Topic: What turned you into a car nut??

[rrocket]

This goes along with Wing's Jay Leno questions...but it interests me enough to ask everyone here.

What turned you into a car nut??

For me, it came from my love of motorcycles.  Like most of you, I enjoyed Matchbox cars and car toys in general.  But when I got my 1975 Honda MR50 "Elsinore" at a very young age (~5) that surely was my genesis.  From that point on, playing with pretend cars/bikes wasn't enough.   I had to have the real thing.  Anything with an engine (cars, bikes, planes, boats, etc..) interested me.

Who's next??

[Snowman]

Not sure but my parents caught me on several occasions running outside at 3 saying good night to the car car

[CanuckG35]

My Father and my Uncle got me into cars at a young age.  Growing up, my Father always had classic Mustangs.  From a Boss 302, to a few different Mach I's.  My uncle was the Chev person of the family and had countless Corvettes....66 427 Stingray Convertible and a 63 Split Window Coupe to name a few.  Also, my Grandfather drag raced rail cars in the early 60s, and even built them himself......just like the pic below.



Basically I just grew up in a family of car enthusiasts and it just carried over.  

[1TSX]

My dad

[GapBoyPCS]

I honestly have no clue. I always liked cars when I was a kid. Maybe it was from my previous life? Who knows 

[mmret]

On occasion I latch on to some thing and go down the path of learning a lot about it. Cars just happened to be one of those things that stuck.

Certain categories of things are chock full of stuff to learn about. Automobiles (and the industry) are one of those things. Encompasses engineering, marketing, fun factor, entertainment, politics, economics and finance, motorsport, human behaviour, socioeconomic status, so much stuff. So it sticks.

[No H2O]

But when I got my 1975 Honda MR50 "Elsinore" at a very young age (~5) that surely was my genesis.

And at the same time, I bought my first motorcycle, a new 1975 Honda MT 125 Elsinore. These were Honda's first 2-strokes...along with the CR series.

[rrocket]

But when I got my 1975 Honda MR50 "Elsinore" at a very young age (~5) that surely was my genesis.

And at the same time, I bought my first motorcycle, a new 1975 Honda MT 125 Elsinore. These were Honda's first 2-strokes...along with the CR series.

MT was the dual sport version, no??

[No H2O]

What turned you into a car nut??

Its in the blood.

At 5, I was turning the steering wheel of a tractor.
At 8, I was driving a VW Beetle in the Towers parking lot on Sundays, going through the gears.
At 12, I was driving a VW Beetle on public roads in Montreal with mom sitting in the passenger seat (she didn't know any better).
At 13, I would take off with the VW Beetle and cruise the streets of Montreal.
At 17, I got my driver's licence with no formal training.
At 18, I bought my first vehicle, a new motorcycle.
At 19, I bought my first car, a 1974 Ford Capri.

And lots of motorcycles and cars since.  

[No H2O]

MT was the dual sport version, no??

Correct. Mine was the same silver as yours but with a blue stripe.

They also made an MT 250.

Not mine, but this is exactly what it looked like...


I had it three months and traded it in on a 1975 Honda CB400 F Supersport.

[johngenx]

Dunno.  Always had gasoline in my veins.  Started early with motorcycles and then added cars later.

My theme song from, uh, a while back...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjdVIrjrDNo

[rrocket]

So you've come full circle....first bike dual sport to current bike dual sport (adventure tourer)!!

[Snowman]

[rrocket]

Then I got married.

The end.

That's sad.  Never understood that.

[ovr50]

My step-dad was a Ford dealer in small town in Alberta in the 50's. I hung around the garage a lot, then worked there on gas pumps, tires, simple mechanical stuff, etc early on. Always interested in cars and riding in back seat of family car in 50s, I could name every car by make and year that we met on the hiway. Drove tractor at age 11 for an uncle, drove grain truck at 12 for same uncle. Always had a car, usually an old trade-in from the garage. Drove an old '50 Ford flathead at university. Bought my first new car at age 24 from my step-dad as soon as I finished university and got my CA degree. A 1968 Ford LTD 2dr h'top with 390 4bbl.

I am on car #70 that I have owned since age 18 now. Still hooked, but getting to be less fussy, ie. wash them less now. 

[rrocket]

^^I dunno.  Just because you get married and the wifey doesn't like your hobbies, doesn't mean you need to abandon them.  IMO THAT'S selfish on her part.  While I am lucky to have a car nut girlfriend, she still has some hobbies that I have little interest in.  But I would never make her give them up, because she had those hobbies before I came along and they mean a lot to her. 

As far as cars not being family centric....there are many people on here who's fondest memories are puttering around in the garage with their dad while working on a car.  It's certainly one of my girlfriends fondest memories, and likely the reason she's a car nut.

I'm not saying your wife is a bad person or anything.  I'm sure she's great and the relationship works for you.  I'll just never understand why getting married means giving up the things you love..the things that ultimately make you who you are.

[Snowman]

^^I dunno.  Just because you get married and the wifey doesn't like your hobbies, doesn't mean you need to abandon them.  IMO THAT'S selfish on her part.  While I am lucky to have a car nut girlfriend, she still has some hobbies that I have little interest in.  But I would never make her give them up, because she had those hobbies before I came along and they mean a lot to her. 

As far as cars not being family centric....there are many people on here who's fondest memories are puttering around in the garage with their dad while working on a car.  It's certainly one of my girlfriends fondest memories, and likely the reason she's a car nut.

I'm not saying your wife is a bad person or anything.  I'm sure she's great and the relationship works for you.  I'll just never understand why getting married means giving up the things you love..the things that ultimately make you who you are.

Where I see tensions rise is when one of the partner fails to give family the same dedication as their hobbies.

[laspalmas]

My father always loved his cars and took very good care of them. For me it was when I started building car models at about age 8. Parents would buy me a really cool model for xmas and birthdays. Then in the 80's I entered the "Modelrama" contests at the "Autorama" car shows at the Landsdowne Park Civic centre. Every year I entered, I won - 2nd place in 1984, 2 trophies in '85, one in '86, twice again in '88. Two years ago I entered a canadian-wide contest in Gatineau and I won 3rd place with a car I built in 1978!
This is in '09 at the car show in Aylmer, no contest, just showing off the cars (one guy bought one from me for $150!). That's me with the mayor of Gatineau who's daughter was crazy about my CPI GTR scooter (parked behind us in the background).

[erich]

Baby, I was born this way

I twas definitely not my dad, he hated driving. My mom was a music teacher and tried hard to teach me to play the piano. I always preferred to play with Lego, Meccano or draw cars.

[5 Wheel Drive]

I'm not really sure what it was.  Whatever it was, I did it on my own.  My Dad never owned interesting cars.

My favorite toys, besides Lego, was always cars.  I had a ton of Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars.  My mom told me that when I was about 4 or 5 she briefly lost me in a parking lot.  She turned around to see me wayyy behind, I had my head under the front of a parked truck.  Apparently I was looking to see if it was 4 wheel drive or not.

I can remember seeing Cannonball Run at the drive in when it came out (I was 9). I also remember buying my first car magazine so I had something to read in the car after visiting my grandparents in Montreal.  I read and re-read that magazine until it fell apart.  It was Sports Car Graphic and it had a grey Peugeot 205 GTi on the cover. 

That was it for me....