What Started Your Car Love?

[AlexSmith]

Just curious. When I was younger (about 4-6) I was always into large 18-wheelers LOL. My mom actually has pictures of me sleeping with small model trucks and such. I guess it was due to my uncle being a truck driver. I didn't get back into it until towards the end of my high school years when I was at a Hobby Lobby and passed by the model cars section. I picked up a 2002 Trans Am and was never able to put it together. So then I went to get one that was already put together and found a Corvette at 1:18 scale. That sparked my curiosity which grew into my passion today. Luckily I have a 1:1 scale Corvette.

-Alex

[Blake]

My uncle had a modified RX7 back in the day that I used to salivate over when I was still riding training wheels. He would take me on rides whenever I'd do over to his house and I'd always proclaim "faster! faster!" I suppose the rest is history. Onward in life, I worked for a Chevy dealership when I was 16-17, I got to drive a lot of different cars, including Vettes, bull**** with mechanics, and learn about technical aspects (although I'm far from a car genius). That experience made me obsessed with cars from then on.

Now, my first introduction to BMW M was a buddy that had an E39 M5 in high school. He would let me drive it and that pretty much fully developed my lust of M cars. Now that I own one, I'll probably always have some sort of M car in the driveway from here on out. I love these BMW's and stand behind them 100%.

Fast forward to today, I do a lot of things that involve cars. I love going to various local g2g's, car shows, and have made a lot of good friends around that one common passion we all share - cars :D

[Rob1796]

Started off with my grandfather. When I was young, like four or five, he would let me help (jack up and lower) the three MG-Bs he was alwasy working on. Even let me drive them around in the field behind his house. Taught me how everything in them worked.

After that, we had a close family friend who had a nice Prelude with some bolt ons who was the total bachelor type (even had a water bed). Used to always take me out (used me to hit on women, lol) once we moved back from the Middle East, and would drive the PISS outa that thing.

The first real, solid memory I have about any one specific type of car is an E36 M3 coupe. My dad was looking at a 7er at the time (I think I was 8 or 9), and I remember very clearly a Dakar Yellow M3 at Moritz. I climbed into it, and remember sitting in the seat thinking that the seats HAD to have come from a fighter jet or the space ship. I just sat there, turning the wheel and making all the fast car noises. The sales guy was real cool too, explaining to me the history of M cars and what made an M an M. I was more interested in finding the button that turned it into the space ship the seats came from, but it was still cool to be nine years old, screwing with an M3 in the dealership, and not getting yelled at. Ever since that moment, I've been like Blake. The M3 has been my dream car, and I will own several one day. Hopefully sooner rather than later!

The final nail in the coffin came when I was 16 and still in high school. I just got my first car, and my best friend and I just haaaaad to go see this way awesome super cool movie: The Fast and The Furious. Say what you will, that movie was what really finally got me into cars the way I am now.

[AlexSmith]

The F&TF was a great movie, lame and technically challenged as it is, I can quote the entire movie. I will also be seeing the newest one next weekend! Maybe we can schedule a meet to offset all the teenie boppers that will be roaming about in their mufflered and altezza-ed Civics.

-Alex

[rberg32]

I think for me, it was watching the 1st Smokey and the Bandit movie.. I watched that movie again a couple months ago and man, that trans-am is the sh*t! But I really didn't go head over heels on cars until I could actually afford a nice one.. but as much as I loved cars then, I didn't become obsessed with cars until I made that one little trip to MSR and drove my car on the track. Once that happened.. as they say.. "all bets were off" Honestly, it would have been easier and a lot less expensive to start a nice black tar heroin habit..

[Silentrun]

I had the biggest hotwheels and matchbox car set when I was a kid...just couldn't get enough cars...got it from my Dad.

[JackG]

My Dad was a mechanic so I grew up around some pretty cool cars in his shop. He was always trading for something cool and in the early 60's he traded for a '56 Porsche 356. I was in love with it and it made such an impression I knew someday I would have one. He didn't keep it long when he found out how much it would cost to replace the engine. Unfortunately, I didn't inherit his ability to fix things; just to drive and love 'em. He died long before I was able to afford to own some cool cars and get into racing. It would have been neat to have him in my pit at places like Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring; but, who knows....maybe he was there.

Jack

[RaceMX-M3]

I think for me, it was watching the 1st Smokey and the Bandit movie.. I watched that movie again a couple months ago and man, that trans-am is the sh*t! But I really didn't go head over heels on cars until I could actually afford a nice one.. but as much as I loved cars then, I didn't become obsessed with cars until I made that one little trip to MSR and drove my car on the track. Once that happened.. as they say.. "all bets were off" Honestly, it would have been easier and a lot less expensive to start a nice black tar heroin habit..

+1 Smokey and the Bandit FTW. :thumbsup2: I watched that movie 50 times in a row when it came out and my mom used to drop me off at Henry Butts so I could go sit in the Trans Am's and pretend to drive the car for hours on end.

[Crash]

My dads first car was a '69 Vette so growing up I'd always here stories about it and that peaked my interest in cars. Then I fell in love with muscle cars, the sounds, the style, the speed. Also my parents first date was in the back of a 1967 Shelby GT500, so that story is what introduced me to Shelby Mustangs.

