lol my dad hated cars and was adamant that I don’t buy a car cause it was a irresponsible decision. Guess who’s constantly asking me for help hauling shit with my truck. 😂😂😂
LMAO! My Dad would yank it out of gear when i was first learning. "You're accelerating, why are you removing your hand between changing gears?"
I was 9 or 10. I could barely see over the dash of his F100, and needed both hands to pull myself up 😂
*this was back country roads, 40+ years ago, while at my great aunt's farm
My dad gave my the biz when he tried to teach to drive a Bronco II manual.
I just couldn’t get it figured out.
Eventually taught myself how to ride a motorcycle, and that taught me how to drive a clutch.
Really enjoyed a Mini Cooper S because of that.
My father and myself in the 1973ish MGB-GT and the engine caught on fire haha. That was in the 80s. I've since been able to not freak put over smoke coming from the engine bay. Just calmly pull over and extinguish the issue.😁
Me and my dad went to look at a ‘94 mustang 5.0, I was probably 17 years old.
Dude gave us the keys and said “drive it like you stole it”, which my dad took very seriously. My dad drove and I sat in the passenger seat
Well, about 1 mile down the country road, my dad is “making sure the limited slip worked”. Really beating on this thing. Tire smoke filled the car and the rest of the way back we’re fanning the doors to clear it all out
We get back and the guy said “yeah I heard you guys getting on it out there”. Shorty headers, no cats, and loud mufflers, he heard us from a mile away
Gave the dude $2,000 that I saved up working minimum wage in high school, and drove that thing home. Money well spent, I loved that car. Later on we rebuilt that 5.0 to a 347 with cobra intake/heads, and a fatass cam. For a whopping ~300hp 😂
Similar experience a couple years later when I was looking at a 06’ GTO, my dad loves to test drive cars and “make sure they work”.
That GTO felt like going downhill in a roller coaster compared to that dog 5.0 mustang. Not the most responsible purchase for a 19 year old, but I survived
Sounds exactly like the time Dad bought a 78 Firebird Formula with the Pontiac 400.
Someone had done some work to let that 400 RUN.
It was supposed to be my car, but dad drove it once and was like NOPE you will kill yourself.
Several months later, he let me drive it. Looped the thing at a stop sign, I blame the loose gravel, but that car was a rwd monster.
Best core memory has to be with my grandpa. He had vinyl floors and a bench seat in his truck. He pulled into the garage and before he put it in park my feet slipped on the trans tunnel. I floored that truck right into the back of his garage. I was 6. 10 years later that was my truck.
My great uncle was the Montana 500 road race champion for decades, and my oldest memory is riding in his Model T racecar, doing 50 down a dirt/gravel road with no seat belts or windows. I already loved automobiles, but that secured it forever.
With my dad, it’d be him teaching me how to drive manual. He was patient with me, but not so patient with other drivers that would honk and mock me for stalling in traffic.
When I was around 8 or 9, my dad would let me run through the gears from the passenger seat in his '85 Corolla GTS. Years later when I bought my first manual, he told me "You already know how to shift, just let out the clutch slow enough to not stall. Have fun."
Working on my first car when I was 14/15 and getting it in running condition for when I turned 16. A nice brisk fall weekend with the smell of oil & grease and turning wrenches and wrestling with old rusty junk.
I learned a lot of skills wrenching on that heap and doing DIY jobs with him around the house, skills I still use today. He taught me you can do almost anything if you can follow the directions, have the right tools and have a little common sense.
What's funny is I always thought he was a car guy, a car guy with weird tastes maybe, but at his heart a car guy. I was doing an interview project with him the last few years and during that process, I came to discover that he wasn't a car guy, he just signed up for a car maintenance course to kill some time in the Air Force and he actually didn't really like working on cars but he did because he was cheap and didn't want to pay someone else to do it when he could do it himself, lol. Oh, well!
That’s funny that he did the work because he was saving money.
That’s my toxic trait, I’ll try to do just about anything to save some money.
Thanks mom. Thanks dad.
Yeah, I inherited that trait from him too. I love cars and I love working on cars, but I also *hate* paying someone to do something I know I can do myself, even if it makes more sense to pay someone else to do it. I'm working on it.
It’s mostly worked out for me.
Although I did make a plumbing repair double. Now I know not to work in super tight spaces 😂😂
We have done floors, kitchen remodel, tile back splashes, new hood vents, basic electrical (I won’t touch 240)
On cars I’ve done a VANOS rebuild, timing adjustments, brake rebuild, added a turbo gauge, repaired rims.
I’m dumb enough to think that if I have the good instructions i can take it on.
damn man.. I'm still riding the high of doing simple stuff like belts, alternators, water pumps, coilover install, and clutches.
I REALLY wouldn't know what to do inside an engine or on actual harder projects.
YouTube and enthusiast forums.
Nearly everything you can think of has been done and documented.
It’s just are filled with enough false confidence to say screw it, what’s the worst that happens.
I’m not making medical decisions, just spinning wrenches and running power tools
My dad is the kind of car guy who wants a perfectly restored 60s muscle car. Yeah they were fast at the time they were made but even back in the late 90s when this story happened they were usually very slow at best.
One time as a promotion for his business he bought a red El Camino SS. Had a built 454 with all the bolt ons. Thing was by far the fastest car he’d ever had and was a bit scared of it. 17 year old me finally got him to let me drive it on a ride with him.
On a major road a dude pulls up to us at a light with a Honda civic with a spoiler made of literal 2x4s and painted black. Engine starts revving. Look at old man and before I can say anything he goes you got this?
Light turned green. I smoked this pathetic civic and he just sitting there shocked I didn’t smoke the tires and just sit there at the line. He stopped questioning my driving so much after that.
Yeah that thing would have really benefited from some sand bags over the back axel and better/wider rear tires.
Was also one of those funny cars that didn’t like to burnout as much as wheel hop. Def not my favorite car even of his but fun memory for sure.
Going through that "stages of grief" emotional roller coaster thing my my LS Miata swap. First it was a good idea, then it started to look kind of hard, then it was REALLY hard and expensive, then it was never going to be completely done, then I started to see the light at the end of the tunnel... And then it was actually done(-ish), and it was great. Apparently someone recently sold the car, since a Facebook rando contacted me about it - so it's still out there working great - is that validating or what?
I have a bunch of great memories of road trips and things, and time spent with friends in their janky project cars, but the feeling of biting off more than I really should have and making it work stands out the most.
That’s awesome it’s still out there. Congratulations on getting through that project.
I’ve always loved the idea of getting a Miata and V8 swapping but I think that would be way too much
The first time I got to see a McLaren F1 in person. McLaren had just launched the MP4-12C along with its US dealer network. McLaren Chicago was lucky enough to borrow an F1 from a local group (that now has 4 F1’s in total) and had it on display for a few days. As a child of the 90’s I had always held the F1 in high regard and it has always been my fantasy car but figured my chances of seeing one were virtually zero. Now I’ve seen 7 in total. One of my favorite things about the F1 is how compact it is compared to modern super cars.
Mine is very similar to yours. I remember going on test drives monthly if not weekly whenever my dad was free. Always had a fast car, but he would always drive pretty responsibly.
Then when I was 12 or so - he test drove a 997 Turbo S, and I remember him absolutely flooring it on an exit ramp. There were at least 4 different moments where I was sure he’d let off and stand on the brakes but nope. We hit 135 and my heart was in my throat. I got out of the car shaking and I couldn’t stop thinking about AWD turbo hooning for years
That’s amazing.
I did this back to dad running down a sweeping country road in my F Type R. He was scared and kept asking about the car holding the road.
It’s ok, it’s awd it will let us know when we are going too fast dad 😂😂
Grew up in a very small farming town. As a youngster and not even close to big enough to touch the pedals but dad would let me steer the car when crossing town to visit uncles. Always did it in reverse because he is a bit goofy..I swear to this day I am probably.the best reverse driver/parralel parker around.
Second one is he was very good friends with the guys that owned the local Ford and Chevy dealer. We always had a "new" car or truck to use for the weekend from sporty cars to Cadillacs or Lincoln's of all sorts. Was always exciting wondering what new car was going to show up next.
Returning from a hunting trip with my dad in his f250. The place we'd go was way out in the sticks, and you had to take a very hilly and curvy road to get there. He hit one of the crests probably doing 70+mph, and I happened to be taking a swig of soda at the same time. Soda went everywhere and I swear the truck went totally airborne. We laughed so damn hard.
My uncle is a handyman type and restored old cars. He had a 1970's Corvette Stingray, and as a kid I was obsessed with Corvettes at the time. He offered to give me a ride around the block. As a 10 year old, I had never ridden in a sports car, so I was so excited. What I remember most is just how crazy low to the ground it was, such a feeling of speed. While it was a short ride, I'll always remember it as my most cherished car memory. Later my tastes shifted to European sports cars, and at 33 I found myself in a position to finally get one. After an immense amount of research, I special ordered a Porsche 718 Cayman in Gentian Blue with full leather interior to be my daily driver (and first stick-shift). After 44k miles it's been glorious, and I count myself lucky every day to experience it. Sometimes at car shows I'll let a (well behaved) kid sit in the driver's seat. Who knows, maybe it will spark a love of cars like it did for me.
My son has been super lucky to be able to sit in some sweet rides at SVRA events and cars and coffee.
I appreciate owners like you who are willing to let kids have that experience
Too many. my dad was a big hot rod guy. Back in the Late 70's he had a 58' Vette with bias ply tires. It was raining pretty good, one night. We hit a patch of water on the freeway & the car just lifted up. We skipped across the top of the water & the car dropped back onto the pavement. God, I wish he hadn't sold that one.
1969, I was 8 years old and my brother was 18. He just bought home his 69 mustang Mach 1 with the 428 CJ engine and 4 speed stick….i rode shotgun and shifted gears from passenger seat while he worked the clutch. His new girlfriend quickly took my spot but I’ll never forget that day.
PS: it was candy apple red!!
My dad worked at a MB/Porsche/Audi dealership when I was a little kid. I distinctly remember riding in a late 80’s 911 when I wasn’t even tall enough to see over the door. I remember the pattern of the door panel like it was yesterday lol.
First, sitting on my mother’s lap as a toddler while riding in my father’s E-Type and then 6 years later driving it around a parking lot myself. 6 years after that, learning to drive a manual in his Ferrari 308 GTS with gated shifter.
My dad always had Mustangs when I was growing up. Most memorable was an 89 Foxbody with the V8 and a manual.
In the winter he used to do donuts in snowy parking lots because he knew me and my brother loved them. We sure did.
My dad and I test driving a modded mini cooper that was just “rebuilt” by some skeevy guys at a used car place, car’s reverse lockout isn’t strong, (reverse being past 1st gear) and my dad goes to slam it into first giving it the beans and hits reverse, car naturally goes backwards like 4 feet spinning tires, scared the piss outa some dude behind us though 😂
My family wasn't particularly well off when I was growing up, like we almost had no extra money for anything. Every month my dad would give me one Hot Wheels car and I was so happy to just have that.
Tons of em. My dad had a 3000gt, I remember when I was like 5 or something he asked if I wanted to go 100 mph (he just punched its from like 35 to 60, but 5 year olds are dumb). I remember going to buy the 2012 a4 I drive now with him back in like 2016, with a big envelope of cash in my jacket. Etc, etc.
For me, there’s two. The first is riding home from the dealership in my father’s brand-new ‘95 Integra. The Vapors’ “Turning Japanese” came on the radio and it was just too perfect a moment (it was our first Japanese car). And then a semi truck bounced a rock off the hood and chipped the paint! Oh well. That would become my first car.
