What made you a gear head?

[RustRocket]

From the time I was very young, (i'm still young) I would shout out the names of cars as we were driving around town, just based on the badges they wore. I'm sure that got annoying to my parents, but I as well had, and still have, a very extensive Hotwheels/Matchbox collection. My Grandpa was into cars his whole life, and I fondly remember him telling stories about his Porsche 912, Ford Courier, many AMC's, '46 Town & Country Convertible, and his Cord 810, "it was shiny, shiny black." Thus my Dad was into cars, and my dad grew up in the late 80's, early 90's, when the lowrider scene was very big, which shaped my love for the malaise-era American luxury cars, as well as the performance cars, like Taurus SHO, Buick GN, Syclone/Typhoon, Starion, and such. My dad always had lowriders, his first car, the '75 Impala hardtop, later his '93 Astro and '79 DeVille. I didn't catch the lowrider bug as much as he did, I've always been more into foreign cars, especially older Benz, VW, and Porsche's. I remember reading Hemmings, Hot Rod, and Lowrider quite a bit, while my wrenching ability was simply holding the flashlight for Dad.
Here's a picture of my older brother and I with my dad's '79 DeVille, c. 2002. Damn, digital cameras sucked back then:

 

[307 Regal]

Never played that, the Original Gran Turismo was my Jam. I still have it. Forza is better in everyway though.

Used '95 R33 Skyline GTR V-spec II FTW. lol Geared it for 245mph at one point.
Years later, I've finally gotten to try Gran Turismo 2. Very interesting car list. I missed that game, borrowed GT3, then borrowed and eventually bought GT4 which introduced me to the GNX (and g-bodies again), which I used because it reminded me of "the hot rod cop car" (Caprice) from "Black Sheep." http://pics.imcdb.org/7099/vlcsnap-2015-04-07-16h40m40s181.jpg
I got into Forza after that as well, but a good friend of mine stuck with Playstation and we've played the crap out of GT5&6.

Gotta bring up Driver 2. https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51KHFD9PV9L.jpg Another important one from my pre-teen years. It's sort of my car's spirit animal, if that makes any sense. lol I'd like to get a vinyl bumper sticker made of the cover art.

 

[motorheadmike]

Our Dad was a mechanic (eventually owned his own shop), he and our Uncles were always at the drags - and dragged (pun intended) our Mom (often while pregnant) there too. So it was definitely an in utero experience for us. Funny how I did the same thing to Natasha...

This past weekend my brother and I took my girls to the track just like our parents did... worked on us, and it should work on them too.

They say take a kid to a car show... I say forget that noise - take them to the track and show them what cars can really do! Looks like we have a future engineer, and designer/speed freak in our midst.

 

[motorheadmike]

It all started when I first started flying planes in WWII...

FTFY. 😉

 

[pontiacgp]

Another thing that got me started was huge slot car tracks that opened up when I was a young teenager. We would rewind the motors to get more speed out of the car and tweak the drive train. We would change wheels to see what would give more speed around the corners. Out of all my 1/24 and 1/32 my favorite car was a 1/32 Ford GT....

 

[307 Regal]

Another thing that got me started was huge slot car tracks that opened up when I was a young teenager. We would rewind the motors to get more speed out of the car and tweak the drive train. We would change wheels to see what would give more speed around the corners. Out of all my 1/24 and 1/32 my favorite car was a 1/32 Ford GT....

My dad had slot cars and he dabbled in them during that "slot car resurgence" a few years back. He got my brother a Le Mans-style Cadillac and I received a D&W Zakspeed Capri that I fell in love with.

It's actually front engine / rear drive with a drive shaft. I ended up stripping the "ring gear" on the rear axle from using it so much. Luckily they sell replacements. We tried putting some aftermarket tires on it and man did that ever improve it! (just on the rears of course) It was good before but it's nigh on unbeatable now.

 

[Clutch]

Another thing that got me started was huge slot car tracks that opened up when I was a young teenager. We would rewind the motors to get more speed out of the car and tweak the drive train. We would change wheels to see what would give more speed around the corners. Out of all my 1/24 and 1/32 my favorite car was a 1/32 Ford GT....

I had that

 

[Longroof79]

. Hey Jack- lots of cool hot rods in NYC back in the day. My dream car was a '32 Vicky.Coincidence?

Mark,
You're absolutely right. These cars could have been had for a song. I always enjoyed reading (and dreaming) about owning one in the small pages of Car Craft, Custom Rodder, etc.
I remember a girl that I knew in high school whose boyfriend would come and pick her up at school in a cool '32 coupe. I was in awe. '32 Vickys are a cool body style, and rarer than a typical coupe.

I loved growing up in the early muscle car era. I did get to ride in some cool cars back in the day.

 

[Monte Cristo]

It all started when I first started flying planes in WWII...

FTFY. 😉

Are you sure it wasn't WWI?

 

[Longroof79]

Are you sure it wasn't WWI?

You guys are a bunch of comedians.... I'm not that old...😵