How'd you get hooked on...

[knightfan26917]

...the automotive world?

Personally, I got started at an early age. Due to my heart issues, I was never very active so I turned to what I could do ... play with my model cars.

As I grew older, the love affair with the Monte Carlo started when Mom and Dad bought their '76 MC...and continued from there:

http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort/mcstory.html

So...how about you?

Cort | 35swm | "Mr Monte Carlo"."Mr Road Trip" | pig valve.pacemaker ...RT 66 drive = Sept '09

WRMNshowcase.legos.HO.models.MCs.RTs.CHD = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort

"Don't get me wrong" ... Billy Joel ... 'My Life'

[capriceman]

everyone i knew had jobs related to the domestic auto industry. so it was natural.

[balthazar]

Supposedly, I told my Mom I didn't think Santa traveled in a sleigh, that he used a car. I was drawing cars around 7 or 8. In Jr HS, I sat near 2 clowns on the bus who knew every car they saw and had some sort of crack or sound effect about them- how did they learn them all? One car we passed everyday was a slumbering '58 Series 75 limo, so when I got access to a huge stash of Nat'l Geos in history class in 7th grade, I started slicing the ads out, starting with a '58 SdV ad. That there is likely the catalyst. 5000 ads & thousands of books, magazines & pics/later, plus countless trips to car shows & junkyards cemented my appreciation for the detail and construction of '40s-'60s cars. It'll never grow old for me, even tho I sometimes feel like I've seen 98% of everything already.

[FAPTurbo]

My Dad got me a book was I was little on all different brands of cars. I just absorbed it, and could point out models, and brands before I knew the alphabet.

[regfootball]

my dad always bought GM. he was an implement mechanic and he spent a lot of time working on our cars to keep them in shape. I didn't acquire his mechanical talents, but he always had fun vehicles. Not lavish, just fun. Back when cars were fun.

[ocnblu]

I think it all started for me when the little sperm guy crashed into the egg.

[Drew Dowdell]

When I was about 2 1/2, I became fascinated by my grandmother's 1979 Custom Cruiser diesel. I loved the sound it made and it was my job to tell her when the wait to start light went out.

[Robert Hall]

Childhood in the '70s...grew up in a family of car nuts--my older brother always had 2-3 interesting cars--'60s Mustangs, a V8 Vega, a couple '70s Firebirds, a '65 GTO, etc...my parents had 3 '67-68 Cougars, a '69 Mustang, Lincolns...I had Hot Wheels, Matchbox and other diecast from age 3, snap kits at 6, model kits from age 8, subscriptions to Road & Track and Car & Driver from age 7. In kindergarden and 1st-2nd grade, walked past a Pontiac dealer every day on the way to school. Still remember seeing the '76 Firebirds, the arrival of the new '77 Catalinas and Bonnevilles, the '77 Can Am..

I still remember the cars from my childhood neighborhood in Steubenville, Ohio---the black '67 Delmont 88 across the street, the gold '71 Sedan de Ville and black '74 Eldorado next door (owned by the neighborhood mafia capo), the blue '73 Century 4dr next door, the white '54 Coupe de Ville down the street, the dark green '68 Caprice ht down the street...

Edited November 24, 2008 by moltar

[2005 EquinoxLS]

My Dad did it for me. He only bought GM and mostly the Chevrolet Full-sized ones until about 15 years ago. When he and Mom bought a maroon 1978 Impala I loved it. When I started learning to drive in it it was getting pretty old but I knew right then that I had to have a car like that. The 1985 Caprice they bought a few years later that I also learned to drive on (That I now have) helped even more to make me want one. I now have had 4 of them and still have 2 of the 4.

Edited November 24, 2008 by 2005 EquinoxLS

[cletus8269]

grew up at car shows. my dad trailored his 69 327 c-10 custom to the shows with his 71 c-10 custom stepside. after the showing was over the 69 became weekend warrior.

[trinacriabob]

Well, I always used to draw houses, cars, ships and planes.....nonstop.

For some reason, as a kid, the opera-windowed GM mid-size coupes struck me and then, the proportions of the 1975 Cutlass Supreme or Salon coupe became especially captivating to me -- the grille, the taillamps, the opera window and the crease in the rear backlite, the dashboard with its circular vents, the quiet, confident "whoosh" of an Olds Rocket V8, and on and on...

