Our first automotive memories came from the vehicles we grew up in. Some of us spent time in the back seat of interesting cars, but most of us didn't. What car did you spend the most time in growing up?
Everyone remembers the cars we grew up in. From the second we leave the hospital to the glorious day we receive our drivers license, a lot of time is spent as a passenger in the cars of the adults in your life. For many, our first memories of driving are behind the wheel of these same vehicles. Unfortunately for many young car lovers, these cars were not always the most exciting. For every car loving kid who convinced their parents they really needed a sports car instead of a station wagon there were 9,999 of us who's sales pitch fell flat.
Sometimes you grow to miss the cars you grew up in and sometimes you still cringe when you think of them. Good or bad, these cars are destined to forever hold a place in our automotive history. These are the cars we took vacations in. The cars we spent countless hours looking out the window of. The cars we took our driver's test in. The cars we drove until we could buy the car we really wanted, or at least get closer. Sometimes the cars we wish we were still driving. Which one did you spend the most time being driven around in?
For some, it is probably hard to pick the vehicle you logged the most backseat hours in. For me, it's an easy pick. The vehicle I spent the most time growing up was a 1987 Chevrolet Celebrity wagon similar to the one seen here. In 1987, my mother reluctantly traded her 1980 Chevrolet Camaro in on the new vehicle I would spend most of my childhood in. One of my first young automotive memories is selecting the wagon we ended up purchasing from several other similar cars. Over the next decade, I spent countless hours in the junkyard sourced 3rd row seat of the Celebrity (staring at cars).
Although the wagon eventually was replaced by another vehicle, the car remains in the family. After several rounds of paint and rust repair, the Celebrity is still going with over 220,000 miles on the original engine and transmission. For better or worse, unlike many people the option of taking the vehicle I grew up in for a spin is possible if the mood ever strikes. The Celebrity isn't even slightly exciting. That being said, it's nearly impossible to spend several decades with a car, especially one so hell bent on survival, and not develop a certain affinity for it.
You've heard the story of the well loved and unexciting station wagon I grew up in, so tell me, what car did you spend the most time in growing up?