6 of the most rewarding moments in vintage car ownership
Owning and maintaining a hobby car is full of ups and downs. With any luck the highs appear more often than the lows, but there is no way to guarantee their appearance. What we can do is focus on the moments that make the thin wallets and late nights and headaches worth it.
To bring some light into what may be a dark tunnel, we pulled out six of the moments in car ownership that we’ve found most rewarding. Whether you own a classic now or are thinking about jumping in with both feet, here is what you have to look forward to.
First show/event
Getting your new purchase home is a big moment; taking it out for its first show or event is even bigger. A car can be an extension of your personality and going out to your first car show with this new form of expression is a powerful moment.
Sharing your car and its story can be as easy as joining a gathering of likeminded individuals in a parking lot—or, if you thrive on more challenging goals, as complicated as earning a spot on a concours lawn. You don’t have to walk away with an award, but we’ll bet you’ll carry a memory when you go.
First startup
We aren’t going to equate hearing the engine you built run for the first time to hearing your child cry for the first time, but we have to admit it can be powerful.
The mental and physical investment in doing a major repair to the heart of your car culminates in turning the key and hearing the noise through the tailpipes as it stumbles to life. The mechanical symphony of lifters pumping while the cooling fan whirrs and the fuel pump comes up to pressure is a delight in itself, but when the sound is the long-awaited result of your own labor? It’s truly worth savoring.
Catching a problem before it’s a problem
Classic vehicles require a certain understanding. Once you learn your car’s language, you will know when something is not right.
Whether you do your own diagnosis or call in the professionals, having your hunch justified is an awesome feeling. It’s more than just keeping up on maintenance. This is knowing your car well enough that, when you detect a disturbance in the force, you act on it with confidence.
First difficult DIY repair
Not everyone is cut out for DIY repair. We recognize that. However, there is something about breaking out the tools and successfully tackling a job yourself that is just so rewarding—and the first time is just that much more special.
The task could be anything from swapping out a headlight and properly adjusting it to overhauling an automatic transmission—or anything in between. Never feel bad about taking pride in knocking out even the smallest jobs yourself.
First time you chauffeur an (appreciative) friend
While a solo drive can be restorative, there is really nothing quite like sharing the experience of your beloved car with an appreciative friend.
Putting someone in the passenger seat—or, better yet, behind the wheel—can be a wonderful experience that will give them an inside look at your passion. Explaining the joys of driving a classic is tough; seeing the look on someone’s face as they experience it for the first time is will recharge the enthusiast batteries inside you rapidly. Who doesn’t want to be a disciple of the old-car hobby?
Road trip or cruise
A long trip with your vintage car can be just short of a spiritual. The sounds, smells, and feeling of taking your beloved car on an adventure is intoxicating—if all goes according to plan, that is.
It can be stressful, but with proper preparation, you’ll be out enjoying the open road in the closest thing to a time machine most of us can afford. One day on the blue highways in a vintage car can change your outlook on cars—and life. Don’t deny yourself.
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Well, OK…
For me, it’s all about the drive. Driving the car, deciding what to fix first, then feeling the improvement with every application of wrenches and new or reworked parts. Rewiring is especially rewarding when it makes the car reliable. Fixing the handling, dialing in the steering response, brakes and throttle response. The stuff that age takes out of a fresh machine.
Finding piece of mind, mechanical reliability and trust in the machine for long drives is the first goal. After that, throttle response, steering response, balance. Most of this will come with the car (original equipment, but perhaps dulled by time and deferred maintenance), but in the case of “component” or “kit” cars, has to be built in and developed. Making the machine work as I expected it to, maybe better, is the end reward.
I do like to go to shows occasionally, but I won class at Pebble when I was 21, so Concourse and trophies don’t mean much to me now, half a century later. I have the cars mainly for my enjoyment, and I love to feel how well they can work when everything is finally screwed down properly. I just want the same thrill I got when I drove the originals, when they were new. That’s what I am working on now, with my early +8. Progress with every turn of the wrench.
And, I am teaching my daughter, who is now 8, how to find tools in the box (she knows metric and fractional, and the difference between a box end, an open end “spanner” and a socket in a specific drive size), how to handle wrenches, and how to read a Lucas wiring “scheme”.
I suspect that we will have the Morgan to the track within the new year, along with a trip up the coast. ‘Should be fun.
Some of my finest moments of owning vintage vehicles have occurred when I have been broken down a long way from home. I have met some very fine people who have been more than willing to lend hand, chase down parts and help with repairs. A flat tire on the Guzzi at the top of the Lolo Pass in Idaho and a broken pushrod on the Velocette in Utah were the high points of those trips due to complete strangers who were happy to stop what they were doing and help me get back on my way.
You drove your Velo to Utah? What are you, nuts?
