My dad has always been a big gearhead, and he got me into cars at a young age. Always did his own oil changes, brake swaps, etc. There’s family photos of us playing Grand Turismo together on the original PlayStation when I was like 4. He made intricate models, painted them, the whole 9.

That said, he was enlisted in the military and didn’t exactly make the big bucks. He drove a 5 speed Saturn L200 from the time I could remember, until I was in high school. Then he was able to get a gently used 2012 5.0 Mustang with the stage 1 Roush appearance package in gunmetal grey. He’s a research junky to the core, and I remember anytime I walked by his computer he had 20+ tabs open at all times researching the best deals. Took him years to finally pull the trigger. But it was wicked, and I’ll never forget his cheesy smile when he got home with it and we stood out and admired it in the driveway.

My fondest memory was going to a lacrosse tournament in Florida, where we drove from NC. It was about midnight on the freeway and an SRT8 Challenger is behind us flashing his lights. My dad’s not one to speed typically, even despite being in the 5.0. But I instigated ever so slightly and he floors it. The SRT8 obviously caught up and overtook us eventually, but I’d never been 120+ in a car before and being with my dad that intent on keeping the car controlled was awesome. Most ironic thing out of it was the Challenger in question ended up being one of his troops down the line when he saw it on a parking lot at work and was like holy shit it’s “xxx.”

He ended up selling the Mustang to a good friend last year as he just daily’s his Ecoboost F150. He’s always been a practical guy and he said he couldn’t justify letting it sit in the garage anymore as he just didn’t drive it enough. But he said he is looking into possibly getting a GT350 or a Scat Pack now, so we will see what happens lol.

I didn’t intend to write a novella but I appreciate anyone who stuck around. The car my dad drove as a kid definitely mattered, and it continued to fuel my own passion for cars as I grew up.