Your dad's car

[Eff-1]

New season of Top Gear did a segment on this. It's really good.

They say the most memorable car in your life isn't the car you first bought, or the car you learned to drive on. It's your dad's car.

My dad's car was a 1985 VW Jetta GL Wolfsburg ed. It was his first new car he bought in Canada. 5 speed manual and I was always so mesmerized by the shifting and the clutch and how he always knew when to shift.

He took such good care of it. While he'd wash it, I'd sit in the driver's seat and pretend I was driving. I dreamed of the day I get to drive it in real life. He traded it in in 1991 for a minivan. I almost want to go buy a mint condition Jetta now just for the opportunity to drive it (and I'd let him drive it too).

The part that I could never understand was it only had one turn signal indicator on the dashboard, not a separate 'left' and 'right' one. I could never understand how my dad knew the correct signal was on when making a turn

[BIC_BAWS]

I like this. My dad didn't have a cool car nor did I make any car memories with him. Being from HK, he can drive stick - he learned to drive with a stick. I'm still waiting for the day that he's actually willing to drive one of my stick-shift BMWs LOL. He's mentioned his dream car was an old Alfa, idk which one, but I'd like to believe that it was red. So that's why he bought a shitty red Pontiac Grand Am 2.4L twin cam sedan.

I think the only car memory I had with him is the magic of car marketing. His co-workers thought it was a cool car cause it was red, had a spoiler, and had twin-cam decals LOLOLOL

I'll buy him a red Alfa Romeo one day, if I can figure out which one LOL. And maybe he'll finally get rid of that bronze metallic Pontiac Montana and stop complaining about how bad it is on gas / slow it is. I can't believe that POS still runs. Someone find me a 6SP Pontiac G8 GXP, I think that'll do. Pontiac seems to be his brand.

I hope to have kids one day, for them to talk about their dad's shitty BMWs and the great memories.

[TopsyCrett]

It's not even father's day yet, but I like this !

The reason I am into Hondas today, and spent years trying to find the perfect CB7 was because of my Dad's. I wish we never got rid of it. It was supposed to be my first car, but it had around 330,000 KM and my dad decided to give it to a family that had just moved here from the Philippines. Around that time, Ronaldtype-R was parting out his Accord, and I was ready to build it up similarly.

I know it is nothing special, but the most enticing thing to me as a kid driving around with my Dad in this Accord was the sound the F22A6 made when the butterfly valves opened up. It wasn't VTEC or anything, but I remember always asking my dad to punch it to hear the sound. I obviously did not know what these things were at the time. Just sounded cool.

That family continued to drive it for another 3-4 years, and when Skunkworks had a few extra Carfaxs we found out it had been recycled (the family traded it in for an Explorer). I wish I could buy it back. That Accord never skipped a beat until it's death in 2015.



If anyone has a Charcoal Grey 90-91 Sedan, please let me know ! I plan on finding one exactly like his because my 92-93 just isn't quite the same.

Edit: Hey Tofu can you spot your old EF Si in the back of the top photo ? Lol

[twitchyzero]

probably the only worthwhile car we had

Spoiler!

i remember the salesman laughing at him for putting carboard over the passenger floormat

[PDKGD3]

I couldn't find any old photos cause photobucket nuked my account, but the best memories I had of a family car was a black '97 Golf GTi, Silver OZ Monte Carlo wheels, stupid low, and a fat DTM exhaust. Had a couple civics and an accord before then.

Man... I could hear that thing from a mile away and knew when to get off the TV and go to bed, I always wonder where that thing went. Traded onto Subaru in '04. Havent seen it since.

[68style]

My dad worked at Hewlett Packard most of his life, he didn't drive a personal car, but every year when he got a new company car he would let us pick the colour, so we always picked the worst one possible -- one year we made him drive a whole year in a colour changing purple Taurus with eggplant coloured interior.

My dad did have a personal car though, it was a 1974 Capri that he bought new from the dealership... I became aware of it when he brought it in from my Grandma's farm to Richmond to our house and parked it in the driveway where it only moved once that I could remember in 25 years which was a pretty vivid memory because my dad drove us in it to the hospital to visit my mom when she had cancer and was living at the hospital and I didn't understand why because I was too young (she beat it by the way)... but I remember how it sounded that sound manuals make when they're in reverse and stuff... the smell of the car...

Unfortunately it sat for 25 years rusting into the driveway until one day some guy came to the door who had been walking by and asked my dad if he could buy it for $500 and my dad said he'd think about it... he told me he was going to call the guy to sell it and get rid of it, but I ended up giving my dad $500 to keep it and I spent the next 3 years on and off restoring it. It's in my parents garage now with collector plates on it... nobody drives it... I restored it for my dad but I guess he's not that interested in it anymore and just likes the creature comforts of his SUV... that said, I know he still likes to see it and look at it sometimes so I'm glad I did it. I also want to take over it one day myself and look forward to drive it one day, especially since you never see them on the road ever.

