My dream car(s) is/are:

[Sibling Chatty]

OK, i'm a closet motorhead.

'63 Lincon Continental Convertible, powder blue with the white leather interior (including the dash.).

'65 GTO, any color, convertible (Red would be favorite, with the parchment interior)

'68 GTO hardtop, the burgundy/dark cherry with black interior

I'd like an original Mustang, but the competition's stiff on the 64 1/2's and the 65/67 Ponys with the 271 V8's (The 64.5 only had a 210.)

An original '84 Toyota MR-2. It could be red, even though red's not MY color. (That was one of the most fun cars i've ever driven, even more than a Vette. The first year's 5 speeds were wonderful, really peppy even with a smaller engine, and an amazingly fast little thing.) Sunroof is OK, but not necessisary.

'92 Camry, OK, 92-96 Camry. Want light blue, no stripe, blue interior, the 4 banger, not the 6--don't want the leather seats--and would take almost any color.

Daewoo Leganza from right before GM bought them. Pretty car.
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If I wanted to be totally impractical, a DeLorean. The one I drove was loads of fun, but I didn't get to open it up (no track, just city). Early T-Birds were nice, but by the 70's, it was like driving a very cushy brick. And i've only driven ONE Vette that I thought was worth the effort, a very early one. Every one since the late 60's has been a flashy chunk of crap.

Oh, a Bentley or Rolls wouldn't be turned down. I've only driven a Bentley, though.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

If it's really a dream car, then what I want does not exist.  Yet.

What I want is an external-combustion engine, with a babington-burner*, that fires a tungsten-titanium alloy gas turbine.**  With an 8-speed computer-controlled gearbox, and a computer-controlled lockup clutch.

No--scratch those last two.  Couple the gas-turbine directly to a rare-earth ultra-high efficiency alternator, and put ultra-high efficiency rare-earth-magnet motors inside each wheel hub.  No messy drive-train to take up useful interior space.

Make it possible to steer all 4 wheels.  Rotate in opposite directions, for really tight turning radius, parking a breeze.  Rotate in the same direction for really cool parallel parking:  pull up next to the space, just a bit behind (about 1/3 car length).  Turn all 4 wheels into the space, and the car moves sideways (at an angle) neatly into the space.

Use adaptive, active suspension:  a computer looks ahead at the roadway (radar or sonar) conditions, and actively adjusts each wheel as needed. The car will actually lean into the turns, in this way.

GPS navigation a must, of course. With a high-speed satellite internet feed, as well.  Natch!

Seats 6, or 4 and a bunch of luggage.

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* basically a hollow sphere, with a horizontal slit in one side.  Air is pressurized into the sphere.  Liquid fuel is allowed to run over the top of the sphere.  When it crosses over the slit, the pressurized air rips the fuel into near-atomic size, for very efficient combustion. Will burn anything that is liquid and flammable:  fuel oil, diesel, kerosene, gasoline, used cooking oil, used motor oil, grease, animal fat, old oil-based paint -- basically any flammable liquid that can be made to flow.

You could also rig the burner to admit flammable gasses into the sphere, to use that as a fuel source, too.

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** a gas turbine can be the most efficient engine humans have come up with, to date.  The problem with using it in a auto, is that it's best speeds start at 10,000 rpm and go up from there.  This is neatly solved, by connecting it to a dedicated alternator, one that is designed to produce power at high rpm.  The other road to efficient turbine design, is heat.  The hotter you can let it get, the better.  Thus the exotic alloy I specified, should be good for several thousand degrees.  Of course, you'd need a really good insulation-jacket over the engine core. <heh>

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

Okay... here's my wish list:

Insanely impractical cars:
- 1929 Bentley Blower (6.5 L supercharged inline 4-cylinder!  2 mpg!  But kicked the butt of everything)
- Radical SR8
- Group B Ford RS200 rally car

Fun older cars:
- Jaguar E-type (outfitted for road race, of course)
- 1967 Mini Cooper S (outfitted for rally, of course)
- Austin Healey Bugeye Sprite (the happiest looking car ever made!)
- 197? Datsun 510 (prepped for some sort of racing, but I haven't decided what)

"Slightly" more practical cars:
- 1981 Dodge Aries (with the 2.6 L "Hemi" badged engine) all tricked-out for muscle car meets.   
- 199? Ford Escort Cosworth
- 1989 Mazda 323 GTX
- current Subaru Impreza WRX STi or Mitsubishi Lancer EVO

And most important for the wish list:

- A big, big garage to hold all of these cars.   

