by Mike Gulett –
Up until my early-twenties I was aware of, and interested in, American cars with little exposure to and little knowledge of European cars. There was that time when I was about 11 years old in Los Angeles when my friend’s older brother brought his Austin Healy over and I was able to get a ride. While that was a thrill and an eye opener, the experience did not repeat until I was in my twenties.
In the years I spent in LA there were car events at the local parks (cars & coffee type events of the day) that were filled with hot rods, muscle cars and custom cars. I do not remember European cars there. The model cars that I built back then were of the same nature and some were designed by Big Daddy Ed Roth and George Barris.
My parents owned only American cars their whole lives and my first driving experiences were American cars or trucks only for many years. I knew almost nothing about European cars. This was long before the internet and the car magazines that I read were focused on American hot rods, muscle cars, customs and of course all things Shelby.
Triumph GT6
Then one day when I was in college in Dayton, Ohio as I walked across campus I saw something in the parking lot that I had never seen before – a Triumph GT6. It was beautiful and caught my interest. I wanted one, so after graduation when I was able I went to the local Triumph dealer (yes they were still around then).
1974 Triumph TR6 bought new and traded for a TR7 in 1975
I wanted a new GT6 but was told they were no longer made but they did have a new TR6 on the showroom floor. I bought it and have never looked back.
My first boss after college had a Porsche 914 and he would drive us to lunch occasionally. This was a fun experience and my first exposure to Porsche. One day instead of lunch he drove us to the local Porsche dealer and I saw my first 911. I was hooked and wanted one. It took a few years but I eventually bought a used 911 and years later a new one, which I kept for twenty years until I traded it on a 1971 Lamborghini Espada.
1996 Porsche 911 bought new and traded in 2016 for a Lamborghini Espada
Except for a brief interlude with a new ‘78 Chevy camper van I have only owned import cars (mostly European sports and GT cars with a couple of Japanese models thrown in over the years).
So, despite my sheltered life as a youth I have never owned a muscle car, a hot rod or a custom. Not even a Shelby!
The closest we came to an American muscle car is the 1968 Iso Grifo, shown below. It was powered by a Chevy 383 cid stroker with custom headers and Edelbrock speed components. It was fast and made a terrific sound just like a ’60s muscle car wearing an Italian suit.
1968 Iso Grifo
Our latest acquisition is an Aston Martin Vanquish S with a V12 putting out 520 hp but it is not a muscle car even though it will do 200 mph and zero to 60 mph in less than 5 seconds and it could burn rubber in all six gears if I turned off traction control.
2005 Aston Martin Vanquish S bought in 2023
There are only so many cars I can own given the cost, time and space; over the years I chose European sports and GT cars over all of the American variations. I made my choice and have learned to live with it.
What choices have you made?
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
1978 Chevy Van in the snow in Ft. Collins, Colorado during the winter of 1979 – bought new and traded for a used Porsche 911 in 1982
1971 Lamborghini Espada bought in 2016 and sold in 2022
1987 AC Cobra Mk IV bought in 2015 and sold in 2023
1966 Bizzarrini GT 5300 bought in 2008 and sold in 2014
There’s my babies! When you brought me on board to help launch My Car Quest years back, I told you I was nuts about Bizarinnis and Iso Grifos. Little did I know you were about to introduce me to BOTH on your stack at Club Auto Sport! Are they both in Europe now? Thank you for sharing about your magical journey with cars. Wishing decades more fun with more cars, and excellent health to enjoy it all.
