If my Old Cars could have been Awesome!!!

"POD" (podimus) 08/17/2013 at 14:38 • Filed to: First Car

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I've had a lot of fun writing about what I think my favorite cars would be if they were !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! Characters. I've used some of my favorite 5 cars for a while now. As such, I think it's time I indoctrinated a few new cars into the list.

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So in keeping with this ideal I'm going to use cars that I've owned personally, and I'm going to equate them to what I think they could have been, had they been given the awesome treatment. Awesome treatment in this case is what I wish the cars would have been at the time I was given/bought them. It's going to be a bit of a different list, so please pop some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the musings.

Annnd lets begin.

1987 Honda Accord

A grey box (wedge?) with pop up head lamps, a 5-speed stick, and a terrified teenager who had no idea what that f*cking 3rd pedal did. I even placed a pair of garbage cans in my front lawn to mimic parallel parking. Yes, this was the first car I ever "owned". It had split head rests from the sun damage, a single DIN cassette deck , power everything that reliably failed, and a leaky sunroof. I have vivid memories of using bailing wire to lock the windows in an "Up" position, and yet, what would make this car awesome??

Dad:

Dad was the one that took me out in that old Honda and taught me how to drive in snow. Taught me the "rules" of counter steer, powering out, and threshold breaking. When I was behind the wheel of my old 87' Honda, Dad's words were gospel. This was my first ride, and you know what they say about your first, you never forget it. Honestly, at the time I never stopped to think about what car I would have rather had. I was just excited and happy to have my license and a vehicle of my own. A good Dad can make any first drivers car Awesome!

So lets move on to my second car, the golden child; A Gold painted 2000 Chevy Prizm

My old 87' Honda Accord was T-Boned by a Ford courtesy shuttle (not very courteous Ford) and I found myself young and adrift in the world of living in a small town and having no car. My Dad was awesome enough to give me a choice. A 2000 Prizm with A/C or a 2000 2-Door Chevy Tracker that had a soft top and no A/C. Being in the world of Car audio at the time, I was taken aback at the thought of a simple box cutter making it's way through the soft top of the Tracker and stealing my Subs. So I chose the Prizm.

This small Corolla look alike was just the ticket. I wrung it's little 1.8L over my favorite loops countless times.

But what could have made it more awesome?? Well that's easy. It wasn't a Lotus Elise. As soon as I found out that Toyota gave it's little 1.8L to Lotus for the Elise, I wanted one.

Knowing that my Corolla..err, Prizm wasn't a Thoroughbred, was naturally disheartening, but it was fun none the less.

So lets move onto my next long term vehicle... A 99' Ranger 4X4 king cab.

This truck started life as a fleet vehicle for my Dad's company. It was abused and beat on, and eventually the original 3.0 V6 gave out. Dad picked it up for $700, had a friend toss in a B3000 motor from a local junk yard, and it became my college transport. This truck never ran right, but it always ran. So what would have made it awesome?

If it was a F100.

For me, this was the truck to have. Simple, beautiful, and purpose built. I would have loved to own one.

So now lets look at my least favorite vehicle that I've driven for a prolonged period. A 1994 garnet red AWD Toyota Previa.

Hate is not a strong enough word to describe my feelings towards this car. Bile inducing rage is probably close to the mark. Every time I got behind the wheel of this gutless family hauler, I felt shame. I used to wish that the motor would just die and give me an excuse to move on. However, it lasted over 250,000 miles. Was a champ in the winter, and could handle almost a ton of goods in the back. Overall a winning car for Toyota. So what would have made it awesome??

If it was the RWD model with a hooning V8 engine out of a Lexus.

Seriously, if I could have had this van in a RWD V8 formate, I probably would still have it. I also probably would have so many points on my license that no insurance company would touch me.

And now lets end with the first car I purchased on my own. This one was the first vehicle I bought after graduating and it was purchased by default. My first job required me to have a car, and it required me to be able to fit medical supplies (wheelchairs, walkers, grab-bars, etc.). I looked through the vehicles available at the time and settled on the cheapest hatchback I qualified for. A 2008 Hyundai Accent.

Now this car wasn't really that bad. It got decent mileage, ran well, needed minimal maintenance, and carried all the medical supplies my work required of me. That said, it never really inspired any passion for driving, despite the fact that it had a manual transmission. So what would have made it awesome??

If it was a Subaru Legacy GT Spec B Wagon.

More space, more power, more drive wheels, more everything! I still toy with the idea of selling my Speed3 and getting one of these (not that seriously though, I love my Speed3).

So there you have it. 5 cars I've owned for more than just a few months, and the 4 cars and 1 person needed that would have made them awesome!

So how about you? What car did you drive that you wished was something else? Post your combos in the comments!

nohum > POD 08/20/2013 at 04:04

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subaru vs speed3 is tough. i would pick the subaru, but thats only because i love flannel, awd, and other women.