Most of us can relate to the sheer teenage anticipation of finally having your own set of wheels. Once you have those keys, a lifetime of motorized fun awaits, taking you over highways, byways, freeways, and one-ways with the thrum of an engine or the hum of an electric motor as a soundtrack. However, like all lifetimes, it will have to end someday.
There will be a point in life where each person buys their last car, truck, or motorcycle. Hopefully, it’s one of those things that happens in old age, but it’s something we aren’t escaping. By the time I’m old, I’d be ripe for a GT car of sorts, something fast and comfortable that gets the blood flowing while soothing my aged bones. However, I can’t help but feel this unnerving horror that reasonably lightweight, involving sports cars might not have a future on new car showroom floors.
By the time I turn 80, more than half a century will have passed from the time at which I’m writing this. Is there any chance the cars of today will be viable as classics, what with all their embedded software and even the question mark around fossil fuels? I’m hoping they will be, which is why I’d want my last car to be a Lotus Evora GT. With the confidence of Toyota’s 2GR-FE V6, a curb weight of 3,112 pounds, and a manual gearbox, it’s a solid recipe for driving nirvana.
So, what do you want your last vehicle to be? Whether a touring bike like a Honda Goldwing, a classic squarebody Chevy truck, or some moonshot like an Aston Martin DBS or a Donkervoort, I’d love to know what you see yourself growing old with.
(Photo credits: Lotus)
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Realistically, it will probably be a Chinese EV but hopefully I’ll continue to put many more miles on my bike than whatever car I have.
A Porsche 928. Manual, fun and fast.
Owners tell me that the 1928 Bentley 4.5 Litre Le Mans is both reliable and fun.
I just want an aircooled manual Guards Red Porsche 911 coupe. Preferably no sunroof, but I could deal with it. We need to make these deeply uncool again so the prices drop.
I’d take a 58 or so a-100 series international 1/2 ton converted to ev with a modern electrics, interior, independent suspention all around, and modern brakes.
I appreciate your impeccable taste in old pickups, but I can’t say I have ever understood people who want a new car that looks like an old car. That’s what you’re describing: a brand new 2025 car that happens to look like a 58 International. Is the exterior really the only part of an old pickup that gets you going? Not the cool old interiors, the EMP-proof, unkillable engines, the old school solid axles and locking hubs, the go anywhere 4wd, the 4 speed(or 3 speed) manual transmissions?
Mainly BC I’m mid 60’s now, and slowing down. I figure in 20 years by the time I’m ready for my last vehicle something taller and sturdy but modern and reliable will be the perfect vehicle for me. I thought about keeping a close to period correct drivetrain in the plan, but I figure by then finding parts and a mechanic to work in the thing would be a serious challenge. If the truck was going to be bought soon, I’d toss a stove bolt and a 5 spd in the thing, top it off with ac and decent brakes and ifs suspension and drive it until I can’t anymore.
Something makes me think that parts and mechanical expertise are more of a problem for a brand new car, especially 20 years down the road, than for an old International pickup.
A ship to Valhalla, rowed by the animated corpses of coal rollers, sailing an ocean of my enemies’ tears
As I get older and more parts of me become stiff and sore, the more I’m convinced I would want to be in something comfortable and maybe a bit opulent, Bentley, I’m thinking. But if budget won’t allow it, at least a good, used Lexus LS.
What Do You Want Your Last Vehicle To Be?
A 1966 Ford Thunderbird:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66CP-pq7Cx0
I’d love to know what you see yourself growing old with.
Wait, you’re supposed to grow old with it?
I honestly hope my last vehicle is my current 2005 Toyota Tundra. I bought it new as my forever car. I’ll buy others between now and my demise, but I hope to be buried in that truck.
Gross. I don’t want to be too offensive, but Tundras are gross.
The new Tundras are, I agree. Fat, bloated, unnecessary.
First gen is perfect for me, though.
All of them. Blobby, weirdly tall, engineered for and used by dads exclusively and not really intended for real work, yeah it’s reliable but the American competition is mostly also extremely reliable.
