What was the coolest car your parents owned?

The first memory I have is of my father's 1971 Mach 1 (looked just like the above picture). I loved that car! He bought it a few months before I was born. He and his brothers each had a pony car from every American marque: Chevy Camaro, Dodge Charger, and an AMX! They'd race them back in NYC for cash.

I think I was 7 or so when he was trying to get the other cars in the driveway during a bad winter storm and ended up T-boning the Mustang with the station wagon -right in front of my eyes! I cried for hours.

She ended up getting sold a few months after that but that's where my bug started.

64' Galaxy 500, 409 car.  I don't have pictures, but I do have the original title. 

In the 70's our family car was a 71 Z28, but my favourite was a black 55 Chev 2dr post with a .125" bored 283 to make it a 302 out of Dad's  late mdel stock car. That was in the late 60's and after the engine swap we did test runs where we lived out in the country. I remember him keeping a good lookout because he didn't want to get busted driving it on the street without the hood.

Triumph Stag 

Not this car but this color. 
 

The 240 series Volvo Turbo Wagon was also pretty cool to me around 1980

My parents did not own a lot of cars, rather they bought what they liked and kept them for long periods,although Mom's coolest might be the exception to the time. She had a '32 Ford V8 roadster for a little less than a year in 1935/36. She traded it in on the most pedestrian of all, a '36 Chevrolet standard 4 door sedan. That got sold in 1950 to purchase a new MG TD in the photo. Kept until 1987. Dad's coolest had to be the Taraschi F.Jr. bought in '69 for $900.00 and sold after his death for $7000. in 1979. I still have the trailer Mom also had a company car for a while, not hers on paper, but way cool, a Lancia  Aurelia Spyder, pictured with me as well.

As a kid, mt parents has a '48 Chrysler convertible, green with wood.  I remember the half circle of tree mole sticking out 4" behind the front tires.

As the tribe grew to 7 kids, they swapped it for a '58 Mercury Voyager. 

Jumper K Balls (Trent) said:

My pops has had some real notables. The 454 powered 48 Anglia was a a hoot. Lots of chargers and challengers including a 69 Charger R/T. 

When I was a kid he was into aircooled VW's. Was the president of the local VW club. Had well over a hundred of the things. The penultimate was this

if that was the penultimate, inquiring minds want to know what was the final one?

yes, i'm the guy who wants everyone to know penultimate means "next to last in a series," and not "super wicked most ultimate ever."

AngryCorvair said:

Jumper K Balls (Trent) said:

My pops has had some real notables. The 454 powered 48 Anglia was a a hoot. Lots of chargers and challengers including a 69 Charger R/T. 

When I was a kid he was into aircooled VW's. Was the president of the local VW club. Had well over a hundred of the things. The penultimate was this

if that was the penultimate, inquiring minds want to know what was the final one?

yes, i'm the guy who wants everyone to know penultimate means "next to last in a series," and not "super wicked most ultimate ever."

 

The very last VW was a 68 Bay window Double Cab. The Pro Streeter was the second to last. 

When I was born, my dad had a 1953 Dodge red ram coupe with a hemi. I don't remember him ever driving aggressively, but he did have a favorite "kill story" involving a Cadillac and a long run down the side of a mountain outside of Tucson.

We had a 1956 crown Victoria convertible briefly, which would sure be worth some money today.

When I got my driver's license, he had a 1969 ambassador SST coupe. It was a 390 car with dual exhausts and every option.

It even had an AMX 390 decal on the air cleaner. What it lacked, was good brakes. I really scared myself in that car.

In reply to Jumper K Balls (Trent) :

someday i'm gonna buy you a drink.  well played!

In reply to barefootskater :

maybe my Dad's Kaiser wasn't a '51, as his grille bar is the same shape as yours but his had the turn signals integrated into it.  he called that car "the Buffalo" because of the OE hood badge, even though that was probably one of the first parts he removed.  talking to my siblings (i'm the youngest, born in '66, so the Buffalo was long gone before i arrived), none of them knew what kind of car it was.  to them, it was "the Buffalo."

yep, checking Google images, looks like Dad installed a '52 grille bar and turn signals.

Mom bought a new 71 Cutlass S 2 door hardtop after Dad died.  It was pretty quick.

Being the offspring of parents who had lived through the Great Depression, my parents were both extremely practical.  No car they ever bought was going to be frivolous, impractical, or "cool".  Nothing foreign or sporty would ever be considered.  Once purchased, the car would be driven, maintained, repaired, and driven until it could go no further.  The only cars my parents ever got rid of were taken to the junkyard, never sold or traded.  They were flat slam used up.

