Complex Rides Writers Pick Their Classic and Modern Dream Cars

The Comples Rides team might not be too big, but what we lack in numbers, we make up for with our passion and love of cars. In one way or another, cars have served an integral role in our lives, whether they were a way for us to spend time with our family, or they were the original reason our now significant other said hello, or they were how we quenched an insatiable thirst to know how things work, or they were simply a representation of our personal style and taste. Whatever the reason is, we have a connection with automobiles that will alway be special to us.

Of course, that special feeling doesn't come from just any car. We don't look at old Yugos and get that fluttering feeling in our chests. Every person who writes for us has specific preferences, based on their upbringings and their current situations. We wanted to know exactly what those preferenes were, so we asked a question that is both extremely simple and incredibly complex: "What are your classic and modern dream cars?" We think you'll enjoy some of the answers, and we'd love to hear yours, as well.

RELATED: 25 Cars Complex Staff Members Have Owned

Position: Complex Rides Freelancer
Twitter: @Janniverse

"... depending on my mood and purpose. Both appeal to me stylistically for different reasons, and performance wouldn't be an issue, either. I love their character, and in the case of the 2000GT, I have to wonder what the hell happened to the Toyota brand since the Supra was discontinued."

Position: Complex Rides Freelancer
Twitter: @Janniverse

"The Alfa for its jaw-dropping beauty or the R8 for that unbelievably sexy exhaust note. I think I need a bigger garage."

Position: Complex Rides Freelancer
Twitter: @ian_servantes

"I always lean toward the hyperbolic, but I’m not exaggerating when I say that the Shelby Cobra is the most beautiful car ever made. When I started paying attention to cars as a kid, everything about Carroll Shelby’s masterpiece stuck out: the smooth, rolling lines of the body; the big, perfectly rounded headlights; the double racing stripes. I’m starting to drool just thinking about it. It’s a shame that there are so many fakes out there. I could never live with myself knowing I wasn’t driving the real thing. If you ever see me rolling in one of these, you’ll know that journalism turned out to be surprisingly lucrative."

Position: Complex Rides Freelancer
Twitter: @ian_servantes

"It’s kind of weird how looking at supercars nearly every day can numb you from their power. That’s why we look at Drake’s plain black Bugatti and think, “Hey, that’s kind of boring.” But there’s one car that hasn’t lost its luster for me. If anything, the more I look at it, the more I want to be inside its winged doors. I’m talking about the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. Plenty of people have thrown Lamborghini doors on cars that don’t cost six figures, but the aforementioned doors on the SLS AMG haven’t been swagger jacked (well, besides Mercedes stealing from itself). When raised, they look like the arms of the Karate Kid. Put this Mercedes in my driveway and I promise to wax-on and wax-off every week. It deserves the care."

Position: Complex Rides Editor
Twitter: @T_Marko

"I'm a firm believer in lust at first sight. Like many other car enthusiasts, I believe that the '60s are an era that will probably never be topped when it comes to car design. The vehicles came out of that decade were just incredible. I'm not really an old soul in any regard, but when it comes to old muscle cars and the '69 Camaro, I might as well be a 60-year-old who would only need this car if I ever had trouble getting it up, if you catch my drift.

My dad used to have a '68 Chevelle SS 396 that he talks about almost on a daily basis, and it's because of him that I have my love of older cars. One day, I'm going to have one of these in my garage, stripped down to its skeleton, and I will restore that thing back to perfection."

Performance-wise, the McLaren MP4-12C and 12C Spider are easily the most incredible cars I've ever driven. I love the form-follows-function mantra that the company keeps and drills into its road cars. The technology that comes from its formidable racing history, like the carbon fiber tub, the dampening, and the simple design of the interior are are all so reassuring that you can do no wrong in the those cars. And sweet baby Jesus are they incredibly fast.

And while I enjoy the exterior of the MP4s cars, the P1 is just too damn sexy not to want it. When I am on my deathbed, I just want to sit in that thing, close my eyes and fade into darkness. Trying to tell me there's a more beautiful death than that will just be wasting your time.

--

Because I've never been able to make up my mind about anything in my life, I have to get a word in about the Spyker C8 Laviolette, too. I'm big on exclusivity and having the attention on me. I can be a shy person at times, but part of the allure of cars is that they have the ability to shoot my confidence through the roof.

