There are many ways to take a journey on the road of life and the best way to travel is behind the wheel of a vintage ride.
We at MyStarCollectorCar tend to stay in the shallow end of the philosophy pool but even we have gathered a few nuggets of wisdom along the way in an old car.
Jim Sutherland
The first life lesson? Don’t believe everything you see because the instrument panels in vintage rides are designed to operate on a best guess system. For example, their gas gauges were an approximation on their best day-let alone decades after the retro rides left the dealership.
Another example: their speedometers may have developed a large plus/minus factor over the years and now they may be the root cause of either a speeding ticket or a large angry mob of new vehicle drivers stuck behind a vintage vehicle due to speedometer inaccuracies.
Therefore, the best advice to old vehicle owners is do not trust the information presented by the gauges in their vintage vehicles. Treat the gauges like social media information and do not rely upon it for any degree of accuracy.
The second life lesson? Patience is indeed a virtue when it comes to old cars. They will test their owners’ limits on a regular basis and present many situations where they require their owners to remain calm and sort out the issue, whether it stems from vapor lock while on the road, a major challenge during the build, or any of the many barricades to success in between for their owners.
Patience needs to be a big part of the game plan when it comes to old rides because they will stretch timelines to the limits- and beyond.
The third life lesson? Old cars will develop their owners’ sense of crisis management. The vintage rides will blow up on a busy freeway, overheat on a steep uphill grade, or lose their brakes on a steep downhill grade-to name but a few dicey examples of situations that will require owners with nerves of steel and a cool sense of reason.
The important part of the equation is how the owner copes with the misadventure and resolves it. Good decisions in bad circumstances come with the territory when it comes to vintage ride adventures.
The fourth life lesson? An old car will sharpen your social skills. The retro rides are a source of boundless curiosity for the general public because many people may never have even seen them in their lifetimes, particularly kids. MyStarCollectorCar has encountered thousands of car owners over the past 11 years on our beat and have witnessed the interaction between the owners and the public every time.
Many car owners are somewhat shy by nature, so the car shows present these people with an opportunity to socialize in one of the friendliest possible public gatherings. Their vehicles are also social ice-breakers whenever they are driven in the regular outside world by their owners.
The fifth and final life lesson learned from vintage vehicle ownership? A long walk is good for your health and an old car will provide that golden opportunity at some point during ownership. The basic plan is to travel from Point A to Point B along every mile between departure and arrival, but there may be hiccups along the way.
One of the hiccups may involve an unplanned hike to a gas station or better cell phone reception by the vintage vehicle owners.
Just think of the experience as another walk down the road of life for an old car owner and enjoy the view.
BY: Jim Sutherland
Jim Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer whose work has been published by many major print and online publications. The list includes Calgary Herald, The Truth About Cars, Red Deer Advocate, RPM Magazine, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Windsor Star, Vancouver Province, and Post Media Wheels Section.
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