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
Not even close. Childhood, I wanted an Audi R8. Then the E90 335i came out, and I was like wow, much speed, so power, not that expensive, must have.
Then I actually started driving. Turns out my taste in cars is different from what I had expected. I only vaguely care about acceleration or horsepower. Lightweight is fun. Steering feel is valuable. Reliability is a good thing to have. Taking cars that aren’t designed for the track, to the track, is insanely great.
Now my dream car is a Toyota Prius C with a rollcage for endurance racing. Next week it will probably be some other crapcan for some other idiot use-case. And sometimes I actually do things like this. For example, my Lemons Bolt race car.
P.S. Miatas are good. An electric one, if someone can do it right, would be great. (Had no idea about any of this before I started driving.)
I thought about an R8 at one time (mid-engine cars are rare, especially if relatively affordable) but I thought it was too heavy to be well handling. And now I can’t imagine not having a Porsche.
You mean the 2nd gen Viper GTS? Heck yeah it is!
I’d have to say no. I was more into muscle cars as a kid, so a Buick Grand Sport 400 or similar (I was still a weird kid). But then I discovered small, fun, light sports cars. So I just picked up an NC Miata after determining my BRZ was too fast, haha, and a Lotus Evora is my “wild” dream car.
Yeah, same here. The ND has more power than I need. I drove a 370Z on track the other day. It was fun! But, not more fun than a Miata. The 370Z, however, is much more effective at making all its fluids really hot.
Wild what happens when you start adding power and weight! Heat! And yeah I thought about an ND1 since they’re slower but the extra space in the NC and lower price won me over.
Not entirely. My first dream car was a 3/4 ton Chevy Avalanche, for some reason. I was a weird kid.
Now it’s a CCSB GMT400 with a Cummins swap. Similar concept, I guess?
In 4th grade I wrote a letter to my future self that said I should buy a minivan. I now own a minivan.
Livin’ the dream over here.
F40/959 were the dream when I was a kid, then in my 20s I learned of the Jaaaaaaag XKSS. I still dream of one of those, but I’d like a 64 Continental convertible more.
The first dream car I can remember was driven by my love of the Dirk Pitt novels, and yes, I still lust over the Duesenberg SJs even if I have a better understanding of how incredibly impossible it would be to buy one. I am firm in my belief that the one on display in the Louwman Museum in the Hague is the most beautiful car ever made.
I’ve just added a whole bunch more to my list of dreams over the years, lol.
Dirk had more than a SJ in that hanger, plenty to choose from.
Oh, absolutely. Auburn, Cord, Packard, Daimler, Hispano Suiza, Maybach, AC, Avoins Voison, and probably a dozen other makers I can’t remember. But the chase scene through DC in the SJ really captured my imagination as a kid.
Ferrari Testarossa? Yes. Despite everyone’s attempts to convince me otherwise, it looks sick af.
If it makes you feel any better, back in the 80s, from the very first time we saw Crockett get out of his, there was NO dissent on this.
Yes: I’d still love a McLaren F1, Ford GT90, Aston Martin Vantage V600, and a Jaguar XJ220.
No: While the Diablo still looks cool, I’ve seen more than enough evidence to convince me it wouldn’t be worth owning. Ditto the Countach, Ferrari F40, F50, and Porsche 959. Drive around a track? Sure! Own? Ha, no!
One of them isn’t. I wanted an MGB GT from the time I first saw a picture of one in a coffee-table book my dad had. I finally got one in 2016, and try as I might, I just couldn’t like it. I had it for nine years, spent a lot of time and money trying to bring it up to snuff, and finally gave up and sold it when the clutch went out and I just didn’t have the gumption to fix it again.
I may or may not be willing to learn the same exact lesson if I ever found the right Fiat X1/9.
Depending on what week you asked me, it was either a VW Bug (Herbie) or a DeLorean (Back to the Future). But when I was around 13, I got an issue of Road & Track that reviewed a Superformance replica, and I learned about the existence of the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe. Hasn’t changed since.
Just the one powered by atomic batteries. Mostly now for the batteries.
Ha! My dream cars as a kid were also the Viper and Diablo. I got to sit in both of them at the 1995 Detroit auto show (back when they were awesome) and it was THE COOLEST THING to 8yo. me. I was already a bit into cars but that day cemented my love for sure.
I would still count them among my dream cars but the 2005 Ford GT is my all-timer.
I still lust after an early 70s Challenger RT factory convertible ( very rare) with a 426 hemi under a shaker hood and a proper 4 speed.
Absolute death trap compared to modern cars, but if I had one, and I managed to wrap it around a tree while doing something exceeding, aching stupid, at least I’d go out smiling.
