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When I was a child my Dad always had a project, the project was always a car and his favourite saying was "it will be finished by Christmas". To be honest I am not sure any of those projects were ever finished by Christmas and I have very vivid memories of parts of hot rods in our back garden (the scrap man would have had a field day) but Classic Cars and American Hot Rods were a big part of my childhood.

For the purpose of this post, I asked my mum for some photos and she couldn't remember where they were (we are talking over 30 years ago before the age of digital cameras) so I went looking on the internet for my Dad's car club and was amazed to find some forums showing the cars from 1987. We used to go to roadshows a few times a year, with a group of my parents friends and their children and while the men showed the cars, the women and children would set up "camp". I remember as children we used to go off for the day, exploring the campsite, fishing by the rivers and going on the fair rides. I never once remember any one of us having a mobile phone or a fear of anyone and anything.

My Dad has loved building those cars and aside from my mum being frustrated by engine parts and grease, he never had to worry about deadlines and I am pretty sure that he never had specialist car insurance on those cars either. But that was back in the days when life seemed much simpler. I know it is easy for me to say that, I was a child and I hope that my daughters look back on their childhood and remember when life was uncomplicated and simple.

For now, I am spending some time browsing through the internet looking at pictures that remind me of that simple childhood and wonder whether this Christmas maybe the year that his current project gets finished.

What evokes memories of your childhood?

Thank you to my parents friends for this amazing image!