I'm turning into my Dad!?!!?

Ouch

Tbh I think we all end up like our dads
I’m constantly telling my lad to get his head down
At my pals garage where he works Saturdays
And learn to be a top mechanic and don’t waste it like I did
Exactly what my old man told me some 35 years ago!

Earlier this evening I said something to the children and one of them told me I sounded exactly like my dad.

After years of having BMC/BL cars due to my dads initial choices I decided to breakaway from that and get a boring modern reliable Nissan, only to discover the Nissan/Datsun/BMC connection. So much for trying to leave that behind then. Not so much turning into my dad, more like cant seem to stop treading the same path.

I have influences from all over the place, I would say my sharp and often dark humour has come from my dad but my car choices not so much, the standard and level of car that I remember my dad having, yeah that's me, essentially badly modified or on the edge of the scrapyard, he flipped cars like they were socks, our old neighbor used to do the same often returning with a car from the local auctions which would catch my dads eye and they'd do a swap, one I remember was a saab 9-3, our first long trip in it I got car sickness and nearly spewed in the front seat going down the motorway, I've never felt brakes so sharp since.

My dad had mini's and old fords, one of the minis was black with pale green arches, when I say fords I don't mean escorts of decent vintage I mean a mk2 orion in black that had the trim lines in purple.

He had a lot of chod, rover 200 (montego, bear in mind I was sub 10 years old and knew of their reputation even then for being rubbish cars, I remember being well embarrased and angry the day he brought one home, I recall even curling up on the passenger seat so no-one could see me through the window because I didn't want to be seen getting out at the shops) a slew of fiesta mk1's and 2s, a pair of passat estates B2's, a council modified escort mk4 convertible with the dodgiest paint job I'd ever seen at the time, a rover sterling which I only remember was red as I only saw it once or twice and a spartan kit car which the roof collapsed on us whilst we were going down the road and the loudest mazda mx3 v6 ever, I remember being able to hear it well before seeing it, my friends loved it, I followed this up by having a disco with v8 and a very short straight pipe.

I honestly can't think of a single car both my dad has had that I have had, same heritage sure, same model no. He's had a 350z (fairlady technically as it was a jdm import) and I have an S30 Z. Outside of that I like to keep my "daily" cars cheap and that's how he used to do it so I presume the fact I'd had more than 10 cars in my first 4 years of license is a testament to a lesson well learnt xD, his back slipped a disc a few years ago so he has had to have more sensible, comfortable cars since which have seats up like dining chairs to keep him happy which has interestingly got me thinking about buying a ford c-max, his '09 was great. He went back to his roots and bought a shoddy shogun after getting bored of a qashqai. He's milling about in some modern volvo estate at the moment which means his next car is likely to be a corker.

The car which I remember most vividly - a mk3 fiesta, pearly white with pink flames on the front hot rod style, massive but cracked bodykit and cheap chromie wheels. Just wow. My mum never rode in that.

I really hope he's got photos of all his cars sitting about somewhere.

My Great-Grandfather was a Czochoslovakian American immigrant, and served in several wars in the 1880s-1910s. In the 20's and 30's he was the first man bending neon in Chicago and worked for most of the people that live on in folklore still. He did a spell as a Sears photographer and quite a few other surprising jobs.

My Grandfather was therefore a German/Czech American, served in just one war and was a very talented craftsman in the field of furniture making, as well as an adept photographer also. He bought a VW Beetle and a Leika with his savings when he left the Army and set up a photography business. He married my Northern Irish Nan and after a few years they moved here. For a while they had a Lotus Cortina, then he chopped that in for a Dormobile. He was bi-polar (undiagnosed) and threw the toys out of the pram late on.

My dad was (is) a second-generation American living here, didn't get a war to serve in as the "Cold War" didn't quite take off, perhaps for the best, and is also a talented photographer. He started and ran a classic car magazine, a classic restoration business, and did portrait photography and freelance motoring journalism between all that. He survived "The Troubles" (just), was a Motorcycle Riding Instructor for a while, and is now a craftsman in the field of leatherwork.
Motoring highlights include a Hillman Husky, Morris Oxford, Cadillac Coupe de Ville, Oldsmobile Cutlass (sheriff's car replica), Austin Meastro, Ford Sierra, Austin Mini Van, several Skoda Estelles and a Kawasaki GT550 Spectre grey import.

I've not gone off to fight, but caught the entrepreneurship, starting at 17 selling collectibles which bought me my first Skoda Estelle and kept me in enough caffeine to stay in business and do A levels at the same time. My dad was a biker from the start and so was I, a Suzuki RG125 UN Wolf Hypersport to be precise, which got many thousands of semi-legal miles piled on it (over three engine rebuilds). I was a freelance motoring journalist for a short while as well, mostly through my dad's contacts and doing the work he no longer wanted to do.
I mucked around with cars, mainly Skodas, for a few years, and now run a business breaking, restoring and selling old BMWs, utilising all the lessons from the experience of helping my dad with his work and my mum's daycare centre. My collection of cars is made up of about three things - 1. Stuff my dad had, 2. Matchbox cars of my childhood, 3. Need for Speed Underground. So, Cadillac Coupe de Ville, Fiat Regata, Skoda Estelle, Skoda Favorit, all like my dad had; I had a Mini but I really want a Minivan instead so it's gone, I did have a Kawasaki 500 as well but it broke.
We're alike in temperament and speech, in incessant detail and in independence. Logical thinking, perseverance and being handy with whatever tool we pick up are things we shared but he's losing now. We always like to be up to something and be making or doing.
Definitely wouldn't be caught wearing the same coat as him though, although two of my three motorcycle jackets used to be my dad's...
Hopefully when I have a boy he'll be useful with his hands and intelligent and carry on building... I'll get him started on lego and toy cars and we should be halfway there...