Heritage
By John Arnold
30 Apr 2007
It was as I walked between the Morris Minor and the Foden steam engine, the Ford Edsel and the Honda Goldwing, the BMW Isetta and the Wolseley Police car, that I got to thinking about heritage. All around me were the people of my small town, Sandbach in South Cheshire, England. Every year the town holds a small transport festival originally, no doubt, in honor of Foden, the British engineering firm that grew up here. But these days it's a regular fixture on the town's social calendar, and everybody comes.
Young and old alike all spend some time wandering between the vehicles inspecting, learning and in many cases remembering. The quantity and diversity of visitors is striking. There are families with children apparently unaware that they're in a museum or that they're learning some history or engineering. To most of us there's something recognizable and beautiful about these old machines. Older visitors are reminded of how things were. Younger visitors are amazed at how things have changed. And the next time we sit in our own car we all realize the incredible pace that technology and engineering has moved on.
But it's not only the gears and levers that have changed. These vehicles show as much about changing attitudes to art and design as they do about technology. Part of what makes them so curious and alluring is how different they look and feel from modern offerings. From the oil and brass of a steam engine to the outrageous fins on a classic Chrysler 300. There's a massive temptation to reach out, touch and connect with these vehicles just as we do with our own. The context of our everyday experience with cars and bikes equips us to understand and appreciate these classic vehicles.
Almost as striking as the visitors are the proud owners of the exhibits. Each one is only too happy to talk you through their book that chronicles the purchase, strip-down and loving rebuild of their precious antique. Each one a museum curator and tour guide in their own right. Vintage fairs like this one are truly travelling museums maintained and arranged purely by the public.
I look at the young faces around me. These kids will grow up and own cars of their own. They'll drive them too fast, learn to fix up the clunkers and undertake long ill advised journeys with their friends just like we did. And when they do they'll learn to love their cars just like we did. Slowly they'll start to become the future curators and tour guides of these travelling museums.
Here in the UK the word "heritage" usually means stately home. We're incredibly proud of our long and varied history and the many excellent examples of the buildings and landscapes it left behind. We're also very quick to dismiss America as a country that has comparatively little or no history and even fewer genuinely old historical artifacts. But it's possible that Detroit could teach us a thing or two about heritage. You have only to see the children's fascination with old cars, steam engines, trucks and bikes to see that this part of our heritage is every bit as important and engaging as the castles and gardens.
