Re: Your favourite automotive memories from the younger years? I'm 22 and a half years old, and I've spent almost my entire life till now in Muscat, Oman. I was in Mumbai for 5 years for my further studies, but I've spent half of those 5 years in Muscat too, thanks to the vacayions we got from college and for my visa renewal trips.
My love for cars started in Muscat from a very very young age. Here are a few highlights.
1. Coming to our Muscat home for the first time in a Isuzu pickup truck when i first came here (3 months old).
2. My earliest scale cars were a 1/32 Mitsubishi Pajero 3-door (green) and a 1/36 Lincoln Town Car Limo. Besides that, i used to get the generic plastic toys too.
3. My dad doesn't drive, which is strange in a city that priortizes private car ownership, but we had lovely family friends who had some nice cars. One of our oldest friends had a 1988 Mitsubishi Lancer that I have some fond memories off. Another friend had a 1999 Toyota Tercel.
4. One family friend worked for BP and he gifted me one of the scale model BP trucks, complete with its very own fuel station.
5. Motor show visits were a regular thing. Weirdly they were not held every year, but I remember going for the 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2008 shows. Have some nice pics from the events, thanks to my mom.
6. Growing up, the New Edge SN-95 Mustang was quite popular here. It slowly led to my lifelong love and obsession with the ultimate pony car.
7. In 2003, dad took me to watch the Oman Rally that was taking place near our residence, and it was a surprise too! I do remember seeing the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo killing it on the rough terrain at the rally.
8. The most popular vehicles at the time were Toyotas, and still are. So there were a lot of the beautiful Land Cruisers (2nd fav car after the Mustang) Corolla, Camry, Avalon and the Hiace, which is the dominant taxi model here, and our favoirte mode of transport.
9. Oh and yes, my dad's late close friend used to work for the only english car magazine here, so he used to get me every month's copy. I wouldn't understand what all was written, but I only used to drool on the pics.
10. My nursery and primary school teachers were aware of my love for cars, because i used to take them outside the school and point out at the cars that were parked around.
So yes, I'm still living in Muscat at the time of writing this and I run a page on Instagram- @parkedinmuscat. If you would love to see the car culture of Muscat, do look it up! |