Pop‑Up Headlights & Manual Gearbox Memories — Doug’s Ride from 1989 Dodge Daytona to DeLorean

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In this special “host‑becomes‑guest” episode of To All the Cars I’ve Loved Before, co‑host Doug pulls back the curtain on his own automotive story—from the moment his dad surprised him with a 1989 Dodge Daytona (silver, pop‑up headlights, 125‑mph speedo dreams) to finally owning the Nissan 300ZX he lusted after in high school. Along the way Doug revisits:

• The unmistakable manual‑transmission fluid smell that still triggers vivid “garage memories.”
• Why a 2000 BMW 323Ci (E46) convertible became his worst car and ultimate “never again” lesson.
• A fog‑soaked, pre‑GPS road‑trip mishap in a rusty Jeep CJ‑7 that ended with a broken driveshaft.
• The mixtape tracks—“Silent Lucidity” by Queensrÿche & “Plush” by Stone Temple Pilots—that defined his cruising years.
• A dream garage trifecta: twin‑turbo 300ZX, last‑gen Mazda RX‑7 (FD), and his beloved DeLorean.
• How semi‑autonomous driving / Tesla Autopilot transformed his view of road trips and traffic.
• The hugely under‑appreciated 1989 Nissan 240SX that balanced handling perfection with driving legend status.

Plus: stick‑shift lessons from Dad, the debate over cars having souls, and Doug’s one rule for classic‑car mods. Whether you’re into classic cars, JDM icons, car restoration, or just great car podcast stories, this episode packs in nostalgia, hard‑won wisdom, and plenty of pop‑up‑headlight love.

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Episode Transcript

Doug (00:00):
So my very first car was a 1989 Dodge Daytona and it was
silver in color and my dadpurchased it for me with the
hopes of my grades improving,which they certainly did.

(00:21):
For a time I thought it was aneat car, probably because of a
couple things.
One, there was a TV show on atthe time called Hunter and they
had a Dodge Daytona.
Two, it had pop-up headlights,which I was a huge fan of.
And three, it had a speedometerthat went to 120 or 125, which

(00:44):
at the time made me think, hey,this car must be able to go that
fast.
Believe me, it did not.
So if I had to describe thesmell of one of my cars, what
would I think of?
That's a great question.
The real answer is manualtransmission fluid.

(01:04):
Great question, the real answeris manual transmission fluid.
And that smell never seemed toescape me, meaning just with
many different cars, not justbecause they were manuals, but
because they all leaked or Iended up changing the fluids in
them because the transmissionsweren't in great shape.
But anyway, I feel like thatsmell reminds me of body odor,

(01:24):
and I don't know why, but it'slike one of the worst types of
body odor you can put in abottle.
So a life lesson that I learnedbehind the steering wheel.
I would have to say, cars arefreedom, and I'd probably
forgotten that until my daughterturned 16 and started driving
her car all over the place andburning lots of gas.

(01:48):
Exact same thing me and myfriends did.
It was definitely freedom.
So I would say my worst car wasa 2000 bmw 323 ci convertible.
And I say worse because it wasan early production model.
2000 was the first year of thenew E46 body style.

(02:10):
I waited for a while, Ipre-ordered.
I ended up taking one off theshowroom floor, which was
probably a very pre-production,and that car just had problem
after problem after problem.
I probably could have traded itin on the lemon law, but I
opted to let them extend thewarranty.
Big mistake, because the carjust kept having more problems.

(02:32):
Ultimately I sold it.
Did I ever buy another BMW?
I can't say no.
Will I ever buy one again?
Probably not.
So what was my best or worstroad trip mishap?
I would say the worst one, andnow that I think about it I can

(02:52):
think of two tied to this car.
One was with my Jeep CJ7.
I think it was the early 80s.
It was just beat up rusty.
I was driving one night Iactually had to go to work one
night and it was about 45minutes away.
I went to the gas station,filled up, pulled the light, uh,

(03:17):
the switch for the lights,which was one of those old
school pull out ones, and theswitch fell out my hand, or the
plunger, if you will.
So that didn't work out verywell.
The other time was in that sameJeep where we were driving home
from being out several frontsbehind my one friend was the
designated driver, and we're ata stop All of a sudden we go to

(03:41):
go and I hear the car go bang,bang, bang, bang, bang bang
underneath.
Turns out that the drive shaftbroke and so the drive shaft was
just spinning, so parked it onthe side of the road.
I came back the next day withsome tools, I took the drive
shaft out and then I just droveit home with four wheel drive,
keeping in mind it was onlydriving the front wheels, with

(04:05):
four-wheel drive, keeping inmind it was only driving the
front wheels.
So a song that was always on mycar's mixtape, or just always on
, I would say Silent Lucidity byQueensryche or Plush by Stone
Temple Pilots.
Silent Lucidity for two reasons.
One, I think graduating highschool in 1991, I'm assuming
that song came out then, but Iremember hearing it at our prom

(04:29):
and a good friend of mine playedthat a lot in his car, also
Plush by the Stone Temple Pilots.
Same story of the latter Goodfriend of mine played that all
the time in his Nissan 300ZX.
So if money was no object, whatthree cars would I have in my

(04:50):
dream garage?
So I would say a twin turboversion of my 300ZX, along with
certainly the money to maintainit, a FD or, if you will, last
generation of the Mazda RX-7,and my DeLorean, which I already
have.
So I am one third of the waythere.

