What Terrible Car Did You Love As A Kid?

Photo: Ford

This may come as a surprise to you, but growing up I was way too into cars. I read everything about them that I could get my hands on, from Consumer Reports to EVO and even some magazines that weren’t specifically focused on cars but still included the occasional car news. It wasn’t exactly good for developing social skills or kissing girls, but I did manage to become an auto journalist without even a semester of Car College under my belt. Then again, I also look back and remember some weird obsessions.

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The one I and my parents both remember most is just how much the third-generation Ford Taurus blew me away. I was probably seven the first time I saw one and had no idea they were probably built only a few hours away in Hapeville, but it looked so different to me from anything else on the road at the time, it may as well have been an exotic. Sure, that’s a stretch, but it was a rural county in the ’90s. The closest we got to a true exotic until the Zaxby’s guys finally started printing money (Justice for Guthrie’s!) was probably a Corvette.

In fact, one of the few memories I retained from childhood after my TBI is of seeing a gold Ford Taurus near my elementary school and asking my mom what kind of car it was. From that point on, I was obsessed. My future four-car garage was one day going to be filled with both the Ford and Mercury versions, as well as their wagon counterparts. My parents didn’t understand it. Their friends didn’t understand it. Honestly, I’m a little surprised one of my elementary school teachers didn’t have me write a letter to Ford about it.

I eventually got the chance to ride in a few Tauruses, though, and even though I think I knew I’d be disappointed, I still vividly remember how cheap the materials felt and just how bad it rode. That was enough to at least put me off ever buying a third-generation Taurus, although I still maintain the design looks fantastic. Heck, if the right deal fell into my lap, and I had the cash on hand, I might even still be willing to try a Taurus SHO for six months or a year. It might not have been a great car, but it was a great car to me (before I ever sat in one).

What about you? What bad car were you obsessed with as a kid? And if you had the chance to pick one up cheap today, would you still give it a look?