When did you realise you was a petrol head?
When did you realise you was a petrol head?
Author
Discussion

TheCarFather

Original Poster:

293 posts

168 months

Tuesday 3rd December 2013
quotequote all
How old was you?

It seems like everyone who is in to cars has been since childhood?

Personally I have always liked cars and been to dozens of car shows as a kid etc and taken an interest. but since I passed my test a few months back I have taken a much bigger interest and in the future would love to be able to work on a weekend toy once I learn how to

GTIR

24,741 posts

296 months

Tuesday 3rd December 2013
quotequote all
When I used to start my dad's Perkins powered compactor he had for his building business.

It had a de-compression lever and would start with a proper >thump<!
I loved the smell it made. lick

I was 7yo.

Vladimir

6,917 posts

188 months

Tuesday 3rd December 2013
quotequote all
Aged about two - I could identify most car badges. As could my son at the same age!

Aged three Dad had a new Lancia Beta turbo, then a new BMW 323i and then a string of fairly serious metal.

He now drives a diesel automatic van ;-)

GTIR

24,741 posts

296 months

Tuesday 3rd December 2013
quotequote all
When I used to start my dad's Perkins powered compactor he had for his building business.

It had a de-compression lever and would start with a proper >thump<!
I loved the smell it made. lick

I was 7yo.

Krikkit

27,938 posts

211 months

Tuesday 3rd December 2013
quotequote all
Sitting in the back of my Mum's Mini traveller aged 4. Lovely, characterful car that. Had a bit of a wobble in my teen years, but thoroughly into it now.

Pablo16v

2,941 posts

227 months

Tuesday 3rd December 2013
quotequote all
I don't think there was a defining moment for me, I've just been into cars for as long as I can remember.

ClassicMotorNut

2,438 posts

168 months

Tuesday 3rd December 2013
quotequote all
I can't remember there ever being a beginning, although it must have been very early because some of my relatives delight in telling me how, when we had a family do at our house following my sister's christening, I couldn't be dragged away from one of my dad's car books. I was about one-and-three-quarters at the time.

TREMAiNE

4,164 posts

179 months

Tuesday 3rd December 2013
quotequote all
When I was 16 and spending a genuine 4 hours a day looking at the classifieds for what would be my first car...

After months of man maths showing me that I could afford a Clip V6 along with the £10,000 insurance quote I realised that my future had petrolhead written all over it!

DUMBO100

1,878 posts

214 months

Tuesday 3rd December 2013
quotequote all
I remember being about 6 and my neighbours friend parked an Aston Martin V8 outside my house I sat down next to it and stared I couldn't believe how wide the wheels and tyres were and how massive the exhausts looked, I think I peed a bit when he started the engine

Mr E

23,081 posts

289 months

Tuesday 3rd December 2013
quotequote all
I used to look forward to going to the dentist because he had an excellent collection of autocar mags in the waiting room

73mark

774 posts

157 months

Tuesday 3rd December 2013
quotequote all
I can't remember the time.But I can remember every car my dad had and would sit in the back seat between the front seats and say go faster go faster.Got him a few points and a ban good times.Well for me not so much for the old man tho laugh

New POD

3,851 posts

180 months

Tuesday 3rd December 2013
quotequote all
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Page 2.

My dad, drove me to Southport up the coast road, without anyone else in the car, aged 15.

Not sure why he was in a rush, but he got the rear wheels sliding on the bypass roundabout, and then redlined, it all the way to 90 mph when the boot opened.

At this point I just knew I wanted to go fast.

tyrrell

1,718 posts

238 months

Tuesday 3rd December 2013
quotequote all
Age 4 I would stand at the bus stop with my Gran & could name every car that came past smile

OldSkoolRS

7,270 posts

209 months

Tuesday 3rd December 2013
quotequote all
Pablo16v said:
I don't think there was a defining moment for me, I've just been into cars for as long as I can remember.
Me too, though my Mum tells me that aged 2 if she bought me a toy car I would say the make/model of it and when she checked the box I'd be right. Looking in the box of toy cars she still has which my son plays with when we visit they were fairly run of the mill cars, so I wasn't recognising rare Ferraris or anything. smile

I grew out of them for a while in my late thirties for a good few years, but a track day with a good friend and rides in a neighbour's TVR rekindled my interest. smile

Ray Luxury-Yacht

8,918 posts

246 months

Tuesday 3rd December 2013
quotequote all
If I'm honest, I can't place any accurate recollections before the age of about 4 or 5.

However, I vividly remember the latter years in my first house that I grew up in - which we moved from when I was about 7 and a half.
So, I guess I can say with a degree of certainty - about 6 years old!

Because at that time, ALL my toys were car related. Apart from the other great thing I had - lego. Which I promptly used to build car-like stuff with too!

I remember on my 7th Birthday asking for a radio-controlled car for Christmas, and getting a fantastic Porsche LeMans replica. I didn't know it at the time, but looking back (this would have been 1978) I would imagine that radio-controlled toys were quite new technology, so I guess it would have cost my Parents a fortune! yikes Bless them. But I cherished it, loved it, and boy did I use it. I remember still using it at 11 years old, until I was then bought my first Tamiya R/C kit.

Back then, I also remember that most times when I rode my little bicycle around my close, I always did accompanying 'engine' noises - I remember so much wanting it to be a motorbike!! smile

One other memory that my Dad always used to indulge me in, bless him (until things got too dangerous in traffic, lol biggrin ) was whenever I was in the family car, Mum was happy to sit in the back and let me 'help' Dad drive. This consisted of me 'doing the gears' to a point that on some journeys, he never took over from me at all. This was in a 'Vauxhall Victor FC'.

Then when I was 9, we had a holiday in Crete. Back then, it was a very quiet, deserted Greek Island. Dad got a hire car, we found some random tracks away from the road, and off I went with my first driving lessons!

Happy days biggrin


Hudson

1,857 posts

217 months

Wednesday 4th December 2013
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When i was very little my dad was changing the exhaust on his 3.0 capri. For a laugh, he started it up without the new one attached while i was in the front garden with him biggrin

We also used to go to a lot of car shows and trips to Santa Pod - can still remember sitting on the bank with my mum fruitlessly holding her hands over my ears hehe

When i got a bit older i got the occasional lift to school on the back of dad's V-Max - open face helmet and a denim jacket for safety. Can you imagine the outrage these days?

Daston

6,154 posts

233 months

Wednesday 4th December 2013
quotequote all
For as long as I can remember.

My Mum had an XR3i as our school run car and I used to love it when my Dad changed his company car. I would have loads of matchbox cars and still have a few dicast models in my office.

It really stepped up a notch when my Dad decided to build a westfield.

BRMMA

1,908 posts

202 months

Wednesday 4th December 2013
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I've loved cars for as long as i can remember, matchbox toy cars and then remote control cars were the main things i wanted as a kid

when i was about 14 i had a 2 sided poster from Fast Car, on one side was a Mk2 Golf with two VR6 engines, on the other was Jo Guest in her pants, worryingly i found the Golf far more exciting and that's the side i had displayed in my room