What spiked your passion for cars?

[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