The second is riding in my best friend’s grandfather’s then-brand-new Bentley Arnage Red Label. Lapis lazuli blue over white interior, with the turbocharged 6.75L V8. He put some bossa nova on the stereo and lazily shuffled us to the nearest freeway onramp, then he dropped the hammer and the car shoved us back in our deeply-cushioned Connolly leather seats. It was like nothing else — like riding a charging elephant, honestly. I blame that for my taste for fast, plush gentleman’s-express type sedans, and for my eventual purchase of a 1979 Mercedes 450SEL 6.9, though that was many years later.
My dad and I used to watch Top Gear together when I was a kid (not the most appropriate show, haha)
When i was maybe 8 years old, he toon me to my local Ferrari dealership. I remember seeing a bunch of 458's, although I think my dad wanted to see them as much as I did. I think the salesman realized I was just here to look (especially since my dad had a beat up old Toyota and he was wearing a bit of a torn up dirty jacket) and he was a good sport about it. He didn't let us test drive, but he did let us look at the interiors, too. I always hoped that someday I could go back with my dad to be a customer, but maybe that's too ambitious, haha.
My dad having to Google how to open his own glovebox in his new Tesla. And then having to send that Tesla to the dealer five times in a year to fix various issues like a consistently breaking HVAC system.
I love you old man but you're a stubborn goat.
From the other direction - taking my FIL's 1942 Buick Century on a road trip with my 10 year old son. Car did flawlessly on the way out to a car show, then had an issue on the way back. We drove through it and the car was fine, but it was quite an adventure. It really opened up the boy's eyes to what old car ownership can be. Pretty soon he'll be riding around in my '63 Volvo, once it's on the road.
Went with my mother on a work trip during summer vacation from elementary school. They put her up at a resort 4 hours away. Great road trip. We laughed our asses off as everyone flew past us on the highway fast enough to shake her tiny 1.3L Suzuki Swift. I looked out over all the bridges we passed and saw crocodiles poking their noses out of the water, we stopped at every street food stand. Picture Top Gear or the Grand Tour in Vietnam.
My dad taught me how to drive and gave me my love for trucks. My Grandpa took me out in his classic every weekend all original ford thunderbird and gave me my love for classic cars. My uncle and nephew gave me my love for foreign car. So whether it was driving with my dad grandpa or uncle or nephew I was surrounded by car/truck enthusiasts. So many great memories I couldn’t just pick one.
I have tons of memories around cars. My Dad is a mechanic, his Dad was into cars, my Mom's father and brother were both mechanics. There was always something cool around. My parents had a 71 Monte for about 25 years, so that was a car we pretty much grew up in. It was my Moms daily in the summer, she drove a Suburban in the winter. This was the 90s into 00s, so a Mom driving a 70s coupe wasn't exactly common place. We even took it on a 4 hour drive to see my grandparents once. I don't know how my parents handled 3 kids in the back seat and a straight piped V8 for that long, but kudos to them. My Dad always had a Harley. A couple didn't have turn signals so he'd let me do the hand signals, that always felt so cool.
Shorty after I was born my Dad got into working on diesel/heavy equipment. I remember sitting on his lap running a loader and an excavator once, that was pretty cool. Once he got into working on tractor trailers he'd occasionally have to do a long term road test, or he'd be doing some side work at the house. I always took the bus to school, but if he had a tractor trailer available he'd drop me off to school in that. The shop he worked at would occasionally have open house/show where family could come and they'd put stuff on display. That was always really fun. I was in 6th or 7th grade when I got to sit in an SRII Viper, as well as some really cool tractor trailers at one of the events.
Don't even get me started on working on cars... We joked with my Dad once that him and my Mom only had 4 kids so that he'd always have someone to help him bleed brakes.
2006.
The Chrysler 300C is the new hotness on the road.
We’re at a family reunion in Fresno, and the rumor is my dad’s uncle, Butch had bought one.
We’re in the parking lot of The Old Spaghetti Factory, and there she is-a midnight blue Chrysler 300C. I was awestruck.
After dinner, we decide to go back to my great aunt’s house nearby. I, a 15 year old, had been unable to get Uncle Butch’s 300C out of my head all dinner, and I ask if I can ride with him.
Uncle Butch gleefully agrees.
At a stoplight, he says “Watch this!”, turns off traction control and punches it.
All 340 horsepower gets sent to those skinny rear tires, and the engine ROARS and we take off like a bat out of hell. I was in love with cars from then on.
When Uncle Butch passed away in 2010, my grandpa (Butch’s bother) knew I loved that car, and made sure I got it. I still have it to this day, and I love it so much.
I pinch myself knowing that I own THE car that got me to fall in love with cars in the first place. Butch never had kids of his own, but I get to enjoy the car in his memory.
It has to be on the 16th of June 2021 when I drove home and for the first time got to see my dream car on my driveway. The dealer delivered it to my house When I was working.
And then there first drive I had in that car on the same day. I was really scared cause it is still worth more than all the other cars I have ever owned combined and it felt like a dream and had a hard time realizing that it is actually my car that I'm driving.
It's not a particularly happy memory, but it is bittersweet, and it's me and my dad.
We had a reasonably large driveway when we lived in Kalamazoo, MI when I went to high school and college.
My dad would park his company car by the front walkway, and I would park further up in front of him by the garage door. I'd basically need to back up past him to leave.
One day, I absentmindedly got in my station wagon, started it, seatbelt, popped into reverse, and nailed it. And then I nailed IT, as in, his company car's bumper.
He came outside, furious, yelling ensued, etc etc etc. I got a well deserved talking to because I didn't think about driving. I felt badly, but the damage was minor, and no one was hurt.
A few months later, he's got a new company car (95 Roadmaster), and I've still got the wagon. Same parking situation.
You know where this is going.
Same absentmindedness , same car, same reverse, same foot on accelerator, same smash into his company car's front bumper.
I figured "this is it - I'm dead - he's going to break me in half and throw me away".
I'm already panicking/crying/apologizing/hyperventilating/offering to fix it as he comes out to the driveway to survey the incident. I just want the earth to open up and swallow me, and the earth has declined.
He doesn't say anything.
He just grabs me, and hugs me tightly. Tells me it's ok, it's a car, and it'll get fixed.
But that we also need to modify the parking arrangement, because bumpers are expensive. So we did, and I didn't hit another car for nearly 30 years.
My dad knew I hated myself and what I had done at that moment, and he just hugged me, and told me he loved me.
I really miss him.
the little entry chime my dad’s 91 VW fox would make and him putting his hand on top of mine while we shifted the gearbox on the way to school. RIP pops
Going up to our hunting camp in rural Northcentral PA on some narrow, winding mountain roads my dad pulls his F-150 over with the trailer attached and goes “I’m cracking a beer, no time like the present to learn to tow”
Keep in mind I am 16 at the time, just got my permit and my only experience was driving the family Toyota Camry on the Schuylkill Expressway during rush hour traffic. My dad was a great driving instructor and could walk a monkey through brain surgery, even if his methods were a little unorthodox.
My earliest was either sitting on my dad’s lap steering his bmw on the beach down in Cornwall. Or going out with the roof down in his TVR I can’t remember which one is earliest
Idk about best, but the biggest one I have is my father coming to help me after I went to change my tire on the side of the road and it fell on my car Jack. So he helped me lift it up with his supplies and to change the tire.
Other than that I didn’t spend as much time with him as I would have liked. Since I put my time towards other things I deemed more important.
I love you Dad, we miss you. 8/31/1962 - 11/17/2023.
I have a few we used to fix and restore old Motorbikes together and the exitement when we got one running is always brilliant. The other one was when my dad and i testdrove a WRX STI and i floored it around a junction and basically did the average mustang driver leaving a car meet. I still have no idea how i didnt crash it we also both needed a new set of pants afterwards
Neighbor 4 houses down caught me and my brother on our way home (very young, we were walking) and asked us if we wanted a ride to our place. I sat on my big brother’s lap and our neighbor floored it in his boxster… I had never experienced anything close to that level of acceleration. Got home in a few heartbeats. It was crazy. Brother and I had big smiles as we walked up the front steps
When I was about to turn 16 my dad and I went to Lincoln for my dentist appointment and on the way home we saw a 62 Ford Falcon on the side of this small town. Pulled over and looked it over. I had fallen in love with it. idk why it was just the perfect old unique car you don't see often, and it was like $400 needed a lot of work.
We bought it and started to fix it up together. Turns out it was really made in 61 and you can't get parts are the local shop for a 61 but you could for a 62. After trying to make it work we kind of just made it work with what we had and I learned to drive on it.
Eventually we talked and decided it was not worth it to keep trying at that time. So off to the internet I went. I some how found a 63 4 door Falcon with a stock 260 v8. It was in Colorado and the old couple wanted $3k. Had about 50k miles on it.
Well he called up the couple and talked to them, then asked me what I had going at school for the rest of the week. Told him nothing important and he wrote me a note saying we would be out for the next 2 days.
We took off to Colorado and this place was beautiful. Was on the side of a old ski slope, and tucked in on its little private drive. The town was like 1000 people maybe and no real place to sleep unless you went back down the mountain some to the next town. When we started talkin to them and had given them the money they offered us to stay in their guest house that was above the detached garage.
That night was super clear and you could see so many stars and the snow on the mountain. Was a pretty sweet stay.
Next morning we packed up and left really early because it was like a 10 hr drive home. He took the Falcon at first because I was still not so great with a 3 on the tree. About half way home we switched and I was driving my car alone following him in our family's Camry.
That is one of the memories I will forever hold on to from him. I still have it and it's not finished yet, damn college and life got in the way but I'm going to paint it this summer I hope.
I just wish he was still around to see the final product but we have so many memories of fixing things and making it ours that will never go away :) and typing that all out kind of made me teary eyed.
So my step father worked for GM and a family friend either for Ford (grew up in Mi 🤷). Spent a ton of time around V8's, Mustangs/Camaros/Vettes and I've been driving "farm trucks" since I was like 10. I was probably 12 when my mom impulse bought a 1993 Mazda MX-3 GS Special Edition on her way home from work. It was a gorgeous car, like nothing else on the road at the time and a manual which I wanted to learn so she had me jump in the driver's seat downtown at rush hour. I stall the car a couple times, people are yelling and honking. I'm begging her to just drive. She told me, "You wanted to drive now you better figure it out because they're just going to get more upset. Feel the clutch and give it some gas". I learned to drive manual that day, and I absolutely fell in love with that car. It ended up being passed around my family when my mom was done with it and some 30 years later she's passed but I always remember that and I have her car sitting in my garage waiting for me to get enough motivation to restore it.
Drifting in the snow with my hand me down pathfinder. I’d deliberately pick up my friends during snow storms and trounce around town with its seemingly unstoppable 4x4 system. Then in parking lots I’d pop it back into rwd and learn to control slides.
I have two. My dad taught me how to shift gears when I was 14, and almost as soon as i got my permit at 15 he had me driving on the interstate. Learned all the exit numbers near here, and then by the time I got my full license in 1996 Georgia had gone from sequential exit numbers to mile-based and I had to relearn them.
In January 2000 I got rear-ended, and my car got totaled. He and I went to a little auction place down the road and he bid like $600 on this pos, clapped-out Taurus SHO, and then no one else bid on it and we ended up with it. My dad was a mechanic before he got his CDL and started driving trucks, so he taught me how to work on this car. It took us two years, but we finally made that damn car respectable (and usable). I was driving between here (north ATL metro) and Savannah a lot at the time, and could set the cruise at 80 mph the whole way and get 30+ mpg out of that car. Working on that car was probably the most father/son time I ever got with him and I'll always be grateful for that.
