My first camera was a Praktica, which had quite a hefty state of the art (at the time) 28-200 zoom lens attached, which got damaged at work.
The insurance money allowed me to get a used Canon AE1P with the same lens (which was cheaper for Canon models!) an i never looked back.
Soon after i came by a squeeky A1 body to use as a second body - then saved up and bought a mint A1 body with power grip (equivalent to modern battery grip except it allowed me to shoot at 5ps with film). Finally, i changed my AE1P to another A1 so i had symmetry across the range.
I just loved the A1, and the 5D2 was the first digital to match my love of a camera, the 30d and 40D were good introductions to digital, but didn't set my photographic fire alike like the 5D2 or A1 did.
And that is pretty much how i look at cameras now - the 1D series have never really done it for me, until the 1DX - but who knows what the future will bring.
I've looked at Nikon a few times, but never quite found anything that really 'grabs me' like my 5D2. I might moan a lot about the AF, but i do not think it is too much to ask that Canon make all 9 points good quality AF points, given how much further down the line they are with AF technology - and that's what frustrates me with it.