How many people actually wanted to drive machines?

[JD450A]

Anyone who can drive a defender, for hours nonstop deserves a

The reward I'm told is some Jam Smeared on the windscreen.

 

[Simon edwards]

Always loved this silly game.spent every hour I could sat in my dads old machines driven by my uncle from about 5 years old,occasional shift on the dumperfrom about 10.still driving the damn things most of the time and still got a passion for it.Admittedly I do get a bit nostalgic for what I consider better times for our industry,more fun and less hassle anyway!
I intend to carry on with machinery as long as I can still make it pay as once you get diesel in your veins you can’t let it go!

 

[Monkeybusiness]

This. Laugh all you like haters but I love this landy and will never sell it. Some people had Ferrari posters on their bedroom walls, I had Landrovers and those people with the Ferrari posters are still waiting to own their dream car - I've already got mine. Always wanted one, got a series 3 for my 14th birthday, restored it so I could drive it when I was 17. Used the series 3 to work my ass off landscaping so I could afford a better more reliable landrover (yes you heard right, if you think Defenders are bad, try series vehicles) Traded it up a few years later for this late 300tdi 90 and I've owned it for 15 years now and counting.
Here she is high up in the mountains of Bosnia. I drove her round Europe a few years ago. I was younger then! It was a long way at 60mph...

I share similar issues - Landy’s are compromised in many ways but they are great!
Keep hold of that 300 - it will only go up in value if you look after it.
I used to dream of a NAS 90, (and a BMW M3!...) when I was 16/17/18. I’ve ended up with 3 Land Rovers in various states of repair and can’t see me ever selling any of them tbh.

As for the thread, I’ve loved diggers for ever and spent nearly 40 years looking for an excuse to buy one!!! They are bloody addictive though, I keep wanting another!

 

[Jimoz]

Always liked them as a kid but never got into it for a job. Hopeless at mechanics and not much better at driving them I can just about not make an idiot of myself scraping sone type 1 about or digging the odd trench. Put it this way when I've got foundations to pull I get a pro in...

 

[CPS]

I have always been around machines. My Grandfather drove JCBs for years, mostly 3Cs, and had a 3D at the end. It was him that got me into machines you could say. There has always been machines of some sort around here.
I went to work on a local farm when I was 13, helping out and milking cows etc. This guy then bought a Hitachi EX60urg (the first tracked machine I drove) his nephew drove it and the work started coming in for it. I was usually the tractor and trailer guy hauling away from him.
They had a falling out and the nephew left, i was then sent out on the EX60 (at 15) cleaning ditches and digging drains etc, even done the ground works for a large shed. An older guy was brought in to do the founds, only to be sent home and be told no its fine Aiden can do it.
I then went to serve my time as a fitter/mechanic with the intention of doing 3-4 years (get a bit of paper work) and go back to the levers, which never happened on a full-time basis. 20 years latter im a machinery dealer, although I still have a spanner in my hand most days.
Sometimes I do wonder what things would have been like if I had followed other paths, my father has a fabrication business and although I do build alot of attachments now, I never really wanted to go down that route as a full time job.
About 6 months into my apprenticeship I was offered a job driving, a brand new machine and good money! Maybe if I had of took it I would have been a contractor by now with a fleet of machines.... who knows!

So in short, yes I always wanted to drive machines but never ended up doing it for a job, needless to say when I can get a day on a machine now I take it