1988 Nissan Skyline GT with an RB20DET.

It was abandoned by my uncle at our place when he moved overseas and subsequently my sister drove it around a bit. Eventually it leaked coolant from the water pump, overheated and blew a head gasket because she wasn’t paying attention.

I was unemployed and bored and I decided to pull it apart and bought all the bits to fix it. I didn’t really know anything about mechanical stuff at the time, but I am good at logic and try not to be useless at practical stuff even though I’m really a computer geek. I drove it around for a bunch of years after that until I was earning enough money that I could buy something I wanted which was a Mitsubshi EVO 1.

So to answer the question, favorite thing was that I rescued it from oblivion even though I didn’t know much about cars or engines at the time.

I misread OP’s title but she was a momma cat and I was a little kid, so she used to lick my hair when I was on the floor reading the funny pages in the newspaper. And she was very comforting when anyone was sad.

mine was a five speed and it made me feel so superior to my 16 y/o peers

I’ve never owned a car. That’s my favourite thing about cars

Fucking everything. But if I had to pick it’s the cassette-melting, vinyl-evaporating hot box it was capable of. Smelled like freedom.

Not my car/pic.

It was a small subcompact hatchback but ran on diesel. Back in my home country, diesel is cheaper and considered more economical, and it was rare for a small car to run on diesel instead of gas.

Two couches on wheels, 1989 Oldsmobile Delta 88

The large comfy bench seat. The trunk space. It being made entirely of steel.

I mean I really hated that car, but she was alright. The sagging headliner, the dead seat cushioning, the fading paint, the regular overheating, the leaking rack and pinion, the grinding noise the timing chain made when going uphill, the unreliable electronic engine components, the fact that it never passed emissions on the first try, the crappy underpowered iron duke, the AM/FM radio with no cassette. I could go on…

That i bought it for $400 and traded it in for $600, also it had a nice big back seat.

Not sure if this counts (as a car), but it was a three wheeler (Reliant Robin), gutless and rattly, all the fun of going 50 mph without breaking the speed limit. All the engine weight was directly on the front wheel, so the back end (no weight at all) would slide out wonderfully around corners.

It came with a snake.

My camaro broke down quite often. I had to replace a starter, water pump, alternator, something about the universal joint in the drive shaft, brakes, battery, etc. The clutch was the hardest and I got it wrong 2 times before I got it right on the third. It made me start thinking outside of what was easy and spoon fed. I started to realize that a Haynes manual was extremely limited. Eventually this line of thinking took me deep into fundamental understanding. Most people never think past throwing parts at a problem, but I learned how all of it works at a fundamental level. That journey started with my first car. It shaped my mind and who I am to a large extent.

The fact that it lasted 20 years.

It had a distinct smell that, when I smell it now, brings me vividly back to driving home from high school listening to Metallica.

It was reliable like having a loyal dog in car form.