Car enthusiasts are emotional creatures. Sure, we love to talk spec sheets non-stop, but at the end of the day, we still buy cars largely based on emotion. I am one of the worst at this. I have something like 23 vehicles in total, and let’s be honest here, I don’t even need 22 of them. I could get by with a single Smart as my only transportation, just as I did only 9 years ago. All of the extras are owned purely because of how they make me feel. So, cars can have a lot of emotional power. Which car left the greatest impact on you emotionally?
Now, I could take the easy way out here and start talking about my fleet of six Smart Fortwos. The Fortwo was my teenage dream car, alongside the Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI, first-generation Audi TT, and first-generation Audi R8 V10. Sure, my first Smart was only $16,200, but that was a huge deal for me. I was a “glass half-empty” type who couldn’t even see a year into the future. That car was proof that I can make dreams come true.
But I’ve now told that Smart story maybe a dozen times. This time, I want to talk about a car that hit me particularly hard recently. That car was the Lotus Emira.
Yes, I know, being in love with a high-dollar sports car isn’t particularly original. But for me, it’s different than that. If you’re a longtime reader, you know I am a champion of tiny cars, big cars, weird cars, old cars, pickup trucks, commercial vehicles, and basically any vehicle with an engine that’s not necessarily a car. Sports cars and supercars are typically far outside of my purview.
Then, last October, Matt Hardigree tossed me the key to a Lotus Emira while I was in Los Angeles for the wicked Galpin car show. I wasn’t even supposed to drive this car, as it was a loaner originally destined for Thomas, but he was sick and wasn’t present. My ride was the company’s self-accelerating Pontiac Aztek. I think I had the Emira for barely over 24 hours, and it was the ride of a lifetime.
This car was an emotional rush. Here I was, the big truck, tiny car, and train chick commanding a car with greater handling prowess than anything I had ever driven before. There are journalists out there who do drive McLarens, Lamborghinis, and Aston Martins with surprising regularity. I’m not that person, and I’m not sure I’d even want to be. But this Emira was a taste of that dream I had when my biggest goal in life was just getting a driver’s license.
That Emira wasn’t just a brilliant driving machine, but it was a mood booster and one of the high points of my life as an enthusiast thus far. I felt like a million bucks and I further understood why some guys will buy a new Chevrolet Corvette or Porsche 911 and treat it as gently as they would a newborn. This wasn’t so much showing off for other people, but like when you play a classic video game at home and hit a new “personal best” score. So, yeah, if I ever run into $100,000 of free money, I’d probably head to my Lotus dealership.
How about you? What car hit you the hardest emotionally?
Top graphic image: Mercedes Streeter
Probably my ’13 Fiat 500 Abarth. First car I ever bought brand new, kept 7 years and the most fun of all so far (about 10-15 to compare, the new GR-C might rival it).
It’s also the first and only car I’ve ever done a track day in. Hitting north of 100mph on the front straight of Putnam Park in IN and only limited by more courage (no instructor that time). Damn. A couple Mid Ohio trips were also amazing.
Our two daily drivers are a GMC Sierra single cab with the 4.8 … and a 2013 Abarth. And we love the Abarth. For ten years it’s been our around town and cross-country car. People spend heaps more for VW Gti’s and I haven’t a clue why. If you ranked a car by it’s fun per dollar ratio, I don’t think any car on the used market would come close.
The factory exhaust alone is worth the price of admission.
Not exactly an original response, but I have to agree that it was the Miata. I owned fun cars before my first Miata (an NB w/the factory sports package) including a Mark 1 GTI and a ’60 Stingray convertible with the 427 engine in it (7 MPG ftw!). But in terms of driving something that actually makes you feel good without asking too much (money/effort/time) in return, the Miata takes the cake in my finite personal experience. My current one is a NA with a hardtop and it’s far from perfect conditionwise, but boy, it’s always enjoyable and something of an event when driven. 🙂
I fell in love with the Miata when it was first released in 1989. It took me 25 years to actually get one, because Life.
Two and half months later I got rear ended in it, and it spent the next six in the body shop awaiting the right parts.
Ten years on, and I’m lucky to get 1,000 miles a year in it, with residual issues from that accident having a lot to do with it (deteriorating clutch knee). Still love the car, but it’s physically painful to drive.
Sadly, that car is a pretty accurate a metaphor for my life.
