What started your car addiction?

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Playing with scalextric, watching rallycross and saloon car racing on Grandstand. My elder brothers (10yrs older) copies of Custom Car, - all had a huge impact, and started a love of cars from an early age. My brother (Toolmaker at Fords) was always tinkering with cars, (he repainted a pale green Mini Cooper deep maroon, and spray tinted the windows dark.... very mid 70s “custom” (Sacralige now!) he moved on through hot Anglia to a Mk 2 Jag, whenever he was working on a car I wasn’t far away handing him the spanner’s or washing them just for fun.
 
I’m only 38 (blacksmith to trade so look 74) but still remember getting a huge bag of mixed sweets for 10p at the shop and don’t know if this was a Scottish thing or not but I remember the toffee apple guy coming around the scheme shouting “TOFFEEEEE AAAAAAPLESSSSS” 😂, also remember adults always putting their scrap wood out for the kids to collect for bonfire night and always trying to have the biggest bonfire within the surrounding schemes, I mind the coal man coming round a lot and I remember the bon accord juice guy also when you could take the glass bottles back to him for money off the bill and also taking the glass bottles back to the ice cream van for payment as they had 10p and such on the caps telling you it’s return value 😂, toys in cereal packets, cramming 40 people in a car to go to the beach was the norm and you could wear a bedsheet to become a ghost at Halloween without being accused of being in the KKK
 
Sexyhaggis, "I mind the coal man coming round a lot", care to elaborate?:thumb:
 
Sexyhaggis, "I mind the coal man coming round a lot", care to elaborate?:thumb:

Of course I can, my dad was away a lot and my mum wasn’t really that strong so the coal man used to help my mum get all the coal into the coal cupboard twice a week for 20 minutes at a time, the old coal sacks must’ve been heavy like cos they made some noise moving them and always come out the cupboard sweating
 
Father was the first influence, of course, an engineer who loved his Ford Pilot. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

My undergraduate employer, Metal Box, sent me all over the UK for six years in the 1970's, with a generous mileage allowance, and loans of Car Pool Marinas and Princesses, back in the days of empty motorways and "A" roads. Then it was tax-free company cars as a badge of status in the 1980's. Different times, different times.



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Wasn’t it the Ford Pilot that had a single coil spring at the front? I seem to recall seeing one suddenly do a forward roll near Heathrow when the spring broke and the front end dug into the tarmac.
 
I think it was a lot easier to get the bug back in the day. Hundreds of years ago when I was a kid there were still air cooled VW’s, proper minis, 2CV’s, Rangie classics etc everywhere. Cars with loads of character to catch your attention.
 
I think it was a lot easier to get the bug back in the day. Hundreds of years ago when I was a kid there were still air cooled VW’s, proper minis, 2CV’s, Rangie classics etc everywhere. Cars with loads of character to catch your attention.
Yes, and they all looked different.
 
I fell in love with not cars per se but Mercs after having a ride in a w140 S600 at the age of 6 and since then never turned my eyes away from a merc
 
I was always into big stuff. Used to drive tractors and loading shovels and things as kids. Was never really into supercars like most of the kids at school and still have no interest in luxury cars full of automation and gadgets. However the cars that turned my head were the 80s / 90s bmws with the 4 round headlights, the mercedes with the big rectangular headlights and the bonnet badge and of course, Italian cars. My older brother had a Saturday job at an Italian specialist and I used to love fiat dinos, alfa suds and juniors etc. So my first car had to be Italian, and my 17 year olds budget got me a thoroughbred... a fiat uno 👍

I had a few other cars and finally got my big stuff. Several pickup trucks for every day and I did offroading as a hobby until the children got to an age where time became an obstical. I had a suzuki sj which was stolen then a range rover, both of which I heavily modified and thoroughly enjoyed it. I would love to have a go at some sort of rallying one day. Maybe targa rally.
 
Interesting reading.
I grew up post 2nd world war, everyone was living under tight circumstances and living in all sorts of accomodation. (There was even rationing as a WW2 legacy .)
I remember we as a family got evicted about three times, and bailiffs the last time nicked my Danset record player !
Cash was tight, and really the whole country was always skint !
But fun to grow up in, as everyone was in the same boat !

My dad was a GM/GMC/Vauxhall Bedford nut, an ex WW2 Para (6th Airborne and a bruiser )
He had a lock up workshop under some railway arches, inherited from his family going back into the 19th century. He fixed GM brand cars , everything else to him was $chit!
My first job as an eight year helper was to fix some Bendix rod brakes under a mid 1930's Hillman Minx.

I considered it a jalopy!
Like a lot of 1930's junk being driven post war inthe UK.. Similar in my view to a US Chicago bootlegging gangster car ! Such as you would see on the Saturday morning film matinees at the local Odeon!
All the time blowing up french letters, launching them off the balcony, hoping they would land in some poor innocent girl's ice cream tub below! :eek:

Over the years learned a lot from the "old man" and before I was of school leaver age, I was was dedicated diesel schoolboy mechanic at 15. (Gardner diesel engines were my Rolls Royce ) I could tear down and rebuild a 6LW as a professional, even set the pump timing
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My interest really flared up as a school holiday casual worker for tent company , erecting big marquees for county fairs in Gloucestershire Warwickshire , Worcestershire and Herefordshire.
On the way back to Gloucester there was always a stop for beers.
Being the snot nosed kid I was in the back of this Morris J2 van sat on the tentage.
The thing kept fading out with air in the system.
Much to the drivers frustration he kept cussing and raving about the van's performance . Repeatedly I kept saying "It needs a bleed out, maybe something is loose on the fuel system" .
Eventually it stopped all together . Some the blokes stuffed the van like me said "let the kid have a go !"
And what does snot nosed kid know about a diesel engine ??
.
Eventually I did fix it with an adjustable wrench, and off we went to the pub .

