I’m 58 y.o. I owned 35 cars and 3 motorcycles before I was 25 y.o. I was free like the wind to do as I pleased. Then I got married. Kids came along. It isn’t the same as far as cars are concerned. No money see. I tried to keep the dreams alive, tried restoring a Mark 3 Ford Zephyr. But $2 spray cans don’t cut it and two years driving around without carpet drives you nuts. Then we split up. Anyone that has kids and pays child support cant afford losing the oil from the end of a beetle dip stick let alone keep his hobby alive. Then the kids have grown up and flown the coup. By this time your worked body is tired and you are after that dream machine, the one that has eluded you all your life. But alas, you cant do without the muffin and you let her move in. Of course it doesn’t take long before she has replaced your financial adviser. Before you now it you have to make an appointment to make a withdrawal. Ok you get the picture.
At this time I was flying radio control model airplanes. Good hobby if you don’t crash them. Then it gets expensive. She sat me down one night following the demise of my “batplane”. Yeh well it was a swing winged self designed airplane that batman flew and Robin parachuted out of. Flew for 2 minutes. It had electric motors and the speed controller over heated causing the balsa to catch fire. That plane cost me 300 bucks but watching it burn in the air was worth every cent. Anyway we sat down and she asked me how much I’d spent on my hobby in the previous 7 years. $11,000 I spat out. “are you proud of that loss” she blarped… “Well” I replied….”better than losing 35 grand on cigarettes”. She smoked.
Then one night around 2005 I watched Billy Connelly riding a trike owned by a guy called “Wolf” around Australia. I was hooked. This was after a total of 75 cars and 5 motorcycles graced my body where the sun don’t shine. Finally I had my dream machine- right there. And so the long job of convincing my girlfriend…defacto…liability….cant recall what she was really, that this was the last vehicle I wanted that WOULD satisfy me- commenced.
In the meantime I read up everything to do with trikes. Man, it was like some rare sexual experience that went on and on. Finally after 2 years of talking (pleading) she sat down, lit up one of those gold plated cigarettes and spoke the words that every man loves to hear….”I suppose it’s me…or the trike”.
Words never came, they didn’t need to. A short nod of my head to indicate that the trike won. The next day we had coffee. She said “well you’d better find a place to live”. With a smile on mi’ dial I replied “I’ve rented a place around the corner…”where’s the hand trolley I need help lifting the fridge”?
I ordered my Panther trike…..I still have it…..and I did eventually get married again to a ‘pearler’ of a girl. Before we got serious I took her into the shed to show her the yellow beast. It was like she was to one day be a step mum to that machine…she had to get along with it, wash it and polish it while I sat, sipped Bundy’s and reflected on my truly last dream machine. After she’s finished her polishing we ride to some local café with a smile wondering what could have been had I not persisted in following my love for that trike….
Now that I’m retired I think I’ll build another batplane…one where Robin gets a chance to jump out of..

75 cars and 5 bikes, I'm sure you will have other dream machines to chase
Can't say I have my dream machine but have wanted to get and loved every vehicle I've owned over the years!!

That is magic, I do feel for you though, I do have my dream machine in so far as my '79 cabriolet plus I have my buggy but still on the first wife and even though I've had the buggy for getting on for 26 years and the cab for about 10 years I do think she (the wife that is) is actually jealous of them. She hates it when I work on them, she hates it when I go up the beach (she never wants to go!), she won't voluntarily come out for a drive in the cab (it's too windy and it'll mess up my hair). We have a friend of the female variety who loves VWs and has her own 66' model but she's already married

I have 7 vws and the mrs refuses to drive or sit in any of them. The kids don,t care as long as they end up where they need to be and i must say i always smile after driving any of them. Its a win win i reckon. she doesnt drive them so she cant damage them and i can drive any of them knowing the last look at the fuel guage when i got out will still count when i get back in.

Love the story!
Don't know if I have the dream machine.
But I was well pleased with the Lbug as a toy, when I saw the KG convertible on aussieveedubbers.
"Have a look at this'" says I.
Oooh, that's nice, says she.
And now were sharing the journey even more.

Cheers Phil, make the rest of us jealous

I have a number of dream cars.

