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Journal: What Car Was Love At First Sight For You?

What Car Was Love At First Sight For You?

By Michael Banovsky
December 5, 2015
30 comments

Editorial Director Ted Gushue was recently at the Petersen Museum’s grand opening, something, naturally, that we had to talk about as soon as he could. I find the larger museums quite overwhelming; with floors packed with exotic, iconic  machinery, it’s difficult to pore over all the details in just one sitting. A car per day is just about my pace.

There are, however, always vehicles that are instantly captivating. 

For Ted at the Petersen, the Alexander Calder BMW 3.0 CSL Art Car, a superlative in every sense of the word, was love at first sight. Mine? Porsche No. 1 and the first time I saw a Messerschmitt KR200 are right up there, but mine has to be the 1970 Porsche 917 LH in its “Hippy” livery, parked at the Simeone Museum in Philadelphia.

What car was love at first sight for you?

Image Sources: Ted Gushue, Tommaso Bertotti, wikipedia.org/Porsche-917, wikipedia.org/Porsche_356/1, mad4wheels.com

Tags BMW/ Lancia/ Messerschmitt/ Porsche/ Simeone Museum
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Davide Lusardi
Davide Lusardi
4 years ago

Singer Porsche

1
Donald Compton
Donald Compton
5 years ago

’66 912. I bought a red one in 1975. Miss that car.

1
Jorge Rueda
Jorge Rueda
6 years ago

Ferrari F50, Lamborghini Diablo, and McLaren F1

0
David Pierson
David Pierson
6 years ago

1965 Shelby Daytona Coupe. With those lines so evocative of the Ferrari 250 GTO.

0
wing nut
wing nut
7 years ago

Walking through Ipswich, England, I heard it before I saw it, a Dino 246 GT. Stunned when it drove by, I gave chase. Thankfully the driver pulled in for petrol and I got as close as I dare. Gob-smacked as they say. Still to this day I’m smitten but thankfully while never owning one I’ve got a few thousand miles under my bum in one. They drive as grand as they look. Also like another person on here, the Ford GT 40. They came with my Scalextric set. This I have owned and what a stunning car they are to own and drive.

0
BillB51545
BillB51545
7 years ago

I was flying off an aircraft carrier in the South China Sea when I first saw a Datsun ad for their new 240Z. The picture was an overhead shot of a green Z driving across a dry lake in the desert. The shape was perfect, it was a combination of XKE coupe with some styling cues (headlight nacelles) from a MGB GT. I was in love ! When I got back to land, I read more about it and sent my dad $200 to make deposits with both Datsun dealers in San Diego County. I eventually took delivery 3 months after getting home. It was stolen in 1995 but I’m now building its replacement that will be everything I wanted the original car to be but didn’t have the money. What a wonderful car !

0
Thomas Fabry
Thomas Fabry
7 years ago

Datsun 280z

0
Steve Crowley
Steve Crowley
7 years ago

1968 Alfa Romeo Duetto

0
Jack Lawrence
Jack Lawrence
8 years ago

Bullitt.

0
Felipe Ordonez
Felipe Ordonez
8 years ago

BMW 3.0 CSL, Got one as a present when I was about 10 and that did it!!

0
Michael Hainey
Michael Hainey
8 years ago

For me it was/is the GT40

http://p2161.com/images/lowered-after.jpg

0
Liu Leo
Liu Leo
8 years ago

Alfa Romeo 105/115 Series Coupe.

0
Júnior Almeida
Júnior Almeida
8 years ago

I remember well when I saw a Citroen 2CV for the first time , I did not understand so well about cars and thought fantastic design that car so small and friendly . It was love at first sight. After almost twenty years got mine and every time knock at him in the garage have the same sensation the first time I saw him

0
Savyon Saw
Savyon Saw
8 years ago

The Ferrari 288 GTO. I first saw it while playing Test Drive Unlimited. 9-year-old me didn’t know what it was and it didn’t look too special on in-game statistics, but I knew it was something special as soon as I saw it on the showroom floor at the classic car dealership.

