It’s Labor Day here in the US, and that means the Orbiting HQ is closed until Tuesday. While we take a welcome day off, we thought you might enjoy a look at some of the whips, rides, cruisers, and other forms of transport we’ve called our own. Some are our current cars, some are our favorite cars from the past, and, in some cases, our least favorites. One might even be a bicycle. But they’re ours.

It’s too hard to pick a favorite

Like Eric Bangeman, my first car was also a VW Beetle, which taught me about lift-off oversteer and why you should never buy a car from a friend. But I today I shall neither dwell on the VW nor the Mk.2 VW Golf Driver that followed it. Instead, I’m going to focus on my favorite cars past and present.

First up is my 1996 Ford Ka. This was Ford’s subcompact, sold around the world, but not in the US. Powered by an ancient 1.3L crossflow engine, it was truly a budget model, and mine—an ex-rental car—was particularly underspecced. I used to joke it was the clubsport model (that will mean more to Porschephiles than anyone else, I think). Wind up windows. A tape deck that only had two buttons: play and fast-forward. My Ka even lacked the power steering common to most of the line, which meant 4.2 turns lock-to-lock. But the feedback of the road beneath the front tires was sublime.