When Did You Realize You Were A Car Enthusiast?

"MtrRider Just Wants Doritos" (MtrRider) 09/23/2013 at 00:47 • Filed to: None

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What made you love cars? When did it 'click' that they were not just a way to get around, and that other people didn't care about them as much as you did?

Burrito de EJ25 > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 00:54

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This is like asking someone when they realized they were gay.

I was born this way, brother.

beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 00:57

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June, 1993, age 6. on a sunday. I had a choice of playing on the rocket ship or playing on the race cars at the park.

Coty > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 00:58

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Wonder if that could be shoe horned into a W126.

PRBot II > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 01:07

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I always had a mild love for cars from the beginning. In the early to mid 90's, I played with a tiny little toy Viper. Looked just like this one:

Yeah, I could have just pointed to my avatar, but whatever.

Then, the real love began. It was a two-stage process.

Part One: Back in '98, my best friend had:

Need For Speed III: Hot Pursuit

An older brother with a Dodge Stealth R/T

Part Two: I discovered BBC Top Gear, and then eventually Jalopnik. Now I'm modifying my latest Saab, which I hadn't ever considered in my history of driving them. It's all over for me now. There's no turning back.

Lets Just Drive > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 01:20

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Fifteen years old.

Some back-story; my father wasn't in the picture and my mother wasn't into cars the way men are more prone to be (unintentional sexism, but please understand) though she always had cool cars as far back as I can remember. When she got knocked up, she had a Mustang. I've wondered if maybe ' it ' happened in the same car which would explain my strange love affair with Mustangs. The first car I remember was a rambler. Then, there was a Subaru Justy and then the 1977 Volkswagen Type 2, on which I learned to drive (manual! and power NOTHING!).

It happened when I was about fifteen, I think, that I started to take a real interest in cars. For one, I knew I'd have my license soon and it's amazing how that can change a young man and for two, I wasn't any good with girls. So, while the other guys were chasing skirts, I was plastering my locker with Vipers, NSXes (NSXi?) and Esprits. It helped that my shop teacher, and homeroom, and vice principal was a complete gear head and, as I was straying in life at that age, took enough of an interest in me, by way of my car-tastic binders and such, that I sort of straightened out. He had a VolV8 and, in the summer, he'd bring his reproduction Cobra into class. Not like, parked on the lot, but into shop. I sat and stared at that car for hours, sometimes while in detention.

Sadly, I got off track again, as boys are prone to do without guidance and discipline (which, bless her heart, my mother tried her best at but there are some things a boy simply will not learn, or hear of, from anyone but a man) and it took me some years to get my head back on straight, but it was really me who brought me to the hobby as a teenager about to be unleashed on the roads.

This story explains my love of Mustangs, Type 2's, V8's and really anything that rolls on four wheels with a motor.

Lets Just Drive > PRBot II 09/23/2013 at 01:21

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Mind if I ask your approximate age?

I feel oddly peer grouped with you.

YSI-what can brown do for you > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 01:22

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Makes you wonder how loud the car is when the mufflers are enormous!

Saracen > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 01:30

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It's been with me my whole life. My parents say that I loved cars since I had my first toy car as a toddler.

Supreme Kiwi Zorro > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 01:31

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Car enthusiasm runs in the family in my case. To be age specific... * rubs chin * I'd say I was 3 or 4 when I realised I like cars. Me dad took me off-roading all the time, and me mum gave me a lot of Matchbox cars. I grew up playing a lot of driving games.

I'm still in the process of seducing my husband into liking cars, heh.

MtrRider Just Wants Doritos > Lets Just Drive 09/23/2013 at 01:31

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Wow. That's an amazing story, thanks for sharing it.

PRBot II > Lets Just Drive 09/23/2013 at 01:31

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It's been 30 straight years of not owning a Countach for me.

Lets Just Drive > Burrito de EJ25 09/23/2013 at 01:32

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I don't know that's true.

Often, people discover or embrace their sexual identity later in life if it is outside the local cultural norm. While I tend to agree that a person is born gay, straight or just really, really open-minded I don't personally think there's enough social and scientific evidence to state that sexuality is ingrained at or before birth with empirical confidence.

My mother came out to me as a lesbian when I was in my early tweens, and in the many conversations since she has expressed to me that she doesn't feel that she was born homosexual any more then a caterpillar is born a butterfly. I've heard the same from others who discovered their sexuality later in life, but then I've heard the very opposite from those who were encouraged to embrace their sexuality, whatever it was, at home and in school - socially.

I think, personally, that people use the statement that a person is born gay too liberally without really recognizing the cultural connection, which is to say; an idea of mass acceptance for the betterment of all.

