Have you ever owned a rare or unusual car?

j4k3@lemmy.world to Asklemmy@lemmy.ml – 38 points –

I had a 1971 Toyota FJ40, and built a 1992 supercharged Camaro with a mini blower. Those were my coolest, but also a couple Fiero's, a Z32, and an E30.

...also the guy that rode a bicycle everywhere '09-'14 got hit 7 times, with the last one disabling me. So don't get too bent over car stuff. I've put in over 170k miles on a bicycle since '09.

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I used to own a Hotwheels' '68 Shelby GT500 car, but I lost it - think some kid stole it. That was almost eight years ago.

If I had to be honest, I would love to own a electrified, rally version of the 60s, 70s and 80s BMW. I'm not talking about the touring models - they look ugly as hell. The four-door version with large ground clearance and fat tires - I love it.

I had a DeLorean for a few years. The amount of attention it got made me never want to drive it. The constant Back to the Future jokes will drive you insane

The new DeLorean Alpha also looms really cool. However, I'd consider the Hyundai NVision 74 as an unofficial successor.

I came extremely close to owning a Toyota MR2 mk2, a car I've liked since childhood, only to discover that I am too tall to sit up straight in one. There is just straight up not enough headroom.

Mk2 is my favorite. My dad had one when I was growing up. My brother then had a mr-s until he totaled it. Now I've got a MR-S as well. I love the car. A little under powered at times, but I almost never have the top up. In the mk2, I'd probably have the t-tops off the whole time as well.

Honestly, worth it. The cars are so much fun.

I drive a 2018 Prius. I’m convinced it’s the only Prius in my very rural corner of Canada. I don’t like driving it on highways cause I get subjected to road rage by all the pickup trucks. People pass me on double solid lines even when I’m 20km/h over the speed limit just because of the type of car it is.

Considering this reaction happens almost every time, I conclude my car is very rare.

I mean one of these days when someone passes you on double solid lines an oncoming in the other lane will demonstrate why those lines are there.

Not really "rare", outside of it's niche, but definitely unusual!

I owned a 1969 Volkswagen Beetle, with an electromagnetic clutch. Instead of a clutch pedal, you pressed down on the stick and shifted it up/down, releasing once in position.

Not many vehicles used that particular style of clutch, and that was one of the last years VW built a model with one, as far as I'm aware. Miss that little car.

They might not be the fastest or prettiest, but old Volkswagens were reliable and stupid simple. Still hope to one day get my hands on an old Microbus and a Karmann Ghia.

God I love classic VW Beetles... Do you have any pictures of yours to share?

I wish I did! There's a photo album, somewhere, that has some pictures from back then, but I have no clue which relative most likely has those.

I'm hoping curtis finishes designing his new brubaker box before he dies. VW beetle kit cars are awesome.

quick fyi: rare cars seem like a pretty easy way to dox someone. Be careful of any data you share online.

Yeah, but depends on a person's goals. I don't mind being doxed. The privacy thing I'm really concerned about is manipulation of data related to the host server; apps that are used like data loggers of sensors; tracking dwell time; page views; likes, blocks, etc. I care far less about what I say to others in public. I vehemently claim that owning the data about any individual is theft of autonomy, failure of democracy and government, and a form of slavery if one plays out the total philosophical circumstance and implications. Anyone that holds such data about someone else with the intent to manipulate in any way whatsoever is a criminal. I've been a Buyer for a retail chain, collected and analysed tons of customer data. This has nothing to do with how data is collected and used now, but this is used as justification for the present criminal data manipulation industry.

As a disabled person, I need to connect with humans more, and as much as I can here. I totally respect those of you that have other priorities that limit your conversational topics of interest, and I don't wish to violate those. This place is just my version of a public square, where I'm trying to make general conversation. -warmly

I really enjoyed reading your comment. You and share a ton of similarities in views and other things. Feel free to hit me up on matrix (link in profile). Have a good one.

Not sure if it counts as these cars were very common at some point, but I own two Mercedes W124. One is a station wagon with a pretty unique paint code (I've never found another one) and one is a limousine with a 5-speed manual and the fairly rare Sportline option. They mostly sit around though because there's pretty much always something broken...

Oh man, from time to time I miss my W124. It was a 300CE coupe in that violet-ish color (Bornit), that people either love or hate.

Nice, I love the styling of the coupé. I originally wanted to buy one before I ended up with the limousine. They have become pretty pricey in recent years.

ive cruised around in an electric couch before at burning man festival. not the safest, but friggin awesome.

