Who or What influanced you into cars?

[lonewolf]

Are we all born car guys and girls or is it something in life that gets you into it .

Myself I think I was born this way. No-one in my family is into cars except me.
Built my first plastic car model when I was 5.
Loved watching wide world of sports and all the racing coverage they had.
When I was a kid anything that I could get on and steer I loved.
Built more than a couple of go-carts and by that I mean in my day that was a piece of plywood from some jobsite(we were always living in new subdivisions and back then it was open season for anything a kid would need to build whatever) 2,2x4, 4 big nails to hold the wheels on and some rope for steering.
Then push it down a big hill.

In the summer I would go on road trips with my father. That's when I got my first sensation of speed or as I know now torgue. I remember the first time I saw 70mph in the speedo. My dad would pass people all the time,look over at me and say "don't tell your mother about this"

We would go over to my Aunt and Uncles for sunday dinner and my uncle would always take us boys out for a secret ride in his mustang. Do burnouts in it that gave us the biggest thrill.
I had some nieghbours and school teachers with cool cars
Teenager across the street took me for some rides in his firebird when I was around 10. Payback for pushing him down the street to get his motorcycle started.

First car 375hp 68GTX. cost 636.00, looked like crap,went like stink, Had almost all of the mopar muscle cars. Even the big 426hemi in a 67GTX.
Then I borrowed my room mates 914 to go to the store . Before that I remember the day I said I would never buy one of those things(914) But driving it to the store,top off,I kinda liked it .
At this time I was driving my muscle cars like road race cars and let's face it they are no good for that so I started looking for a sports car.
I ended up buying a 914 from my old school teacher.Just the plain jane adriatic blue 1.7ltr but I really enjoyed it. top off in seconds,tons of storage for trips and great on gas.
The 911 dream came after seeing the Braun shaver commercial with the back end of a turbo going up a road ,leaves billowing from underneath,pretty cool.
Bought first 911 28 years ago and been driving one ever since and hope to continue driving one .

So for me I think I was born a car guy but I never have forgot that first sensation of torgue and to this day still love that push in the back feeling you get going through the gears so that may have played a part in it too amoung a couple other things.

So were you too born this way too or what.......

[azasadny]

I saw a 1974 Porsche driving by my elementary school, way back in the fall of '73 and that hooked me!!

[Noah930]

I was born a car-guy. My parents aren't into them at all. Course, growing up in L.A. probably allowed my innate interest to fluorish.

[Flieger]

I have loved airplanes since I was just a baby, before I could talk or walk even.

My Dad's 911 (and PCA activity) got me into cars I would say. Being an only child I really have bonded with my Dad. I enjoy classic cars and classic music.

My Mom couldn't care less about cars or airplanes, though she appreciates that my Dad and I like them, and she thinks 356s look good. She likes nature, art, stuff like that, opposite my Dad. I like nature a lot. I got that from her.

[imcarthur]

Cars were just appliances for me until the 80s when I saw my 1st 911 Cabriolet. I knew I had to own one. It took me another 20 years but I do.

Ian

[Rick V]

My Dad used to work at a Porsche dealership way back in the day. I remember when he brought home the "new Porsche" It was a 914 and had just hit the market.
I cut my teeth on 60's Mopar but never lost the love for the 911 and saved my money until I could buy one.
I have always loved cars, although after wrenching on them for a few decades has tainted that love.

[Head416]

I was never too into cars until I borrowed my dad's 911SC. Bought mine a couple months later.

[porsche4life]

My dad has always been into cars. He had a body shop and car lot back in the '80s. Had moved on by the time I came around, but he still took me to plenty of shows. When I was 14 he bought the 944, played with a bit and then lost interest, he said it was uncomfortable to get in and out of...

I started fixing the issues on it, and it became my first car. So my dad got me into cars, and into Porsche specifically....

[jwasbury]

Matchbox and Hotwheels.

From as far back as I can remember I was car crazy. When I was young, I was able to identify almost any car from the rear at night by the tail lights with very high accuracy.

My Aunt would trade in for a new Cadillac every 2-3 years. I always loved visiting and checking out the new ride. This was during 70's full luxo boat era. Power everything, and ashtrays/cig lighters in every corner. My Uncle (other side of the family) had a 280Z when I was pretty young (later into BMW). Family folklore story is that I told my Uncle straight up I wanted the Z when he died...though I have no memory of saying it. Uncle still lives, but the Z is long gone (he drives a pick up these days)

There weren't any cool cars at my house growing up:

Dad is a total cheap@$$ and he buys cars and runs them a long time. I was 11 years old by the time we shopped for the first new car (that I could remember). Dad had absolutely no emotion about it. It was a "consumer reports" shopping process. Dad even drew up a decision matrix to help compare and contrast the various vehicles being considered.

I guess one cool thing is that there were no automatics in the garage when I was learning to drive.

