Car From Your 'Soul' Year - What Would You Choose?

[balthazar]

In companion with the 'Birth Year' thread, it might be interesting to see where your 'soul' points, automotively.

 

In my observations, it seems most car people have a fondness for cars they grew up with, or vehicles that were common when they were in their teens. Never took a scientific poll or anything, but I never fell into that category; I've always been drawn to the '57-64 American era primarily, whereas I 'grew up' around late '70s, mid 80s junk (I'm a '66 model year). My topic, my rule; if you post multiples, they have to stay within an 8-yr span of time.  

 

In my top 5 of all time :

[Drew Dowdell]

I don't know what year my soul was born.

[ccap41]

I think I know what you mean.. I'm going to take a whack at it!

 

The first car that I really fell for that had me fall for cars was an '01 Bullitt. I had to have only been 16 at the time but there was one for sale and parked in a local grocery store parking lot. Well, a buddy of mine was like, "lets stop and look at that". Okay, we did. There was just something about the body lines and size and just everything about that car when I was up next to it actuall looking at it caught me. I think that 1997-2005 era of muscle cars where it was the end of the Fbody, End of the NewEdge Mustangs and the GTO was making a come back.

 

Exactly like you said.. I was right around that 16 years old, starting to drive and appreciate cars more.

 

A really good friend of mine's dad had a '97 Anniversary Z/28 like the one that is pictured. He bought aluminum wheels for it and kept the original white ones boxed up so they were in mint condition too.

 

Well, here is my list..Not sure if this is supposed to be an era of cars or one car from said era. Ohhhh well!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cp-the-nerd]

I was born in the late 80s, grew up in the 90s, but the auto industry just didn't do anything for me back then. IMO the 90s were one of the worst decades for design.

 

If I had to pick one year that specifically locked in my soul as an auto enthusiast, it was 2008 (MY). GM introduced the 2nd gen Cadillac CTS and the reinvented Chevy Malibu (which I bought a year later). The C6 Corvette was kicking ass with a newly minted LS3 V8, the Cobalt SS Turbo brought an industry first direct injected 2.0T with an unbeatable 260 hp/30 mpg, Pontiac was romping around with the Aussie bruiser known as the G8 sport sedan, and Cadillac was in the midst of a renaissance with Art & Science in full swing and a new 300 hp direct injected V6.

 

Of course, there was an industry wide revitalization of design and performance going on. We had the first retro pony cars, Audi's sweet 4.2L V8, Acura at its best with the TL Type S and TSX, the list goes on.

 

 

 

 

[Drew Dowdell]

Well if that's the case, Balth already knows my soul year cars. GM E/K/B bodies from upper divisions in the 80s and the mid-80s Continental.

 

I even own one.

 

[sharedmedia=garage:vehicles:70]

 

Edit: I really need to update my garage entry with new pics.

[balthazar]

^ I of course knew you liked 'em (the '80s Toros), just was wondering if that was your 'ultimate gravitation'. If so, kudos to you for obtaining it!

[Drew Dowdell]

^ I of course knew you liked 'em (the '80s Toros), just was wondering if that was your 'ultimate gravitation'. If so, kudos to you for obtaining it!

 

Toronado/Eldorado first, the rest of the E/K bodies second, the upper-class big B-Body coupes 3rd....  but yes.

[GMTruckGuy74]

Hmmm.. tough one as I believe my "soul" could be from either:

 

1948

 

or

 

1955/1956

[Drew Dowdell]

^ I of course knew you liked 'em (the '80s Toros), just was wondering if that was your 'ultimate gravitation'. If so, kudos to you for obtaining it!

