JG's editorial a few months back summed it up for me - track day guys, Donks, stance, etc. All are included and you can have fun conversations with all of them.
Somebody that loves cars but drives a minivan because it's best for their family is in too.
I once was visiting a friend who lived in Beaver Creek Colorado. I knew the Colorado Grand Rally was to begin the next day, so I slept outside in a sleeping bag in his yard----- as I wanted to hear the Ferraris when they started early the next morning.
my friends thought I was crazy---- silly them..... I guess they've never heard that sweet music!
It is kind of like this:
I'm from a similar situation as the OP, in that neither of my parents were "car people", per se. I would say they can both appreciate good cars, but my uncle who lives 500 miles away and I'm lucky to see once a year is the only other true "car guy" in the family.
So where it came from is beyond me, but there is no doubt the attraction for me is there at the most basic level. It's innate, coded into my DNA, and present from birth. As a kid it was tractors, trains, and construction vehicles that the obsession was directed towards. By age 5, at any farm or highway construction site I passed I could name every vehicle present, what its function was, and how it performed it. At about 9 or 10 I picked up my first issue of Motor Trend from the school library (I can still remember the cover vividly, there was a red Lingenfelter tuned C5 'Vette they had clocked at 226 mph during their test) and it was all downhill from there. Motorcycles then came into the picture somewhere later in my teens.
As to what it is about cars that I enjoy, that's a hard one to answer as well, but I do think I enjoy wrenching and driving in equal parts. I like my daily commute, road trips, back road blasts, pointless Sunday drives, towing or hauling heavy loads, winter driving, hopefully I'll be giving wheelin' a shot soon, auto x, and one day I WILL get my ass on a track. Its all enjoyable in different ways. Wheel-to-wheel racing on a track is one of penultimate life goals, as it feeds both my competitive drive as well as the car passion. I love auto x, but I have to imagine it is basically like methadone by comparison.
The satisfaction from doing a job myself is also immense, taking something and making it better or making it my own. I constantly am on the look out for new noises or vibrations, to the point of being an automotive hypochondriac. I'm 100% a form follows function type guy too, but if I can make something pretty as well as functional all the better. That being said, I absolutely loathe any sort of detailing work and view even washing or waxing as a major chore, which is why my cars are always dirty. Hell, I don't think I have ever washed my current bike. Car shows don't do a whole lot either, not enough "action", but I do enjoy seeing other people's craftsmanship and approach to solving problems. I DO however enjoy restoration work, making a crap bucket nice again, and the "rattlecan resto" I did on my '72 Honda CL175 was one of my favorite projects to date.
My taste in cars is so completely eclectic that I really cannot explain it - I like Euro stuff a lot, muscle cars, offroad rigs, pure racecars, hot rods, luxo barges... I just happen to be on a bit of a "Buy American" kick at the moment, with my Camaro and XJ, but I think I defy classification into typical "car guy categories", as many of you probably do as well. I think that's a lot of what draws me to the GRM community, because everyone else here seems to be the same way, or at least gets it.
So I don't really understand where this car thing came from or what draws me to it, but I know I need it. Its what led me to study engineering, what gets me out of bed in the morning, what compels me to earn a paycheck, and what I think about nearly 100% of the time. In the end, I don't think I really care to understand it as long as it continues to keep me happy and give me fulfillment in life.
I always liked cars.... and my era of wonder was the 60s and 70s. And as you, I had a lot of cars before I began to narrow who I was automotively. I began with Euro: 1st car was Volvo 1800S, also owned an Alfa GTV, a TVR Vixen, but I also owned Muscle, and Pony cars - 68 GTO, a 66 Shelby (both long before their value was what it is today), as well as a few J-Tin (AE86's)
I learned I liked the slightly harsher character of the Pony/Muscle cars, but I also liked the more precise feel of the Euro and J-Tin... so I built a more muscle-y (visceral) J-tin... with just enough character from many of my previous builds/owned cars to make it moderately unique.
A true "Car Guy" has no idea that "non car people" even exist. I mean, how could they? What would be the point
I suppose I get it from my grandfather and dad. My grandfather owned a garage / service station for many years, and his first job was building Model T's as they were delivered partially assembled to the dealer. My dad was always a sorta car guy, and owned some fun cars like a 240Z, Mustang and many BMWs.
For me, I had already been riding in the Mustang and 240, but my dad took me to a Can Am race at Road Atlanta in 1973, as well as the Runoffs the same year. I was hooked from then on out. Not only did you get to see a 917-30 flying down the back straight, but the infield was full of Ferraris and Loti. Not to mention hundreds of a funny little car called a Mini.
Funny, but the car I really fell in love with that day was a faded red TR4. I finally bought one in college and wish I still had it. I still see them and get that feeling all over again. I've run the gamut in cars since that day, and have owned over 130. Many of them were pure piles of steaming crap, but all of them were interesting to me. And though all my cars are newer these days, I still don't get as excited about them as I do older cars.
Lately I have a strange desire to own a '56 Belair. My tastes are all over the place. If I had a car collection, there would be no theme. You'd see micro cars next to huge Cadillacs and Miatas next to Jeeps. 
Not sure what kind of "car guy" I am, but I do like them. My father always had a fast car and if it wasn't when he bought it he modified it to be fast. So I like fast cars. But I also like vehicles that look good and have bought some just because of the way they looked.
I started out drag racing (the legit type on the strip in Salem, OH) then went to dirt track racing on the bullrings of SW PA. Then I found out about autocrossing and built some cars to do that for a while.
When I turned 40 I got into motorcycles to the point that for 5 years I didn't own a 4-wheeled vehicle just 5 motorcycles. Wife thought I was losing my mind!
After the motorcycles came the show vehicles and I have a couple boxes of trophies to show for that (taking up space in the basement). And then came crewing for an endurance racing team for 5 years.
When I turned 70 I decided it was time to back off a bit so I still have my last "hot rod" (a supercharged Ford Focus) and am daily driving a Subaru Outback.
I will admit to thinking about ways to make the Outback more off-road capable but don't dare tell the wife.
Interesting topic. I have no idea how I became a car nut since we didn't own a car when I grew up. My dad walked to work. Yet I don't think an hour has gone by in my 71 years without thinking about cars. I will go into the garage just to look at how my s2k's fenders form over the wheels. I remember as a teen standing on the corner and seeing a big Healy drive by and how it looked so right the way it sat on it's suspension. It's a mystery why I feel like I do considering my early environment.
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