(05:13):
So do I believe that cars havesouls?
I don't know if I would saythat, but I would say the
memories of cars can sparkdreams, if you will.
And I have a great example ofthat.
I had a good friend in highschool who had that 1990 Nissan
300ZX that I always wanted a carlike his and ultimately he

(05:38):
ended up wrecking it.
But I wanted to figure out howto afford a car like that.
It was probably $30,000, brandnew in the early 90s, and I
didn't know how I would affordthat car brand new in the early
90s and I didn't know how Iwould afford that car.
So it ultimately drove me intomy career, which was kind of
funny reading the want ads, asthey called them back then, or

(05:59):
jobs in section in the newspaper, and I found a job that paid
$31,000.
I just needed to get sometraining and at that time it was
on Novell Network, which was anearly file and print server, if
you will, kind of earlynetworking, before the internet
came to rise, bought the car.

(06:31):
I found out, sadly, that myfriend had passed away.
We had lost touch.
He had passed away many yearsbefore and just thinking about
him and the car brought back abunch of dreams and literally
when I would travel I just kindof have a weird dream and I
dreamed about him and I waspretty close with his family.
It was like their home was likemy second home and all of a

(06:51):
sudden I remembered the Z.
The Z I never got purchased and, lo and behold, I found a Z.
I probably pulled the triggertoo quickly and should have
looked at more, but the Z ismine.
It needs to be repainted.
It's about five differentcolors right now because it kept
getting hit on my street.
But I love that car and I hadnever driven a Z, let alone his,

(07:15):
until I drove my Z, so it'svery special to me.
So what's the mostunderappreciated car I've ever
driven?
I would say for the time it wasmy 1989 Nissan 240SX.
It didn't have a lot of powerbut it handled wonderfully.
It was very well balanced,didn't have a lot of feel, if

(07:38):
you will, nissans were kind ofknown for at the time, for their
steering being kind of dead orvague, if you will, but the car
tracked amazingly.
And of course these days,having that car, those cars are
worth so much money if you finda unmodified, unmolested one,
just because they're sodesirable for drifting and

(08:01):
really all things JDM, japanesedomestic market cars to the
point that people actuallyimport them from Japan to drive
in the United States andelsewhere.
So what's an automotive smell,sight or sound that instantly
brings me back?
I would say it's the door openor key left in the ignition

(08:25):
sound of my Nissan 300CX, justthat sound.
I hadn't heard it in 30 plusyears is exactly the same sound
as my 240SX.
It was a Nissan of the sametime period, but that sound just
instantly took me back.
I would also add maybe it'sjust a feeling those cars at

(08:47):
that time, nissans at least hadsomething to prevent the key
from being left in the car ifyou turned it off.
So it was a little button youhad to push to get the key out.
And the first time I drove thatcar it was total muscle memory
I knew exactly to take that keyout without even thinking of it.

(09:11):
Keep in mind 30-plus years hadpassed since I drove a car like
that.
So who taught me how to drivestick shift?
It was my dad.
Now, why was it my dad?
Because after I had that 1989Dodge Daytona, which was
automatic, I made some friendsat school that had manual

(09:33):
transmission cars.
One had a 1985 Nissan slashanslash, dachshund, 300zx.
The other one at the time had aI want to say 1988 mazda rx7
turbo 2, and their cars werestick shift.
It was just how involved theywere in the process of driving

(09:54):
the car, how, how more connectedthey were.
And I had to have a stick shiftcar.
I ended up buying a 1986 MazdaRX-7, which was the first year
of that body style.
I think it was the FC and thatwas a stick shift car.
That was the car I learned todrive stick shift on and it's
still a muscle memory to thisday and my dad taught me how to

(10:15):
drive, so it's very special tothink about those times.
So what upgrade or mod would Inever do to a classic?
This is a great questionbecause I really do like the
electric power steering that Iadded to my DeLorean.
It really makes the car like adifferent car, like a more

(10:36):
modern car to drive.
But I've really never done anyother mods to my cars and my
advice to people, includingmyself, would be just make sure
you can easily undo the mod ifyou think you're going to sell
the car for some point or itwould have some significance to
a future owner.

(10:56):
For the last question, whichautomotive invention do I think
has changed driving the most?
I would say semi-autonomousdriving, call it auto cruise,
call it self-driving, call itautopilot if you will.
That has changed driving for metremendously because I used to

(11:17):
hate sitting in traffic.
I'm so much calmer in trafficnow.
In fact if I'm in a lane andsomebody is trying to speed up
or getting too close to me, Ijust move over and it's really
enabled me to go on trips a lotmore trips than I used to like
Because if I'm stuck in trafficI just put it in autopilot.

(11:38):
In fact, I will purchase thesupervised FSD.
It's $100 a month or so whenI'm going on a trip, it's good
for 30 days and it just makes mylife so much easier, to the
point that I drove up to LongIsland and back on one day and

(11:58):
really, really, I didn't break asweat for the most part.