Some I probably will never have due to the cost, some I already do.

The notch has been since I was 15 or so, then I finally got one few years ago. The others I have sort of became dream cars over time as I grew in to loving them.

Before splitting up my girlfriend loved my vw as much as me. I was getting it to how I wanted it and after sinking many hours into it decided to put $$$$$ towards engine, brakes etc.
She hated the new engine noise - said it made her feel sick. 3 months later we split up. 6 months after that I painted over the colour she chose when I first got it.

I can't be sure we split because of the car but she made many complaints about it afterwards and tried to prevent my daughter from ever riding in it.
Now I have much more time with my VW and no-one to nag me about spending all my time in the garage or on the road.

Loved your story tweety!

haha.

few girls have asked if they could have my notch. I said "nope, its mine" lol

XB GT coupe.... That's my dream car and also a 250hp rat bug for shits & giggles

Sadly don't have either just yet......

One other car I owned and was a favourite of all was a Datsun 2000 sports 1969 vintage. Its only flaw was heavy steering. Apart from that it was pitted against the MGB and was superior in all respects.

At a dancing group I spotted a nice short haired brunette with red lipstick. Red lipstick was well remembered as together with black hair, like Elizabeth Taylor, I fell in love immediately. So I asked her out.

I picked her up in Reservoir Melbourne on our way to Healesville Sanctuary (why there?- more on this later)....and we enjoyed the sun rising - a perfect day for a convertible so why not let the roof down.

Thie little convertible had two easy to release roof latches and in no time, before the lady could say "shit you should have warned me" it was down and the wind came through fast....so fast her hair took off and departed from her shiny head. Turns out she wore a wig and she was lucky to catch it. Bit like an elusive possum really. Anyway I was lucky to steer the Datsun to a halt without an accident and what did I do?

Ten minutes later I returned to the car....see she had been crying, not because of her wig or her embarrassment, but totally due to my hysterical uncontrollable laughter...I'd been on the ground behind the car and I couldnt stop.... we never got to the sanctuary. A mate later on told me the poor girl had a scalp disease. I needed warning on these things.

Now why the sanctuary? When I got to 27 years old I got fed up with paying for girls to take them out. That was the norm them days. Guys pay. These girls mostly had a professional job- nurse, teacher etc. And me- security guard, taxi driver etc. They also in conversation often mentioned they were saving all their money on their "glory box". It was time for a plan. I mean, how could I take a girl out and eliminate her from my black book of possible long term hopefuls in a manner that didnt cost me much money.?

Eventually the plan was devised. Take any girl out a maximum 3 times unless during those 3 dates they passed certain criteria. That criteria was- 1/ That she offered to pay for a meal...I mean 3 dates usually meant a minimum of 3 meals often more so why wouldnt a decent girl pay for one of them? 2/ she must show interest in either animals, children or both...this was more like a test of her kindness. and 3/ take her to a movie. The movie was cheap entertainment, again it gave her an opportunity to pay for the popcorn eh. But it should be a movie you have already seen...why? because the movie is a test of her emotional side- whether it fits with hers. eg. The movie at the time this plan was made was "purple rain" by Prince- the rock star. In that movie there is Prince and his father tries to commit suicide with a bullet to his head. At that scene and a few others I would turn to the girl in question and ask her if she is enjoying the movie. Over the course of four dates I got the following reactions.... 1/ "oh, he's black and I dont like black people" (I grabbed her hand left the movie and took her home and she was lucky I even did that- bitch) Number 2 date/ "I dont like him wearing purple" - fail! colour of clothing!!!! missed the point of the sceme totally 3/ "I dropped popcorn down my front" Fail ...but I helped her find the popcorn 4/ "this is so sad, what a wonderful movie" - she won me...lets call her Carla

Carla was then taken on a country drive in the same Datsun convertible where she made positive observations of jumping lambs in the paddocks, birds above her head and echidnas on the side of the road. Date 2 a success. Date 3 was to the Williamstown beach. I made sure I got to the icecream van before she did to buy icecreams and also made sure I told her I felt real hungry as we passed a fish and chip shop at lunchtime. Bingo! "what say I buy us some fish and chips"? she asked.

