Top Gear turns nostalgic with 'My Dad had one of those'
Top Gear writer Giles Chapman and script editor Richard Porter assembled a collection of Cars That Dad Had. As one synopsis put it, the book reflects "a time before people carriers and lifestyle off roaders, when the nearest thing to an airbag was hiding behind your fat brother." Being a British book, it doesn't detail the cars our dads waxed lyrical over -- unless your dad was that one guy in the neighborhood who had an original Mini or a Datsun Sunny (the 1200 in the US). The book also puts dads into categories based on what kind of car he bought. A Robin Reliant dad, for instance, is Frugal Dad. We wonder if they've categorized the dad who bought the never-completed-project-car-that-rusted-under-a-gray-tarp. The full book press release is posted after the jump.
PRESS RELEASE
Top Gear: My Dad Had One of Those
Publication date: Thursday 17th May
ISBN: 0563539194, RRP: £9.99, Hardback
By Giles Chapman & Richard Porter
Don't you just love your dad? He collected you from school discos, delivered you to Sunday morning hockey matches and gave you a lift when you were late for school. And, of course, he drove a dad's car – a dependable, trustworthy, reliable machine that added to your sense of security. You went everywhere in your dad's car and (if you're honest) remember it (or them) as affectionately as he does.
Now is your chance to show your gratitude to your dad. Authors, Giles Chapman and Richard Porter from Top Gear magazine, have brought together all the best (and some of the worst) dads' cars in My Dad Had One of Those. It's the perfect nostalgic present for your dad. Over a pipe full of Old Scotch ready rubbed, a bag of Werther's Originals and wearing his Clarks tartan slippers, he can reminisce about the Mini, simper over the Hillman Imp, chunter about the Hillman Hunter and dream of a Vauxhall Viva revival.
Usefully, the authors group the cars according to the type of dad who was attracted to them. Sensible dads went for a Datsun Sunny or an Austin Maxi. Demob Dad chose a Standard Vanguard or maybe a Rover P4. Robin Reliant appealed to Frugal Dad, while for Cortina Dad it was a MkI, a MkII, a MkIII and then a MkIV.
Thanks to the use of brilliantly evocative period promotional illustrations of period promotional illustrations, the book celebrates the very essence of a dads' car. There's Mr and Mrs Wannabe Middle Class with their Vauxhall Victor, the Fun Family in the Ford Anglia and the Vauxhall Cavalier-owning Suburbanites.
Nearly 60 cars make it into the dads' car category ranging from the Austin 1100 to the Robin Reliant and including the Opel Manta (for the Sporty Dad prepared to pay £1327 in 1970) and the Ford 'Pop' (£560 in 1955).
There's a pithy commentary for each car featured and an information panel that will have your dad going on and on about the current price of petrol – yes, you really could buy a Hillman Avenger for just £850 in 1970.
Of course, you don't have to buy this book for your father. Get it yourself – it will rekindle those cheery days of childhood memories when life (and a car) was uncomplicated.
The authors Giles Chapman is an experienced motoring writer who was voted Jeep Consumer Journalist of the Year 2005. He writes for Top Gear magazine and is the author of nine books including TV Cars (2006). Richard Porter is the script editor on BBC2's Top Gear show, a contributing editor to Top Gear magazine, and author of Crap Cars (2004)'
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Darien 9:41AM (5/03/2007)
When I was growing up we had an Oldsmobile Delta 88. That thing was a tank...
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Uncle Bob 10:49AM (5/03/2007)
We had a 71 Pontiac Safari wagon. That bad boy would get up and go. Good looking also. They must have all been crushed because I have not seen one in at least 25 years.
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mr_kill_666 11:27AM (5/03/2007)
my dad use to have a 77 z28 camaro. but sold it in 94 when my bro was born. thats why i hate my bro. i always tell him that!!
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Dan 1:15PM (5/03/2007)
My dad had a custard colored Ford Fairmont. That thing was a BESAT. Before that we had a brown Mercury Capri that leaked oil faster than we could pour into it.
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Gavin 11:45AM (5/03/2007)
My dad had an Austin Maxi and a Fiat 500. He'd rather forget about the Maxi...