 

I was never into sports cars or trucks as a kid.  For me I liked the big luxury cars.  My parents always had imported, obscure crap-box station wagons (VW Type 3 wagon, 1970s Fiat Wagon something, '83 Subaru DL wagon, '86 Dodge Colt Vista Wagon).  In reality, the modern Automotive Journalist's dream cars.... Wagons, 4x4 when available, manual transmission, no A/C.   The first car my parents owned that had A/C was in 1996, the year I graduated high-school, when they bought a 1994 Pontiac Bonneville (also their first automatic, domestic car, and sedan)... and only then after much urging from me.  Mom was looking at a Mercury Villager Nautica Edition just to keep up with her obscure car streak.   My parents were never hurting for money, they're just frugal.... my Grandfather on my dad's side and my great grandfather on my mom's side were the Presidents of their respective companies.  The former drove a fairly base '83 Caprice Classic V6, the latter a manual transmission Ford Festiva.   Mom's parents drove VW Rabbit Diesels, Datsun 210s, and Nissan Sentra wagons (again, all base, no A/C, manual transmission).  

 

Gram on my dad's side had a '78 or '79 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser Diesel... sensibly equipped with power windows and air conditioning. Shutting the door on that sounded like closing the door on a vault compared to the crap-boxes I normally rode in. It was a luxury car to me, but Granddad got his frugality by ordering the diesel and Granddad had a boat to tow. Even with the diesel, it was whisper quiet at speed and road like you were on a cloud.  It could haul impressive amounts of cargo though at unimpressive speeds. Oldsmobile was one of my earliest words (not kidding).

 

The cars I admired most though were the Eldorados and Sevilles of the era. Some distant relations owned them (one was a diesel, a Seville I think).  They might have been pulling in the drive in a Rolls for all I knew.... those cars had presence.  They were modern cars with 1920's proportions.  If a two-tone bustle back Seville pulled up, I might have expected Daddy Warbucks and Orphan Annie, or some famous and glamorous actress to step out of the back.  Riding in one of those meant you had arrived. I had a matchbox car of the 2-tone Seville as a kid and it was my favorite car out of all of the hundreds of cars that I had.  GMTruckGuy found an identical one for me a few years ago.  As much as I want to, I've not yet taken it out of the original package.

 

One of the neighbors had a a black Eldorado with a stainless steel roof (!!how cool was that to a 6 year old!).  Another neighbor had a dark green ~1979ish Ninety Eight coupe that I had a similar admiration for. 

 

The Toronados I learned about more as a teenager. I like the Deco look in just about anything, but the Toronado hit it out of the park. The Cadillac's were known to have the troublesome 4100 engines, so I went with the Toronado instead as my first car... 1920s proportions without the 4100 boat anchor under the hood.   That car was stolen and totaled while I was in college, so in 2011 I found and bought another one. 

 

So there it is... the impressions formed in childhood... with the results sitting in my garage.

[oldshurst442]

Oh boy...

My soul era for automobiles...

I dont think I have a soul "era"...sure I had fun in my late teenaged/early adult life years full of partys and girls and partys and girls and school and partys and girls and cars and school and more partys and girls/...but...

 

What I do have are a collection of cars from different eras that define a soul...but your game, your rules...so Ill just post the one car that best defines my soul in cars.

 

I LOVE Americana.

I LOVE Rock-N-Roll.

I LOVE Muscle Cars.

I Love fun and games.

I LOVE back seats and bench seats makin' out. (Yup...I did that in a 1986 Chevrolet Celebrity...bench seat in the front)

I LOVE milkshakes and hamburgers.

I LOVE speed and riding low and slow.

I LOVE cruisin'

I LOVE Driving!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Candy Apple Red 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Hot Rod. Preferably with flames painted on the body. Convertible or Hard Top. With a Blower sticking out of the hood or not...

[Suaviloquent]

Balthazar and OLDS: Major love for this thread. Very philosophical for me. And Olds. it's in your style.

 

Well if I could literally plot a function that accurately represents my soul with an output of a vehicle as the result, my 'Soul Vehicle' would probably amount to a compact pickup truck of sorts.