At any rate, the next door neighbors bought a 1975 Supreme coupe (260 V8) and my parents bought a 1976 Supreme coupe (350 V8). I knew I would eventually have access to that car, so I then worked on my mechanical knowledge so I could take care of it. It later took me across America to Atlanta, to grad school at a Big 10 university, and on road trips during grad school summers to NY and to Miami. At the end of grad school, I sadly said goodbye to the Cutlass in the Midwest, where a local farmer bought it from me and I got on a plane to "go home."

Edited November 24, 2008 by trinacriabob

[gm4life]

How I got hooked...

My father was always buying and trading his cars, it was his one "joy" in life. He started out with Fords when I was really young late 50's, eventually he moved onto Pontiacs the first a '65 389ci. Catalina Sedan then a '67 400ci. Catalina Sedan, '69 428ci. Executive Sedan then a '71 455ci. Bonneville Sedan in Aztec Gold (that I owned for a while), '77 301ci. Bonnevile Sedan (that I owned). My father got very sick in the early 70's after he got his first Bonneville and never got around to getting another one until '77. I owned both '71 for a while and the '77 for nearly 10 years until trading it on my 90 GP. My father someday vowed he would own a Cadillac he owned not only one but two! I recall him saying that since I was only 10! My dad then got an 1982 Olds Delta 88 in Gray 307ci. then a 1986 Olds 98 231ci. Cream (his first and only six) then a 1989 Sedan Deville Antalope Firemist 4.5L, and lastly his 1992 Sedan Deville 4.9 in White I owned for a few years. My dad and his obvious passion for GM cars was passed onto me and has made a lasting impression on me. I recall going out with paste wax and waxxing the '65, '67, '69, '71, and even the '77 when I was home from college. I helped him with his cars until his health stopped him then I just took care of them for him. I cared for the '92 Deville well after his death in 1994, my mom kept the car in his memory and loved the Cadillac ride. I took care of the car until I got it in 2003 from my mothers estate as passed away in 2003. You must keep in mind in 2003 I had the GP, Deville, and Impala. With my son learning to drive I kept all three cars around so if the need came for a third car we would have it. Gas prices kept going up and I got sick of putting premium in it, so when my son told me about the Bonneville being dropped I took some interest in getting one. I had always talked about getting one just like 'dads' but we all know how that goes. In 1990 I almost got a 1991 white SSE but the price ultimately kept me back to the GP. My son found my Bonneville SLE with 3800 miles on with everything but leather and a moonroof just the way I would have ordered in a neighboring small town at a HUGE car dealer. I was snuckered but my wife made me trade the Deville on her. I did with a heavy heart, but my dad would have been pleased none the less. I got my Bonneville in June 2005 I promised my wife the next car would be her little SUV she really liked the Equinox and so did I. I then found out about the introduction of the Torrent, and put off any purchase until it arrived. I took a good look at them in 2006 at a local car show and liked them alot. My wife did as well, we still weren't ready to buy and prices were more than what I was willing to pay so we waited... Waited... Until I found out there was going to be a revamped interior the Torrent got pushed off another year. My son started looking for us like he did with the SLE in 2005 on the net late the summer '07 for deals on new or slightly used 07's one sold out from under me, we even looked a mint '01 Aurora! Still nothing was right then my son found the purple 2007 200 miles away on a dealers lot with chrome wheels (PA2 style a must for me and my wife) and just cruise in FWD so I took a look at it and used my maxed out GM card and took advantage of a great deal in January of 2008. We had over 7,500 off sticker on it! So here we sit my daughter and son now have started to fight over the gold Chevrolet so thus it brings me to my idea about a 98-99 SSE L36 or 2000-2002 Firebird L36 Coupe/Hardtop for my son during the week and me to play on during the weekend. That is my story with the boring details. (I love those!)

Edited November 24, 2008 by gm4life

[ZL-1]

I threw a toy car at my brother's forehead when I was 2 or 3 years old... It was a great weapon, so I've officially been into cars since then...

Edited November 24, 2008 by ZL-1

[Paolino]

I was 17 years old, and his name was Marco. Need I elaborate? :AH-HA_wink:

[§carlet §wordfish]

All my Hot Wheels/Matchbox cars I had as a kid (and still have most of them.) Then, as now, I was mostly just interested in the design and styling.

[Oracle of Delphi]

Easier just to link it for me: http://www.cheersandgears.com/index.php?sh...bassy&st=20

[Lamar]

My mom bought me Matchbox cars when I was a baby, all the way up through kindergarten.

I remember my favorite... a silver Volvo 760 GLE. Still have it.

[daves87rs]

everyone i knew had jobs related to the domestic auto industry. so it was natural.

