Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Ronniej]

My stepson, Jamie, turns 18 this week and this caused me to reflect on some incidents over the years.
The following may be of interest to the forum.
When he was about nine he spoke at length about my old car at school.
This prompted the teacher to suggest she did a project on early cars which would end with my car (Morris 8 saloon) being brought to the school on the last day of the summer term.
I agreed to do this although I was concerned the children might not be interested or simply find the car amusing.
I need not have worried: they were very interested and asked a lot of very sensible questions.
The car was examined from front to back with great interest, particular attention being given to the engine.
One lad looked inside and announced I was breaking the law as there were no seatbelts.
He did not seem entirely satisfied by my explanation of exemption and it crossed my mind that this young man may be destined for a career in law enforcement!
Another examined the spoked wheels and remarked on how similar they were to his bike.
I explained that, in spite of its old fashioned appearance, the basic principles of how it worked were the same as their parent’s cars.
They had not seen semaphore indicators before but it only took a moment for them to work out what they were for.
By far the item of greatest interest was the starting handle which I had to demonstrate.
The teacher had set aside a 30 minute slot for the car’s visit and the interest was such it could easily have been longer.
Jamie told me that evening he had been bombarded with questions from his classmates and I suspect his account of work he had done on the car may have been subject to a degree of hyperbole!

Ronnie j

[D4B]

All in all a great day which will stay with you and many others hopefully, forever, Happy Days

[Rick]

Last year we took the Dodge (car) to junior's school for the summer fair, it seemed to generate a fair bit of interest with young and old alike. I did end up "locking" the doors after a few hours though, several looked at it as a comfortable place to eat their lunch and drink their fizzy drinks while our backs were turned

RJ
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[Ray White]

I don't have children, myself and I have to admit they make me nervous; especially if it was a group of boys who might think it "funny" to do things to my car. I suppose in a school setting with a teacher present there would be less chance for damage to occur but I would not wish to take the risk of my old cars being damaged, and this is why.

Last year, I found myself stranded in a pretty rough area when the battery in the fob for my Range Rover went flat and I had to wait for the AA to arrive. Some teenage youths were hanging about and decided to involve themselves in my dilemma. Before long I was being bombarded with questions. At first, things were reasonably civilised but then they began operating the electric seats, moving the sunroof backwards and forwards, then lifting the bonnet and the tailgate etc. I was run ragged and only managed to keep some sort of control because I had a bag of sweets which distracted their
attention for a while. It was a stressful experience and not one I would wish to repeat.

[ukdave2002]

Ray

I take my hat of to you, controlling teenagers with a bag a sweets, you are a natural

When my daughter was about 3 , she was "helping" me do a bit of panel beating......a few hours later, and just in time we caught her wandering over towards the moderns, with a hammer in her hand!

Dave

[Ray White]

[BigJohn]

About 6yrs ago a group of us got invited to a local village school for their transport project



They were great, especially the little lad whose dad's tractor had 4 figure hp, (Tractor pulling machine) Primary school teacher coffee is shocking though.

[ka]

We have attended shows with the Morgan, and the highlight of the day for quite a few kids, is to sit on the drivers side, wiggling the steering wheel. We get very few comments along the lines of 'do you know there is a wheel missing' , mainly from so called adults who seem to think I have either not noticed, or heard it asked before.
Kids are our future, not only to pay our pensions, but also to gain a loving of the machines we ride and drive, and as long as there is petrol around, we need to encourage them.
The last place for our vehicles is sat in a Museum, there are too many there already with diffs and engine internals missing, and their number plates sold off to the highest bidder.
_________________
KA

Better three than four.

[Ronniej]

I am in full agreement with all of your comments.

I enjoy chatting to visitors at a show but I tire of the same old jokes.
No! It is not powered by a hamster in a wheel!!

If our passion for old machinery is to continue after our passing we must foster interest in them among the coming generation.
Members living in south Scotland and north England may have visited the Selkirk show in the Scottish Borders.
This always attracts a number of steam enthusiasts with traction engines ranging from full size showman's engines to working scale models. Many of the exhibitors have their families with them and it is nice to see young people being so enthusiastically involved.

I also accept that museums have their place but it saddens me to see cars that will never again be on the road.
Some years ago I visited the Blackhawk Museum near San Francisco.
The building is all glass and marble and looks more like the corporate headquarters of a major bank.
The cars were all of "Pebble Beach" standard and probably any one of them would be worth several times the cost of my house.
It saddened me to see this fine collection confined to this place and not out on the road for all to see and enjoy.
The nearest analogy I could think of was a Victorian butterfly collection with exquisite specimens pinned to a board for eternity.

[emmerson]

Totally agree Ronnie. We visited the Mullhouse collection a couple of years ago, and that broke my heart!

[BigJohn]

It is our responsibility to encourage the new blood into our hobby, if you don't want to drive your car, take up stamp collecting, they are built to be driven. Remember, to a 17yr old a Mk1 Fiesta is stone age so don't disparage their enthusiasm, most of us drive cars that were banger transport at some time in the past. We just grew older.