It's a lot like the old mantra of "We're here, we're queer. Get used to it." It's something of an extreme reaction to extremely closed minds and narrow opinions. I say this as, for every LGBT person who wears their sexuality like a flag there are a dozen who don't, who are no more overt in their sexuality then your, please excuse my generalization, "average" straight. I'd never discredit the movement, as the end result is an atmosphere of tolerance, but in the same way that the "We're here" chant forces the discussion so too does acceptance of the idea that a person is born sexually predetermined by genetics or... God?

I wasn't born a car person, but I sure as heck became one. Now I'm out there sticking my head under every hood willing, fiddling with exhausts and... I'll just stop now.

TL;DR: I talk too much.

Lets Just Drive > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 01:33

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I hate the internet because I can't tell if that's sarcasm.

I love the internet because I can chose to believe it's genuine, either way.

Thanks :)

Corey CC97, MAZDA DPI IS STILL BAE JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV VISIT FLORIDA RACING LIVES FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 01:33

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Way back when, maybe when I was 3 or 4, I was just casually playing with hotwheels when my mom gave me a brand new one. It was a purple Ferrari F50 convertible. Never before had I seen a car design quite like the F50's. I fell in love with it. I wanted to find out more about this company called Ferrari, but this was before we had the Internet, so I just played it by ear. Then, when I was 5, we went car shopping. I wandered into the back room of a Volvo dealership, and there were 2 Ferrari F355s. It was the first time I saw a Ferrari. I still remember it. One was bright yellow and the other a silverish blue. Nothing too notable happened until I was 7. That was when I saw my first NASCAR race. The racing wasn't what got me hooked. It was the sound, the sound of those glorious V8s. Once I heard those engines roar, I knew nothing would be cooler than a well-sorted car. And then as a little bonus story, I developed my love of Lancias through Forza 2. Forza 2 was the first time I heard of Lancia. I got a Stratos as a reward car, and I had no idea what it was. I didn't care though, because the Stratos' design was the first design I'd fallen in love with since the F50. I maxed out the car and drove it endlessly. My love of Lancias grew from their.

Well, that's my story.

Lets Just Drive > PRBot II 09/23/2013 at 01:35

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Thirty two years, for me, of still not owning either of my Sixteen-Year-Old dream cars: Viper and NSX.

I knew we'd get along.

By the power of Greyskull! Amiright?

MtrRider Just Wants Doritos > PRBot II 09/23/2013 at 01:35

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NFS 3 Hot Pursuit! I still have that game somewhere.

You're very similar to me.

Hoccy > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 01:37

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I can't remember when, but I think it was the first trip home from the hospital. I knew most car brands when I was 2, and then it just evolved from there.

MtrRider Just Wants Doritos > Lets Just Drive 09/23/2013 at 01:41

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It's genuine.

PRBot II > Lets Just Drive 09/23/2013 at 01:41

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I actually wasn't really into He-Man, I was always a Ninja Turtles kid. Mike and Leo, all the way.

Lets Just Drive > Supreme Kiwi Zorro 09/23/2013 at 01:41

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Shouldn't take much work.

Have you tried using sex? Sex works. Us men, we're like dogs. You wanna teach us a new trick, we need treats.

Good luck!

Lets Just Drive > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 01:45

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Man, you don't know cool until you're a sixteen year old boy living in the 90's driving your Mom's beat up Hippie Van.

I didn't learn to appreciate those years until later in life, and I thank her for them.

The Subaru Loyale (yeah, look it up) she traded the VW in for seemed like a trade up. It wasn't. It really, really wasn't. But, at least it turned over, ran well and had a wagon.

Lets Just Drive > PRBot II 09/23/2013 at 01:47

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TMNT, GI Joe... that shit was my bag, man. Transformers?

I tell you, these kids today don't get marketing like we do. We were the generation of inventing products and half hour long commercials to sell them.

I had to be about 20 or older when my mom found the last few toys hiding in the bottoms of boxes. I wish, do I ever, that I were less of a boy when it came to my toys because when I took my GI Joes out to play war... Shit Got Real.

Supreme Kiwi Zorro > Lets Just Drive 09/23/2013 at 01:54

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Oi, I'm a man too, haha. I've been teaching him about cars, how they work, and basic maintenances. I'm also showing him some wicked cars. My technique is working so far. :)

stuttgartobsessed > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 02:07

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Since birth. For Real. Even before I could talk I'd get all excited about trucks on the freeway. I refused to nap until the garbage truck picked up our trash. I've always been way more interested in cars than anything else. Its weird because no one else in my family is obsessed or even mildly interested in cars, except for one of my cousins but his interest is lightyears behind mine. It's not really surprising that my family doesn't understand why I traded a perfectly good 2004 Chevy Tahoe for a 1977 Alfa Romeo Spyder Veloce. In the PNW. Where it rains. All the time.

