Although I'm probably one of the younger members here (Or I was when i signed up.) my love for all things car stems back to my father and all things 70's.
One of my strongest childhood memories is my dad giving me laminated period photos of him with each of his old cars and going over the stories he had for each of them, Alongside a huge collection of Corgi cars and a 60's Scalextric set. Every desirable model you can think of, I spent my childhood crashing them into each other and pulling the tyres off. Still have a box full of dented, tyreless and mostly paintless vintage Corgi cars. The James Bond DB5 might upset a few people...
The stories that stick in my mind and really grew the obsession:
The Vauxhall Viva he learned to drive in.
A series 2 safari which ended up end in the Thames when unloading his ex RNLI rib (Another obsession of mine from childhood to now, unfortunately stolen from its storage place at my grandmothers in the early 2000's).
A turquoise spitfire that was rear ended by an AWOL American soldier driving around Essex in a military jeep. I remember dad recounting how the fuel tank ended up in the passenger seat.
A Roman bronze Cortina that was short lived but was my dads sign he'd made it.
A Mazda 323 gifted from my grandfather.
A Lada Samara, his first and only new car, apparently the car I was bought home from the hospital in. However I have no memory. The tyres were apparently replaced by Lada and the car drove awfully afterward. It turned out that Lada supplied Russian tyres for the Russian car and the tread pattern was not straight on the casing causing all kinds of fun. Now working in tyres this story gets recounted frequently.
The Volvo 740 estate, this is the first car I can remember. We used to visit both sets of grandparents, Mums parents in Durham and Dads in Essex on alternating weekends. Monthly trips to Scarborough and countless other places. Dad used to top up the fluids before every trip. The oil stain is still on the road outside my mums house. It must've been north of 250k miles when it went to my uncle and had its first breakdown 200 yards down the road.
This one goes back a bit but is the one that started an obsession I'm still stuck with. MUD 189E the Mini I one day hope to find and save. Dad and his 3 mates terrorising Greater London in this little beasty.
As many can attest, I had no idea what I wanted to do when I left school, I had met my now wife at 15 and she knew I had an obsession with cars (Has always been a point on contention!) she suggested that this might be a good career and for a short while I ruined my hobby by becoming a mechanic. Very quickly I moved into the HGV world and realised I was shortening my lifespan significantly. Moved into sales but still in automotive and haven't left since. These days its tyres, tyres and more tyres.
My car history is far less exciting but as equally far reaching and I can only really put it down to dad, his Corgi models and laminates!
This was a very theraputic post to type out and brought back some great memories. Dad has been in long term care since 2011 after having a serious aneurysm at work 2 years before retirement and we missed out on a lot of the more grown up father son stuff. Although he is still with us, he is bed ridden and has 0 short term memory, he still remembers his cars and he still remembers my first few years of driving, terrifying him and my mother.
Mercdan68, this is a great thread. Thanks.
One of my strongest childhood memories is my dad giving me laminated period photos of him with each of his old cars and going over the stories he had for each of them, Alongside a huge collection of Corgi cars and a 60's Scalextric set. Every desirable model you can think of, I spent my childhood crashing them into each other and pulling the tyres off. Still have a box full of dented, tyreless and mostly paintless vintage Corgi cars. The James Bond DB5 might upset a few people...
The stories that stick in my mind and really grew the obsession:
The Vauxhall Viva he learned to drive in.
A series 2 safari which ended up end in the Thames when unloading his ex RNLI rib (Another obsession of mine from childhood to now, unfortunately stolen from its storage place at my grandmothers in the early 2000's).
A turquoise spitfire that was rear ended by an AWOL American soldier driving around Essex in a military jeep. I remember dad recounting how the fuel tank ended up in the passenger seat.
A Roman bronze Cortina that was short lived but was my dads sign he'd made it.
A Mazda 323 gifted from my grandfather.
A Lada Samara, his first and only new car, apparently the car I was bought home from the hospital in. However I have no memory. The tyres were apparently replaced by Lada and the car drove awfully afterward. It turned out that Lada supplied Russian tyres for the Russian car and the tread pattern was not straight on the casing causing all kinds of fun. Now working in tyres this story gets recounted frequently.
The Volvo 740 estate, this is the first car I can remember. We used to visit both sets of grandparents, Mums parents in Durham and Dads in Essex on alternating weekends. Monthly trips to Scarborough and countless other places. Dad used to top up the fluids before every trip. The oil stain is still on the road outside my mums house. It must've been north of 250k miles when it went to my uncle and had its first breakdown 200 yards down the road.
This one goes back a bit but is the one that started an obsession I'm still stuck with. MUD 189E the Mini I one day hope to find and save. Dad and his 3 mates terrorising Greater London in this little beasty.
As many can attest, I had no idea what I wanted to do when I left school, I had met my now wife at 15 and she knew I had an obsession with cars (Has always been a point on contention!) she suggested that this might be a good career and for a short while I ruined my hobby by becoming a mechanic. Very quickly I moved into the HGV world and realised I was shortening my lifespan significantly. Moved into sales but still in automotive and haven't left since. These days its tyres, tyres and more tyres.
My car history is far less exciting but as equally far reaching and I can only really put it down to dad, his Corgi models and laminates!
This was a very theraputic post to type out and brought back some great memories. Dad has been in long term care since 2011 after having a serious aneurysm at work 2 years before retirement and we missed out on a lot of the more grown up father son stuff. Although he is still with us, he is bed ridden and has 0 short term memory, he still remembers his cars and he still remembers my first few years of driving, terrifying him and my mother.
Mercdan68, this is a great thread. Thanks.