Yes, a Volvo 240. The boxy, sensible, famously \u201csafe\u201d car that, when I was a kid, you hoped your parents wouldn\u2019t show up in at school pickup.<\/p>\n
Then I realized something: Now, at my age, I was looking at the coolest, most beautiful car I had ever seen. The Volvo 240 wagon hadn\u2019t changed, but I had.<\/p>\n
READ MORE:\u00a0The 20 Most Iconic Cars of the ’80s From Movies and TV<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Look at any parking lot today, and it\u2019s a sea of bland gray crossovers with touchscreens. The 240 was huge, substantial, and oddly cozy \u2014 like the Home Alone<\/em> house\u00a0\u2014 with its dashboard of real buttons, enough room to play hide-and-seek in, and 300,000 miles on the odometer. It was a home away from home.<\/p>\n This got me thinking about the cars of our childhood that were a running joke, whether it was late-night talk show hosts or your chatty neighbor leaning on a rake doing the joking.<\/p>\n Start your engines. This list will bring back some serious memories, and it might even show you how much you\u2019ve changed.<\/p>\n The AMC Pacer, the El Camino, the Volvo 240: these \u201970s and \u201980s cars were once total punchlines. Here\u2019s why they\u2019re suddenly cool now.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Gallery Credit: Stephen Lenz<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n These weren’t the cars people drove to work \u2014 they were the ones that showed up on bedroom walls, Saturday morning cartoons, and the big screen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Gallery Credit: Stephen Lenz<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nLOOK: We Laughed at These 17 \u201970s and \u201980s Cars. Who\u2019s Laughing Now?<\/h2>\n
MORE CLASSIC CARS: These Are the 20 Most Iconic Cars & Trucks of the 1980s From Movies, TV, and Music<\/h2>\n