"Dad, what's your favorite car?," was the entirety of an e-mail the other day from my oldest daughter, Corey. Not that I've done much to hide the fact I'm a gear-head, but I'm a little surprised how often I get asked this.

Of course, it's not actually as easy as that.

I mean, there are a lot of different kinds of cars. My immediate response was, "My favorite race car or my favorite street car?," if for no other reason than to start sifting the list.

"Whatever," she replied, "favorite car."

Not a lot of help, that one. That leaves too much open ground.

I mean, should I pick the one I find the most beautiful, or the one I'd most like to drive? Do I have to consider maintenance and insurance costs? Is this to be my only car or can I ignore practicality? There are too many questions to answer--too many cars to pick from--to just say "favorite car"...I need some guidelines.

As it happened, that night I met up with a handful of my equally-gear-headed buddies to watch in-car videos from this year's racing season. Over a couple of beers, I popped the question to them (no, not THAT question) with, of course, enough qualifiers to get a proper answer.

Specifically, the question to everyone was this:

You can have any two cars, no strings attached. One street car, one race car. These aren't daily drivers and you don't have to pay for maintenance, upkeep, insurance, garaging--anything. What two cars would they be?

The answers were interesting....

People's picks were, in great part, a reflection of themselves, or perhaps the way they looked at life. I picked the 1963 Ferrari GTO (like the red one shown here) as my "street" car.

That's actually kind of a borderline pick as the GTOs probably did more racing than they did street driving, but technically at least, it's a street car. See? Look at the photo...it's got license plates!

My race car was a 1970ish Porsche 917 (like the photo at the top of this entry). But both of these were closely followed by secondary lists of half-a-dozen runners-up in each category.

I only get one from each category? Sheesh. That's hard.

The other guys' picks included F1 cars, the Corvette Z06, 911 Cup Cars...a mixture of old (like mine) and totally new, different by person. I lusted over the vintage cars. Brad, my racing buddy, wanted a new race car he could race in non-vintage events. For an over-a-beer conversation-starter, it was pretty good.

So the question is, what are your two picks?

1. Lance Jurgensen11/20/2007 10:45:58 AM

1969 Z28 Camaro (preferably a convertible)
Late Model Impala stock car to race at the local track

2. Joacim Boive11/21/2007 03:54:23 AM
Homepage: http://www.agria.se

That's no an easy answer...

Streetcar: Ferrari F40, altough the 250GTO is a very nice choice as well. Or maybe a 288GTO.. Hmm...

Racecar: Simple answer, the latest Ferrari F1 car. But that's too easy and "boring"... Audi Quattro Pikes Peak from 1987, now that's something. Or maybe the Porsche 935 Le Mans 1980...


/Jocke

3. Scott Good11/21/2007 09:00:06 AM
Homepage: http://www.scottgood.com

Pike's Peak Audi Quattro...nice call! Hadn't thought about that. Or one of the early Lancia Stratos rally cars....

4. Sean Burgess11/26/2007 01:26:05 PM
Homepage: http://www.phigsaidwhat.com/

Seeing as how I am not the largest person in the world, I have always been more of a Porsche man than a Ferrari lover. Both of my choices are street/race cars, so I'll just list them both.

Porsche 959 No other car made me drool so much, especially considering it ran in the Paris-Dakar Rally and the 24 Hours at Le Mans.

Shelby Cobra 427 An engine with wheels that blew everything else off the road.

5. Tom12/06/2007 03:43:15 PM

I've always liked the Shelby GT350. I've always wanted a candy apple red 1971 Barracuda but I was fortunate to have a 68 Firebird and 69 Mach I mustang while growing up Strangely enough I miss driving a mini van!

6. Brad12/07/2007 06:06:18 PM

Very nice choice with the Barracuda Tom. The color was called Rally Red and I had a 73 340 Cuda' as my first car thanks to many summers cutting grass before I turned 16. It was a much better car in my memory than actuality but I admit to having the new Challenger on order. Inspired by the old, but with better fit, finish, hopefully won't burn oil and should get better than 7.5 MPG. Brad

7. Scott Good12/09/2007 07:43:55 AM
Homepage: http://www.scottgood.com

I've ridden with you, Brad. YOU aren't going to get a whole lot more than 7.5 mpg in that thing regardless of what the EPA says!

