top.  390 ci and automatic.  I should have loved it but didn't.  Dad tried to make it mine but I resisted and won.  A rare victory I would come to regret.

'71 Chrysler Newport.  383 and even in this package the old car could move at a respectable pace.  Maroon with our first vinyl top in black.  Big and thirsty.  Mom got it around 1973.

'67 Mercury Commuter Wagon.  It led a rough life and took everything that was thrown at it without complaint.

'73 Dodge D100 longbed.  Dad's second new vehicle and first new truck.  Their last vehicle purchased prior to me going out on my own.

But...Dad spent some time as a car salesman and as a result some interesting cars spent time in the driveway.

Triumph TR4 and Datsun 2000 Roadster.  They made an impression and I've yet to recover.

'66 Mustang  Coupe.  289 w/4 speed.  Oh boy!  But I've never owned a Mustang.

'63 Rambler Classic 550 2 door sedan.  That's right, a post Rambler.  Someone had modified it and my Dad, who did not normally engage in hi-jinks would delight in showing people what it would do.  I recall it being impressive but no data is available.  This and my Mom's '64 made me appreciate sleepers.

'68 Plymouth Roadrunner Convertible.  383 with automatic.  Probably had power steering but otherwise pretty sparse.  I didn't understand it then but do now when Dad said "No.  You'll never have one of these.  It would be like giving a baby razor blades to play with".