Mum and Dad drove a Nissan Bluebird and Datsun 200B, while my uncles and aunties had either a Holden Torana or Commodore, Ford Falcon, Nissan Pulsar or a Toyota Camry.
Most were mid-to-large size cars.
The biggest rivalry was between two of my uncles, the typical Ford versus Holden debate, which is better?
Back then, they could argue not just personal preference, but popularity.
The Ford Falcon was number one for 7 years in the 1980s, but for 15 years, the Australian made Holden Commodore ruled the car market, as Australia's top selling car, up until the end of 2011.
Things have changed in the market.
Today, Holden has announced 500 job cuts at its Victorian and South Australian manufacturing plants. Around 1500 jobs have been lost in the industry in the past year, even though a record 1.1 million cars have been sold.
Furthermore $2 billion in subsidies have been handed out by the government over the past decade to help keep the Australian industry alive.
While some would argue the money would be best spent on other industries, car makers say its survival adds to the economy with flow on effects to the car component sector and the like.
Holden, along with the other Aussie car makers have had to deal with the double whammy of free trade and a high Australian dollar.
Free trade agreements between Australia and other Asian markets reduced the barriers to entry for many international car makers to sell their makes here and offshore.
The strength of the local currency has made it harder for car markers to export their vehicles by making their cars more expensive offshore, but local higher costs locally usuallys mean higher prices here when compared with imported cars.
Who can forget the flood of smaller cars like the Hyundai Excels for example in the 90s, even though some questioned their quality. They were cheap cars and they also met the demands of an emerging market; drivers wanting a smaller more fuel efficient car as petrol prices headed north.
This trend is continuing.
Figures for March from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries show that the small car market in Australia is the biggest, commanding a 23.5 per cent share. It's followed by light vehicles at 12.5 percent. Medium cars hold a 6.4 per cent share, large 3.9 per cent. The only real segment bucking the trend is that for large SUVs at 10.5 percent.
Holden pinned its recent hopes on its small-mid car, the Holden Cruze. But sales haven't met expectations.
VFACTS figures for the year to March, reveals the Mazda 3 as Australia's most popular car, with 10,509 units sold, despite that being a 9.4 per cent decrease.
It's followed by the Toyota Corolla, and Hyundai i30.
5702 Holden Cruze models were sold, a 30.5 per cent fall in the quarter, while the Ford Focus was just behind it at 5187.
There were no large cars or SUVs for that matter in the quarterly top 10.
So with more than 1 million cars sold annually in Australia, there is certainly a healthy market.
That poses the question, what is it that appeals to you when you buy a car?
My first car, was a Suzuki Swift. It was fluorescent green. I shared it with mum when I was growing up.
The first car that I paid for myself, was back in 2007. It was a black Honda Civic Sport.
There were a few things that appealed to me.
The main one, was aesthetic. I like the way it looked, inside and out. After driving a Swift for so long, I wanted something a bit more, er, masculine, so I went all out, spoiler, sunroof, rims.
Fuel efficiency was important, as too was price. I bargained pretty hard and for a few months, before I was happy with the price.
Did 'Australian made' come into consideration?
At the time, as a 26 year old to be honest, probably not.
From memory, there were no real smaller locally built cars which appealed to me or that I was really aware of, but many international competitors, like the Mazda 3 and VW Golf for example.
It makes me wonder, if Holden concentrated on the small car market, a tad too late.
Either way, I'm still happily driving the Civic, but given the increasing amount of time I'm spending on my $700 bicycle these days, maybe it wasn't the best investment after all.
Which factors drives you to buy a certain make of car and does Australian made really influence your choice?