0
Savyon Saw
Savyon Saw
8 years ago

The Ferrari 288 GTO. I first saw it while playing Test Drive Unlimited. 9-year-old me didn’t know what it was and it didn’t look too special on in-game statistics, but I knew it was something special as soon as I saw it on the showroom floor at the classic car dealership.

0
Scott Allen
Scott Allen
8 years ago

I would say my favorite car on sight was the Porsche 914. I was around 8 yrs old.
It had hidden lights, a removable roof, the unique opening engine cover/grill.
It wasn’t very tall. and seemed like the first car, someday, I could actually buy.

I was always saddened some to often here it was an ugly duck….as I never thought it was….to this day it is still really nice for me.

0
Tomas Alisauskas
Tomas Alisauskas
8 years ago

SAAB 900 OG.

0
Linda N Brian Schick
Linda N Brian Schick
8 years ago

1957 Chrysler 300C God, I feel old!

0
Patrick Frawley
Patrick Frawley
8 years ago

Lotus/Caterham 7. Not even in real life; saw it in an article in Automobile magazine in the late Eighties. Just the most primal subliminal sense of affinity.

0
Nils Wenzler
Nils Wenzler
8 years ago

Alpine A110,loved it from the first moment I saw and heard one. Still hope that one day I can get one!

0
Dariusz Szulc
Dariusz Szulc
8 years ago

The Light Car Company Rocket really drew me in.

I didn’t know what it was from seeing it in Jay Leno’s Garage intro but then I found an article on it a few pages later.

Just love the idea and matra that it brings and how it has no equal

0
Paul Ipolito
Paul Ipolito
8 years ago

1963 Corvette Coupe. Is this a trick question?

0
Ian Miles
Ian Miles
8 years ago

The first car I can rememeber was the Essex Turbo Esprit. Not the original but a subsequent model and much more lary and celebrated the use of Essex Turbos in F1.
Then the Lancia Delta Integral EVO II. The best looking of the breed. The I went to the dark side……

0
Andries Dort
Andries Dort
8 years ago

In 2003 when going to my weekly rowing morning, I saw a Burton cabrio. Guys in The Netherlands make these and it looked awesome. Several years later I got my own – since then the quote is true ” when you once have driven a cabrio, you know its the best way.”

0
Rumaih
Rumaih
8 years ago

when i was about 6 years old my family moved to a new house and i remember me and my brother and my sis playing outside with our bicycles when i always just stare at our neighbor Porsche 964 seeing it for the first time and i was just blown away i knew from that moment that i really loved 911’s and he was so generous for letting us inside the car and feel it, i just cant forget that moment!

thanks to Michael Banovsky for an amazing article bringing us lots of good memories.

0
State O Flux
State O Flux
8 years ago

The Lancia Stratos. Prior to the Stratos, I was a hotrod & Harley guy in the late 60s / 70s… then one dark night in ’75, a shiny red, new Stratos came up along side me. Impossibly small, impossibly lunatic… WTF iszat!!! I didn’t bail out on the hotrods & Harleys for a few more years… but I dreamed of the Stratos… still do after 40 years.

1
PJPeterson
PJPeterson
8 years ago

68 MORGAN +8. They still do it for me!

0
Kermit74
Kermit74
8 years ago

I’m sure it was a the Ferrari from magnum p i then I saw a 288 gto and fell in love

0
Norbert Krasovski
Norbert Krasovski
8 years ago

My first one was Honda Prelude 5 gen. Everybody thinks it is hideous but even though i have moved to liking classic and modern-classic cars i still want to accure one. 🙂

But first Hakosuka and BMW e9 to my stables!

0
Jonathan Lim
Jonathan Lim
8 years ago

’96 Viper GTS, all thanks to the Viper TV show in the ’90s. That shade of blue, that shine off the chrome rims, and that contrast of the stripes… I don’t know why but something about it massively struck a chord with little four year old me, and I’ve lusted for one ever since.

0

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