At 12:25 PM 3/10/97 -0500, you wrote:
>Dear Listers,
>Anyone out there ever analyze what elements in your
>childhood are responsible for your interest in British
>cars? I know that many of us are car nuts and motorheads
>in general and are into ALL cars in one way or another,
>but it takes a certain sort to be a British car owner.
>
>I personally have three major influences that got me
>going in a British direction very early in life. To start
>with, my mother informs me that I showed a major
>interest in cars from about the time I began to talk.
>My first three words were mama, dad, and Buick!
>The only toys that I seemed to like had wheels on them.
>Being that this was going on in the late Forties, might
>explain why my favorite cars come from the 1938-1954
>era and in particular, Morris Minors, that are the LBC embodiment of this era
>of styling.
>
>1) I come from San Francisco, a place that was steeped
>in British cars during the British "Export or Die" years
>right after the war. These cars were everywhere. We had neighbors with Austin
>A40s and family friends with a
>Hillman Minx convertible. My father, a non-motorhead who didn't buy a family
>car until 1954 (there is great public transportation in SF) took me to the
>road races held in
>Golden Gate Park in the early Fifties. Even though I was
>only four or five years old at the time, I vividly
>remember those races. I can still hear the Cad-Allards
>and Jag XK120s winding up to a roar on the straights,
>then backing off and popping little backfires of rich
>mixture as they slowed for the corners.
>The little MGs looked, to me, exactly what a car should
>look like; swooping fenders separate headlamps and a
>tyre on the back. It took me 33 years to finally own one
>of these (a BRG '50 TD) and I wasn't disappointed.
>I'm sure that there were other nationalities of cars
>there, but the only ones I seem to remember were British.
>This makes vintage racing such a great experience for
>me as I'm one of the few of my generation who actually
>saw many of these early cars race.
>
>2) Dinky Toys and to a lesser extent Matchbox Toys.
>Though I never actively "collected" them, I had many
>and knew the whole line. Here was an American five
>year old who knew what a Riley Two-and-a Half Liter
>series RM saloon and a Morris Oxford was! I had a model
>of every postwar Austin including the FX3 taxi, an
>Atlantic drophead and an A40 Van. My first model kit
>was a Revell "Highway Pioneers" MGTD that my mom
>built for me. She painted the interior with nail polish
>that "crinkled" it up like real leather! I didn't stand
>a chance.
>
>3) When I was about six, my folks took me to an English
>film called Genevieve, a comedy about the London to
>Brighton race of brass-era cars . At this point I was
>able to see the place where the cars came from.
>I was hooked. At six, I decided that outside of San
>Francisco, England was the place to be. I didn't get to
>go there either until many years later and also was not disappointed.
>
>This was long before Carnaby Street, Monte Python and
>The Beatles. Mick and the Stones were still in school!
>All Americans are Anglophiles to one extent or another,
>but I feel that most British car owners have an earlier
>or "past-life" connection to an English way of life.
>
>How about the rest of you out there? Why do you like British cars? See you
>on the Funway!
>Rick Feibusch
>Automotive Journalist/Appraiser
>http://www.EnglishCars.com/rick.html
>mailto:RFeibusch@aol.com
>61 Minor pickup
>60 Minor Saloon
>59 Minor Convertible
>69 Chevelle Malibu 350
>
>
>
You bet I can remember the first influence! I was a four year old
that was taken for a ride in a brand new TR3 that a neighbor purchased. Wow!
side curtains, kidney chiller doors, and the coolest engine growl I'd ever
heard. I was hooked, although it took 37 years to finally own my own LBC
beastie.
Rodney McDonald
Spanish Fort, AL
'76'B 393703
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