Dream car when you were a kid

The Cocoa Brownpost diverted to this topic so thought I'd start a new thread. Is part of the reason we're Cayman fans related to what our dream cars were as kids? It appears so, my dream car for years was a Pantera! The Italian styling, Ford mid-engine muscle, and it wassomewhat affordable so it seemed attainable. Someday whenI can ever afford aSunday-driver in addition to my Cayman I'd think about getting one of the earlymodels, stock,yellow,with the small bumperettes. I still have magazines with comparison tests with the Pantera, Dino and others. The reviews weren't as glowing as the Cayman 's but I still want one!!!

O.K. 1. was my dad's 53 Chevrolet p.u. ( I have now owned one) 2. 56 Chevrolet 3. the Porsche 550 race car ( I have no idea how I first saw a picture in my rural area but I fell for it) 4.Early Porsche 356 (and my first Porsche was a 1965 356SC)

My dream car as a kid was the late 50's XKE's. Since price was an issue, I had to settle for something that had many of the same attributes but was more affordable. My first car was therefore a stick shift Ford Falcon./fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/embaressed_smile.gif Well, it did have some similar attributes: four wheels, steering wheel, ran on gas, you get the picture./fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/wink_smile.gif

When I graduated from high school, my best friend had a canary yellow 67' Vette convert with the 427, six-pack and side pipes. Growing up in the Detroit suburbs, nothing was faster, including my one-off 73' Pontiac Grand Am in pearl white custom paint with 455 SD, in a straight line. But one of my dad's friends was an independant auto mechanic who had the only shop in the area that worked on German and Italian cars, as this was afterall, Motown in the late 60's to mid 70's. Eitel's place serviced Ferrari, Lambo, Maserati, Alfa, Porsche and BMW. I got to drive in just about anything you could think of from that period, including a Daytona, Miura P3, Bora et al and believe it or not, the original Bat Mobile. My favorite was the little Dino. Not as fast in a straight line as even my Pontiac, but it just felt different and better than everything else. It's all about low polar moment! I almost had my dad talked into a yellow Pantera once. He understood low polar moment from his time in design with Douglas Aircraft during WWII. JHellow

It was Jags for me. 1956 Jaguar Xk, I loved those front fenders. Then I went into Ferraris. I did love my Dad's Olds 88, that was in 1957ish? Russ Edited by - RussK on 11/30/2005 10:38:51 PM

Previously posted, but one never tires of looking at the Dino, so here it is again.

For some people, especially those who went to the Barrett-Jackson auction last January, it's muscle cars, for me it's exotic European cars from the same era. My previous remembrance: Growing up, I lived a couple of blocks away from the son of the man who invented the torque wrench - Sturtevant. He was a automotive and motorcycle enthusiast with the means to indulge any wheeled fantasy that he might have. Among the many exotic cars I got to inspect in his garage was a pale yellow 904. The only othervehicles he had that compared were some Ferraris and the racing Honda motorcycles. I could not get enough of that904, the beautiful engineering and craftsmanship. It was unlike any car I had ever seen. So now, with the Cayman, I finally get to quench the thirst I had for drinking in that beautiful vehicle. Since writing this, I remembered why I was over at this guy's house so much, if I needed more reasons than to inspect his garage - his daughter!

mpollard, Yes the Dino was one of my favorites. I got to drive a used one in 1974 and almost traded my 1969 Detomaso Mangusta for it. Now I wish I had. Russ

Russ: You had a Mangusta? What a great car. Much better looking I thought than the Pantera. Was it a mid-engine? We all wish we had a Dino. I drove one in 1974 and had a chance to buy a great used example in 1981 when the price was still reasonable. Back then who would have thought a Dino would appreciate and some of the V12's would tank like the BB512 and the Teste. JHellow

To me the best years for cars were 66, 67. I was into the XKE convertable, the 427 Fairlane GT, the Shelbys, and probably the top car for me was the Aston Martin DB4. Yes James Bond's car. I saw the car at the 66 auto show in Chicago and that was true art. I ordered my Cayman silver because of that car. I really wanted the oxblood leather but who knows what that would cost. mike

I was in high school in the late 50's, and my dream car thenwas the Porsche 356 Cabriolet. Needless to say, I couldn't afford one, so my first sports car (in 1961) was a used MGA 1600. My greatest passion as I grew older was (like MPollard) the Porsche 904, one of the most lovely race cars ever designed.

Detomaso Pantera GT5 was the first ever supercar I saw as a kid. I still remember it very clearly what those ultra wide wheel arches and the rear wings look like. It would have been around the mid 80's. The car was red, and I can still picture the wide 345 tyres now. It looked awesome. I saw this car regularly, at a local workshop just like a true Italian supercar of that era. /fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/embaressed_smile.gif However that is not my dream car as a kid. That would have been to be the Ferrari 288GTO. Till this day, I have only seen that car once at a motorshow. I would really love to own that one day. Oh btw, I went to a classic car auction here in Melbourne recently. There was a Ferrari 246GT there and it went for $85k. For perspective the Cayman S on the road cost would be around $170k with a coupld of options. Wished I could afford it as a weekend car.

jhellow, Yes I had the Red Mangusta that was on the cover of Road & Track in 1969. I still have the cover somewhere. It was not a pure mid engine, I think it was something like 60/40 distribution. The car was beautiful, but what a mechanical nightmare. It just had way too many bugs and some parts were impossible to find. Russ

Does this count?