This was after I finished restoring it:

[mr00jimbo]

In the early 90's, my dad had a new Accord sedan (1991 comes to mind), I believe it was an EX-L with wood trim and leather. This was back when gold plating your Honda badges was in vogue too. This car felt like a Rolls inside with the leather.

In the late 90's, my parents upgraded from Hondas to bigger American cars. Y'see, my dad always loathed the idea of owning another V8. He talked about how bad they were on fuel and if I ever bought a V8, I'd be crying every time I filled it up. I remember being told (this was in the 90's too) it costs about 20 dollars for a V8 car to go from Kitsilano into downtown. As a kid who never bought gas before, that scared me!

So what did he buy instead? A big V6 supercharged Buick coupe. Late 90s, blue car with blue leather! Individual climate control for the passenger felt like The Jetsons.
And because my dad has a very heavy foot, that supercharger would always whine. Anywhere we'd go he'd step on it and you'd hear the supercharger go EEEEEEEEEEEEE.
I truly believe that off the line, that car could still dust a lot of cars today.

Now closer to retirement he traded for 4 cyl turbo German cars. With his heavy foot, his 4 cyl turbos burn as much gas as my V8! The irony.

[Great68]

My dad had a Capri RS Turbo that he bought new from the dealership:



I was pretty young, but I remember him getting pulled over a few times...

Apparently that car was an unreliable shitbox and my parents sold it after only a couple years.

Then he had a late 70's Monte Carlo, and a '79 GMC Camper Special:



The truck was probably the vehicle he held on to the longest, basically throughout my childhood until I turned 16 and learned to drive on it. I loved this truck and if I could find a clean example to build today I would.

Then he gave up on camping & boating, sold the truck and got himself a lowered & moded Astro Van:



Now he's retired and going through a mid-life crisis and got himself a 2013 FX4 Ecoboost that he heavily moded making 390HP at the tires:

[68style]

Originally Posted by Great68

My dad had a Capri RS Turbo that he bought new from the dealership:

How weird is it that we both have 68 Mustangs, similar user names and our dad's both bought Mercury Capri's new from the dealership as their first car?

[Great68]

Originally Posted by 68style

How weird is it that we both have 68 Mustangs, similar user names and our dad's both bought Mercury Capri's new from the dealership as their first car?

I know! And we both grew up in Richmond :P

[hud 91gt]

Dads car he always talked about was a ‘72 Cuda. Sold it when he and my mom built a house.

Dads car I always remember was a ‘90 5.0 (must have been practically new now that I think about it) pulling his 16’ speedboat. Will always remember the day he did a burnout at a traffic light with the boat on the back. Then I realize he was probably 5 years younger then I am now. Haha

[EvoFire]

I grew up in HK and we really didn't need a car. Taxi and MTR solved almost all our transportation needs.

We've had minivans the whole time we were in Canada so nothing special. We had 3 vans before my dad got his first "car", a used 1993 Camry in 2003, which I eventually got.

I didn't realize what a "rare" colour combo it was until much later because I just haven't seen the same combo ever since. V6 Dark emerald green with grey leather. Haven't seen another one since.

I miss that car even though it needed a lot of work. I think it only matters because I learned how to drive on it, and it was my "first" car.

Originally Posted by 68style

How weird is it that we both have 68 Mustangs, similar user names and our dad's both bought Mercury Capri's new from the dealership as their first car?

Originally Posted by Great68

I know! And we both grew up in Richmond :P

So you guys continue to try and mess with my head

[JDMDreams]

My mom's first car, 95 Black Civic Sedan, Ex trim, with optional Honda alloys



If anyone had a rust free one for sale let me know.

[wing_woo]

1988 Honda Accord EX. My dad got rid of his Malibu cause he knew that I liked Hondas and got that so that I would drive it one day.

It was very nice and I loved it. Black with tan interior. The only thing I wished was that it was 5 spd. He used to drive manual when he drove delivery trucks but then just wanted to relax when driving family cars so that's why he switched to just getting automatics.

[rb]

My dad bought an Oldsmobile Omega in 1975 brand new for around $1200. Recently found the original dealer invoice from Dueck on Marine while still cleaning out his things. Took him a few years to save up for it after arriving in Canada with only $10 in his pocket. He apparently haggled the price on the car and had about $200 to spare and bought a Seiko watch even though a Rolex was around the same price. Regardless of his choices, both items got me into watches and cars.

Looked identical to this minus the wheels.

[sonick]

Great thread idea!

Story of my dad's car starts in 1990 when we emigrated from Hong Kong. My dad was amazed by the the amount of 'car' you can get for the price, and as such, when we landed he quickly purchased a top of the line 1990 Pontiac Grand Prix STE. 3.1l V6 putting out 140hp.

Fully loaded with leather bucket seats with thigh and lumbar support adjustment, power everything, sunroof, Onboard Computer. It was his pride and joy:



At 5 years old, I was amazed by the dash cluster and the steering wheel that was full of buttons and an OBC. It was like a spaceship:



The onboard computer was amazing in its time:

YouTube

It was the car I learned to drive on and learned to wrench on. I still can't believe how my dad trusted a 20 year old kid with nothing but a Chilton manual borrowed from the library to overhaul the brakes on it.

