The nine Dearest Cars We’ve Driven
As automotive enthusiasts and journalists, we drive a lot of vehicles. From classics to the greatest fresh supercar, we drive anything and everything we can get our mitts on. Because we love automobiles so much, we often troll car shows, automotive events, get invited to demonstrations and unveilings, and more. Talking about this with one another, the Car News Cafe squad realized that we all have our own all-time beloved vehicles. These are vehicles we’ve either driven as once-in-a-lifetime opportunities or cars that we’ve wielded.
Here, then, are the top three most memorable cars each of us has driven.
Nicolas Zart’s Dearest Cars
Tesla Motors Roadster
Tesla Roadster
The Tesla Roadster is still my point of reference when it comes to electrified vehicles. Gentle and zen-like in traffic but ready to pounce if a slot opens up in the next lane. I was astonished to see an electrified car could do that much back in 2007. Two hundred forty miles is achievable if you have a feather foot, but step on it and darn it, that rush of electrons will send a shoot of adrenaline down your spine! This car is as close as it gets to the thrill of a roller-coaster rail. It is most likely still my beloved EV, with the Commuter Car Tango. Call me odd-ball!
Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione
Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione
Hum, how do I wrap my head around this one and convey the exhilarating practice of flooring the powerful Alfa Romeo/Maserati reworked V8 on petite Napa Valley roads? OK, so it’s not a Green Spectacle car, but it is very extraordinaire. The car is the ideal in inbetween Ferrari and Maserati. If you feel your Maserati is too much convenience and a missing a little on the grunt and personality, the 8C does that. And if you feel your Ferrari is too much attitude and spectacle, minus creature convenience, the 8C does that. The Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione is identically at ease cruising Sunset Boulevard or carving canyon roads.
Noble M600
Again, not a Green Spectacle car but you need to drive one to see that these cars are track car with a DOT tag. Also, you’ll have to go see your chiropractor before stepping in and stepping out the race inspired Noble. There is a roll cell, which makes getting in and out a race car practice. The Noble is what an early Lotus on steroids should be. Unspoiled driving, unspoiled emotion, unspoiled joy! I was fortunate enough to see a police officer on the road next to me to remind me I was traveling on public roads. This is boy fucktoy joy car and at that price, my, what bang for your buck.
Adam Yamada-Hanff’s Dearest Cars
I haven’t driven fairly as many cool cars as my CarNewsCafe colleagues but I have ahad a few drives that were fairly memorable.
Alfa Romeo Spider
Nicolas Zart’s Alfa Rome Spider
The Alfa Romeo Spider that I drove was actually possessed by Nicolas. Driving any convertible in Southern California on the beach is fairly a joy practice. (That’s because of there are lots of ladies in swimsuits, which must be the number one cause of accidents in beach areas and towns.) Driving an Alfa Romeo and getting a taste of Italian flare and passion, I was hooked! I’ll be fair Alfa Romeos are not the best driving cars around, nor are they the most reliable, but man I had a LOT of joy in Nic’s Spider. I see why the hosts of Top Gear say, “You are not truly a petrolhead until you have wielded an Alfa.” They are fine cars with a impeccable design and whether they are practical it doesn’t matter, you want to own an Alfa Romeo… just to drive.
Subaru Impreza WRX STI
One of the advantages to working as an auto tech is you get to drive some pretty cool cars once in awhile. Fortunately for me a Subaru WRX STI spinned into the shop I was working at a few years ago. This Subaru was prompt and the treating was taut. Driving it around the city I was getting it up to 60-70 mph in 30mph zones without even thinking about it! I twas totally crazy car and I loved every 2nd I was driving it. (However the car did smell bad, so I drove with the windows open.) Taking it on the highway I hit one hundred thirty mph without violating a sweat. The boxer engine and legendary Subaru AWD treating help you see why Subie’s are used for Rally racing. At least for one day I could pretend that I had the driving abilities to be a professional Rally driver with the Subaru WRX STI.