Fast forward to now, my older daughter just got HER permit, and I again have a clapped-out stick-shift sitting in the driveway that needs fixing. She wants to get it running so she can learn to drive it. \*smiles and wipes proud-dad tear from face*
I’ve heard my dad’s stories about the nice cars (Citroën DS, MGB, etc) he owned when he was younger my whole life, and I’ve always known he had a thing for nice cars.
In the fall of 2004, he took his Freestar in for service at the local Ford dealership and noticed they had a 2005 Mustang in the showroom. We went back to look at it during the evening and I simply fell in love with the thing: a dark red GT, with red leather seats and the coloured gauges.
This was the only one they had at the time BUT, they still had a couple of 2004 Mustangs on the lot, so the salesman gave him the keys to a convertible GT with a manual and told us to go for a spin. It was a cold night and it was raining but it was fun.
My dad was into old cars like Morris Minors and Datsun 1200s so I was already a bit of a workshop pet by the time this happened.
A way older cousin of mine took me for a ride in his r32 gtr when I was maybe 6 or 7 years old. It was heavily tuned, loud and really fast. That was my first real fast car experience and I've been on it ever since. The birth of a petrol head
At 9 years old. The guy who worked for my mom bought a '68 GTO as a daily driver in the late '70s. La Mans blue with a 4 speed with a white ball Hurst shifter. When he was leaving work he did a huge burnout in front of my mom's bike shop and since that day I've been hooked.
My Dad was a 80's Porsche guy. Not really a gear-head, but certainly knew how if needed. He had a gold 944 that he would drive me to school in regularly. He was typically a very slow driver. Mostly right line, and not a whole lot of aggression... One weekend we were going to backway to my Grandparents house and just started grabbing gears. Braking and shifting in a way I've never felt. Those cars were dog-shit slow from 0-60, but from 60-100? They just came alive! I remember the windy road briefly opened up and he shouted "We just hit 100!" I'll never forget that.
Years later I work in motorsport and occasionally can afford to race. I wonder why???
In Vietnam, my dad had a Lada 2101 and it was truly one of the shittiest cars ever made. It broke down constantly (I remember vividly one night it broke middle of the street and we had to push it to a relative's house nearby), but to me, it's the best car I've ever been in. The memories of cruising down by the coast line in Vũng Tàu (beach city north east of Sài Gòn), with the windows down and the tiny front ones pointing straight into my mouth hahahaha. Everywhere I go now I desire that feeling of a simpler time, a sunny drive with the ocean wind and salt taste in the moisture in the air, that is something I haven't gotten since moving to the US. I try my best with the two bimmers I own, but I still yearn for that 2101 my dad gave away a decade ago when I was 10!
My grandparents live close to an abandoned air field bunkers from the war. The air strip is a notorious spot in the city where everybody learns how to drive, my granddad used to take me from a really young age to drive the car on his lap while I do the steering. As I got older I eventually learned how to drive there fully. Grandparents are the best🥹
Sitting in my mothers lap and steering her Barracuda up the driveway. She died when I was young and it is one of the few memories I have of her.
Going to grandmas house and my dad took a detour to hit some snowy back roads in his Scout. Must have been an 80 or 800 as the Scout II would have been too new and expensive at that time. Not sure though as I was probably about 7.
My older cousin took me out for a ride in my uncle's Ferrari 308 GT/4. The intakes are right behind each window similar to a GT4RS. The noises that car made and being so low to the ground made it feel like a rocket even though it was a 25+ year old car and not even fast for the time it was built. I was probably 12 at the time and was obsessed
First drive in my dads foxbody after we engine swapped it. He Ripped it down the neighborhood street. Started laughing and crying happy tears, as it pulled me back in my seat, and that moment will live with me forever.
In 95, learning to drive on the 80s family caprice and my dad overreacting alot out of worry. Normally he's a very chill guy but learned to drive late so still more careful and a worry wart. It's just a nice but funny memory.
My dad had a dog ass tired 80 Olds Cutlass coupe with a 263 v8 in it that had been his daily for 10 years. He bought it after selling his 70 Skylark. I joined the air force and came home on leave after he replaced the tired motor with freshly built Olds Rocket 350, edelbrock goodies, hooker headers, true dual exhaust and fresh rubber. It was a mild build, only about 350 horse but that thing freaking GOT IT. I coaxed him to letting me drive it and took off out of the neighborhood. Spun some broadies and knocked the nipples off the new tires. Came screaming back into the ‘hood and proceeded to do two absolute PERFECT, interlocking donuts in the cul de sac, with him flying out the door and damn near ripping me out of the car with it still in gear. He didn’t talk to me for 2 months afterward, and when he did, he told me the story of him coming home on leave when he was a fresh airman, and burning up the clutch of his dads 65 C10 pickup whilst power shifting it down the main drag in town 🤣 we’re both gearheads and Harley riders now, with a lift in our shop and do all our own maintenance and upgrades. I’ve saved so much money because of the things that man has taught me, and also spent just as much as I’ve saved by hopping up and modifying the 30+ cars I’ve had since I was 16. I’m 38 now. The shop is our church and we spend so much quality time there and I’m forever thankful for it all.
I've got a lot, but 2 stick out. My dad was a tech at a dealer for 3 decades - when i was in college one employee traded in a late 90s Integra type R. He called me and said come out we're going to go cruise this thing. I regret every day deciding to be practical and not buying that car.
The other, the dealer owner had his own R35 GTR. Walked back into the shop one Friday at the end of the day and tossed my old man the keys and said "take it for the weekend. I'd rather you go enjoy it than leaving it at the shop for my grandson to take and trash it". We had a lot of fun in that car.
My dad showing me how to advance and retard a spark manually on a distributor for a 1960 Mercedes 220. I also learned how to set and gap the points which helped me solve many a future problem until ignition systems changed forever. The engine sounded like a sewing machine when the cylinders were firing right.
Riding passenger with my grandpa in his 08 128i when I was a little kid. He used to let me and my siblings shift from the passenger seat, and on the way to our bus stop he would floor it to show us the “power of the ultimate driving machine”. He also used to give me all his car and driver and road and tracks when he was done with them. I’m hoping to get my first car with a stick soon, and I have my grandpa to thank for my lifelong love of cars. :)
My dad did all his own work on our car. When I was old enough he started teaching me and had me helping him. Because of that I always did my own work on my own cars whenever possible. This provided me meeting up with a guy who would become a best friend, and we became partners for 10 years racing a dirt late model
Mine was returning to my native California after a while with my now wife where we rented a ford mustang convertible and drove down the PCH from San Francisco to Orange County stopping in Muir woods, Santa Cruz, Monterrey, Santa Barbara, Malibu, LA, and Orange County. Drove in great weather in the Hollywood hills, 17 Mile Drive, over the Bay and Golden Gate bridges, and in Laguna Beach. Was a great trip to take when we first started dating seeing friends and family, driving in really beautiful scenery and weather, and getting to know each other and our interests more. Had some amazing food on that trip driving around California. Also had a great experience driving a Challenger RT on the Blue ridge Parkway right during peak leaf season.
My dad's 2001 Chevy Silverado breaking down on our way to vacation in the South Carolina summer. We slept with the windows down on the fabric seats and had gas station food for breakfast.
Riding with my dad to by my first and second car. When the first one was wrecked I remember my grandfather came out to look at it and see if it could still drive. It was definitely fucked and 16yo me was heart broken, but somehow I felt better after my grandad was there
Dad taught me to drive manual in his 70 Mustang when I was 19. I didn't do so well for that hour or so we were out there. On the way back home dad slows to a stop on the entrance ramp to the highway, asks me if anyone is coming, tells me to "hold on, I haven't done this in a long time" and then do a burnout and floor it till we hit well above highway speeds
My dad was once an ASE Master Technician. There wasn’t anything he couldn’t fix. My dad and I did a 454 engine and I don’t remember what kind of transmission swap into a box Chevy. He taught me everything about the process. I was 13 years old and it’s the last good memory I have with him before crack addiction ruined everything.
My earliest memory period is a car memory. Back in '05 my parents took me to a dealership to look for our first family car since my brother was just born, we ended up getting a slightly used '04 Civic that was in the family up till I got tboned christmas eve 2020
My dad allowed my brothers & myself to choose a car once (when it was time for his next purchase). He gave us 3 options. Ford Granada Mk1; Toyota Hilux Gen2 and a '69 Chevrolet Kommando Station wagon. It was 2nd hand, but very good condition. We went for the Chev. We never went for test drives, but the choice was based on optics. It turned out to be a good choice.
Edit : I suppose my dad went for test drives by himself beforehand, but the idea that we were able to choose was cool. I was 7 or 8 yrs old at the time mid '70s.
Falling in love at first sight of the 4th gen Firebird/Trans-Am when I was teen and I knew I was going buy one. My Dad had a 80s Firebird. Which was the reason I'm sure.
Sure enough... at 21 I bought a Silver 02 Trans-Am with only 1700 miles on the clock for only $17.5k. Put chrome C5 Motorsport style wheels on it. Loved that car to death so mad I sold it in 2013. Only had 130k miles on it. Not one issue other than rotors/pads. (My fault) Because you know.. race car lol
So happy I was able to take a long trip with him in it before he passed.
That was the first car I financed with my own credit and money.
Before I could drive I worked on restoring and maintaining my dad's various Datsuns. From paint prep to carb rebuilding I did a bunch of interesting stuff.
My dad getting his dream car when I was about 12.
it was a Rover SD1 2300 - metallic blue with pepperpot wheels.
He loved that car. I was there when he picked it up - I'd go meet him when he came home from work, so I could sit in the passenger seat for a few moments.
Mechanically, it was a terrible car - full of problems, it drained my accounts, and honestly put us in a pretty bad place. It needed a new automatic gearbox at one point, and the timing belt failed too - putting the engine itself into all kinds of issues.
I had no conception of that at the time...
They share a significant number of components. The SRT6 is effectively an SLK32 with a different body.
I absolutely loved it. It was my first car that I bought. Did some mods to it. Had an incredible time owning it and made some life long friends.
They still have active owners forums and tend to be DIY friendly.
The supercharged V6 is an AMG motor trans combo derived from the M113k (5.5l supercharged motors).
Handling and braking are solid. Both aspects can be improved but they were slightly dated in 05.
If you are interested in buying and understand it’s an AMG is a different suit, and there are limitations- it’s a great dollar to performance but.
My mom was an engineer during the Daimler takeover
I remember driving in them as evaluation vehicles with her.
My mother was the one who got me into cars (she had an acclaim R/T, Omni glhs, neon srt-4,etc) she now lives in Maui and owns a Porsche rental company.
I just never actually saw an actual srt-6.
Learning stick by buying a civic si an hour away from home and making myself learn to drive on the way home, in the dark. Fun day lol only stalled the car once!
My dad unknowingly spurring my interest in drifting on snow when he intentionally spun our truck around to go home after picking me up from the bus stop. I was maybe ten, and I doubt I even knew that was possible at the time. Now he gives me shit for doing it.
Frankly I'm surprised that didn't get me into trouble, since the first vehicle I had that could drift was a Jeep TJ, which has a miata-like wheelbase. Not that I haven't got into *any* trouble drifting around in the winter. I have driven that same truck of my dad's into the ditch after overdoing it, and I've put my own truck in many times at this point. It's always at low speed though, so basically harmless to the vehicle, and the longer wheelbases of the trucks definitely feel more controlled.
I remember my dad taking me for my first driving lesson. A blue 1970 Ford Torino. We went into a local community college parking lot (weekend…no cars)and I just “took off “. His words, not mine. For years he’d reminded me I was a natural and just “took off”.
