Joy, the lap-by-lap voice of NASCAROnFOX's Sprint Cup television coverage and analyst for SPEED's collector car auctions, explained how he got interested in collecting cars and how that passion keeps him young.
"Of all the cars in my garage, there is a 1967 MGB, just like the one I wanted in college," he said. "And when I hop in that car? I'm 21 again."
That emotional attachment to the MGB started when a friend of his had a 1967 MGB. Since then, it's been a love affair with the car. "I've just always had an affinity for them ? the MGB's and the smaller version Midget," he said. "It's a great basic sports car."
Perhaps the concept of having multiple cars can be blamed on where he grew up.
"My first car was a Chevy Impala convertible," Joy reflected. "I wanted a sports car, my dad wanted me in a big substantial car. That [Impala]was my car through high school."
"In 1968 in New England, you needed a nice car, and then you needed a winter beater," he said. "A winter beater is a two- to five-hundred dollar car that by the end of a salt-encrusted road New England winter was little more than dust and rust. You needed more than one car."
Or in Joy's case, 10 to 15 cars.
Joy has been collecting cars for over 40 years and while the exact number he owns depends on whether or not you count the ones in restoration across the country, he gets to see all the best-of-the-best cars while working as SPEED's analyst for the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auctions.
He's also on "hands-on" collector, but he has his limitations.
"I don?t do body work because I'm not good at it and I don?t have the patience, but I do a lot of the assembly work," he admitted.
Car collectors have their own reasons for why they spend countless hours, days, months and even years trying to get that special automobile, but Joy says there is a definite emotional impact on every car he buys and, yes, sells. Joy's fingerprints are literally on the framework of the car, and when it's time to let go of that car, it's a catharsis.
"You wake up one morning and you say, 'You know, I have this car and I don?t drive it very much. Maybe it's time to move on to something else.'''
You know what's coming next, but Mike Joy still keeps you on your toes. He's a masterful storyteller.
"Most everybody who is raising their hand in that (Barrett-Jackson) tent discovered cars and girls right at the same age," Joy said. "The cars are easier to understand. But there are such parallels."
"For a lot of collectors, owning the car is not as much fun (he paused as I waited for the punch line) as chasing it down and acquiring it."
A contagious laugh filled the room as his eyes twinkled. Joy loves cars. You can see it. Feel it.
There is, however, one car that he doesn't have, but would love to have.
"1970 was the high-water mark for the SCCA Trans-Am Racing Series," he said. "There were nine official factory-sponsored cars. The cars were driven by the greatest drivers of the day ? Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones and Mark Donohue. If I had a blank check, I want one of those cars."
"I know all the cars, I know all the people that own them, I've had a chance to drive a couple of them, [but] none of them for sale at present," he went on. "But that would be my dream car. Craig Jackson [(chairman and CEO of Barrett-Jackson) owns one of them; he owns one of the Dan Gurney cars."
Does his wife know he wants this car?
"Oh, she knows. She knows?." Joy's voice trailed off with a grin.
Now, everyone knows.
The chase is on for that dream car while Mike Joy basks in the fountain of youth.
Source: http://automotive.speedtv.com/article/autos-joyful-noise-at-barrett-jackson/
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