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Are you taking your children with you in a pre-war car?

What is your answer to this question? For both yes and no there are multiple good reasons.

To get people enthusiastic about pre-war cars we are convinced we need to involve children in this small world from a (very) young age. For "outsiders" who are not infected with "the genes", old cars seem quite often something unreachable. If you do have the inherited the old car genes (with this we mean grown up with pre-wars around you) or if you are one of the fortunate ones to have "developed" them and do have access to a pre-war you very likely your answer to the question is yes.

Did you parents take you in a basket, or a more modern Maxi Cosi or special child seat tight to the original seat on an outing with the car? Maybe your mum held you in her arms while driving. Or when you grow up, were you allowed to play with your brothers/ sisters/ cousins/ nephews/ … on the back seats or in the boot of the car? Did you learn to drive in the backyard before you were legally allowed to, and was your first car a pre-war? Does this by any means sound familiar to you? Then you are very likely someone who inherited the genes and would take your child or children with you to pre-war car events and let them enjoy the cars.

But we also totally understand when you think are you crazy?! If there is just one stupid half lose strap to hold my child in place when driving! And let me tell you that is only when you are lucky and you need to improvised yourself as most pre-wars did and do not have seatbelts. No way! Pre-war cars do not comply with the high safety rules and regulations of today. No airbags, no Isofix and when you are lucky your car actually has a proper working brake paddle that actually works. If you get involved in an accident you are very likely no more than a cookie in a tin. In the worst case scenario, there is nothing more you can do to hope and pray for the best. When this is one of your arguments, then your answer to the question we asked, in the beginning, is very likely no. Which is fair enough.

Just two scenarios. With the second one we drafted, we do not want to scare you. As there are nowadays multiple ways to transport you and your child or children in a safe way to all enjoy the pre-war cars. But you always need to be careful and anticipate very well in the traffic.

From personal experience, we can tell you that it is good fun to take your children, for both the child and the proud parents. Because what is better than have a shared passion and one day see your own child / young adult driving the car they used to sit in when they were little.

Please comment below and tell us why or why you are not taking your children with you in a pre-war car. We would also like to know the make of this (probably) 1923 car in the photograph. Can anyone help us to identify this pre-war?

Words by the editor. Photograph sent in by Paul Akerhielm.

Publiziert:
Freitag Juli 27th, 2018
Angus Mitchell
01 August 2018, 05:55
Whilst modern traffic is dangerous at times it is very important to encourage the younger generation. Just keep your eyes peeled and take a quiet back road. Life is to short to worry about an accident that may never happen. Incidents involving vintage cars are very rare if you are careful! I travel with my 4 year old daughter and 2 year old son around back roads and they love it. Start them young!
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Peter Donald
31 Juli 2018, 12:06
We were still using my Morris Cowley four-seater tourer as everyday transport at the time of the birth of our first in 1996. In fact, when she was about 7 months pregnant my wife took umbrage at the sight of a large antipodean spider when it crawled out from under the hood not a few inches from her and she made a most rapid but ignoble exit from the car, over the gear-stick and handbrake lever, around the steering wheel and out via the opposite side door.
Following the arrival of said offspring, as the Cowley was still everyday transport he was transported everywhere in his baby capsule which was screwed into the floorboards in the rear of the car with some countersunk, slotted-head, 2" x 12 screws. To maintain period authenticity the screws were not plated.
Despite what the safety-police would have us believe, first child (along with subsequent child) has survived and he drove the Cowley himself in VSCC (Oz) off-road events from the age of 10 or so. He is now 22 and he is restoring a 1968 Holden "station wagon" (="estate wagon") while driving a 1984 Holden "ute" (="pick-up") as an every-day car. Being thus inclined, 22 year old son has car parts all around the place and French-speaking-Swiss wife was passionately expressing dissatisfaction with this state of affairs recently and I said, "Dear, quite frankly I can't imagine where he gets it from."................... I have (just) survived the resulting fallout from that untimely quip.......... Passionate Francophones!
CONCLUSION FROM THE FOREGOING: Unless we want our children to grow up being boring conformists, it behoves us to to expose them to realities other than the mainstream from an early age.

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richard biddulph
29 Juli 2018, 14:39
Preparing for a Sunday morning burn up in a1929 Alfa 6C Supercharged Zagato with my riding mechanic Charlie who loves nothing more then to fling & old crate down Englands leafy lanes.
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richard biddulph
29 Juli 2018, 14:25
Spectacular roads.
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Richard Biddulph
29 Juli 2018, 14:24
Wife & kids, 5 & 9 years old in the back of a 20HP Cockshoot all-weather cabriolet on Bart Kliens wonderful via Hellenica pre war three years ago. We did around 1500 mile up hill & down dale without so much as a murmur from either the car or the kids.
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Peter Ransom
27 Juli 2018, 06:30
The car pictured is hardly likely to be a 1923 when it's wearing bodywork that was well and truly out of style before the Great War. I wish I could offer as suggestion as to make, but the photograph leaves us a bit short of clues.


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Michael Schlenger
27 Juli 2018, 01:14
My answer is the attached snapshot which I took from the rather comfortable backseat of a Cadillac 30 tourer from 1912 on the occasion of the 2015 "Kronprinz Wilhelm Rasanz" run in the Lower Rhine Area in Germany.

The car in the photo is a splendid two-seater Minerva with Aster engine driven by a German enthusiast and his son (you'll notice the top of the boy's cap, as the Minerva is dashing through the pouring rain).

Just like the editor said: You need to share your passion with the next generation as soon as possible to ensure that these marvellous creations from the past have a future outside of museums and private collections.
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