I suspect most people who remember their parents’ cars don’t think of them with any particular fondness beyond nostalgia for happy times spent in them (or vivid memories of the time the dog threw up halfway through the four-hour trip to Nana’s, that sort of thing), and may not even recall what the cars were, even if the memories of sitting in the wagon’s way-back are otherwise indelible. And while encountering a car from childhood might earn a wistful “My Mom had one of those,” an ordinary person probably isn’t hot to acquire the blast from the past.
However, we are not ordinary people, and I suspect many of you would love to own cars that were once your parents’ daily drivers. I know I sure would, and I’m not even talking about Dad’s Volkswagens squareback and Beetle, MG Midget, or Datsun 280Z – or Mom’s Jeep J10 Thriftside, for that matter, though I loved all those cars.
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No, the one car I would most like to have from my days as a passenger would be my Dad’s 1986 Nissan Maxima, which was exactly like the one Doug dives into here:
I have fond memories of this car seeming like the peak of luxury and technology for 1986, but nostalgia aside, I just plain love it. I really miss the crisply-folded era of 1980s styling, and this generation’s straight lines and slab sides really do it for me, not to mention those wheels.
In a very close second, there’s Dad’s 1982 Celica notchback, seen here in a brochure pic:
I actually prefer the look of the “regular” Celica as above over the puffed-up GT, and I like the notchback better than the hatch bodystyle. You may disagree!
Mark Tucker piped in with his own reply to today’s Ask, replying, “Oh, I have a great answer for that AA: my dad’s Fiat 128 sedan. I’ve written about it on Opposite Lock.”
Yeah, that’s hot.
Your turn:
What Car Did A Parent Have When You Were A Kid That You’d Love To Have Now?
Top graphic image: Nissan
Well, I’d kinda have to say my mom’s last car, a 2019 Honda Fit. I bought its’ near-twin for myself about 6 months later, both in silver even though that color was neither of our first choice. Other than model year, the only difference is that I went out of my way to get the manual because I didn’t want to waste what’s probably my last IC engine on a CVT.
But really, I wouldn’t kick any of my parents’ rides (in my lifetime, ’66 Chevelle sedan, ’74 C25 and ’79 C15 GMC pickups, ’75 Buick Skyhawk, ’86 Plymouth Horizon, ’95 Neon, ’06 Kia Rio…well maybe that one…) out of the driveway if some of them were in better condition than theirs – I distinctly remember being pulled away from sticking my fingers in the Chevelle’s rust holes as a toddler in about 1976-77.
But it’s when you get to parent-adjacent adults that things get interesting. My dad’s business partner had a BMW 2002 followed by a brand new 1977 or ’78 Olds Delta 88 (before you ask, Mom was home with me while “Uncle” Bob and “Aunt” Sandy were DINKs, she worked for the phone company).
I’ve owned a 2015 Fit for 11 1/2 years. You made an excellent decision. I hope to keep mine forever.
1982 BMW E28 5 series (528e with 5 speed to be exact).
It’s the car I was brought home from the hospital in and my mom drove it until I was 7. The timing belt snapped and my parents decided to get rid of it and replace it with… a Chevy Lumina APV.
That BMW is what got me into cars and I still hold it in very high regard.
I do still have a grudge against Dad for selling his Corvette before I was born. RUDE.
I want Mom’s broughams, though. Preferably the ’88 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Regency Brougham (in blue! with dark blue velveteen seats!), although the ’89 Cadillac Sedan de Ville was nice, too. I love a land yacht, and that downsized era is highly underrated, IMHO. I like the more modern styling that hadn’t entirely been brought into the rounded-off ’90s yet. It’s so good. I do prefer the cloth Oldsmobile seats, though. Cloth seats FTW.
I mean, I guess if we are talking cars they had before us, then yeah, a basic 318 Charger 1968 but Green on green was one I heard stories about. I would take that.
My dad had a first-gen Toyota Solara. You know, the Camry Coupe. Well, the Camry Coupe came before the Solara nameplate, but for the two generations the Solara nameplate existed… ugh, I digress.
