Mine is a ‘65 Pontiac Strato Chief that came into the family in1968. My dad bought Betsy when our Dodge died.
I got my drivers licence in ‘76 and did things in, on and to, that car. Ah, youth! 
Dad passed on in ‘86 and Betsy took up residence in the backyard. She didn’t move for another twelve years.
In the meantime, I had let my licence expire but my ex had a series of cars. I always intended to get my licence back and restore Betsy to her former glory.
When Mom passed in ‘95, Betsy became all mine, along with the family house. We put the house up for sale and it took about a year for the sale to complete. In the meantime, we went and checked on the house every couple of days.
Imagine my shock when we found a Betsy shaped hole in the driveway one day!
Yep, some $&@?! with a tow truck swiped her. 
I guess she’s still mine, although it’s long past the time I could get her back. She was actually highly collectable, being the rarer two door sport model. There were only about 2,000 in Canada. I suspect she’s still out there somewhere, perhaps in the States. Parts of her, anyway…
I had an 83 Honda Nighthawk 550, first and only motorcycle I owned. I was a hardcore rider too. Winter?phfftht! If the roads were bare I just added a layer. Rain, yep, rain frickin HURTS at 32 mph, just covered up better. Did the responsible thing one year, sold it to make ends meet when I was young and starting out with a new family, house, car payment…don’t regret doing that, but I’ve sure missed being in the wind since every spring when everyone starts bringing their scoots out of winter storage…maybe next year, I’m comin around to a place where I can put a little more priority to getting another ride…le sigh
1980 Dodge Colt RS. Split-stick tranny, hatch-back. Fucking great car.
None. All previous cars were rust buckets or simply awful. Modern cars are far better.
I’d love to have my high school car back. A Canary yellow 69 Camaro RS. When my 14 year old son was leafing thru a family album, he encountered the pictures of it. He pointed to and said “Please, PLEASE tell me this is waiting in a storage building somewhere for me to get my license.!!??” Sadly, I had to tell him it was sold to pay college tuition long before he was born.
My first pickup truck, in a nearly continuous line* of them going back to 1975, was a 65 International Harvester stepside.
Odd, we had a '97 Aerostar as well. Puke green, and bought for a song after being hail damaged on the dealer lot. Didn’t look great, but it held all of us and stuff for a lot of vacations. It died by the side of the road after some horrifying noises from the engine. Got it towed to a dealer and got $500 on trade in.
I learned to drive in a 63 Rambler Classic 660. Three on the tree and an aftermarked A/C. Drove it to high school until I bought my own car.
*Once I discovered how useful they were, I tried to ensure never being without one.
1973 240Z. I really didn’t understand what I had at the time I had it. However, it had been crashed before I got it. One of the frame rails was cracked, and it just wasn’t -at the time- worth upgrading/repairing it. I could drive it, but I couldn’t hammer on it. I loved it as an upgrade from my 1976 Pinto (which i do NOT wish I had back).
This next statement is completely controversial (some might say, “wrong”), but I’ve come to the opinion that the 240Z was the best-looking sports car of the time. It offered so much sportiness without being pretentious.
Sunny: re: the raised eyebrow towards my Corvair. Corvairs got an entirely unwarranted bad rap from Nader. They were no less safe than any contemporary car. And Nader didn’t kill the Vair - the Rustang did. Vairs are (or were) just about the least expensive way to get into older cars. I bought mine for $2k - with a pretty clean body and needing only a little brake work to be entirely roadworthy.
Some people have said driving a slow car fast sure beats driving a fast car slow. Corvairs (other than the Spyders/Corsas) certainly were not overpowered, but w/ the rear engine and a 4-speed, you could swing them around corners feeling like you were at LeMans. The air-cooled engine was simple, and performed better the harder you pushed it. Fold down back seat made for a neat interior. And you could take the whole thing apart and put it back together with a phillips screwdriver and a set of box wrenches. There were millions made, resulting in a ton of cheap parts and retropops available. Many parts were interchangeable with all other GMs - so easy to maintain. And a ton of fan groups to share info with on-line and IRL.
I personally dig the look of both the early and the late models. Mine looked pretty much identical to [url=https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2014/10/21/hemmings-find-of-the-day-1962-chevrolet-corvair-monza-900-spyder/]this, tho w/ black interior. Different strokes…
Come back, blue 1987 Subaru Brat! I’ll treat you better this time, I promise!
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I liked my 1993 Saturn SL1 until the road salt rotted it away.
2008 GT Mustang. Miss her all the time.
I kind of miss my first car, a 1973 Ford Gran Torino that my dad purchased for me in the mid 90s with, somehow, less than 25K miles on it. It was a 4 door with a 5 liter V8, and my friends and I had a blast with it. It could easily fit 6 teens, 7 or 8 in a pinch, and the body was nearly indestructible. Unfortunately, even with the low mileage, it would periodically have something go wrong – little stuff like radiator hose busting, alternator breaking, etc.
I think I just kind of miss the fun my friends and I had with that car. But we also probably spent many hours stuck on the side of the highway waiting for help after a breakdown.
Like almost everyone else, my first car. It was just a humble 1991 Volvo 240, but that thing was a tank and I never should have sold it. I made a deal with myself that I’d drive it until it died, but it just kept running. I didn’t even have to sell it when I did. Wouldn’t be surprised if someone is still driving it around somewhere today.
