We generally look fondly on our first car in much the same way as our first sexual encounter, nice ride, but it didn’t last long.

If you were a teen aged boy, it was the equivalent of your first crush, which everyone dreams about.

I have no idea why you have the recurring dream, but I do believe you will have no choice in paying close attention to it. To this day I have intense and very realistic dreams that I’m working at a job that I left better than 30 years ago. And without fail on awakening in the morning I am convinced that it is time to get up and go to the job that no longer exists.

From Dream Moods Dictionary:

“To see a parked car in your dream suggests that you need to turn your efforts and energies elsewhere. You may be needlessly spending your energy in a fruitless endeavor. Alternatively, a parked car may symbolize your need to stop and enjoy life.”

As others have noted, one’s first car is a major life milestone, and it’s not surprising to dream about it. It’s like dreaming about early school days or a first crush or a house we lived in years ago. As to why you’re having this dream right now, perhaps you saw or heard something recently that subconsciously jogged a memory of those times. Maybe you even saw a car that looked a bit like your first car. Or maybe you’re going through a rough patch in your life, as we all do from time to time, that is subconsciously making you long for happier times like getting that car.

I have a similarly themed recurring dream in which I find a mailbox jammed with old mail, usually at a house I vaguely remember from my childhood, and I begin tearing open each letter or card (in a variation of that dream, I find a room, usually detached from the main house, which I explore, finding items I hadn’t thought about in years. From both these dreams I usually wake up feeling a little sad.

How do your dreams make you feel? That’s the main takeaway from a dream that seems to come out of nowhere and/or doesn’t seem to make any sense.

I believe dreams can tell us a lot about what’s going in with us.

If it makes you feel any better, I often have dreams about owning two cars at once that involve the search for one of them, long abandoned. Like you, the dream is focused on getting to that car and how to resolve the situation.

I’ve heard it referred to a “Dream of Frustration”. Others have said that it is based on anxiety. From @marinelife‘s Dream Mood’s Dream Dictionary link, here are the explanations of these two types:

Anxiety To experience anxiety in your dream is a reflection of what you may be feeling during your waking life. You may have repressed thoughts, unexpressed emotions, resentment, or hostility that are triggering your anxiety dream. This dream also suggests that you are taking on too many responsibilities.

Frustration To dream that you feel frustrated represents your difficulty in coping with a situation in your daily life. It may reflect concerns that your life is not going in the direction you want.

Are either of these descriptions relatable in your case?

The car represents the younger you. Once you sit behind the wheel of that powder blue car you will have the open road and all your life before you once again.

For what it is worth, here is my interpretation. I am by no means an expert dream interpreter.

I would take the car to represent your youth and your dreams to be a realization of having reached adulthood. You look back at your youth with longing while at the same time realizing how much you have gained through maturation, hence the combination of happiness and sadness. You can’t go back, not because of bodily changes, but because of an increased sense of responsibility and greater understanding.

You miss your car and early youth.

You never forget your first.

look up dreammoods.com…. they are always accurate :) at interpretation x

If it’s a waking dream (meaning one you experience just as you are falling asleep or waking up) you are worried about cars in general, maybe something is wrong with your current car that your subconscious is trying to tell you about. Maybe you have had a near miss recently or are about to have one because of the way you drive.
If it’s a deep sleep dream (rem sleep) it may be that you need to use your car less. Deep sleep dreams often mean the opposite of what seems obvious so maybe you’re about to buy a ‘new’ car.