Growing up as enthusiasts, one of our key points of exposure to awesome cars was simply finding them in the wild. It was even better when a cool car lived in the neighborhood you lived or went to school, because it meant a chance to see it regularly, get familiar with it, and admire it.
Some of us even form childhood bonds with these cars, these roadside sculptures, these monuments to engineering. They can become our favorites, canonized in the pantheon on greats. Best of all, they don’t have to be mind-blowing to rock our worlds. Whether something exotic or something affordable yet neat, as long as it captures the imagination and inspires, it’s cool.
For about three years, I attended a school outside my immediate neighborhood, and on the way there, I’d see a Ferrari 550 Maranello that lived outdoors in front of a modest home. It was completely unexpected, and yet, there it was — the last pretty manual Ferrari used as a daily driver. The GT cars were always Enzo’s favorites for the road, and I got to see one of my personal hero cars almost every day on the way to school.
Today we’re asking you what the coolest car in your childhood neighborhood was, or any other neighborhood you frequented for school or friend meet-ups. It doesn’t have to be the most astonishing thing on the books, it just has to have moved you in some way. Who knows? It could’ve even been the beginning of something great.
(Photo credits: Bring A Trailer)
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My neighbor has a mid 60s International Scout. It was the family camping vehicle but was in remarkably good shape. They used to tow a casita trailer behind it
Before I could drive in the 80’s across the street there were two brothers about 10 years older than me with a hot rod 68 Camaro. At the end of the street there was a Bradley kit car and a purple Beetle. A few blocks away was a street parked still original daily driver 67 Camaro. Once my friends and I started driving, I had a 66 Chevy II, friend across the street had an 80 Z28 and friend at the end of the street had a 72 Chevelle.
Had a neighbor with a DeLorean and another with a first gen Jeep Wagoneer.
There was a house on the street behind ours that had a 4th gen Camaro SS Convertible (’98+) with the CME outlets which I always thought was cool.
But another house on that street (kitty-corner behind ours) always had 3-4 ’66 Malibus (some 2 doors, some 4 doors), and occasionally a few in the ’68-72 range. They also had one of the Dodge Rams Indy 500 Pace Trucks.
My neighbor had a classic 50s or 60s Chevy convertible. Actually he may have had multiple classic cars because he had two or three “garages” (by which I mean sheds in which a car would just barely fit) behind the house. I was not really into cars at the time so I have to admit I didn’t pay much attention to it though.
I would say my Dad’s 67 MGB. 2nd place would be our neighbor’s Willys Jeep wagon with balloon tires for driving on sand dunes. Paint on the side was a horse head with “El Diablo Caballo” under it. At least that’s what I think it said
When I was little, my dad had a 1970 Challenger convertible. 440 6-pack, black with black roof, white bumblebee stripes, 4 speed, shaker. Sold it just before the big muscle car boom. ???? Our neighbor had a red NSX that he usually kept under a cover. I thought it was a Ferrari until I knew better.
Going back to the single digit years, our neighbor used to cram GM engines into Porsche’s, like 350’s and stuff.
Fairly new Eagle Talon TSi AWD, was 1990-1991, had to walk to work until I got my license, whoever the owner was parked it on the street so I’d walk by it almost every day, thing looked slick as heck at the time compared to the 80s squarebodies everywhere.
Growing up my neighbourhood was a mix of the usual 80’s suspects. Full size GMs, K-cars, Aerostars, Civics etc. The two that stand out most are the regular visits of a Ferrari Testarossa to someone down the street and a NSX that a classmates dad owned. Looking back there were a fair number of Porsche 924, 928 and 911’s around. Enough that they didn’t stand out. Yes, I did grow up in a fairly upper middle class area next to a very rich area.
One of my neighbours had a full ECTO-1 replica. It was *awesome*.
I grew up in a lower middle class neighborhood at best, but it was the ’80s and a lot of people had odd cars and older tier 2 exotics were cheap. Closest was a Bradley II, but coolest was an early Pantera (owned by a chemistry professor). Expand the neighborhood and the list of interesting cars is quite long even with forgetting a bunch.