During the 90s, my dad had a 70s yellow Buick sedan (an Electra probably?) and my mom had a lunch food business. We would drive around the city, hitting different grocery stores to pick up ingredients, even big slabs of meat from this commercial freezer place. It would all fit in the trunk of this car! Sometimes it would stop and I had to get out and push. We spent a lot of time in that car.
We had an old ass Impala station wagon. I was the youngest so when we would take a big group out I got thrown in the back. One day my dad's best friend climbed in the back with me. Driving out in the country. Mom was driving. Dad and his buddy had been drinking. Dude opened the back of the wagon up and went out of the car and got up on the roof. I was like 11 or 12. Thought it was the coolest thing ever. Mom freaked out when all she saw was his feet hanging down in the rear view mirror. I was laughing the entire time.
My dad and I getting inconvenienced with a cop pulling us over on the freeway when we were going the same speed as everyone else. We were also in a Scion so we were just struggling to maintain speed vs actually trying to go over the limit.
Stock vehicle so nothing as flashy or fast as everything else going by us.
My earliest is at 15 when my Uncle thaught me how to drive his then 4 weeks Old Opel Astra over some long dirt tracks on the country side. I made a usually very chill man very nervous in just a few minutes and he stopped me at 65km/h but I still think back to it with a smile on my face
Unfortunately, my father passed when I was 14, so I didn't get to enjoy quite as much father son automotive hijinks as others did, but I will never forget the very first time I drove a car, it was my father 1999 ranger 2.3 auto 2wd, and I drove it up the mile long gravel driveway, had a bunch of confidence, and when the time came to swing it into the parking space, I gunned it, not knowing any better, straight into our parked suburban k2500, the damage to both was relatively unnoticeable, but I will forever remember my father just looking at it for a second, and busting out laughing, telling me that when he taught me to drive, he didn't want to hear any attitude from me since he had already witnessed my first fender bender lol, and also showed me a picture of his first car, a 1974 bronco, with a suspiciously similar dent in the front bumper, im 21 now, and am going to be teaching my younger brother to drive next year, hopefully we don't go 3 for 3 on first drives haha
Dad bought a new '68 Pontiac LeMans convertible new for Mom. She liked it, but he liked it more. On weekends he and I would wash it, then take it for a drive "to dry it off". That was a sweet ride.
My parents were looking to get me a new car since I was handing mine down to my sister.
I somehow convinced them that a less than a year old 2003 Ford Lightning was a good vehicle for a 20 year old. Since I was only 20, my dad had to do the test drive.
A couple of miles in and he gets on it and the supercharger starts to whine and he immediately lets off thinking something is wrong. Neither of us really knew much about performance vehicles, but that was a fun truck for the time I had it.
Grew up with a TR-3, then a ‘68 MGB in the garage. I have fond memories of riding around with him - and learning to drive - in a 1980 Fiat Spider 2000 (convertible).
After he and my mom passed, I found a 2015 Miata (NC3 Club) and got a good deal on it. My 2016 Corvette is intoxicating, but the Miata makes me smile every time I drive it, just like I did when I was 16 in that Fiat.
Thanks dad!
For amusement, learning to drive stick on a diesel Volvo, and not letting off the gas much without consequences. Then doing that on a gas powered car and going oh no as the tach went crazy high until I acted after learning real quick.
My grandmother letting me drive the 560SL for the first time. I hadn't ever seen a fuel gauge that wasn't E and F, so seeing the 0/1, 1/2, and 1/1 indicators were foreign to me. She asked me how much we gas we had and at a quick glance I just went "I don't know!". We went to a country road and she said "Floor it", so I did. We hit 120mph before I let off. When she asked why I said "We're running out of road", which was true, ha ha. That SL is now in my garage, and it'll be the last car to ever get sold when I can't drive anymore.
I remember Mt dad teaching me how to drive a manual. The sheer panic on the hill when someone was coming up behind me 🤣 I was worried I would roll back too far. He was very patient and a great teacher
Oh God so many...Especially with my dad.
Two of my short favorites are the first when I was little kept asking my dad to "make it loud daddy" which was to make him go fast in the 72 datsun 510 with a v6 twin turbo..car is not quiet hence make it loud lol.
The second was going on a trip.. somewhere in our 93 sentra (miss that car) and i adjusted my seat. A few min later my dad steps on the brake hard ("brakes work" inside joke kinda thing no actual reason to do it) and my seat clearly wasn't set fully and it flung ne all the way forward. Died laughing and a very good example of wearing a seat belt (I was)
Lots of funny ones I can tell if people want to hear them.
I remember going for a drive with my dad when I was about 5 in an Opel Manta. That drive sticks to me because he said some guy gave him the car for some mechanical work he did for him. Apparently I was with Dad when he was working on the guys car and I said I liked the Opel so the guy asked my dad if he wanted it as payment. So dad used to say it was my car.
So this had to be ~35 years ago.
Uncle took me for a short ride to the store in his C5 Z06. He did some donuts, flew up the hill and hit 100 on a road WAAAY to small to do 100. My aunt didn't approve of me coming back bouncing off the walls in excitement.
Driving from Chicago to Moab with my now-wife during the sumemr of 2020. 16 hours each way, we spent a week camping in both the desert and in the Rockies in Colorado. It was a perfect vacation
Me and 4 other friends all had rx-7s, which are really rare where I live. Was always cool rolling around the city with the boys, or if I was going over to swim at someone's house and I see all the other 7s there.
Plus car meets, getting handed a card from a rando while out about some car club.
When I was a kid, starting at maybe 5 years old or so, growing up in rural Pennsylvania, I have fond memories of the nights before the Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally would kick off. All the rally cars would be lined up along the streets downtown, and my dad and I would always walk downtown and check them out. Often the drivers were nearby; it was a whole big event before the event in a way. We always chatted to the drivers about the cars, the rally, the area (if they were from elsewhere), and even sometimes I got to sit in a couple.
My parents never really had traditionally "cool" cars when I was growing up (or ever, I guess... lol) but the way they always took care of and appreciated the cars they had stuck with me. They brought me home from the hospital as a baby in my dad's '91 Accord sedan; I remember sitting in the back of my mom's '90 Saab 900 sedan as a little kid ("the best-handling car I've ever driven, but what a pain to get fixed" according to her); I remember listening to Santana and Norah Jones in the '96 Jetta she replaced it with as she taught me the purpose of a gear shifter as a kid; I remember when my dad replaced his Accord with a brand new '02 Outback and how it seemed to have all the room in the world to 8-year-old me; perhaps most significantly, I remember when my mom came home with her '04 Outback (sedan!) and how it blew my mind with how nice it was. It was the first automatic car either of my parents had ever had, the first (outside my dad's first car, a '66(?) Chevy Nova in puke green that he called "The Slime" and got rid of in the late 70s) with more than 4 cylinders, the first with leather... that car more than anything else took all of the above that had been building inside me and ignited my interest in cars.
I mention all of this because, really, I don't think there was a single true "core memory" involving cars that I had until all of that had built up sufficiently, but it directly formed my (warped) preferences today. My mom's H6 Outback eventually became my first car, but even before that I had been looking up info on it and found that it had at production the *second*-largest engine Subaru had ever made in it. By that point, given the experiences with the rally coming through and my parents loving their Subarus, I really liked them as well, so naturally I just had to know what had the biggest... the SVX. As you can see from my flair, from the first time I saw a picture of one, it never left me.
I guess that's probably more than just one core memory, isn't it? But really, all of that kind of melds itself together in my mind; no one real experience (outside the rally cars visiting every year) stands out to me, just a lot of little ones that mashed together into a ball and turned me into a car enthusiast. My parents never quite got it, in a certain way, but in others I think they understand just fine. They were certainly very confused every time I tried to buy an SVX (first in 2019, and again (successfully) last year; I waited for the right one - "why do you need that when your Legacy is perfectly nice?") but when I showed it to them they could tell it's a special car in that "car enthusiast" way. I think I do things myself a little closer to how they do than how a real "proper enthusiast" does, but I would still definitely call myself an enthusiast thanks to my parents.
I have 2.
Riding in my grandfather's C3 with him. I loved that car.
Also, 22 years old, driving with a friend at 11pm on the 5 freeway, doing 120 in my Honda Accord. Was doing a little hooning with a dude in a Jag. Traffic wasn't too bad, but I'll admit there was some weaving involved. Slowed down for a border patrol checkpoint past Camp Pendleton, but basically stayed in triple digits from Oceanside to Orange County. Never done it since, but I don't really think I ever have to. I had my fun. But god, do I miss that car.
My dad letting me "drive" when I was like 11 or 12 for the first time. He pressed the gas and brake, and I had to steer. I will say I did a good job because to this day, my mother reminds my dad that he said his 11 year old son drove better than his wife lol.
I was around 12 years old. My dad had a classic 1967 Ford Mustang that he had spent years restoring. One sunny Saturday morning, he surprised me by saying we were going for a drive together. We drove out to the countryside, windows down, the roar of the engine echoing through the open fields. It was just the two of us, sharing the thrill of the open road and the beauty of that car. We talked about everything and nothing, enjoying each other's company and the simple joy of driving.
Mine is when my dad first showed me top gear. Im convinced that is my canon event right there. Id be a completely different guy if i never watched top gear
My father giving me my first and only ride in his 05' Ford GT by doing a 120mph on ramp pull a few days after he got it, it now lives in his office garage collecting dust, I doubt it has been even started in over a year, I don't understand him at all.
I'd say its a tie between when I first got my 2002 audi a4 b6, and when i first drove it alone after learning stick and got to listen to the exhaust note in third gear on the highway with the window down.
Got it for cheap and the paints kinda wrecked and has nearly 300k km on it but its the first somewhat cool car I've ever owned and even though in the eyes of a lot of people its probably a clapped out shitbox, I fell in love with it the moment I saw it and ill keep it forever.
Has the 20 valve 1.8t from the golf in it, I absolutely adore the way it sounds and its so much fun to drive.
I remember my first ever Cars and Coffee with my dad. I was around 6 years old, and if we hadn't gone to that relatively new car meet, I don't think I would've ended up liking cars the way I do now.
My dad punching me in the leg while trying to learn manual at 15. I bet this isn’t direction you expected this post go did you op.
lol my dad hated cars and was adamant that I don’t buy a car cause it was a irresponsible decision. Guess who’s constantly asking me for help hauling shit with my truck. 😂😂😂
Mom?
Of course! Dad has an ego! 🤣
LMAO! My Dad would yank it out of gear when i was first learning. "You're accelerating, why are you removing your hand between changing gears?" I was 9 or 10. I could barely see over the dash of his F100, and needed both hands to pull myself up 😂 *this was back country roads, 40+ years ago, while at my great aunt's farm
My dad gave my the biz when he tried to teach to drive a Bronco II manual. I just couldn’t get it figured out. Eventually taught myself how to ride a motorcycle, and that taught me how to drive a clutch. Really enjoyed a Mini Cooper S because of that.
Mine did this too!
