No one car for me, but, inadvertently, a person. The headmaster at my school in the Shetland Isles was a huge car fan, and because of this, he got all the magazines. After reading them, he would leave them in the school library, where upon I would nick them (usually Autocar or Motor) to pour over at home.

Out of the cars my Dad has had, the one I'm most interested in now didn't make much of an impression at the time. That was a DAF 55, a little dutch saloon car using a Renault engine (1100cc I think) along with the 'Variomatic' CVT transmission. Apart from the CVT aspect, this had a weird setup whereby each rear wheel had its own 'drive'. In theory, the car could go as fast in reverse as it could forwards (maybe about 80mph?). But I'd love one now and there are still plenty kicking about in the Netherlands. The coupe version is a particularly pretty little thing 48546629692_e1f48b0cae_b.jpg

Just to point out, I clicked on this thinking you were going to talk about Hyundai's luxury offshoot!

Edited by badbusdriver on 21/08/2021 at 08:40

For me it wasn't any particular car that got me interested. Growing up in the 1960s the car was the route to adulthood, freedom, a social life, girls etc.

That I was also fascinated by how things worked meant cars were an opportunity to use skill and knowledge to make it go faster, more reliable, smoother, handle better etc.

In my 20s I was able to afford better cars (before marriage and kids) - faster, bigger etc was very attractive.

Time moves on and beyond a certain point extra performance is now really quite academic. Reliability and comfort are key. Money, whilst not an issue, is a consideration - do I spend £30k on a car or winter in Spain for the next 5 years? The latter wins out every time.

I also know that if presented with a car capable of 0-60 in 5 seconds and able to corner on rails I no longer have the skill or reflexes to exploit it (if I ever did!)

I owned and drove daily a 1929 Riley Monaco - same mechanics, fabric body.

No syncromesh

Vacuum wipers Cable brakes . No servo action (of course)

Petrol tank tank mounted in engine compartment above driver's feet. (gravity feed)

A deathtrap on wheels. (I was 18 at the time.)

I've always hankered after a suitable "wolf in sheep's clothing" ever since. I came close with my last ever company car circa 1992 which was a Saab 9000 cs turbo, fab, comfy, fast car.

From 1990-1995 I worked at a SAAB dealer, and I well remember when the 9000CS was introduced. I always thought the high level brake light looked like someone had taken the illuminated sign from the roof of a black cab and stuck it on the top of the tailgate facing backwards.

But as for a wolf in sheep's clothing, the best example of that I remember was actually a 9000CD saloon. This was in the most basic trim and didn't even have alloys, but it did have the 200bhp 2.3 turbo engine!. It was a demonstrator, so I had plenty of opportunities to get behind the wheel and go out 'hunting'!. Wasn't great at putting all that torque through the front wheels on a damp road, but good fun in the dry!.

I wonder how the Thema 8.32 (on the same platform as the Saab) coped! I think that had 220ish bhp.

The main problem with getting the power down in the SAAB was the amount of torque at low revs. While the Thema 8.32 did have more power (215bhp) than the early 2.3 turbo, it had less torque which peaked much higher up the rev range than the SAAB (209lb/ft @ 4500rpm vs 243lb/ft @ 2000rpm).

The top of the range 9000CS Aero upped the power to 225bhp and torque to 258lb/ft @ 1900rpm. The boss had one of them (needless to say!) and it was a very impressive car (for the time). Magnificent seats too (front and back)!.