Normality. It's something I fight daily. I don't want to get used to the idea that it's “normal” to have every week waiting for me — it doesn't always happen, it's true … — a dream car in the garage of Razão Automóvel.
A reality for me, a dream for any petrolhead. And by the same token, it's a dream that I don't want to be corrupted by the feeling of “oh and so this is normal…”. It is not normal…
Everything that Reason Automobile has achieved in just six years is not normal. It's unique.
The cars that made me dream
Two weeks ago I felt again on this test that my work is something really special — I think it was very evident in my reactions. I have a dream job, so I decided I had to dedicate a few lines to writing about the cars that made me dream. In part, these cars are largely responsible for this passion that insists on not disappearing.
I remembered them because I came across one of my childhood dream cars: the Nissan Micra 1.3 Super S.
This immediate meeting took place at Ponte Vasco da Gama, it was around 7:30 am, coming to the office. The pride of the boy who was driving it was contagious—both he and the car must have been about the same age. How do I know he was proud of the car? For the immaculate condition that Nissan Micra 1.3 Super S was in. It had some modifications it's true, but just enough to enhance the character of the car rather than ruin it.
I honked and waved at him like a “big car man!”. The answer didn't wait… after 15 seconds it passed me showing all the life that was still under that bonnet. Because of the sound the exhaust made and the way it climbed revs, it still had a lot of life...
I remembered the Nissan Micra 1.3 Super S, I remembered the Renault Spider, the Audi A8, the BMW 7 Series, the Volvo 850 R, the Porsche 911 and of course… McLaren F1.
in a child's head
I can remember perfectly the reasons why I liked each of these models. In the case of the Nissan Micra 1.3 Super S, the main culprit was Automotor magazine. They tested a trophy version — in gray tones — and on the side, in the photographs, they placed the series version.
I lost count the times I flipped through those pages.
I got tired of wasting gasoline behind the wheel of the words of whoever wrote that essay. I so wanted to have a car like that. It was exciting enough, mundane and…accessible. I knew that one day I could have one and I think that was one of the reasons that made me like the car so intensely.
The Renault Spider was because it had no glass at the front. I liked the design, the minimalism, everything. The gray and yellow colors transported me to another world. The possibility of being able to ride in a car and wearing a helmet convinced me. Ganda PT!
The Audi A8 was a marvel of technology. It was the first Audi with an aluminum chassis, and it was around that time — 1995 perhaps — that I started to really take an interest in the more technical stuff.
Until then, my technical knowledge was limited to saying "color and bouncy" the power of all (all!) cars on the market. I don't even think I can do that today...
The BMW 7 Series was another love at first sight. Even today I consider the E38 to be the most beautiful 7-Series in history. Long, wide and short. Inside it all made sense in my head. Mainly the option that allowed this luxury saloon to be equipped with a fridge.
The red Volvo 850 R that was seen for several months in the most diverse magazines was another one of the models that made me dream. Hell, the car was beautiful! It already presented lines out of step with the trend of the time, but it continued to have a brutal presence.
So much so that even today it remains one of the most coveted Volvos in the used car market.
Finally the Porsche 911. The Porsche 911 was and still is the Porsche 911… there was one in Grândola, the land where I was born, and I kept shivering every time I saw and heard it go by.
I had a miniature of the 911 Bburago and I even avoided playing with it so as not to spoil it. That's how much I liked the Porsche 911.
Do you want me to continue?
Don't be surprised by the lack of exotic cars. This passion came after I was 10 years old, when I already had a greater capacity for understanding. It seems that being able to see and hear them was a condition for liking them up to a certain age.
Another car that I thought was just amazing, the Volkswagen Passat B5.
I convinced my parents to buy one but the waiting time was 6 months… I consumed the catalog I brought from the Volkswagen stand in Setúbal — where it is now a Brazilian restaurant — as if there was no tomorrow for many months. Had I read the school books so much…
SEAT Alhambra — yes, this is the part where you can mock me for this list of dream cars having an MPV. The fact that the SEAT Alhambra is manufactured in Palmela and that my godfather works there, made the minivans born in Portugal the best in the world.
There was a magazine that dared to give the victory to Renault Espace in a confrontation with the SEAT Alhambra. I never bought it again. Of the cars I told you about, the SEAT Alhambra was the only one I owned.
Left my company with more than 550,000 km and still selling health.
One last reference to another minivan — remember I was a kid! I loved the Volkswagen Sharan VR6, thought it was an airplane. Blame my godfather who worked there...
the exception to the rule
The McLaren F1 is not just a supercar. It's for me the best car in the world… ever. Point. If I forget this one, of course...
The media impact it had at the time could hardly be achieved by any other model.
Speed, power, technology. Anyway, everything! I've been looking for an ad for Mobil with the McLaren F1 but I couldn't find it. I remember being stunned looking at that ad.
Eventually the Ferrari F40 might even have had a bigger impact, but I honestly don't remember. It was too young to remember.
There's another car that made me dream, but I'll talk about it on another occasion: the Ford GT90. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!
Now it's you…
Now that you know which cars I used to like in my childhood — there are actually many more… — I would like to know which cars made you dream. Truly dreaming! From the ones who even pissed off your parents to be the next car in the family and which today is even a real cigar.
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