What made you go retro?

Not sure really. Always liked the older cars. My Grandad used to own an Austin Maxi, which was then handed down to my Mum ... great fun car.

My first car was a mk3 escort, and i've also owned a Ford RS2000, and a fiat uno 1.3i turbo, aswell as a fiat uno 1.0 and a nova.

When i was looking to get a new car, after it turned out the Fiat was an insurance write-off and should never have been on the road, my girlfriend ( now my wife ) suggested a Mini as a cheap and cheerful runabout.

So began a not so cheap journey into classic minis, of which i've owned ( or we've owned ) around 10 of different styles and shapes.
Having been in to the mini scene for a long time i fancied a change ( although i'm still involved in mini clubs ).

My brother in law is involved in the Ford XR scene, and owns a rather nice XR41. I liked the idea of getting another ford, but ideally wanted the 5 doors to make it easier to transport my 2 boys around. I also wanted something with a bit of go to it, so am now getting an XR4X4.

We also own a 1996 Estima which is fun to drive, and then the wife has her company car, but sometimes it's nice just to get the retro / classic out the garage or off the driveway, and go for a spin ;D

My Dad - he mainly raced bikes but had a love for cars too - distinctly remember him tinkering the Manta and Renault 11 Turbo

My Mum - Used to rally an Alfa engined Talbot Sunbeam (lost count of the number of times I helped my dad rebuild that gearbox) and now owns a 1974 Aston Martin V8. She also bought my first car for me - a 1968 morris minor saloon which needed a bit of restoration!

On top of that, the cost of new cars and my inability to muck about with electronics are contributing factors! I still like the slightly more modern end of the retro spectrum though as the cars are more comfy to drive every day!

I'm still working on the same cars I always have , just me and them have grown older together.
I used to get to drive new cars as part of my job back then, held as much appeal then as now...zilch.

Dad's fault. He's always done his own repairs & servicing, I used to 'help'. He had a couple of Renault 4's, a Maxi, a Princess, a BX, a Scimitar, a Mk2 Golf GTi.

Plus older cars can be fixed by taking mechanical bits apart, cleaning them, then putting them back together, rather than reading a code which tells you which box to unplug and replace.

One thing is I can't stand wasting money; depreciation seems to me to be a very stupid thing to spend money on.

My grandad was a sheetmetal worker and coachbuilder, he taught me how to use tools properly..

My fathers car history when I was a child, was mainly AlfaSuds, Rover P4 and P5's and classic Harleys (usually kept in the house...)

My mum replaced a tuned (twin webbers bucket seats and caged) Mk1 'scort with a slightly tamer MK2 and then onto a Triumph Toldeo (with tiger fur seat covers!) stopping of with various Fiats and a Series 2a Landy along the way... All whilst her chap at the time rebuilt/restored various big Nortons and BSA's in the front room

Never really had a chance of not being into old tin..

I don't know really, by the time I was growing up my old man had company cars and wasn't able to tinker or fix himself. Me mam never drove so he couldnt fix one for her either, though he used to do it a lot before I was born. My parents couldnt really afford a classic that he could work on though he did for a short while many years ago go 3 ways on a purple spitfire ragtop with a couple of mates. I remember the first I knew about it was some car sat outside my friends house while we were playing, with the engine running and my friend looking out the window saying "it's some bloke in an old car". Five minutes later it was still there and I had a look myself. Realised it was my dad! I thought he was the coolest guy in the world despite the fact the car was over 25 years old. He was just sat with the roof down in the car waiting for me to realise. He drove me around that day with the roof down before taking it to his mates house to work on it with me. That was my introduction but by no means the start.

Fast forward a few years when his friend Ian was moving out to Germany. He had a green MGB and an MGF. He took the F out with him and gave my old man more or less unrestricted access to the B to keep it running for him. My dad had a Land Rover Disco at the time which he was given as a stand in company car after the turbo on his went. He hated the disco so used to take out the B at any time he could and would get me doing routine stuff like filters, fluids etc. His friend eventually exported the B and that was it till I was 16. I had just moved schools for 6th form and met a friend there. We were talking about cars and I mentioned how I didn't think I could afford to get one. He went off and phoned his dad and came back and said, he had a Nissan Micra in White, D plate (as old as me), 80k odd miles and looking a bit shabby. It had a knackered alternator but baring that should be ok. I could have it if I stuck an alternator on it. I thought he was joking so said "oh yeah thanks mate" and didn't think anything more of it". The next day he picked me up for school and dropped the keys in my hand. That evening we went to his house to see the beast. In the garage was two micra's of the same vintage, mine and a knackered one due for the scrappy. The knackered one was higher spec and an ideal donor. We swapped out all the seats, the front bumper, the grille which was White like the car rather than black. I often wish I had swapped the 4-speed box in mine for the 5 in the donor but we didn't have the confidence to tackle it. That garage was the space for me and all my mates. We used to go round and do summat on the car, and then just hang around in it, wether testing the efficiency of various old crash helmets with bits of 2x4 (whilst usually on some unwilling victims head), moving each others cars from where they had parked them. Some great times were had! That little micra started me on the long retro-road!

Fast forward a few more years, when I met my wife. Met her old man for the first time and it became rapidly obvious (by the tons of Matchbox style cars in display cabinets about the house) he was a bit of an old car nut too! Couldn't have felt more at home. When I had a heart ruling the head moment and thought I was going to win a non running Capri on eBay, rather than being the sobering influence and telling me off for being stupid, he encouraged me, telling me "it'll be great if you win it for that price! I have a tow bar, a mate has a car trailer, well go get it and get it running". Even now he texts me when he see's summat on eBay he knows I will like. My wife hates him for it.

Unfortunately she doesn't understand why I like half the cars I do or get Dewey eyed over a Delta Integrale despite the fact I explained it would make her Ibiza feel decidedly slow.

Same here. I've never had a car newer than 1967

Mine is less of a conscious decision to 'go retro' as I am driving the same sort of age cars I have always driven... it's just time moved without me.

aged about 9 i had a really bad case of gastroenteritis, my uncle kenny brought me a bin bag full of street machines and custom cars. the world disapeared for three weeks and i emerged,a fully formed old car nut, blinking in the sunlight. ;D