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
1995 Ford SHO 5 speed in British Racing Green (think Ford called it dark emerald green) while not really a “kid” because I was old enough to be able to borrow it, but would love to have it today.
R8 Gordini
A Lada Niva. The little 4×4 that could. As a child my father took me with him to the dealership. I was totally in love with the color red, so I asked him to buy a red one. He bought an almost military green one. Still, utterly in love with the car. It had 3 gearsticks! A lot more than the cars of my friends parents. So it was automatically way Cooler than theirs.
We had a BJ42 shorty LandCruiser LX with the 3.6l diesel, power steering and the 5-speed box. In the 90s my mum worked at a private school as a teacher and saw all the parents there doing the school run in all those new fangled ‘SUVs’, and wanted to show them up. My folks sold it in the late 90s for a few reasons, but one of them was to make sure that I didn’t end up with it as a first car as it wasn’t the safest vehicle about, especially in the rain. As much as I wish they never sold it, I can’t pretend that it wasn’t a good idea not to let me have it, it probably wouldn’t have ended well.
Allow me to play the role of your alternate history. My parents gave me a 1987 Toyota XtraCab pickup to drive as a new driver. It was like Marty McFly’s, but grey with very 80s graphics.
At 17 I rolled it in a ‘hey, watch this’ moment.
Eeegh.. hope everyone was ok!
My mom had a thing for “future-classic” Japanese 4x4s. The earliest vehicle I remember her having was 1st gen Isuzu trooper, then maybe in 98-99 she replaced it with a ’95 Nissan Pathfinder, then sometime in maybe 05-06 it was replaced with an ’04 Gen2 Toyota Rav4.
My parents never had anything terribly interesting when I was kid that I’d like to have. 82 Chevy Chevette Diesel, 86 Pontiac Sunbird Sedan, 92 Dodge Caravan V6, 2003 Chrysler PT Cruiser. However, there is one that I wouldn’t mind having if I really had the space for it… and if my dad wasn’t STILL dailying it. His 1998 Toyota Tacoma 2.4L manual single cab he bought brand new in 1998. It’s just a proper truck and I’ve always kinda liked driving it. Learned to drive in it and borrowed it many times through the years. I still borrow it to take my used oil to the auto parts store.
And, while it was nothing really special, and I was technically an adult when they got it (but still a kid really), I also kinda woulda liked to kept their old 08 Honda Civic EX Coupe. It was a neat little car. They’ve had 2 Subaru Foresters since then and, yeah. That Civic was 100x more interesting.
My dad’s 2000 Mitsubishi Montero Sport. That thing was a beast. It would have been my first car, but the rust got to it. I am on the lookout for a clean one; it would be nice to drive one again after all these years.
My Mom’s rusty old 911E from my childhood. Or her ’90 Saab 900 Turbo. In-between were a Nissan Sentra and a Nissan Stanza (and I won’t spill the tea on how she ended up with those two turds) – er, no, not so much either of those.
My Dad’s 1967 Ford Galaxy 500 2-door fastback. Best looking Galaxy ever made. White over Red. Also his 1969 Chevy C-10 with a manual transmission. It was brown. And my Mom’s 1965 Buick LeSabre, white over blue. And my 1973 Caprice Classic 2 door sedan, chamois over green.
My parents had an 89 Maxima. I was old enough to drive it while they still had it. Damn that was a good car. That 3 liter V6 was so smooth.
I did my road test in a 1993 Maxima – same generation. And you’re right, it was silky smooth and that 160 hp felt like more than enough at the time.
67’ Dart (in Yurp!), sadly I don’t have any recollection of it, but have heard many stories. So it must be the 504, which followed and which I remember. It was lovely metallic silver (with some beige mixed in), and had a very brown upholstery. And to continue the brown theme, it also rusted.
Grandpa had a 128, it was moss green. I liked the smell. The mix of 70’s hydrocarbons, inside and out. Mmm.
My family also had a 504 and a 128. I remember the 504 fondly. The 128? Not really. It had been repainted orange and I remember the paint job being thick and pretty bad. But we didn’t die in a crash.
I’ll skip all of my Dad’s vehicles that he had (Volvo 740 Turbo Wagon and ’97 40th Anniversary LandCruiser) to instead go for my Mom’s ’93 Base 4cyl manual Ford Probe. Burgundy red with the 3-spoke wheels, it looked so futuristic for the time and I always enjoyed riding in it.
1979 brown cutlass diesel….
The crazy huge plume of exhaust smoke was quite remarkable lol
We always had Mazda’s growing up. My dad brought home a white on blue leather 88 (I think) RX7 one time. Spent a weekend cleaning it up, making it really nice and then he sold it.
Always had fun in the mini-trucks as well. My mom told me the first time I encountered hand crank windows was in a B2200 and I was so confused
“What Car Did A Parent Have When You Were A Kid That You’d Love To Have Now?”
A parent and not necessarily MY parent? Or just my own parents?
