What real life car got you hooked on cars?

[DarkCobra6114]

The car that got me hooked is the 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback in the movie Bullitt with Steve McQueen. That was such a beautiful car and the sound it made was absolutely phenomenal!

I must have been 10 or 11 when my dad sat me down in front of the TV and said watch this movie. What a rush! Everyone I know always talks about the Dodge Charger, I couldn't get enough of that Mustang though. That forest green color with the side louvers, those cool looking rims, nice wood panels on the doors, stick shift, and watching McQueen drive that car around San Francisco got me hooked! It not only hooked me, to this day that 68 Fastback is my dream car. Oh sure, I have other cars that I would want if I had a collection or could afford them. Nothing tops that 68 for me though.

 

[Talon16]

 

[Liquid]

 

[05XR8]

Not quite a Ricky Bobby scenario, but I was born with a Bowtie. First car I was in while my Mother carried me in her womb and when she gave birth, my Dad's 1969 Malibu wagon.

 

[DarkCobra6114]

Not quite a Ricky Bobby scenario, but I was born with a Bowtie. First car I was in while my Mother carried me in her womb and when she gave birth, my Dad's 1969 Malibu wagon.

NICE!!

That wasn't just any wagon either. That was built to get the family where they needed to go FAST!

 

[MatskiMonk]

 

[Joey D]

Growing up my mom drove a third-gen Toyota Celica (84 maybe?) notchback. It was white with black accents, raised white letter tires, and a 5-speed. It's weird that I can still remember so many details about it too despite being really young at the time.

I think it was eventually wrecked though and I remember my mom having to drive a late 80s Pontiac Sunbird for a few years until they could save up the money to buy something that wasn't tragic. The Sunbird was later replaced with a green Dodge Intrepid ES with the 3.5L V6 and the worst trunk I've ever seen on a car. The slightest breeze would cause it to slam down on your head and actually knock my dad out one time.

With all that in mind I told my young self, I would never own a boring car and while that wasn't always the case, I've at least tried to drive something I want to drive since I got my license at 16.

 

[SU_Tempest]

As a kid, the car that got me hooked on cars was the Dodge Viper GTS, in blue and white.

Seeing it for the first time in Gran Turismo 1 and then, maybe 2 years later, seeing a real-life one in my town (a one-in-a-lifetime moment, considering where I live), that's what convinced me cars could be really cool. It was a, "If that car could look this cool, then I had to know more" sort of moment.

Though today my tastes mostly revolve around JDMs (especially Subaru) and weirder/lesser-known cars, I'll always have a soft spot for the V10 from Detroit.

 

[Serge.D]

A white Porsche 928 that I saw at a gas station when I was 10.

 

[SPhilli911]

Probably a Porsche 944. My uncle bought one new when I was born and still has it today. As a kid he gave me all sorts of Porsche magazines that got me hook on cars, specifically Porsche.

Not actual car, but very similar:

 

[Northstar]

If you know, you know.

On a serious note I remember being obsessed with the Viper when I was a wee lad.

 

[05XR8]

If you know, you know.

On a serious note I remember being obsessed with the Viper when I was a wee lad.

My Mother used to rent K cars. First saw E.T. in one, at the Whitestone Drive-In, in The Bronx.

 

[FPV MIC]

I was always a bit car crazy but the one that tipped me over the edge was this one.

Fifty years later and it's sitting in front of me on my desk... and it still looks like it's going fast while standing still

 

[Centroid]

I see that my car obsession started differently from everyone else, as it wasn't a sporty car:-

I would have been about 4 or 5 at the time.

However it was one these little beauties that really got my fire started a couple of years later:-

 

[CyborgGT]

Initially interested? 930 911. It may or may not be an accurate memory, but "I remember" seeing one of these drive by while walking to school in about first grade. Afterward, while at Michaels one day (an arts & crafts store, for those outside the US; my mom was big into that stuff when I was a kid), I saw one of those build-it-yourself models of one and convinced my mom to buy it for me. I built it with my older brother, and we painted it black like the one I may or may not have seen in traffic. Or maybe I got the model, never saw a 911 in traffic, and my childish imagination just went a bit nuts with that toy car. I'll never know. But to this day, the car remains a top dream car for me, and one of my favorite automotive shapes... that is, until the Cayman first arrived on the scene and stole my heart.

Hooked? Through my later elementary school years and into middle school, my dad took me to car shows pretty much every summer, and I began to obsess over the '69 Mustang Mach 1. Shaker hood obligatory. I never stopped loving Mustangs. Doesn't matter which generation, or really even what engine it has. I never got around to owning even a later model, though, despite their affordability. I just fell into Hondas because of my first car, and have been having too much fun to stop.

 

[Pennyb12000]

A few from the early 1980's.
Golf GTI Mk1/2
Quatro/Quatro Sport. I kind of lost interest in it (still an amazing car) once it had all the spoilers added and became S1.

 

[p78]

I grew up in the 80's, so had a big poster of this car.

 

[SestoScudo]

Ferrari F50.

Also became a Ferrari fan and a car fan ever since I was a kid.

 

[HenrySwanson]

My dad's a mechanic, and used to drive one of these:

(Volvo Amazon)

He'd let me shift gears while he operated the clutch. Will never forget doing this over-enthusiastically one time after playing Colin McRae Rally