TheOnelectronic > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 02:08

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Back when I was somewhere around 4-6, I had an uncle with a Porsche 924 and a heavy foot. That's when it clicked. (I'm guessing. It was a front-engined porsche with pop-up headlights. That's all 6 year-old me remembers)

PRBot II > Lets Just Drive 09/23/2013 at 02:21

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GI Joe a little bit in the late 80's, but that's it. No Transformers for me. I really caught the early 90's ninja bug back then. First TMNT, then I'm taking Judo lessons, then a 4th grade teacher showed me these largly unknownUsagi Yojimbo comics:

Then I'm taking Karate lessons, then my parents did something so incredibly bad-ass they will have my respect forever: at age 11, they bought me a full tang steel samurai sword like this:

I was a lucky kid (except for the fact that they never bought me that Power Wheels I always wanted). So when you talk of Real playing, holy hell I can relate!

Burrito de EJ25 > Lets Just Drive 09/23/2013 at 02:29

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I'm incredibly upset that I can only star your comment once.

Lets Just Drive > Supreme Kiwi Zorro 09/23/2013 at 04:07

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I'm sorry. I shouldn't have assumed.

Lets Just Drive > Burrito de EJ25 09/23/2013 at 04:08

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Thank you. I had a good laugh at that. You're one in a million, Alex.

Supreme Kiwi Zorro > Lets Just Drive 09/23/2013 at 04:24

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Uh... *looks behind me to see if you were talking to someone but no one's there* Why are you apologising?

MitsubiShe > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 05:38

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I don't know really at what specific age, but it feels like I've always been this way. My mom loves fast cars, and made sure I knew how to change a tire, change my oil, basic stuff before I was allowed to even take my driver's test. I was fascinated by how engines work and all the things you can do to make them faster/more powerful/etc.

Then I dated a mechanic-in-training in high school and realized that I liked cars a lot more than I liked him. :) Now that love has grown into computers and all things technical, but cars are still one of my passions. And I'm sure they always will be.

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 06:23

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At my third birthday, my father give me a green, tiny mercedes-benz SL toy and a tiny red countach from my mother.

And since then i love everything car-related.

Gavin S. > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 06:58

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What the frack is that?

James > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:02

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When a group of friends at school were talking about cars. Most wanted cars to impress or to drive like a moron on the streets. I actually wanted to know how they worked, get to know the history and culture behind it all.

1963twostrokesaab > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:03

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The day I was hired by the SAAB Museum.

CAcoalminer > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:06

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When did I realize that I was a car enthusiast? I don't quite remember but family friends claim that some of their earliest memories are of me drawing cars with chalk on the driveway.

What made me love cars? Probably more than anything the fact that they are pieces of art that you can see, hear, touch, smell, and, most importantly, develop genuine feelings for.

When did I realize they were not just a way to get around? Probably when I was taken for a spirited drive around the Texas Hill Country in a 1967 Shelby GT350 at the age of 6.

When did I realize other people didn't care about cars as much as I did? 2nd grade when I tried to talk about the new, at that time, Ferrari F50 and no one knew what it was.

decece > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:08

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I realized when I was having lunch with some friends.

I was talking to this guy about cavitation in shock absorbers and then we looked around... their faces spoke for themselves.

IDriveASaabAndNobodyIsToBlame > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:08

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My parents told me a while back, that the first thing I draw (and you could make some sense out of) was a car. So I'll guess, back then it started.

I was doomed at birth, I guess.

Highbury > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:09

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When i was 4 years old my parents bought me a pair of little 1:18 toy cars. A VW Beetle and Mercedes G-class. Something in me sparked back then, from that point on i've never wanted legos, action figures or anything from that vicinity. Just cars. And believe me when i say that i played the shit out of the ones i had. As a 4 year old you know that there are no boundaries, you can drive everywhere, be it on a vertical or horizontal surface. I even tried fabricating my own "body kits" out of paper and tape, it was my miniscule West Coast Customs garage.

Lloyd-Anthony D Peters > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:11

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My first vehicle. An 89 Honda Civic SI (yea I know it ain't much) but that go cart handling. An engine you can trash. Ungodly reliable. And Easy to work on. this car took me thru college and back. It's the reason I wanted to be a mechanic. And to this day. I still have it. Albeit with a few mods. but I love this car. And always will. Nowadays I'm looking for a new day to day because I work in Chicago. But I will keep the civic. As a fun car.