[Carlos]

All started when I was like 4 or 5 and my dad let me sit on the console of his mustang gt and shift gears as he drove. He also built street rods and belonged to a car club. I grew up around guys who spent all their free time turning junkers into works of art. For the most part, all these guys did their own work in their backyard garage, and if you needed skills you didn't posses, the club had mechanics, upholsters, bodymen, painters, you name it. We participated in meets, all kinds of runs, parades, and car shows (from the local malls to huge ones in convention centers).

[LanceFitzgiben]

+1 to the Dakar Yellow E36 M3.. I saw one in Huntington beach CA for about 5 seconds and it sounded so sweet... Remember that like it was yesterday. Really though, my older brother was on a car kick back when we were younger and I guess I picked up where he left off.. then my neighbor was a BMW guy, I got my parents to buy a couple of bimmers.. then I got an E30 M3.. a Dinan Z3 2.8, drove a 3 ser. wagon for a while, and now the E39 M..

[ccompton]

I gotta give props to: Smokey and the Bandit (good one RaceMX-M3), but I also really dug/digged? the crazy james bond aston martin (from the way-back machine archives I know)

[m topls]

My dad was always very interested in cars his whole life, so I picked it all up from him while I was growing up. When he brought home a brand new 320i in 1978 and then was caretaker of a 79 M1 a few years later, it was all downhill from there for me. I was hooked!! We did all sorts of car club events and car shows together. I actually wrote an article about it that was published in the August 1998 Roundel magazine (BMW CCA national magazine) called "Fantasy Fulfillment . . . With a Little Help from the Motorsport Division." It talked about how my dad was the reason for my car interests and also about my 87 M6 concours winner.

--Karen

[Airbag79]

Cannonball Run got it started with me, after that it was learning to spell Lamborghini.

[boba]

Well like so many here it was my dad that got me started.

In '55 he bought a new Dodge with a Red Ram Hemi, we took that car to Germany for 3 years and added a VW on the way home to Ft. Ord in Calif.

This is where the real damage was done. Laguna Seca was actually built on Ft Ord and my dad took me out there on weekends, and that is where I was infected with the Road Racing Virus.

I still carry the that bug.:D

It was reinforced a few years later when he bought an MG, which is the car I learned to drive in.

Then came Road Atlanta in the early seventies as a spectator which lead, getting involved in building a Porsche for SCCA DP.

[TiptronicSoldier]

Been playing with hot wheels since birth!

[John LMBZ06]

Sometime around 1970 growing up in my neighborhood, there was a 1966 Sunbeam Tiger a couple of doors down. It was modified with a roll bar and loud exhaust system. The guy raced it through the neighborhood and it pissed all the parents off. This was his daily driver. Every night around 5:30 he would come home and you could hear that little V8 rumble. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen. I would love to have that car right now.

[Raven]

http://i382.photobucket.com/albums/oo268/rlpiii/Lamborghini.jpg

[Airbag79]

Thats car I am talking about! Had the Trapper Keeper, lunchbox and calendar

[AlexSmith]

I can't believe you just said Trapper Keeper!! Wow, that takes me WAYY back.

-Alex

[Raven]

Thats car I am talking about! Had the Trapper Keeper, lunchbox and calendar

I still have the framed poster somewhere. . .

[Red Baron]

My dad owning an MG model MGA. :thumbsup2:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MG_MGA

[Raven]

A few more I found on my computer the other day:

http://i382.photobucket.com/albums/oo268/rlpiii/1996LamborghiniDiabloSE30Jota.jpg
http://i382.photobucket.com/albums/oo268/rlpiii/LamborghiniCala.jpg
http://i382.photobucket.com/albums/oo268/rlpiii/whtdiab.jpg

[imaj]

For me it was (Strangely enough) helping my dad wash his car every Saturday morning and changing the oil. I remember my folks coming home in an Olsmobile 442 with swivel seats. That left an indelible mark. Then my dad found a great deal on a 701/2 Z28. He gave it to me for my 16 birthday and I spent hours working on the car.

My uncle owned a body shop and I was fascinated with the cars he had in his shop.

[Michael-Dallas]

I was never into cars until my senior year of HS when I moved to Plano and saw my first Z32 (1990-1996) 300ZX. It caught my eye and for a while, I didn't even know it was a Nissan. All I knew was that I had to get one (along w/ an Acura NSX, another car that caught my eye).

When I finally got one, all I wanted to do was drive and enjoy it. Since I couldn't do that during work hours, I did the next best thing: using company resources, I found twinturbo.com, the first automotive message board for the Z (this was back in 96). At that point, I read and learned that you could modify your car for more power. I didn't know you could do that so I went through the mods phase, but only did basic bolt-ons, ECU/intake/exhaust.

And the rest, as the saying goes, is history. A few more Z's and a couple of M3's later, I keep my cars close to stock since I've noticed that I go through cars fairly often and there's always someone faster than you.

///Michael

[Red Baron]

And the rest, as the saying goes, is history. A few more Z's and a couple of M3's later, I keep my cars close to stock since I've noticed that I go through cars fairly often and there's always someone faster than you.
///Michael

Yeah, me. :D :laugh: :beer: :burnout:

[AlexSmith]

Sorry, can't do stock.

-Alex

[DallasM5]

started watching transformers back in the day, then i finally got some hot wheel cars. the first one i got was a countach in the toothpaste box.

i guess it just built from there.

[mikem]

A certain red E36 was all it took for me.