The feeling you get from driving a car that literally every person on the street is staring at is absolutely incredible. Now, a Ferrari or a Lambo could do that, but a huge majority of the world knows those car brands. How many people do you know that have seen a Spyker on the road? Just look at this freakin' car:

Position: Complex Rides Contributor
Twitter: @fultimejackmove

"It has to be painted traffic cone orange (w/ Confederate flag on top), doors welded shut, and have a backseat with a bow and quiver of dynamite-tip arrows.

I dreamt about this car a lot as a kid—literally (The Dukes of Hazzard aired on Friday nights as I recall, and the gallons of ice cream I consumed while watching it fostered some interesting dreams). What's not to love about the General Lee? It's loud, it drives fast, the doors are welded shut so old fat people can't ride along (sorry Uncle Jesse), and it jumps over ravines and shit. But why take my word for it? Read these gems from the on-the-low funniest wikipedia page on the Internet:

-'When filming a jump, anywhere from 500 to 1,000 pounds of sand bags or concrete ballast was placed in the trunk to prevent the car from nosing over.'

-'Despite the ballast, the landing attitude of the car was somewhat unpredictable, resulting in moderate to extremely violent forces, depending on how it landed.'

-'On many of the jumps the cars bent upon impact.'

-'All cars used in large jumps were immediately retired due to structural damage.'

And, my personal no. 1 contender for best wiki line of the year:

-'Stunt drivers report enjoying the flights but hating the landings.'"

Position: Complex Rides Contributor
Twitter: @fultimejackmove

"My actual current dream car is a 1984 Ford Truck, but the only thing more irresponsible for a Brooklyn father of two to want is an eightball of cocaine, and at least with the coke, you don't have to worry about alternate side parking in the morning. That said, the XC70 is kinda gangsta on its own: Gus Fring moved one (or something similar), and when you're not transporting kids around, you can do all sorts of fun things in the way back seat (provided the car is parked or someone else is driving). Shit is not sweet in these streets; crash-test ratings FTW."

Position: Complex Rides Freelancer
Twitter: @seanseaevans

"Again, I was tempted to pick something outrageous, like a chromed-out Mercedes SLR, but driving a car like that requires such an extreme lifestyle change. I can't roll up to the softball field in Justin Bieber's loaner without feeling like a dickhead, you know."

Position: Complex Rides Freelancer
Twitter: @seanseaevans

"I was tempted to go with an old school roadster, like an Austin Healey or Morgan Plus 4. But, ultimately, I'm a Chicagoan with Midwestern sensibilities, so it would be borderline sacrilege to snub Detroit Muscle. The SS Chevelle is a vehicle that more or less compensates for all of the driver's personal shortcomings, and I'm a person who needs a lot of help looking cool. This is pretty much a no-brainer."

Position: Complex Rides News Contributor
Twitter: @laptop_lasane

"Being from the South and growing up around mechanics, it has always been about big, long cars for me. Town Cars, Crown Victorias, Fleetwoods, Broughams, Regals, Skyhawks ... just basically anything that you need a football field to parallel park, has enough space to fit a small army, handles like butter, and makes a whole lot of noise.

"I don't think I knew anybody with a '64 but it's such a part of hip-hop culture that everybody wanted one. The other cars I could easily buy from somebody's grandparents or at a police auction back home, but the '64 would take some work."

Position: Complex Rides News Contributor
Twitter: @laptop_lasane

Position: Complex Rides Contributor
Twitter: @KatharineERWIN

"When I recently received the email for this article regarding "an old car you'd kill somebody for and a modern car you'd go to jail for" I couldn't help but take it literally.

"Considering I have never killed anyone and never intend to, and certainly not for the four wheeled variety ( there are two too many wheels), I chose an older car very dear to my heart, that almost killed me.

"It was my second garage job, but she was my first Porsche, a yellow 1977 911. Her smell was intoxicating. When I was first asked to "get in" to help bleed the brakes, it was like returning to the womb. The leather from that era is transforming. This was home. But the relationship was bitter sweet. I was next put in charge of changing all the dashes light bulbs to LED. Simple enough, except for one smaller than a fingernail hit the sidewall instead of the connector thus causing the whole wiring in the dash to smoke. At first I didn't think anything was wrong. That burning smell was just my boss Mike's toaster oven on the fritz again. But that didn't smell like food, that smelled like..."oh shit!"

