My obsession with the car started through quite a long winded way:
Growing up with a WR-quattro being a very present factor in my childhood, my palette of cars has been shaped in a certain way. I long dismissed modern cars as being not up to the same levels of character as classics, and have always been one to follow the crowd, but in my own unique way. As such, while I am a classic car enthusiast, I have always been fond of the underdog cars that really aren't that bad (indeed, I did not truly understand the quattro's providence until relatively long into our relationship).
Anyway, by about age 13 I was already looking for my first car, I initially tracked down a Ginetta G26 kit car to learn in, and at age 14, it was the first car I drove properly. But there was a problem, while it was a fun car, a lack of power steering, a ruined interior and porous fibreglass bodywork meant that it simply was unsuitable for what I needed. My parameters for the car I wanted was that it had to be cool, have the performance to do everything a modern car can, be suitable for daily use, and have an engine smaller than 2 litres to ward off insurance sharks.
So, while on holiday to Montenegro, and driving through Bosnia, my father exclaimed at a strange car coming up on our six'. None of us could work out what it was, but then it overtook us and we saw to our amazement it was a Volvo! It must have been either an Arctic or Paris blue one, with body coloured bumpers. My heart was set there and then, it was everything I wanted, the perfect car.
A few years passed from then, but all of them were spent constantly checking Car & Classic, Here, and eBay for 480s that come up, and my desired model changed a lot: initially it was one just like the Bosnian one; body coloured bumpers, taurus wheels, then it was the TT, then ones with black strips, and finally settling on a very early car as can be seen in the model introduction video on brinkie's channel. Trust me to want the rarest, most troublesome model!
in September 2018, a dust covered '88 car came up for sale at auction. as it was such short notice we couldn't do anything, so left it. Then it came up, all clean, on eBay, a viewing was arranged but it sold the morning we were due to view it - foiled again! Finally, it came up again on eBay, with the chap who bought it. We viewed it this time and bought it, I still remember turning the corner and seeing it parked, in all its 30 year old genuineness.
And so that was how I came to get my first car (to be driven on the road by yours truly) and cornerstone of my future classic car collection I hope!