[mustang84]

My parents bought me many matchbox cars when I was a kid...in fact, I had a whole bucket of them. One of my favorites in the bucket (unknown by me at the time) was a '67 mint green Mustang convertible with white interior. My dad also bought me a little C4 Corvette remote control car. I grew up with my dad having two classic Corvettes in the garage.

I also had a Power Wheels Jeep and Big Wheels, and I loved to burn out the plastic tires on my big wheels. I'd probably go through one every year because the plastic would crack and then rocks would get in, and before long the tires was split in half.

But then I kinda forgot about cars as I became an adolescent, and it wasn't until I was 15 or so that I got a PC game called Midtown Madness that resparked my interest. I drove the '99 Mustang most of the time, but they also had a '99 Eldorado, '67 Mustang, VW New Beetle, and some others. Then I would download user made cars and one of the first was an '84 Monte Carlo SS, which I thought was the coolest looking thing in the world.

From then on, I just became interested in different makes and models of cars and began to read up on the history of them.

[HarleyEarl]

For me, it was like I was born car crazy. It's been an absolute obession. As soon as I could pick up a pencil I was drawing them. I still do, can design a concept in minutes. My every waking minute seemed to be car oriented somehow. I'd name every car on the road, drove my parents and their friends nuts. Toy cars and trucks and models and any toy associated, I had them. I was so aware from an early age the power and pleasure of car culture. I'd study every line and detail of a particular car. I was lucky to be in a family who loved cars as well and I was exposed to very nice vehicles owned by us and uncles etc. All of them let me drive their cars on occasion, I always was offering to wash and clean their cars so I could go touring around town. I still get so much pleasure in detailing a car.

Wow. The Car. Life would be so dull without the supreme pleasure of the car.

[bobo]

My parents didn't buy cars very often, but in 1978, when I was ten, they bought a Ford pickup and a Cadillac Seville. The first car magazine I ever looked at was an issue of Motor Trend at a grocery store that year, and it had the new Fox-based Mustang on the cover, and that became my favorite car. From that point on I was reading all the car magazines and drawing them, mostly Cadillac sketches. The cars I grew up with were mostly GMs, so those were my favorite after the Mustang lust wore off. My favorite cars in my childhood were the Cutlass Supreme, Eldorado, Camaro IROC-Z, and Firebird T/A. My car interest turned more to imports during my college years after I drove a friend's Honda Civic wagon.

[Enzora]

I've always been drawn more to cars for the design aspect than anything else. I took art lessons for years when I was a kid, and I love learning about anything anything artistic like architecture, automotive design, and graphic design.

Edited November 25, 2008 by Enzora

[trinacriabob]

a Cadillac Seville.

the original Seville was, for the most part, an exercise in good taste.* Other cars copied IT, rather than the other way around.

*if the pimpy options were not added on (fake wheel in the back, wide whitewalls, after-market spoke wheels and vinyl tops that were TOO padded).

[Lamar]

Oh yeah...

I also hung around my dad a lot as he did stuff like oil changes and all that on his old Subaru as well as my mom's.

Also, watching him open up the carburetor to change air filters. That was my favorite.

[The O.C.]

When I was a kid, it was all about the Matchbox cars.....

I never remember getting hooked, I just remember always being hooked.....

When I was little, my parents had a Fiat 128 (that I was in love with) and a Mercedes Benz 220D.....I used to sit on the roof of both cars and clean them with a rag.....and I'd stand beside them and clean the windows.....so small I could barely reach the windows....but there I was trying all the same.... LOL

Then as I got a bit older, my mom worked for GM and always drove new Buick Rivieras (the '79-'85 version.)

Then as I'm older and getting into college, Mom drove a few LeSabre T-Types.....and dad had Ford Thunderbirds. Well, we got him from the Thunderbird into a Skylark T-Type (the N-Body Somerset that was eventually renamed Skylark) which he surprisingly liked....then he was in a new Reatta that he put over 100,000 miles in it before he migrated into his Corvette days.

Mom and Dad's stable today......2000 Buick Regal GS (150,000 miles), 1999 Corvette Coupe (30,000 miles), 2005 BMW 330ci Convertible (25,000 miles.)

[CARBIZ]

My father owned a service station when I was 5. We always had cool cars on our farm. I used to have my lunch in a Morris Minor, then a '57 Plymouth. I remember him parking a '59 Lincoln behind the barn and being blown away by the cat's eyes.

I also liked 'dinkie toys.' Go figure. :AH-HA_wink: I drove the '57 Plymouth through a fence, at the age of 6. My mother drove a two-town '56 Ford for a while.

