I was; see my post above. Damn thing had some killer torque.
I once had to drop off a 1974 Dino to a customer after we fitted a car phone, damn I was so scared that I didn’t enjoy it or get a picture!
My dad had a Ford Falcon XY GT, not a phase 3 but man that was at the time the fastest four door car int he world.
Drive the Elise - then the Exige Sportpack. Dearly love both.
Was supposed to spend a day in a Bentley Supersport - gave it up for the more experienced journalist.
Came in here to say this. Dad got a Model S this spring. It’s not even the high-end one - it’s the mid-range one - and it’s wicked-quick. and dead-fucking silent. And has zero engine vibration. That’s about as cool as it ets.
I’ve never owned any car remotely approaching cool. I suppose my 1971 VW Super Beetle might be cool now if it were still on the road, but it wasn’t particularly cool back in the 1970s and early 1980s when I owned it.
And that’s probably the closest to cool of any car my wife or I has owned.
Driven? On a vacation in Hawaii, we rented a pretty snazzy (by our uncool standards) convertible, but that was >10 years ago, and I wouldn’t be able to provide any details.
That’s it. Cars are transportation for this guy. Preferably economical, extremely reliable transportation. And economical and reliable usually correlate negatively with cool.
1958 Chevy convertible with the “power Pak” (3 carbs dual exhaust) I got to drive it one time only. I’m probably in the minority but I’ve always thought the 1958 Chevy beat the 1957 hands down.
My own fun cars include an '07 Carrera S (current daily driver), an '88 560 SL, '78 280 Z, 69 Vette and a '73 455 Riviera.
Some fun muscle friends shared in the past include a '63 split window Vette, 427/435, a '70 GTO 400 and several Camaros, Firebirds and Trans Ams.
A good friend races Porsches and has had me try his 997.2 turbo and GT 3. Another rented a 500 hp Viper and had me take it for a spin. No favorites, they all provided their own special thrill.
Rhiannon8404, the Lotus Elise is one of my favorites! I’ve never ridden in one, let alone driven one. Especially on a sunny day and on twisty roads.
I got to drive some pretty cool things when I was in the Marines. They were fun to drive whether in the deep snow of northern Norway’s winter or the endless sands of the Mojave Desert at 29 Palms.
The old Jeep, M151, small, light, simple, capable. Nimble, especially in the woods.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Jeep,+M151&client=safari&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=w93DU4H4Iuny8AGL1oGIAQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAg&biw=1024&bih=648
The original HummVee - almost luxurious compared to the Jeep
http://olive-drab.com/images/arctic_hmmwv_web.jpg
M939 5-ton truck
M35 2½-ton truck, the ‘deuce-and-a-half’
JCB410 Articulated Forklift - handy when loading gear in the field at 29 Palms (at Camp Wilson)
A ‘Snow Cat’, an M973 SUSV. I wasn’t licensed for it, I just wanted to try it out. A friend let me take one for a quick spin.
I’ve been fortunate to have driven and owned some fun and cool cars over the years.
My first car was a lot of fun and handled great. It was a targa top, so taking the top off was quick and easy. A 1979 Fiat X1/9. Mine was a metallic blue - like this color.
- http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-evbBUGEqRfQ/UFtNbQcBIRI/AAAAAAAACjw/pMobroq73No/s640/4.jpg
- http://assets.hemmings.com/story_image/295061-1000-0.jpg?rev=2
At one time I had a 1970 Chevelle SS396. The classic photos of them are with stripes, and often red like this photo. Mine was black, without the stripes.
Yesterday I took my uncle’s 1964 Corvette convertible out for a spin. It has the 327 small block. That was fun. It’s a project car. The color is saddle tan, the least common of the colors offered in 1964. Like this one:
http://www.boldride.com/ride/1964/chevrolet-corvette-sting-ray-convertible#gallery/2
But by far the coolest car I’ve ever driven is a car I still get to drive every day. It’s a classic, a convertible, a 1963 Porsche 356 Cabriolet. It’s over 50 years old and is still very reliable.
The top is almost always down!
Here it is on I-80 westbound in Nevada - at milepost 356!
And at Wendover, Utah, at the Victory Highway:
Fun times!
Porsche 911 Turbo, upgraded to over 500 hp. I think it was about a 2001 model. Ridiculous acceleration. Stomping on the accelerator felt like you were strapped to the front of a locomotive.
Drove a friend’s 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air just before he sold it. That’s probably not very exciting to most of you here, but was pretty cool doing it in the UK.
Most fun though was driving an AEC Routemaster – that’s the classic red double-decker London bus with the jump-on-and-off open platform at the back. On a closed track, not the public highway, I’ll hasten to add.
