Why Happy Cars Matter

I recently gave a talk to a collector car gathering in the Bay Area. The Q&A after these talks is always enlightening, so I try to remember those questions as a way to improve my presentations. After the group departed, we funneled into the parking lot where I greeted someone watching the vintage cars departing. She looked at me and said, “How fun!! Everyone seems so happy.” To which, I replied, “Yeah, these guys don’t need much of a reason to take out their cars.” And that’s when it hit me. Old cars make you happy. The nostalgia, the memories, the vintage feelings even just seeing them. Cars trigger all sorts of positive reflections.

When I was a kid, my family would often take long trips in our non air-conditioned Studebaker. Wherever we went, we were always happy. Even short trips on rare occasions going out to dinner, visiting the park, or driving up to Grandma’s house on the long road through the inland desert during some of the hottest times of the year. Mom would bring a bucket of ice and as it melted, wet down towels, and my brother and sister and I would lay them on our hot faces, lean back into the sticky vinyl seats, and drift off to sleep. Dad called it “Hill-Billy Air.” When I was older, I tinkered with a ’51 Crosley Hot Shot and had a blast driving that car. Never anything but a smile on my face, winding the little overhead-cam four banger up to high revs, keeping up with So Cal traffic. With more cash and a bit more interest in sports and performance cars, I started buying Mustangs, Cudas, and other foreign cars. But the theme was the same – buy something that made me smile.