DaltonColonel > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:13

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It happened when I was a young boy just old enough to read and comprehend. I used to lay on the floor with all the 1996 newspaper car ads while my dad watched the Cowboys play. They would give me those sections of the paper and I would memorize the vehicles and their descriptions. The coolest cars in the rural panhandle of Texas were mustangs and corvettes in the late 90s so I really didn't have much to look up to. But moving to the metroplex changed my perspective significantly. The Dallas Auto Show in 2001 when I moved here had the brand new (at the time) Murcielago. And it blew my mind. Two years later I saw the Ferrari Enzo on display at the same event and had to collect my thoughts again. To this day I'll always have a respect for classics, muscle, exotic, whatever. If it's fast and loud I've got a thing for it. Which is why I own a 2005 Mustang GT today!

Vin > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:17

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When my dad told me that the McLaren F1 model I owned was based on a real car, and not just a Hot Wheels fantasy machine.

Mind was blown.

tapzz > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:17

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For me, it goes so far back that I can't distinguish my own memory from stories my parents told me. They are not car people, so they were a bit bemused by their preverbal offspring constantly wanting to be picked up to see the 'broken car dish'- a place where my mum kept the die cast model cars I'd broken. I was profoundly sad about the Citroën Dyane with the missing wheels and the Opel Rekord with the missing door.

The other indicator that I had an automotive genetic defect was when Volvo took over DAF. Now DAF was easily the un-coolest car imaginable: a goofy underpowered box dearly beloved by grannies for one thing: it had the world's first CVT. Volvo, by contrast, was easily the coolest brand ever, especially since my granddad just bought one of the very first 240 series off the boat.

So when I first saw a Volvo 66, I literally ROFLed about the "DAF that thinks it's a Volvo" (I couldn't read yet, but I did recognise practically all brands, and most models)

Jarrett - [BRZ Boi] > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:17

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Great question. For me, I think it was revving a piece of crap Montana my parents owned. Was doing about 40 km over in an 80 taking a buddy home from a lan party at 3am. After driving other cars, I realized how gutless it was. Lol.

My parents/immediate family also owned some neat new cars, so I wasn't raised on beige. 93 camaro, 04 celica, 06 350z. My mom wants to buy an FRS now because it "looks neat". I'll be in line with her in a couple years, since I just got my Mazda 3 in April :)

Freude am Fahren > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:18

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Sitting in my dad's rundown MGB GT in the back yard "running through the gears" when I was like 5

JakeP8 > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:18

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I think always. The amount of money I made my parents piss away on Hotwheels is somewhere approaching infinite. In a more adult way though, probably when I was around 10 or so when I read a copy of Robb Report with some beautiful cars in it.

ndukyh > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:18

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When me and my brothers wanted every model car on the planet and none of our friends at school gave a shit about that. And we would go to the grocery store with our mom just to look at the back of the car magazines and compare specs. I didn't have the whole "dad who works on cars at home and taught us everything we know" deal so that was the early beginnings of caring about cars

Eggshen2012 > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:18

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When I went with my Dad to pick up our brand new 1954 Packard and the salesman started it up while I was standing near the exhaust pipe and that big straight eight starting burbling. I was 3 years old and that remains my earliest memory.

Yes I am old.

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:19

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I can't remember, I've always been VERY enthusiastic about cars, my mom says one of the first words I said was bil (the norwegian word for car). I "blame" my dad, he's always been a car nut. By the time I was 5 we'd owned 5 different cars, two of them Citroëns (a 2CV and a GSA Break (Estate). He used to and ,still does, go to the Frankfurt Motor Show (as far as I know he's been to every show since 1981). He always brought back brochures, like every single one he could find, wich in turn is the reason I can read German.

As for when I realised not everyone felt the same about cars as me? Must've been when I was five or so when I found out that my best friend did not know what a spark plug was.

Roger C. Carter IV > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:19

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When my Dad and I watched Le Mans together. I remember sitting on his lap as a kid and him telling me "Listen, you can hear the difference in engine sounds. See how much different the Ferrari is to the Porsche? That's the sound of one man vs. another... one countries engineering practice vs. another... and creativity... all wrapped up together."

rent > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:21

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I grew up helping my dad replace simple things on cars he maintained for the family. I probably realized by the time I was about 8 or 9 that I had a different view of cars than my friends as I could identify almost every make/model of common cars on the road, but when it came time for my first car, I was underwhelmed by my fathers decision to "only" allow me to drive an automatic '86 Olds Cutlass Calias.

My parents would never co-sign on a car note for me, they were smart and made me go and get what I wanted. When I bought my SVT Focus, my dad thought I had lost it and that I wouldn't keep the car for more than a year or so. Much to his surprise, all of the hard work he imputed to me through years of maintaining cars stuck and I've had the Focus for 10 years with no plans to get rid of her.

