Vintage View: Irish classic and vintage car owners share their stories

We reveal the agony and the ecstasy of devoting time and money to that first vintage car

1. David Fitzgerald, Dublin with his son, and the 1976 Mini Cooper he has owned since he was 15 years old, now in racing stripes

Beautiful burbles, cheap tax, blackened fingernails and understanding spouses. In an age where the combustion engine is regarded as an insufferable misfire, we talk to some classic and vintage car owners about the vehicular love of their lives. 

What would they tell someone setting out to buy?