My Daily Driver



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by Bobby McCarthy
Copyright (c), 2003, My Daily Driver -- All Rights Reserved

It has been expressed to this columnist on many occasions throughout the years that owning and or driving "vintage" cars is purely nostalgic. These classic vehicles possess the magical ability to transport the owner to a simpler time. Back to the time of one's youth devoid of mortgages, deadlines, divorces and any and all "adult" complications. As if a "well under the speed limit" Sunday drive in a Desoto will cleanse all your modern ills in the baptismal waters of nostalgia. In essence, a "Rear View" into ones past.

As far as this whole "nostalgia" theory goes, I say "What a load of crap." I mean this method of profiling does not apply to me. I'll agree that every person's own personal decision to purchase a vintage car is as individual and different as the vehicles themselves. That being said, I find it a bit difficult to assume that the majority of these folks are attempting to re-capture lost youth. Granted, I have not done exhausted research on this subject. But as always, I'll invoke the First Amendment and my alleged journalistic license to express my views on this subject.

Remember the mid '80's? All of a sudden, any vehicle deemed "vintage" became an investment opportunity for the yuppies. As quickly as the young upwardly mobile folks were snatching up real estate, they were also buying up such rarities as Super Birds and Ford Mustang GT-500's. These "knowledgeable investors" were sure that the market price of these vehicles would surely double in the immediate future. Nostalgia

As any historian will tell you, in 1989 the bottom fell out. Shortly there after, every classic car-for-sale publication contained over inflated priced advertisements for classic cars. The "investors" had learned a valuable lesson and wanted out.

So, there is one example as to why vintage cars are purchased outside the "nostalgia" theory. Another would be my own personal reason. It has nothing to do with my early youth. Yes, a thirty-year-old car that I drive would be one of the vehicles from my youth. However, my particular youth is not one that I would prefer to re-live. No, I did not grow-up in a hostile environment; I just had as bumpy an adolescents and early adulthood as anyone did that did not have a Trust Fund. I own a thirty-year-old car for two reasons; I love the simplicity and the attention, period.

I have always, for better or worse, been a tinkerer. I have taken anything and everything apart, occasionally, successful in the re-assembly. I love the fact that my vehicle contains no mysteries. As for the "attention", well I have been a career show-off and driving a generic car would severely hamper my own perception of my coolness. That's honest anyway.

In my humble opinion, the notion that owning a classic car is the result of some need to re-live the past is pure fiction. Perhaps there are folks who did purchase a particular vintage car for that exact reason. Well maybe, but I think driving it in a parade or pulling into a Car Show or just driving it to the convenience store is a far more realistic reason for the purchase.

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