1967 Plymouth Satellite. 426 Hemi V8, 4 speed manual transmission. Red on red with black.
I drove it for a bit, but never owned it.
My cousin has one and it is a lot of fun to drive.
The coolest car I’ve ever driven is my current daily driver: a 40th Anniversary Nissan 370Z.
My 2008 Mazda RX-8 (also a 40th Anniversary edition, coincidentally) was smooth as silk and handled like a dream, but I’m not sure I would call it “cool.”
AH! The the Tri-power engine. I DO remember. Thanks Chefguy. (I think it had factory posi too.)
AnE-type Jag back in 1970, probably due to a misunderstanding. I had an after school job at a ritzy hotel mostly doing outdoor work; minor gardening, cleaning, pool care. One day the bosses E-type was parked so that I couldn’t connect up the hose. When I went in to tell the woman on the desk she just gave me the keys and told me to move it.
So I drove it about 60 feet. Nervously and very slowly. In the parking lot. Nowadays I’d at least have a selfie to prove it. But nowadays I wouldn’t really care about driving a cool car.
I don’t drive, but I once had a ride in a 1914 Diatto. It was parked outside a neighbor’s house and I was admiring it when an old guy came out of their house. I asked him about the car, and we got to talking. He was the second owner, having bought it used in Italy during World War II and shipping it to NJ. Then he gave me a ride to the grocery store.
Over the years I’ve valet-ed numerous Hot Cars…Lambos, Ferraris, Porches, Ultra Elegant cars like Rolls-Royce, Bentley, even a Maybach.
60’s Muscle cars abound.
But THE coolest car was a 427 Cobra
OH!
Rhiannon: The Elise is a very fun car. I drove one around the track at Buttonwillow in California for a weekend a few years ago, and had a great time. A little more power would have been nice (which is why there’s the Exige), but it was a blast to throw through the corners. (But when the top was on, it was almost impossible for someone of my size to get into. I wouldn’t want one as a daily driver.)
Cars I’ve owned (and driven on track):
1996 Mazda Miata
1986 Porsche 944 Turbo
2003 Nissan 350Z Track model
Of these, the Z was the most fun to drive, although I gave up the Miata fairly early in my track career, when I was still relatively inexperienced. Despite having half the power of the Z, it might rate nearly as high if I drove it now, at my current skill level.
While I had the Porsche, a friend with another 944T that he had souped up with a more powerful turbo let me drive it briefly. It had insane acceleration.
I recently took a ride in a friend’s Tesla S, but didn’t drive it. Beautiful car, and incredible acceleration, too.
As a high-performance driving instructor, I would usually drive my students’ cars around the track for a couple of laps to acquaint them with the circuit. So in that setting, I’ve driven literally dozens of sports cars, including Corvettes, Porsches, RX-7s and RX-8s, WRXs, etc., etc. But since I was never driving at much more than about five tenths of max, none of them really stands out in my memory, and I don’t think they really count.
As an instructor, I also got to ride in some incredible cars: the ones I remember best were the Ferraris, although I don’t recall which models now.
These are cars I’ve driven extensively on track (and pictures of me in them):
2001 Barber Dodge open-wheel racecar (Mid-Ohio)
Mario Andretti school Indy-car style racecar (Las Vegas Motor Speedway)
2005 BMW Z4 (Willow Springs, CA)
2006 Lotus Elise (Buttonwillow, CA)
2008 Porsche Boxster S (Willow Springs, CA)
Indy Racing Experience Dallara Indy Car (Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
Of these, I’d say that the Barber Dodge car was the most fun, since I was in it for the three-day Skip Barber Racing school, and it significantly improved my driving skills.
For coolness, though, the Dallara Indy Car – a real IndyCar racecar, although with a much smaller engine – may take the prize, combined with the fact that I was actually driving on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I ran about five laps at a top speed of about 120 mph.
But the best part of that day was riding as a passenger for two laps at over 180 mph in the full-powered two-seat racecar with Indy 500 driver Davey Hamilton. The speed and the G-forces through the corner made my 120 mph drive around the track feel like a golf cart. It was the most amazing ride of my life, and gave me a faint glimpse of what the pro drivers, who go 40-50 mph faster, must experience.
I rode in that car once! 
In fact, being your passenger at the track that day is a big part of the reason why I currently have a 370Z.
Hmm. After college for a while I owned a beat up 1978 Datsun 280Z 2+2, which was a cool car in theory but mine was literally falling apart.
Around that same time I had a friend go out of town for the summer and she let me drive her yellow Volkwagen Thing. That was a fun, if impractical, car. It got me a lot of looks driving down Lake Shore Drive. At a stop light one guy rolled down his window and asked me what it was.
