Whoo hoo, the holiday season is upon us! Or, if you prefer, “Welp, the holiday season is upon us.” If you’re more of a welp, let me guess: all that gift-giving is stressful. Even if you’re bucks-up enough that paying for all the loot isn’t an issue, there’s still of ton of psychic weight one must shoulder when it comes to choosing the right gifts, perfect presents that will say “I love and I get you,” as opposed to “Everyone needs socks” or “I picked up this Visa Gift Card on the way.”
It always helps if the gift-getter is loud and proud about a hobby or interest, and I’m sure we can all attest as car people that we have opened many a gift to the refrain of, “I got it because you like cars.”
“Aw, thanks!” you say, as you peel the paper off a clock with a gear for a face and wrench hands, or a hefty coffee-table tome full of color pictures and scant text with titles like Classic Muscle Cars or Exotic Supercars. I kid, but honestly, I enjoy flipping through those books, and it’s nice to have a clock in the garage, so thank you. (See also: it’s the thought that counts.)
On the other hand, sometimes you get – or even better, give – the perfect car-lover gift, and that’s what I’m Autopian Asking about today. Funnily enough, very often (in my experience, anyway) the bestest gifts aren’t even very expensive. I noticed dealer promo models of the Dodge Stealth were cheap on Ebay, so I gifted one to Huge Stealth Fan Stephen Walter Gossin, and he was absolutely over the moon. It was ten bucks, I think? Twenty, tops. I’ve been thrilled to get vintage car brochures and hood ornaments that couldn’t have cost more than a few bucks myself.
Of course, I must mention the sure-fire gift every car person will love getting, and that’s an Autopian Membership. With tiers from Cloth all the way up to Rich Corinthian Leather, there’s a Membership for every fan of four wheels in your family or friend circle. And remember to treat yourself! Click here or on the graphic to join or gift a membership today.
Your turn:
What’s The Best Car Gift You’ve Given Or Received?
Top graphic images: Domestic Sewmachines; Summit Racing
I’d love some nice socks!
https://darntough.com/products/mens-steely-boot-sock-5-pack
My sister gave me some nice mr. Bibendum socks from the Michelin Museum last year.
I gave my younger brother my first car, a ’68 Datsun 510 wagon after I bought a used Peugeot 504 and then my grandfather’s ’74 Oldsmobile Toronado I inherited after he passed. He (my brother) was in need of transportation both times. And the Pug was all I needed.
I don’t believe I have ever received an automotive gift. Not even a 10 mm socket. Lol. My father (RIP) did impart a lot of troubleshooting skills that served me well over both halves of my career. Neither of which involved cars. But the basics he gave me were very helpful.
Easy, parents sent me to Model T driving school at NAAAM for my birthday last year. Hopefully I get the vintage car class this year.
You should send Mecedes to that, so many cool planes there, and you can take vintage plane rides, too. She could fly herself in from PDX.
What is NAAAM? A Google search was pretty confusing.
Ack! Sorry , WAAAM, Western Aeroplane and Automobile Museum in Hood River OR. Also a slight music nerd so I think I NAMMd it in a brain salad.
I live in Tacoma, so that might be a fun and doable weekend trip. If you haven’t made the trip up north to the Museum of Flight at Boeing field just south of Seattle, you should.
Thanks, same for a trip to McMinville if we’re going down the aeronautic rabbit hole. I used to think I wanted to be an astronaut until I saw what it was like in a Gemini capsule. People complain about fitting in an MG, ha!
I’m 6’2″ and my son’s mother is 5’10” and we told our son as he was growing up, he was going to pretty tall. He topped out at 5’11” and was bummed out. I tried to tell him he was lucky in that there were cars that he could fit in that I couldn’t and that flights in coach would be less miserable. He’s okay with it now.
I did get to go into a Space Shuttle training module in Houston and obviously there’s more space inside of that than a Gemini, Mercury or Apollo capsule. NASA should have been recruiting jockeys back then. 😉
An air freshener with my dog’s face on it.
Lame? No, I sincerely doubt any other “car” gift would be useful/correct.
I think knowing the person you’re gifting well enough that you can’t predict or understand what a good car gift would be is far better than gifting stupid ones.
