You are not logged in

My story

by Esmond Tearle

Look what happened to me!

Years ago, when I was very young, I can remember my parents taking my sister and I to a little country pub on a summers Sunday lunchtime. We sat outside with Mum whilst my Dad went inside for another round of drinks and more packets of crisps, the sort with the little blue bag of salt inside.

I sat happily with my bottle of Hubbly-Bubbly when this open top car drove into the gravelled car park. The driver and his girlfriend walked into the pub and when I was sure he wouldn't be coming back, I wandered over and peered into the wonderful white car with a red flash down the sides. I can remember the wooden dashboard and the wooden steering wheel. Mum and Dad had a Singer Chamois, but this was wonderful with its hood folded down.

I sat and stared at the car until we left the pub. As I looked back this beautiful car was still there. I had fallen in love with the charms of a Triumph Vitesse Convertible.

Not long after, probably the same hazy summer, we all went for a picnic at a local country park. We sat by the lake watching the sailing yachts and feeding the ducks. Then a dark green sports car came and parked right next to us. The couple inside just sat there, so I wasn't able to have a peek inside. I later found out that this one was an MGC GT. I had become hooked on nice cars, and I was still only at primary school.

My fascination grew over the course of time and gradually I learned about cars. I knew how much they cost, what they were and even which names among the numerous badge-engineered variants were the ones to have.

My own first car was a rather smart Vauxhall Viva SL that I bought on the cheap from my parents. Basically they virtually gave it to me. I cherished that car and after five years sold it to a lad in the village who drove it into a wall after just one week. I could happily have knocked him into next week for what he did to my car.

After a few years, I started taking a real interest in much older cars. I had already decided years before that I would one day own a Triumph Vitesse, but that has never happened.

My first classic was a very low mileage Triumph Mayflower. It had covered a genuine 40,704 miles in the hands of just two owners, father and son. I actually bought it from the son. It ran, but had no brakes as he had stripped them down before parking it in his garage. I spent a lot of time and put a lot of effort into that car. My wife hated it as she said it looked like a taxi. I loved the quirky styling with its slab sides and razor edged coachwork. I reached the stage where it was ready for a respray, but then lost interest and sold it to a friend.

I found something then that was to change my life forever. I bought myself a Daimler SP250 Dart.

At this stage of the game, I was doing rather well for myself and wanted the toys that go with working hard and playing even harder. I owned my Dart for ten years and with a wife and three very young children, it's hardly an ideal choice of transport for family days out and picnics. Sadly we had outgrown the car, and I reluctantly sold it. The moment the new owner proudly drove it away and I watched it disappear around the corner, I realised I had made a terrible mistake.

I have always had a passion for cars that are different, but next to an E-type Jaguar, the next most curvaceous and beautifully designed car ever is in my view the Jaguar Mk2. More to the point, as a family it was something we could all fit into. My quest began to find a decent one and the money from the Dart sale was burning a hole in my pockets. It's a long tale (which you can read in detail elsewhere on this site) but I found a rather lovely Daimler 2 ½ litre V8 Auto. The looks of a Jag Mk2 but with that wonderful Edward Turner designed V8 engine.

I love the V8 saloon, but I still regretted ever selling my beautiful red Dart.

Over the years classics have come and gone. A couple of VW Beetles, a delightful little Imp, a Cortina Mk1 and several Morris Minors of various types. There was a Triumph TR7 Convertible, and also a very rare Vauxhall Cavalier Convertible which I liked, but it was far too modern for me.

By now things were rapidly getting out of hand. I was actually storing various old cars in friend's garages, or in the corner of workshops. All were waiting until I could get around to restoring them. Something had to give as my hobby had gone through the stage of a passion then had delevoped into an obsession. I was bordering on the edge of becoming a hopelessly incurable hoarder.

The answer was a simple one, but not before something drastic happened first. I just happened to find a car that I simply had to own. I bought myself another Daimler SP250 Dart!

This one was nothing like as good as the first one I had, but it didn't matter. I was once again a Dart owner. I suppose this should really be the happy ending to my tale. No way!

The Dart is under going a full-blown body of restoration (read all about this on this site as well) and when it's finished, it will be better than the first one. As for the other classics, they have all gone to new homes and hopefully some will already have been restored by their proud new owners and will be trundling around the lanes of England on fine summer's days taking families to picnics.

So I have my two Daimler V8's and I'm happy. What more could I possibly want? The answer is a simple one again. I want everything associated with the cars I cherish.

I have amassed a large collection of books, car magazines with road tests etc. There are the growing collection of brochures, lubrication charts, manuals, handbooks, and much more. All things to add to the service histories that date back years.

It doesn't end there. I have various models of both cars. The Dart was not in production for very long, so scale models were not exactly filling the shelves of toy shops, in the days when it was a current model. Nonetheless, I have a mint condition Spot-On Dart from the early sixties. There are a couple of rather fine and rather expensive hand-built, limited edition models. There's a little bronze one and an even smaller resin one. I almost forgot the two I made from white metal kits. As for the saloon, I have an exact model of my own car. I bought a battered Dinky off the Ebay auction website and spent a long time painstakingly recreating a replica of my car.

Some people would say I'm totally mad. Others would say it's a typical sign of a midlife crisis. Most men get to a stage where they do strange things. Some find a mistress, which is probably a cheaper option. Others relive their youth by buying a powerful motor bike and assuming they don't end up in hospital as a result, they in turn end up settling for gardening after first scaring themselves half to death and selling their machines for a fraction of the price they bought them for.

Others, well we just buy old cars and proceed to throw vast amounts of money at them in our quests to create a motor car that is better than the day it left the showroom all those years ago.

Quite simply, it's a form of mental illness. So when you see a grown may driving an old car with the hood down, on a cold autumn day, and he's wearing a sheepskin flying jacket so as not to get himself a stiff neck from the wind rush and also in a vain attempt to keep pneumonia at bay, just think that he probably can't help it, but that he's almost certainly enjoying himself.

The sad thing is, there are many more of us spending hours in cold draughty garages who are desperately trying to join the growing throng of classic car owners, all living our dreams.

If you wish to make contact with Esmond regarding this article then visit the contact us page and we will forward your messages on.

Fancy seeing you and your classic on these pages? Get in touch via the contact us page and we will let you know how you can provide your own article.