I’m still somewhat surprised Dodge didn’t offer a convertible Challenger during the last year of production (I think ’23?). Just do like Ford did in the 80s and ship some coupes to an aftermarket firm to chop the top off and instant profit (and cowl shake, but whatever).
yeah, I still lust after the 1st gen q7 and 3rd gen scirocco.
the 4L q7 was really the first car I remember loving, probably because I had a huge RC model of one that was destroyed in a flood when I was 7.
and as for the scirocco, it was in this game called Sports Car Challenge, it was a promotional game by VW’s Chinese import arm. I spent so many hours on my Ipad playing that game, its quite shitty yet fun
Viper, still. Despite having the means now, there are things like „practicality, time, other priorities“ so it wouldn’t be driven.
In no particular order. 68 Porsche 911, 65 Ferrari 365 GT4, 65 Lamborghini 350 GT, Toyota 2000GT, 67 Gordon Keeble.
First dream car was something along the lines of a ’67 Corvette. Next in line was the first year 914, after seeing one at my first ever auto show. But then the Maserati Bora came along, and although there have been other more-or-less dream cars since, that one has maintained primacy. It would be hell to keep one in perfect shape and pretty much any newer car with sporting pretensions would kick it’s ass in a straight line, but I still lust after them.
Up vote for the Bora. Such an underrated car.
Depends how far back you go. My earliest “dream car” would’ve been a ’67 GTO. Then around age six I saw a ’59 Cadillac and that became the dream car. By 5th grade I had become obsessed with the brand and had a number of dream cars, all Cadillacs but from different decades including the V-16 era, the ’57 Eldorado Brougham, and even stuff from the 70’s like the ’76 Eldorado convertible and the 1-year-only 4-seat ’74 Fleetwood Talisman.
And I’d say that yes, the ’59 Cadillac is still my dream car even though I’ve owned three of them. One was a parts car, one a bondo-bucket I traded for a ’98 Eldorado, and one a good restoration-candidate. I did manage to drive the last one a modest amount, putting about 1,000 miles on it over 10 years before I decided I wasn’t going to have the time or money to properly restore it and moved on.
Today the dream is to find a nice survivor or well-restored ’59 Caddy, but there are a number of other less-expensive cars I’d like to own first. Also, due to some really fun trips to Sebring, I now have a new dream-car on the list: the Cadillac CT5 V-series Blackwing with a six-speed. Maybe someday they’ll both end up out in the garage replacing my ’95 Fleetwood and ’00 Jaguar XK8. One can dream!
(This is partly a Toronto comment for Thomas.)
There was a guy in my Leslieville neighbourhood that street parked his lime green Gallardo. I’d watch from the local pub patio as he fired it up, and proceeded to putt along at a walking pace behind a streetcar. What’s the point?
At least in my dream car, the Plymouth Prowler, you can’t even go fast if you want to.
Yes and no. My introduction to fun cars was the original Need for Speed and then Gran Turismo. I loved the FD, Diablo, and Testarossa, but once I became an adult I stopped lusting after the latter two because “influencers” have ruined Lamborghini as a brand to me and Ferrari’s approach to their customers at times is a hard pass.
I still love the FD, though it’s rotaries in general, and depending on where you put the cutoff for childhood, that would exclude the XJ220, R390 road car, and GT40. I was a bit late to the cars in real life passion until I had my license and could start driving, and a job to pay for one.
In no particular order. 68 Porsche 911, 65 Ferrari 365 GTC4, 65 Lamborghini 350 GT, Toyota 2000GT, 67 Gordon Keeble. I could probably afford the Gordon if I could find one and get it here.
Always wanted a Super Duty T/A and as always still can’t afford one.
My budget regularly reminds me that my dream car is just a dream. So I change it regularly.
My mom introduced me to the Dodge Viper in 1994 when I was 8 years old and it’s been my dream car ever since. Even to this day at 40 it’s the only car that still makes the hair on my neck stand on end and feel the same way I did when I was a kid. It’s kind of a non-negotiable that I own one, just need the money.
When I was a kid, I was determined to buy every size variant of the Viper that I could. I had something like 13 different models of just the Viper at one point. Nowadays, I absolutely still want to experience it, but I’m ok if I never own one. Just give me an hour with one and I’ll be satisfied.
Reminds me of one of my favorite comments from NSX Prime. A user posted how they couldn’t wait for their NSX repair to be done and they were tired of driving the Dodge. Another commenter said if I had the cars in your signature, I’d be driving the Viper to work. And the final comment was what Dodge did you think he was talking about 🙂