In spite of that, I suppose a few things they owned might be viewed as "cool" today.  When I was born, Dad was driving a 50's Willy's wagon.  Got rid of that for the 1963 Ford Falcon wagon with the 170 Special and 3-on-the-tree.  My Grandpa owned a 1965 Chevy Chevelle Malibu Coupe when he passed away.  That car became my mom's, and later my brother's.

And that's about it for cool.  Even today, Pops is driving a Camry.  In beige.  Some things never change. 

I almost thought that I couldn't play this game, as my parents most certainly weren't car people.

But then I remembered back to 1981. My mother was still driving a 1973 Plymouth Fury III with a 360 four barrel that they had bought moments before the gas crisis hit and my father had picked up an orange 1974 Subaru DL (automatic!), because everyone in America had rushed out to buy a fuel efficient import by then.

The Subaru was E36 M3 and the Plymouth was failing as fast as it possibly could. My mother was working at the hospital and Dad had recently bought a business that was doing fairly well. I think he wanted to show off a bit. I remember looking at Cadillacs, an Oldsmobile 98 Regency and Chrysler Fifth Avenues. I kind of hated all of them, though I was secretly rooting for the dark blue Oldsmobile. My mother, who would be the primary driver, was pushing for something fuel efficient. Our neighbors had just bought a first generation Honda Accord and I really liked it. We test drove one and it was so good that Mom and I were pushing hard for that one.

But Dad's high school friend, who owned a Chrysler Plymouth dealership, had recently started selling Mazdas. My parents drove a couple of 626s and Dad was hooked, even though Mom and I were still trying to convince him to buy the Honda.

They had two Mazdas in stock, both were a beautiful metallic brown, but one was a five speed and the other was an automatic with the sunroof. There was much debate. I wanted both, but Mom said that she didn't really want to deal with a clutch again, so they got the automatic with the sunroof and corduroy interior.

That 1981 Mazda 626 Luxury sedan turned out to be one of my favorite cars ever. 2.0l, OHC, front engine, rear wheel drive. It was a great little car (!). They owned it for about a decade and I'd buy another today if there were any left. It was essentially a Japanese BMW.

After that, there were a couple of Accords that were okay and a 1996 Volvo 850 GLT that was essentially his Swedish Oldsmobile. Nice solid car, but not as cool as the Mazda.

This one belongs to someone else, but their car looked just like this:

My parents never owned anything that was cool in the time they owned it, but I'd love to have a few of them today.....1951 Austin A40......1957 Pontiac 2-door wagon ( the short wheelbase Canadian version).....1962 Ford Zephyr....and my favourite, a Vauxhall Viva HA.

My parents have never actually owned any cool cars. A Dodge Colt sedan, a Toyota Sienna, a Toyota Echo, a Hyundai Sonata and a Toyota Matrix XR. All automatic, all quite slow, all lacking panache. However, that could change soon as my dad's been eyeing a Tesla Model 3.

'27-32 Stutz sedan.  Not sure of the exact year.   My Dad was a Stutz dealer until the company crashed.

Rode all the way from upstate NY to Montauck Point and back in the back seat.

 This was long before super highways. 

Since I was really young I have very little memory of the trip, just a few events.

My dad became a Willys dealer in 1937 and carried on through all the changes till 1964.

My dad had one of everything, but concentrated on Corvettes.

He started with a Model A, then a 39 Mercury I think. Drove a TR3 through college as it completely rotted away around him. When I was shopping for a LBC in the late '80s the only thing he told me NOT to buy was a TR3.

In the late 50s he couldn't settle on what he wanted, but could only have one car, so he switched back and forth a few times. Austin-Healey 100-4, then a 59 Corvette, then a 100-6, then a 60 Corvette, then a 3000, then a 62 Corvette all in fairly rapid fashion. He'd get the Vettes from used car lots that didn't allow test-drives on Vettes so the rides home in those were always adventures. He looped one of them dropping the clutch leaving the parking lot.

When I came along he had a 64 1/2 Mustang and a Tiger. He wanted the Tiger to be faster so he yanked the 289 out of the Stang and, after a surprising amount of work, dropped it into the Tiger, and stuck the 260 in the Mustang, and neither car worked particularly well after that.

He did ice racing, ice trials, gymkhana, solo 1, everything with whatever he had at the time. He also did road racing in a pair of Spitfires (GP and FP), towing the first one with a 67 Vette 427/435 4spd convertible. He had a Karmann Ghia briefly and sold it, then borrowed it back to go ice racing, and rolled it over.

In the late 70s/early 80s he because known as the neighborhood Honda guy since buying a new Civic in 1974. People would tell him about a dead Honda somewhere and he'd pick it up for nothing. He had cut holes in the garage roof so he could drop chains from the joists and pull the engine with a block & tackle. He could rebuild the engine over a weekend and have a running car in a few days. Some of those Hondas were sold at a tidy profit, some were turned into ice race cars, and some were issued to us kids as we got to driving age. I went through four of those myself.