When I was a sophmore in college and started learning to work on cars, my mom bought me this 3-ton Craftsman floor jack and jack stands. That was 23 years ago and I still have them/use them, albeit less and less as I get older.
Nope, can’t say I’ve ever gotten any “best” gifts that I didn’t have to buy myself.
Probably for my first car in 1985, my mom said I could have either a radar detector or CB radio. Traveling around in the Navy, I figured CB first – I could use that for speed traps OR asking for help/chit chat to pass the time. It was kinda cool, I’ve thought about one lately.
Got the old Cobra radar detector later, along with my 2nd car, ’84 Camaro. I still preferred the CB.
I was a sponsored drift competitor for a few years, and I bought the guy who ran the company an old E30 325i to say thanks. He loved it, but that wasn’t the whole thing. I’d had the diff welded up, and had arranged with our local track to swap the car for track time (the car was an MOT failure I’d paid £100 for, so this was a great deal). It started out with some demo laps, then some tuition, then two days of drifting before the radiator exploded.
I think he still has the hood from that car painted in company colours.
It was 1992. I was in high school. I had a rough day. It was Valentine’s Day and I was as awkward as they come in high school. When I got home from school, there was a bright red 1990 Mustang GT in the driveway with a bow on the window and a note from my father to be responsible with it.
In hindsight, I wasn’t responsible enough with it, but it was definitely the best automotive gift ever. My father and I bonded through our love of cars and he loved to do random surprises like this. It wasn’t about spoiling me, by the way. He was a firm believer that my sisters and I needed reliable transportation before we went to college.
We just bought a car for my wife’s best friend. 2007 Camry, since you’re dying to know. Never been hugged so much in my life.
Somewhere around 2094-2005, the ex-wife gave me a ticket to the AutoWeek Desigber Forum. Scheduled during press days at the Detroit Auto Show, I ended up meeting Carrol Shelby during breakfast, had a cocktail in the afternoon with Ralph Gilles, and got a guided tour of the Auto a show with Frank Stephenson. It was epic.
And yet she’s the ex. 🙁
“I picked up this Visa Gift Card on the way.”
Great, so its value can evaporate through fees, expiration dates AND inflation.
Pro tip kids, just give CASH! It’s the one true universal gift certificate.
I started doing track days in 1990. After a couple events, I tried to get my Dad to come with me. He was in his 50’s at the time and kept making excuses. So Christmas of 1992 I called his bluff and got him a gift certificate to attend. In 1993 we went to our first track day together, and he was instantly hooked. After his first session he said to me in the paddock, “this is the best Christmas present anyone has ever gotten me.”
That event kicked of 30 straight years of us doing dozens of track days together. He’s 86 now, and finances being what they are anyway we weren’t able to go this year or last. But that 30 years brought us so many memories and great times together.
The only thing that comes to mine is a set of rear subframe bushings for my 85 300ZX. That’s it.
My mother, in her 80s now, owns a Mustang convertible, an S197 (the retro one) that reminds her of being a teenager when the Mustang first appeared on the scene. She adores it, but mentioned she doesn’t put the top down sometimes because it would mess up her hair.
So I found the coolest thing – a Mustang headscarf, ala what women used to wear in 60s convertibles.
Ford did a collaboration with a wild horse preservation group and as part of it, produced some swag including this shockingly tasteful scarf. As in, no, it doesn’t have the Mustang emblem or Ford ovals all over it, more of a pastel thing, but it is an OEM product with a Ford label.
It made her so happy, and it resides in her pony’s (as she calls it) glove compartment now.
I had an aunt who bought a V8 Camaro of some vintage and was driving it around in the late 70s and wore surfer sunglasses. Around Pasadena, CA. RIP, Betty.
The original Coco Mats make a great present!
In 1997, shortly after I purchased my 1995 Eclipse GS-T, my mom decided to outdo me by buying a 1997 Del Sol VTEC with 3,000 miles on it. She absolutely loved it.
In 2013, my mom succumbed to glioblastoma, a particularly nasty form of brain cancer. As my dad and I worked thru her estate, I was gifted her Sol, then with a whopping 36k miles on it. It’s been my summer car ever since (now with ~75k miles), and despite all of its shortcomings, I still balk every time I start to seriously think about selling it/trading it for something newer/shinier.
Sorry to hear about your mom. Glioblastoma is evil.