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
Not a single one, my parents always had terrible taste in cars and never maintained them more than the bare minimum. I didn’t get the bug until my early twenties.
My dad had bought-new 1994 Volvo 850 Turbo – I did highly unacceptable things in it during high school and I wish I had it now…
Around 1970 my mom decided she wanted something small and cute. She found a ’66 Mercury Cyclone GT with a 390. Yellow, black carpet, white vinyl seats. She had me put a barefoot gas pedal on it. Later she found the matching left barefoot dimmer switch. Way to go, Mom!
My uncle had a 1952 GMC 3/4 ton panel truck that he restored in our driveway. That was in about 1976 or 77. I was 7 years old and helped out and hung out as much as I possibly could. I still remember putting in the freshly rebuilt trans and motor (248). He joined the army in about 1982 and sold it, then moved to Hawaii. I later learned (decades later) that he had asked my dad if he should give me the truck at the time. Why was I not consulted about this? No idea.
Dad loved cars. He had a succession of special cars while I was growing up 50’s through the 70’s. The list is too long for here but the one to have today would be the 1967 Shelby GT500. I only drove it a few times in the 3-4 years he owned it, but it was scary when I’d get on the gas. He was forced to sell it when my younger brother turned 16 and the insurance company threatened to cancel all Dad’s policies with that Shelby in the garage. Years later long after Dad had passed some Shelby collector contacted my Mother looking for the car. He explained it was a rare one and it explained why the local dealer always had problems getting parts for it. Seems it was a 427 under the hood instead of the normal 428. I’d probably be too scared to drive it now but…
My mom drove a 1983 Volvo 240 sedan back in the late 90s early 00s. I loved that car so so much.
Also my dad drove an XC70 for a while. I’d take that too. Big fat no to the Stratus. Sort of would dig the maui blue Lumina sedan even though I’d probably regret making that wish by the afternoon of the same day.
They were all kind of turds, to be honest, Tempo, Horizon, Lumina APV, Malibu, PT Cruiser, Loyale wagon, the nicest one was probably a Caprice Classic Brougham, which, I do like those cars, but the one my parents had was built on a bad day, because it was horribly unreliable. There was a Ranger in there, too, that was fine, I guess
Lots of interesting cars in my neighborhood growing up (early to mid 1970s):
1) Next door neighbor had a 1966 Mustang fastback, w/ 289 4 speed
2) Another neighbor had a 2nd Gen Mustang C/S with a 390, eventually replaced with a MB 450SL
3) Guy down the street had a Porsche 912, eventually replaced with a 911
4) In my extended neighborhood, there were the following cars that I drooled over then and (some of) which I would like to own today:
a Pontiac GTO Judge
a Chevelle SS 396
a Volvo 1800 ES wagon
a Jensen Healy wagon (lasted maybe a year – probably rusted away)
a Rover P6 2000TC, replaced by a Rover P6 3500 and then an SD1 3500
a Bricklin SV-1 (this one lasted about 6 months)
a Lamborghini Islero
a Citroen DS, replaced with a Peugeot 504
5) My parents had a BMW 2002Ti and a BMW Bavaria – I learned to drive in those and I’d love to have either one today….
Dating myself a bit…prior to divorce my father had a 1970 Plymouth Barracuda. I was told, later in my youth, that my mother had totaled it when I was 3 years of age (possibly the cause for the divorce? I never found out). After the divorce mom drove a 1972 Pontiac Catalina for a few years (and yet another accident which sent it to the junk yard) then a 1976 Chevy Vega GT (vivid memory – using testors model paint to “touch up” the raised white lettering on the “wide-o-oval” tires – I didn’t learn about Westly’s bleach white until much later…). After many issues with the Vega, she purchased a new 1980 Chevy Citation 2 door 4 speed manual. Lasted about 2 years until she replaced it with a 1982 Chevy Cavalier…with a pop-up sunroof! One day, after 6 months of ownership, she was driving and I was in the passenger front seat. I proclaimed to her (in all of my infinite wisdom at 15 years of age) – “did you know the sunroof can be completely removed” and proceeded to show her (at 30 MPH) how to remove it. Blew off when released and will never forget the horror of watching (in slow motion) the glass flipping 4 or 5 times through the air and shattering behind us when it hit the pavement…SMH. Good times! Which would I love to have now? Common sense would say the Barracuda, but for some reason that POS Vega still lingers. It was the first “new car” I remember with amazing black / white checkered cloth bucket seats and this really cool “T” shaped thing under the shift knob to engage reverse (in addition to the cool tires with raised white letters). I used to spend hours rowing through the 4 gears (and reverse) practicing how to drive at age 9. I was raised in the malaise era…and those memories are strong – despite the rather terrible products / vehicles that were available at the time.
My parents had an 84 Cherokee, 91 Cherokee, and 99 Cherokee when I was growing up, all stick shift. The 91 became my first car. The 99, being the first car my dad ever bought brand new, stayed with him until only a few years ago. Sadly it became unsafe due to rust and had to go. I’d take any of those back in a heartbeat.
There are a few I remember I wouldn’t mind having now, though none of them would be a good daily driver for me these days.
1966 Pontiac LeMans in Martinique Bronze, loved those taillights!
1971 VW Bus blue/white
~1980 VW Rabbit in brown/bronze
“Big Blue” an older pickup from probably the early 1950s, we had it when I was a wee tot so I don’t know the make or year, it had a homemade camper shell on the back.
Many family adventures were had in all of the above. The first two I got to drive plenty myself, the other two were either before I could drive or after I went off to college.