"Why are you smiling" she asked. I told her one reason was I just had the biggest serve of fish and chips in my life! but the second reason I will tell her in a few months time. I found my future wife and knew I'd marry her.

Two children and 11 years later we split.

The moral of the story is- devise 3 more requirements to make that plan work life long. One of them should be a test of revengefulness......to do this play monopoly and make sure you win. Observe if she always remembers you winning and also...if she strives to own Mayfair.

Quote:

Originally posted by Doug Sweetman XB GT coupe.... That's my dream car and also a 250hp rat bug for shits & giggles Sadly don't have either just yet......

XB is about 5 years later than XW. I was impressed by one at my school during my formative 'street machine' years and its stuck ever since. I suspect it would be more fun to cruise than to really drive

One of the blokes at work has a black 930 turbo, scary looking car and he drives it like he stole it too.

yeah the early GTs are cruising cars at best. They are not even muscle cars by today's standards, quite slow in acceleration even on paper. Would of been good in its day though.

Brabus C class diesel wagon sleeper Pull out the taxi diesel and slot in the V12. Yeah!

Anyone recall the original Cannonball run movie with David Carridine? One car was a Jensen Intercepter. This car had a really large rear window, 2 door sports car. It had a large thirsty V8 Chrysler engine and some were 4WD. Beaut car. Pity is was a 'bitsa' parts from many cars. But a dream car of mine. Others were rambler Javelin, Trans am,. I nearly purchased a Perrentti. And Oz built stingray lookalike based on a Holden one ton tray chassis. it was a 2+2 and only 30 built. And then there's the Bolwell Nagari. This sports car had Holden or Ford engines, Built in Morrabin and less than 200 built 13 were convertibles.

I wont mention the Eureka...

I recall the Jenson. My Father had one, it's was electric metallic blue with white leather interior, my friends used to take the mick as it looked like the set of a budget italian 70's porn movie inside, all tinted glass, polished wood and white leather everywhere. He also had a reliant scimitar at the same time for day to day use, which surprisingly was an awesome car, despite being made by the same people that made the Robin and Kitten.

Well this is a sad topic, lol I will cheer it up,

Grew up with a mate who had a mini we all loaded it up and went on many surfing trips while at school, after school and two wagons I thought lets get a mini for myself,

Got it did loads of work on it went everywhere had loads of girls and trips, was a magnet, that sound and speed was a fix better then any drug

Sadly it got sick and moved it on, meet a new girl, she knew I was hurting, she offered to buy me a new one for Xmas, I said we will buy it together, we built it up from a bare metal resto, every nut n bolt, Dad taught us both how to do every job, she did one side I did the other, so many bloody hours of blood sweat joy and laughter in that shed.

Finished it for Valentines day 1999, nice

I was finishing my apprenticeship so we spoke about the future, work not us, we discussed moving to UK and buying one of the final classic Mini's before production ceased in October 2000, so we set a date and saved.

The girlfriend decided to sell her modern driver before going, no good sitting for 12months, then came the love moment the first of many, " I'm selling it and buying a HK Monaro'', so plan was buy it and leave it with Dad while we were away as an investment, the three of us spent the next few months hunting for it, a stock original car, unmolested, up and down the east coast, nothing so after many long hours at work saving I hit the old stack of Unique Cars Magazine's on the smoko table, I began calling the adverts, looking for a old owner with a lead or maybe still in a club or know of one. Some nights past and many magazines and calls, I picked up a 1996 edition now January 2000, there it was, 1968 HK GTS Monaro , 1 owner low k's 307 Bathurst Dealer Special, in Warwick Yellow, I called the number 'hi there do you still have the Monaro for sale'', '' yes I will get my husband'', I nearly fainted, he wasn't best pleased with the call, seems he advertised it once, and during the time of advertising he took all the calls and said it was sold, no longer for sale etc, wife non the wiser, he won and kept the car that was until 4 years later and some young punk called and got the wife.

We spoke for SOME time and decided to meet, best of all it was only in Sydney, we drove down one afternoon, wow how original could you get, perfect original condition , not mint but loved and original, the girlfriend said lets take her for a test drive, '' in 30years a woman has never driven this car'', ''well I'm buying it so move over'', well they went and came back deal was done..