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SGV 12:35PM (5/03/2007)
Those two look like to mommies.
Anyway, my father had a left hand drive Vauxhall Victor Station Wagon . . . go figure!
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Derek Kreindler 1:36PM (5/03/2007)
My dad had an NSX. Now he drives a Santa Fe or a Jetta. Oh, how the mighty have gotten soft.
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faentur 2:51PM (5/03/2007)
My Father had a 1970 El Camino with the 350 and the 3speed auto. Then he changed jobs and had to commute. He got a Chevy Chevette 4dr Diesel. I got the El Camino. Still have it, although it is now a garage queen.
-Faentur
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dave 3:28PM (5/03/2007)
My dad had a '67 E-Type in the early 80s. One of my earliest memories. Following that was a string of MGs, all of which were a blast, but there was nothing like the BRG Jag ...
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Don 5:46PM (5/03/2007)
We had twin Pinto wagons during the gas crises of '73 and '79...the non-exploding wagons that were quite reliable and practical.
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innocent bysitter 12:58AM (5/04/2007)
When gas hit .57/gallon, my dad traded in his '69 Galaxie 500 (his second Galaxie) for a '74 Pinto wagon, which also did not blow up. It wasn't nearly as fast as the Galaxie, but you could put a Christmas tree in the back. After the Pinto, there was a '78 Granada that lasted 20 years and three paint jobs, and an Impala that may still be running out there somewhere.
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Ben 2:16AM (5/04/2007)
We had a Navy Blue '83 Toyota Corona and finally a '93 Silver Honda Accord LX. Both awesome cars that did over 100k on the odometer
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roh 2:21PM (5/09/2007)
My dad haven't, but Í have a Sunbeam(Hillman) Hunter :)
from 1967
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paanta 4:45PM (5/10/2007)
Sigh. Dad is on his 60-somethingth car. Most memorable? '72 280SE 4.5L? Mk2 Jag? MG Midget? Chevy Vega? Badass Nova? The 3 or 4 944's or the 914? Those Volvo 122's? Maybe his old Chevettes or S10s? Nooo...
I'll always picture my pops driving that chipped '91 200TQ, which I still think is the ultimate q-ship. 300hp in what appears to be a vanilla Audi 5000. An M5 or 911 of that era wouldn't know what hit it. Still on the original block, head, trans, clutch and turbo when he sold it at 200K+ miles after averaging $.10/mi for 80K miles.
Jesus loves forced induction.
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Brian Bold 4:31AM (5/26/2007)
I am a sixty something who has had 25 or so of these loveable family cars during my lifetime. I have been moved to write my own book about them and recently published: ROAD WORKS ISBN 1847530338 I believe this may be an interesting and humourous sequel for readers of MY DAD HAD ONE OF THOSE as I describe the cars in the context of our lives at the time we had them. It's almost social history seen through the prism of the cars we drove.
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Brian Bold 5:56AM (5/26/2007)
I forgot to add to my comment that you can preview my book ROAD WORKS on www.lulu.com/biro Sorry to be using comments for book publicity but it is so relevant to the Top Gear book and could make a few Dads even more pleased with their birthday/christmas presents this year, 0r maybe even some Mums!
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Brian Bold 6:00AM (5/26/2007)
http://www.lulu.com/biro
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owen george 8:40AM (7/01/2007)
I bought and read the book, My Dad Had One Of Those, but was disappointed to find none of the cars my dad actually had in it, although I did remember many of the cars from other sources and there is a definite nostalgia about them all. My main reason for the comment, however, is to point out an error. One of the cars my dad did have, and the car in which I had my first (legal) driving lesson, on my 17th birthday, was a Triumph 1300. A predecessor to the Dolomite NOT a derivative. It was a beautifully appointed car, years ahead of its time. FWD with a fore and aft engine not the transverse Issigonis type of BL. When I bought my first SAAB more than a decade later I was much struck by the similarity. It also had an innovative instrument binnacle with a clock face of warning lights centrally. The identical binnacle was used for yonks on black cabs after the 1300 disappeared from view. I think there was a problem with the CV joits on the drive which meant that for the next model, the 1500 and the Toledo, they reverted to rear WD. These were the basis of the Dolomite.
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