I currently drive a BMW i3 (BEV). Best car I've ever owned.

I had. '68 Mustang back in the 90s and a Subaru Solterra today

Early 2000's I had a 1976 Plymouth Road Runner, with the original Orange/black/yellow paint. I loved it, but it didn't love Midwest winters...

Traded it for a 4x4.

I had two rare but not valuable cars, my first car was a 1974 Mazda rx2 sedan. Bright orange with a white interior.

The second I restored a 1956 Dodge Truck which had a 270 V8. This combo wasn't common.

Was that Mazda the 4 cylinder or rotary option?

Rotary, 12A if my memory is correct. Mine had an automatic (it was my grandmother's car before mine)

The wikipedia page looks just like it https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mazda_Capella&diffonly=true#RX-2

Skip to the First generation photo, not the capella top photo

Edit: direct link to the photo that was my car: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mazda_Capella&diffonly=true#/media/File%3A1973_Mazda_616_front_left_Iceland.jpg

Not that unusual if it was in its native Australia or even in America but I have a Vauxhall Monaro VXR with the big V8. Basically a rebadged version of the "hot" Monaro - the Holden/HSV Coupe GTO. Also sold as a Pontiac GTO in America. I think only around 500 of that particular model was sold here and the idea of a muscle car isn't really a very "British" thing, you rarely see much beyond 3L V6s outside of the most expensive cars.

As an Australian transplant in London recently…. I can just image your UZEL, congestion charge and petrol bill would be like now

Surprisingly good... I mean it is SORN atm waiting for time and money to fix it up a bit but it is ULEZ compliant! I only ever use it for fun now, I have a much more boring car for every day use. And although I've lived in London suburbs or commuter towns all my life I think I've paid the CC maybe once or twice? I refuse to drive in central london, public transport is much better for that.

My car is purple, does that count?

Oh yeah! That is SUPER rare. I painted and did auto body repairs for used car lots. I've worked on thousands of cars and only worked on purple once.

91 Honda Civic CRX Si w/black gold fleck paint and a moon roof. Not rare but definitely niche.

I LOVED this car. Super short wheel base and an absolute sleeper since it was so light. Only ICE that could get going like a EV that I’ve been in. And you were practically sitting on the road. With the door open I could easily put my palm on the ground. Even at 25mph it felt like you were speeding. So much fun to drive.

My friends with a lot of kids got a used airport limousine. I guess it was cheaper than an express van at the time. That was pretty cool and unique.

My mum used to own an E30 320i convertible and it was just the coolest thing to me growing up. I dreamed of one day inheriting and restoring that car for years.

In the end, my father sold it to a friend of his (who probably bugged him for years about it)....

thanks, dad

once had a datsun maxima with the 2.4l v6. was a great car (but terrible interior) but i unfortunately ran it up a tree.

My previous car was a civic type R (FK8). Not the rarest car, but it was one of the last to come off the factory floor before they closed the factory and ended production for that version, so it was pretty much impossible to buy. Fucking great car. Loved it.

I'm really into JDM cars, which are always interesting to see in America. I had a Toyota AE111 Levin for a few years. Ran into the most unfortunate luck with a large hailstorm and losing my job in the same week. Sold it for a fraction of its value to someone who wanted to fix the hail damage.

That car was the perfect car for my level of skill in performance driving and the style of roads where I live. I'll never be able to replace that thing.

I had a Mazda MX-6 as my first car. Not super rare but I've only ever seen 2 other ones.

Currently I have an 09 Lexus GS460. Only 1600 total built and only 56 in 2009 so it's exceptionally rare but no one cares.

Turns out a $65000 V8 sedan didn't sell well when gas was $4/gal and the economy was in shambles.

I modified the crap out of an Eclipse spider, all the way down to welding intercoolers amd exhaust, to grinding out maniffolds, and rebuilding transmission on my front porch. Super reliable, too (rare for that car), and was close to an AWD conversion (had the doner) before I sold it for a twin turbo 335i I got for a steal that is on it's 4th water pump after 13 years :(

I have a '97 Honda Prelude Type SH. For the 5th generation, only about 60,000 USDM Preludes were made. The Type SH was more expensive. There was also no automatic option for the Type SH, and since manuals were already dying in the 90s, I'd guess that they didn't even sell more than a few thousand of them.

It's a little rough. One of these days, I'm gonna dump a few thousand bucks into it and make it beautiful. But we're working on our house and some other things first. Someone put a bunch of those bluish LEDs all over the thing. I deconverted it back to soft white halogens.