He liked having projects, and bought a handful of non-runners, abandoned restorations, stuff like that and for the most part wound up with decent running cars. One was an early Buick Riviera that just needed the interior done. He finished that, drove it for a few months and decided he didn't like it. A more serious one was a 100-6 that had all the metal work done but was completely unassembled. He said it was like a Cobra kit without the instruction manual. He got it put together, drove it for a few months and decided he didn't like it. On the plus side, he made money on these (assuming he worked for free). He also built a Factory Five Cobra on the cheap: no chrome, no go-fast bits, one single donor car and his own paint. He really liked that one and kept it for twelve years or so before selling it. I drove it once and wondered how he could get his 75 year old frame into it because it was completely uncomfortable for me.

He sold that 67 Vette and replaced it with a 62 in the middle 70s, and still has the 62. He told me that it was going to be my inheritance when I was 10-12 years old, and to this day it has been the only car he's owned since I got my license that he hasn't let me drive. I haven't asked.

When I was graduating high school (1985), he had three Vettes: the 62, a 71 454/4spd coupe, and a 73 convertible he picked up cheap because it needed work. He got the 73 running and driving, and when I graduated he let me use that for the summer. Nothing like setting a 17 year old into the world with a screaming yellow Vette convertible to learn manual transmission on.

Recently he had a small fun fleet: the 62, a yellow 04 Vette convertible, and a 16 GTI for rainy days. He didn't really like the C5 and sold it, thinking of getting a new Vette. When he saw that the C8 was going to be automatic-only and not a real convertible, he swore that off. He wound up placing an order for a C7 on the last day dealers were taking orders, and over the summer he took delivery of a red/red '19 7spd convertible. I saw it over Thanksgiving but the only involvement I had with it was helping him put the cover on it so it wouldn't get dirty in the garage over the winter. I hope I am still having that much fun with cars when I'm 85.

He had some other fun stuff in addition to the above: 914-6, Datsun Roadster, X1/9, a pair of MGBs, a pair of ice racing Corvairs, Saab 96 that was supposed to be an ice racer but he decided it was too good for that fate, a couple other early Mustangs... I'm forgetting a bunch I'm sure.

Random pics

In reply to Claff :

I remember him.

My dad had a Lincoln Mark IV.   It was a boat of a car and the perfect car to impress woman of the '70's, which was his hobby.  He usually had 2 or 3 women he was dating, with none knowing about the others, and him swapping out every few months as they either found out or he got tired of them.   The Lincoln was a chick magnet then.

era. 

1966 Caprice with a 396.   Consumed rubber (tires) like a $2.00 hooker.  

In reply to NickD :

1959 Cadillac ElDorado Convertible.  

TurnerX19 said:

My parents did not own a lot of cars, rather they bought what they liked and kept them for long periods,although Mom's coolest might be the exception to the time. She had a '32 Ford V8 roadster for a little less than a year in 1935/36. She traded it in on the most pedestrian of all, a '36 Chevrolet standard 4 door sedan. That got sold in 1950 to purchase a new MG TD in the photo. Kept until 1987. Dad's coolest had to be the Taraschi F.Jr. bought in '69 for $900.00 and sold after his death for $7000. in 1979. I still have the trailer Mom also had a company car for a while, not hers on paper, but way cool, a Lancia  Aurelia Spyder, pictured with me as well.

 

With those two you win the thread, at least for me.  Where did you partents live?  

2GRX7 said:

The first memory I have is of my father's 1971 Mach 1 (looked just like the above picture). I loved that car! He bought it a few months before I was born. He and his brothers each had a pony car from every Amercian mark Chevy Camaro, Dodge Charger, and an AMX! They'd race them back in NYC for cash.

I think I was 7 or so when he was trying to get the other cars in the driveway during a bad winter storm and ended up T-boning the Mustang with the station wagon -right in front of my eyes! I cried for hours.

She ended up getting sold a few months after that but that's where my bug started.

I absolutly love that car.  When I was a kid growing up in norther rural England there was a guy in our village that had one just like that.  It looked like a space ship to me where the average car was a Ford Escort or Cortina.  It was so so so massive.  It seemed to fill the road.  It only got surpased in my mind when someone bought a 911 and our neighbour got a 928.  But Mach 1's, especially in white hold a special place in my heart since then.  

spitfirebill said:

1966 Caprice with a 396.   

Get out!  the last "cool" car my dad owned was a '66 Caprice coupe, 100% OE when he bought from original owner in 1974.  396/4sp, buckets, console, gauges, manual *everything*.  yellow with black interior.  it looked exactly like the car on the cover of the 1966 Caprice owner's manual.  it got hit and totalled in my high school parking lot in the fall of 1983 while i was sitting in detention.  :-(