It’s safe to say that many of us were bitten by the car bug when we were knee-tall. Maybe it was a poster, maybe it was a book, maybe it was a television program, a car show, or a magazine. Maybe it was even just a stranger driving by in a machine that captivated your imagination and became your world. Childhood dream cars, before we even got our hands on our learner’s permits. But are they still our childhood dream cars today?
Admittedly, my childhood dream car hierarchy tended to trend a little bit older. However, beyond the Viper on the auto show stand and the poster of the 930 Flachbau on my wall, one car stood tall above everything else in the earliest days: The Lamborghini Diablo SE30. Violently purple and violently violent, this pop-up-lamped wedge with billionaire doors was an outrageous monument to speed. With a 518-horsepower 5.7-liter V12 and no all-wheel-drive to save you, this lightened, steroidal supercar was Lamborghini before the Audi influence. Pure daydream material, and far more attainable than a McLaren F1
However, a funny thing’s happened alongside growing up: I still love the Diablo SE30, but if I could only own one fun car, this probably wouldn’t be it. I’ve been lucky enough to have friends and acquaintances with Diablos, and these cars all have one thing in common: They’re a bit much. They’re needy, they attract massive crowds, they’re compromised and demanding. A fantastic fourth or fifth car for a bit of pantomime, but they aren’t what I’m seeking from a dream car.
I’ve known that driving can be ridiculously good fun from the moment I first squeezed the throttle in a kart. It put an ear-to-ear grin across my prepubescent face that hasn’t really changed. The problem is, it’s hard to drive a Diablo everywhere in the real world, especially when you live in a place with frost heaves and speed bumps and diabolical traffic and RAV4 drivers who merge without looking despite the amber lamps of their blind spot monitoring systems shining bright. Even when traffic clears, there are better cars from an ergonomic standpoint, and better cars from a cheekiness standpoint, with gears you can actually use without having to get in the back of a police car afterward.
My ultimate childhood dream car might no longer be my ultimate dream car, but that doesn’t make my list any more boring. I still dream of the TVR Sagaris, a whole raft of special Porsches, the Renault 5 Turbo, the Noble M600, and probably against my better judgement, the Jaguar XJ220, among other things. So, has age and perhaps wisdom changed your dream car, or is it still the same as it ever was? I’d love to hear your answer in the comments below.
Top graphic image: Lamborghini
Was and still is a DeLorean (80s kid). They got seriously expensive while I was doing other adult-like things. I’ll still buy one someday.
Yes. 1972 Split bumper RS/SS Camaro. Any color, now that they cost more than my mortgage I’m open.
At 5 my dream “car” was a Chevy squarebody stepside. At 9 it was an E70 Corolla. At 21 the latter was my actual car, and I might have wanted a less rusty example but otherwise 10/10 would recommend.
Yes. I still want a Bugeye Sprite. I blame Patrick Bedard.
No.*
If Top Gear taught me anything, it’s never meet, or in this context, drive your heroes. The sexy Italians are expensive to own when they run at all. Corvette C3s aren’t very fast and handle poorly in comparison to German contemporaries.
* Maybe a late 1980s 911 would be an exception.
911s have been my biggest disappointment. The top gear rule stands.
Is it an expectations thing? I really liked the ones I have driven, but I can’t see them being worth the silly prices.
I guess so. Maybe there was too much hype. The first one I drove was a 993 (not a turbo) and I just felt a bit meh.
There definitely have been a number of cars like that for me. The Toyobaru and the KIA Stinger most recently. Both savagely disappointing to me after all the hype.
I prefer the older 911s, and the older the better. If I won millions, I would want an early long-nose car in mint condition. Nothing special, just a base car or a 911T. I find the original to be the purest. The later they get the more polished they get.
The first car I ever really thought was cool was a 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle Super Sport SS396 in that Candy Apple Burgundy color. It used to drive by my house daily during the summers back in the ’80s when I was 13 or 14 years old.