Honda Accord
Honda Accord’s are not indeed the greatest treating cars in the world, but hell, they will get you there and back without a problem. I drove my ’96 Honda Accord across the country and it didn’t give me any trouble. All I ddi was check the tire pressure and pack it with oil once and it ran like a champ for Three,000+ miles.
The above picture is when I visited the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. For a car that was sixteen years old (at the time) it treated going up the mountain better than I expected.
In addition I’ve done a lot of repair jobs on my Honda Accord and it is just an effortless car to work on fix yourself. I would list all the DIY auto repair jobs, but it would very likely take me too long. A lot of cars that I like, honestly are a PIA to fix.
You can’t find a better daily driver than a Honda Accord and sometimes that is all you need and all you want in a car. I dare you to find a better sedan.
Aaron Turpen’s Beloved Cars
This was a very raunchy choice for me as I’ve had the chance to drive some very awesome vehicles in my life. Narrowing the list to three was not effortless. So I determined to go with something old, something unusual, and something I recently drove.
1973 International Travelall
Back when I was a teenager working at an auto wrecking yard in Utah, I had a one thousand nine hundred eighty four Toyota Corolla as my everyday driver. While working one day, I happened to go to the front office of the shop to drop off some parts I’d pulled for a mechanic and overheard someone asking what he could get for his one thousand nine hundred seventy three Harvester, which he said had no rust and ran good but had some kind of fuel delivery problem that limited its range. He needed to sell it quick, but the yard proprietor said there wasn’t much call for parts off a Travelall (everyone who restores seems to want the much smaller Scout). So he could only give him crush value. The fellow didn’t want his truck crushed, but couldn’t take it with him on a stir. I asked what he wished, balked at the price (I was perpetually poor) and he wound up providing it to me if I promised not to crush it. Most likely the most joy I’ve ever had in a truck, it was a true off road machine and towing powerhouse. Sure, it only got eight mpg and had a top speed of just seventy two mph, but that Travelall was more than just a goat, it was a people-moving, stuff hauling, towing and offroad joy box of giant proportions. I eventually solved the fuel problem by substituting the thirty five gallon fuel tank, but just couldn’t afford to keep wrenching on the machine and had to sell it.
2011 Vision Tyrano Hydrogen Fuel Cell Truck
If you don’t know what this is, it’s a full-sized Freghtliner Classic day cab semi-truck that runs on electrical motors and hydrogen fuel cells. Made by Vision Motors in California, several copies of this ply the ports of the greater LA area. It’s likely the most powerful street-legal machine ever built and puts out more torque and towing umph than anything you can imagine. What’s more, it’s effortless to drive because it doesn’t have the usual 10-18 gears and slow grunt into movement that a regular diesel equipment does. Awesome.
1965 Dodge Dart GT Convertible
This is the most latest of the vehicles on my list in terms of when I drove it. I met a neighbor here in town at the local classic car display during the town’s annual parade. He was showcasing off his entirely original one thousand nine hundred sixty five Dart GT Convertible. After we’d talked about the car and life in general for a while, I asked if he’d let me take a rail and get some scenic photos of the car. He didn’t just let me rail in it, he let me drive it. This may not be the most collectible car on the road, but it sure is a dandy.
Machines of the 1950s and 60s have a life of their own, little quirks and idiosyncrasies that make them unique unto themselves. In this beauty, it was the shifting, which was noisy because of age, but gearing itself was slick. Like most cars of the era, it has a sweet spot for cruising too, which in this Dart was about 60-63 mph. In my dad’s one thousand nine hundred sixty one Bel Air, it was closer to seventy mph, but whatever the car, if it was built in this time framework, it will have a speed at which it embarks to float cosily in a balance inbetween engine noise, road feel, and ambient noise level. In a convertible like the ’65 Dart, this means you can carry a conversation within the car (top down) keep an even feather on the throttle, and otherwise have no cares in the world as the car just sort of does its own thing down the highway.