K-Man, That was it! As a kid that was all I could ever talk about. I was too young to drive but I said one say I will own that Jaguar, never did but making up for it now! Thanks Russ

Did I mention that car is sitting in my 3rd car garage at the moment? /fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/teeth_smile.gif Still needs some work though, just replaced the fuel pump, need to test it out and try cranking the engine over again, it has been sitting for awhile...

At first I thought you were kidding, but you are serious aren't you! What a gorgeous automobile. I assume that is a part time life long restoration project. It really does appear to be in great condition, how long have you had it? Russ

My first Dream Car as a kid was a 1970 Chevelle SS and later it was a Porsche 944 . I can't understand now why I liked the 944 so much. I guess at the time the styling caught my eye.

Father bought it around 1970 after an initial restoration. Needs some care but overall is in very sound shape, hope to have it running again soon.

My dream car was a Ferrari 275 GTB4 but I was more realistic as a youth and also wanted a Corvette Sting Ray coupe. Porsche wasn't onmy radar screen then. After owning 3 Corvettes and driving a Ferrari, Aston Martin, and all the new Carreras and Boxster S , my dream car now is a Cayman S that will do 0-60 in 4 seconds. Come January when I get a Cayman S that will do 0-60 in 5 seconds I figure I will have achieved all my high school dreams. Edited by - BiggerTwin on 12/01/2005 11:21:57 PM

As a youngster I was deeply in love w/ Mercedes Benz. The brand was so alluring to me, I would go to the nearest Benz dealer and inspect each and every car over so closely. I'm sure I left fingerprints all over them that the salespeople found on Monday, after I'd been on the lot over the weekend! After graduating from college and landing a good job, I bought myself a 1984 380 SL w/ 48K on it. Midnight Blue w/ Palamino interior...goregous car. Unfortunately one evening I had a quick relationship w/ a deer on the interstate. Good car now spoiled, I sold it asap w/out even fixing it! The car was perfect prior to the accident and I knew it would never be the same, to me. To this day when I see a nice SL, it tugs at my heart. Having drempt of owning a MB my entire life, I was honestly a little dissppointed in the car. It truly was a luxury touring car, not a sports car whatsoever. I needed more performance, so next I purchased a BMW Z3. This was a great little car to drive, much more sporty than the Benz. But it didn't have the persona of the MB to me. I was getting closer to the perfect car...but the BMW wasn't quite it. Then I rediscovered Porsche . My college roomate always had Porsches. He had a '87 Turbo look Cpe that was absolutely perfect...followed by a new Boxster ...followed by a new 911 . Although I liked the Porsches, I was dreaming of Benz's. It took me owning several nice cars (not to mention all of them between the MB and BMW), to finally graduate and appreciate the Porsche . I wasn't one who was instantly drawn to Porsche ...but now I can't look back. I wouldn't consider purchasing anything else. Porsche automobiles are unbelievable. The performance that you get in a car that can be driven daily is astounding. Ferry Porsche designedcars that he couldrace on Sunday and drive to the office on Monday. To this day, Porsche vehicles still honor those roots of the Porsche family...it's great! What's better is that I assist people in purchasing the car of their dreams...weather they are discovering Porsche or rediscovering by graduating to a Porsche , like I did.

Thanks Woodhouse. You are lucky in that you have combined your passion with your profession. I'm glad you are on our side.

I'm sure glad to be in the company of a bunch of car nuts. My first car was a '54 MG-TF. 1 hr road time =1 hrshop time. Have had cars from the sublime (2 911 's, MB AMG, Alfa GTV) to the ridiculous, '67 Simca 1000. Vintage raced various Brit & Italian cars and have concluded they don't make them like they use to. Thank God! There is very little doubt in my mind that the Cayman is going to be the best driving experience I ever had, both on & off the track.

When I was 13, a neighbor bought a new69 Z28 Camaro, yellow with black stripes. I drooled over it. He modded it enough to get it to run in the 10s and rarely drove it except at the strip. My first car was a 68 Camaro Convertible (wish I still had it) but I still lust for that 69 Z28.

My father and Ikicked a lot of tires in the 70s: 73 Pantera ($10K at your local Lincoln Mercury dealer!!!), 72 Alfa 2000 GTV (great looking car); 71 Rover 2000TC (evidently it was popular with Members of Parliament according to him); 73Lotus Europa Twin Cam (I was much more interested than he was); and the BMW 3.0CSi. There were a lot of very interesting cars in the 69 to 73 period. Dino 246GT was mentioned, but there was the Maserati Bora and Merak, Ferrari 365GTC/4 (not as well known as the Daytonas), Lamborghini had the Jarama and Espada beside the Miura.He ownedtwo 911s, a beige-grey 73 T and a white 77 S. The 77 had a lot of problems (EGR w/ oil leaks, bad year) which gave way to an 83 380SL which he gave me at the end of my 99Boxster lease(03) and will remain my daily driver. I actually coveted the 914-6which I thought was more interesting than the 911, soI obviously haven't changed muchwith time. He was impressed by the Boxster, but these dayshe thinks all Porsches are outrageously priced so we don't discuss the Cayman in any detail. He still drives his 89 560SL which according to him was the last SL that wasn't all plastic.

First was the Jag: Then the DB5: <div align="center"> </div> <div align="left">Then it was the Girl With The DB5. Shaken, stirred, and.....</div>