Took my 56 vette out for some sunshine with my grandson and after a while he asked if he could try driving it
so he could learn to drive stick shift I said go for it,we switched seats now he wants a stick shift car. What a
great day !
Hands down the “thumbs up” are the best. I get them from men, woman, young and old. After about a 3 year build, I took my 67 Mustang for it’s very first shake down drive, just to test brakes, steering, etc. I hadn’t gone more than a 1/4 mile from my house when I received an enthusiastic thumbs up from a guy driving the opposite direction. I think I laughed out loud I was so thrilled!
Ihad a number of muscle cars and also British sports cars when I was young. I made my living as a line in a new car dealership and ended up teaching auto mechanics for 26 years. When I got married I switched to more practical rides. I still gazed at others rides from afar but still stayed practical. One that I partiularly liked was a 53 Chevy 1/2 ton panel in bright yellow that owned by a friend. You can imagine my surprise on my 70th birthday when my grandson pulled into my driveway with thar Chevy. He got out and said Happy Birthday. My wife had bought it for me as a birthday gift.
As an owner of 6 classic cars, and two modern pony cars, I can tell you there is nothing better than sitting in an empty parking lot by a busy road, watching traffic go by and having people almost wreck in front of you as they rubberneck as they drive by. My wife did not believe me, an Indeed it has been that way for 30+ years.
You forgot #7: “When You Sell It”, after losing your butt financially on a not so classic “classic” ride, like the infamous ’56 – ’57 Continental Mark II. Ford lost their ass financially when they originally built them and the Mark II is still crushing every subsequent owner financially up to this very day!!!
My life long passion came about the first time I remember a 62 Corvette. Fast forward 50 years. One came up for sale through a friend. As the new caretaker i have to recognize the previous owners who where passionate any involved with the local corvette club. The Route 66 club and the Straight axle club. When I’m at my local club gathering make sure you recognize the folks before you.
It’s not really one that is restored, but I have been driving it since 1993, a 90 Mustang convertible. 350K miles on it now and even though it was rear-ended last year by a bus (the bus had to be towed, but I limped home), it again looks reasonable at a distance. Riding home from a movie with one of my kids, a girl yelled “nice fox-body” and another guy in a Mercedes kept alongside us asking what would I take for it and was pretty persistent. For a one-mile trip my son thought that every day was like that for me.
I have a 1936 Terraplane (by Hudson). God has graced me with the abilities to take a trailered-home wreck and transform it into a nice (although still unfinished) street rod. Other than boring & honing the SBC block, turning the crank, having the driveshaft made, and mounting tires on the wheels, I have done absolutely everything else in my backyard workshop – and a lot through trial and error. Over the past several years, I have enjoyed numbers one through five of the six listed in your article. I’m still working out several bugs before going on a cruise or long drive, although I highly anticipate getting to doing so.
I have a 1936 Terraplane (by Hudson). God has graced me with the abilities to take a trailered-home wreck and transform it into a nice (although still unfinished) street rod. Other than boring & honing the SBC block, turning the crank, having the driveshaft made, and mounting tires on the wheels, I have done absolutely everything else in my backyard workshop – and a lot through trial and error. Over the past several years, I have enjoyed numbers one through five of the six listed in your article. I’m still working out several bugs before going on a cruise or long drive, although I highly anticipate getting to doing so. I entered a local car show about six weeks ago where, in addition to Best of Show, there were awards for about 16 individual categories. Only show participants could vote. I was awarded First Place in the Early Classic category.
I get a lot of comments that if I sell my car and go to something else on my list the comments will go away. Having a Supra is something that I’m often the only one at a car show with it and younger people up through my age in particular have a connection with it through video games and the Fast and Furious movies (for better or worse). Yes the is that a Supra comments can get annoying but most of the reaction I get is happiness and joy.
Getting pulled over for speeding, which could have well been accurate, and asked to open the hood.
The revenue agent told me he was too busy checking the car to use the speed gun.
I think my favorite memory is after building a car over several years and while sorting it out on longer and longer drives you have a problem but you recognize immediately what happened and are able to hop out and fix it easily as you know every nut bolt and fastener on the car.
This is truly a rewarding feeling. Good answer, Black356.
And incidentally, if I had a black 356, I’d be too busy out driving it to participate in this forum! 😊
How about seeing your barn find back on the road? Pictures of a 1955 Studebaker Champion in a farmyard several miles from the nearest pavement made their way to me in case I was interested in the trim for my President. The car was too complete to part out so I went to take a look. The friend who forwarded me the pictures helped me bring it home. I’m not mechanically inclined, but fantasized about learning by doing this project. Life intervened and I sold it to another friend who has had it on the road for several years now. My own car still needs some TLC, but I will always know I saved one.