I’m dating myself here, but I graduated from high school in the brief period of hope between surviving Y2K and before the towers fell. Having been raised on American car mags, German car toys, and Japanese car racing video games, my understanding of the greater world of cars was already strong. Fittingly, my tastes were on the eclectic end of the spectrum.
My girlfriend’s dad autocrossed a C5 Corvette Z06 in yellow with the FRC, which is now my all-time favorite Corvette. I wonder what that means? While America offered up a number of interesting performance cars, The Fast and the Furious was soon to ignite the slow gas-line leak of interesting cars from abroad making their way into my consciousness.
The answer to this question may not be exactly the answer I’d have given upon receipt of my diploma, but at no time in my life would I ever be unhappy with my current choice of an FD RX-7. In particular, the English market version. My online pal Joana Fidalgo from The Intercooler has one and I can’t help but gawk at it every time she posts about it on Instagram. It is one of the most perfect silhouettes to ever come out of Japan, and the high frequency staccato yelp of its rotary engine gives it a soundtrack rivaled by few.
What about you? What was the coolest car from the year you finally nabbed your sheepskin?
Let’s see. For me, it was 1985 so there was plenty of peak Malaise to go around, although the auto industry in the US was beginning to wake up to what the imports had to offer.
Toyota had the MR2 and the A60 Supra. Nissan had the Z31-series 300ZX.
Volkswagen had the Mk2 GTI.
Ford was importing the Sierra as the Merkur XR4ti.
Domestically, we had the 3rd-gen Camaro/Firebird from GM, along with the Fiero now sporting a V6 option. The C4 Corvette had only been available since a year before. And of course Buick had the Grand National on tap. Ford had the Fox body mustang in SVO and GT 5.0 trims.
Meanwhile, the Testarossa and the Countach were vying for space in poster form on bedroom walls everywhere.
1996 Viper GTS. Blue with white stripes of course. While the McLaren F1 existed (the greatest car ever made) the GTS came out in 96 and it was the coolest car by far.
This is a cool way to see the age of readers and I’m kind of shocked how big of a chunk Boomers and Gen X represent on this site, I always associate it with millennials since all the writers seem to be. 2005 here and my first car was a Mitsubishi Mirage so given that and 2F2F it was the Lancer Evo for me.
Feel very young out here. Not much gen Z representation.
911, Cayman, Viper, Z4, R8, S2000, SLR McLaren, RX8
You can probably guess my graduation year now…
I graduated High School in 1969. The coolest car that year was a Datsun 240Z, released in October as a 1970 model. I could not afford one new that year but did purchase a lightly used 1972 several years later. Wish I still had that car.
That’s very cool. I assumed most people were into peak muscle cars around that time. Being into a Datsun had to be an alternative group.
Thanks for your comment. I grew up in northern NJ, just outside of NYC. Cars from Datsun, Toyota and in particular VW were just as common as muscle cars from Detroit’s big three in that area and time. Many of my friends were into foreign cars back then, though some were running American made muscle and non muscle cars. I guess I caught the foreign car bug from my Dad, who owned a Mk1 Austin Healey 3000 throughout my high school days. About 15 years later during my working career, I had moved to FL and many coworkers were originally from midwestern and southern states. Discussions with them led me to believe that foreign cars were not very common in their areas at all around 1970, and were much more common on the east and west coast. Rethinking the coolest cars from 1969, I’d still want the 240Z, but would have to add the Boss 302 Mustang and the Z/28 Camaro to my list of coolest cars that year. My Dad took a position as comptroller for a large Porsche dealership in 1971. He would bring home a 911 once in a while, so I had the pleasure of driving them on occasion but in no way could I afford one.
In the early 90s, it was small, lifted trucks. Like McFly after Biff is a complete tool.
Probably the 1971 Hemi ‘Cuda, with the Corvette and the Buick Riviera in the running, along with the SS El Camino.
1978 Lamborghini Countach LP400 S
(yes, I’m old as dirt)
Can’t be the only one who cared so little about highschool that I actually had to think back real hard to remember the year??
1998 Pontiac Firebird 4th Gen refresh. Work of art.
1995: Impala SS
(mic drop)
When I graduated from high school in 1987, the coolest car in the high school parking lot was my 1948 Plymouth two-door sedan. Admittedly, the sample size of my polling was just one person.