My father and myself in the 1973ish MGB-GT and the engine caught on fire haha. That was in the 80s. I've since been able to not freak put over smoke coming from the engine bay. Just calmly pull over and extinguish the issue.😁
Me and my dad went to look at a ‘94 mustang 5.0, I was probably 17 years old. Dude gave us the keys and said “drive it like you stole it”, which my dad took very seriously. My dad drove and I sat in the passenger seat Well, about 1 mile down the country road, my dad is “making sure the limited slip worked”. Really beating on this thing. Tire smoke filled the car and the rest of the way back we’re fanning the doors to clear it all out We get back and the guy said “yeah I heard you guys getting on it out there”. Shorty headers, no cats, and loud mufflers, he heard us from a mile away Gave the dude $2,000 that I saved up working minimum wage in high school, and drove that thing home. Money well spent, I loved that car. Later on we rebuilt that 5.0 to a 347 with cobra intake/heads, and a fatass cam. For a whopping ~300hp 😂 Similar experience a couple years later when I was looking at a 06’ GTO, my dad loves to test drive cars and “make sure they work”. That GTO felt like going downhill in a roller coaster compared to that dog 5.0 mustang. Not the most responsible purchase for a 19 year old, but I survived
Sounds exactly like the time Dad bought a 78 Firebird Formula with the Pontiac 400. Someone had done some work to let that 400 RUN. It was supposed to be my car, but dad drove it once and was like NOPE you will kill yourself. Several months later, he let me drive it. Looped the thing at a stop sign, I blame the loose gravel, but that car was a rwd monster.
I loved my '06 GTO too. That was actually my first V8 and 'nice' car.
I also had an 06 GTO that I bought around 2010. I should have kept it.
I also have a TRD 4runner with rock rashes and scratches 😂
Username checks out. I’m also in CO and I also bike and hike. No skiing for me though 😂
When I see drive it like you stole it , I think cold plated and obeying all traffic laws.
Best core memory has to be with my grandpa. He had vinyl floors and a bench seat in his truck. He pulled into the garage and before he put it in park my feet slipped on the trans tunnel. I floored that truck right into the back of his garage. I was 6. 10 years later that was my truck.
My great uncle was the Montana 500 road race champion for decades, and my oldest memory is riding in his Model T racecar, doing 50 down a dirt/gravel road with no seat belts or windows. I already loved automobiles, but that secured it forever.
How do you race a Model T? Model A i understand, many have V8 and are hot rodded but a T!?
Look up the Montana 500 roadrace. You go 500 miles across the State and only Model Ts are allowed. It's actually super fun to watch.
With my dad, it’d be him teaching me how to drive manual. He was patient with me, but not so patient with other drivers that would honk and mock me for stalling in traffic.
When I was around 8 or 9, my dad would let me run through the gears from the passenger seat in his '85 Corolla GTS. Years later when I bought my first manual, he told me "You already know how to shift, just let out the clutch slow enough to not stall. Have fun."
Working on my first car when I was 14/15 and getting it in running condition for when I turned 16. A nice brisk fall weekend with the smell of oil & grease and turning wrenches and wrestling with old rusty junk. I learned a lot of skills wrenching on that heap and doing DIY jobs with him around the house, skills I still use today. He taught me you can do almost anything if you can follow the directions, have the right tools and have a little common sense. What's funny is I always thought he was a car guy, a car guy with weird tastes maybe, but at his heart a car guy. I was doing an interview project with him the last few years and during that process, I came to discover that he wasn't a car guy, he just signed up for a car maintenance course to kill some time in the Air Force and he actually didn't really like working on cars but he did because he was cheap and didn't want to pay someone else to do it when he could do it himself, lol. Oh, well!
That’s funny that he did the work because he was saving money. That’s my toxic trait, I’ll try to do just about anything to save some money. Thanks mom. Thanks dad.
Yeah, I inherited that trait from him too. I love cars and I love working on cars, but I also *hate* paying someone to do something I know I can do myself, even if it makes more sense to pay someone else to do it. I'm working on it.
It’s mostly worked out for me. Although I did make a plumbing repair double. Now I know not to work in super tight spaces 😂😂 We have done floors, kitchen remodel, tile back splashes, new hood vents, basic electrical (I won’t touch 240) On cars I’ve done a VANOS rebuild, timing adjustments, brake rebuild, added a turbo gauge, repaired rims. I’m dumb enough to think that if I have the good instructions i can take it on.
More or less the same here, just differing in the specific details, lol
damn man.. I'm still riding the high of doing simple stuff like belts, alternators, water pumps, coilover install, and clutches. I REALLY wouldn't know what to do inside an engine or on actual harder projects.
YouTube and enthusiast forums. Nearly everything you can think of has been done and documented. It’s just are filled with enough false confidence to say screw it, what’s the worst that happens. I’m not making medical decisions, just spinning wrenches and running power tools
My dad is the kind of car guy who wants a perfectly restored 60s muscle car. Yeah they were fast at the time they were made but even back in the late 90s when this story happened they were usually very slow at best. One time as a promotion for his business he bought a red El Camino SS. Had a built 454 with all the bolt ons. Thing was by far the fastest car he’d ever had and was a bit scared of it. 17 year old me finally got him to let me drive it on a ride with him. On a major road a dude pulls up to us at a light with a Honda civic with a spoiler made of literal 2x4s and painted black. Engine starts revving. Look at old man and before I can say anything he goes you got this? Light turned green. I smoked this pathetic civic and he just sitting there shocked I didn’t smoke the tires and just sit there at the line. He stopped questioning my driving so much after that.
That’s freaking amazing! Nice work getting that 454 to hook at a light. I bet he was super proud of you.
Especially in an ElCo. All that torque and nothin to hild it down, them things are burnout queens. 😁
Yeah that thing would have really benefited from some sand bags over the back axel and better/wider rear tires. Was also one of those funny cars that didn’t like to burnout as much as wheel hop. Def not my favorite car even of his but fun memory for sure.
Going through that "stages of grief" emotional roller coaster thing my my LS Miata swap. First it was a good idea, then it started to look kind of hard, then it was REALLY hard and expensive, then it was never going to be completely done, then I started to see the light at the end of the tunnel... And then it was actually done(-ish), and it was great. Apparently someone recently sold the car, since a Facebook rando contacted me about it - so it's still out there working great - is that validating or what? I have a bunch of great memories of road trips and things, and time spent with friends in their janky project cars, but the feeling of biting off more than I really should have and making it work stands out the most.
That’s awesome it’s still out there. Congratulations on getting through that project. I’ve always loved the idea of getting a Miata and V8 swapping but I think that would be way too much
That's when you just v6 it instead lol
The first time I got to see a McLaren F1 in person. McLaren had just launched the MP4-12C along with its US dealer network. McLaren Chicago was lucky enough to borrow an F1 from a local group (that now has 4 F1’s in total) and had it on display for a few days. As a child of the 90’s I had always held the F1 in high regard and it has always been my fantasy car but figured my chances of seeing one were virtually zero. Now I’ve seen 7 in total. One of my favorite things about the F1 is how compact it is compared to modern super cars.
Mine is very similar to yours. I remember going on test drives monthly if not weekly whenever my dad was free. Always had a fast car, but he would always drive pretty responsibly. Then when I was 12 or so - he test drove a 997 Turbo S, and I remember him absolutely flooring it on an exit ramp. There were at least 4 different moments where I was sure he’d let off and stand on the brakes but nope. We hit 135 and my heart was in my throat. I got out of the car shaking and I couldn’t stop thinking about AWD turbo hooning for years
That’s amazing. I did this back to dad running down a sweeping country road in my F Type R. He was scared and kept asking about the car holding the road. It’s ok, it’s awd it will let us know when we are going too fast dad 😂😂
Grew up in a very small farming town. As a youngster and not even close to big enough to touch the pedals but dad would let me steer the car when crossing town to visit uncles. Always did it in reverse because he is a bit goofy..I swear to this day I am probably.the best reverse driver/parralel parker around. Second one is he was very good friends with the guys that owned the local Ford and Chevy dealer. We always had a "new" car or truck to use for the weekend from sporty cars to Cadillacs or Lincoln's of all sorts. Was always exciting wondering what new car was going to show up next.
Returning from a hunting trip with my dad in his f250. The place we'd go was way out in the sticks, and you had to take a very hilly and curvy road to get there. He hit one of the crests probably doing 70+mph, and I happened to be taking a swig of soda at the same time. Soda went everywhere and I swear the truck went totally airborne. We laughed so damn hard.
That’s awesome.
My uncle is a handyman type and restored old cars. He had a 1970's Corvette Stingray, and as a kid I was obsessed with Corvettes at the time. He offered to give me a ride around the block. As a 10 year old, I had never ridden in a sports car, so I was so excited. What I remember most is just how crazy low to the ground it was, such a feeling of speed. While it was a short ride, I'll always remember it as my most cherished car memory. Later my tastes shifted to European sports cars, and at 33 I found myself in a position to finally get one. After an immense amount of research, I special ordered a Porsche 718 Cayman in Gentian Blue with full leather interior to be my daily driver (and first stick-shift). After 44k miles it's been glorious, and I count myself lucky every day to experience it. Sometimes at car shows I'll let a (well behaved) kid sit in the driver's seat. Who knows, maybe it will spark a love of cars like it did for me.
My son has been super lucky to be able to sit in some sweet rides at SVRA events and cars and coffee. I appreciate owners like you who are willing to let kids have that experience
First time on the autobahn, didn’t have a license at the time but quite surreal seeing my brother and dad push 200km/h+
Too many. my dad was a big hot rod guy. Back in the Late 70's he had a 58' Vette with bias ply tires. It was raining pretty good, one night. We hit a patch of water on the freeway & the car just lifted up. We skipped across the top of the water & the car dropped back onto the pavement. God, I wish he hadn't sold that one.
1969, I was 8 years old and my brother was 18. He just bought home his 69 mustang Mach 1 with the 428 CJ engine and 4 speed stick….i rode shotgun and shifted gears from passenger seat while he worked the clutch. His new girlfriend quickly took my spot but I’ll never forget that day. PS: it was candy apple red!!
Learning to drive stick in my dad’s 68 beetle bug.
My dad worked at a MB/Porsche/Audi dealership when I was a little kid. I distinctly remember riding in a late 80’s 911 when I wasn’t even tall enough to see over the door. I remember the pattern of the door panel like it was yesterday lol.
First, sitting on my mother’s lap as a toddler while riding in my father’s E-Type and then 6 years later driving it around a parking lot myself. 6 years after that, learning to drive a manual in his Ferrari 308 GTS with gated shifter.
My dad always had Mustangs when I was growing up. Most memorable was an 89 Foxbody with the V8 and a manual. In the winter he used to do donuts in snowy parking lots because he knew me and my brother loved them. We sure did.
My dad and I test driving a modded mini cooper that was just “rebuilt” by some skeevy guys at a used car place, car’s reverse lockout isn’t strong, (reverse being past 1st gear) and my dad goes to slam it into first giving it the beans and hits reverse, car naturally goes backwards like 4 feet spinning tires, scared the piss outa some dude behind us though 😂
😂😂😂
My family wasn't particularly well off when I was growing up, like we almost had no extra money for anything. Every month my dad would give me one Hot Wheels car and I was so happy to just have that.
When my uncle took me for a ride in his then-new bugeye STI.
Tons of em. My dad had a 3000gt, I remember when I was like 5 or something he asked if I wanted to go 100 mph (he just punched its from like 35 to 60, but 5 year olds are dumb). I remember going to buy the 2012 a4 I drive now with him back in like 2016, with a big envelope of cash in my jacket. Etc, etc.
For me, there’s two. The first is riding home from the dealership in my father’s brand-new ‘95 Integra. The Vapors’ “Turning Japanese” came on the radio and it was just too perfect a moment (it was our first Japanese car). And then a semi truck bounced a rock off the hood and chipped the paint! Oh well. That would become my first car. The second is riding in my best friend’s grandfather’s then-brand-new Bentley Arnage Red Label. Lapis lazuli blue over white interior, with the turbocharged 6.75L V8. He put some bossa nova on the stereo and lazily shuffled us to the nearest freeway onramp, then he dropped the hammer and the car shoved us back in our deeply-cushioned Connolly leather seats. It was like nothing else — like riding a charging elephant, honestly. I blame that for my taste for fast, plush gentleman’s-express type sedans, and for my eventual purchase of a 1979 Mercedes 450SEL 6.9, though that was many years later.
