I'm guessing that I've been involved with "classic" cars more of my life than most folks. A true believer, I didn't wait until later in life to jump in the vintage car scene. I toddled in before I started pre-school...
In 1961, my grandmother died, leaving me her 1940 Pontiac coupe. I had just turned three years old. My dad had bought her the car new, and she kept it in her rickety garage in Delano, California. My earliest memory is sitting in it, honking the horn and holding the steering wheel in that garage. Every time we would visit her, I raced out to the garage and climbed into the Pontiac. When she croaked, she left it to me. My parents brought it to our home, and kept it in their garage for me, occasionally driving it to keep it in good shape.
When the other kids in elementary scvhool were bragging about their new bikes, I told them that I had my own car. They would come over to play, and my dad would drive us around the neighborhood in it.
When I was 13, (1971) I got my second classic car, our 1952 MG TD. I had saved up paper route money, gifts, etc and bought it for $1,100. I let my dad drive it for a few years, until I got my driver's license.
I did a kind of schlock "restoration" on the Pontiac when I was 16, and sold it to buy a 1968 Mustang GT California Special (GT CS) That led to a long series of fun, interesting, odd and fantastic cars for me.
- '68 Javelin we converted from automatic to four speed
- '68 Bronco I bought from Bill Stroppe
- '70 240Z (very cool to have in high school...)
- '68 Corvette bought from "Rent-A-Wreck" in L.A.
- Jamaican kit car on MGA chassis with Buick V6
- '72 Ford van I converted to a sweet surfer mobile. Shag carpet and all...
- '53 Cadillac with three bullet holes in the drivers door, and a bunch of others.
22 cars before I turned 21.
Fast forward, to married life, proud to say we've never owned a minivan. Typically Suburban's for my wife, which she still prefers. I always had something cool, (except for a couple Accords...) a few Porsches, several Mercedes, Aston Martin, MGB, etc. Through it all, the MG TD was and remains the constant. My wife and I beautifully restored it in 1991-1993. It has a few dings 30 years later, but still looks and drives very well. Today, it shares the garage/shop with a gorgeous 911, and the Mercedes 450SL I recently restored. (And a truck and the wife's SUV, etc)
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