The nine Dearest Cars We – ve Driven
The nine Beloved Cars We’ve Driven
As automotive enthusiasts and journalists, we drive a lot of vehicles. From classics to the best fresh supercar, we drive anything and everything we can get our forearms on. Because we love automobiles so much, we often troll car shows, automotive events, get invited to demonstrations and unveilings, and more. Talking about this with one another, the Car News Cafe team realized that we all have our own all-time beloved vehicles. These are vehicles we’ve either driven as once-in-a-lifetime opportunities or cars that we’ve possessed.
Here, then, are the top three most memorable cars each of us has driven.
Nicolas Zart’s Beloved Cars
Tesla Motors Roadster
Tesla Roadster
The Tesla Roadster is still my point of reference when it comes to electrified vehicles. Gentle and zen-like in traffic but ready to pounce if a slot opens up in the next lane. I was astonished to see an electrical car could do that much back in 2007. Two hundred forty miles is achievable if you have a feather foot, but step on it and darn it, that rush of electrons will send a shoot of adrenaline down your spine! This car is as close as it gets to the thrill of a roller-coaster rail. It is most likely still my dearest EV, with the Commuter Car Tango. Call me odd-ball!
Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione
Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione
Hum, how do I wrap my head around this one and convey the exhilarating practice of flooring the powerful Alfa Romeo/Maserati reworked V8 on puny Napa Valley roads? OK, so it’s not a Green Spectacle car, but it is very outstanding. The car is the ideal in inbetween Ferrari and Maserati. If you feel your Maserati is too much convenience and a missing a little on the grunt and personality, the 8C does that. And if you feel your Ferrari is too much attitude and spectacle, minus creature convenience, the 8C does that. The Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione is identically at ease cruising Sunset Boulevard or carving canyon roads.
Noble M600
Again, not a Green Spectacle car but you need to drive one to see that these cars are track car with a DOT tag. Also, you’ll have to go see your chiropractor before stepping in and stepping out the race inspired Noble. There is a roll box, which makes getting in and out a race car practice. The Noble is what an early Lotus on steroids should be. Unspoiled driving, unspoiled emotion, unspoiled joy! I was fortunate enough to see a police officer on the road next to me to remind me I was traveling on public roads. This is boy fucktoy joy car and at that price, my, what bang for your buck.
Adam Yamada-Hanff’s Dearest Cars
I haven’t driven fairly as many cool cars as my CarNewsCafe colleagues but I have ahad a few drives that were fairly memorable.
Alfa Romeo Spider
Nicolas Zart’s Alfa Rome Spider
The Alfa Romeo Spider that I drove was actually wielded by Nicolas. Driving any convertible in Southern California on the beach is fairly a joy practice. (That’s because of there are lots of ladies in swimsuits, which must be the number one cause of accidents in beach areas and towns.) Driving an Alfa Romeo and getting a taste of Italian flare and passion, I was hooked! I’ll be fair Alfa Romeos are not the best driving cars around, nor are they the most reliable, but man I had a LOT of joy in Nic’s Spider. I see why the hosts of Top Gear say, “You are not truly a petrolhead until you have wielded an Alfa.” They are good cars with a impeccable design and whether they are practical it doesn’t matter, you want to own an Alfa Romeo… just to drive.
Subaru Impreza WRX STI
One of the advantages to working as an auto tech is you get to drive some pretty cool cars once in awhile. Fortunately for me a Subaru WRX STI flipped into the shop I was working at a few years ago. This Subaru was swift and the treating was taut. Driving it around the city I was getting it up to 60-70 mph in 30mph zones without even thinking about it! I twas totally crazy car and I loved every 2nd I was driving it. (However the car did smell bad, so I drove with the windows open.) Taking it on the highway I hit one hundred thirty mph without violating a sweat. The boxer engine and legendary Subaru AWD treating help you see why Subie’s are used for Rally racing. At least for one day I could pretend that I had the driving abilities to be a professional Rally driver with the Subaru WRX STI.