 

 

Now that does fit, but I also have a 'they don't make this anymore ' kind of personality so this fits better (the ranger still exists, though not here):

 

 

Yes, the comanche does nicely. When I was a young boy I had Jeeps that I made from carboard that you would glue the sides together. Jeeps.... will always have a place for me.

 

Unfortunately, based on social constructs of what I'm about to do within the next few years... my soul kind of 'needs' to turn into something like this. And I regrettably, want it too. It's the only way I think my soul will survive...

 

 

There's also a big emphasis on being all professional and 'precise' so GMC also fits very nicely. I have to become more suave.... Against my will, but by my own choice. 

 

 

Why I'm trying to say is that some of us have a soul that we can expect to remain the same. But for me, I've always had to change; new country, new language, new society, new neighborhood, always transient. So the comanche represents what I am now at this present moment. But the Platinum and Denali represent what success as this kind of soul looks like.

 

Do I want success? Yes. Do I want to become a Denali? Hell no! F150 Platinum? Hell no! I'd rather be simple, honest and honestly - par for the course and mediocre. But that just doesn't get you much these days, and it's not much that I want or even need.

 

 

 

And now it's a new reality. Have to become more posh, more plush, more present, more of everything....

[ocnblu]

Yeah, my soul is split and pointing in several directions.  The 1973 Pontiac Catalina I took my driver's test in.  The '81 Z/28 I wanted so bad.  My first brand new S-10, a 1983.  My 2000 GTI 1.8t.  And my current truck.  They are all representative of me.

[Robert Hall]

Hmmm.....had to pin down a single 'soul' era, but for cars that really 'speak' to me, I'd have to say two main eras--mid 60s-early 70s, and mid 80s-mid 90s.    The first as those were cars I grew up around as a kid and noticed, and the latter is the era I started driving and experiencing cars.  Having read Car & Driver and Road & Track from age 7 exposed me to all kinds of interesting cars in print.

 

Some that really 'speak' to me from the older era---Lincolns, esp. the 4dr convertibles, the early Cougars and Mustangs (esp. the '69 like I grew up with), various full size Fords and Mercurys ("69-70 XL and Marauder, '71-72 LTD, '69-72 Monterey and Marquis, etc), the C2 Corvettes,   '66-67 Toronado (what a design), '67-70 Eldorado (ditto),  the Riviera from '63-73, the early '70s Camaro and Firebird, the early '70s Challenger and Cuda...

 

For the latter era, I still love the Fox Mustangs I grew up with and owned, the original Acura NSX, the Ferrari Testarossa, F40, and 288 GTO (still my favorite Ferraris--the '60s ones are expensive museum pieces, the '80s ones are new enough to be drivable),  the E36 BMW M3 (my favorite M3, used to own one),  the 80s-90s Porsche 911s (esp. the 993). 

 

I'd have a bunch of these in my dream car garage...would need probably a 20 car garage, though..

[Cory Wolfe]

My soul is stuck in some sort of weird euro-asian automotive fantasy land, devoid of time. 

 

In reality, it's between two time frames: Mid-90's and Mid 00's. Having grown up and matured during those times, my tastes seem to always stick around those two. It's hard to pick either one over the other, or a specific vehicle from either from that matter. If I try really hard, I might be able to single out a few. 

 

90's:

 

Mazda RX7:

 

 

00's:

 

Porsche Carrera GT:

 

 

Edited October 27, 2015 by blackviper8891

[frogger]

For me, 1989 and the 300zx

[Drew Dowdell]

The RX7 is one car I've always wanted to drive but have never had the chance.

[ccap41]

The RX7 is one car I've always wanted to drive but have never had the chance.

I'll second that.

 

It's definitely like a top 3 Asian/tuner car that I've always wanted. Actually, Other than an STi I think it tops the list. I've just always loved them and I think their styling was well before its time when a lot of cars looked terrible, IMO.

 

Nice pick blackviper!