Having been a car freak since I was a toddler I have always had my eyes open for cars that I would see out in the wild. Hence, I saw my share of Ferrari’s and Lotuses and kit cars (it was the 70s and kit cars like the Stirling or Bradleys were considered just as legitimate as anything else – well, in kid eyes). Then one day when I was 12 I was riding my bike and I came across something that just made me stop and stare as its dimensions were just so ostentatious. I was stunned and speechless and just stared at it and walked in circles around it in a zen state from looking at something almost perfect. It was a Lamborghini Espada and it shook me to my core for some reason.
I was fortunate to grow up on the Monterey Bay in a small town next to Santa Cruz and right over the “hill” from what was becoming Silicon Valley and seeing exotics that were being driven as daily drivers was normal. Ferrari Daytona with the euro lights parked in a open garage of a simple condo? Sure, guy drove it to the store and work everyday. No big deal. I was also living down the street from Bruce Canepa’s dealership and in the late 70s and early 80s, everything came through there. Lots of grey market inventory… The only other car to shake me like that was a Bizzarini 5300 GT Strada and to this day it is still the most beautiful car in the world (another daily driver).
Now, the freedom that my first car, a Triumph GT6+ gave me still makes my face hurt from smiling way too big. That is one car that was a PITA but I would love to have it back more than any other of the cars I have owned or driven.
There have been many cars over the years, most of them sports cars or sports sedans. But when I read this headline, the car that popped into my mind was the E32 BMW 750iL.
It was my freshman year of collage, and it belonged to my girlfriends dad. Her car was in the shop so he loaned it to her, which was kind of like loaning it to me. Although I had already racked up thousands of miles in a variety of cars, the 750iL was so smooth & refined, beautifully made, and effortlessly fast – it was the first time I truly understood just how good a car could be, and why expensive sedans existed.
My grandfather left me his ’88 XJ when he died. He bought it when I was born.
It was my first car, and I crashed it 3 years later on my way home from college one day. I sat on the side of the highway, feeling like I killed the last part of him.
So that was probably the car that hit me the hardest, emotionally.
I think most cars cause me to emote, and I’ve driven quite a number over the years, in addition to the ones I’ve owned. However one that I can say had a huge impact on me was when I was visiting family in Southern CA, we visited one of their family friends, the late father was an entrepreneur who did well, well enough to have 3 SLR McLaren Mercedes, among pretty much the whole rest of the 2009 era Mercedes Benz lineup in his collection. His wife took me out for a drive in the SLR roadster, which was going to be good enough for me, but then she pulled over, and told me to switch places with her and drive it for myself, she even said I wasn’t hitting the gas hard enough. The memory of driving an SLR with the top down, rolling through the hills of Torrance, with the soundtrack of a mechanical beast will stick with me forever. That euphoric experience definitely elevated the desire I have for something special like that. Of course they’re far too expensive for me, but the R171 SLK55 AMG is starting to come around in price so I’ll probably chase the dream with one of those.
My VW Golf.
It wasn’t a sports car, but it did everything I asked of it.
Tow motorcycles, carry over-sized home reno stuff, transport bulk soil in the back, go on long family trips with the kids & dogs, move large furniture hanging out the back hatch, carry kayaks on the roof, go for weekend backroad-carving whilst I went flipping through the gears like I though I was a hero, and the countless commutes day-in & day-out.
My first car. My grandfather bought it new in the 1970s and it trained four cousins to drive a clutch; my dad bought it from his dad and the car became my first taste of automotive freedom.
One day I hope to have a big enough property to buy one again and store it responsibly, along with the 80-series Land Cruiser we never should have sold (still kicking myself for that).
Had a 97 mustang gt my senior year of high school and in college. A lot of emotions were hashed out in that car. This was all about 25 years ago. Still wish I had that car.
Hmmmm, good question.
I can’t really remember what it was like to have any emotions other than rage or absolute despair.
Some of us have had vehicles provide those emotions in addition to getting them from…*gestures to everything*
Probably my late father’s 1988 LTD Country Squire, with the 351. After he dies, it was a way to be connected to him — to hold onto something that I had lost. It smelled terrible, had lots of issues and had a high idle that would cause it to accelerate at a pretty good rate of speed, but I loved it. I liked to walk into the garage at his house (I used it as a vacation property) and know it was there.
But then life blessed us with a son of our own, partly named for my dad (my dad’s name was Estonian, so we used it as my son’s middle name). Suddenly it wasn’t quite so important to hold on to the past. I finally decided to let that car go because I had a wonderful future to grasp.
I never regretted that decision. And when I dream of my dad, it’s always around the 1972 Ford Ranch Wagon police equipment vehicle he bought when I was three.
