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When you are a 10-year-old
"automaniac", model cars are about as close
as most kids get to making decisions on what cars they
would like to own. Trips to the newsstand and bookstores
help, but everything costs money.
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The post-World War
II period created a lot of youthful auto enthusiasts.
During the war everyone wore their cars out and those
late 1930s and early 1940s models had to be replaced.
In 1946 everyone wanted a new car and military veterans
were first in line.
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Meanwhile, gathering
up brochures and spreading them out over the dining
room table, parents discussed the virtues of Packard,
Hudson, Nash, Pontiac, and the dozens of makes and models
to choose from.
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Wide-eyed children
peered at these brochures with excitement as their parents
made decisions... usually the wrong ones! Why would
their parents argue whether the sedan should be blue
or gray when the obvious choice was the red convertible?
Once the car was ordered the brochures became the property
of the kids. The buying experience would be repeated
every few years and the period in between produced flyers,
postcards and brochures sent by auto dealers in hopes
of drawing the customers back into the showrooms. As
teenagers grow up, the pile in the closet grows and
a collector has been established all in preparation
for the first car of their own.
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| THE YEARS PAST |
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1955 Ford Thunderbird |
1956 Packard |
1959 Chrysler |
1963 Pontiac |
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1965 Ford Mustang |
1970 Pantera by DeTomaso |
1972 Dodge |
1978 Chrysler LeBaron |
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1982 Chevrolet Camaro |
1987 Cadillac Allante |
1992 Vector |
1998 Ferrari |
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The odds are that
you now own one or more collector cars and you have
an interesting collection of literature. Congratulations.
You now have a degree in "Automotology" the
study of automobiles in which you learn to turn dreams
into reality.
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