Each year we throw a big Christmas Party and invite all our friends and families to join us as we get ready for the Holiday Season. The Holidays have always been a big ordeal in our family, and with our party this evening, the impact grows bigger watching as my son starts to take it all in and watch the festivities develop before his eyes.
It is fascinating watching my son grow up, and seeing his interests develop. We can’t walk through a parking lot without him seeing either a BMW or Audi and declaring Mommy or Daddy because he knows those cars are what Mommy and Daddy drive. If he sees a Jeep, he immediately points it out and says Grandma for the same reason.
What an experience it is watching his growth, and knowing that like his father, my son is growing up to like cars. He has a Ferrari 599GTB Fiorano Hot Wheels car that rides with him in my car when we go out, and when I accelerate quickly in the car he often says, “Faster Dad.”
Maybe it is just the brandy-laced cider speaking, but I got thinking about, when I was a kid.
I remember sometime in the mid-80's going to a car show in Denver. This particular show had a Buick Concept car, I remember it being billed as the 1995 Buick Wildcat Concept.
Let that sink in for a minute.
A Buick of all things.
A Buick that me as an 11-year old kid WANTED.
A Buick that I thought was cool.
A Buick that was coming out just in time for me to be able to buy.
A Buick that was never meant to be.
The reality is our kids aren’t growing up lusting after Buick’s anymore. And yeah, you could certainly make the case that the GM of 1995 would have found a way to screw up even that model – that is not the point.
Here is an idea that sparked a passion in an 11-year old me that holds true to this day.
When I was a kid, I had a friend who got to ride in a Porsche 944.
AND I WAS JEALOUS!
He was kind enough to have a bunch of pictures taken, that he then sold to me and other classmates.
I still have the picture I bought. My wife thinks I am nuts, but the truth is this is part of who I am, the fabric that today defines me as a car enthusiast.
And if you are honest with yourself, you have stories just as ridiculous as mine that make up the person you are in relation to the cars you love today.
In 1997 when Nissan released the updated Pulsar with different hatchback modules that could be interchanged, I HAD to have one – when I was old enough to drive.
And being as good with numbers and a calculator as I was as a kid, I was able to figure my monthly payment to get the current car I wanted.
Yeah, BMW’s were a big part of my wants, however that same calculator dictated a payment that I knew I wouldn’t initially be able to afford upon turning 16 and getting my driver’s license.
The first Saturn Coupe, the SC2 was another car that my calculator indicated I could AFFORD, well if I quit high school and started working 40+ a week that is.
Isn’t it funny how whimsical our outlook was when we were younger? The hopes and dreams we had that seemed so ambitious, yet in hindsight were pretty ridiculous or unrealistic.
Upon turning 16, a family friend from our church whose job was dealer manager at a Lexus-Toyota-BMW dealership in Syracuse New York showed up one Sunday in the a brand new Lexus SC400.
And I asked very nicely to for him to show me the car after church.
He went one better than that, he said let’s go now. We skipped church to drive in the SC400 – and by drive I mean he let me drive.
So as a 16-year old kid I was driving the hottest Lexus available at speeds that would have gotten me arrested as my friend coaxed me into really exploring the greatness of the SC400.
And after returning to church I had to drive home in the Ford Taurus my mother owned at the time. Talk about spoiling and corrupting any sense of reality I may have previously had as the Lexus SC400 took the top spot in the lust department of cars I simply had to have.
And the calculator didn’t lie to me in telling me there was no way in hell I could afford the SC400 for a LONG, LONG TIME.
And yet that experience added another block to the foundation of what today is a passion for cars that now encompasses 34 years worth of life lived to date, and is like you, one of the driving forces that makes you come back daily to check out what is the newest latest car available to dream about.
When I was a kid, especially an older kid, a Christmas list without at least a single car that I currently wanted on it was a list not made up by me.
Was it the 1995 Buick Wildcat concept car that made me a car enthusiast? The answer is No. I loved cars long before I loved a Buick.
What is was though was a blip on the radar of ever changing cars that captured the imagination and stirred the soul. I remember my Dad saying to me as we left the Denver Auto Show back in 1985 that the Buick Wildcat really wasn’t a practical car.
Sadly my Dad has never been much of a car guy, but there was wisdom in his words. The concept itself would never work with that huge glass canopy and mid-engine setup, but General Motors themselves wouldn’t take a risk that huge as it didn’t fit then current corporate strategy which dictated badge engineering as a means to produce cars.
So what cars made up your list when you were a kid?
What memories do you have of cars along your journey to becoming a true car enthusiast?
As the fun and excitement of Christmas draws near, don’t let that enthusiasm fade just because you got older.
And don’t be ashamed to admit that the Buick Wildcat concept was a car you lusted after as well. Like the famous line currently being used on Macy’s commercials, “Yes Virginia, there is a Santa.” Adapted for us car guys, “Yes (insert your name here), Buick did make cars kids lusted after.”
Even if it was just a concept, I WANTED ONE.