My previous car was a Honda Element. Damn, I loved that thing. It was a Tardis- bigger on the inside. It was pretty zippy. The fuel efficiency could’ve been better, but the vehicle itself was a tank. Furthermore, I’d paid it off, and it had low mileage. I fully intending to drive that thing into the dirt.
Then some friends gave us a camper trailer- they were getting an RV, and wanted to get rid of the trailer without the hassle of selling it to a stranger. My wife really wanted one, so my friends drove it from Seattle to Salt Lake City to give it to us. They stayed the weekend to show us how it worked.
About an hour after they left, I found myself wondering, “Huh. Can the Element tow that much weight?”
The answer was, of course, a resounding “no”.
So we started car shopping. I ended up trading the Element in for new Nissan XTerra. The XTerra has great towing capacity, and it was kind nice to have a brand new, comfortable truck. But I still teared up when I traded the Element in- although it was nice seeing the salesmen arguing over who would get to buy it.
We got rid of the trailer when we moved to Canada earlier this year, and now they don’t make the Element anymore. If they did, I’d do my damnedest to buy another one.
I rented one a couple of times, and while I wasn’t thrilled about the exterior aesthetics, I still really liked it. Besides, while driving, I don’t have to look at it ;). I really liked the clamshell doors and sitting up higher.
When I was in the market for a car a couple of years ago I looked for one, but damned if people don’t hold onto those things like gold, so I bought something else.
for me, there are three veehicles;
1; Honda ATC125m; I had so much fun on that little 3 wheeler as a kid, sure it’d be underpowered for my adult self, but still fun, tough, indestructible, great even in the snow, the automatic clutch wore out and I couldn’t afford to fix it (I was a high school kid), so I sold it cheap, stupid decision.
2; '92 Dodge Shadow America; yes it was a bare bones Dodge notchback, yes it only had 92 HP, but it was great fun to drive, and utterly reliable, you barely see them nowadays in New England, they probably all rusted away
3; Yamaha Virago 920 Midnight; it was in poor shape, had a wonky starter and had a chronic backfiring issue, but it was fun, and scary fast, the local motorcycle shop had difficulty finding repair parts and the repair was going to be expensive, but it got me into street motorcycling and I had fun for a season, seeing how rare they are now, I should’ve held on to it…
We had an 87 (I think) Aerostar that I totaled. I hit black ice and went down a 30-foot embankment, so no scolding, please. As a replacement, we got a 92 Aerostar, extended version, Eddie Bauer, red.
I LOVED that van. It was the epitome of a family vehicle, it could be a workhorse with the seats removed, or it could be the most comfortable ride you’ve ever had. Perfect for long trips! It even had quad captain’s chairs, so the kids could have their own separate seats, which cut down on the fights.
When we made the decision to retire, we got rid of our two, high-mile vehicles, and got a little pickup truck. That’s the perfect ride when you live out in the middle of nowhere.
The Aerostar had 150,000 miles, and it was needing regular transfusions of cash. It still ran, so we donated it to a charity.
God, I miss that van. Ford made a gigantic mistake when they stopped making it! We have a Ford Edge now, but if Ford were to decide today to reissue the Aerostar, I’d trade the Edge in a heartbeat!
I had a 1988 Subaru. Very basic car, very reliable and good in the snow. I “moved up” a bit in the world and traded my Subaru (50k miles) for an Acura. It was terrible in the snow and gave me more trouble in the first four years than my Subaru in the entire eight years. Nevertheless after 8 years, I was able to sell it for a very good price to a young fool.
I sometimes wish I still had my '78 Corolla. But mostly, I just wish I hadn’t gotten rid of it when I did and had held onto it for 4 or 5 more years, because the Buick Century I drove after it was such a tremendous pile of crap.
My '78 VW CamperVan. Deep brown, named “Snuffelufabus” and lovingly known as “The Woodymobile.” 2 beds, sink, fridge, stove, swivelling front passenger seat, bookshelves, and combination closet/urinal (I think–had a bar for hanging clothes and a drain in the bottom). I loved that thing.
(ETA: I just looked online, and they’re selling for over $20K! :eek: )
I had (dad had) a '62 Chevy Nova that someone had dropped a 327 cu engine into. Those were the little Novas. Dad bought it as a work car but never drove it much. I was only 16 years old and spent a summer roaring around the neighborhood in it, until my parents got worried about me killing myself with it and sold it. I didn’t have a job or any money and the parents were probably right to get rid of it. Don’t you hate that?
About a year later my older brother was working in the parts department at an auto dealership and snatched up a 1970 Buick GS. Fully loaded, Seafoam green with a white top, white leather interior, immaculate muscle car. He was mostly a bookish stamp and coin collector who never went out with the car. My parents said “Houston, you are on our insurance and if Dallas wants to take that car out on Saturday night you let him!” So that was me and my girlfriend’s date car junior and senior year in high school. Man! those were the days.
Older brother moved to the big city of Portland and dad and I both told him that if he ever wanted to get rid of that car to let us know. Houston was not a car guy and did not maintain it. He drove it until he was sick of the thing and it broke down on I-5 and he sold it to some kid for $50. No, I am not forgetting a zero. Fifty fucking dollars!
The car has likely been scrapped. But if I found it I would Barrett-Jackson my 401k for it. I would live in a tent and eat roots!
It has been It has been about 45 years since then and I am thinking that I might start talking to my brother again. Just thinking about it.