First off, great thread! Enjoyed reading every entry.
Gonna be hard naming my favorite. My dad's WWII 1911 was the first handgun I ever fired, probably 1964 or so, age 8 or so. He had to sell that pistol due to financial hardship, and after he left our family, well, let's just say that was a loss at many levels.
I will also digress by saying that I was born and raised less than 50 miles from the Hartford, CT Colt Manufacturing Plant, and my dad took us kids to tour that plant on at least one occasion, so I have a bit of a built-in Colt affinity...
After I joined the military and got to shoot a 1911 again, it re-kindled a memory, and an urge, I guess. Anyway, I ended up buying The World's Worst Piece of Crap Colt 1911 (circa 1982). The experience turned me away from 1911s for probably 10 years, and I spent a long time in 9mm Euroworld (mostly HKP7s, etc) .
The internet re-opened my eyes in the latter part of the 1990s and boom, I was back into 1911s, and have stayed there ever since.
I think I have owned 25-30 1911s in my lifetime, and probably 6 or so currently.
Probably have a hard time letting go of any of them, but in no particular order:
My Kimber Pro Eclipse has more rounds downrange that any pistol I have ever owned. Yes, it is steel framed, so it's a bit heavy but it is the best shooting pistol I own. Not for sale, ever.
I bought my alloy-framed Les Baer for about $1000 and it is probably the most fortuitous purchase I ever made. Not for sale, ever.
S&W E-Series, bobtail grip, alloy frame, drop-dead gorgeous, but I haven't put enough rounds through it to carry it. Jury is out.
Dan Wesson C-BOB 10mm, very nice 1911. Bought used, put some rounds through it. Had some issues with smashing the case mouths on ejection, but resolved with the help of a good 1911-smilth (feel free to email me for particulars).
The Scandium Gunsite S&W I also bought for a fire-sale price--$850, IIRC. Lightweight Commander sized 1911, accurate, reliable as sunrise...probably the 1911 I carry most. Not as pretty as the others, but pretty only goes so far.
Kimber Stainless UCIII--this 3" alloy model one was modified to be a .45Super by the prior owner. I was somewhat intrigued--perhaps not the wisest choice.
But it is a very small, lightweight and powerful 1911. Not sure what it's lifespan will be, but so far, so good.