The first-gen Solara was shockingly pretty, and my dad’s was in a truly perfect unicorn spec: A high-trim SLE V6 with the 5-speed manual in Autumn Red Mica (softer, more subtle than the bright “Flame Red”) over tan leather.
Not a sports car by any means, but a fantastic highway cruiser and I’d kill to find one like it nowadays. The only thing it was missing was the optional TRD supercharger.
https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/1999-toyota-solara
Those were very nice cars, still from the Toyota fat years. Empty nester parent had one in that same color but with the automatic.
I always liked the top trim first gen Solara (2nd get got so bloated trying to look like Lexus SC from the back). it was proportionally very pleasant car especially in pearl white or red.
Agreed on the 2nd Gen. It got so bloated, and while it was more distinctive, it wasn’t very nice-looking (imo). They’re still decent cruisers that’ll run forever, but I only care about the first-gen. I also like it in the dark green they offered.
I know what color you re talking about. Yes it is like British racing green kind. Like that one too. the beige one was meh…
My mother had a blue Capri 1600 with a manual. I don’t remember the year or if it had the impact bumpers because I was only 2 or 3 when they replaced it with an Aspen wagon, but I liked that car. One of my earliest memories was when small birds burst out of a tree or something alongside the road and into the windshield, leaving feathers and blood streaking across the glass of that Capri. She tried to distract me from the gore, but I knew they were dead and what that meant—it’s not my first life, though I hope it’s my last. Anyway, I remember my mother liked that car, too, and a ’67 Camaro she had before I was born.
My friend John’s parents drove ostensibly mundane cars, but I’ve longed for a ’75 244 five-speed in dark blue (with red cloth interior), and a ’92 Stanza in canary yellow with a five-speed.
1991-sh first gen Subaru Legacy L manual in a dark blue. 1988-ish Honda Accord Coupe in a brick red. Hell, Today I’d take the 1984 Toyota Corolla SR5 that I got as a hand-me-down back then.
A red 1981 Toyota Corolla/Tercel 5 speed 2 door. It gives me fond memories of being a kid. Also the first car I drove stick.
1986 Toyota MR2 5spd.
You had cool parents
When I was really little my parents had a silver late 70s Civic, and I think an 80s Accord wagon that was a nice green, those would be fun cars to have. Oh, the 91 Ford econoline conversion van was pretty sweet too
I was 9 when Dad traded his 1962 Rambler for a 1965. I loved that car, and we took trips where he and I camped in it. Ours was yellow with a white roof.
https://www.cardcow.com/images/set649/card00778_fr.jpg
My dad sold his S/C Rambler right before I was born. But we later bought a ’68 Rambler and I still think pretty fondly of it.
I learned to drive on a handsome 1968 Rebel hardtop with power nothing. I took (and passed) my driver’s test on it too.
My dad had a 1974 Triumph TR6 when I was young that left a lasting impression on me (we had to sell it because my sister came along and, alas, a two-seat roadster isn’t very practical for a family of four). So when I got older I always wanted one. But I can’t say that I would love to own one, because I eventually did buy one. And dad now has another one of his own.
That is fantastic. I hope you go on drives together!
My dad cycled through cars fairly regularly, but once my mother started driving those were usually secondary transportation. The earliest I remember was a ’66 or so two-door Fury which apparently would haul, which he replaced with a ’66 Fleetwood that my mom used to learn to drive. That was replaced by a two-year-old ’70 Cutlass Cruiser, which was replaced with their first new car, a ’74 Cutlass Supreme Cruiser, followed by a new ’76 Custom Cruiser, fully loaded (well. the AM-FM radio was mono) in black with burgundy perforated vinyl and woodgrain. I’d like to drive it as a historical artifact, but I don’t know if I’d want something that big.I’d also like to give the Fury a whirl, and the Fleetwood was peak Cadillac before cost-cutting began around 1968.
