What spiked your passion for cars?

[samrwalt]

My dad's side of the family loves cars, I was told when I was 2 years old I was pushing blocks around saying "vroooom" and my parents had never "played cars" with me before. By the time I was in 5th grade my uncle borrowed my dad's e34 bmw 525 and totaled it leaving him no choice but to fix it since it would be my first car. my dad put a reiger body kit on it and repainted the car along with a few m5 suspension parts, new wheels, and lowered it of course. he let me make a few minor decisions with him such as the new color and just let me be involved with the whole process

when i saw the car when it was finally finished after seeing the whole project developed i knew that this was going to be my biggest passion.

Now i'm in the works of turning my passion into a career by majoring in mechanical engineering with a minor of automotive engineering at Auburn University.

[Jager]

I have to agree with ekam, it's in the blood.

My first love, at five years old, was a toy Opel GT:



My first car:



My current car:



What next??

[dbear61]

Great topic and great posts from everyone. Looking at Johnny Danger's nanny, I think we all now understand why he is so enamored with speed yellow.

Special props to husker for his post. I loved my Dad, but he was no car guy. Oil changes and DIYers were to save money, not because he liked cars. In my memory growing up until I moved out, he owned a '58 Studebaker, '65 Chevy Bel Aire wagon, '72 Olds Townsman wagon, '72 Mercury Colony Park wagon (with a 460 cid engine, that's the closest he came to a "car" guy); a '78 Renault Le Car(my first stick) and an '82 Dodge Aries. I don't remember very many of his cars after I moved out, but none would stir any passion about cars.

What sparked me was when my neighbor's dad bought a new 1970 Mustang fastback (they were also the first in the neighborhood with a snow-thrower, so doubly cool). He (the kid, not the dad) and I started trekking to the auto dealer strip 2 miles away and grabbing brochures from all of them. We'd go to the loft in our garage and pore through the photos and dream about which ones we'd like to own ourselves. Fords, Mercurys, Chevys, Olds, Pontiacs, Dodges, Plymouths. There was an German import dealer in the strip, but they didn't have any cool cars in 1970.

In 1974, I stumbled on "Car and Driver" in the school library, and that really set the hook.

DBear

[Porsche Chick]

I think it's genetic. My grandfather invented/filed a of couple of patents for Opal, and loved his American Cadillacs dearly. I'm pretty sure he moved the whole family to this country to avoid paying the tariff to import them into Europe. My father used to drag his hotrod Chevy in the '60's, and is a driving instructor for a big European brand to this day. Both uncles also into cars. But nobody ever talked to me about cars, because, well . . . I'm a girl. So I listened and learned, without anyone noticing.

My high school friends included a group of boys that autoX'ed, and they were into cars. One boy had a gorgeous little Alpine Sunbeam (actually he had 2, one was for parts), another had a modified '65 Mustang, there were a bunch of big block Chevies in the group, too. I loved the sound of the V8's, and that sporty little roadster. Sadly, my boyfriend had a Bug. In those days, it wasn't really fashionable for girls to like cars, but I learned a lot listening to those guys.

Fast forward a few years and hubby bought me a brand new Celica for Christmas, a complete surprise. It was an awesome car, manual, with great torque and very reliable. I got so many speeding tickets in that car. But then kids and carpools came along and I was relegated to "practical" cars for too many years.

Now that the kids are driving themselves, I realized I could finally drive something fun again. The 6-month car search (FRS? Jag? Miata? Mustang?) is for another thread, but hubby repeatedly pushed me toward the Boxster, and I'm glad he did. Hubby has had a few Porsches over the years, but it's different now that it's my own. I enjoy driving it, posting about it, reading about it, and FINALLY talking about it.