c2105026
Active Member
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2009
- Messages
- 900
- Reaction score
- 141
- Points
- 43
- Location
- NSW
- Members Ride
- 2000 VTII Commodore Olympic, 2012 Ford Focus ST
Hi,
As you may/may not know, I have gone through a few older cars. The first was a VB Commodore that got me to this site. It was restored, and went on to win a trophy and feature on the front cover of the local paper. Next was a 1981 Volvo 240 that was also restored, and also won a trophy.
There was a certain retro/period charm attached to these vehicles. Solid colours, lashings of chrome trim, zero plastic anywhere. However.....as nice as they were, they never evoked nostalgia, as they were well before my time (I was born 1983).
My current older tinkering vehicle is an ex-Olympic VTII Commodore. I have taken a different path to this, rather than a full blown restoration (which it didn't really need) I did as little as possible to make the car presentable and drive excellent again. Now whilst this isn't a fully-fledged classic car by any stretch of the word, to me it still evokes a nostalgia the older cars didn't. As a young driver, my parents had a VTII Commodore that was bought new, my first car being a '00 Corolla auto. I wanted a VT Commodore dearly but the parent's choice was to put me into something newer and more fuel efficient (with less power for me to be naughty with).
So now I have a VT Commodore, now in fairly nice condition. It has a period aftermarket head unit that plays regular CDs. Last night I was tidying up and I found my old CD wallet full of the copied CDs I used when I was going to and from Newcastle>Orange in my blue Corolla on uni breaks.
I took my VT to work today, and played the CDs. It was like I was 20 all over again. But this time I was thin(ish), had money, greater confidence and sense of self. Not only that, I was in the car that I actually wanted, not the pissweak Corolla.
This is what having a classic car is all about. Its about evoking that nostalgia - sure the VT isn't technically a classic nowadays but if history repeats it will be. Its why all the older members of my car club view mine as too 'new', whereas theirs are all 60s-70s cars from when they were 20ish.
Just a thought I had today. Thanks for reading
As you may/may not know, I have gone through a few older cars. The first was a VB Commodore that got me to this site. It was restored, and went on to win a trophy and feature on the front cover of the local paper. Next was a 1981 Volvo 240 that was also restored, and also won a trophy.
There was a certain retro/period charm attached to these vehicles. Solid colours, lashings of chrome trim, zero plastic anywhere. However.....as nice as they were, they never evoked nostalgia, as they were well before my time (I was born 1983).
My current older tinkering vehicle is an ex-Olympic VTII Commodore. I have taken a different path to this, rather than a full blown restoration (which it didn't really need) I did as little as possible to make the car presentable and drive excellent again. Now whilst this isn't a fully-fledged classic car by any stretch of the word, to me it still evokes a nostalgia the older cars didn't. As a young driver, my parents had a VTII Commodore that was bought new, my first car being a '00 Corolla auto. I wanted a VT Commodore dearly but the parent's choice was to put me into something newer and more fuel efficient (with less power for me to be naughty with).
So now I have a VT Commodore, now in fairly nice condition. It has a period aftermarket head unit that plays regular CDs. Last night I was tidying up and I found my old CD wallet full of the copied CDs I used when I was going to and from Newcastle>Orange in my blue Corolla on uni breaks.
I took my VT to work today, and played the CDs. It was like I was 20 all over again. But this time I was thin(ish), had money, greater confidence and sense of self. Not only that, I was in the car that I actually wanted, not the pissweak Corolla.
This is what having a classic car is all about. Its about evoking that nostalgia - sure the VT isn't technically a classic nowadays but if history repeats it will be. Its why all the older members of my car club view mine as too 'new', whereas theirs are all 60s-70s cars from when they were 20ish.
Just a thought I had today. Thanks for reading