There was a point in high school when I realized I missed that phase, and tried really hard to make cars my special interest for a month to learn the makes and models.

I couldn't do it. It just didn't work. I don't know what it is, but some of us aren't "car people". Like I learned a little bit, but there is no chance that I could look at a car on the street and say "oh that's a ____" unless it's something I've personally owned before

Scholastic book fair and its consequences

We had card games with photos of cars on them. The flip sides had the numbers: horse power, top speed etc. If you had a card with a better number, you won the card of your opponent. We learned quickly what a "good car" is.
EDIT: I liked De Tomaso the best. Geez, they had some sexy cars.

For me it was Need for Speed games blowing up when I was in high school.

For me there was an insane game introduced around 7th grade. Whenever someone saw a specific brand of car, he can shout the brand name, and hit the other guy on the shoulder (extremely hard).

Violent classmates lol.