I would have to say the 1972 Ford F100 that knocked me down in a crosswalk. I was pretty emotional following that impact.
I think it would be my current JKU that I bought new after wanting a wrangler for 20 years to finally get my own. I have had it for 13 years 175K, driven it all over the western states. It works for all of my hobbies. I love it.
My 78 rabbit was my college car with all those fond memories.
My ex 84 escort wagon I still hate after 34 years of it being out of my life.
In a “I want to own this so bad my heart hearts” sort of way: Polestar 6 Roadster
For pure joy: Citroen AMI
Damn I forgot the Citroen SM. A person I knew tangentially had one in Milwaukee in 1969. WTF. Is may as well have been a spaceship and I still want it
Also, the first time I saw a Ford Falcon in the wild, a ’63 convertible, I was driving down a busy street. I stared for so long I nearly had a wreck.
My 2005 Land Rover LR3. It was the first model year of an entirely new platform for Land Rover, including new mechanicals (Jag V8, ZF 6 speed) and Ford electronics. Everything that could break did break. Never left me stranded, but it taught me a lot about cars in general, doing my own maintenance and repair. And also led to my first experience with offroading, car clubs, etc.
Car that I have owned: 1986 BMW 325e- it was old when I owned it, but was just so FUN. Miss that car all the time.
Car I haven’t owned: MG TD. My grandfather had a replica one and it brings back fond memories.
When I first got to experience the finest car ever manufactured, the moment was life changing.
It was an unassuming machine. Just a car, I thought. It looked typical, run-of-the-mill, ordinary.
Starting it up was like any other vehicle. A turn of the key and the engine came to life without bravado.
But moving the gear selector lever into drive, I knew something wasn’t normal. This was no ordinary transmission. Pressing the accelerator, the car moved forward with ease, smoothness, I waited for the transmission to move on to the next fixed gear ratio I’d been accustomed to expect, but it never happened. It simply kept on going, smoothly, delivering the perfect amount of power I needed.
From that point, I knew I’d found the peak of automotive excellence. This level of engineering was unparalleled by any other vehicle advancement made since the automobile’s inception. It was simply unlike anything else.
That enlightening experience changed me, mentally, spiritually, and physically. I’ve been able to find my inner Xtronic, and become one of the continuously variable examples of efficiency, smoothness, and automotive luxury.
Thank you, 2007 Nissan Altima.
Seen on TV: Jaguar D-Type
Seen in person: Lotus Elise
Seen on internet: Opel Eco Speedster
Driven: Mazda Miata NA with V8 swap
It would be the ’94 Grand Cherokee Limited my dad had. It was the car that my dad would let me drive around on the two-track roads that led to and around our cabin in Maryland when I was 10-11 years old. We would be listening to The New Christy Minstrels on tape and he would work the gas/brake while I steered. My mom hated when he let me do it but it’s one of the best memories I have with him.
If we’re limited to real cars, it’s the 911. It was the car above cars for me since I was three, and it still does something for me that no other car does. I’m fortunate to have owned one for ten years now.
If we’re not limited to real cars, then it is Suzie the Little Blue Coupe. I first saw it when I was about two or three and I still get verklempt when I watch it.
My uncle had a 911 in the 1980s, and a ride in it as a young kid gave me a lot of the enthusiasm I have today.
I’ve been able to drive a fair amount of higher performance and more luxurious cars than this one, but the 2014 Lexus GS AWD F-sport we had as a loaner for a week messed me up. I woke up in the middle of the night stressed and sweaty because I was sleeping when I could be on the road in that car. Reminded me of an earlier time waking up next to the partner of the moment wondering why we were squandering precious bed time sleeping. I got up at 3AM on a work night and went out for a drive.
Pontiac Fiero, but not in a good way. Bought one to try to make into a RallyCross car (budget Steratto build). Someone was running a Mr2, and I thought having Mr.F would be great.
Blew the engine. Spent way too much time and money trying to get it right. Made a ton of mistakes (rebuild rather than swap) and never got it right.
Left me enotionally drained and feeling like a failure. I sold it for very little because I couldn’t drive it without fearing what was going wrong.
I still refer to my first car as my first true love. I miss it a hell of a lot more than I do my first girlfriend that I was with around that same time. I’ve still got posters and models of it and my heart still stops every time I see one at C&C or in the occasional shitbox showdown. Whenever one comes up on BaT my friends always fwd it to me. I’d love to have one again but the parts are unobtainium now and those cars constantly need new parts.