Those are the words every car guy and girl has uttered at some point in their life.. and it is usually about the first car they had.  That's how it is for me, my first car was a 1983 VW Rabbit GTi, built down in New Stanton.  I bought it from my brother for $500.  He had it since new and bought it to replace his Datsun 260Z, which is another car I wish was still around. My GTi was as fun to drive as any car on the road today. Sure, it only had 90 HP, but it was lightweight and felt like it was truly connected to the road. A drivers car, I like to call it. Pure. 

In my neighborhood alone there were 4 GTi's the year my brother bought his. One in each color available. My brother's was red, Jim's was silver, Chris had the white one, and Steve had a black one. I liked the red best, so I was in luck when I took ownership of it many years later.

I remember asking my brother to back the car down my parent's driveway so that I could practice driving a stick. And I remember my neighbor Jackie yelling out the window that even though it doesn't seem like it, I needed to give it MORE gas when it started bucking on me. A tip that I still use whenever I teach someone to drive a manual transmission car.  She also wanted to know if I painted the steel winter wheels green to match my Grateful Dead Shakedown Street sticker that was on the car. I told her no, that it was the only paint I had handy. I think she believed me...

This was also the car that I had detailed by my friend Jeff, who drove a mid 70's camaro that leaked oil so badly we called it the Valdez.  His license plate was KOOMPY, or something like that. I called him COOMP all the time, being from Penn Hills and all... anyway I blame him and this car for infecting me with the detailing bug. Keeping the black trim actually black on a VW back then was quite a chore and led me on a nationwide chase to find a product that actually worked. For the record, "Black Again" did the trick.

So ask anyone you know that even remotely likes cars what car they wish they still had. I bet you get an answer faster than my GTi could make it to 60.