I will gladly be that old man who drives a Boxster with the top down year round (minus rain. I won’t do rain). I grew up with my dad having a BMW Z3 and the Boxster has always appealed to me. I hope to be nimble enough in old age to not struggle too much getting in and out of a sports car, so I’ll keep the dream alive. My wife can have the Suburban for the everyday and family visit stuff 😉
Hmmmm, two choices.
1) A fully autonomous retro-EV-modded 70’s style custom van, shag carpeting, bar, bed, flat screens, bed. The works!
2) A cyberpunked-EV-modded Continental Mark V.
Well. If I’m getting older, I’ll want a Roller. The latest Phantom would be the one.
https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/2024-rolls-royce-phantom-102-64bad70ba7661.jpg?crop=0.637xw:0.644xh;0.248xw,0.236xh&resize=2048:*
The choice I have now is what I dreamt about as a younger person, so I think I’m done with new acquisitions: a ‘90 Volvo 240 wagon is one, the other is a ‘92 Saab 900t convertible. Neither of them perfect, but I grin in each, for different reasons. They may be my last!
(But if I can dream, a brown Citroen SM.)
I want my last vehicle to be the immortal flying robot my consciousness has been transferred into.
When I’m old(er) and fat(er), I’ll look for some comfort to go with my eye-watering, muscle car-embarrassing, speed. Give me a v12 and sign me up for an S65 AMG, or M760iL.
I could be convinced to settle for an S63 or an Alpina B7 as well
As much as I like an off-beat choice, I can’t seem to shake the 997 from the list. Specifically a C2 with a manual transmission. But as all 911’s do, it too will balloon in value as it gets older and the new stuff gets less involving. if that happens, I might just have to hold onto my 986 until I die. The DIN-standard radio hole makes it fairly future-proof, and it’s already the second-to-last year that Porsche made a car with a real cable throttle. We’ll see if M96 engines remain somewhat available, what with the Spec Boxster racing series eating them up at rapid pace.
But there’s a lot of time between now and then, and who knows, the future may not be so dark. Maybe we’ll figure out how to make communicative electric power steering, DBW systems with cable-sharp throttle response and, just maybe, we can build some fun, lightweight machines again. So as tempting as it is to claim the last batch of yesterday’s great analog cars, I’ll hold out just a little hope for tomorrow.
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Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon X with all the off-road goodies. I have had my current Wrangler for 12 years so If I would get a new one (rubicon this time, could not justify the price last time) before they go away I could get a Jeep that could potentially last until my 70s.
An all aluminum tiny houseboat with aluminum wingsails.
Big gray Caddy four door from the 1990’s. Soaking wet, with a fish in the back footwell.
Oh, and a special astronaut pen that writes upside down.
Time to go watch Regis and Kelly Lee…
“I saw a bum sleeping in a car. They urinate in there. THEY MAKE IT THEIR HOME THAT’S IT WE’RE LEAVING!”
I already have mine.
My last vehicle? A certified pre-owned base model Corvette with an automatic that I can look at in the garage, while using a 10 year old Kia Soul as a daily. Pretty sure that’s what’s going to happen to me
The car I will still own at death is the 1990 Miata I bought brand new. When I am wrung out with cancer and can barely walk, I will have someone pour me into the car for a last ride.
Heading into my 70s later this year this question comes to mind now and then. My older brother, in fact, bought a lovely Ecoboost Mustang convertible a couple of years ago and believes it likely will be his last car. I like to think have at least a couple more cars in my future but I’m putting a higher priority on comfort than I did even ten years ago when I owned a Mustang and a Miata. (I still own a Miata.) Your priorities will change over time, too. If you’re lucky enough to reach old age climbing in and out of a car like the Evora might not even be possible.
Some of these are great ideas – but realistically, I’ll be on a fixed income, I plan to be in decent shape, but overall I’ll need something with little to no overhead. So, probably a Lexus SUV of some sort. I plan on having cars I own now until I die, a couple of them, so I won’t be buying anything new on the “needs work” front.