How Im passing on & instilling the passion for cars in my son

His interest has brought out the inner passion in me and seeing him, I seem to be reliving my childhood.

BHPian JoseTheScorpion recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

My Parents, friends and relatives have always known me as a petrolhead, but always had their own way of explaining my interests for automobiles. They called me different things since the childhood.

Mom:

Jose’s car driving skills are amazing, his calculations are very accurate.

Dad:

He didn’t even take driving lessons, he just started driving the day he got his learners license.

Bro:

Cars are his life

Relatives/neighbours/Friends:

• Isko koi car ke bare mai poocho, sab batadeta hai. (Ask him about cars and he’d tel you everything)
• Ye tho pakka mechanic hai (He’s clearly a mechanic)
• Jose driving seekha dega, tension mat lo (Jose’ll teach you driving, don’t worry!)
• Jose can you please talk to my mechanic and tell me what he is saying. I can’t understand what part he wants me to buy.
• Jose se poocho kaunsi gaddi leni hai, he will give you best advice (Ask Jose on what car to buy…)
• Jose, can you come with me to the showroom and drive the new car home, I am not that confident.
• Bhai, jose nai bataya ye car ka feature, varna mujhe tho pata he nahi tha (Jose didn’t tell me about this feature else I’d have known)
• I am always safe, when Jose is driving, as he will never let anything happen to the car, so I am automatically safe.

I think you got the point of how I was treated since childhood till date. I would say that it was a blessing for me to be called a Petrolhead or the car guy. I have been obsessed with cars, buses and trucks since my childhood. Off course, now I am old(40), but earlier before marriage/kids, I used have a very rare skill of remembering the car variants and the features on my fingertips. I still don’t know how I got this interest and fascination, as I don’t see anyone in my Family/relatives with such an interest. Anyway, might be God’s big plan to make a new model in the family.

I had big dreams of working in the car industry or something in the lines of automobiles, but unfortunately, I was never good in studies and didn’t opt for science in the 11th standard. I never knew that having science was such a big requirement in all the portfolios of the automotive industry. Well, so there goes the ship sailing. With the IT boom during my college years(2003), I easily got into an IT firm and then never looked back to my inner passion. I still wonder, after so many years, where would I have been if cars were part of my office work, like a cars salesman, or being a car detailer, or working in car manufacturing unit or designing one. Hmm, with all hopes lost and not having the courage to start a new career from scratch(thanks to EMIs) after 15+years in IT, I continued with the work I learned and mastered over the years, never looking back.

I have a son(Aaron) who is only 10 as of now, but very intelligent as the new gens are. They know it all, Dinosaurs, Space station, power rangers, Soccer, Cricket, Cars, bikes, Geopolitics and the list goes on. Since the past year, Aaron has been very much interested in cars, shouting and howling whenever he sees a Lambo or Ferrari or any expensive ride(BMW, Merc) on the road. His interest has brought out the inner passion in me and seeing him, I seem to be reliving my childhood. So, this got me thinking, isn’t it the duty of all of us petrolheads to pass on our knowledge and information to the next generation.

Well, I have already started. Aaron and me watch car reviews, car launches and car stuff on youtube or TV together. I keep asking car related questions to him and he loves it. He does know the answers to some, but many things are new to him, where Alexa comes in for help. Today, we playfully did a car quiz and I casually recorded it. I uploaded the video on youtube and it was loved by my friends and relatives. I kept it short, recording just 3 questions, but loved his answers and reactions!!

Whenever I have some free time, I do check out the newly launched cars by visiting their showrooms. And now I always have company, my own blood, my own family, my own son. The inner happiness we both get when discussing cars and their features is priceless. The way he listens to my explanation, on car related subjects so innocently is such a mind calming experience for me. Is it possible this is a permanent interest? Who knows, but it is my duty to pass this “Petrolheadism” in its purest form to whoever deserves to know, specially to the next generation. We never know who the next Henry Ford or Elon Musk or Ratan Tata or Anand Mahindra is?

Here's what BHPian Sangwan had to say on the matter:

Such a nice post. My son turned 5 years old last month. He is already into cars and when he and I are walking and see cars parked, we play car logo game. I also make him do car spotting. What a nice thing cars are and I totally understand your point, it feels so great to talk to someone about cars day in day out.

Cheers,

Sangwan

Here's what BHPian Mystic had to say on the matter:

I think the passion for cars can be seen only in some and not all. I can tell my personal experience. In my childhood, there were only 2 types of cars in India namely big car ( Ambassador ) and small car ( Premier Padmini ). My father was sent on deputation to another commonwealth country namely Nigeria from India as an Engineer to build Nigeria’s infrastructure. Nigeria was a very rich OPEC country in 70s. One Naira was equivalent to 2 USD. This richness can be visible in the cars Nigerians were driving in those days. We as a family of 6 people relocated there. I have 3 sisters and I am the only son. The variety of cars was overwhelming to us as we have arrived from India having seen only 2 models. Even amongst the children, only my eldest sister and myself have that inbuilt affinity towards automobiles. We used go around the parking lots and in awe at seeing Mercedes S cars, Volvos etc. For some reason Nigeria in general like the Peugeot cars like our Maruti. These are very well built cars that can withstand the bad roads of that country. My eldest sister who is retired now and was one of the first chartered accountants in south India still drives cars at age 65 everyday. Myself and her used to have a competition in childhood to tell the model of the car by looking at the tail lights of the car. Most of the time she used to win. Why I am telling this story is that other 2 sisters even though they drive including my mother, but are not particularly interested in automobiles as enthusiasts.

Post my marriage, surprised to find my wife is also non enthusiast of automobiles including my son who is a professor in USA in CS. It is not that they don't know about cars in general
as my son drives an Audi A5 sport back but it is used as a means of transportation and nothing more.

When I spend a considerable time in teambhp, the non enthusiasts wonder what is so fascinating about cars and some of my cousins who are Doctors even asked me the meaning of petrolhead. In family gatherings, I always find a couple of enthusiasts and my wife out of curiosity participated in the discussion as I was asking my enthusiast cousin on how he enjoys his V6 Camry over his previous V4 Camry and how does the drive feel. He was telling me that once one gets used to V6 , one will never go back to V4 again. My wife is not convinced though.

My 2 cents as a petrolhead, we need to increase our community by closely observing the budding petrolheads in our families and encourage them. Sometimes we are lucky if they are close family members. One thing I learned out of experience is that it is impossible to convert non enthusiast to an enthusiast by giving some gyan.

In this story, I never told about my father who retired as Chief Engineer of Roads after 38 years of service. He was driving until his death at 85 years. As his job needs him to be on roads all his life, he used to have custom built vehicles with small portable fans for each seat , sofa like seats facing each other, foldable tables and beds etc. Many of his meetings happen on the road with contractors and his staff. He drives every type of vehicle. He is an enthusiast at another level. In Nigeria he had a Government Mercedes.

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