TEAM ADVENTURE
A classic day out in the dad’s cars that inspired our own automotive enthusiasm…
It’s a familiar phrase that can be heard regularly at every classic show, petrol station and car park around the planet.
‘My dad had one of those’. However, while not all can say it, some of us consider ourselves lucky to be able to proudly respond with the line: ‘My dad still owns his’!
With Father’s Day approaching once again, we decided it would be well worth returning to the Great British Classic Journey attraction in Derbyshire to not see how its first year in operation has been, but also to view the complete collection. Our last full visit took place during its final stages of completion, so it’d be interesting to see how the place looked now.
But how to get there? While last year (PC, July 2021), we drove in the cars we best remember from our childhoods, this time we made that extra special effort to sweet talk our fathers into lending us some of the actual vehicles that got us into cars in the first place. From the sporty BMC masterpieces owned by the dads of Tomkins and George, to Walshe Senior’s tin snail, the chaps headed for the Derbyshire Dales to meet with John Simister to hear about his dad’s Wolseley 1500 and Richard Usher, the Derbyshire attraction’s owner, in a Morris Minor Convertible just like the one his father owned. He says it is central to his love of the automobile and why he set up the Great British Car Journey in the first place.
What started as a simple amble to Ambergate turned out to be a stirring tale of nostalgia, family values, childhood cheek and teenage misdemeanours. Go on, admit it… if you didn’t steal the keys to your dad’s car, you must have been tempted as a teenager? Now we’ve actually done it!
Citroën Dyane
I always knew we were a bit… different. The slightly shabby 18th century weaver’s cottage in the Cotswolds, interior walls covered with macramé hangings with a happy hippy vibe and spontaneous road trips and rock concerts. By the age of ten, I’d seen bits of Africa and the Mediterranean and had attended a ‘free Nelson Mandela’ gig at Wembley. There were fancy dress parties where, next morning, I’d wander downstairs to find people sleeping on the floor.
On one occasion, I found family friend Mary fully clothed and fast asleep in the bath. A politically switched on household, we were also exceedingly environmentally conscious… and yes, complete with Greenpeace sticker in the back window, there was a funny little Citroën in the driveway.
You might imagine this was something of a hippy cliché, but in fact my dad put a great deal of thought into his choice of transportation. Design engineer, you see.
He has always appreciated great engineering, having been a Saab, Audi and Citroën man for many decades. Previou
