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Vintage motoring in a modern world: Austin
I have never got that excited before about vintage motoring. It quite simply is not my era and as such it doesn’t capture my imagination in the same way as the supercars of the late 80’s and the early 90’s.
However, last week my viewpoint changed somewhat, I saw the point of a vintage car, the reason why you might like to drive one. It is the challenge and the theatre of the process, not the speed and the precision that we enjoy in a modern car that captures the imagination.
I was away from the hustle and bustle of London for the weekend in Norfolk, on the coast where my parents keep a house and my uncle and aunt live. Like myself and my father my uncle is also a bit of a car fanatic. Between us my father and I own cars registered between 1962 (Daimler SP250 ‘Dart’) and 2012 (Mercedes E350 CDI Estate), but my uncle is a fan of older fayre.
I had just hopped out of the Range Rover Evoque http://www.autoviva.com/news/the_opinion_range_rover_evoque/4394 which is in many ways the epitome of today’s society so climbing into the Austin was somewhat different. My uncle has an Austin 7 and an Austin Heavy Twelve Four, that of Gumdrop fame and he wanted to take me out in the Twelve Four.
As I said, this is not my normal predilection but on a summer’s day in pleasant surroundings there is a significant amount of pleasure to be gained from pottering along at 40mph with the roof down and the wind in one’s hair.
I tend to shy away from modern convertibles as the pleasure of having the roof down is negated by the reduction in dynamic prowess and the buffeting of one’s head at 70mph, but in an eighty year-old car it makes perfect sense and, for the first time in my life, I can say with total honesty that I ‘get’ vintage cars. I might even want one in a few years time.
However, last week my viewpoint changed somewhat, I saw the point of a vintage car, the reason why you might like to drive one. It is the challenge and the theatre of the process, not the speed and the precision that we enjoy in a modern car that captures the imagination.
I was away from the hustle and bustle of London for the weekend in Norfolk, on the coast where my parents keep a house and my uncle and aunt live. Like myself and my father my uncle is also a bit of a car fanatic. Between us my father and I own cars registered between 1962 (Daimler SP250 ‘Dart’) and 2012 (Mercedes E350 CDI Estate), but my uncle is a fan of older fayre.
I had just hopped out of the Range Rover Evoque http://www.autoviva.com/news/the_opinion_range_rover_evoque/4394 which is in many ways the epitome of today’s society so climbing into the Austin was somewhat different. My uncle has an Austin 7 and an Austin Heavy Twelve Four, that of Gumdrop fame and he wanted to take me out in the Twelve Four.
As I said, this is not my normal predilection but on a summer’s day in pleasant surroundings there is a significant amount of pleasure to be gained from pottering along at 40mph with the roof down and the wind in one’s hair.
I tend to shy away from modern convertibles as the pleasure of having the roof down is negated by the reduction in dynamic prowess and the buffeting of one’s head at 70mph, but in an eighty year-old car it makes perfect sense and, for the first time in my life, I can say with total honesty that I ‘get’ vintage cars. I might even want one in a few years time.
The Opinion: Range Rover Evoque :: News :: autoviva.com
http://www.autoviva.com/news/the_opinion_range_rover_evoque/4394
http://www.autoviva.com/news/the_opinion_range_rover_evoque/4394