Nature vs Nurture – Choosing Our Classic Cars

7

Dale Vinten

Our parents are our ultimate role models. Every action, every word has an effect on us as children and no other person or outside force has a greater influence upon us as we grow up. We take a lot of things from them too: from physical attributes like the colour of our hair, for example, to more abstract facets of our lives, such as our attitudes towards people and how we deal with stress. But what about something a little more tangible, like our choice of cars? We were having a discussion recently here at Car and Classic about the cars our parents’ drove when we were kids and it got us thinking about our own cars that we’ve bought and owned as adults and whether or not there is any kind of correlation between the two. It’s an interesting thought.

As a case in point my current car is a Volvo 940 Turbo estate. Did my dad have an estate car when I was a kid? Absolutely. Did he own turbocharged cars? Again, the answer is yes. But if he had gravitated more towards American cars for example, would I still be driving the car I drive now? Would the rogues gallery that is my list of past vehicles be any different? Was there a tiny light bulb that flicked on in my unconscious mind when it came time to purchase my latest steed and could I hear the faint voice of my father imploring me to buy a turbocharged estate car? Perhaps, or perhaps the reasons were far more pragmatic.

My previous car had been destroyed by fire and I was moving house at the time and so I needed a car urgently and one that I could potentially fit a lot of stuff in. It also needed to be at least a modern classic because, well, old cars are better. The Volvo was cheap, available and seemed like a good idea at the time but I can’t help but think there was at least a little, more philosophical shove in the right direction from somewhere.

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It’s not just the big Swede either. The car that the Volvo replaced was my long-term 1983 Ford Capri 2.8i project. It was essentially the catalyst that got me into this whole classic car thing in the first place. I had always owned older cars – from Volkswagen Sciroccos (my dad had a mint Mk1 Golf GTI too) to ’80s American trucks but nothing as ‘classic’ as the Capri and even though the only Ford my dad drove when I was growing up was a Mk2 Escort that he used as a daily to get to work (which looking back now would be worth a few bob) he did also hoon about in a Lotus-engined, MK1 Escort Twin Cam before I was born. A car I’ve happily  just discovered is still on the road.

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I remember seeing old, sun-washed pictures of the car in photo albums (remember them) as a child and hearing him tell stories about it, along with his Mini Coopers and myriad other cars and bikes. So it could be argued that my reasons for buying an ’80s Ford went far deeper than just taking a punt on a cheap, cool car that I randomly saw on eBay for £800.

He would never buy the base model either, instead opting for the performance version or souped-up variant. The Cavalier he had in the ’80s with the Sri badge on the back for instance and the Montego saloon with the turbo strapped to its 2.0-litre engine. And I’m the same, always striving for performance over the mundane, with previous cars that include the Nissan Skyline R32 GTR and BMW E39 M5. Why buy stock when there are better versions of the same car out there? That was always my philosophy and it’s why I’m currently in the process of fitting a larger turbo to the Volvo. Would my dad have bought a stock 940? Hell no. When he decided to rebuild a wrecker as a project did he choose something slow and boring? No, he chose a Lotus Elan +2 S, the best available model of the marque.

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And that’s another thing I have inherited from him – my love of spanners and tinkering with cars. He was forever in the garage, tools spread over the workbench with the bonnet raised on whatever model happened to be in his ownership at the time. So dedicated was he to DIY car maintenance that he even dug a pit in the garage of our house to make working on them that much easier. I haven’t quite gone to those lengths just yet but I do service and maintain all of my own cars and bikes, something that may not have been the case had my dad preferred playing golf on Sundays rather than rebuilding carburettors.

So, if you think back to the cars you rode in with your parents when you were growing up do you think they have in any way shaped or informed your vehicle choices as an adult? I bet if you start to think about it you’ll begin to make some interesting connections and if you now have children of your own will the cars you drive today affect their future choices?

As a final thought I have recently bought a new motorbike to replace the previous one that I sold last year. It’s a Triumph, and I’ll give you one guess as to what my dad used to ride when he was younger… Sadly he is no longer with us but I like to think that along with the colour of his hair, his influence lives on in me and the cars and bikes that I choose to enjoy. When it comes time to pick the next one I’m sure I will hear that quiet voice in my head, subtly nudging me in the right direction.

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