What was the coolest car your parents owned?

My dad had this old beater.   




Doors didn't open, no front brakes, didn't even have a full body, had to be push started, and only could drive the length of a couple bocks at speed.

I guess at 57 it's kinda late to ask to be adopted. 

I don't have any pictures handy, but for my Dad it's a toss up between his first car, a 65 Ford Galaxie ex Ohio Highway Patrol car, with a 390 that had Interceptor heads on it. Either that or his 68 Ford Torino.

For my Mom, I think her coolest car was the one they brought me home from the hospital in. A 1972 Buick Skylark. Emerald mist green with the 350 under the hood.

Those were just everyday cars at the time, but those are the ones my Dad wishes he'd kept.

Both my Grandma's, now they had some cool cars! Dad's mom either the 57 Fairlane that was primer gray with a 406 under the hood ( Pa Pa was a roundy-round racer) or her 68 Road Runner, 383 4 speed that Pa Pa got as a result of a poker game (so the story goes...) Dad loves to tell the story of some punk in a Chevelle that was throwing rev's at her at a stop light. She paid no attention to the Chevy, looked over at Dad and said to him "Hold on to your milkshake kid". Light turns green and she blows his doors off going down Summit Street. Dad says this happened for several stop lights in a row, until the Chevelle gave up.

Mom's mom, a 68 Camaro with a 327 and a floor shift 3 speed manual. She ordered it this way brand new from the dealership. I guess the 4 speed was more money? Grandma's liked her stick shifts so, that's what she got.

Dad's triumph GT6 (which later was mine).

Mom had a 70s Capri back when I was very young.

ever since those times they have basically owned Volvo station wagons or Chrysler minivans lol......

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

sure you would, only it would be called an AAR Tribute or a hemicuda rebody or something similar

Before I was born, dad had a 76 Bronco. 351w straight to cherry bombs, red with the white removable top. One of his friends convinced him to trade it for a 78, and he regretted it till the day he died. 

My mom had a 73 nova, again long before me. It didn't have reverse, and would routinely backfire through the intake on hot starts. 

Much more utilitarian stuff when I was growing up though. Always an F150, and a Buick or a Taurus.

Adrian_Thompson said:

volvoclearinghouse said:

Dad bought a 1970 Barracuda brand new.  Slant six automatic- the kind you'd never see at a car show nowadays.  

He crashed it- twice- and got rid of it soon after.  Said the engine was too powerful for the car.  Sorry I don't have a picture of it.  

He's driven pickup trucks ever since then.  

LOL, how much power did the slant six have?  It wasn't' too much power, it was too little tire and suspension!

Precisely. Which is why I wrote "too powerful for the car". Given the tires and brakes of the time, it's astounding anyone survived to procreate.
To answer your question, I think the slant 6 was rated around 140 horsepower, although in 1970 that still would have been " SAE Highly Optimistic".

My dad still has the SVT Focus he bought new when they first came out and my mom drives an XTerra Pro 4X.

But the two tone blue on silver Chevy van my mom drove us kids around in during the 90s was the coolest.

My dad had a 65 fuel injected Stingray (327).  He also spent quite a few years driving a car my grandfather put together, an MG TD with a 2.4 crate motor from a Chevy step van, a 2 speed powerglide, and all GM electrics.

Way back, for a couple hours, my dad had a deposit on a 275 GTB, until someone came by and offered the seller an extra $500.  Yeah, how long ago would a number that small be part of the price of one of those?

My mom's coolest was an 86 MR2, though she and my stepdad also had a first year 996 twin turbo. I spent a lot more time in the MR2, so more memories, there.

Matthew

My Dad and his 1941 Hupp Skylark, circa 1942, just before he joined the Marines:

Hupp bought the Cord 810 body tooling, then contracted with Graham to build the bodies.  As part of the deal, Graham got to sell their own version, which was called the Hollywood.

My Mom with Dad’s lead sled 1951 Kaiser Manhattan:

It was a rollover when he got it, so he made the Carson style fake convertible top, smoothed the nose, modded the quarters and added Lincoln taillights, plus the 1950’s-requisite Continental kit and wide whitewalls.

Shortly after that, they started making babies and “cool” got replaced by “cheap”.

No pic: before the Hupp, Dad had a 1931 Pierce Arrow that originally belonged to a Philadelphia gangster.  He bought it in Philly and drove to DC to show it to my Grandpop, and it burned *all* the oil on the way down.  He refilled it for the return trip but it was rattling by the time he got home.  He told me he got his money back after a little fisticuffs.  He also told me he never felt more baller than when he rolled down the street in Philly the day he bought it.

This is the whole reason I am into cars. My parents drove the crappiest cars possible and told me that cars are only appliances to get you from point A to point B as economically as possible. So I took the logical approach as a teenager of doing the exact opposite and searched for cars that were nothing like their old Caprice 4 door ex company cars and Rabbit 4 door automatics and started down the sports car path........

