Ford berkeleying Ranger. My dad isn't a big car guy, but he loves his little trucks. He had an S10 when I was very young, then a 90 F150, and then all Rangers. 94, 97, 2011. Two white, one black.
I've owned two OBS Fords at this point, and zero Rangers, so it's clear which one had the biggest influence on me.
BRG bugeye sprite. He drove it in a body cast after T-boning a truck on his Harley.
He might've said a Bugatti type 37A, but I think it was the bugeye.
Not Dad's actual car.
'66 Dodge Dart. Had to be a '66 for him - they got "too square" in '67. Had to have a slant-6, too. He owned three of them, bought in '69, '70 (for my mother to drive carpool), and '83, when the one bought in '70 finally died. The one bought in '70 was the one my brother and I learned to drive in - it was a "270" model 4-door, white, with dealer-installed A/C that could turn it into a meat locker. Got my first ticket in that car, had my first car accident in it, and found the breaking point of a front torsion bar (7 high-school kids in the car combined with Baltimore pot holes)...
1974 Opel Manta Rallye. Bought new when he sold his 71 Roadrunner during the gas crunch. Discovered the SCCA and a local group, started doing rallys. When he rolled it (still fairly new) mom made him get a family car (77 Datsun 710) and the Opel became a full-on rally car. Caged, gutted, two giant computers on the dashboard, 4 giant Cibie lights on the scrap metal that used to be a full bumper. It's the main reason I knew the SCCA existed in 2011 when I got my divorce and started living a life again.
Dad's were square body chevy trucks of the 4x4 variety 69 and a 76 before kids. I grew up in the passenger seat of an 84 K20 he re-did and used daily/plowing snow. He built a dump system under the factory bed and painted it forest green. Also always had a high top chevy conversion van too. Offroad rigs were Jeep CJs, had an orange cj5 on 40in gumbo monster mudders, a few cj7s.
Mom drove black Trans Ams from the beginning till the early 00s. I think a 76, 80, 85, 97.. Always turbo or WS6. Then moved into Altimas, always black too.
Oddly with all that GM, I meandered to Ford trucks and Toyota Offroad rigs. Dad did influence my cj7 project though.
Probably when he helped build this:
My dad's on here -- so perhaps he'll check in and offer his own thoughts. But for me, THE defining car has to be his 1976 Alfa Romeo GTV similar to the one below. His was silver, with cool MOMO alloys and a glorious exhaust. The sounds and smells of that fine Italian automobile were exhilarating as an 11 year old . . .
Dad wasn't into cars. We consistently got his father's car when Grandad bought a new one. All Buick Electra 225s. Until my mom got hit in the Buick and it was totaled. Ended up with a '69 Chrysler Newport. When gas crisis hit Dad would not drive over 55. It made our traditional summer road trips tedious. Dad was a teacher...
Dad finally decided that they needed two cars so he wanted something "fuel efficient." I suggested Toyota. Dad bought a used '79 Toyota Corolla lift back with a manual transmission, because "fuel efficient." He brought it home and I was thrilled. Yes it was metallic dark brown, but the interior was tan. While I was looking at the owners manual in the driveway (all 25 pages) I noticed a ring around the fan switch. Owner's manual said it was the temp control for AC. We'd never had a car with AC. I informed my dad he'd bought a car with AC. He was actually embarrassed. AC was "luxurious" (bad) and bad for fuel economy (also bad).
I thought it was a fun car to drive and used the AC every chance I had. I convinced him that the car was more aerodynamic with the windows up and AC on, so he eventually used it. The rust worm killed it but I was my first Japanese car and a revelation.
By the time I came around (last child) dad's defining vehicle was a Beech Bonanza. Any earth bound craft was an appliance. He had a new '57 Thunderbird when he met mom and his sisters told stories of doing donuts on the way to school in a '32 Ford he had purchased when he was 15. All I remember is a steady stream of pick up trucks for him and Buicks for mom.
My dad was a VP and part owner of the company he worked at for 40 years. When it came time to get new cars for some of the executives and salesman (40) my dad and another VP/ part owner were given the task of finding the best car deal for a group purchase.
My dad got a 280z, the other VP got a Lincoln Town Car and they bought 38 Mustang II's for the sales guys. 4 cylinder, 4 speed, AM radios. Complete crap but dirt cheap.
Needless to say the other salesman were not happy but they also weren't owners. The President and main owner thought it was hilarious but my dad was never on a car selection committee again.
That was the first of many Z cars he owned.