Forgot! There was a dentist who had a BMW 3.0CSL Batmobile. He didn’t live nearby, but it would be parked at the office a few blocks away.
My biology teacher in high school had a small collection of cars. They were his retirement fund. All were rust free and in great condition. He drove them to school when the weather was nice. There were a couple of E types, MGA, and a sweet late 70s 911 with the rally lights on the front. His name was Roger Scott, and he was a strange guy (dressed up as Charles Darwin for Darwin’s birthday) but he had great taste in cars!
Would ride my bike past a X-90 on the way to a friends house.
Early 1990s, my grandmother’s brown V8 2nd-gen Camaro was the only “cool” car in the general area. No one else had any “cool” cars nearby that I can recall, although a few times at my elementary school, someone had an MGB convertible in the parking lot.
When I moved to the hood in St. Louis in high school, it would have been my dad’s red Audi TT 225 Quattro in the early 2000s.
I’d also like to add, my grandma hooned the SHIT out of that car. On the highway, this little 70+ year old lady would scream “WE’RE GOIN’ TO THE MOON!” and floor it well into the triple digits. The fastest I remember seeing the needle on the speedo was 120. It was really fun.
A high schooler up the street from me when I was younger, around 1990 had a repainted candy blue AMC Javelin that just looked cool as hell. Near a friends house I used to drive home in high school was a GMC Cyclone which was always nice to see in my 92 base model Ford Escort…..
The coolest car in my neighborhood — this was in about 1964 — was a minty-fresh first-gen Dual-Ghia. I thought it was even better than a ’53 Corvette that was in a nearby garage (I never saw it driven), and another neighbor’s 1937 Cord….
Of course I grew up near L.A., and my father worked in Hollywood, so I saw much niftier stuff on a pretty regular basis. And when some of my dad’s friends came to visit, I got rides in a Kurtis 500S and a wonderful one-owner Jaguar XK 120. Many years later, I got to drive the Jaguar, and would dearly love to know where the Kurtis is today.
There was a little old lady down the street from me that drove a blue and white 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner. This was in the mid-80’s, and she probably was, too. Her son had bought it new for her.
He visited occasionally, and when he did, he drove his ’67 Pontiac Firebird that he bought new. Green with a green vinyl top.
Both cars looked showroom fresh.
The coolest car in my neighborhood was most likely our 1973 ford Bronco U15.
This sounds like you are social engineering to get my bank security questions.
next article will be “who’s childhood pet’s name is the same as a car brand”
Oh come on! They would never do that.
On an unrelated note, whose mom has the coolest maiden name?
There was an NA M Edition Miata in BRG, a very 80s 2 tone brown Jeep Scrambler, a very yellow 73 Mustang Mach 1 & a very brown TRV that never left a garage
I’m old enough to remember the mid-80s. The coolest cars that made an impression on me that I can remember to this day were an AMX and a gold anniversary edition 2nd gen Trans Am that lived a few streets back in the neighborhood. I used to ride my bike by them and thought they were so cool.
The Vette. The guy a couple houses down had a blue 65 or 66 convertible Corvette. Stinger hood, side pipes, knockoff wheels. It was glorious. Our driveways were small hills, so one day my friend & I were in the front yard when dude came home. He saw us stand there (drooling) and stopped half way up the hill. He turned and looked right at us, then side stepped the clutch and left 2 black stripes up his own driveway. Glorious.
Huh, I did that to my mothers driveway a coupe weeks before I got my license. She was NOT amused.
I always did such things many blocks from home. Still got busted though. The steel belts poking out of the tires gave it away…
My eye doctor had a 911 (74-77ish) and rode past my house while I was skateboarding in the driveway every day. He’s why I’ve owned a string of 911’s.
I grew up on the coast of New England just outside NYC. I saw all types of wild rides in the summer, but my favorite was my neighbors Datsun 510 and my own mothers Hornet wagon.
My stepdad had a 550 Maranello. It was a money pit. Never meet your heros.