Antti Kautonen > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:21

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It was a revelation to me as a kid that there are people who aren't as enthusiastic about them as I am.

omgapuppy > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:22

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I think I've been one since I was a kid. I've spent countless hours in the garage on my grandparents' farm as a kid. I was always around when any sort of machinery was being repaired, climbed on and around combine harvesters, tractors etc.

At some point I was allowed driving trucks and tractors around the fields. By the time I was 12 or so, I started messing around with mopeds & motorbikes.

Years later when I got my first car and a driving license, I discovered the love for cars has remained the same. I love getting dirty while tinkering with the engine / doing maintenance on weekends.

cluelessk > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:24

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Probably about the tone when NFS Underground came out. So that would of been 2003-04. I would of 11 or 12.

I had been watching Nascar with my Dad since 01 but don't know if I loved cars yet. Interesting fact. First ever Nascar race I watched was the race Dale Sr. passed away.

StewMM > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:28

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When Petter Solberg won the WRC in 2003. I'll always remember watching it live on TV.
I was a fan of cars before that. but that was an influential moment.

Alex87f > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:28

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After realizing that my car tastes completely differ from that of the non-car people I know.

When everyone was saying how great the last Bluemotion polo / golf / whatever is and how good its fuel economy is, I was dreaming of an Alfa 147 GTA, a BRZ or a Boxster. I think that's when I realized something was different!

TheKitten > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:32

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Thats one heck of a hard question MTRRIDER. I think if ill answer that, Gran Turismo :).

elposto > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:34

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Oh well, I think I was born this way really. Mom said my first word was "carro", which is portuguese for car. And since that day, all I ever cared about is cars....

aceaerogt > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:36

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I remember, when my mother took me to buy my first videogame, I picked Juiced because i didnt know what to pick. I ended loving car racing!!

FiveSeries > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:37

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I think I became a true petrolhead from the moment I drove for the first time in my life, because before that, when i was a kid, i never cared about cars actually, i just played GranTurismo or NeedForSpeed, but they were just another game.

AustintheBruiser > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:38

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Probably around the same time my dad took this picture!

Rexter > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:40

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Damnit, you could at least put in a "NSFW" tag. Hard core porn pictures like the one here could get me fired!

M54B30 > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:44

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When my dad put a Car and Driver in the bathroom and I read an article on the then-new Lincoln Blackwood.

Sollon > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:47

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I had just returned from a deployment to Afghanistan in 2009 and was looking for a way to re-connect with my son (about ten months old at the time). On a whim I picked up a Lightning McQueen and The King die cast cars for him to play with as he seemed to like all things Disney/Pixar. I had been a on-again/off-again car buff for several years (had a 78 Corvette while in college), but had mostly come to view cars as a way to get from point A to point B (I had a Prius). My son loved his new cars and we found something we both enjoyed. The connection I made with my son helped ensure my passion has remained “on-again” ever since. I combined my passion with my ride last spring when I traded the Prius in on a 2012 Corvette Grand Sport. My son (and now daughter) are both big fans and always requesting we go out for rides.

dutch123 > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:47

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When I first put my dong in a M3 exhaust back in 1990.

byron_falcon > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:47

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When I started playing the first Gran Turismo, I was about 6 or 7. Loved cars ever since!

I would kill for a vintage BMW > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:51

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When other kids stopped playing with toy cars and sorta' made fun of me because I was continuously buying diecast models. A kid once told me - "Only my brother plays with toy cars, and he's 4. You should move on to real stuff like Yu-Gi-OH". So like age 11-12 I guess?

CalzoneGolem > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:51

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In some degree I was always a Car Enthusiast. I was born and raised a Chevy-man. My dad had a side business building race engines. He had a 55 Chevy that I played in constantly. He traded the 55 for a 49 business coupe that he built into a massive pull truck.

My dad was basically out of the picture from when I was 10 to my late teens. At some point in this time frame my Car Enthusiast became dormant. I didn't even get my license until I was 22.

Jacob Lower > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:52

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First time I went to a rally :D I was 12.

Yaseen Syed > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:53

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Growing up we all loved cars, however, my epiphany came when I started to drive. I grew to appreciate the machinery and how everything worked together. Since then, I have been nuts about cars.

Monsterajr > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:54

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I'm not so sure I ever realized it so much as came to understand that cars were my passion. For as long as I can remember to wit:

-I've been drawing cars since about the age of three

-My first pedal car was a 60's era Lotus GP car

-I always got (when asked) the chance to sit on my dad's lap (I was 6-7 yo) to "drive" his 67' Alfa Giulia Super into the Garage

-when my mom started to learn to drive, I at the age of 10 with the aid of my matchboxes explained to her how to back a car into a space and which way the steering wheel would be turned.

-I always read Dad's Car and Driver and Road and Track cover to cover in a day.

