Car folks love to talk about their automotive bucket lists, but they always seem to miss out on a crucial aspect: Prioritization. Parts of that list are going to be more attainable than others, parts less, so it makes sense to arrange them in order of achievability. That’s the question we posed to you all earlier this week — not just what’s on your bucket list, but what’s the next thing you want to cross of? Here are your answers.
I get past the huge number of dominoes that have fallen as I’ve switched the Charger from a tricked-out 440 to a very tricked-out 512 roller-stroker and go there. (And I’ve listed the hassles I’ve been face with in another QOTD.)
And “there” is to drive the Charger to El Mirage dry lake bed outside San Bernadino, CA and do high-speed runs. You go there, you pay your fee to get on the lake bed, and proving it’s empty (a week day), you can blast across the lake bed as fast as you dare. And yes, I really want to hear that 512 absolutely roaring as the speedometer climbs. My mechanic, an actual funny car driver in what little spare time he has, thinks the Charger will hit 160mph. Since my Charger is a flat-faced R/T+ clone—not the slippery Daytona—I’m at 145mph for the top speed.
Whatever the speed, I’m sure my heart will be in my throat during the attempts and I’ll love the sheer thrill of it all—the last hurrah for the Charger.
The number on the dash matters less than the feeling in your heart as you approach maximum speed. Also the number on the GPS.
Buying a supercar
My youngest graduated from college this month, The business is doing well so I am planning on my #1 bucket list item: A Mclaren Artura Spider or Maserai MC20 Cielo.
I’m a tech nerd so I love almost 700hp from a V6. The hybrid Artrua and the MC20's F1 style ignition really interests me. Don’t care about the resale value because I’m driving the wheels off it or, “Oh, it’s not a V8/V10/V12” because 3 second 0-60 and 200mph top speed speaks for itself. I was waiting for the topless version and they are here.
So am I.
“I’m a tech nerd” says the Jalop with the Saab username. We know. We know, and we’re happy to have you.
I crossed one off my list a few years ago - owning a proper (pushrod) V8 (2018 Camaro SS 1LE) and got a few track days done in it. Very satisfying, but looking at $40k sitting in the garage all winter.. just didn’t make sense. Sold it.
Crossed another one off the list this weekend - did a cannonball run from the house in MPLS down the St Louis to pick up my first Italian vehicle. Well, Italian with an Austrian engine - 2007 Aprilia Tuono 1000R. V twin and oh boy it sounds amazing. Blipping the throttle for a downshift makes me grin like an idiot. My other street bike is a 2005 Z1000 I bought way back in ‘09, and the fit, finish, and little details on the Aprilia just blow it out of the water. And the noise.. did I mention it sounds amazing?
Laststandard, bud, the question was about what’s next — not what’s been done. I’m not just saying that because I’m jealous of the Aprilia. Not at all.
My big bucket list is a fly to the Nürburgring and rent a car and drive the ring on a public day.
I’m honestly shocked this didn’t come up more often, the Nürburgring is such a classic car person Thing To Do. For slideshow purposes, though, I do appreciate the diversity of thought.
I’d like to drive across Australia, just to say I made it and wasn’t killed by dropbears, hoopsnakes, treecrocs, or angry locals. Do the whole Sidney to Perth run, and maybe even the Melbourne to Darwin run too.
That’d be fun. I’d like to try it.
Ever since reading Elspeth Beard’s Lone Rider, I’ve really wanted to motorcycle through Australia. Of course, this desire is always tamped by every single piece of wildlife in Australia, but, y’know. It’s there.
I work less than a mile from Porsche’s North American HQ in Atlanta.
At one time a friend of mine and I planned to take part in the Porsche Experience - a tour of the center, a few laps around the track in a 911 (a car neither one of us has ever driven) and then a birthday lunch (did I mention my friend and I share the same birthday?) at Porsche’s restaurant.
Unfortunately, both my friend and I had health issues, then the pandemic hit, and blah, blah, blah... the best laid plans of mice and men, right?
But now it’s 2024 - The Porsche Experience Center is open again, both my friend and I are relatively healthy again, but we are five years older than when we originally planned this little adventure, so if we’re gonna do this, we need to get it done sooner rather than later.
Better late than never. Get out on that track, slide that 911 around, and presumably be immediately reprimanded for sliding rather than maintaining traction. Then swap drivers and do it again.
Mine is actually fairly simple and probably boring compared to the others here: drive 1000 miles in one day.
I’ve always been the driver on road trips, and the closest I ever came was 991 way back when I was 19 (now 49) driving from the west side of Raleigh, NC to south LA. I’ve had a couple 800- and 900-miles trips in the past few years, but I’m getting the feeling the 1000-mile drive may have to be a solo drive and I’m cool with that.
I was, entirely coincidentally, looking up all the possible Iron Butt certifications the other day — the list you get on when you ride 1,000 miles in a day on a motorcycle. It came out to 13.3 hours at 75 mph, which opens up the possibility of doing a noon-9pm run followed by some sleep and a 7:30-noon leg the following day. Perhaps I’ll add that to my own list.
Participate in The Rally for the Lane one more time, this time behind the wheel of the Citroen SM.
I just need to convince two other friends that blowing a grand to drive a 50 year old French car around Tennessee for a weekend is actually worth it.
I think you’ve got it in you. Put on your best sell me this pen voice and get convincing.
I really want to get a nice, fun, 4 seat ‘vert cruiser for the weekends for me and the family. I had a Miata and sold it when my first daughter was born. My wife and I had a ton of fun in that dumb little car. So now I want to try and share that top down, wind in your hair fun with my kiddos and wife.
My hope is a CLK 500/550/55 or 63 with BMW or Audi as possibilities too.
I’ve long wanted a garbage two-row convertible where climbing over the quarter panels to reach the rear seats is encouraged. I assume your tastes are a little nicer than mine, but maybe not. A CLK would make a great jungle gym for a kid.
Twenty or so years ago I helped a friend build his Factory Five Cobra, and I’ve had the itch ever since to build my own.
When I was a kid, I wanted so badly to build a Factory Five replica. Years later I’m glad I never did, because a child should probably not be trusted to construct a motor vehicle, but I really wanted to at the time.
Get a 60s/70s little roadster. (Fiat 124, Austin, Triumph, MG, etc.) Tune it up for racing, and spend my silver years hanging out at vintage race weekends with the local SOVREN and SCCA chapters.
I think this is the classic way for a car person to spend their silver years. Does it change with your age? Will my generation want to hit up SCCA autocrosses in Neon SRT4s? Honestly, yeah, probably.
Track my daily, as I’ve been planning on for a while now. Just need to get a set of pilot sports...
I can’t rip on public roads, this was always the goal in some form.
Having tracked my daily in the past, a word of advice: Go harder on the brakes than you think you need to. I will neither confirm nor deny cooking mine on track in Massachusetts by holding them too light and too long and nearly wrecking my ride home.
I would love to drive an F1 car...well a baby F1 car =)
I have this image of a full-bore F1 car scaled down to fit an infant behind the wheel, and I so badly want it to exist. Please don’t crush this dream for me.
I would love to try driving in India. It’s absolutely bonkers and I’d probably be fed up after 10 minutes but it’s a goal.
In another odd coincidence, I was thinking the other day about driving in India. I live in New York, where traffic follows a set of rules that appear inscrutable to visitors yet make themselves known pretty quickly once you move here. I wonder if somewhere like Delhi is the same.
I’d just like to drive to work and not get stuck in roadworks, or trapped behind a line of tanker-wankers from the local dairy plant. I call either pretty ambitious.
This is, by far, the least realistic option on the list.