It's a worry for Jim Smylie. 'Yup, it is,” rues the very Rumpole-ish 'gun for hire” – the Devonport Rd barrister.

And it's a worry for a lot of his vintage car club mates. What will happen to the car? Who will get the car when he's called away to the big scrapyard in the sky?

Bonded forever – Jim Smylie and his 1930 Model A Ford Roadster. Photo by Chris Callinan.

In Jim's case the ‘worry' is a 1930 Model A Roadster convertible coupe, which has been in the family 80 years.

It's 2500cc of sheer nostalgia and every bit as stylish and strong as the day it rolled off Henry Ford's revolutionary production line in Detroit.

It purrs like a fat tabby on the open road, but steering this old cat is a wrestling match.

'It's almost impossible to parallel park the bloody thing.”

Jim's worries aren't immediate though – he reckons he's got another 7000 adventures or 20 years' motoring before he has to confront the issue.

'Because I won't be selling.”

But everyone has their price. 'It's not for sale. Money can't buy it.” That's an emotional attachment I can understand but could it be seriously tested with serious dollars?

That's an issue for another time. 'The problem could be generational,” observes Jim.

He's cherished memories of his grandfather sweeping up the street in the Roadster and taking an excited boy for drives. The love started early and blossomed.

'So it was a given the old man would pass the car over to me when it came time.”

But Jim's children aren't so attached. 'That's probably because they're the children of Toyota Coronas, HQ Holdens and PA Vauxhalls and the like.”

Jim's dad bought the Model A in 1935, who in turn sold it to his father, or Jim's grandad, in 1939. It was almost lost to the family in the 1960s.

In a rash moment Grandad took the car into a Hamilton dealership and traded up. Two or three days later he returned and traded down again.

'He hated the new car. Just hated it,” says Jim. A grateful Jim, because just a few years later Grandad passed stewardship of the Model A into his hands.

'Been there ever since,” says a pleased Jim.

He likes to give the car an outing most days. Jim enjoys the drive and he enjoys the attention. People notice.

The car is a matron magnet. It's the mature dears who stop and watch. 'Perhaps their dad's owned one,” says Jim. 'Perhaps their first boyfriends had one. Perhaps they lost their virginity in one.”

Urban legend has it that Ford's have killed a million people on the road. 'That's balanced by the fact another million people have been conceived in the back seats of a Ford.”

They built 4,858,643 Model A's between 1928 and 1931. Jim's made it 4,858,644. And it's believed there are still a million of them on the road. The cars have perpetuated their own industry, their own economy – parts are still being made in the USA.

So for someone who doesn't know an ‘Aaoogha' from a sequential manual transmission, explain this connection with Model A's. Is it mechanical, emotional or spiritual?

'Mmmm – haven't thought about it,” says Jim. But he's now and simultaneously having a one-armed wrestle with the steering wheel down Route K and pensively stroking a legal chin with the other hand.

'I calculate I have 7000 adventures left.” That's profound.

'That's one adventure a day for the next 20 years.” What constitutes an adventure is a run in the car or a buzz in his Tecnam two-seater aeroplane. On a good day both.

'And it's a bad day when I can't take the car for a run.” I suspect this relationship between man and machine is spiritual.

Now here's an oddity – there are no seatbelts and no indicators on the Smylie ‘A'. But it's all kosher, it's all legit. It seems in this country vehicles are covered by the laws at the time of manufacture.

'And people do not understand when I give a hand signal. They think I'm giving them the fingers.”

This vehicle can nudge over 100km/h. 'But then you need to stop the bloody thing. And there wasn't ABS breaking in 1930.”

Some other trivia. It has both a hand and pedal accelerator, there's no synchromesh you double the clutch and you need OPEC sponsorship for a lube every 500km. It starts first time and will never be stolen.

'That's because no bugger can figure how to drive it.”

Jim does have another car. 'A boring old Hyundai.” But if he was heading off to Wellington tomorrow he'd take ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang', even though it's more graunch, grind and grunt than 'chitty chitty bang bang”.

As for who gets the car after Jim – as Henry Ford himself said: 'With God in charge, everything will work out for the best. So what is there to worry about?”