-At the age of 6 I started wrenching on my bicycle, taking it apart AND putting it back together.

-I've made literally dozens and dozens of car models.

-I read only car related stories in HS for my English class that the teacher had to specifically ask that I start reading other types of stories.

-By my early teens I was rebuilding my moped engine and everything else on it and started working on my buddy's ped's too. I'd already been tinkering with the various lawnmowers and tractors we had.

-My first car in 83' was a 76' Capri that I worked on as much as I could.

-When I dropped out of college for a year, Dad said I had to learn a trade so I went and became and Autobody apprentice.

-the following 15 years saw me go through 7 Alfa Romeos, 3 VW's, 2 Audi's, 1 Mercedes, 1 Fiat, 1 volvo 245, 1 Pontiac and 2 motorcycles.

If I'm honest my Mom may have provided that ah ha moment when she recounted a story to me a few years back: On one of the many days I was wrenching on the Capri she asked my Dad to "check" on my work. He responded by saying "He knows far more than me about cars so no, I can't check his work".

This continues through today where I spend waaay too much time on this and just about every other Car site out in the internets.

Yes I am a Car Enthusiast.

ED9man2 > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:54

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Just a natural thing from when I was as young as I can remember.

deekster_caddy > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:55

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I think I was 6 or 7 and it was riding around and playing in my dad's MG. He got me car calendars, lambo posters for my room, stuff like that. They would let me help steer the car sometimes starting around 10... I remember shifting my mom's '80 VW Rabbit (diesel) for her - she would do gas and clutch, and I could steer and shift from the passenger seat! My parents always had at least one cool car around. I asked my dad so many questions about engines and car parts and things, and could spit it all back to him. When I was 14 (2 years before I could get my license) he bought me an old MGB on it's way to the junkyard. He said "If you can get this running by the time you are 16 you can drive it." The head had been off the engine for about 8 years and the cylinders were filled with water. I had it running about 6 months later...

So when did I become an enthusiast? I think I was born this way.

Cooper > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 07:59

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I was around 13 years old, and my father took me to the New York Auto show for the first time. It's where i got to see this.

From that moment on, I knew I was a car guy. Still one of the coolest concepts I've ever seen.

BrohawkObama > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 08:00

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Up until last year, I was never really into cars. Then one of my friends invited me over to his place to watch the 24 hours of Le Mans. I had never heard of it before but I stayed up and watched all 24 hours of the race. I wouldn't really say there's a point where I became a car enthusiast. But from that day on, I started getting more and more into the world of cars.

Old-Busted-Hotness > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 08:01

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Back when economy cars came from Europe.

The Parts Guy > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 08:05

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hm... mercedes clk gtr?

t_s > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 08:07

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'Twas always thus (assumes chest-out pose and far-off stare), since the dawn of time.

31ModelA > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 08:07

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When dad brought home our Model A. My brother had just left for college and I was just getting ready to start my stint as a rebellious teenager, and then..."who wants to work on this car?" He had been eyeing the car - the exact same car - since I was about six, which is sort of astonishing since that was 1988, well before the internet. We were in GA and the car was in FL, and I will absolutely never forget when it pulled up in front of our house on a beat up bright red trailer. The body looked great, it started up, but it wouldn't really run.

That car brought us together and still does to this day. I drove it to school in high school (my reward for working hard helping to restore everything), I picked my wife up for our first date in it, and drove us away from our wedding in it. That car, and the people along the way that helped me with it, are the absolute reason I love cars today.

Battles > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 08:08

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Don't laugh - it was while I was helping my Dad choose between a selection of very ordinary FWD French hatchbacks in 1994. I loved soaking up the infoporn from the glossy brochures, I loved asking dorky questions about the different tyres offered on the different alloy wheel options and I loved the fact that I deduced (from the infoporn) that the Citroen Xantia, Citroen ZX, Peugeot 306 and Peugeot 405 all had the same diesel engine - the legendary XUD.
He was (still is) a real Saab fanatic so we also spent some time in Saab dealers trying to justify spending loads more money on the, by then known to be unreliable, early 900NG but he went for a dark green Citroen Xantia (designed by Bertone, y'know) with the 1.9 XUD turbodiesel in VSX interior trim spec. I learned to drive in it and then drove it for years.

CleverUsername > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 08:08

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I might say at age 8, when I discovered a picture of a Porsche 959 and drew it as best I could on every folder, binder and notebook that I had.

But the real answer is age 20. I liked cars a lot—more than most of my friends in high school—but I really didn't consider myself an enthusiast until I bought my first BMW, a 1969 1600-2. I realized that I loved not only every physical characteristic of that car, but also everything that it meant to drive one daily. When I inevitably got it into fender-benders, I didn't care. My car was no longer about the juvenile quest of looking cool; it was about truly enjoying my car.

