Car that Influenced your Childhood

[mph]

Being Petrolheads it's fair to speculate that there must be some particular car or car experiences that influenced us in later life.

My dad owned dozens of cars when I was a boy, but I remember when he got a white Mk2 Jag with red leather interior I was hooked for life.

[benjj]

Mt father used to race one of these when I was a boy. In fact I was nearly born in the front seat of one.



Then when I was a bit older he had one of these which I learned to drive in (in Austria, in the snow, on studded tyres)



Both were my genesis.

[vixen1700]

Getting a lift back from Birmingham in my dad's friend's Daimler 2.5 is probably my oldest car memory as that must have been 1969 or so and I would have been 3 years old.

Playing with an orange toy Fiat 500 on holiday in Rimini around the same time.

Sitting in an SM at the 1972 Motor Show when my dad was ordering a Citroen GS.

The smell of exhausts around that time, completely different to today.

[LordBretSinclair]

Being taken to school by my mum in her Nash Metropolitan (sadly no photos).

Plus granddad's Mk 7 Jag - to a small boy it seemed absolutely massive and brother and I would slide around on the back seat as the old geezer threw it round the country lanes - happy days

[Mark-C]

My next door neighbour (worked for TV Times for those of an older persuasion) bought, restored and sold Daimler Darts (SP250). Used to let me play with the rebuild work and also used to pass on his week old Autosport's once he'd finished with them. His daily was always an Alfa (I can remember a 'sud, a sprint and an original GTV).

I learnt some mechanical skills and a love of Sportscar racing from him and I have a certain fondness for the Dart but couldn't bring myself to buy one because of the droopy fish face look.

It was around this time that I first saw an XJ-S and it seemed really futuristic compared to Darts, E-Types and MGBs and you can guess what I now drive (apart from the Skoda).

[Roy C]

A black police Daimler SP250 Dart that lurked behind a hedged service road near a road junction where I lived.

[V8 FOU]

I was given "The Observers Book of Automoblies" for my 7th birthday. (Ahem, 52 years ago) - still got it. Been trying to own all the cars in there since!! Still want a Chevvy Impala with the squashed rear fins, and a ZIL. The old chap had a 1948 Triumph Renown - drove 6 of us down to Italy in 1961!! 65mph flat out....
Then there was the A90, Zodiac Mk2, Jag 240. All influential cars. Then my mum let the side down by buying a Datsun 100A yuck. But redeemd herself in 1976 by buying a Chevette - still want one of those..

[benjj]

V8 FOU said:

Then my mum let the side down by buying a Datsun 100A yuck. But redeemd herself in 1976 by buying a Chevette - still want one of those..

For what it's worth, my mother's car history from what I can remember being born. Ups & downs!

Merc 230 SL (good)
Alfa GTV (good)
Triumph Acclaim (in gold. Very, very bad)
MG Maestro EFI (in cream with red decals, again very bad)
1st gen Honda Prelude (average)
Honda Accord (most boring car I've ever been in)
Merc 500SL (just like JR Ewing, very cool)

Then onto a load of misc modern crap, highlights including a BMW Z3M Breadvan and a 964 911 Carrera which I loved and she hated.

[hedgefinder]

The most memorable cars from my childhood were
owned by my father -
1978 Jaguar XJ12
1973 and a 1974 Rover p6 3500 V8

cars that I physically saw (ie stood next to)

COB1 - big block cobra at London motor show,
Ferrari 400 v12 which used to park in the my dads squash club car park,
1978 pontiac trans am which was owned for a short time by a neighbour.


As a result I have owned many v8 and v12 cars, including about 9 1973-79 trans ams... doing doughnuts in your 76 transam at 17 years old with your mates in the car is something you rememeber for your whole life...

[slomax]

My mum had a white Citroen Visa GTI that my parents bought new. They sold it in 1998 when i was 8 years old and it was 13 years old with very minor arch and door bubbling for £400 . I must try and find a picture of it, I wonder if it's still on the roads. According to "how many left" there are 4 currently taxed in the UK. which is better than 2010, where there were none!!




The second car that shaped my love for cars was the Marcos Mantis LM400. I had a "worlds fastest cars" book when i was a kid and it had the Marcos in it. Then we went on a holiday in our caravan and we passed a sports car dealer with one in the window, it was a purple aubergine colour. I completely lost my st and my dad had to turn round so we could go back. The glass frontage was covered in mucky paw prints and my face was well and truly squashed up against the front of the showroom. Unfortunately it was a sunday so it was closed . Then about 4-5 years later i saw one in the British GT racing for team tiger. My god the sound

[srobBNaB]

Not a car, but a motorbike for me.

My Dad sold his Reliant Scimitar and bought a Citroen 2CV and a 1928 Royal Enfeild and sidecar, when my mum was preggars with my brother in 1978. I arrived a couple of years later, and me and bro used to be loaded into a (probably leithal by todays standards!) adapted car seat in the sidecar.

