SAGA — Doing things properly

Will we remember today’s cars as fondly as those from yesteryear?

Motoring has changed a lot since the 50s and 60s. The motorcar has come a long way. But for all the development and technology, has the sort of car that we grew up with, the family car that we remember with such fondness, disappeared from our roads?

Will our children’s children look back, all misty-eyed about Grandpa’s hybrid-fuelled aerodynamic blob, or dad’s electric super-mini? Which really wasn’t so super, after all.

Part of the family

Think about it. Remember the kind of car many older drivers passed their tests in. Went on their first date in. These cars were classics. Triumph Heralds, Morris 1000s, Ford Anglias. We even gave them names and although massed produced, they had character. Open the door of any Triumph Herald, for example, and you’re greeted with a familiar and comforting smell; a mixed aroma of wood, lived-in vinyl and engine oil. Put like that, it doesn’t sound very appealing but once that odour awakens your senses, it’s guaranteed the memories will come flooding back.

Trips to the coast on long, hot summer days. Stopping at a country pub on the way home for a shandy and a packet of crisps. The cars that took you were part of the family. Not something to be traded in for £2,000 cash back and then scrapped.

Modern classics?

So what of today’s cars? Will any stick in our children’s and grandchildren’s minds as firmly as the cars we came to love as much as the family dog? Well, there may be one ore two.

Let’s begin with an unlikely candidate – the Land Rover Discovery. Especially if it has the twin sunroof option. An ideal family car, easily coping with anything you throw at it – logs, dogs and kids. And those two holes in the roof are just perfect for little boys, who want to pretend they’re commanding a tank, by sticking their head out of. Not recommended when driving along, of course.

Another possible classic is the original MX5, the car that spawned the revival of the ragtop. Jump in next to Grandma, with the roof down and how cool to be whizzed home from school in a sports car. OK, so it’s not a family car, but Grandma’s family left home long ago. Why shouldn’t she have a bit of fun?

Back to the future

Although, thinking about it, with Government plans to turn fossil-fuelled cars into a thing of the past, it may well be that anything with a petrol or diesel engine will become collectible. Who knows, in an age of alternatively powered motoring, a Vauxhall Astra may even become a rarity. That’s if you can get car insurance for it, of course.