Now my kids could give you a great list of the cars of their childhood!

Keep them coming, nice to see that others had a proper childhood. 

Cooter said:

My dad had this old beater.   




Doors didn't open, no front brakes, didn't even have a full body, had to be push started, and only could drive the length of a couple bocks at speed.

Uhhhhh, I think you won.

In reply to NickD :

That old thing??

The rear tires looked bald to me, and the front tires couldn't steer half the time.

My pops has had some real notables. The 454 powered 48 Anglia was a a hoot. Lots of chargers and challengers including a 69 Charger R/T. 

When I was a kid he was into aircooled VW's. Was the president of the local VW club. Had well over a hundred of the things. The penultimate was this

Our driveway in 1986 or so. You can see my Fiat Abarth shell and my Isetta tub. The Double cab split window was dads daily for 2 years but at this point the 67 was. The 64 bug was being built as my sisters first car.  I remember the Ghia but not how much it was driven or by who. I know my sister wrecked it in the snow

 I think my favorite of his bugs was a 56 Oval window rag top that had a strange high compression 1600 based on a 40 horse block the way they used to build stadium racer engines back then.  Back then it was just a beater but these days it would be perhaps considered a cafe racer/rat style of car.

1977 Plymouth volare, t tops, blue vinyl interior. Or the grand fury III

irish44j said:

Dad's triumph GT6 (which later was mine).

Mom had a 70s Capri back when I was very young.

ever since those times they have basically owned Volvo station wagons or Chrysler minivans lol......

Bolding mine.  In other words lot's more cool cars.

1955 Oldsmobile 88 - he bought new at 20 years of age and hooked my mom.  Top picture is it - bottom is closest in color for you to get the idea. South side Chicago near Marquette Park.  

In the Late 1970's he made sure I knew the proper way to clean white wall tires   

What about my Grandpa?  1949 Ford. Interesting he took a picture of his car in front of his house.  Chicago 59th & Kostner.   Lots of vacant property back in the day   

In reply to Cooter :

Funny guy.

In reply to AngryCorvair :

Damn, a Hupp, a lead-slead Kaiser and a Pierce-Arrow? Your dad had taste!

My Dad was into cars until the 70s hit.  The apex was a 1970 Barracuda in dark metallic blue.

I have a memory of sitting in the back seat with my brothers with no seat belts doing 100 MPH on the interstate.  Three speeding tickets and a year later, my Mom made him sell it.

Mom and Dad did okay - Mom's first car was a new first-year MGB, for example. They also owned a VW notchback in Australia, a VW fastback in Australia, an Austin 1800 in Australia, a RWD Mazda 626 in Australia (there's a theme here), a Fiat 124 and an Oldsmobile Cutlass Aeroback. Okay, maybe that last one wasn't cool but I spent a lot of time driving it sideways in the snow.

But the coolest is probably the Mazda RX-4. 

Not their car. But the first one was gold, then a Firebird took it out and they got a silver one. 

Yup.....the A fuel roadster wins.

My dad had a 68 Dodge Charger - yellow with black interior and front buckets. 383 automatic.  Never did understand why he bought that car - he was not a car guy. Was passed along to me (thank you) while going to college. Of course I had to install headers, cam, intake manifold, Holley 4 barrel and 4.56 rear end. Twelve wide wheels on the back and 10s on the front. It ate starters and alternators and gas. Eventually started leaking more oil than burning gas. Traded it in on a 76 Datsun 280z - BRG.

Of course before that he had a 56 Ford wagon while he was going to school (WWII vet so late starter) - green and while - a family hauler. Kinda cool.

And he had an MG 1100 sedan (4 door) while I was in high school. Hydroelastic suspension and other questionable engineering features. I learned about rubber u joints and Lucas electrics. He traded that one on a Gremlin (mom liked it).

Dad always had something cool, the list in chronological order:

MGB

TR4

Lotus Elan Sprint

MGB GT

MG TD

MG TC

MG PA

MGA Twin Cam

Caterham Seven (very early Caterham with the Lotus BV Twin Cam)

Healey 3000 BN7

MG TF

Plus some odd ball ones: MG YT, Hillman Minx, Fiat 128 station wagon

He currently has a pull handle MGB, and the two of us (or rather just myself) are putting together an Elan S4.

My parents have nothing but cool cars, reliability and practicality be damned. Currently in the compound:

51 Kaiser manhattan:

A 1981 Mercury Zephyr (little sisters car):

A 1946? CJ2A that I have no pictures of. In the process of being built for a decade now

1950? Dodge M37 that doesn't work yet:

A 1977 Plymouth "Voyager" 1/2 ton van, originally a 440 (towing package) now with 350 chevy power: (the big white thing in the back)

and a 1959 VW, still in progress.