[algs911]

My Uncle and his totally modified 1970 Pontiac GTO. He still has that car! WOW it was fast (still is!!!).

al

[Scott Douglas]

These guys, well, except for the one with the tie on.
Neighbor owned the 'vette, '60 dual quad car that he put an FI unit on and my brother ended up tuning for him. Before that he had a '57 Nomad and before that he had a '57 Bel Air sport coupe.
Dad was a mechanical engineer who hated to have anyone else work on his cars. He had us rebuilding engines at a young age. We had go karts and would run 'em up and down the alley in back.
Those were the days....

[masraum]

I'm pretty sure mine is genetic reinforced a bit by environment. My dad was a gearhead, and then when I was 15 we moved and the guy that was my best friend was a gearhead with a dad that was a gearhead. As a kid starting when I was 3 years old, my toys were always Matchbox cars or Hot Wheels.

My dad had had muscle cars when he was a teen, but was also into sports cars. He told me a story about rebuilding/hot rodding an engine when his parents went out of town when he was a teen. He'd had Corvairs, Bugs, Mustangs, Austin Healey 3000, MG Midget, etc.... He had bought broken cars, fixed them and flipped them for extra cash or fixed cars for people for extra cash at times. He taught me how to work on cars and how to drive.

I guess it just reinforced things that the guys that I hung out with when I was 15 were gear heads with a dad that was also into cars.

My first car when I was 16 in 1986 was a 1965 Chevy Impala 2dr with a 350 and 4spd, and my buddy got a 1970 El Camino with a 396/402.

[notfarnow]

I have always loved cars, not sure why. My dad likes cars, but I have been obsessed with them since I was a kid.

As for Porsches, I can distinctly remember being at a birthday party when I was 7 years old, and the birthday boy got a silver Porsche 911 toy. I remember how striking it was, and I can still rememeber being fascinated by the shapes & contours of the car. Since then, the 911 has always been the PERFECT car. Now I get to drive one every day!

[RWebb]

No-one in my family is or was into cars except me. Well, my mom was a real fast driver... My dad had no mech. ability or interest at all - he provided a good living for mechanics and appliance repairmen every time he touched a mechanical device.

I guess it was from birth then. One thing I had to watch out for in HS tho was the guys who were way more into cars than me. They were blueprinting GTOs all the time. These guys were the "greasers" at the school and not too bright or good in school in general. I was in awe of them a bit, but knew if I got pulled in, I would aspire to working in a gas station as an adult, and that was like... nowhere's-ville, man. I do know that is where most of those guys ended up too.

[Instrument 41]

I think I was born with Esso in my veins (back then it was Esso). Uncle had a gas station and worked there from 10 years till he sold it. By the time I was 8 I could identify the parts of a torn down V8. I love the sounds, the smells, the looks of almost all cars. Nothing better than the smell in a car museum. I appreciate a clean car regardless if make. Started going to race tracks at 5 and have never stopped. I've restored them, raced them, modified them, repaired them and crashed them. My wife says she'll never worry about 2 legs but 4 wheels.

[RANDY P]

Combination of three things- Grandpa was really into nice cars and working on things in general- that was the blood part

I had an uncle who bought me a subscription to "Road and Track" Mag when I was 6 years old cuz I liked cars.

Around driving age I moved to Renton, WA which was a big middle class all American kind of town back then, and all my buddies parents were consequently big time gear heads.

The rest is history. Still at it.

rjp

[Shaun @ Tru6]

1977, B. Dalton bookstore at the Maplewood Mall in Minnesota.

Front display table, big hardcover book with the back end of a white Turbo on the cover. Book was appropriately named Turbo!.

[billybek]

I was "helping" my dad overhaul a 1200cc VW engine before I was 10.
All the work on our family cars was done at home unless dad was away for work.

Dad also built a MiGi replicar when I was about 12. I can remember hanging out in the garage with him. We didn't talk a lot but he would give me something to do and I would do it. I thought (and still do) that it was a cool thing to be able to do.
We built a bunch of VW stuff out of the garage and quite a few engines.

My best friend growing up was a certified car nut and that rubbed off a bit too. First drive in a muscle car was my cousins 71 mach 1. He let me drive with my learners permit when I was 14.

Always wanted a 911 though......

[id10t]

I got into a car by growing up with it and forming memories...

I got into maintaining a car for financial reasons ...

[wdfifteen]

I guess I was a freak of nature. Grew up on a farm and everyone else was focused on the animals. I remember every tractor and implement we had. I learned to drive, raking hay, at the age of about 7 on a Ford 2N, pulling a Massey-Harris rake. My first influences were a cousin with a '65 Mustang 289 four speed his friend, who built the holy grail of cars as far as I was concerned - he built a '63 Plymouth Savoy with a 426 wedge and when the '64 Hemi came out he bought a brand new one, yanked the engine out and put it in his '63. One of these days I'll replicate that car.
In high school the only thing I could afford was a '60 VW. I learned to appreciate it, decided I wanted a Porsche. As a farm kid I couldn't afford a Porsche, so I bought a '64 coupe wrecked in the front and a '63 coupe wrecked in the back, cut them in two, and welded up my first Porsche. That was 1969. I've always loved anything that burned hydrocarbons and moved. Learned to fly and drive an 18 wheeler, but I hated boats and water.