Chevelle SS396
Today I still love that car, but I think I would prefer the El Camino version, as I really have no need for back seats.
El Camino SS396
Most people didn’t believe me when I was a kid and told them my dream was to drive a Renault 4 – something that eventually stopped being a dream and became reality, so I ended up having to update my dream car, and right now that would be a Matra Rancho. Which I already loved as a child, to be fair, I just didn’t think of it as dream car material back then like I do now.
Similarly my dream car was actually the Civic Wagovan. Sure, the poster cars were fast and sang and gorgeous but packing 4WD into a tiny Honda just seemed so cool. I never got to own one but I did get to drive a late 80s Fiat Panda 4×4 in dirt roads for a summer and I’ve driven Suzuki Jimnys around Central America which seem scratch the same itch the Wagovan would have.
Holy shit, I love the Wagonvan. The side profile makes it one of the best looking small station wagons of its time. And from the C-pillar onwards it’s just fantastic. Another pretty basic car in this style that I love (and missed out on buying one recently) is the first gen Datsun/Nissan Prairie. The one I was looking at was in near-mint condition and was imported brand new. Brown with both Datsun and Nissan badges. I’ll be regretting not buying it for some time…
Those were legit cool – I test drove a second gen back when they were new. That is the only era of Honda I have ever had any interest in, but I couldn’t afford them when they were new and they dissolved rapidly in Maine.
Much like today, I don’t think I had one specific dream car as a kid. I loved the Countach, Testerossa, 959, F40, C4 ZR1, F1, etc., etc., but they were all at different points in my youth for different reasons. I think today I have little desire to own any of them, though I wouldn’t turn my nose up at a C6 ZR1 or Aventador SVJ if someone offered to give me one.
So I’m in my low fifties, but have been reading a variety of car magazines since I was a kid- Hot Rod, Classic and Sportscar, EVO, CAR, Vintage Motorsports, Performance Car when Jeremy Clarkson was a columnist, The Rodder’s Journal, JP, Autosport, the list goes on.
Anyway my point is that I’ve been reading about cars for a long time and my tastes are wide ranging. A lot of cars I loved as a younger guy are still cars I’d like to own. TVR Griffith 500? Yes, please. AE86? Wanted one when I was a teenager. Dar’l Mat Peugeot 402? One if each of the coupe and roadster, please.
But the one car I’d really like to own (and I’ve owned vert few cars I keep them till they crap out) is an Austin Healey 3000 Mk. III, about a 1966, which I would paint dark metallic blue (Ford’s Viking Blue would be a good choice) with a black interior. This would adequately match the car my folks had in about 1971, that my dad had to have and sold a perfectly good Chevy to buy, and was just unreliable enough that my mom had to drive it to work because she could walk to work if needed and dad had to go like twenty miles. It was always broken, and bolt holes for the lever shocks were so rounded out that dad and his brother in law bought a new set of front shocks and welded them in. It was a complete shed. But he lived that car.
So if I had “fuck you” money that’s what I would build. The Healey my dad hd but couldn’t afford to keep or buy later.
Yes. I still hope to own a Porsche 911 one day.
F40 and McLaren F1, both still incredible
No. My childhood dream car was a Porsche 911 Turbo. Now that I could buy one I have no interest in owning one or really any expensive car. This flip switched in my mid 20’s when I found out two things.
A. Enjoyment from material goods is short lived. That new wears off quick but memories from experiences last.
B After a few years in the real working world I was far more motivated to get out of the rat race then have simple of success in that rat race. FIRE (Financially Independent / Retire Early) became the goal. I would much rather retire 2-3 years early than have another Porsche.
It is also likely heresy here but I also find motorcycles much more fun than cars. A $10K sport bike returns more thrills than a $100K car for a fraction of the cost and takes us less space in the garage.
I disagree. But respect this answer. It is coherent.
