Buying Nostalgia - Cars/Things from Childhood?

Wow, I feel left out. I really don't have nostalgia for the Atari 2600, Rubik's Cube or any of that stuff. It's all about cars for me.

I would agree with atheyg -- it's pretty much that cars got boring after the '80s. I like the Porsche 997 and Ferrari F430, but the old 930 and 308/328 are the ones that get me weak in the knees.

 

I bought many of the old slot cars I raced back in the mid 60's at the commercial tracks, on ebay.

Had them out for a while in the office car collection, but they now sit in a drawer.

Like the nostalgia of having them, but probably blew $600 + acquiring them years back.

It did get me back in to racing slot cars again, and they are way faster than those days.
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Like the Chevy Cheatah, had one for the small HO model tracks. Also had the slot cars in the mid to late 60s.

Now I want a Meyers Manx dune buggy. Saw one at a car show and it stirred up all my childhood fantasies of building one and driving it on the street(they were the coolest when I was a 6 - 10 years old and they always had one in the concession area of the drag races at Islip and National speedway on Long Island)

 

I have to say that as a younger person (I'm 23) I share this sentiment, but I also lament that my generation may not be able to cash in on the nostalgia later in life like you older gents can right now.

I have a feeling that gasoline may be leaning to the obsolete end of the spectrum by the time I can afford an F50, which was my sixth grade dream car that lives on today.

Maybe I'll get lucky and acquire a large sum of money in between now and then.

Nostalgia is a fantastic reason to buy a car: You're more likely to keep it because your reasons for ownership aren't based on performance figures/newness, etc.

 

Yep. I have a Matchbox car that looks like this!
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Thank you for that fantastic mental image...

 

I have been looking for several months now to buy early to mid 70s era motorcycles that I owned in my youth ...in case someone has one, those include: 1) Suzuki TS185, 2) Suzuki TS250; and 3) Kawasaki 750H2. What I am finding are either junk motorcycles for cheap or almost perfect ones for way too much money. I'm looking for a nice rider for a reasonable cost.

 

My first car I bought for $200. I recently bought one for $18000, and am putting another 5000 into it.

You guys are describing my life.

Dreamed of owning a Mangusta when I was 10? fixed

Always wanted a REAL Schwinn StingRay? fixed, and all my kids too

The salesman at the Ford dealer distracted me and my brother by showing us all the cool features on the 1969 Mustang Mach 1 when my parents were buying our new station wagon.
fixed.

repeat as necessary and make ebay rich.....

 

Man, do I remember those days--

... when it actually took some freaking brains to run a computer.

 

I love buying nostalgia cars of my youth...MG Midget, Bertone X 1/9

...I used to read Kit Car magazines as a youngster and I was amazed what all you could do with a VW Beetle....so a few years ago i bought a VW Bugatti Type 35 kit car, and a 1965 Formula Vee...

.... and then TODAY...I just brought this baby home.....nostalgia for sure!
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I looking for several motorcycles I owned as a teen. That includes a Honda CL100, Suzuki TS185, Suzuki TM250, Kawasaki 750H2 and Kawasaki 900Z1. If you have a nice example of one of those for sell, please let me know.

 

I remember when I was a kid there was a gorgeous red 69 Shelby Mustang convertible for sale in my town

I still remember that car. 1 day I'll get one

 

I think the reason we all hanker after the toys and games from our youth is because it reminds us of a much simpler,happier time, when we had fewer worries and hardly any responsibilities.

Now we're older and have Motgages, families, bills and other responsibilities weighing us down.

Luckily enough I kept all My old games,Sega Megadrive et al, so can go back to My youth whenever I want to.

 

Good thoughts.

At least with music there is a theory (forgot the exact name) that states that our beloved music is embeded in our heads and hearts while we are young - there is some age numbers there - again,. I can not recall. We might find other things later in life that we still like musically, but out #1 choices for some reason are always what we were attched to during that period. I see this happen over and over.

Car and other things I believe are the same. I think even if i could afford the latest newest Ferrari, I would always want the 308, since it was my first love.

 

I recently bought on ebay a bunch of the comics magazines I read as a kid. And while I still admire the art of the drawings, I have to admit the storylines are really lame. Oh well.

 

Sadly that's one of the risks of going back to things from our youth. We then discover that they weren't as good as we remembered and the memory is ruined.

 

The risk of disappointment with nostalgia resonates with me. The 930 was my dream car starting in the 70's. Prior to reaching my dream, I owned cars related to my dream car: VW Beetle, K. Ghia (poor mans P-car), early 911s, 911SC, Carreras. When I finally realized my dream, I was disappointed with the heavier feel, unbalance handling and turbo lag of the 930. I still like the way it looks, although it has been diminished with the dated impact bumpers.

Having watched vintage racing for a couple of decades now, I also do appreciate late 50's to early 60's race cars; but I've yet to venture into actual ownership. I almost bought a 50's Alfa Veloce Spyder a couple of times, but was somewhat disappointed with the brakes when I drove them. Because of their styling and sounds, I'm willing to give such cars another chance; but to keep the dream alive, I would have to approach such cars with less expectations.

Meanwhile, I'm almost to the end of my list of 80's cars to own or drive. Anybody interested in letting me drive a 934/5, 288GTO and/or F40? ;-)

 

They do say: "You should never meet your heroes".

If you can shrink yourself down to 1:18 scale, I've got a couple of 288 gto's and an F40 in the collection. (interiors are more plasticky than you would imagine! )

 

Kinda similar, i bought Knight Rider and Mac Guyver DVDs which i used to watch on TV as a kid..and well, i cant watch more than one at a time.

 

LOL

Same thing happened to me: Bought the British TV series U.F.O., which I adored as a kid. With enough wine I can tolerate about one episode at a time. Instead of the drama I now look at it as comic relief.

PS: I loved Knight Rider as well. In fact I got the KITT red eye and installed it in my Honda Civic's grille.

 

You have to put yourself in the right frame of mind.

I still love reading my old childhood comics. The stories are simple but my adult self fades away and I become a kid again as I remember how I felt when I first read them.

Have to keep that kid inside alive.

 

I think its being able to afford what you have always wanted but could never have as a kid, I was crazy about the Ferrari Boxer and Porsche 930 and the 308 I read every magazine article over and over about them and dreamed of them constantly.

That is the whole raison detre for the classic car market. Guys want what they could not buy when they were 15. The cars I think that will have the most upside are the Countach, 308 and Lotus Esprit. I have no desire for a 50's Vette or Dusenburg ( I still want a Ferrari 212 for some reason) they mean nothing to me. I will say that my Lusso was a big letdown as the Alfa Romeos I had were lots more fun to drive.

I am really bad about this nostalgia thing. I have 107 vintage European MX and racing motorcycles and about 100 vintage electric guitars. My parents were well off but made me work for every thing and I could only afford a 73 Yamaha 125 enduro and a cheap Kapa electric guitar. Now I have it all. Sometimes I just sit in the motorcycle shop and just stare at my motorcycles. My wife thinks I am nuts.

Since I can't have the girl I wanted at 15 I still can have the dirt bikes,cars and guitars.

At home we rock the old Nintendo system with Duck Hunt and Mario Bro. Lots of fun but I got my daughter a newer Nintendo unit but she still likes the old one.

 

I also bought the entire Ultraman series. I still love watching it with my daughter.