Listen to the Motor or the Music?

This will sound silly to a vast majority of you, but there’s a decision I’ve been contemplating for a few years now, and I still don’t know the answer definitely quite yet: Do I hook up a stereo system in my station wagon, or just keep enjoying the sounds of the road and the purr of the engine? Sure it’s really a matter of personal choice, any an easy one for most people, but it doesn’t make it any easier for me. On the contrary, with the ’29 A Roadster, it was a straight forward choice to say no to a music player- I wanted to keep things as raw and simple as possible in a hot rod with no windows or top (let alone space for speakers) to help channel the sound. But we are talking about a ’57 Pontiac Safari Wagon here, and the majority of my time in this car is spent commuting or running errands with my kids. It’s funny, they have never asked for music playing in our faithful wagon, but as soon as they get in Mom’s modern ride, they expect something playing at full blast almost immediately. Maybe they’ve just grow up with there never being stereo in the Safari so there is no expectation… Or maybe, like me, they actually enjoy the conversations and interactions happen in the silence of the old car when we’re focused more on each other and not on singing along to a song. Man, do I sound like a grandpa.