Yeah, but according to the IIHS it is 28X more likely to die on a motorcycle than it is in a car. So, the 10:1 thrill does not pay off.
Is bikes > cars heresy around here? Well sign me up for an auto-da-fé because I agree.
I don’t think I ever had a single one. I still like every one of them, but at this point, even if I could afford them, I don’t really want more cars, not even one of my own design to build. Most of the issues mentioned about the Diablo applies to cars that are more practical as well—traffic, morons on the road, poor road conditions, etc. taking the fun away of just going for a drive—but I also have enough stuff requiring maintenance that takes time from actually using them, I’m happy with what I have already, the car I truly want no longer exists, and I’d rather use the money to help animals. The only other car I’m interested in right now would be a late ’70s Caprice aero coupe, but that’s not at all a dream car.
TVR Cerbera Speed 12… still.
Yes, and Duesenbergs are just as unobtainable now as they were then, if not more so
Omg yes. Nothing has ever been cooler or more out of my range.
Lotus Esprit.
Absolutely yes.
They’re out there and comparatively affordable! Find a good mechanic near you and go for it!
Unfortunately “comparably affordable” has been “consistently just out of my income bracket” for about the last 30 years.
The unobtanium dream car is the Mercedes 300SL Gullwing. The dream car that is slightly more obtainable is the 1963 Split Window Corvette.
My dream car was a Mercedes-Benz 450SL in Signal Red.
I’d prefer a 560SL now – or better yet a mid-cycle R129 SL500
Firebirds? Yes still my dream cars and the 79 we got last year is very close to how I want my dream car only things I would have liked different was it had a 77-78 front end and was a trans am with a shaker and bird vs a formula. Also the color I am a big fan of red on black
El Niño from NFS III will always be my dream car, seeing as it isn’t real and whatnot.
Honestly though, even if I could somehow get my hands on one of my childhood dream cars, my responsible adult brain knows that actually keeping it maintained, insured, stored properly, etc. would be more trouble than it’s worth.
Yooo, I nearly wore out the CD to the PC version of this game. I also modded the game in the 56K days of dialup. It took 20 minutes to download a hacked car file to put in something like an F40 or a Viper. But then I eventually got a modding tool to for editing the cars myself. I took the El Niño, drug all the vertices for the cab forward so it looked mid-engine, and then put a hoop wing in between the rear wheel arches. Good times.
My childhood dream car was an air-cooled Beetle, because I watched the Herbie movies over and over as a kid. By the time I was born in 1993, they weren’t a common sight on the roads, although my dad’s friend used to take me for rides in his. I got a Beetle of my own when I was 11, that I still have today. I’m pretty sure I was the happiest kid in the USA the day we brought it home. Is it my dream car now? It will be when I finally tackle the rust.
Back in 99 or so when I (ehm… well, my parents) purchased NFS: High Stakes I fell in love with the E39 M5. Don’t know why. It wasn’t the fastest or the coolest looking but seeing a 4 door sedan in that game toe to toe against Corvettes, Jaguars, etc. was so cool to me.
Ended up getting an E39 as an adult, which yeah, it’s not an M5 but I supercharged it so it’s unique to me.
As a little kid I had a Countach 25th Anniversary poster on the wall above my bed and I still think it’s the most exotic looking car ever made, but I wouldn’t buy one now even if I could (I can’t).
I had a Diablo poster, but I didn’t have a really deep attachment to it. My hatch’n’wagon lust didn’t develop until later, but if I could have an M3 or M5 station wagon, or an RS6 Avant, I’d probably die with my hands at 9 and 3 and a grin on my face.
That’s a rapture I can get down with, be sure to get one with a sunroof and leave it open!
I grew up playing NFS Carbon, and there was something about that Evo IX MR that instantly made me fall in love with whatever was cooking in Japan. Nowadays, I’ve come to realize how impossible owning one of those would be. Still would love one eventually.
Nope, yup, Testarossa. No question. Warts and all.