I was cruising down the road yesterday minding my own business and silently cursing the slow driving moron in front of me when my eyes caught one of the weirder things I have seen in a while. There to the left of me was a mid-1980s Lamborghini Countach sitting in the parking lot of a shabby apartment building. It was full-on arrest me red and my cynical New Englander self immediately though that it was some sort of Fiero conversion or something along those lines. When I saw the large by huge rear rubber on the car, my heart skipped a beat because that little tid-bit confirmed that it was a real-deal car.
I went into full zombie mode and recklessly made a 90-degree left hand turn across several lanes of traffic as to not miss the parking lot entrance. I cruised in and slowly drove past the Lambo, looking at all those crazy angles and planes on the car, smirking at the wing, and openly smiling when looking at the massive 345/45/15 rear tires. I didn’t snap any photos or even get out of my car because this wasn’t the normal spot to see such a car and I wasn’t going to seek out trouble.
Seeing the Countach brought me right back to being a kid in the 1980s and longing for one. These cars spent years being parodies of themselves, but I think the pendulum has swung back to the cool side. If you grew up in the 1980s, you wanted one of these cars. There was nothing like it in the world. It could go 200mph and looked like some sort of Earth-bound space ship. I’ve always loved American muscle cars and big trucks, but that Lambo was the first car I remember seeing a photo of as a kid and thinking, “Holy Sh$t!” It kept me up at night.
So that’s my first ridiculous car crush story, what is yours?
Question of the Day: What was your first crazy pre-teen car crush?
The AC Cobra from Gumball Rally!
I’m a lightly reformed Air-cooled guy, so its a slant nose Porsche for me.
What kind of journalist are you…from making parking brake stops from speed to being afraid to take a simple photo. Shameful! đŸ™‚
I wanted a monster truck. Not any one in particular; they were all awesome.
The Plymouth Superbird
Anything I could remotely afford đŸ˜‰
The guy across the street was a Plymouth salesman drove home the Superbird. I swear I lost my 10-year old mind, ran over there and checked every detail. Definitely Alien!
Batmobile
It’s a toss up for me. Either ” The California Kid ” 34 Coupe ( Hence my user name ) or John Milners 32 Coupe from American Graffiti ?
No lie an older kid in high school when I was in middle school in my town had a 1980 Chrysler Lebaron with T-Bar roof done up in the style of the mid 80s Cragars Stink-bug stance and all, man I loved that car. Ridiculous for sure, but it’s why I now have a 1978 Lebaron with T-Bar roof.
65ish 289 Cobra – some were lethal – my brother met a guy in NY
he was friend of my bro’s NJ friend . Had an ex comp 289 –
A colored valet in NY stood it the back wheels trying to beat out a cab …
Trooper in NJ wrote the guy for 80 on neighborhood st – he told the trooper to stick it as he was
because he was going at least 100 ….the ticket was canceled before the
cop got to the station .. he was from Penn oil money – called home
who called the gov who called the NJ gov who called the barracks
Mercedes Benz 300SL Gullwing (1955ish) first car I ever remember as a child, Corvettes as a preteen, L88 anything as a teen.
Magnums Ferrari. I saw one on Park Ave when I was a kid.
1979 Trans Am, Pontiac 400, 4 speed, WS6 suspension.
The Lambo, from Cannonball run 2.
You know the one, with the Smoking Hot Chicks in it
Always wanted a Superbird when I was a kid, (still do). I drew a bunch of front engine dragsters in grade school and wanted one of them pretty badly too.
A Cosworth Vega. I was into black and gold color schemes with my model cars at the time, and Indycar was still a thing. Just seemed like the best of 2 worlds.
Competition yellow 1958 fuelie vette. Not only the looks, but the sound they made was just over the top on the street to the eyes and ears of this11 year kid.
Cobra, Countach, Pantera, 911 Turbo. Boss 302
General Lee!!!
still wanted grandads 57/58 ambassador but parts were to hard to get here in nz
Vanishing Point Challenger. and Matt Helm’s station wagon
Lucky me I set my sights low early and just wanted a ’68-72 Vette.
John Milner’s “piss yellow” ’32 Ford 5-window coupe from American Graffiti.
Hemi Cuda