Some are definite no-trades. Just two are actually co-owned – a ’96 Porsche and a motorhome. The vehicles are housed in garages decorated with pictures of cars, licence plates and neon signs, along with a car-based arcade and a pair of motorcycles.
Scott Lawrence grapples to describe it all. Is he a collector? An automotive investor? Hoarder?
“Car collector? That’s a little highbrow! I guess I am, but I always just kind of went by ‘car guy.’ Just a car guy. Collectors, it seems like they have plans. They have themes. Cars that I like – that’s my theme.”
Tasha’s a lot like her husband in that respect. She collects cars because she loves them, plain and simple.
“I grew up with cars. Then I married a car guy,” says Tasha. “My dad had a Ford dealership in the late ’70s and early ’80s (in Thorhild County) and I would go there after school until my parents were finished work.”
Dear ol’ dad was just trying to inspire his girl. And the inspiration took hold – but not in a direct fashion.
“My dad bought me a Chevette first,” she says. Later, “a Tempo.”
His daughter would grow to be a multi-vehicle owner with a Mercedes and a BMW in her stable. But you won’t find any Chevettes or Tempos on the Lawrences’ acreage. So, with those early purchases, her father did indeed plant a life lesson.
“I knew I didn’t want to drive those kinds of cars,” says Tasha. “I prefer European, hand-built cars that come with some history. I knew I didn’t want to drive something I didn’t want to drive.”
Scott became a mechanic specializing in European cars. His collection reflects that, but he isn’t tunnel-visioned.
“I end up with a bit of everything. I had a Packard once, so, even American cars.
But they’ve got to be kind of weird.”
Speaking of weird, Scott has a Bricklin -it’s like a Great White North version of the DeLorean from Back to the Future, but without a flux capacitor to send it back and forth through time. The doors lift up, and the headlights pop out, giving it a distinctive look.