[Bluenose]

All time fave, practicality not a consideration -> lightweight D-Type Jaguar in British Racing Green with the fairing behind the driver's roll bar and with aero screen and metal tonnaeu on the over the passenger seat.  I actually saw one once up close and personal and fell in love.  Would still blow away most "exoticars" today.

Bluenose

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

As a complete dream I would think on a 1928 Mercedes SSK or a 1936 500K (for some reason I was convinced that there was an original SLK on that era buy I can't find a reference).


A more contemporary dream may be a Lamborghini anyone.

For a different kind of dream (again) a Mercedes Unimog.


As for something I could drive I go for Tolous' Subaru Impreza WRX STi.

In reality I cannot get any of those things, nor the car I would like to buy to replace my Toyota Echo, a Scion xB.

[Griffin NoName]

Mine would be a street car, named Desire.

[Sibling Chatty]

I've seen the streetcar named Desire.

In fact, until they changed the 'destination scrolls' in the steetcars, ANY of them could be named Desire. When we lived in New Orleans, people having Streetcar Parties* often requested that their car have the Desire destination, evenn though the streetcars no longer went there.

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*Streetcar Parties were very popular when I lived in New Orleans. You rented a car, and it made the run up and down the line from Canal, out to Riverbend, around  and on out to Carrollton and back. You could bring food, beverages, music, even a small band.

I attended a wedding reception on a streetcar one time. The caterer met it at several stops along the way and re-stocked the food and the bar. At the end of the line, when the car reversed (the driver moved to the other end, and in an empty car, flipped the wooden seatbacks) they announced that the next part of the reception was at the zoo. We went to the zoo, had cake and champagne, and the streetcar came back along the run with more booze and food...

They ran the car from 2PM until 2 AM for the reception, with stops on the 'pull-off' on Canal and at Riverbend for pottybreaks. I had taken a cab to the wedding (parking near the Quarter was hell, even then) so I just got off at the streetcar stop nearest my home...long before 2 AM.

[goat starer]

a willys jeep...



...a truimph stag....



....or a fiat 500

[Kiyoodle the Gambrinous]

My dream car would probably be the beautiful Mustang Shelby.

Aka "Eleanor" from the movie "Gone in 60 Seconds":

[Sibling Chatty]

http://www.mustangclassifieds.com/mustang-1661.html

I want this one...

[goat starer]

nasty american junk. All thereally great cars EVER are European. Except the original subaru Impreza WRX. 

[beagle]

Your humbleness is slipping Goat...

Personally I'll settle for a Bentley Mulsanne Turbo or a Bentley Arnage R or Continental, but it must come with a chauffeur and one of those matching picnic set things for Glyndebourne/Glastonbury (delete as appropriate according to age).

Having driven half a million miles (not much by U.S. standards probably, but enough for me) the biggest luxury would be to have someone do it for me.

[Sibling Chatty]

nasty american junk. All thereally great cars EVER are European. Except the original subaru Impreza WRX. 

I've driven both, Goat. Huge variety. No one vehicle is best at everything. For decades, I wouldn't have had a British car because of the electrical system/wiring. I had a Swedish car that had an air conditioner that couldn't keep the car cool if the back seat was full of icebergs. I drove German cars of several kinds (not just VW's) and have, at times, been prepared to confess to anything to get away from the horrid suspension.

French cars? Prior to the 80's?? NNNOOOOOOOO!!

How about..the Yugo, reflecting the cutting edge of Serbo-Croatian technology??

(I want my Toyota...) But the '60's 'stangs were great cars. Good engineering, great style. Rugged, competent and attractive. And very responsive.

[Kiyoodle the Gambrinous]

Yugo is the worst piece of junk I had the opportunity to drive...

Please never refer to it as a car...

[goat starer]

Did beaglereally tell me my humbleness was slipping and then say he wated a bently with a chauffeur? I will assume that was a joke (and a good one too if it was)

French cars? Prior to the 80's?? NNNOOOOOOOO!!

what about....




no one has ever made better suspension than Citroen. Noone has made a more iconic car.

How about..the Yugo, reflecting the cutting edge of Serbo-Croatian technology??

I drive the cutting edge of Czech technology (OK the germans own it now - getting hold of the Skoda works was a key reason for the annexation of the Sudeten land before WW2. Now VW have simply brought it!). built on a VW base and have no problems with the suspension. firm and sporty.

(I want my Toyota...) But the '60's 'stangs were great cars. Good engineering, great style. Rugged, competent and attractive. And very responsive.

not a patch on the triumph stag - real style and poise