One of my favorite things about having small, old cars is the reaction
children have to them.
It gives me faith that not quite all the time I spend farting around with
cars is wasted. After all, if a KID thinks you and your car is okay, you
can't be THAT bad, hunh?
While it's always nice to talk to guys 'Who used to have one of those' at
the gas pumps, I've come to treasure most the attention you get from kids,
like the way they tug their parent's hands and point at the cartoon-like
car going by, or getting all eyes on you when you pass a school bus, and I
love the way they come up and want to touch the car like it's not quite
real.
When I can, I try to give kids a spin in the car. I assume that if they're
anything like me, they'll remember the event the rest of their lives.
A phenomenon I've witnessed a few times is the desire some young children
have to TASTE the cars.
Yep. They walk right up to it and lick the fender like a lollipop.
Granted, these events have been with my former LBCs which sported much
nicer and colorful paint. (My ol' '62 TR4 has very tired and uninteresting
white paint. Nobody ever licks IT.)
But beginning with a yellow MGB I once had, I began to notice kids with a
taste for these cars, and over the years I've come to not be so surprised
when it happens. My BRG MGB (with very nice original paint) got the most
licks. And other than a bit of drool on the paint, the cars seem to enjoy
the attention too.
I should bottle kid's drool as the ULTIMATE car polish. Lord knows my
1-year-old produces enough.
It it just me? Do I hang around with 'special' kids, or have any of you
noticed kids sneaking a taste of your LBCs?
-jeffrey
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