They don’t make cars like they used to!

I was brought home from the hospital in the front of a two seater V.W. Golf van. In rural Ireland of 1984, there were no baby car seats, no ISOFIX, no airbags and little in the way of real comfort. Cars were simpler then. While I don’t actually remember the experience, it was the start of a lifetime immersed in cars, engines, chrome and body work.  We all look back at our first car ownership experience with a mix of nostalgia and longing.  Family cars were over packed with children and adults that were out for a spin on a Sunday.  The first ‘banger’ that brought freedom to country teenagers.  The memory of the windows down and the foot down even further as you ‘tested’ your pride and joy on country roads.

In the 80’s, my father bought all our cars at auctions in Mullingar and Dublin. Vast auction houses with row upon row of cars lined up tightly together, the engines running.  My childhood weekends were spent in these auctions and I can still smell the fumes of all those engines purring gently (and the odd one coughing badly!).  In the days before we even knew the term emission, there were no car history checks.  A car was bought on instinct and a good mechanic was said to have a ‘keen ear for an engine’.  We were fortunate at Peter Hanley Motors to have good mechanics. Tyre kicking and ‘chancing your arm’ in the few hours between viewing and purchase was all there was for a dealer to decide before buying one car over another.   This was the ‘mart’ for car dealers and their families and as much a social gathering as the lifeblood of the motor trade industry.  There was chatting and back slapping, handshakes and deals done and undone.  My mother and sister, Laura happily made the trip to Dublin’s petrol soaked car auction, as it afforded a sneaky shopping trip to one of Ireland’s first shopping centres in Tallaght.  They were needed too.  These were the days before car transporters and any motor bought on the day, needed a driver to get it back to Longford.  My parents often made two or three daily trips to Dublin collecting cars. Any willing family member or neighbour old enough to hold a license could find themselves driving a newly purchased second hand car back to Longford.

At Peter Hanley Motors, My Dad, Peter, had a preference for the Japanese manufactured cars at that time.  The big Japanese brands like Toyota, Nissan (formerly Datsun), Honda, Mazda and Mitsubishi were considered to be more reliable than other second hands cars on offer. In these pre-diagnostic days, mechanics was a much more intuitive skill.  Each car coming through the garage got a pre-sale, basic oil service and the critical eye of our excellent mechanics before they found their new owners.   Models like the Toyota Corolla, the Starlet, the Carina II and Carina E and the Nissan Sunny, Bluebird and Primera lined the streets of every Irish town in the 1980’s and the 1990’s.  Their popularity was not so surprising. They were generally clean cars, with a few little extras to tempt the buyer.  I remember them as being mainly white in colour.  The Japanese cars were less likely to have rust, which was a big problem with UK cars, as there was a lot of salt used on the roads back then. But even as we remember these cars fondly, we also remember that there was no traceability to speak of and nothing like the motor-checks we can avail of these days. Our workshop was pretty basic too.  Nowadays, a car is treated better than a hospital patient.  Hooked up to diagnostics and plugged into all kinds of calibrators and machines. Many is the times I stood shining a flash lamp on a car while my Dad worked on it.  Often he was lying on the cold floors doing repairs, in the days before lifts and arc lights.  But my father had that passion for engines. He loved the business, the deals and the tinkering about as he tuned an engine perfectly.   He liked his cars reliable, but wasn't so much an enthusiast.  I was different.

Cars were in my blood and I loved the ‘wow’ factors of alloy wheels, boot spoilers, power steering, central locking, CD players and every new innovation that a car manufacturer introduced.  For me, the sporty models were a joy on wheels. I loved the Mazda 323 F.  It had headlights that popped up from the bonnet. Very James Bond! For me, the Toyota Celica was the real beauty of the Toyota family.  For my sister Laura, the Nissan 100NX with its unique panoramic type roof and removable sun panels was a statement car for the back lanes of Longford.   ‘Mammy Hanley’, as my father affectionately refers to her, always had the best car from the sales yard.   The pick of the crop. But her joy was always short-lived, for as soon as a buyer came along, that car went and she moved to another model!

In those heady days when people still took a drink  before driving home, before cars passed NCT checks and when a previously crashed car was bought for a ’bargain’, there were more crashes and incidents on the road.  Speed and lads chancing a drive home after a few meant we pulled cars out of ditches most weekends. Indeed, some of our present customers still recall the day my father came to the rescue. Children were unrestrained and tyres were patched up. A weld here or there was not an unusual thing. Cars were not safe and breakdowns were frequent.  It’s rare to see anyone pushing a car these days. 

My father is still not car proud. For him, the people and the craic are number one. His favourite car is also the world’s favourite, the Nissan Micra. You will see him tipping around in a Nissan Micra on occasional Sundays. 

In thinking of the classic, vintage and just plain old cars, we throw back to a simple world. The pre electronic, diagnostic and pre carbon footprint days of motoring, when the biggest hurdle was avoiding the potholes and pools of water on the road.  Cars are safer now.  But the process of buying your car, the chat around the sales and repairs was a more social event.  At Peter Hanley Motors we are happier with the safer cars, the improved diagnostics and repairs, but that social aspect of a car dealership has never left us.  We might have to socially distance for now, but we are looking forward to opening the doors and chatting to you about your early motoring memories.

Stay well – stay safe

David Hanley