Later, when my parents split up, my stepfather (who considered himself a backyard mechanic - NOT), brought home a parade of clunkers, from a '64 Fairlane that could barely make it up the hill where our farm was, to a '67 Caprice coupe with bucket seats, to a '66 Pontiac wagon and a '61 Pontiac convertible that he only got to run for about a week. Then we had an uncle's '67 Newport.

While we lived on the west coast, my father bought cool Mopars: a '66, then a '69 300. He could afford new. His boss had a '71 Imperial when our family moved back to Ontario, which sort of began my obsession with Mopar products. My mother/stepfather changed vehicles a lot because he would patch them up and nurse them for a few months to a year. We moved to BC in '67 in a '57 Ford wagon; returned to Ontario in '71 in a '63 Ford Econoline (that was a scary vehicle - engine between the seats, no power steering!)

My first 3 vehicles were Dodges: a '67 Polara (12 years old when I bought it), a '82 Rampage (new) and '87 Shadow (new.) The last vehicle ended my love affair with Mopar products: a travesty of a vehicle that looked good but spent more time in the shop than my driveway. However, unlike some people, I don't tar Chrysler with my bad experiences with one vehicle. I am smart enough to know that a lot of the difficulties I had with that vehicle were because of the dealer. Blue Mountain Chrysler I would never use again; Chrysler I would.

I've always fancied myself a car nut. I still blow a wad when I see a be-finned car on the street, although in Ontario they are rarer than hen's teeth. I once thought I'd go into automotive engineering, but my math sucked and I sucked at drafting, too.

[knightfan26917]

Supposedly, I told my Mom I didn't think Santa traveled in a sleigh, that he used a car.

LOL! I remember thinking that a Sleigh was just another auto manufacturer .

Wow ... so cool to see how everyone got hooked....!

[trinacriabob]

This is how I got hooked, so it belongs here rather than in the Olds sub-forum. I would have posted the pictures had they been mine, so try the links. To me, there has never been anything more beautiful than the following:

1. The factory picture of the 1975 Cutlass Supreme - it has a beautiful shape and the enamel light blue (Horizon Blue) that year stood out. Weird: so many of the guys in my (extended) family look, or looked, like the guy standing next to the car, at one time or another.

Link - factory ad - dubbed "the little limosine" - on Zola from Hungary's web site

2. Leigh Ann Shimonovich (great name) is another proud Cutlass Supreme owner.

Link - Leigh Ann's beautiful 1975

3. From the deciduous trees, this Cutlass "lives" in the eastern half of the US - the Horizon Blue shows up again - this is a restored Cutlass Supreme with the swiveling buckets. It's a site dedicated to this guy's restoration of his Cutlass, taking it onto the cover of Hot Rod Magazine.

Link - Look at the 3/4 view in front of the mansion with the amber turning lights on - stunning!

4. Here's one from a guy in Kentucky. It's a Cutlass Salon, the top of the line for 1975, and I've never seen one this immaculate. This is a lucky guy.

Link - George Conklin's faultless Cutlass Salon with Kentucky plates proclaiming it a classic car

5. Here's the interior / dashboard view of a Cutlass Salon. Yes, it's a Salon because of the much more substantial bucket seats, the console, the dimmer on the stalk instead of on the floor, and the thicker steering wheel... but look at the climate control center (this one had NO air conditioning) and manual windows! In its day, this was America's most beautiful dashboard.

Link - the Cutlass's beautiful dashboard

6. My favorite color for 1975, Persimmon Metallic, though attached to the nondescript fastback base model. On the Supreme and Salon opera-windowed coupes, this color (much nicer than the recent Pontiac orange and more of a deep rust), combined with the color-keyed factory rally wheels, mesmerized me.

Link - factory ad on Zola from Hungary's web site - basic "non-Supreme" model in Persimmon Metallic

7. The 1975 color chart for Oldsmobile. My favorites: Persimmon, Inca Silver, Canyon Copper, Spectre Blue and, in some cases, Horizon Blue (enamel) and Dove Gray (enamel). By comparison, today's color choices are pathetic.

Link - 1975 factory colors on Zola from Hungary's web site

8. After 1975's warm-up exercise, the 1976 stole North America's heart! They sold 512,000 of these cars in 1976. While most people on the street can't verbalize the qualities of good design, its yatch-like good looks made them sell like hot cakes.

Link - on Zola from Hungary's web site - three words: OH - MY - GOD

Yes, the 1975-1977 Cutlass Supreme and Cutlass Salon colonnade coupes...the automotive loves of my life.