"I was horrified, my heart sank. There was the Porsche smoking on the lift! "Turn off the car!" Yelled Mike. I ran and jumped in, first turning the car over instead of off (Porsches turn the other way from US cars.)

"Finally, the car was off, and a few hours later, had new wiring. Sadly most of the dashes' wires were fried. Had the car smoked much longer, it could have caught fire, in a large oily garage possibly causing a massive fire ball that would exploded certainly killing Mike and me.

"But because 911s are rear engine, the likely hood of a fireball was slight. And a Porsche 911 is hardly a car to kill for. A Peugeot 405 built for Pikes Peak or a DB4 Zagato built for Le Mans are more like it, but this little yellow beast won me over with near fatal attraction."

"As for jail, well, again, no car is worth going to jail for. Even the new DB4 Zagato (designed by Ercole Spada and son) x ICON x Aston Martin) isn't worth jail time. But... ya know, accidents happen.

"It was the fall of 2011 and I had just finished a shoot for Intersection out in Long Island. I had been given a Cadillac SRX turbo wagon to use for the shoot and I had a big day ahead of me with my first shoot for Vogue.com only a day away.

"I had loads of returns to make in the city and my impatience overcame me while stopped on an industrial street in Brooklyn. Because the other side of traffic was blocked due to a static truck, I took a chance and zipped up the wrong way looking for a one-way street to make an escape. All of a sudden, I heard and saw the flashing lights.

"How idiotic I felt for being pulled over at this moment and not on the previous day when I caught myself pushing a buck twenty on the LIE. Now, I have driven my fair share of high-end soccer mom vehicles in a few different countries thanks to Intersection, but the SRX really took the cake. It's so smooth and so fast, it's almost impossible not to speed. It's also incredibly comfortable.

"It was also bright sparkle blue and had what I guess to be an illegal tint to the windows, making it much more suspicious than a soccer cart. When the cops asked me whose car it was, I responded wearing mirrored Lolita heart sunnies, 'It's Cadillac's.'

'Yes ma'am, we know it is a Cadillac. Whose car is it?'

'No, it is Cadillac's! I work for a car magazine!'

"Puzzled, they finally agreed and ran my license, which, to my surprise was suspended. I was then hauled of to the percent and thrown behind bars (for only a few hours, but it felt like eternity!)

"The cops were very kind and allowed a friend to pick up the car with me. I was at Vogue by the end of the day, picking out shoes and laughing to myself that surely I must be the only person to be in jail and the Vogue offices on the same day.

"I sometimes see SRX's on the street and wonder might have been had circumstances been different. What if the cops weren't so nice and impounded the car and if I didn't get out in a few hours?

"I also visit the yellow Porsche often. I have since named her Woodstock, which her was cool with her owner. I think about different outcomes of the smoking day and don't regret a thing. I have learned so much working on Woodstock.

Early on, one of my many mechanical mentors once said, 'it's just a vehicle that gets you there. That's all.' But sometimes, they can be a little more."

Position: Complex Rides Editor
Twitter: @SZMatheson

"The 33 Stradale was made so that Alfa's customers could have a taste of the company's racing tech in a road car. While all of that does seem like it would make the car absolutely perfect to drive, let's be honest here. The real reason I want it is that it's quite simply the one car that exemplifies what a sports car should look like to me more than any other. This Alfa is the automotive equivalent of the Adagio from Mozart's 23rd Piano Concerto, or Monet's Water Lilies, or the second act of Giselle. It's a perfect piece of art. I'd settle for just having the body in my living room."

Position: Complex Rides Editor
Twitter: @SZMatheson

"I love McLaren, and I think the MP4 and the P1 are brilliant, but I also loved the F1's 1+2 seating arrangement. Luckily for the fantasy version of me who has billions of dollars and a wardrobe full of suits from Saville Row, McLaren also has a division that makes custom cars for discerning/picky/annoying lunatics who don't think a regular McLaren is special enough (Remember the X1?). If I could have an all black P1 with 1+2 seating I'd be in heaven. While I'm at it, give me some supercapacitors instead of those batteries."