Few months later we boarded the plane for UK, landed on Friday morning we drove past the local Rover dealership with New Classic Mini's on the forecourt, wow wow wow, never seen a new mini ever, was back there for opening, I was drooling over the door and they let us in, 'G'day may I look around'' we got chatting and told him I had flown over to buy a Mini to travel for 12months and take it back with us. We spoke about budget I had enough to buy a 96 model £6500 ($ 21000) new ones were £10995 bit out my reach but wow, fresh and new

He came over and told us about one they had just delivered as a prize winner, and winner was selling it off, call him, well I did, wasn't far about an hour away so hired a car and went, Yep was new 420miles on clock, Red and White Mini Cooper S, MY DREAM MINI and DREAM CAR was sitting in front of me, we all went for a drive and this guy was blown AWAY, so you came all this way for a mini, what's your budget, (car was advertised for £9500) I said I planned on spending £6500 but could try and stretch it, he said if we paid £6500 cash we could have it, as it turns out he was happy with cash, car meant nothing, was a prize and he kept in in the shed and he was wanting the space back. HOLLY SHIT, dreams can come true.

So the girlfriend then gets the hots for the final edition mini, fully loaded and set up as one of the nicest Mini's built, the final chapter of classic mini. So we did the math and decided to bite the bullet and by one too, thus meaning 12months would be now 2 years as we would work for it and pay it off, with all the trips, mini shows and living a dream

2 years became 4 lol, this is were we got the soft spot for bugs and buses too, the scene in UK is huge for both Mini's and VW,

We came home with 3 Mini's all 2000 models and a 40ft container full of parts and passion

Fast forward a few years, after a house purchase and 2 wonderful kids, we now have a great collection of cars, 5 classic Mini's including the 3 from UK, the HK Monaro, still proudly here today, lost Dad a few years ago and inherited his LC GTR Torana and Modern Monaro, so, she's full of classics plus a few other moderns,

We decided to sell the HK cause all our cars we are restricted in taking kids out, no seat belts or anchor points, so on the market she went, a nice collector is taking her home tomorrow, with our kids just as passionate about cars we can't leave them at home and sick of taking two cars on runs and shows. We hit the market and found a nice LX Torana Hatch for sale, standard fittment of belts and anchor points, this like the HK is one owner, low miles and a super rare car, we are blessed lol.

Then final current chapter, our kids have grown up, loving cars and respecting them, so daughter asked for a beetle to be added, we went to the nationals in Sydney last year, since then we have been looking on and off for a beetle or a bus, we heard of a one owner coming up, so on Monday we made contact popped over on Tuesday and inspected, Isabella was all over it , ''its herbie'' so after a look and drive we walked out with a 1965 White bug with mint red trim and a solid rust free body, book work and sales receipts, 70000 miles

So dreams can come true, Dad wanted a New Classic Mini Travelled the world for it, Mum wanted a Monaro, found it enjoyed it for 15years then a new dream came a Final Classic Mini, got it and its dry stored until kids are big enough, now its a Torana Hatch tick, son wants our first Mini we built - tick, Daughter wanted a beetle tick

See dreams cars, and girls can all mix, my girlfriend became my wife married in Scotland while away with Mini's as wedding cars, now have 2 great kids equally nuts about cars, a shed busting full of one owner collector cars, and a very big happy lifestyle spending most weekends on club runs and club outings sharing the passion as a family

Follow your dreams as Peter Brock always said, my next one is a splitty, we need one of them lol

Monte

Sorry its long winded but its a great story lol.

Loved the story. Thanks.

Anyone got a RX-3 coupe and a 71 CB77 Superhawk. I would then have my complete collection!

Anyone have a 935/78 is their garage I can have?

G'day all. I have 2 dream cars being in the age group to appreciate the ugliness 1st would be the EL Cord front wheel drive supercharged lycombing v8 retractable headlights beautiful long bonnet with huge flexible engine pipes out thru the side of it 2nd the SP250 Daimler dart super ugly but just love the damn style & beaut little 2.5 litre hemi v8 such a sound coming thru the school window in 1964 when the local rev head owned 1.
ernie