My favorite car was a 2009 Honda Element. When I first saw it in the dealership parking lot, I was looking for a CRV. I thought the Element looked weird.
But I couldn’t stop thinking about it that night. I couldn’t remember a thing about the CRV, but the Element stuck in my head. I went back the next day to take it for a test drive, and fell in love. I did a bit more research, and found the exact model I wanted a couple of hours’ drive away.
That thing was somehow a tank, a snowplow, and a freakin’ TARDIS. The only reason I had to get rid of it was because our new camper trailer was too heavy for it to pull. If Honda started making them again, I’d buy one in a heartbeat- faster, if it was a hybrid or electric.
I’ve liked all my cars for various reasons, but best overall was probably my 90 Mustang GT. I bought it with 40,000 miles, drove it until 150,000 miles through various misadventures before I sold it to my dad. It was always a great combination of good looks, reliability, performance, and general coolness.
This is my 91 GT that I later purchased (and sold), but my 90 looked identical except the wheels: https://i.imgur.com/XbLTQeo.jpg
I’ve owned or driven a lot of cars, and at least liked the vast majority of them. This is kinda difficult.
Oddly enough I even though only buy manual transmissions these days (my last four cars were a MINI S, a WRX, a FIT and a BRZ), the car that was probably my favorite was actually an auto. It’s my favorite mostly because it was the most outrageous car I’ve owned. I had it for only a year or so when I was young. It was a 75 Ranchero, repainted violet with heavy metal flake and a black stripe at the bottom, fake Cragar S/S mags, and wide rear tires. The stereo was run through home speaker cabs placed behind the seats. It was powered by a 351W with an aftermarket carburetor, cam, intake and headers. The previous owner had removed the catalytic converters, and it basically had straight pipes.
That car was visually and audibly VERY LOUD. Floored, you could literally hear it a mile away. I loved to look at it, drive it and listen to it. It was a decent drag car for the time. A bit quicker than most, but a Corvette could walk away from me. A modern V6 Camry could beat it in a drag race now, though.
It got TERRIBLE gas mileage. That and having to work on it so often were why I eventually sold it (for the same price I bought it!). A few years later I saw it going down the road in the town I went to college in. There was no mistaking that car, it was the same one. It wasn’t too far from the town I owned it in, but I was surprised to see it around. I doubt it’s still going, but I hope it is.
Hard to pick, I love them all! Some standouts: '80 Fiat Spider -great car, '71 BMW 2002 -so fun and cool, '87 Dodge Colt Vista -what can I say?, all the BMW e30s -best cars ever! Still own all of these and many more.
I’ve got 2. One practical and one fun. The practical was a 1988 (?) Nissan Stanza wagon. I’m pretty sure it was the first car with 2 sliding rear doors, amazing amount of space inside. Like Lightnin’s Element, it was a TARDIS. I moved cross country with all my crap twice. Dining table and chairs, kitchen stuff, etc. And it was surprisingly zippy.
The fun one was a Jeepster Commando.
Not that one, and not in as good shape, but it was cool. The top comes off!
My favorite car was my 1995 Ford Taurus SE. The SE was a step above the basic family sedan - leather seats, superior sound system, and a bigger engine. It was a pure joy to drive, especially on the highway.
I should add that mechanically it was the worst car I ever owned - and I’ve owned Chrysler products! Not only did stuff keep going wrong, but it was weird stuff. I finally dumped it when the A/C and the radiator both needed repairs at the same time. Between the Taurus and my beautiful but unreliable Windstar, I’ve sworn off Ford products forever.
1967 Camaro - The car of my youth. I spent too much money on it. I installed an engine that started life as a 365 HP 327 out of a '65 Corvette, then was bumped up to over 400HP. It needed water injection and octane booster to keep from detonating. I used to joke that it was a 1/4 mile racer because that’s about as far as it would go on a tank of gas… I sold it to raise money for college.
1971 Datsun 240-Z. Dark red, with the engine ported, polished, and triple-Weber carbs installed. The carbs were a pain to keep in tune, but the car was fast and sounded like a little Jag or something.
2005 Saab 9-2X Aero. A Saab-branded Subaru WRX with nicer body panels, better suspension and a nicer interior. We bought it new and still have this car, and drive it every day. Only a few hundred were sold in Canada before Saab pulled the plug. My wife won’t give it up. Runs, looks and handles like new, and is becoming collectible. I saw one sell for $18,000 a little while ago.
2003 Ford Escape. I am amazed by how much I liked that vehicle. Easy to drive, great visibility, fantastic utility. I sold it to ‘upgrade’ to a 2014 Escape, and not a day goes by that I don’t wish I had kept the other one. Little things like separately opening window glass in the back door and the ‘sport’ rack system made it much more usable than my newer Escape. It had a good V6 and a Mach stereo I loved. Drove it for 11 years with no expenses other than scheduled maintenance and a brake job/tires.