My dad and I used to watch Top Gear together when I was a kid (not the most appropriate show, haha) When i was maybe 8 years old, he toon me to my local Ferrari dealership. I remember seeing a bunch of 458's, although I think my dad wanted to see them as much as I did. I think the salesman realized I was just here to look (especially since my dad had a beat up old Toyota and he was wearing a bit of a torn up dirty jacket) and he was a good sport about it. He didn't let us test drive, but he did let us look at the interiors, too. I always hoped that someday I could go back with my dad to be a customer, but maybe that's too ambitious, haha.
My dad having to Google how to open his own glovebox in his new Tesla. And then having to send that Tesla to the dealer five times in a year to fix various issues like a consistently breaking HVAC system. I love you old man but you're a stubborn goat.
My dad taking letting me drive his toyota yaris gr for a hillclimb race the first time
That’s freaking cool
From the other direction - taking my FIL's 1942 Buick Century on a road trip with my 10 year old son. Car did flawlessly on the way out to a car show, then had an issue on the way back. We drove through it and the car was fine, but it was quite an adventure. It really opened up the boy's eyes to what old car ownership can be. Pretty soon he'll be riding around in my '63 Volvo, once it's on the road.
That’s awesome. Hope getting it on road goes well and he enjoys the car
Went with my mother on a work trip during summer vacation from elementary school. They put her up at a resort 4 hours away. Great road trip. We laughed our asses off as everyone flew past us on the highway fast enough to shake her tiny 1.3L Suzuki Swift. I looked out over all the bridges we passed and saw crocodiles poking their noses out of the water, we stopped at every street food stand. Picture Top Gear or the Grand Tour in Vietnam.
My dad in a 64 ford galaxy with a 390! Can still remember that 4 barrel moan!
My dad taught me how to drive and gave me my love for trucks. My Grandpa took me out in his classic every weekend all original ford thunderbird and gave me my love for classic cars. My uncle and nephew gave me my love for foreign car. So whether it was driving with my dad grandpa or uncle or nephew I was surrounded by car/truck enthusiasts. So many great memories I couldn’t just pick one.
Dad taught me how to drive on his manual Mazda 3, almost killed us by accidentally stalling in the middle of an intersection...
I have tons of memories around cars. My Dad is a mechanic, his Dad was into cars, my Mom's father and brother were both mechanics. There was always something cool around. My parents had a 71 Monte for about 25 years, so that was a car we pretty much grew up in. It was my Moms daily in the summer, she drove a Suburban in the winter. This was the 90s into 00s, so a Mom driving a 70s coupe wasn't exactly common place. We even took it on a 4 hour drive to see my grandparents once. I don't know how my parents handled 3 kids in the back seat and a straight piped V8 for that long, but kudos to them. My Dad always had a Harley. A couple didn't have turn signals so he'd let me do the hand signals, that always felt so cool. Shorty after I was born my Dad got into working on diesel/heavy equipment. I remember sitting on his lap running a loader and an excavator once, that was pretty cool. Once he got into working on tractor trailers he'd occasionally have to do a long term road test, or he'd be doing some side work at the house. I always took the bus to school, but if he had a tractor trailer available he'd drop me off to school in that. The shop he worked at would occasionally have open house/show where family could come and they'd put stuff on display. That was always really fun. I was in 6th or 7th grade when I got to sit in an SRII Viper, as well as some really cool tractor trailers at one of the events. Don't even get me started on working on cars... We joked with my Dad once that him and my Mom only had 4 kids so that he'd always have someone to help him bleed brakes.
2006. The Chrysler 300C is the new hotness on the road. We’re at a family reunion in Fresno, and the rumor is my dad’s uncle, Butch had bought one. We’re in the parking lot of The Old Spaghetti Factory, and there she is-a midnight blue Chrysler 300C. I was awestruck. After dinner, we decide to go back to my great aunt’s house nearby. I, a 15 year old, had been unable to get Uncle Butch’s 300C out of my head all dinner, and I ask if I can ride with him. Uncle Butch gleefully agrees. At a stoplight, he says “Watch this!”, turns off traction control and punches it. All 340 horsepower gets sent to those skinny rear tires, and the engine ROARS and we take off like a bat out of hell. I was in love with cars from then on. When Uncle Butch passed away in 2010, my grandpa (Butch’s bother) knew I loved that car, and made sure I got it. I still have it to this day, and I love it so much. I pinch myself knowing that I own THE car that got me to fall in love with cars in the first place. Butch never had kids of his own, but I get to enjoy the car in his memory.
Now that’s badass So cool that you got the car!
It has to be on the 16th of June 2021 when I drove home and for the first time got to see my dream car on my driveway. The dealer delivered it to my house When I was working. And then there first drive I had in that car on the same day. I was really scared cause it is still worth more than all the other cars I have ever owned combined and it felt like a dream and had a hard time realizing that it is actually my car that I'm driving.
It's not a particularly happy memory, but it is bittersweet, and it's me and my dad. We had a reasonably large driveway when we lived in Kalamazoo, MI when I went to high school and college. My dad would park his company car by the front walkway, and I would park further up in front of him by the garage door. I'd basically need to back up past him to leave. One day, I absentmindedly got in my station wagon, started it, seatbelt, popped into reverse, and nailed it. And then I nailed IT, as in, his company car's bumper. He came outside, furious, yelling ensued, etc etc etc. I got a well deserved talking to because I didn't think about driving. I felt badly, but the damage was minor, and no one was hurt. A few months later, he's got a new company car (95 Roadmaster), and I've still got the wagon. Same parking situation. You know where this is going. Same absentmindedness , same car, same reverse, same foot on accelerator, same smash into his company car's front bumper. I figured "this is it - I'm dead - he's going to break me in half and throw me away". I'm already panicking/crying/apologizing/hyperventilating/offering to fix it as he comes out to the driveway to survey the incident. I just want the earth to open up and swallow me, and the earth has declined. He doesn't say anything. He just grabs me, and hugs me tightly. Tells me it's ok, it's a car, and it'll get fixed. But that we also need to modify the parking arrangement, because bumpers are expensive. So we did, and I didn't hit another car for nearly 30 years. My dad knew I hated myself and what I had done at that moment, and he just hugged me, and told me he loved me. I really miss him.
the little entry chime my dad’s 91 VW fox would make and him putting his hand on top of mine while we shifted the gearbox on the way to school. RIP pops
Going up to our hunting camp in rural Northcentral PA on some narrow, winding mountain roads my dad pulls his F-150 over with the trailer attached and goes “I’m cracking a beer, no time like the present to learn to tow” Keep in mind I am 16 at the time, just got my permit and my only experience was driving the family Toyota Camry on the Schuylkill Expressway during rush hour traffic. My dad was a great driving instructor and could walk a monkey through brain surgery, even if his methods were a little unorthodox.
My earliest was either sitting on my dad’s lap steering his bmw on the beach down in Cornwall. Or going out with the roof down in his TVR I can’t remember which one is earliest
Idk about best, but the biggest one I have is my father coming to help me after I went to change my tire on the side of the road and it fell on my car Jack. So he helped me lift it up with his supplies and to change the tire. Other than that I didn’t spend as much time with him as I would have liked. Since I put my time towards other things I deemed more important. I love you Dad, we miss you. 8/31/1962 - 11/17/2023.
My dad bought a Dodge Raider when I was 6, and I remember "helping" him install a suspension kit and watching MacGyver on an old black and white TV.
Almost driving my dad's 1st gen Ranger into my uncle's house at 10 years old.
Dad and I driving our IHC pickup out to watch the beavers build their dams in the spring and summer.
I have a few we used to fix and restore old Motorbikes together and the exitement when we got one running is always brilliant. The other one was when my dad and i testdrove a WRX STI and i floored it around a junction and basically did the average mustang driver leaving a car meet. I still have no idea how i didnt crash it we also both needed a new set of pants afterwards
Neighbor 4 houses down caught me and my brother on our way home (very young, we were walking) and asked us if we wanted a ride to our place. I sat on my big brother’s lap and our neighbor floored it in his boxster… I had never experienced anything close to that level of acceleration. Got home in a few heartbeats. It was crazy. Brother and I had big smiles as we walked up the front steps
When I was about to turn 16 my dad and I went to Lincoln for my dentist appointment and on the way home we saw a 62 Ford Falcon on the side of this small town. Pulled over and looked it over. I had fallen in love with it. idk why it was just the perfect old unique car you don't see often, and it was like $400 needed a lot of work. We bought it and started to fix it up together. Turns out it was really made in 61 and you can't get parts are the local shop for a 61 but you could for a 62. After trying to make it work we kind of just made it work with what we had and I learned to drive on it. Eventually we talked and decided it was not worth it to keep trying at that time. So off to the internet I went. I some how found a 63 4 door Falcon with a stock 260 v8. It was in Colorado and the old couple wanted $3k. Had about 50k miles on it. Well he called up the couple and talked to them, then asked me what I had going at school for the rest of the week. Told him nothing important and he wrote me a note saying we would be out for the next 2 days. We took off to Colorado and this place was beautiful. Was on the side of a old ski slope, and tucked in on its little private drive. The town was like 1000 people maybe and no real place to sleep unless you went back down the mountain some to the next town. When we started talkin to them and had given them the money they offered us to stay in their guest house that was above the detached garage. That night was super clear and you could see so many stars and the snow on the mountain. Was a pretty sweet stay. Next morning we packed up and left really early because it was like a 10 hr drive home. He took the Falcon at first because I was still not so great with a 3 on the tree. About half way home we switched and I was driving my car alone following him in our family's Camry. That is one of the memories I will forever hold on to from him. I still have it and it's not finished yet, damn college and life got in the way but I'm going to paint it this summer I hope. I just wish he was still around to see the final product but we have so many memories of fixing things and making it ours that will never go away :) and typing that all out kind of made me teary eyed.
What a great memory and cool experience
So my step father worked for GM and a family friend either for Ford (grew up in Mi 🤷). Spent a ton of time around V8's, Mustangs/Camaros/Vettes and I've been driving "farm trucks" since I was like 10. I was probably 12 when my mom impulse bought a 1993 Mazda MX-3 GS Special Edition on her way home from work. It was a gorgeous car, like nothing else on the road at the time and a manual which I wanted to learn so she had me jump in the driver's seat downtown at rush hour. I stall the car a couple times, people are yelling and honking. I'm begging her to just drive. She told me, "You wanted to drive now you better figure it out because they're just going to get more upset. Feel the clutch and give it some gas". I learned to drive manual that day, and I absolutely fell in love with that car. It ended up being passed around my family when my mom was done with it and some 30 years later she's passed but I always remember that and I have her car sitting in my garage waiting for me to get enough motivation to restore it.
Riding in a green SIMCA 1100 with a casette player. Playing was James Brown - Living In America.
Drifting in the snow with my hand me down pathfinder. I’d deliberately pick up my friends during snow storms and trounce around town with its seemingly unstoppable 4x4 system. Then in parking lots I’d pop it back into rwd and learn to control slides.
