Interview with a car-enthusiast
We had the opportunity to have a conversation with our colleague, Tamás at BARE, who happened to be a big car fan himself. At BARE we care about our people’s interests and personalities, especially because we can learn so much from them.
Enjoy the interview!
How long have you been a car enthusiast? How was it started?
As far back as I can remember, so I’d say my whole life. My father was a car fan and he used to change his cars regularly. His friend used to be car dealer, so I had the opportunity to experience all sorts of cars from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s which were available to people at the time. My father would also repair cars himself, from basic mechanics right through to painting; I was always around and enjoyed getting my hands dirty, being able to repair things myself. Of course I also collected small cars so I eventually ended up having well over 300 Matchboxes and Siku cars.
Do you have favourite brands?
A favourite brand? Not really. In everyday life I relied on German preciosity for many years, but now I’ve now switched to Japanese. I am more enthusiastic about older cars, by which is to say my enthusiasm comes more from the year the car was made than to the brand. Young-timer cars (in general, cars around 20-30yrs old) have a flair which takes me back to my childhood, and I also believe that they we crafted in a way which makes them much longer-lasting and reliable compared to those made today. If I had to choose between brands… I can only think in terms of specific models, for some reason: the VW Golf I Convertible and the Austin Healey Sprite MK II. Don’t ask me why, I just fall in love with them.
You have an old-timer. How did you get it?
Well, precisely it is a Young-timer. I own a VW Golf I Convertible from the earliest dates of the production. The Old Lady (in her prime!) will become 38 in June this year. I was searching for years, and once I found one such car I was (rationally) plagued by questions such as “when do I use it?”, “where do I store it?”, etc. With this mentality I lost a few potential good vehicles, then one day I just found one approximately 80 km from my home town. Right at that moment my wife told me to go there, check the car and buy it immediately as she couldn’t stand to watch me hesitating and torturing myself any further. So I became an owner of a Young-timer.
Do you plan to get more old/young-timer or special cars?
Not really any plans, as I don’t have enough time to actually enjoy the car itself as it stands. There are a few models I would love to drive once, certainly, and if I would have the chance I would buy them as well, but I don’t have any real plans for getting more at the moment.
What’s your family’s opinion about it? :)
Haha! I believe my wife has probably had enough of this particular passion of mine, she would maybe like to watch me hesitating again, as since I bought a second one (to have some spare parts available if I would maybe need them) there’s quite a lot of time spent in the garage… My kids love the car and enjoy every day they can sit in it. My two daughters are proud if they get to go to school in the old convertible, so I would say my family have split emotions about it.
Do you share your car-enthusiasm with other people, friends, clubs, etc?
I share it with everyone on the road if I use it. I remember I met a guy with a VW T1 last summer at the red light and we just nodded and watched each other’s beautiful cars. But other than these situations, I do not really go to events or such as I do it for myself rather than to become part of a community through my hobby.
This kind of enthusiasm is part of the BARE culture. When you have a hobby and you care a lot about it , then it’s obvious that you want to improve it, whether it is your car, your dancing skills or anythig else. That’s the key to our mission: by improving services and our favorite things around us, we improve the world itself. By doing mystery shopping you can also be part of this culture.
Author: Adrienne 
Adrienne is a guest blogger of BARE International. She is interested in many things: from playing music, riding horses, to reading ancient texts in their originally written languages. Basically she never gets bored.
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