I’d say my favorite was the 1998 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP which I bought in about 2006 from a college buddy. Quite peppy for a fairly large car. It weirdly developed an intermittent hot spot on the heated seat which actually had me worrying I had some sort of health problem. I don’t think there are a lot of nerves on the buttocks and it felt like an itch that would come and go. Towards the end, it started throwing the serpentine belt. I wound up leaving the (separate) supercharger belt off since that made putting the serpentine back on easier.
My dad had a Gen 1 Intrepid ES (Cab Forward!) with (from what I can tell) a similar engine and transmission to your Gen 2 R/T. It was a far better performing car than it deserved to be, both power and handling. He currently has a 300M Hemi which isn’t nearly as fun.
A lot of love for the Miata here which a friend of mine had and I got to drive a lot. Thought it was the most fun car I had driven till another friend let me borrow his Toyota MR2 Spyder for a weekend. I absolutely loved that car.
2 door Gran Torino. I can’t recall if it was 74 or 75. Mine was dark red, almost maroon. I think it was available with a sports package. I was happy with mine stock.
So far* my favorite car was the first car that I bought, a 1986 Mustang GT convertible.
The photo is not my car, but it looked identical to this:
It was good looking, fast (for the times), and endless fun to drive. I was a young, single guy with a decent job when I bought it, and it was the perfect car for me at that time in my life.
My 2nd favorite vehicle was a 1972 Chevy LUV (photo is not my truck)
that I bought with a broken timing gear for $200. I fixed it myself, and made a wooden 4x4 into a front bumper, since replacement bumpers were impossible to find. That truck was the biggest piece of junk you ever saw. I never washed it (what’s the point?), and it was faded and banged up and rusted. But, it was incredibly useful, and I was never afraid of throwing something disgusting in the bed if I had to. I had it for maybe 4 years when it broke the timing gear with a big bang and clatter of metal, and that was the end of it.
After more than 2 years, my Bronco Badlands is finally scheduled for production next week. I’m hoping that I will really enjoy it - it’s been a very long wait…
A vehicle I didn’t own, but will never forget was a snot green (I imagine that’s the factory name for the color) Chevy LUV my uncle owned that had its engine swapped out for a 400CI Chevrolet small block and a TH300 transmission with only the top gear working. Even with only one gear, that truck was loony. It’d spin the (admittedly tiny) tires whenever you wanted, even with only one gear.
I’m sure I’ve posted this before, but my absolute favourite car ever was the 1977 Chevrolet Caprice that I bought brand new when it first came out. It was a total redesign in which the Chev folks went all-out and copied a lot of details from the then-current Cadillac, creating a beautifully quiet, comfortable and well-equipped car.
The funny thing was that back in the fall of '76 I was a young twenty-something, and I traded in a fancy 280Z sports car for the Chevy. I just decided that sports cars weren’t my thing. Comfort and elegance was. And I wasn’t disappointed. This car had comfort and elegance in spades! As for my youthful tendencies, it also had a powerful V8 that could, if I desired, go like a bat out of hell.
But it was so incredibly quiet that a friend I was driving around once remarked at a stoplight that it was incredible that there were actually eight cylinders exploding gasoline up there under the hood, because all you could hear in the car was the gentle hiss of the air conditioning. It also had fully automatic climate control (you just dialed the temperature you wanted – no need to select “heater” or “A/C”.
My lovely Caprice was just like this pic, except dark blue, which looked even nicer.
I’ve heard the Ranchero was built around a 2 door with the back end chopped into a truck bed. Clever design.
Several 1970’s two door Fords looked similar. I bought a Ford Granada after the Torino. Looks very similar except for the window in the door post. The Granada also had more chrome trim.
Yep. Replace the back end of a two door with a truck bed replacing the bodywork on the length of a station wagon, and you get a Ranchero of that era.
Ahh, the Granada. Not the first Fox body, but a pretty good one. They and the Fairmont Futura made good sleepers when people started realizing they could fit any Ford V8 in them.
It had a nice look and was extremely reliable. I can’t recall ever having a single issue with its running. But it was heavy to steer (no power steering) and wasn’t really that fast (if you were driving it in the late 80s, 15 years after it was made). Still, I liked it. Fond memories. But you could never have sex in a car like that.
Yeah, stock the 240-Z wasn’t super fast, with only 161 HP. But on the other hand, the car only weighed 2300 lbs, somthe power to weight ratio was pretty good - about like a WRX.
They handled great, though. I didn’t mind the heavier steering, The lack of power steering, the rack and pinion steering setup and light weight of the car made it handle like a dream at speed.
Too bad they are almost all gone. The rusting issue was really bad on these cars. The ones left with no rust sell for big money.
With Bubba, a tricolor Cavalier King Charles spaniel riding in the passenger seat, it was an absolute babe magnet as well as being massively fun to drive.
