Bigger Ambition

 Hello everyone!

The week has had been a hard time for me as I was under a lot of stress. I've had great difficulty trying to meet people to the point I felt too tired to do so. And then, there's my job which is casual since July 2021.

However, I've been able to be given an opportunity at the Cranbourne Repco store to do delivery driving. On the last days of 2022, I was offered a full-time delivery driving position which funny I hadn't expected it to happen but eventually, I've accepted their offer.

The opportunity arose when their delivery driver Geoff is off on holiday and Wednesday the 1st of February is the starting day. It was a little weird when I hadn't done any delivery driving since my last Saturday shift but once I settle in again, all is good. It's amazing how I started working in the Cranbourne store last year only to fill in extra shifts and gain more experience which I've had but nowadays, I have potential full-time work on the horizon, it'll be a great relief financially as I'll be getting sick and holiday pay. I have certainly worked hard since I've moved to Pakenham. And better still, not have to look at going back to Centrelink again.

Now, the exquisite moment as of this Sunday. As I was unwinding at the Fountain Gate Shopping Centre, I've had a big idea. I thought of one day, I could run car events. I've always been fascinated with cars ever since I was growing up. There are a whole array of them like you wouldn't believe. I knew many makes and models that were on the roads at the time although I knew too little about European cars. Without adequate internet access, it wasn't greatly possible until when I'm about to turn 13, I came across 3 European family hatchbacks in a Royal Auto magazine which consist of a Peugeot 307, an Alfa Romeo 147 and an Audi A3. And then my family went to the Melbourne motor show which is mind blowing and one of the memories I will never forget.

Ever since then, my fascination of cars went off.

Back to Sunday, I've been texting my dear friend Fran back in Gippsland about an idea of running car events having old cars done up rather than scrapped and she's thrilled about the idea. It's amazing how we've become a throw-away society like any item that's worn or broken but repairable can be thrown away. And it's hard to find cars in the 1990s rare as many would be assumably worn down and scrapped. And then comes the motoring and car market trends today which for motoring enthusiasts wouldn't be too good. Let me expand.

There's an increasing trend of SUVs. Even the ones that aren't four wheel drive which are disappointing. There's a moment when my dad is curious about a Holden Trax which I used as a loan car only to find there's a solid beam between the rear wheels which you guessed it is a front wheel drive car.

Next came the coupe-esque SUVs. I don't know why manufacturers would come up with an idea but what I can assume is because they're going gangbusters with selling SUVs, they thought they don't want to have boring conventional SUVs so BMW came up with their X6.

(Courtesy of Red Book)

But then when I saw Mercedes-Benz's attempt on their coupe SUVs, I would always thought Ja Rule is around. And then, Haval have arrived in Australia to sell their luxury SUVs at bargain prices which to me is targeting car buyers wanting to be snobs but not pay a fortune on an exotic SUV. They're another Chinese brand since Great Wall which to me are rather interesting. The only great thing about their cars are the price when new but being cheap cars, anyone who knows cars for a long time would know they wouldn't be too great in the long run.

And then there are the decline of manual cars. It's disappointing as I've always admired driving but nowadays, the huge majority of motorists opt for automatics these days and it'll be harder towards impossible to find a new manual car. Although they're more of a niche, there is too little emphasis nowadays thanks to dual clutch automatic gearboxes as they are more efficient than conventional automatics in terms of power and fuel economy. They do bring in line with the supercars we see today.

With all these, I thought to myself I'll become a motoring enthusiast and not look back and it's pleasing to see that many people share the same attitude as mine.

It is really cool to see some old cars again rather than scrapped and gone forever. I thought I'll show you this video on YouTube of all the cars at the time in Germany awaiting scrappage when they're no mechanical problems that would write them off.

But on the positive note and a nicer ending to this page, I came across Furious Driving's latest video on the Festival of the Unexceptional which features old cars that once were popular but are only reduced to a small handful.

See you next time!