Jonathon Klein > YSI-what can brown do for you 09/23/2013 at 08:09

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Because Racecar!

Ed H-B > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 08:10

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When gave up my toy railway set, exclusively for my Scalextric track in the attic of my childhood Army Quarter in Germany, covering the entire footprint of the house.

McSchmalex > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 08:16

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I guess for me it was when I got older and got a better job with more money. Cars didn't appeal to me when I was much younger because I was broke and the thought of owning a nice/interesting car never even seemed possible. Now that I am older and have a better job and disposable income to responsibly spend on a nicer vehicle, the world of options opens up and I acutally am interested in cars now. That is how it started at least, and now I obsess over cars that I have probably no hope of affording ever.

delasarthe > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 08:19

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I can only speak for myself, but it was definitely nurture, not nature, that sparked my interest. My Dad is a closet car enthusiast with a weakness for Morgans (he very proudly has in the garage two, three and four wheeled varieties), so that's what started me.

From his interest, I went off in my own direction, gaining an unhealthy admiration for the engineering in Porsche's of all ages along the way. Now, at 22, I'm yet to own my own car (apart from a short spell with a Fiat Cinqecuento Sportage), but have been to the Nurburgring 24, Le Mans/Le Mans Classic, Goodwood, Donington and had a brilliant time. I've been lucky enough to drive both of my Dad's Morgans, a friend's AM DB7 GT, 996 Turbo S, Boxster S and (for us in England) a completely monstrous Ford F-350 PowerStroke.

James R. > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 08:22

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It was back in 1992, and the Viper is to completely to blame for the slippery slope of empty savings accounts, numerous frustrated nights in the garage, and my love and appreciation of speed and racing!

By the way, I was three when this car came out, and while I can't quite remember what I ate for dinner last night I remember falling in love with this car. Don't own one yet sadly...

CondemnedtoaSlowrolla > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 08:27

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As far as I know, I was born a car enthusiast. My earliest memmory is when my mom was pregnant with my brother, I must'nt even have been 3 yo. I had this big cardboard box full of toy cars (HotWheels, Matchbox and Majorette). My parents would invite friends over, and my dad would take out the boxm randomly pick a car, and ask me what make/model it was and how many cylinders it had. I always had the good answer. His friend couldn't believe it.

Topoftheline89 > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 08:28

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Hmm hard to pin point when i knew but i bet others around me knew. When i was 5 or 6 me and a buddy would stand by the side of the road and give thumbs up to cars we liked. By the time i was 12 or 13 i could name any car on the road from 50 yards. I constantly was car shopping hoping my parents would let me spend my life's savings $1000 or so on a car even thought i couldn't get a license for another 3 or four years. Got my temps the first day i could and my license on my birthday. Have now owned 32 cars already, mostly rwd and 5 speed ones and i am only 23 years old.

signintokinjalol > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 08:29

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When i looked at an MX-5 and said, the fuck is the purpose of this car ?

Seriously though, you start getting separated from the masses once you start liking exhaust notes.

Kugelblitz > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 08:34

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Dad was in Vietnam, so we lived off base in a rented house near my grandmom. My maternal grandfather was a car guy, he died suddenly before I was born a while back. Anyway, I used to sneak into his creepy looking greasy floored garage and poke around all of the oily engine bits and look at the old tools. It was dimly lit, redolent of all the things cars leak and the benches were covered in odd bits of stuff. There was even an old chain fall he used as an engine hoist. I was supposed to stay out of there because of my allergy to wasps and the garage was pretty old and saggy, too. Grandmom caught me in there, and instead of yelling at me, she instead told me about the time she and her friend pulled a motor out of an old Nash one day while the guys were off watching a Colts game downtown. They just kept unbolting stuff until they could hoist the motor free. I thought that was the coolest story ever at 8 years old.
Yesterday I was waxing my car, in my garage, listening to the Ravens on the radio while my son hung out with me and played games on his iPad. Thought of the story. Messing around with cars in a garage just doesn't seem like time wasted to me. Thanks Grandmom.

IDer2 > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 08:36

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When the F40 happened.

TheBoyScout > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 08:36

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This feels a bit like asking - when did you realize you have a penis? Answer - no idea, but once I realized it was there, I loved it.

Monsterajr > stuttgartobsessed 09/23/2013 at 08:40

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You have it bad, real bad. Good news is you are among others similarly afflicted.

Jay > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 08:42

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growing up my dad had a mercedes a 380 SL convertible. i remember since kindergarten i would wake up early to catch him before leaving work so perhaps he could take me to school and i would get to ride in his car. he never drove fast. maybe it was just a cool vehicle, different... beautiful to me. maybe it was because my dad was my hero. and i just wanted to ride in it.