I grew up in a working class neighborhood. The parents all seemed to drive cheapish not-special slushbox-equipped American cars. The ones who drove interesting cars were the adult kids of the parents.
If we are talking about my own parents, my dad typically bought cheap beaters with slushboxes. The exception was a 1960s VW Squareback my dad bought new.
I would say that VW would probably be the only car I wouldn’t mind having… but I wouldn’t call it love.
And that’s because I heard stories about that VW and how it was an unreliable POS… starting with the starter shitting the bed after the car was only 2 weeks old.
And after 3 years, the floor was rusted out and my dad had to weld in new floor panels. This car caused my dad to swear off buying VWs apparently.
What about the other cars he had?
-A 1959 Buick he bought used… and the automatic transmission shat the bed a few months after he bought it
-A VW Beetle he had before buying the Squareback… that was a POS because apparently it had been in a collision and poorly repaired
-An early 1970s Ford Custom 2 door with the 302 Windsor V8 and the slushbox
-A 1976 Ford Gran Torino 4 door that was a POS.
-A 1982 Mercury Grand Marquis that was gutless and handled like shit. I know this because I personally drove this car and is a big reason why I don’t revere the Ford Panther cars the way others seem to.
And of all of these, maaaaybe I’d go for the Beetle… but not the one he owned.
Now if we were talking about parents in my neighborhood, one neighbor did have an early Audi 5000s with the manual. And I recall how that car having electrical issues and how parts at times were insanely expensive. I recall this neighbor complaining that a thermostat cost him $80 (while it costing $5 to $10 for the typical American car) and a steering rack cost him $800 (while costing $200 or less for the typical American car).
And this is mid 1980s pricing… which would be like $207 and $2073 in today’s money.
He was probably getting parts from the dealer. But even for dealer-sourced parts, that pricing was insane.
So while the Audi was probably the most interesting, even back then Audis were shit for maintenance and repair.
Nah… the best vehicles are the vehicles we can buy new today. And if you want a manual, the stuff from the last 20 years is way better than the shit my parents or other parents drove when I was growing up.
There are two of my dad’s cars that I would like to have. The 1988 Chrysler LeBaron coupe (for the looks) and the 1978 Corolla SR5 Liftback (for everything else).
Definitely the ’65 Malibu convertible my dad bought brand new—dark blue with a white top. I remember the 283 badges on the sides. He said they picked it over the Mustang because it felt sturdier and wasn’t something you saw everywhere, every day; this was in Detroit. It ended up in the scrapyard in ’71 due to rust. (Michigan) When I was about 4 or 5, I used to play in an old grey car that was a permanent fixture in our garage. Years later, I found out it was a ’57 Renault Dauphine my dad had bought brand new, but it only lasted a couple of years before it wasn’t worth repairing or keeping on the road.
Well, there are quite a few:
– Light blue metallic Murcielago with a tan leather interior. It looked very Miami.
– Ferrari “Daytona” coupé, for obvious reasons.
– Toyota Celsior (think Lexus LS430)
– Triumph TR6
– Aston Martin Vanquish
– Jaguar XKR
Is your dad James Bond?
xD sometimes felt like that when I was wee.
Really just a family with petrol in our veins.
Lots of aircooled VWs
But in particular 1970 Volvo 145 manual
My buddy recently reading bought his first car that he had in high school. He was class of 1997 and had a 1986 Nissan Maxima (see the irony?). A couple years ago he was able to find a low mileage 1986 survivor in excellent shape. Surprisingly, to me, he said it was pretty underwhelming. So, I think, at least in his case, history had rose colored glasses on.
My parents weren’t “car people”, so, none of ’em. They owned a bunch of poverty-spec, dead-boring “family mobiles”.
Gosh my parents have had a quietly bangin taste in cars:
– ~’89 Manual Toyota Pickup w sweet 90s teal and purple graphic on the side
– ‘88 MR2, navy blue
– ‘91 manual Civic sedan, maroon
– ‘09 manual Fit
– ‘12 Acura TSX Wagon, blue
– ‘03 S2000
– ‘22 Mercedes Sprinter Camper Conversion
Not gonna lie, i’d take any of them! S2000 is of course amazing (still has it) and the Pickup and MR2 i’d love to have been old enough to drive.
Does a P51 Mustang count? My dad refurbished one back in the 80’s and then sold it without ever taking me for a ride. Egregious.
My dad drove a series of Subaru station wagons, and my mom drove a Subaru station wagon, then a 2nd Gen Honda Odyssey, and then a Ford Escape.
So, none of them. Except now I do own the Escape, so…
Even the stuff they had before I was born was all pretty sad. My dad drove…subaru station wagons… then a Cutlass, and then back to Subaru station wagons. My mom had a series of automotive great hits: A malaise Impala (not bad!), a Ford Grenada (bad), and then… A Chevette.
I grew up in a Fiat 128. Utter pile. Do not want.
I wouldn’t mind having the XR3i that we had later. We loaned it to some guy for his drive home. He flipped it and completely flattened it, and he had the gall to complain we hadn’t returned the jacket he’d left in it.