Bucharest Cocktail Party Icebreakers: What 25 Strangers Said About Their First Car

“What was your first car?”

That was one of the icebreakers at our March 3rd Space Bucharest cocktail party.

The answers were incredible.

The stories

One person wrecked their car three times in one hour.

Another crashed their first car while playing Pokémon Go.

Someone else drove their first car into a lake. With themselves still inside.

There was a Dacia 1301. An old Mercedes. A company-car Škoda Kodiaq. A beat-up Volkswagen Golf.

And one guest who saved for a long time to buy their first car — and when it got its first scratch…

They cried.

Why a silly question works better than a business card

This is what happens when 25 people get in a room with no pressure to perform.

No pitches. No awkward networking. No “So, what do you do?” interrogation loops.

Just curiosity. Stories. And people actually listening to each other.

A question like “what was your first car?” sounds random. That's the point. It skips past job titles and lands somewhere human — a memory, a mistake, a small embarrassing moment you'd never bring up at a conference.

Thank you to Andra Ghibuțiu, Carmen Dima, Anca Constantin, Richard Peers and everyone else who made the night special.

This is why I host 3rd Space Bucharest parties every month for creatives, entrepreneurs and expats in Bucharest.

Real conversation beats forced networking. Every time.