I thought about this for a bit. In terms of a Dream Car , I would pick a Lotus. Like the one from Bond. But in reality, in the real world, I love my Ford Ranger and wouldn't trade it for any other. The Lotus, I would have to hire a guard just to keep someone from stealing it. And the police would watch you like a hawk expecting you to be speeding, or that you are a Independent Pharmaceutical Rep. * to afford it.


*Drug dealer

Michael "Finalday"
In Memory Of WLB

I have always likes Mercury Cougars.
I have owned 2, a 1970 model and a 2002 model (which I still have, baby , and wipe with a diaper everyonce in a while). I can't post pics but you can look them up easy enough.
I am starting to have a love interest with the new Ford GT - looks sweet - but I am affraid that this will be like my interest in the Ford GT90... completely unattainable and not worth the effort or time of the longing.

But my attainable dream is to buy another 70 model cougar(a convertable this time) and fix it up, even though the gas mileage is somewhere in the 9-11 mpg range. I still would drive around every weekend and catch some sun.

"On this ship you are to refer to me as Idiot, not you Captain. I mean... you know what I mean."

great story I saw on telly some months ago. Some guy down south near London got his "dream" vehicle which was a tracked Rapier missile launcher, sold off as surplus (obviously without the Rapier suface-to-air missiles!) but the radar tracking and aquisition system was left on as it was noi longer classified (old technology)

One day he was chugging around Essex (somewhere like that) in some woods with his Mrs, in his Rapier vehicle, parked up and they were having a picnic, when suddenly a load of soldiers and tactical police rsponse units surrounded them at gunpoint and hauled them off. Turned out that the radar had automatically been acquiring aerial targets in the vicinity of the airport, Stanstead I think, and the transponders on the planes had been pinged byt he radar and were throwing up a radar lock warning, so the authorities assumed it was terrorists locking on and reacted accordingly. Fookin hilarious (but not for this bloke and his wife) but in the end it turned out to be the MODs fault for not making sure the targeting system was disabled before sale to the public.

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just what is the point of these "dream" cars when most of us suffer from a combination of restrictive speed limits, traffic jams, outrageous fuel and insurance costs and limited parking facilities?

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If you can afford to purchase said dream cars then outrageous fuel and insurance costs and limited parking facilities would be of little concern. They are really weekenders though, I personally would drive something a little more practicle for my day to day hauller. But it's not uncommon for the stinking rich to have a wealth of automobiles, just look at Jay Leno, the guy practically has his own auto museum.
They really have no purpose but people love unique/performance cars, personally I think it's a buzz to get into a big block V8 and mash your foot for the "JESUS CHRIST" factor. Esentially they are a waste of money but let's face it, practical automobiles are about as exciting as income tax.

When I heard "Cars" I immedaiately began thinking of the '80s song.

Anyway, I wouldn't want a dream car necessarily. I'd prefer a nice helicopter, maybe a Blackhawk or an ol' Vietnam Huey. Traffic, who cares? Insurance, a problem, but I could make money on the side just takin' people up for rides. That'd work for the gas money too.

Signature? What's that?

if you CAN afford to purchase dream cars then they aren't dream cars but a reality. I don't waste much effort fantasising about being rich; if I WAS rich i assure you i wouldn't be splodging my money buying cars, but financing a private army to pursue the wicked and war down the proud.

face it, what's a pile of cash gonna get me? flash car? don't need one or really want one, although the tank would be cool big f-off house? not interested, like the one I've got thanks. Flash tarty birds? no ta, wouldn't swap my little puddin of a sweetheart for ANY amount of money despite my threatening her with trading her in in for 3 camels and a goat.

Anyway even if I was rich, my wife would spend it in a very short time, so I wouldn't even get chance to buy flash cars. I'd get her one though, it would make her happy, and when she drove it into a wall and killed herself cos she's such a cr*p driver I'd get the insurance money.

oo-er, i just realised, I'm actually worth sunstantially more dead than alive f***

anyway, back On-T: performance cars are great to drive, my last one was an Audi 2.8i Coupé Quattro, ok not a supercar but a performance car, and I had a Cosworth years ago too. Very exciting on the rare occasion I could get to put the pedal to the metal. Do I miss them? No, not really, more trouble than they're worth.

My uncle used to work in the Lamborghini factory before he went into sales at Pirelli in Milan, when i was a lot younger he used to take me to the test track at Monza and i got to drive Lamborghinis when I was a teenager, which was cool and gave me tons of cred at school! But he couldn't afford one of his own, and i never could either, and I'm not bothered. Rather have a boat.

gimme something that can be turned into a Low Rider and ill be happy

A quote from Celso of That 70's Show:I gotta have that car,El Camino is spanish for The Camino

Hrm, I thought you would have had at least a passing interest in auto's Taw, considering your background in design. Personally I think auto engineering is one of the most facinating areas of design, F1 in particular, Adrian Newey, Rory Byrne, Gordon Murray and Colin Chapman are my personal heroes to name a few.

Edited by - Mustang on 4/6/2004 7:04:08 PM

from an engineering and aesthetic point of view i do indeed appreciate automotive design. I particularly like Raymond Loewy/Norman bel Geddes designs and the classic British styles of the 40s/50s/60s, and of course Italian styling has been paradigm for decades.

I'm hoping to get one of those Hindustani Motors Austin Ambassadors in the summertime if I can keep me Mrs off me cash till then. I'd like a Healey or a Cambridge, or a Morris Oxford either.

I don't really like cars (or driving) due to many factors, including the morons I've had to work with over the years. You know, the car enthusiast crowd; "Look at the moi new roller-rockers and the big air-intakes in moi bonnet moit!" . Viator knows what I'm referring to. That being said, I wouldn't mind trying one of those hybrid cars, as I am interested in seeing how well an electric/petroleum motor performs.

I have yet to understand the fascination with electric cars. Yes, they do run clean, but they have to be recharged and that in some areas comes from coal fired power plants. So you are not really saving the environment, Hmmm?

Michael
"Finalday"

I know what you mean, Final. I have thought of that myself. I haven't come up with a good answer yet though .

Electric shmetric, I've got my money on Fuel Cells being the next big thing to power our personal transportation vehicle. Actually what I really want them to develop is a sophisticated auto pilot that will drive me home when im tanked up to the eyeballs on scotch. Now that'd be a real dream car.

Fuel cell-powered cars would be great, but only our grandchildren (if any ), will be able to buy mass produced ones. As for an auto-pilot, would you trust one? I doubt I would, and I know Taw wouldn't!