Edited December 23, 2008 by trinacriabob

[gmpartsgirl]

Its just in my genes I guess. My dad was always a Chevy nut and my mom was a car nut too. She used to drag race in her younger years, and her parents bought her lots of badass rides. It just started in childhood, then in high school, boyfriends with cool old rides and helping them work on them, then I married a mechanic, it just continued from there, and now I work in the field.

[knightfan26917]

This is how I got hooked, so it belongs here rather than in the Olds sub-forum. I would have posted the pictures had they been mine, so try the links.

VERY cool, post, trinacriabob! Sweet links, too.

I prefer the '76-'77 Cutlasses to the '73-'75 versions. Still ... awesome cars.

Cort | 35swm | "Mr Monte Carlo"."Mr Road Trip" | pig valve.pacemaker ...Chitown #2 = 07/25/09

WRMNshowcase.legos.HO.models.MCs.RTs.CHD = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort

"It's the right time to rock the night away" ... Bobby Helms ... 'Jingle Bell Rock'

[Delta Force79]

I honestly couldn't tell you where it all begin for me (as my memory seems to fail me, lol) but according to my mother from a very early age I was able to name almost every car on the road before I even knew how to read. Yes I mean before any kind of schooling. I know it sounds like bull$h!, but I do vaguely remember always "just knowing" what car that was going down the road. Strangely enough I think I was more adept at cars of the period so my guess is 70's and early 80's cars. My knowledge of the classics hadn't fully developed yet. I just assumed I saw tv ads for the cars and managed to have a good memory, thats my only guess as to how I was able to do it. By the time I was 5 or 6, I would make my dad take me to any junked out cars we found on the street and let me sit in it and pretend I was driving. Also at this point around the age of 5 or 6 my dad taught me how to drive. We had a 1985 Pontiac Sunbird and I used to sit on his lap and steer the car down the road while he worked the pedals. a couple years later when I could reach the pedals I actually drove his '85 Mustang around with him riding shotgun. This was probably around the age of 10. I always had a huge collection of cars, both 1:18 scale and Matchbox size. Oddly enough one of my favorite toy cars was a '77-79 Impala that had opening front doors and trunk. It was green with a black interior, and perhaps it was a sign of things to come as my first car became a 78 Olds Ninety Eight which is basically a slightly stretched 77 Impala. In the early 90's I began going to the NYIAS, and that became a annual tradition for nearly a decade. I also had subscriptions to Motor Trend, VW Trends, 5.0 Mustang and I believe Car And Driver. With the dawn of the internet age and google, and things like C&G and ebay motors I can keep up with news and info on the latest cars coming and the cars of yesterday....and thus the love affair continues.

[knightfan26917]

...according to my mother from a very early age I was able to name almost every car on the road before I even knew how to read. Yes I mean before any kind of schooling. I know it sounds like bull$h!, but I do vaguely remember always "just knowing" what car that was going down the road.

Nah, I don't think that sounds like BS ... because years ago you could tell what was coming; these days, sometimes, you can't tell if it is a Ford or Dodge or Chevy until it is right next to you ... they all look somewhat alike .

And, that '77-'79 Impala toy car ... what scale?

[NeonLX]

I grew up in a family of gearheads. We were farmers, who tend to be gearheads anyway (since you have to work on your own tractors & trucks all the time). Both my dad and uncle did a lot of drag racing back in the early 1960s; I remember my uncle's '63 Chevy II powered by a nasty small block he'd built up. My grandad sold Chevy trucks and also John Deere tractors. In the mid 1960s, he bought a '26 Ford Model T, just like the one he and my granny had driven on their honeymoon. I spent many hours helping to clean parts and reassemble that car, as did my brother.

My dad used to take us to the car shows every year and we'd collect all the sales literature and promo models. I've still got a lot of it, thank goodness.

[Delta Force79]

Nah, I don't think that sounds like BS ... because years ago you could tell what was coming; these days, sometimes, you can't tell if it is a Ford or Dodge or Chevy until it is right next to you ... they all look somewhat alike .

And, that '77-'79 Impala toy car ... what scale?

Not sure the exact scale, a estimate would probably be 1:43 scale.

[knightfan26917]

Not sure the exact scale, a estimate would probably be 1:43 scale.

Hmmm...have any pics of it? Just curious .

Cort | 35swm | "Mr Monte Carlo"."Mr Road Trip" | pig valve.pacemaker ...RT 66 drive = Sept '09

WRMNshowcase.legos.HO.models.MCs.RTs.CHD = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort

"Why can't that be me?" ... 3 Doors Down ... 'If I Could Be Like That'