Cars - Top Trumps

Without doubt I firmly fit into the category of a car guy, having been obsessed by vehicles almost since my first steps were taken. My parents retain a photograph of me standing on the seat behind the wheel of the family VW Beetle in the late sixties, practicing driving the car. Apparently I had left the garden and proceeded down the drive to the car when nobody was watching me and this is where I was found. Family folklore perhaps, but it is an indication of how early my love of cars began.

However for me it was the seventies when my interest in all things motorised came together and became a hobby that will undoubtedly last my entire lifetime. During that period I would spend hours in my friend’s boarded out loft playing Scalextric, we had a few Formula 1 cars, a couple of Mini’s and his dad’s old Vanwall racers all of which we pressed into service. Then there were the Grand Prix highlights, as it was back then, shown on the BBC which we never missed. I also had an old Observer Book of Cars which would always come with me when we travelled on holiday, just in case I spotted something unusual, but there is one other defining item, my Top Trumps cards.

This was simply a great game, with pictures and statistics that appealed no end to young boys of my generation. The object of the game was to win all of the cards by a beating your opponent on a particular statistic each time. Ferrari’s and Lamborghini’s were obviously particularly good cards to have particularly for their top speed, but also for their all round ability, fuel economy not being quite such an issue at this time.

Picture source: eBay

The joy of this game though was that it was a great source of the kind of information that an 8 or 9 year old boy needs about cars, speed and power mainly, which sounds very like a famous motoring presenter and is probably why so many of us loved his show, Top Gear/Top Trumps there is an obvious connection. This was also the only game in existence where a Cadillac Eldorado, maybe Fleetwood, was able to beat a Ferrari BB, this was on cubic capacity, not weight, due to its massive eight litre engine.

Picture source: eBay

I also seem to remember there being some pretty obscure prototypes amongst the pack, as well as some more ordinary models and of course the Monteverdi Hai 450 SS which was the top card for BHP, not exactly a common model as they only built two originally, although they did make a couple of replicas from spare parts in the nineties.

There were plenty more in the pack as well, the Citroen SM, Maserati’s, Panther, Porsche and the Sbarro Tiger amongst others, all of which still seem to be fresh in my memories, truly a defining game of my childhood.

Andy

I was also very saddened to hear of the death of Formula 1 driver Jules Bianchi today, my sympathy goes out to his family and friends.