There’s actually a relatively decent blue 1966 LeMans on Craigslist off in Montana that hasn’t be restomodded into a GTO tribute car like so many of them seem to be. Luckily I don’t have the room or extra cash lying around for it.
Many of my dad’s executive pool cars. Special “wish I had now” (in same shape as then of course):
1974 Chevrolet Nova SS in Argentina
1978 GM do Brasil Veraneio (suburban)
1980 Opel Senator 5.4 in Germany
1982 pre-production Corvette C4 in Michigan
1988 Buick Reatta in Michigan
The ’85 Ford Sierra wagon I learned to drive in (the first one in my city). The ’74 Falcon Futura with white vinyl top he bought as a stopgap between said Sierra and a brand-new ’88 Escort. Or an ’82 Taunus coupé with real wood inserts below the side windows.
My mom had a 96 Cherokee and a 2001 saab 9-3 coupe, while my dad had a ZJ grand cherokee and his dad’s first gen audi s6. All of them are out of the family and I miss them dearly, especially considering mom has a c-max now and dad traded in those two for a new ram that killed itself about a decade later
It was the car that got me into cars – 1969 Buick Wildcat coupe, 430-4v, metallic blue with white vinyl top. I literally cried when they sold the car when I was 10, and I swore I would go with the car when the new owners picked it up. Somehow they snuck it out from under me.
Parents sold “my” 64 1/2 Mustang in 1975 when I was 12 or so. V8, automatic, generator rather than an alternator. White with a black vinyl hard top. Said they needed a 4 four door car for practical reasons. Sigh…
My father’s 1991 Peugeot 405 GRD Turbo in steel grey. Comfortable. Quick. Handled great. Frugal. Good to look at. Would daily now and love it. Had loads of great holidays in it too. Or if I was feeling a bit more grown up, his black 1998 Volvo S70 2.5 turbo diesel. All of the above. Save the handling. Also looked like a plain clothes police car in the UK at the time so people got out the way!
My dad had a ’93 405 SRI. A splendid car for road trips, plus all you said.
Man, some of you guys had cool parents. From as far back as I can remember up until about 1995, my dad always had a company car (is that still a thing?) that was usually something awful. A Lumina, a first-gen Taurus (actually not bad), a Cutlass, and a few K Cars prior to that. My mom drove a Caravan up until 1991 when we got the first of what would be many Ford Explorers. See? Boring.
We had exactly two interesting cars. First, we had a Merkur XR4Ti, which actually became my first car after about 10 years of mostly sitting in the garage. I loved that thing. The other somewhat interesting car was an E34 5 Series. That’s actually one that I wish I could have now.
The first car I remember my father having was a 1966 Pontiac LeMans, blue over black 326 automatic with bucket seats and console. We were a family of 6 at the time with another on the way! I do not remember how long he kept it but was replaced by a ‘more practical’ early 70’s Chevrolet station wagon to my disappointment, at least the wagon had AC, well at least it did for the first half of the first road trip our family took with it. Wish he kept that LeMans.
My dad had some nice cars, looking back, but there are two that really made an impression.
A 1971 Datsun 240Z, in gold, which looked fantastic. I’ll never forget what it was like sitting in that car, sunk way down in the leather passenger seat.. Dad passed it to my oldest sister after a while. I remember being in it when it overheated a couple of times, and having to walk home…
The other one was when I was older, dad got a great deal on a 1969 Mercedes 280SL, in dark brown, which actually looked fantastic. It was a convertible but the hard top had to be pulled off before you left the house. Dad built a neat pulley system in the garage that made it easy to lift off, and then lower back down later. He later sold it for a gigantic profit.
Edit: Sold the car, that is. The fate of the pulley system is long forgotten.
Damn…a bunch of them.
196x (forgot what year) Mercury Cougar
1966 Pontiac Bonneville Convertible
1974 1/2 MGB (even with the RBBBs)
1986 Honda Civic Si hatchback
1988 Jeep Grand Wagoneer (SJ)
I did manage to score my mom’s 1997 Del Sol VTEC; my daughter is set to inherit my dad’s 2016 BMW x3 next month, so not all bad…
Doh! Almost forgot the crown of the bunch. My dad’s ~1969 Datsun 1600 Roadster. I’d happily take that over all of the others.
My parents had a post refresh first gen Mazda MPV, 4WD, with leather interior and captains seats in the second row. Would love that thing now. Put a little lift in it, run some AT tires. perfect
When I was born, my dad had a 914 and a Karmann Ghia. I was born in Boulder, Colorado, so please note this means the man had no snow car. I came home from the hospital as a newborn in a Renault LeCar which he had given my mother as a gift. Absolute mad lad. When I was about two, my dad traded the 914 for a VW Thing which legendarily came with grass in the gas tank. Honestly, I have zero memories of any of these cars, but I would gladly take a 914 and especially a LeCar! Having once taken a wrench to my boss’ Thing, I think that itch has been satisfactorily scratched since I’m not much of a VW girl.
My parents had some great cars any of which I’d love to have. 1970 Olds Cutlass with the rocket 350, 1985 Olds Custom Cruiser station wagon with fake wood paneling, 1968 Grand Wagoneer they drove from Indiana to Alaska, 1968 Chevelle, 1980 Caprice. All great cars! What I want most though was our 1978 green over tan Volvo 244. Sadly it burnt down in 1983 in Abu Dhabi while we stood around staring at it in our karate outfits.
Easy – my dad’s ’68 BMW 2002. My folks had a lot of cars I remember fondly, but none that I loved more than that BMW.