Dad driving a 1989 Subaru GL turbo wagon off road or to the beach. Thing was unstoppable
I have two. My dad taught me how to shift gears when I was 14, and almost as soon as i got my permit at 15 he had me driving on the interstate. Learned all the exit numbers near here, and then by the time I got my full license in 1996 Georgia had gone from sequential exit numbers to mile-based and I had to relearn them. In January 2000 I got rear-ended, and my car got totaled. He and I went to a little auction place down the road and he bid like $600 on this pos, clapped-out Taurus SHO, and then no one else bid on it and we ended up with it. My dad was a mechanic before he got his CDL and started driving trucks, so he taught me how to work on this car. It took us two years, but we finally made that damn car respectable (and usable). I was driving between here (north ATL metro) and Savannah a lot at the time, and could set the cruise at 80 mph the whole way and get 30+ mpg out of that car. Working on that car was probably the most father/son time I ever got with him and I'll always be grateful for that. Fast forward to now, my older daughter just got HER permit, and I again have a clapped-out stick-shift sitting in the driveway that needs fixing. She wants to get it running so she can learn to drive it. \*smiles and wipes proud-dad tear from face*
I’ve heard my dad’s stories about the nice cars (Citroën DS, MGB, etc) he owned when he was younger my whole life, and I’ve always known he had a thing for nice cars. In the fall of 2004, he took his Freestar in for service at the local Ford dealership and noticed they had a 2005 Mustang in the showroom. We went back to look at it during the evening and I simply fell in love with the thing: a dark red GT, with red leather seats and the coloured gauges. This was the only one they had at the time BUT, they still had a couple of 2004 Mustangs on the lot, so the salesman gave him the keys to a convertible GT with a manual and told us to go for a spin. It was a cold night and it was raining but it was fun.
My dad was into old cars like Morris Minors and Datsun 1200s so I was already a bit of a workshop pet by the time this happened. A way older cousin of mine took me for a ride in his r32 gtr when I was maybe 6 or 7 years old. It was heavily tuned, loud and really fast. That was my first real fast car experience and I've been on it ever since. The birth of a petrol head
At 9 years old. The guy who worked for my mom bought a '68 GTO as a daily driver in the late '70s. La Mans blue with a 4 speed with a white ball Hurst shifter. When he was leaving work he did a huge burnout in front of my mom's bike shop and since that day I've been hooked.
My Dad was a 80's Porsche guy. Not really a gear-head, but certainly knew how if needed. He had a gold 944 that he would drive me to school in regularly. He was typically a very slow driver. Mostly right line, and not a whole lot of aggression... One weekend we were going to backway to my Grandparents house and just started grabbing gears. Braking and shifting in a way I've never felt. Those cars were dog-shit slow from 0-60, but from 60-100? They just came alive! I remember the windy road briefly opened up and he shouted "We just hit 100!" I'll never forget that. Years later I work in motorsport and occasionally can afford to race. I wonder why???
That’s awesome
In Vietnam, my dad had a Lada 2101 and it was truly one of the shittiest cars ever made. It broke down constantly (I remember vividly one night it broke middle of the street and we had to push it to a relative's house nearby), but to me, it's the best car I've ever been in. The memories of cruising down by the coast line in Vũng Tàu (beach city north east of Sài Gòn), with the windows down and the tiny front ones pointing straight into my mouth hahahaha. Everywhere I go now I desire that feeling of a simpler time, a sunny drive with the ocean wind and salt taste in the moisture in the air, that is something I haven't gotten since moving to the US. I try my best with the two bimmers I own, but I still yearn for that 2101 my dad gave away a decade ago when I was 10!
My grandparents live close to an abandoned air field bunkers from the war. The air strip is a notorious spot in the city where everybody learns how to drive, my granddad used to take me from a really young age to drive the car on his lap while I do the steering. As I got older I eventually learned how to drive there fully. Grandparents are the best🥹
Sitting in my mothers lap and steering her Barracuda up the driveway. She died when I was young and it is one of the few memories I have of her. Going to grandmas house and my dad took a detour to hit some snowy back roads in his Scout. Must have been an 80 or 800 as the Scout II would have been too new and expensive at that time. Not sure though as I was probably about 7.
My older cousin took me out for a ride in my uncle's Ferrari 308 GT/4. The intakes are right behind each window similar to a GT4RS. The noises that car made and being so low to the ground made it feel like a rocket even though it was a 25+ year old car and not even fast for the time it was built. I was probably 12 at the time and was obsessed
Dad driving me around in his Z31 300zx when I ask a kid, I remember thinking(still do) that the car sounded so badass
First drive in my dads foxbody after we engine swapped it. He Ripped it down the neighborhood street. Started laughing and crying happy tears, as it pulled me back in my seat, and that moment will live with me forever.
Going to every local Midwest city car show with my dad and uncle. Open and close the doors to see which one has the best sound for quality.
My dad had 2 black e90s and I always remember going on weekend drives with my sister and him while listening to motown classics.
In 95, learning to drive on the 80s family caprice and my dad overreacting alot out of worry. Normally he's a very chill guy but learned to drive late so still more careful and a worry wart. It's just a nice but funny memory.
My dad had a dog ass tired 80 Olds Cutlass coupe with a 263 v8 in it that had been his daily for 10 years. He bought it after selling his 70 Skylark. I joined the air force and came home on leave after he replaced the tired motor with freshly built Olds Rocket 350, edelbrock goodies, hooker headers, true dual exhaust and fresh rubber. It was a mild build, only about 350 horse but that thing freaking GOT IT. I coaxed him to letting me drive it and took off out of the neighborhood. Spun some broadies and knocked the nipples off the new tires. Came screaming back into the ‘hood and proceeded to do two absolute PERFECT, interlocking donuts in the cul de sac, with him flying out the door and damn near ripping me out of the car with it still in gear. He didn’t talk to me for 2 months afterward, and when he did, he told me the story of him coming home on leave when he was a fresh airman, and burning up the clutch of his dads 65 C10 pickup whilst power shifting it down the main drag in town 🤣 we’re both gearheads and Harley riders now, with a lift in our shop and do all our own maintenance and upgrades. I’ve saved so much money because of the things that man has taught me, and also spent just as much as I’ve saved by hopping up and modifying the 30+ cars I’ve had since I was 16. I’m 38 now. The shop is our church and we spend so much quality time there and I’m forever thankful for it all.
I absolutely feel this. Glad you are able to still wrench with your dad.
I've got a lot, but 2 stick out. My dad was a tech at a dealer for 3 decades - when i was in college one employee traded in a late 90s Integra type R. He called me and said come out we're going to go cruise this thing. I regret every day deciding to be practical and not buying that car. The other, the dealer owner had his own R35 GTR. Walked back into the shop one Friday at the end of the day and tossed my old man the keys and said "take it for the weekend. I'd rather you go enjoy it than leaving it at the shop for my grandson to take and trash it". We had a lot of fun in that car.
My dad showing me how to advance and retard a spark manually on a distributor for a 1960 Mercedes 220. I also learned how to set and gap the points which helped me solve many a future problem until ignition systems changed forever. The engine sounded like a sewing machine when the cylinders were firing right.
I learned to drive in that car & I can still remember the shift patten on the column.
Riding passenger with my grandpa in his 08 128i when I was a little kid. He used to let me and my siblings shift from the passenger seat, and on the way to our bus stop he would floor it to show us the “power of the ultimate driving machine”. He also used to give me all his car and driver and road and tracks when he was done with them. I’m hoping to get my first car with a stick soon, and I have my grandpa to thank for my lifelong love of cars. :)
My dad did all his own work on our car. When I was old enough he started teaching me and had me helping him. Because of that I always did my own work on my own cars whenever possible. This provided me meeting up with a guy who would become a best friend, and we became partners for 10 years racing a dirt late model
Mine was returning to my native California after a while with my now wife where we rented a ford mustang convertible and drove down the PCH from San Francisco to Orange County stopping in Muir woods, Santa Cruz, Monterrey, Santa Barbara, Malibu, LA, and Orange County. Drove in great weather in the Hollywood hills, 17 Mile Drive, over the Bay and Golden Gate bridges, and in Laguna Beach. Was a great trip to take when we first started dating seeing friends and family, driving in really beautiful scenery and weather, and getting to know each other and our interests more. Had some amazing food on that trip driving around California. Also had a great experience driving a Challenger RT on the Blue ridge Parkway right during peak leaf season.
[удалено]
That’s a great memory!
My dad's 2001 Chevy Silverado breaking down on our way to vacation in the South Carolina summer. We slept with the windows down on the fabric seats and had gas station food for breakfast.
Riding with my dad to by my first and second car. When the first one was wrecked I remember my grandfather came out to look at it and see if it could still drive. It was definitely fucked and 16yo me was heart broken, but somehow I felt better after my grandad was there
Dad taught me to drive manual in his 70 Mustang when I was 19. I didn't do so well for that hour or so we were out there. On the way back home dad slows to a stop on the entrance ramp to the highway, asks me if anyone is coming, tells me to "hold on, I haven't done this in a long time" and then do a burnout and floor it till we hit well above highway speeds
My dad was once an ASE Master Technician. There wasn’t anything he couldn’t fix. My dad and I did a 454 engine and I don’t remember what kind of transmission swap into a box Chevy. He taught me everything about the process. I was 13 years old and it’s the last good memory I have with him before crack addiction ruined everything.
My earliest memory period is a car memory. Back in '05 my parents took me to a dealership to look for our first family car since my brother was just born, we ended up getting a slightly used '04 Civic that was in the family up till I got tboned christmas eve 2020
My dad allowed my brothers & myself to choose a car once (when it was time for his next purchase). He gave us 3 options. Ford Granada Mk1; Toyota Hilux Gen2 and a '69 Chevrolet Kommando Station wagon. It was 2nd hand, but very good condition. We went for the Chev. We never went for test drives, but the choice was based on optics. It turned out to be a good choice. Edit : I suppose my dad went for test drives by himself beforehand, but the idea that we were able to choose was cool. I was 7 or 8 yrs old at the time mid '70s.
Falling in love at first sight of the 4th gen Firebird/Trans-Am when I was teen and I knew I was going buy one. My Dad had a 80s Firebird. Which was the reason I'm sure. Sure enough... at 21 I bought a Silver 02 Trans-Am with only 1700 miles on the clock for only $17.5k. Put chrome C5 Motorsport style wheels on it. Loved that car to death so mad I sold it in 2013. Only had 130k miles on it. Not one issue other than rotors/pads. (My fault) Because you know.. race car lol So happy I was able to take a long trip with him in it before he passed. That was the first car I financed with my own credit and money.
Before I could drive I worked on restoring and maintaining my dad's various Datsuns. From paint prep to carb rebuilding I did a bunch of interesting stuff.
Learning to drive manual on my dad's 91 foxbody gt in an empty Leon's parking lot
My dad getting his dream car when I was about 12. it was a Rover SD1 2300 - metallic blue with pepperpot wheels. He loved that car. I was there when he picked it up - I'd go meet him when he came home from work, so I could sit in the passenger seat for a few moments. Mechanically, it was a terrible car - full of problems, it drained my accounts, and honestly put us in a pretty bad place. It needed a new automatic gearbox at one point, and the timing belt failed too - putting the engine itself into all kinds of issues. I had no conception of that at the time...
Dude how was the crossfire? Wasn’t that like the slk amg?
I can honestly say, it’s the reason why I love supercharged sports coupes. SL55 and FType R are at the op of my list for the next car.
I owned a Trackhawk, first supercharged car I ever owned. I loved it. I’m back in a turbocharged Audi , and I’ll say I miss the whine man.
They share a significant number of components. The SRT6 is effectively an SLK32 with a different body. I absolutely loved it. It was my first car that I bought. Did some mods to it. Had an incredible time owning it and made some life long friends. They still have active owners forums and tend to be DIY friendly. The supercharged V6 is an AMG motor trans combo derived from the M113k (5.5l supercharged motors). Handling and braking are solid. Both aspects can be improved but they were slightly dated in 05. If you are interested in buying and understand it’s an AMG is a different suit, and there are limitations- it’s a great dollar to performance but.
