Human beings are storytelling creatures and the cars we own and the things we do with them
are often the tales we like to tell best. Here’s a good one that popped to mind during a discussion about Camaros.

My daughter and her friends drove on a Manhattan-to-San Francisco post-college trip a few years ago. Their goal was to see the country on their own terms before they became card-carrying adults. They had a few adventures and misadventures along the way. (Which is why you go, of course.) But when it was over, I asked them what surprised them the most, and they said, “Arkansas.”

“Arkansas?” I said.

“Yeah, Arkansas,” they replied. “It was just really beautiful.”

Isn’t that cool? These are college kids who never in a million years would have seen Arkansas if it weren’t for their trip. Now it’s part of their memories forever. All because of their car.

I love telling that story. And, as you can probably tell, I love sharing all of my car thoughts with you in my blog and magazine column. It feels good to “talk” to people who love the same thing you do for the simple reason that car people get other car people. We’re a little community in that sense.

I mention all of this because I recently realized that I frequently end this column by asking you for your thoughts, stories and photos, but I seldom share what comes in. So, today, I thought I would fix that and present a few stories from you.

The first is from a Porsche lover named Mark who named his 1985.5 Alpine White 944 “Irene” after his wife’s German grandmother. He enjoyed the car a few years then sold it to fund college for his kids, only to buy it back again years later from the mechanic he had sold it to, who fixed it up for his daughter, who ended up rarely using it.

“I made an offer for the car, he accepted, and I brought Irene back home. It still had my Florida SunPass toll sticker on the window. When I went to renew it, the agent said, to her knowledge, I was the only one who purchased the same car twice and the same sticker remained.” He and Irene, he said, will grow old together “and smile (as) we cruise down the road together.”

Story No. 2 comes from a gentleman named Jeff, the current owner of a Model T that has been in the family since it was first purchased in 1923. Jeff’s great grandparents Delbert and Blanche used it on their dairy farm for eight years then put it in a barn where it sat for the next 39 years. In 1969, Jeff’s grandfather, Frank, and his Uncle Neil got the car running and used it in parades. But it soon fell into disrepair and was again stored.

Jeff’s dad LeRoy inherited the car in 1996 but it stayed in storage until 2005. Finally, the car was given to Jeff and his wife, who scraped together money to do a much-needed frame-off restoration. Before he passed, Jeff’s dad drove it for three years “with the biggest smile you have ever seen,” says Jeff, who is a Hagerty member.

Today, after a few close calls in traffic, the family has decided to make the car strictly a show piece. “I have purchased a couple other classic cars that scratch my car itch, but nothing holds a candle to owning the family Model T. We have two sons and two little grandsons now. To be able to tell our grandsons someday that the Model T in the garage was their great-great-great grandfather’s car and the first car in the family is something beyond words.”

Pretty great stories, right? If you would like to share your story, you can write to me at mhagerty@hagerty.com.

Until next time, onward and upward!