Dad wasn't a car guy. He was an aircraft mechanic so he worked on his own cars. Taught me and my sisters as we got old enough to hold a wrench. I was always into cars and he did his best to dissuade me from it which ended up me acquiring a taste for sports cars over muscle cars/hot rods that was all around SoCal area where I grew up. Canyon roads also added to that taste as muscle cars don't handle so well. He had a 61 Dodge Dart w/slant-6 & 3 on the tree. Was hoping it would be mine but he sold it to a junk yard when I was 12 and they drove it away. A 69 Datsun 510 Station Wagon replaced it. Originally bought to tow behind the motor home but never got around to doing that. I learned to drive in that car and shift gears, it was a 4-speed manual. First engine I rebuilt after finding out how fast it would go in 1st, 2nd & 3rd gear. No rev limiter and no tach. A 65 Chevelle 4-door with a small 6, powerglide and power nothing. Huge steering wheel and drum brakes. Front bench seat meant didn't have to crawl of the seats to the back when I took out on dates in High School. He replaced the Datsun with a 71 Impala. 400 small block, AT. Would smoke the tires for half a block. California emissions every car after 71 came with emissions and when you bought a used car built before 71 you had to add emissions. Left 71 out some how and that car didn't have emissions to bog it down. After I grew up and left my sisters talked him into a nicer car he called his old man sports car. A 78 Dodge Magnum w/318. Got mom a Crown Vic that she had until he passed away. After all of us kids moved out he got rid of the motor home and got a pickup and 5th wheel camper. 1st one was a Chevy 3/4 w/a 350V8. Didn't handle the trailer very well. I thought his story about buying the 2nd truck was amazing. He didn't know you could special order from dealers and ordered a heavy 3/4T Chevy extended cab, long bed w/454. Mom sold both the truck and camper when he passed. Everything he owned had steel wheels and hubcaps. He refused to look at any car that had aluminum/mag wheels. In his mind it meant it was hot rodded.
He did buy a 70 Opel GT from a family friend that needed an overhaul and he taught my youngest sister engines on that car. I think he kept it around for years although it never ran to keep me busy when I was home between duty stations in the military. He ended up giving it to me, was too expensive to register in California. Seems he didn't know about the non-op registration and fines for 10 years and cost of emissions was more than the car was worth at the time. I hauled to TN, registered it and got it running. Drove it till little things parked it. Later I did a complete restoration on it and still own it. Have no plans to sell it because dad gave it to me. Although he never got to see it run or ride in it.
My dad is 100% a car guy, and he's had a bunch of interesting vehicles over the years. But the one he still talks about the most was his 1966 Cutlass. It was a 4-door with bench seats in some shade of maroon. Despite the crew cab body style, which was dweeb central back then, his had a warmed over Olds 330 small block under the hood backed by a Hurst-shifted 4-speed. He always tells tales about street racing in that thing, and how he smoked this and that. A chronic knee problem (and my mom insisting he get something more sensible) spelled the end of that car, and he traded it in on a '69 Pontiac Lemans Sport with an automatic, but he never stops talking about how he raced a built '67 Firebird that a rival had and blew his doors clean off! 
In reply to CLH :
I had a 72 Newport 4-door that was passed down from my parents... that was a massive car! I think it was almost 3 feet from the grille to the radiator support. Very easy motor to change the water pump as all the hoses connected to the block.
ChrisTropea said:When I was growing up my dad had a Chrysler Conquest, some of my earliest memories are taking rides with him around town. I credit that car with me giving the car bug and I really want to own one one day.
My grandfather was not a car guy but was always buying and selling cars, the cars that stuck around and have the most family stories ties to them were his air-cooled Beetles. Because of that I bought a project Beetle and am slowly getting it back together.
I had just hopped onto this thread to brag about dad's red Conquest but you beat me to it. Lots of memories of sitting in the passenger seat (that I was admittedly way too small to be in, by today's carseat standards) and him "letting me drive" by putting my hand under his on the shifter. Also lots of memories of being too small to see out the windows.
Much like Chris, I credit my enduring love of 80's cars with pop-up headlights to this car. Always on the lookout for one on BaT. Dad regrets selling his and it would be nice to have one in the family again.
1957 MGA convertible:
Fun car while he and Mom were dating (she's sitting on the fender). He loved that car. While he was home from the Army on leave he took it out for an Italian tuneup, but didn't let it warm up enough apparently. Chucked a pushrod or two and drug it home. Dad planned on putting a bigger MGB engine in it, but life happens and he sold it. That cigarette in Dad's hand is what eventually got him.
By the time I was born Dad was a luxury car guy, so I remember riding around in his '84 Lincoln Continental. Loved that car so much I owned three Fox body Lincolns of my own later on. Everything after that was downhill (money got tight). We had some epic beaters in the family, but damned if we didn't have fun fixing them and beating them even more. Only rule was Mom got the car with working A/C no matter what.
Maroon 1984 Porsche 944
Stock except for an after market Blaupunkt equalizer on a flexible goose neck thingy.
He made the mistake of lending it to my 18 y/o stepson who promptly slid it through an intersection and took out the entire right suspension by slamming into the curb.
I went by the wrecking yard to say my good bye and found an empty beer can in the passenger foot well - did I mention he was 18.
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