TomLaferriere

I’ve been around old cars for as long as I can remember, and apparently I never grew out of it. It really started in 1970, when my father bought a 1939 Packard One Twenty coupe. That car became a family project, and over the years my father and I restored it together. When I was about 12, I was introduced to my first Brass Era automobile, and that sent me down an entirely different rabbit hole. Somewhere in those early years I also became completely obsessed with *Chitty Chitty Bang Bang*. While most kids probably remembered the flying car, I was fascinated by the enormous early racing cars in the movie, with their exposed mechanicals, skinny tires, chain drive and absolutely ridiculous proportions. Those fire-breathing monsters looked dangerous, impractical and completely wonderful. Naturally, I wanted one. That fascination with the earliest days of motoring never went away. Steam cars, Brass Era automobiles and big, loud, chain-driven speedsters became a lifelong obsession. Most kids eventually outgrow the things they were fascinated with at 12. I clearly did not. If anything, I just figured out increasingly expensive ways to pursue them. I took a somewhat responsible detour and spent more than a decade as an operations manager in a large manufacturing facility. It was a great education in business, people, problem-solving and occasionally putting out fires, both real and figurative. But old cars were always where my heart was, and eventually I decided to make them my livelihood. I founded Laferriere Classic Cars in 2006, and what started with a lifelong passion for old automobiles somehow turned into an actual business. Today, we buy and sell historically significant automobiles, manage an important private collection, and operate collector-car storage facilities in Smithfield and the greater Providence area. Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of handling everything from great original automobiles and Full Classics to some truly significant cars with remarkable histories. I’m also an active participant in the hobby. I enjoy showing cars, but I’d much rather drive them. Vintage tours, especially those involving early automobiles, are where I’m happiest. I’ve spent a lifetime learning these cars, their histories and their mechanical personalities, and I enjoy helping collectors find the right automobiles, build collections and, just as importantly, understand what they own. For all the business that has grown around it, this has never stopped being personal for me. I still own that same 1939 Packard my father bought in 1970 and that we restored together. Sitting alongside it are several fire-breathing speedsters that look suspiciously like the cars I dreamed about while watching *Chitty Chitty Bang Bang* as a kid. Apparently, some childhood obsessions are worth hanging onto. The best part now is sharing all of this with my own children. They’ve grown up around the cars, just as I did, and have already had their own speedster driving lessons. Watching them behind the wheel makes me realize that what started with my father, a Packard and a young kid fascinated by old machinery has somehow come full circle. I suppose there are worse things than never quite growing out of being a 12-year-old who loves old cars.