Being a 15 year old I had to sit outside in the garden, but the irascible old driver , Jack brought me a Whitbread Tankard shandy .
He sat down & said "you have talent boy, where did you learn to fix diesel engines --my dad!"
You should consider a career in the auto industry you will go far and make a lot of money with that talent ! You will never go hungry & that made a change just thinking about it!

And so I did & never looked back!
The interesting thing while I was sat supping that shandy in the pub garden was this young 15 year old shandy haired girl who jumped out of a Bedford CA van!
Buying some snacks we quickly chatted, and she told me she was off to Cardiff to do a singing gig.
As the van door closed she passed me a signed photo. Thanks for the swig of of your beer --I'm LuLu !
Even me stinking of diesel fuel, she liked me! --I was in love!

Every woman likes mechanic,especially down in South America way. 👍
Tuercas Viejas
 
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It was my dad too. He had Alfa Romeos and a Ginetta back in the 70s. Plus the usual MG midgets etc. When I arrived in 1977 he switched to an Alfasud but it dissolved on the drive so then he moved to Renault 18s and then Mercedes W123.

We used to go to car shows, classic car meets, London motor show. It just stuck with me. One of my best memories was seeing a Series 1 E type in a local car park. Dad got chatting to the owner and I was just mesmerised by the car. That was back when e types were still daily drivers and nothing massively special. Early 80s I guess.

Also remember trips to the beach loaded into the boot of his W123 barrelling down the A21 north of 100mph.

Simpler more naive times.

My lottery car win is still an early E type.
 
My lottery car win is still an early E type.

I mind seeing a v12 E-type in the garage across from my work and pictures do it no justice to how long that bloody front end is 😂, absolutely stunning car though, I’ve not driven many old cars but the ones I have driven have always been a nice experience even when they are tough and noisy and brakes feel like they come off a pram 😂 although some were also smooth and lovely.
 
Used to stand at the end of the play street at primary with friends saying bagsy w reg or the first letter of number plates of cars we liked. Loved watching racing cars too.
My real passion started when my dad gave me my first car, a 2.5 Vauxhall viceroy. Very few left now. I’ve had a couple of coupes and a convertible but always had saloons.
Now on my biggest of all.
Shame dad never got to see it, but liked the pics of it. He used to buy cheap runabouts when we was young and spent many weekends fixing them. I most remember a yellow Chrysler that he took us out in.
Forgot too add I used to drool over all the matchbox cars and trucks in the display cabinet at the corner shop.
 
My dream as a child was to become a car designer, I was always drawing cars. At 16 I failed to get into art college (I wasn't good enough) & did an apprenticeship as a machine tool draughtsman instead. I'm now a refrigeration / air conditioning engineer ...go figure ;) But I've always been very interested in engines, be it in cars or motorcycles. Have been riding motorcycles since I was 12 years old & they're my primary passion, with cars close behind.
 
Liked cars since i was a toddler, My old man was a mechanic to trade who went into business for himself about a year after was born in 89, from then i spent many saturdays in the garage learning in my teens, i ended up doing my apprenticeship there at 16 and worked there until i was 29 as after so many years in the trade i felt a bit deflated and lost my love for cars amongst other life issues getting on top of me so i seeked a change career, and now after 3 years iv been promoted from a mechanical fitter to maintenance supervisor. Now iv gotta bit of the love back especially now in an AMG
 
No doubt I inherited it from my dad, he liked his cars and motor racing. I was born in 72 and just about remember his aubergine Radford Cooper S. It was almost works spec complete with twin tanks etc. When my sister and I got bigger, he had to swap it for something a bit more practical - an Austin 1800!
I then remember ”helping” my dads friend rebuild his chopped Triumph Bonny, I must have been about 10. My mum was horrified when he gave me a pillion ride home!
From then on it was a case of fiddling with and gradually learning on my own cars and bikes as I went. Somewhere along the way i discovered Alfa’s and have always had one. I remember driving my first one home and looking down at the badge on the steering wheel and getting quite emotional! It was a 1989 Sprint Cloverleaf. I had the same feeling when visiting the Alfa museum when it re-opened a few years ago. I can’t explain it, weird! Similar with Ducati. On our honeymoon we had a factory and museum tour which was ace! My wife really enjoyed it as well. What’s really nice now is helping my Dad do bits on his Westfield, and pre-COVID going to the Festival of Speed and various motorsport events with my wife and folks. My only real concern is that I just can’t get enthused about EV’s so maybe one day I’ll just have to have something ICE powered hidden away in the garage to get my fix!
 
Both parents competed in various forms of motorsport, from carting to rallying. Most of the family and friends where car people so there where always lots of interesting vehicles around.
 
My stepfather owned a taxi firm. Run the business from the house cars every where
 

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