Childhood memories of cars

"Ryan A." (rba) 01/02/2015 at 10:40 • Filed to: None

1

12

A recent discussion led to trying to remember the name of place that was a knock-off of Chuck-E-Cheese in the city where I grew up. I easily recalled that it was called Playland because that was the first journey I had taken in my dad's friend's brand-new (first generation) Honda Odyssey.

As a 5-year-old Honda fan, I remember absolutely nothing about Playland; I was far more interested in the EX-trimmed, four-door minivan. It wasn't as cool as a CRX, the NSX, or the Del Sol (which I unsuccessfully tried to get my dad to buy), but it had an "H" on the badge.

What childhood memories have you still have thanks to a car?

Photo source: a 1999 Honda Odyssey, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . The car mentioned in the article was a 1994 model.

Nibby > Ryan A. 01/02/2015 at 10:46

0

Many road trips to upstate, Buffalo, Canada, etc. done in this when I was growing up.

WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe > Ryan A. 01/02/2015 at 10:47

0

I remember seeing a Sassy Grass Green Hemi 'Cuda when I was 10 or younger. It just drove by, and it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. This was back in the 90s. I still see it sometimes. It reminds me of how my car love got started.

My citroen won't start > Ryan A. 01/02/2015 at 10:50

0

So many road trips and seats that turn around.

It was quite expensive here at the time, mom was happy.

Party-vi > Ryan A. 01/02/2015 at 10:52

2

Brown Ford Taurus. What an absolute shitbox. I still remember the nasty smell of the interior and the groaning noise it made while driving.

claramag, Mustaco Master > Party-vi 01/02/2015 at 11:00

1

My parents loved these cars so much they both bought one.

That's right, we were a family of two shit box tauruses, and neither one was an SHO. For shame

JerseyJoey > Party-vi 01/02/2015 at 11:02

1

I've got a lot of childhood memories of cars, but a couple that stand out from when I was a wee little one: Parent's Buick Riveria (I was intrigued with the headlights), Lamborghini Countach that I immediately noticed on a residential street near my house one day while I was playing outside with a friend (the girl in the passenger seat gave me a wave!), my sister's 1991 (I think that was the model year) Accord - I remember thinking how nice that car drove and it felt solid, and finally when I was in my teens I acquired my first car handed down from my brother - an '85 Monte Carlo SS. To this day, I want to find that car and buy it back.

wagon guy now drives a boostang > Ryan A. 01/02/2015 at 11:13

1

I remember riding in the front seat of a GTO in the early 70's with no seat belt...

The first new car my parents ever bought...

twochevrons > Ryan A. 01/02/2015 at 11:13

1

When I was young, my father had a Jaguar XK150 coupe. He had restored it himself, and in a way, it had great significance to the both of us – its build date was within a few weeks of the day my father was born, and he completed the restoration not long before I came into the world. My first ever car ride, home from the hospital where I was born, was in the Jag. It was breathtakingly beautiful, painted in the same deep blue as the one in the picture (from Wikipedia), with a bright red leather interior.

He sold it when I was six or so – with him working on a Ph.D, and my mother out of a job, we couldn't afford to keep it. Still, I have incredibly vivid memories of it from an extremely young age – I distinctly recall us taking it on a camping trip once, before my youngest brother was born, which means that I can't have been much older than 4. I also remember 'helping' my father work on it, and I actually ended up absorbing an awful lot of automotive knowledge that way. It didn't occur to me until many years later, but I've always 'just known' how an internal combustion engine works, and my only explanation is that it's something that I picked up from hanging out with Dad in the garage.

I think that a lot of the reason that I remember it so strongly was that, despite its show-car condition, Dad actually USED it. He'd drive it to work, we'd take it on trips, and it got autocrossed and tracked fairly regularly. He even fitted a child-sized four point harness so that I could ride along!

I'm now about the same age as my father when he started work on the Jag, and have a '50s British sports car of my own, but part of me still yearns for an XK. It's sad to think that, barring some incredible financial luck, I probably will never be able to afford one (Dad's has since changed hands for several times what he sold it for). But at least I will always have the memories.

Party-vi > JerseyJoey 01/02/2015 at 11:20

0

Methinks you replied to the wrong person.

JerseyJoey > Party-vi 01/02/2015 at 11:23

0

Lol, you thinks correct!

claramag, Mustaco Master > Ryan A. 01/02/2015 at 11:23

0

My first real car memories is retold rather than recollected, but it's one of my favs. As a wee little baby/todler there were nights I wouldn't get to sleep. Some people rock the kid to sleep. Other's feed warm milk. My father took me out for a drive in his old VW bug and played SRV's Little Wing. I'd be out before the song ended.

Then there was the time he was stranded with a flat and no good spare in an 'unsavory' part of San Antonio, with toddler me in hand. Mom was busy being a 2nd year doc and cell phones were way not cheap so he's kinda screwed at this point (and toddler me's kinda cute but that's totally not important). His saving grace was an old school, pimped out, creme white Cadillac driven by a man dressed in furs chauffeuring lady passengers dressed in less. The man pulls up, looks over my father, looks at me, and without saying a word to us picks up his car phone and calls a tow truck. I don't know if tow trucks operated differently back in the day than now, but my father swears it arrived like that, puts the bug on tow, and takes us over to a tire shop.The man in the Caddie follows us to the shop and again, without saying a word to my father, speaks to the shop owner. "Bitch" he says with volume, gesturing back to the car. One of the ladies steps out with a wad of cash and hands it to the man in the furs. He pulls out a few bills, hands them to the owner, looks back, nods to my father, and drives off.
My father drove off with 4 new tires that day.

T5Killer > Ryan A. 01/02/2015 at 11:42

0

My first ride in a V8 car and a Mustang was a '78 Cobra II my uncle owned (it was the early '80s) I loved that car the sound it made the fact it had tops made it awesome to little kid me. My mom had a VW bug on its last legs and later a Chevette and neither was cool to me but that Cobra II was. To this date even with all the hate the Mustang IIs get I love them and would love to own a nice one someday.