My first automobile was a 1955 Ford 2 door, 3 on the column. That was in 1966. Took it to Irwindale to race. Both my friend, who brought his '58 Ford 2 door, and I lost. But shit howdy was it ever fun as hell!
I’ve never owned a motor (shouldn’t it really be engine?!) vehicle with an automatic transmission. Mrs. mota owns a Chevy Bolt (which she loves!), but I don’t drive the dang thing. That “transmission” has me looking every whichaway for how to go in the particular direction I want to go in. Amazingly, I feel safer with the Mrs. driving. (Don’t you tell her I said that! )
My wife scares the shit out of me! One of these drivers who sees cars breaking up ahead and just keeps going and then brakes hard when she gets there. Wears the brakes out fast and my nerves. Lol
I also prefer manual transmission
Okay, truth be told, for me it’s Mrs. mota needing to have another vehicle in front of her seemingly no matter what. There may be vehicle free lanes on either or both sides of the vehicle we’re following far too close, but she sees no advantage to being able to see farther than its rear end. The Bolt is pretty low slung, so no matter what, we’re likely not seeing what’s going ahead of the fucking box truck with one tail light out that has just slammed on it’s breaks! Not complaining, simply observing.
Oldest car I ever had was a Triumph TR6, when I graduated high school my then-estranged father gave it to me along with a nice ounce of “indoor hydro”, which was a pretty damn big deal back then early 2000s - felt like a rap star. I took a train about 500miles there, expecting to take the train back. Had a fun drive back instead!
Gotta say tho, objectively, car fuckin sucked! shit power shit brakes shit steering. Later in life I had an old Jeep, also sucked.
Been spoiled with modern Japanese automobiles. I don’t know how y’all enjoy these old things. Drove a late 60s eight cylinder fastback mustang - also sucked!!!
For speed or joy I’ll always take a motorcycle (Harley, SuperSport, Dual Sport, never had a bike I didn’t love riding), for comfort I’ll always take a “boring” modern Japanese ride. They steer good, they brake good, they all easily do 100mph…good enough for me! I’d take a daggon 1990 5spd four cylinder Accord Sedan ahead of a ‘classic’ American or European car.
This sounds very familiar. She says well I’ve never had an accident. I say if we do we probably wont survive. Especially on the highway.
Or I might have a heart attack.
Had a TR6 myself. Felt fast with the top down and being low to the ground. Car was a chick magnet.
Also just by fluke the first part of my plate # was 007. Cool factor.
hi all well not quite antique at 28yrs old during the first covid lockdown i bought a volvo 850 wagon 2.5ltr manual 5 speed 5 cyl engine,petrol of course,love it she goes faster than it has any right too and is a pleasure to work on,paintwork is her worst thing severe paint cancer,but i have a cunning plan this spring and hope to diy respray it.
hard for me though as i have only one good working hand! this is her when i first bought it on spec from an ebay seller,have done lots of catch up work and she flew through the mot with better emissions than an average new car,not bad with nearly 200k on the clock,
@PhilCuisine nice stable of Buicks over the years man. I had a 73 Buick Centurion about a decade ago. Through and unfortunate series of circumstances my landlord at the time stole my car and I wasn’t in a position to pursue that shit.
Also bought around the same time a 2 door 1973 Electra roller. Was planning to swap the motor/trans from the centurion into the roller and have something really nice. Due to circumstances I never set up for the roller to be delivered.
Amen brother!! I loved my Yamaha V Star 1100 for it’s calm reliable ride. I’ve had a few Harleys and I loved the riding experience just not the constant maintenance. Here’s my son on mine many years ago.
I own a 2009 Mini Cooper.
It feels like an antique these days.
Nothing works right anymore, and I always wonder if today is the last day it will start.
I doubt anyone would call these classic yet, but I had a couple interesting cars from the early 90s when I owned cars. My favorite, for absolute fun shitbox daily driving, was a 1992 Volkswagen Fox from Brazil:
Not mine, but the same color and model before mine got faded by the Texas sun, I bought it from someone who moved and drove it to the Northeast, parked it, and then sold it. That thing was a damn go-kart, it comes stock with 80HP, with the exhaust restrictor delete and good gas + plugs I probably got around 100HP @ 2300lb curb weight, and your butt is about a foot off the ground in the driver’s seat on those 13" wheels. I had all-terrains for the summer dirt roads and studs in the winter, no functional door locks, AC, or radio, everything went into the trunk when you parked, and it had been modded with a new larger lock cylinder and steel guarding plates for some reason. I miss that car, the only electronic thing on it besides the lights and the little chip that played a MIDI “La Cucaracha” when you started it up was the first gen Bosch fuel injection system. Manual steering and independent suspension on a little FWD car made for a very fun driving experience on backroads!
@Dirt_Wizard that’s super cool. Was that thing a completely independent model that isn’t available here or was it just renamed for what ever market it was sold in?
@Indicana_Jones It’s the first generation Gol platform, I believe, a modified version of the Audi 80. It was sold in the US but didn’t do great since people buy VWs to get a German car not a Brazilian one. That said, it’s an fun and durable old platform that people are really into tuning in Latin America, like the first gen GTI Rabbits are here for some folks.
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