But among my dad’s hobby cars (he had a company pickup) in the same era was a sixties Wagoneer (in which I learned that just because a floorpan looks solid doesn’t mean you can’t step through it), a dune buggy, the oil embargo special ’67 Mustang coupe with one of the sixes and an automatic (my mom liked the floor shifter, and sadly never had one again), and a ’59 El Camino that I thought was ugly in 1975 but would love to have today.
While I was at summer camp my dad replaced the Custom Cruiser with a year-old ’78 Bronco (I have no idea why, as my mom was 5’2″, but I vaguely remember something about my brother racing the 455-equipped wagon an screwing up the transmission), which I’d also like totry. A few months later, when he found he couldn’t get a decent trade-in value where we were, he went 80 miles away to Rippy Cadillac-Oldsmobile, the source of the previous two new cars, for an ’80 Delta 88 in soft yellow with a 307 V8 and wire wheel covers but otherwise more-or-less taxicab spec. The undivided vinyl bench was no fun when my brother had moved out and I went through my growth spurt. But that was their car when I got my license, so I have no nostalgic questions about it, and I had my own old Mustang (’68, 289-2V, convertible, lots and lots of Bondo) to drive.
It would be the Ramcharger my dad when I was first old enough to remember what cars my parents owned. This is not even a competition since everything else growing up was a Dodge Dakota or a K-car variant.
My dad was pretty cool about cars. When he died (in 1969) he left behind a 1955 Ford Custom (that I came home for the first time in), a 1929 Chevy 1/2 ton home-built camper-back truck, and an MGB GT (dunno the year). There was a mid-sixties BMW R55, too, but the wreck that killed him totaled it.
Also a 1968 VW Type 3. That’s the car I grew up in.
My childhood was mostly full of uninspiring, run-of-the mill cars: poverty-spec 1970 Falcon, 1976 LTD wagon in chartreuse, rusted-out 1975 GMC Suburban, etc.
But I’d love to have the 1973 VW microbus that my Dad bought new. It couldn’t get out of its own way, but man, it was a road trip machine to 8-year old me and my 6-year old sister. It was always fun to be in that little van. I can still smell the plastic seats in the hot Virginia summers…
1967 Jeep Wagoneer
1990 Eagle Talon TSI
1976 Ford F250 crew cab, standard, with the 300 and a six foot short box. Absolute base model – had a heater and an AM radio. Utterly practical, except that being a two wheel drive with a light back end it was spicy on our icy roads.
The 71 Plymouth Roadrunner is an easy choice. But honestly the 74 Opel Manta Rallye that he turned into a full stage rally car would be very nice to have.
My dad owned a 1974 BMW 2002tii, which he sold about 2 years before I got my driver’s license. Which probably helped me make it past my 18th birthday alive.
I still dream of owning one at some point in my life. Sigh…
My dad had a 1984 Nissan 300zx Turbo in pewter metallic. Cloth seats, manual, t-tops, pop-up headlights, a freaking car phone bolted in. Coolest car ever.
Mom: 1970 Mustang Fastback with the 351C 4bbl in grabber orange.
Dad: 1962 Elva Courier Mk 4
The Elva was a super light fiberglass bodied British car with a Lotus 3 cam 4-cylinder engine. It was broken down for most of my childhood, but when it was running, he said it would spank a Porsche 911 like a bad monkey. He sold it before my brother and I were old enough to drive because he knew we’d fix it and probably die in it.
They’re worth a fortune today. It was a rare and special car.
My old man had a ’66 Ford Fairlane XL, White with red interior. I’d love to have one, you hardly ever see them in a sea of Chevelles and Mopars.
My parents had at least 5 Chevy Citations when I was a kid. But two of them were ’85 X-11s, and they hold a special place in my heart. I’d take one of those!
my new x 11 was a steaming pile. Sold in 10 months and have no good memories.
All the cool parent cars were gone before I was born. I’ve heard stories about a Rocket Oldsmobile and a Doc Hudson Hornet, yes with twin carbs.