Mike, your experience as a youth is similar to mine in a lot of respects. Growing up in Upstate New York, imports were almost non existent. My parents drove only domestic cars (mostly Fords) but we had one neighbor across the street when I was very young who had a Renault Dauphine. I was intrigued by it but was not impressed by this import! It wasn’t until I was 13 and my parents moved us to Connecticut, just outside NYC, that I started to see a lot more European cars. One of our neighbors across from us had a brand new Mercedes 280SL which was much more to my liking than that Dauphine! It, and many other imports started my appreciation of foreign cars. My two gym coaches in Jr. High in CT (how it was referred to before “Middle School”) had English cars. One had a BRG Morgan Plus 4 with the leather hood strap and the other a maroon Series I E-Type Jaguar. Those two cars pretty much cemented my love of British cars, having owned a number of Jaguars and Triumphs in my life! I also owned a GT6. In college, I purchased a used ‘69 Triumph GT6+ in Valencia Blue. It was such a great and fun car, with O/D to boot! And when I bought a Cobra, it was an English one…..my ‘87 AC Mk. IV which I know you are familiar with. I still have mine and love it. So, while I also owned some domestics over the years (a ‘66 TBird, ‘72 Camaro, ‘73 Impala and ‘77 Corvette) the rest were all imports, mostly British, German (BMW and Mercedes) and an Alfa thrown in. I’ve loved cars ever since I can remember and have been fortunate in my life to own some pretty neat cars. They were just used cars at the time, but now most of them are collectible and appreciated much more now than back when I owned them. It’s been a fun car related journey with more to come. Thanks for the fun read Mike.
Mike, I’ve had similar exotic sorts and muscle cars through the years including a hi-pó 1965 Mustang fastback, a Fiberfab Valkyrie, a Cheetah Gullwing coupe, a 1953 Corvette, an original 1966 427 Cobra CSX3129 and a Contemporary Classic replica Cobra. In addition to some very inexpensive but practical and economical cars such as Peugeots, Citroens, Datsun Bluebird, Datsun 240Z, Corvair, Opel, several Mercedes-Benz, 3 1955 Chevrolet 2 door sedans, a 1957 Chevrolet and a 1958 Impala and a 1957 Chrysler 300C. However, because of financial restrictions, I never owned more than 2 cars at a time. Up until 1979 I bought our first house and finally had a one car garage of my own. As far as cars that I built, I used my Dad’s garage at his plumbing and heating shop to put these cars together. If I had all these cars today, I could easily fill a small auto museum now. Along the way thru all these many years I’ve met some very talented automotive people who could do wonders with cars and many of them helped me out tremendously. Many of these fellows are no longer with us but they’ll always be remembered by me. Thanks for your article and keep up the good work.
American cars where for the rich in Europe in the 70 ties
Very funny I grew up completely the opposite way …, when I was around 14 years old my father was driving a Lancia 2000 coupe,
He then bought a 1962 Ford galaxy convertible from Freddie Heineken the beer boss .
for me this was an unbelievable moment Because the v 8 sound , all the electric windows seat etc the size and a real family car which we took on holidays to the south of France.
Those big American cars were not around very much back then and because of their opsize on European roads very few.
That’s the perfect family car for us a couple years later he bought also a Lamborghini Iselero .
We lived in Holland but my father that’s companies also in Switzerland, and he was using those cars to drive back and forth.
Aloft, my father bringing me to school in the Lamborghini coma, half of the school always came out to look at the car orange
This finally brought me to the car collector. I am right now for the last 45 years
Coming from school I started to trade in classic cars which brought me many times to the US specially California because of their rust free cars
back then I also started my own car collection which mainly were sports cars with American engines. V8 , like Monteverdi , Jensen , iso rivolta , Apollo , Intermecanica etc ..
collecting cars is something you can’t explain other people to understand.
It just catches up with you in the good way .
Now I take every rally another car to enjoy , this month it will be the 428 Frua convertible which after a rally 11 years ago from New York to Miami was parked since then .
Mike , respect to keep everybody entertained with your website allready for a long time
Alexander Oet
Alexander,
Thank you for this message. I believe I saw you on the TV show, My Classic Car with Dennis Gage.
Still have your Rivolta/Lele Fidia Grifo? You have great taste in motorcars for certain.