Tim Tom > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 08:42

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Probably when I was still wearing diapers. I have only very few memories about my early age, but one of them is me sitting back in our yellow Skoda 105L with yellow seat upholstery and my dad explaining to me what is the big thing that screws up my view (head rests, not that common in 1986 and definitely not in Czechoslovakia ruled by communists at that time). I remember the proud feeling and for years first thing I was checking in any car was if it had head rests. Then I discovered a huge improvement in comfort - the foldable armrest in backseat. Our Skoda did not have one. The russian cars had it, with their vinyl seats but already at age 4 I knew those cars aren't any good. They probably were better than the Skoda we had. But don't forget, our Skoda had head rests! And belts in back seat! So it was probably as safety goes the Volvo of it's time! But yeah, i think it was the very early age when cars started to fascinate me. My dad fixing the valve timing with a screwdriver and a pile of swear words that me cooled at least for a week once I spread the "knowledge" in kindergarten... and it had engine in the back. And so had the Burrago 1:30 model of 911 I had. So with mat of 4 year old, the Skoda was just like Porsche

Fripp64 > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 08:44

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I'm on of the older folks here, I think...my moment came when I saw the May 1983 issue of Road and Track(I'm pretty sure it was May) and it had an artist's rendering of what the new Nissan 300z would look like...bought that copy at the age of 19 and never looked back! I become a car nut...bought a '78 Alfa Romeo Spider that summer...never looked back.

ICantStandNewJalopnik > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 08:45

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Great question. I was 12 years old. I already knew I loved the weather, but something was about to happen that fateful Sunday that would haunt me and everyone around me for the rest of my life.

My parents said we were going to the Auto Show at the MECCA Arena in Milwaukee. They said this Sunday morning. Well, I had homework to do and didn't want extra time taken out of my day. Homework always haunted me in the back of my mind. I was mad that we were leaving to drive an hour to go to this "auto show."

I actually disliked classic cars so that's what made it even worse. Well, they packed up my little brother and I into our 1991 Lincoln Continental and I pouted the whole way. My parents would try to talk to me and I'd say nothing- like a spoiled brat.

I ended up having an absolute blast at that auto show! It was all the new cars and I collected the manufacturers' bags and brochures. I memorized every car and every stat. I wouldn't stop talking about it and haven't since. Around the same time, I found this show on public television called "Motorweek." Perhaps you've heard of it.

To this day, I think about cars a lot of the day, every day. That was the auto show that changed my life. I still memorize many of the stats of many of the new cars. It's like an unhealthy obsession that I LOVE! Thank god for cars. They're not just a transportation device. They're a lifestyle!

Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 08:46

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I realized it when my friends shitty corolla gts needed work, I wanted to work on it more then him. He said he was a car guy but the car was in poor shape, needed an oil change, motor mounts, oil pan gasket, had oil all over the spark plugs, all the tall tell signs of a car that simply wasnt cared for. I was the one always saying, hey, lets go work on your car today.

TractionControlOff > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 08:48

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I'd say when I picked up my then-new PS2 as a kid, my first game was GT3. My first sports car on that game was an admiral blue 1996 Corvette Grand Sport. It must have had an influence on me, because my first sports car in "real life" is an admiral blue 1994 6-speed 'Vette.

David Hume > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos 09/23/2013 at 08:48

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Maybe starting at 3 or 4 and then again at 22. My Dad collected prewar antique cars, and at about the age when little boys notice these things (3 or 4), I realized that the Model T and the Studebaker we had were just the coolest things ever. From then onward, I learned what a clutch is, how a trembler coil works, what "bearings" are all the way to how to shift an un-syncronized manual gearbox (and drive a car with a reverse pedal!) Then, in high school and college, I played sports and still loved cars, but from more of a distance.

Somewhere around 20 years later, just out of college, I ponied up $400 and bought a 1987 Saab 900S 4 door sedan - white, sunroof, dying gearbox, seized caliper. Apart from changing oil and plugs and other tune-up type stuff, I'd never really wrenched on a car. Within 6 months, I'd accumulated a shitload of metric tools from the used tool store, a Bentley book and started by rebuilding all 4 calipers. One year later, I'd pulled the gearbox (out the bottom, like a fool) and rebuilt a manual transmission. The hook was set, and set deep, both for cars in general, and for that generation of Saab, in particular. That car eventually met an end befitting a car that spent the early part of its life on Cape Cod - the rear shock mounts rusted into powder. But a 1983 900 Turbo and a 1990 Turbo convertible took its place and while no longer daily drivers serve to ensure that I get my monthly recommended allowance of grease under my nails.