Honda Accord
Honda Accord’s are not truly the greatest treating cars in the world, but hell, they will get you there and back without a problem. I drove my ’96 Honda Accord across the country and it didn’t give me any trouble. All I ddi was check the tire pressure and pack it with oil once and it ran like a champ for Three,000+ miles.
The above picture is when I visited the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. For a car that was sixteen years old (at the time) it treated going up the mountain better than I expected.
In addition I’ve done a lot of repair jobs on my Honda Accord and it is just an effortless car to work on fix yourself. I would list all the DIY auto repair jobs, but it would very likely take me too long. A lot of cars that I like, honestly are a PIA to fix.
You can’t find a better daily driver than a Honda Accord and sometimes that is all you need and all you want in a car. I dare you to find a better sedan.
Aaron Turpen’s Dearest Cars
This was a very raunchy choice for me as I’ve had the chance to drive some very awesome vehicles in my life. Narrowing the list to three was not effortless. So I determined to go with something old, something unusual, and something I recently drove.
1973 International Travelall
Back when I was a teenager working at an auto wrecking yard in Utah, I had a one thousand nine hundred eighty four Toyota Corolla as my everyday driver. While working one day, I happened to go to the front office of the shop to drop off some parts I’d pulled for a mechanic and overheard someone asking what he could get for his one thousand nine hundred seventy three Harvester, which he said had no rust and ran fine but had some kind of fuel delivery problem that limited its range. He needed to sell it quick, but the yard possessor said there wasn’t much call for parts off a Travelall (everyone who restores seems to want the much smaller Scout). So he could only give him crush value. The dude didn’t want his truck crushed, but couldn’t take it with him on a stir. I asked what he wished, balked at the price (I was perpetually poor) and he wound up providing it to me if I promised not to crush it. Most likely the most joy I’ve ever had in a truck, it was a true off road machine and towing powerhouse. Sure, it only got eight mpg and had a top speed of just seventy two mph, but that Travelall was more than just a goat, it was a people-moving, stuff hauling, towing and offroad joy box of giant proportions. I eventually solved the fuel problem by substituting the thirty five gallon fuel tank, but just couldn’t afford to keep wrenching on the machine and had to sell it.
2011 Vision Tyrano Hydrogen Fuel Cell Truck
If you don’t know what this is, it’s a full-sized Freghtliner Classic day cab semi-truck that runs on electrical motors and hydrogen fuel cells. Made by Vision Motors in California, several copies of this ply the ports of the greater LA area. It’s likely the most powerful street-legal machine ever built and puts out more torque and towing umph than anything you can imagine. What’s more, it’s effortless to drive because it doesn’t have the usual 10-18 gears and slow grunt into movement that a regular diesel equipment does. Awesome.
1965 Dodge Dart GT Convertible
This is the most latest of the vehicles on my list in terms of when I drove it. I met a neighbor here in town at the local classic car showcase during the town’s annual parade. He was displaying off his totally original one thousand nine hundred sixty five Dart GT Convertible. After we’d talked about the car and life in general for a while, I asked if he’d let me take a rail and get some scenic photos of the car. He didn’t just let me rail in it, he let me drive it. This may not be the most collectible car on the road, but it sure is a dandy.
Machines of the 1950s and 60s have a life of their own, little quirks and idiosyncrasies that make them unique unto themselves. In this beauty, it was the shifting, which was noisy because of age, but gearing itself was slick. Like most cars of the era, it has a sweet spot for cruising too, which in this Dart was about 60-63 mph. In my dad’s one thousand nine hundred sixty one Bel Air, it was closer to seventy mph, but whatever the car, if it was built in this time framework, it will have a speed at which it commences to float cosily in a balance inbetween engine noise, road feel, and ambient noise level. In a convertible like the ’65 Dart, this means you can carry a conversation within the car (top down) keep an even feather on the throttle, and otherwise have no cares in the world as the car just sort of does its own thing down the highway.