Outside of my own weirdo antique car obsession, many people might have picked the red Fiero driven by Kelly, one of the hot chicks. Thankfully it never burst into flame.
Then there was the kid with the used hearse, who decorated with signs like “Used coffins for sale.” None of us admitted it, but he was super cool.
There wasn’t a cool new car in 09 when I graduated.
The M3 was pretty cool
False, here are some 2009-MY cars that are cool as hell…
…not to mention the cars that came out in 2009, but were 2010-MY cars like the Camaro and LFA.
Alfa 8C for the win. So Fing pretty.
One of the very few cars to look better as an open top rather than hardtop.
The original Audi Quattro
Ferrari F40. Saw one up close and in person my senior year and still remember that day!
I was thinking (1991) Ferrari F40 as well. I love the 911s from that era too.
Shoot, you beat me by a year! Same as the 780 Volvo Bertone. I like to play grumpy old man but not as old as I feel, off the top of my head guess I’ll go Subaru XT/6. Didn’t give a darn about new cars at the time, coolest car in the school parking lot is a whole other bunch of stories ..
Porsche 911 GT1 Straßenversion
Nismo 400R
I graduated 1977 in the suburbs of Detroit. That pretty much eliminated any imports. Your choices were down to GM’s Camaro/Firebird siblings or the Mustang II. With the malaise era firmly in force, our choices were not good.
a 1977 Firebird, or even Camaro is loads more appealing than the Mustang-II
Absolute dog shit year for cars, but the Countach would be the winner.
Renault Clio V6, maybe.
Phase I or II?
Take your pick, don’t want to dox myself that precisely.
1972 Ford Mustang Sportsroof (Flat Back). Exotic car looks but attainable to the average consumer.
Hmmm….for 1986 VW GTI or, conversely, 1986 Subaru XT.
Gumpert Apollo!
As fast as it was ugly.
No Gumpert Apollo slander will be tolerated
1972 GTX 440+6. Last year with the cool wrap-around bumper without the rubber guards. Air grabber hood scoop, strobe stripes across roof and down the sides. Best colors ever.
When I was 16, I worked at a fast food place and our assistant manager was really cool, and had a brand new 1970 GTX with the 440. It was metallic blue and a convertible! He let me drive it about 4 or 5 blocks to the Sunoco station, where you could select the octane, and had me put the highest rating in. It was an automatic, and as it was winter, the choke was on for some of the ride, so I had to ride the brake to keep from going over the town speed limit. That was an awesome, but brief drive. Of course, at the time, gas was around 0.33 cents a gallon at the cheap stations.
Sunoco 260. Power to use, not abuse.
1982 for me. The DeLorean or Supra.
You know what wasn’t? The 1982 Mercury Lynx that my future mother in law Endora (not her real name, but could be. If you know, you know) bought for my future wife Samantha (also not her real name). Endora went to the local dealership and asked for the cheapest new car that they sold. It was dark red with dark red vinyl seats and no AC, in Arkansas. It had a 4 speed manual, which neither Endora nor Samantha knew how to drive. Teaching her almost broke us up. In 1988, my then wife was driving it when the timing belt broke. The garage gave us $250 for the scrap value.
Class of 1988 here. There can be only one… Ferrari F40.
Well hell I just dq’d myself from that one because I thought that was ’87. I’m such a noob, now they’ll never let me into the owners club.
Came out in ’87 but still in production in ’88. Your owner’s club status is secure!
I graduated in 1994 and while it was only a ’92 and ’93 model, a friend of mine had a GMC Typhoon back when SUVs simply didn’t do what it did. That thing has remained a cool car to me.
If I have to pick 1994 specifically, it’s hard to ever argue with a Corvette or the Nissan 300ZX twin turbo.
I graduated in 1995, and you are correct. The Typhoon was absolutely the thing to have. Still is, IMHO.
If I had to pick something from 1995, a Volvo 850 R would be nice. Or maybe an Impala SS.
I too am ’94 and struggled to think of anything. I looked it up and…it’s the year Ferrari ruined the Testarossa, does that count? No, no it doesn’t.