Just to stir a bit of discussion - I had this conversation at work recently and thought it was interesting how much it varied by generation.

Base question:
-What was your dream car as a child (before you were able to drive)? The one that if someone had given you a billion dollars when you were young, you'd have bought as soon as the check cleared just to have it.

Bonus questions:
-Have you ever seen one IRL? Sat in one? Driven one?
-If you won a contest today where someone else would pay 100% ownership costs for life of any one car - would you still want it? (IE is it still your #1 dream car, or has another surpassed it in your mind)
-What was it that attracted you so much to it?


For me, it was the F50. The beautiful body lines are what really got me hooked - accentuated by the fact that it was highlighted as a feature in so many video games and magazines at the time.

I've seen 3 in real life, but never up close. They were always at auctions / shows where you were kept at least 10+ feet away.

Id love to drive one to try it, but I dont think Id still want to own one today - at least not as my only supercar (would be different if I had billions of dollars and rows and rows of similar supercar).

I know a lot of people say "never meet your idols or you'll be disappointed". Id imagine performance is every bit as awesome today as it was then, just not sure if the actual driving experience day to day would be as fun as you'd expect (or if it would be a miserably rough experience like so many race car to street car translations tended to be back then). Id also be terrified to actually drive it even if I did own one, much less to really push it and enjoy it (tracks days, etc). The rarity / obscene price tag would always be stuck in the back of my head even if I wasnt the one footing the bill.



Oddly enough, I really dislike the F40 despite the similar overall shape. It's in my lower rungs of beautiful supercar ranking. I do generally like the look of its successor, the Enzo - but the lack of any spoiler on the back looks odd to me (I get they did it on purpose 'because it doesnt need one'), and the FXX added style spoiler looks too odd to me.

 

In the same boat as you, what little kid didn't have a ferrari testarossa car poster and drooled over the lines on that thing.

But also being a huge Chevy fanboy and child of the 80s, I did love the c3 Corvette with big wheel humps.

Also growing up playing GTA, you fall in love with the Grand Sport Corvette. Just the other weekend at a car show I saw one for sale and was drooling over it.

 

That color combo, even down to the black wheels is 100% up my alley! I truly think that's the best looking of that generation.

I will say, given how cheap theyve gotten, they do seem to be gaining some popularity in amateur racing groups over the last decade or so. It is certainly refreshing to see anything on the field besides a sea of Miatas, lol.

 

See, this is a bit different for me..... I was never really into cars growing up. I did not really get an interest into cars until I got my license at age 17. When I started getting into cars, I remember working at a grocery store and pushing carts past this awesome car, no idea what it was but I saw the word "IROC" on the door. Never thought I would get to own own..... I did learn shortly after that it was part of of the 1982-1992 3rd gen Camaro. And just a short few months past that, my second car was a 1984 Z28!!!! You have NO idea how many times I looked in the driveway and went "OH MY GOD! I own one". I was in shock. T-tops, 5 speed manual, power windows, door locks and trunk pop. WOW! I was a senior in High School and just in shock!

Next car of interest were the Lamborghini Diablos. The sleek look, 80's styling and those crazy scissor doors were all really cool! I did get to drive a Lamborghini Gallardo in Las Vega, I think in 2013.... That was a LOT of fun. And about two years ago, I had a chance to drive a Lamborghini Huracan, but couldn't. I BARELY fit in the Huracan (I am tall is a big part, after having "fun" getting into the car, with the seat all the way back the wheel rubbed my thighs and my head hit the ceiling BEFORE putting on the helmet).

These days, sure I would love a Lamborghini of almost any model, but would I fit? Would I be comfortable? Sure I fit in the Gallardo, but barely.....

 

The 1970 GTX with the 440 was the car I wanterd to own. My older brother bought a blue one and boy we tore up some Camaro's, Mustangs. I was in High School 71-73 (dropped out 2 months into 11th grade, joined army at 17) Cutting class and taking a car load of the girls for rides. I had a white with red interior 65 Pontiac Tempest with a 326, did okay. My friend had the Olds 442 with his / her Hurst shifter set up, that thing would get up and go too.

 

Nice - that's a really awesome car, especially for a high school kid!

I do think they're smaller inside than the Gallardo. Ive driven several Gallardos at this point and was able to squeeze, even with a helmet (granted the helmet is wedged on the ceiling). But to fit at all in a Huracan, I had to slide my butt forward / lower back off the seat to fit the helmet at all - which of course makes the leg problem worse as you'd mentioned. In hindsight, I shouldve asked to switch cars - it was super uncomfortable and would've been ugly if Id have wrecked it in a body position like that.

That's one big thing that worries me about 'meeting my idols', especially the older ones from a liveability perspective. Some of the older super cars also had tight pedal boxes and offset pedal boxes (cab is so far forward and front tires are so wide that they shift the pedals way right to clear the tub) that makes the ergonomics even worse.

I bet something like that is eye-watering expensive today! That seems to be right in the sweet spot for those car values. I assume he sold it at some point like most folks do?

 

I owned my chilldhood dream car. The Daytona Yellow 1969 Chevelle SS 396 (375HP) 4 spd w/ posi. Plus it had the chambered dual exhaust system this thing was fast, and I won a few drag strip titles with it. The only thing I have now form that car that is in the photo is the little plastic model on the hood. which I have restored.

 

You guys sure are lucky having owned some of these holy grail cars (at least based on auction values these days) before they became unattainable!

Id imagine that's about as desireable as they possibly get for a Chevelle besides a 70 / 454?