We used to go all over the place on it, Dad riding, Mum on the back and me and bro in the sidecar. Apparently when we were really young, if we wouldn't settle they used to chuck us in the sidecar and ride around the block. It would always send us to sleep, so Dad used to lift the valve coming up the drive, freewheel into the garage and leave us sleeping in there. Which wasn't bad as it's a 1000cc sidevalve v-twin with no silencer

How's it influenced us? Well, I'm now an engineer for a car company and still have a passion for vintage motorbikes and anything mechanical. Dad still owns the Enfield, and I ride it sometimes now, with him in the sidecar. And my brother - he's now the editor of one of the biggest selling old motorbike magazines in the world.

That old Enfield has a lot to answer for - all good - and it'd be the very last posession I'd ever let be sold

ETA; this is the old girl when I rode it last year on the Banbury Run;

Edited by srobBNaB on Tuesday 27th November 19:51

[Travis Mcgee]

What a great idea for a thread!. My father went from a Triumph Mayflower to a Vauxhall Victor FB Deluxe. White with a red roof. A lot of fond memories of being driven about in that car.

[DCor]

I have my uncle to thank for my car awakening.
In 1973 he arrived in our drive in a silver Alfa 2000 Spider, I was 7 ans it absolutely blew me away! I fell for that cat big time!
When my aunt was expecting he sold it and bought a Lancia HPE - great but just not the same.
12 years ago he bought the Alfa back (it's now red) and I borrowed it for a week-end and yes it still ticks all the boxes.
I have a agreement now that when he can no longer use it I get first refusal !!!

[Mr_B]

Rover P5B Coupe.

Growing up in the early 80's, my street was filled with cars like the new Ford Sierra and the like. They all looked a bit dull next to the guy who kept a nice P5B on his drive. Parked next to a Sierra, even to my early mind I was wondering why it was all plastic and horid cloth inside, when the P5B had leather and wood. Outside was the same too, big chrome grille and bumpers and a real style, even the rear number plate stood out as being different and adding style.
Still want a P5B today, even though I had a Sierra XR4x4 and thought it a great car and went out to buy a 3dr Cosworth, but got a BMW E30 M3.

[rsv696]

After WWII ended my grandfather started a coachbuilding business in the east end of Newcastle which grew to be really successful. My grandfather was a big car buff & had a long line of Mercs, culminating with a 450SLC. My dad took the business over in the 70's & used to take my brother & I in on a Saturday morning so he could catch up on his paperwork. We had free run of the place, which was stuffed with all manner of different vehicles including lorries & buses & we had a whale of a time. Dad would often deliver Rover 3.5 V8's, Merc SL's etc back to customers with us coming along for the ride. His own cars were pretty modest, although he did have a soft spot for Saabs. He took us to the 78 motorshow at the NEC & I came away with a mountain of brochures which I still have today.

I started getting What Car at 8yrs old when my mates were still reading the Beano! Neighbours in our street were the other big influence on me. One was a biker who also had a mint Triumph TR4, one was into VW camper vans, and one was a proper boy racer who had a Lancia Beta HPE, then a mark 2 Escort RS2000, then a fearsome black Capri 3.0s.

My first car was a mark 1 Golf, bought whilst I was still at school. In 20 continuous years of driving I've owned over 30 vehicles & currently own a Fireblade, a camper van & an IQ. My life's ambition is to own a 911. Oddly enough my brother isn't bothered about cars in the slightest!

Edited by rsv696 on Tuesday 27th November 16:44

Edited by rsv696 on Tuesday 27th November 16:48

[vixen1700]

My dad brought home the March 1977 edition of Thoroughbred & Classic cars magazine, this magazine influenced a 10 year old me immensely. Still remember the small picture of the Facel HK500 for sale which needed an exhaust for £1250. I asked my dad about them and the mystique was born.

21 Years later I managed to get one for our wedding day.

[felixlighter]

Mr_B said:

Rover P5B Coupe.

Growing up in the early 80's, my street was filled with cars like the new Ford Sierra and the like. They all looked a bit dull next to the guy who kept a nice P5B on his drive. Parked next to a Sierra, even to my early mind I was wondering why it was all plastic and horid cloth inside, when the P5B had leather and wood. Outside was the same too, big chrome grille and bumpers and a real style, even the rear number plate stood out as being different and adding style.
Still want a P5B today, even though I had a Sierra XR4x4 and thought it a great car and went out to buy a 3dr Cosworth, but got a BMW E30 M3.

I agree MrB the rover is a very "blinged" car with all that chrome and stainless, so unlike modern cars. I bought my first one 35 years ago and had to sell it as the kids arrived. Here is one I renovated last year, when I bought it recently it looked half respectable and turned out to be a wreck, if you buy one get it looked at first by someone who knows there stuff, so many are rusty.

[Gareth1974]

I used to be scared of blue Hillman Avengers when I was a child, as that was the car driven by the 'stranger' in a govt video shown on TV at the time.

[rsv696]

Gareth1974 said:

I used to be scared of blue Hillman Avengers when I was a child, as that was the car driven by the 'stranger' in a govt video shown on TV at the time.

LOL I remember that too :-)

[stuarte]

Seaside trips in my dad's old English white series one XJ6. loved that car. Then it was Sunday afternoon 'burns' out in the succession of MGB GT V8s the old man had. I am still promising myself one one of these days. Probably no surprise that my current toy has essentially the same engine.

Plus, the countless E types and Mark IIs that my brother and I used to drool over at the JDC meetings as kids...