My dad drove it to the ground and scrapped it about 5 years ago.

Ironically at the same time he bought a brand new base model red automatic EF Honda Civic for my mom and sold it a few years later when we upgraded to a minivan. It was garage kept, barely driven. Wish we would've kept the civic instead as it would've been worth way more than the Pontiac.

[CorneringArtist]

My dad went through a bunch of cars when I was growing up, I remember him owning a Cavalier and Cadillac Deville. The last one he had before he was kicked out of the house for being a dickhead was a white Toyota pek yau van.

[SumAznGuy]

My dad came to Canada from HK back in the late 60's so I don't know much about the cars he had as a teenager/early 20's but I do have pictures of me when I was 2/3 years old and his 1978 TransAm with the famous hawk on the hood. I remember him telling us stories of his run-ins with the VPD for speeding. Guess the apple doesn't fall to far from the tree.

I do remember, growing up, that 2 of stock honeycomb wheels were in our back yard.

Sadly, he sold the car in 1980.

[bcrdukes]

I recall my dad's very first car when we came to Canada was a Toyota Corona liftback Luxury Edition. We had that car for a while and then he bought a Subaru Legacy which I thought was really cool because it was "fast" back in the day and I remember how he would row through the gears and that kind of got me interested in cars because no other kid on the block had a car that was manual.

He sold that and got a bunch of Toyota LE Vans that kept getting stolen over and over until he got sick of it and landed with a few Toyota Cressida's that would end up with two Revscene members (the third one went to a relative.) After that, it was a Toyota Sienna and a Lexus RX300 which he's had for almost a decade now.

Growing up, he never cared too much about cars in general but he was in the automotive industry having seen all kinds of cars. For the most part, he hates cars. For him, it was always about reliability and keeping the lowest cost of ownership and only ever saw cars as a means of transportation, so no cool stories on his part.

I recall the most memorable part of growing up was my dad taking us up to Grouse Mountain where there was some kind of show and shine for Porsches, Ferraris, Lambos, Alfa Romeos, and oddly enough, old school American classics. I remember seeing the Guards Red Porsche 911 Turbo and the rest is history.

[Liquid_o2]

My dad wasn't a big car guy when I was growing up. I'm not sure where I got the car bug growing up. His first car after immigrating to Canada was a 1984 Dodge Diplomat. Not my picture, but I think it was this champagne colour.


He drove that thing for a long time! Until 1998 when he got a Sunfire. It was ok, he only kept it for a few years.

Now he is driving a 2019 Elantra GT N Line. A lot more tech than he has ever had in another car. All the drivers assist items are needed since he is in his 70's haha. It feels faster than my Civic SI

Edit: I pondered some more about my post and realized my timeline was wrong! The Sunfire was a 2000 model year. His second car, and the one that probably has the most memories for me was a 1997 Chevrolet Venture. He drove it for four years. At the time, I remember it was really cool as the body style was super modern. And the amount of space it had was huge! He was doing a ton of engineering work in the Shuswap area like Salmon Arm, Sicamous, etc. and he would take the Venture up the Coquihalla a couple times a month. He would bring me along a few times during summer break and I remember he would always play 60's and 70's oldies rock while driving the Coquihalla. He drove the highway so much he knew exactly when the tunnels would be which amazed my teenage self. Now, when my wife and I go on road trips to the Okanagan, I usually play that sort of music as well. I don't think I realized why I play that music until now. Revscene is therapeutic!

[ijaz_97]

1991 Lexus LS400. This thing was like riding on a cloud. My dad handed it down to me as my first car.

[Eff-1]

Originally Posted by 68style

... but I remember how it sounded that sound manuals make when they're in reverse and stuff...

OMG yes. Wow all these feels flooding back.

[Euro7r]

My dad daily beater for like 20 years since I was born (He drove it to the ground). Literally spent more to fix this damn POS than what it was worth whenever shit needed repairs. Could never understand why....

I drove this thing to highschool and my friends all wanted free rides home from school LOL. Nowadays kids get BMWs as their first car

1991 Toyota Tercel

[jaretron]

My Dad had a number of rad cars including a 40 series Landcruiser with a small block Chevy swapped into it (circa 1980), and a 69 Roadrunner with a built engine, I wish I had pictures of them. The one I remember most was his Saab 900 Turbo. I remember him going through the gears and my head being forced back into the seat with each shift. He used to tell me that Saab made jets and that's why his car sounded like a jet, lol.
He had a custom Harley shop for about 20 years and that's where I spent a good deal of my time working on my cars. He used to shake his head at me and asked why I liked Hondas. My sister ended up gifting her super clean lowered EF Si to him and I can still remember hearing the intake noise down the block as he banged through gears. He ended up loving Hondas and "got it" just as I started getting into BMWs, which resulted in another head shake. Anyway, great thread idea, I lost my Dad to ALS almost 4 years ago, we were super close, and one of the main things that brought us together was cars and working on them together.

[Eff-1]

^ I TOTALLY remember that Dinosaurs things at Science World. My dad took me too! After I begged and pleaded for months haha.