8. Stan Rogers12/10/2007 09:09:05 AM
Homepage: http://stanrogers.blogspot.com

I'd prefer a streeter I can actually wring out from time to time without worrying too much about the consequences -- give me a good ol' FIAT X1/9. Yeah, it couldn't accelerate fast enough to get out of its own way, and maybe it topped out at passing-the-semi-uphill speeds, but I could play boy racer all day long. Especially after throwing the stupid-wide Pirellis on it.

No need to be nearly as practical with the racer, though. There's something attractively insane about the CanAm Porsche 917/30 that just won't leave me alone. I'd expect to buy it on the first vintage weekend, and I'd bet the mortician wouldn't be able to do anything about the grin.

9. Tom12/10/2007 02:46:07 PM

I was just at my desk dreaming of a Pontiac GTO 65 or 66. It's a good dream though.

10. Charles Robinson12/21/2007 10:23:51 AM
Homepage: http://cubert-codepoet.blogspot.com

I don't race other than playing with the wannabe's in their ricers, but god I'd love the 2002 Saab 9-3 they built for the Pikes Peak challenge: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieNvcv4mAnM . From the comments: "All fluids boiled away and the airfilter melted and went in to the turbo - but he set a new record."

For a normal car that's a tough call. I've always wanted a 1971 Hemi 'Cuda (plum crazy, of course), but that's mostly because of the mystique. I fell in love with the 1988 Lotus Esprit Turbo while in high school, but I've never driven one and the reviews have mostly said the ride is rather rough and the seats uncomfortable. No, I think I'll stick with my new love: my 2001 Saab 9-3 Viggen convertible.

11. Harkpabst Meliantrop01/25/2008 03:58:22 AM
Homepage: http://fetzbraun.gmxhome.de/

Finally, one of those questions that are easy to answer.

Race: Caterham 7 CSR Superlight
(or any other other Caterham 7)

Street: Caterham 7 CSR260 - kick some serious Cobra butts
(or any other Caterham 7)

Having my top favorites out of the way, I'd surely love to ride along in Stan's X1/9. But please, make it one with the original, early Italian bumpers (http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_power/111881708/), not those later ugly ones imposed by American laws (http://www.flickr.com/photos/57233603@N00/379718304/)!

Well, that wish would probably make it the race car choice in the States then ...

12. Jess Stratton01/28/2008 12:18:11 PM
Homepage: http://www.mattandjess.net

Hi Scott! It was great to attend your session and meet you at GURUPalooza this year!!
For my daily driver, I'd still keep Eloise, my MINI Cooper S. I'd just have more stuff in it than I already do.
For racing, I have an autocross team, and there's no hesitation - I've never seen anything handle better through those turns like a Lotus Elise. It just doesn't even break a sweat. One day, when I have nothing better to do with my money (ha) I'd love to have one. Yeah, I'll get on that right now. Do you think I can fit a stroller in there?

13. TecheSpot.com - Jenney MAC.06/23/2009 01:41:06 AM
Homepage: http://www.techespot.com

My red Mustang convertible. I got it when I was 15. It was brand new. I was P.I.M.P. Haha! I got a Jeep right before my first baby. I wrecked it and went back to the red mustang convertible. Yes, even with a baby strapped in that backseat. I clearly had to put the top down to get the carseat inside. I'm.not.even.kidding. Fun times, my friend. Fun times.
Thank goodness, I am on Jeep number 2 and we are doing just fine! Ha!

14. harakudoshi05/14/2010 10:33:10 PM

Race car, id have to say mitsubishi starion 4wd. (Rally car) street car, its a 3 way tie between a 71 ford falcon gtho phase 3, a 74 ford falcon gt coupe, and a 68-69 holden monaro gts 327/350. (If the street cars don't sound familar, its cause they're aussie muscle cars.)

15. Garvey Hyundai06/16/2010 08:59:40 AM
Homepage: http://www.garveynorth.com/site/

Garvey Hyundai !!!Since its my first car it will always be special and my favorite :)

16. David07/27/2010 08:33:00 AM

1956 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce
1968 Alfa Romeo Spider Duetto 1750

17. Rayson08/25/2011 01:37:28 AM
Homepage: http://www.ronsamericanrv.com/

Well if you ask any person picking him randomly, whats you favorite car then the expected answer would be the Mustang or the Camaro. If you ask me the same. I would say the Ford F150. Its my dream machine.

18. darkflamev1211/26/2011 03:23:22 PM

Porsche Carrera GT.