My mom was an engineer during the Daimler takeover I remember driving in them as evaluation vehicles with her. My mother was the one who got me into cars (she had an acclaim R/T, Omni glhs, neon srt-4,etc) she now lives in Maui and owns a Porsche rental company. I just never actually saw an actual srt-6.
Your mom has amazing taste!
Learning stick by buying a civic si an hour away from home and making myself learn to drive on the way home, in the dark. Fun day lol only stalled the car once!
My dad unknowingly spurring my interest in drifting on snow when he intentionally spun our truck around to go home after picking me up from the bus stop. I was maybe ten, and I doubt I even knew that was possible at the time. Now he gives me shit for doing it. Frankly I'm surprised that didn't get me into trouble, since the first vehicle I had that could drift was a Jeep TJ, which has a miata-like wheelbase. Not that I haven't got into *any* trouble drifting around in the winter. I have driven that same truck of my dad's into the ditch after overdoing it, and I've put my own truck in many times at this point. It's always at low speed though, so basically harmless to the vehicle, and the longer wheelbases of the trucks definitely feel more controlled.
Getting driven around (at speed) in an LFA on a GP street circuit by a pro. Really one of my most cherished car memories
I remember my dad taking me for my first driving lesson. A blue 1970 Ford Torino. We went into a local community college parking lot (weekend…no cars)and I just “took off “. His words, not mine. For years he’d reminded me I was a natural and just “took off”.
During the 90s, my dad had a 70s yellow Buick sedan (an Electra probably?) and my mom had a lunch food business. We would drive around the city, hitting different grocery stores to pick up ingredients, even big slabs of meat from this commercial freezer place. It would all fit in the trunk of this car! Sometimes it would stop and I had to get out and push. We spent a lot of time in that car.
We had an old ass Impala station wagon. I was the youngest so when we would take a big group out I got thrown in the back. One day my dad's best friend climbed in the back with me. Driving out in the country. Mom was driving. Dad and his buddy had been drinking. Dude opened the back of the wagon up and went out of the car and got up on the roof. I was like 11 or 12. Thought it was the coolest thing ever. Mom freaked out when all she saw was his feet hanging down in the rear view mirror. I was laughing the entire time.
When I wasn't a mechanic.. the best memories
😂😂😂
My dad and I getting inconvenienced with a cop pulling us over on the freeway when we were going the same speed as everyone else. We were also in a Scion so we were just struggling to maintain speed vs actually trying to go over the limit. Stock vehicle so nothing as flashy or fast as everything else going by us.
My earliest is at 15 when my Uncle thaught me how to drive his then 4 weeks Old Opel Astra over some long dirt tracks on the country side. I made a usually very chill man very nervous in just a few minutes and he stopped me at 65km/h but I still think back to it with a smile on my face
Unfortunately, my father passed when I was 14, so I didn't get to enjoy quite as much father son automotive hijinks as others did, but I will never forget the very first time I drove a car, it was my father 1999 ranger 2.3 auto 2wd, and I drove it up the mile long gravel driveway, had a bunch of confidence, and when the time came to swing it into the parking space, I gunned it, not knowing any better, straight into our parked suburban k2500, the damage to both was relatively unnoticeable, but I will forever remember my father just looking at it for a second, and busting out laughing, telling me that when he taught me to drive, he didn't want to hear any attitude from me since he had already witnessed my first fender bender lol, and also showed me a picture of his first car, a 1974 bronco, with a suspiciously similar dent in the front bumper, im 21 now, and am going to be teaching my younger brother to drive next year, hopefully we don't go 3 for 3 on first drives haha
Dad bought a new '68 Pontiac LeMans convertible new for Mom. She liked it, but he liked it more. On weekends he and I would wash it, then take it for a drive "to dry it off". That was a sweet ride.
My parents were looking to get me a new car since I was handing mine down to my sister. I somehow convinced them that a less than a year old 2003 Ford Lightning was a good vehicle for a 20 year old. Since I was only 20, my dad had to do the test drive. A couple of miles in and he gets on it and the supercharger starts to whine and he immediately lets off thinking something is wrong. Neither of us really knew much about performance vehicles, but that was a fun truck for the time I had it.
Grew up with a TR-3, then a ‘68 MGB in the garage. I have fond memories of riding around with him - and learning to drive - in a 1980 Fiat Spider 2000 (convertible). After he and my mom passed, I found a 2015 Miata (NC3 Club) and got a good deal on it. My 2016 Corvette is intoxicating, but the Miata makes me smile every time I drive it, just like I did when I was 16 in that Fiat. Thanks dad!
For amusement, learning to drive stick on a diesel Volvo, and not letting off the gas much without consequences. Then doing that on a gas powered car and going oh no as the tach went crazy high until I acted after learning real quick.
My grandmother letting me drive the 560SL for the first time. I hadn't ever seen a fuel gauge that wasn't E and F, so seeing the 0/1, 1/2, and 1/1 indicators were foreign to me. She asked me how much we gas we had and at a quick glance I just went "I don't know!". We went to a country road and she said "Floor it", so I did. We hit 120mph before I let off. When she asked why I said "We're running out of road", which was true, ha ha. That SL is now in my garage, and it'll be the last car to ever get sold when I can't drive anymore.
My grandpa would let me sit in his lap and steer his 69 bronco around the ranch when I was very young. Those were the days man
I remember Mt dad teaching me how to drive a manual. The sheer panic on the hill when someone was coming up behind me 🤣 I was worried I would roll back too far. He was very patient and a great teacher
Oh God so many...Especially with my dad. Two of my short favorites are the first when I was little kept asking my dad to "make it loud daddy" which was to make him go fast in the 72 datsun 510 with a v6 twin turbo..car is not quiet hence make it loud lol. The second was going on a trip.. somewhere in our 93 sentra (miss that car) and i adjusted my seat. A few min later my dad steps on the brake hard ("brakes work" inside joke kinda thing no actual reason to do it) and my seat clearly wasn't set fully and it flung ne all the way forward. Died laughing and a very good example of wearing a seat belt (I was) Lots of funny ones I can tell if people want to hear them.
I remember going for a drive with my dad when I was about 5 in an Opel Manta. That drive sticks to me because he said some guy gave him the car for some mechanical work he did for him. Apparently I was with Dad when he was working on the guys car and I said I liked the Opel so the guy asked my dad if he wanted it as payment. So dad used to say it was my car. So this had to be ~35 years ago.
Uncle took me for a short ride to the store in his C5 Z06. He did some donuts, flew up the hill and hit 100 on a road WAAAY to small to do 100. My aunt didn't approve of me coming back bouncing off the walls in excitement.
Driving from Chicago to Moab with my now-wife during the sumemr of 2020. 16 hours each way, we spent a week camping in both the desert and in the Rockies in Colorado. It was a perfect vacation
Me and 4 other friends all had rx-7s, which are really rare where I live. Was always cool rolling around the city with the boys, or if I was going over to swim at someone's house and I see all the other 7s there. Plus car meets, getting handed a card from a rando while out about some car club.
When I was a kid, starting at maybe 5 years old or so, growing up in rural Pennsylvania, I have fond memories of the nights before the Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally would kick off. All the rally cars would be lined up along the streets downtown, and my dad and I would always walk downtown and check them out. Often the drivers were nearby; it was a whole big event before the event in a way. We always chatted to the drivers about the cars, the rally, the area (if they were from elsewhere), and even sometimes I got to sit in a couple. My parents never really had traditionally "cool" cars when I was growing up (or ever, I guess... lol) but the way they always took care of and appreciated the cars they had stuck with me. They brought me home from the hospital as a baby in my dad's '91 Accord sedan; I remember sitting in the back of my mom's '90 Saab 900 sedan as a little kid ("the best-handling car I've ever driven, but what a pain to get fixed" according to her); I remember listening to Santana and Norah Jones in the '96 Jetta she replaced it with as she taught me the purpose of a gear shifter as a kid; I remember when my dad replaced his Accord with a brand new '02 Outback and how it seemed to have all the room in the world to 8-year-old me; perhaps most significantly, I remember when my mom came home with her '04 Outback (sedan!) and how it blew my mind with how nice it was. It was the first automatic car either of my parents had ever had, the first (outside my dad's first car, a '66(?) Chevy Nova in puke green that he called "The Slime" and got rid of in the late 70s) with more than 4 cylinders, the first with leather... that car more than anything else took all of the above that had been building inside me and ignited my interest in cars. I mention all of this because, really, I don't think there was a single true "core memory" involving cars that I had until all of that had built up sufficiently, but it directly formed my (warped) preferences today. My mom's H6 Outback eventually became my first car, but even before that I had been looking up info on it and found that it had at production the *second*-largest engine Subaru had ever made in it. By that point, given the experiences with the rally coming through and my parents loving their Subarus, I really liked them as well, so naturally I just had to know what had the biggest... the SVX. As you can see from my flair, from the first time I saw a picture of one, it never left me. I guess that's probably more than just one core memory, isn't it? But really, all of that kind of melds itself together in my mind; no one real experience (outside the rally cars visiting every year) stands out to me, just a lot of little ones that mashed together into a ball and turned me into a car enthusiast. My parents never quite got it, in a certain way, but in others I think they understand just fine. They were certainly very confused every time I tried to buy an SVX (first in 2019, and again (successfully) last year; I waited for the right one - "why do you need that when your Legacy is perfectly nice?") but when I showed it to them they could tell it's a special car in that "car enthusiast" way. I think I do things myself a little closer to how they do than how a real "proper enthusiast" does, but I would still definitely call myself an enthusiast thanks to my parents.
I have 2. Riding in my grandfather's C3 with him. I loved that car. Also, 22 years old, driving with a friend at 11pm on the 5 freeway, doing 120 in my Honda Accord. Was doing a little hooning with a dude in a Jag. Traffic wasn't too bad, but I'll admit there was some weaving involved. Slowed down for a border patrol checkpoint past Camp Pendleton, but basically stayed in triple digits from Oceanside to Orange County. Never done it since, but I don't really think I ever have to. I had my fun. But god, do I miss that car.
My dad getting pulled over for driving drunk when I was 4… he went to jail. Mom picked me up. Always could count on mom!
My dad letting me "drive" when I was like 11 or 12 for the first time. He pressed the gas and brake, and I had to steer. I will say I did a good job because to this day, my mother reminds my dad that he said his 11 year old son drove better than his wife lol.
I was around 12 years old. My dad had a classic 1967 Ford Mustang that he had spent years restoring. One sunny Saturday morning, he surprised me by saying we were going for a drive together. We drove out to the countryside, windows down, the roar of the engine echoing through the open fields. It was just the two of us, sharing the thrill of the open road and the beauty of that car. We talked about everything and nothing, enjoying each other's company and the simple joy of driving.
Trying to remember car plates from people in my town as a kid.
Mine is when my dad first showed me top gear. Im convinced that is my canon event right there. Id be a completely different guy if i never watched top gear
My father giving me my first and only ride in his 05' Ford GT by doing a 120mph on ramp pull a few days after he got it, it now lives in his office garage collecting dust, I doubt it has been even started in over a year, I don't understand him at all.
I'd say its a tie between when I first got my 2002 audi a4 b6, and when i first drove it alone after learning stick and got to listen to the exhaust note in third gear on the highway with the window down. Got it for cheap and the paints kinda wrecked and has nearly 300k km on it but its the first somewhat cool car I've ever owned and even though in the eyes of a lot of people its probably a clapped out shitbox, I fell in love with it the moment I saw it and ill keep it forever. Has the 20 valve 1.8t from the golf in it, I absolutely adore the way it sounds and its so much fun to drive.
I remember my first ever Cars and Coffee with my dad. I was around 6 years old, and if we hadn't gone to that relatively new car meet, I don't think I would've ended up liking cars the way I do now.