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We recently had an opportunity to review the family photos and I was surprised at the number of photos in the last 100 years my family has taken with vehicles as the subject or background. This got me thinking about the influence the cars in our families have on the future generations.
Every day families interact with this single piece of equipment, and the car shares in memories like road-trip vacations and visits to the grandparents. Cars undoubtedly leave a lasting imprint on the character of a family, be it a family like mine, or a famous racing family, it's almost easy to see the automotive influence passed down.
In my family archives, most notable was Grandpa's 1957 Chevy, black on silver 2 door Bel-Air (the all American car). A beautiful quick car, yet practical with seating for a family of six with two bench seats. The car embodies an American dream of a successful middle-class family life.
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My aunt writes about the Bel Air, " I remember that old Bel Air, I spent many hours totally nauseated from car-sickness in the back of that thing! That's pretty much where I learned how to deal with car-sickness, and it's never happened to me since! But I also remember going on picnics, and we used to actually go on long Sunday drives out into the country, and passing tepees, which I thought was weird because they were on fire. Of course they were lumber mill tepees, a thing that I believe exists only in the past now. I remember looking up at the moon from the cavernous back seat and feeling so special because the moon was following me. Hey, I was 4 years old! And I don't remember ever wearing a seat belt. The entire back seat was my domain!"
As you can see from the below pictures my family adopted automobiles fairly early in their development. By taking family photos with their cars it tells me that travel was important to my family and they connected to their cars as a useful and enjoyable tool that had earned a place in the family photos for services rendered. A tall order for any piece of equipment! Ever seen a family gathered around a washing machine?
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Practical, tall to traverse ruts, and large enough to accommodate a family, there was still a note of fun by choosing to go with a ragtop rather than a hardtop in the earliest family car photos. Oh, and don't forget the dog!
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As time passed, we succumbed to the need of a hardtop, and the family grew. If all of the relatives in the below picture traveled to the photo shoot in the vehicle pictured, my family may have been the clown posse of a travelling carnival.
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Just how loved the family cars were shows when a forefather decided to catch a beautiful winter event in photograph. Better get the cars in the scene! Still family oriented cars, and practical, yet slightly sporty.
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What strikes me about our family vehicles is that the vehicles owned generations later are similar in traits. My family car growing up was a Chevy Blazer with a balanced and blueprinted motor. In shape and use, it shared much with cars from my family's past. Practical and family friendly with a slightly fun side.
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My family is not alone in this follow-the-leader game. You often hear of sons following their fathers into racing, or the racing being a family affair. I can imagine why this would happen. If growing up you thought of cars as something sporty to be driven fast, why wouldn't you choose to use cars in the way you've been taught? Racing is ripe with these stories, although unfortunately more than a few examples have ended in tragedy.
With no sense of organization other than the order in which I think of them, let's take a look at some of those famous family racing dynasties.
The famous F1 driver Graham Hill, pride of Great Britain and I believe the stereotype for more than one dashing cinema British villain is a prime example. Imagine growing up watching your father become the world champion racing the hottest cars of the time! What effect would that have on your life and how would you think of cars?
Graham Hill
"HillGraham19690801Lotus-Nordkehre" by Lothar Spurzem - Originally from de.wikipedia; description page is (was) herefirst upload in de wikipedia on 17:07, 19. Jun 2006 by Spurzem (2136 x 1433 (1.122.208 Byte) (* Bildbeschreibung: Graham Hill 1969 auf dem Nürburgring * Foto: Lothar Spurzem * Datum: 01.08.1969 eingangs Nordkehre Nürburgring Bild-CC-by-sa/2.0/de). Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 de via Wikimedia Commons.
Well, in this particular example, Damon Hill became the first F1 world champion to follow his father to victory. Yet the family photos show that he was immersed in the culture of racing cars from the youngest age. Note the below picture of baby Damon Hill surrounded by racing greats Stirling Moss, Graham Hill, Bruce McLaren, Wolfgang Von Trips and Jo Bonnier.
Damon Hill
It wasn't always fathers that led the children into racing. Take for example the case of Pat Moss. Her brother, Stirling Moss, was on his way towards the top of motor racing. Pat had previously been involved in competitive horse events but surely her brother must have had some influence on her decision to go car racing. She starts rally racing and becomes the first woman to outright win an international rally. The family dinner conversations and weekend events must have had some influence on her desire and skills.
Pat and Stirling Moss
Earlier today I saw a fun youtube video of a short wheel base Ferrari 250GTO by Petrolicious which is embedded below. But before you watch race car driver Derek Hill push the most expensive car in the world around corners with a screaming V12, remember that his father is the famous american race car driver, Phil Hill, who drove the same Ferrari to victory in the 1960s at races like Sebring.
Phil Hill in 1962
Derek Hill
And let's face it, American racing has numerous examples of sons who followed their father successfully into racing. Earnhardt stickers decorate the rear bumper of every would be NASCAR couch racer. Or consider the Petty racing generations. Richard Petty's number 43 Hemi is one of the best looking cars ever to drive in NASCAR, and one of the fastest; regulation has slowed cars since then.
Petty's son Kyle has over 500 Cup starts to his record. Sadly Kyle's son Adam, who also was following in the family footsteps, was lost in an accident.
Kyle Petty
And like the Earnhardt and Petty family, sadly tragedy has also followed racing families through the generations.
Consider England's land speed record breaking father and son, Malcolm and Donald Campbell. Both pursued land and water top speed records until both lost their life in the pursuit, separated by some odd 30 years or so.
Malcolm Campbell
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Donald Campbell
"Bluebird high speed image" by Neil Sheppard - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Or how about Italy's father and son racers Antonio and Alberto Ascari, both Grand Prix champions? From wikipedia – "There were several similarities between the deaths of Alberto and his father. Alberto Ascari died on 26 May 1955, at the age of 36. Antonio Ascari was also 36 when he died, on 26 July 1925 (Alberto was only four days older). Both were killed four days after surviving serious accidents and on the 26th day of the month. Both had crashed fatally at the exit of fast left-hand corners and both left behind a wife and two children."
Fortunately not all family racing legacies are marred by tragedy. Consider the Unser family. Beyond a father and son who both dominated racing at some point in their career, they've also shared an ability to move from Indy to NASCAR racing.
Al Unser Sr
Al Unser Jr
But we can't all be champion race car drivers and there are few fathers to lead sons in this direction. The list of F1, Grand Prix and Indy champions is probably less than 200 men long for all time. So what about the normal parents? Well, a fun search using photo sharing sites like Flickr is to look up "Family Car". I'll post a few examples below of what can be found. I believe these station wagon pictures are probably the same families that have minivans now.
The long and the short of it is, you're likely to be influenced by your parents vehicles. Kids spend a lot of time in and around their parents cars and the character of those cars are likely to have an effect on the cars the kids purchase, and how they use them.
Maybe you'll be doing your family more of a favor than you understand by purchasing that more expensive 4x4 SUV if you use it for some notable adventures. Or, maybe you should buy that Hemi powered Challenger and take your son to a track day or two in it. Do you want them doomed to a life of boring vehicles because it's the model you set because you didn't want to spend a little extra for all-wheel-drive or some horsepower? Can you say the word Prius and adventure in the same sentence? I think not.
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