Cars

What is it about cars. They really do become a part of our everyday life. Member of the family if you will. I was nattering with my youngest daughter and fellow petrol head about the cars of her time with the firm. VDubs seem to figure large in our life. There was Vi the GTI (her favorite) and Micky the Mazda that I loved

They all had their own smell and manner. Rolf the Golf was a superb Carbrio (first pic) that I took a year to rebuild to band new condition before taking it on a long and lovely holiday to the Black Forest and Austria. Its still tucked away in a garage at my ex wife's house. We had many adventures in it and it never missed a beat. Mickey the Mazda was probably my last hooligan car and only recently sold to a young nurse with a good eye for a bargain. The MX5 is without doubt the best little sports car ever made and the most fun one can have with ones trousers still on. My kids loved it and so did the dogs. My Cocker Spaniel standing up with his ears flying, "Doing a Snoopy" and with a massive grin on his face while Bella the girl Spaniel hid in the footwell really summed up the cars appeal. If you have a couple of grand spare and want a really superb car then buy one. I would again in a heat beat.Cheap to run and starts everytime. Sadly missed.

Zoe's favourite without a shadow of doubt was Vi the GTI. Get the CD banging and the engine on song and it flew. One time we managed Dover to Oxford with a cream cake in the back that was still cold when we got home. Superb car and brought for not a lot for the wife who promptly blew up the gear box. I swear that women could kill a car simply by looking at it. However, what VW quoted £2000 to fix my friend and I - after much tea and thinking - fixed for £10 and a hammer. It really was a super car.

The toss up for my favorite car has to be the ex Frau's Honda CRX (Tinka) and a MG Midget called Tonka. The Honda Crx naturally she blew the engine and nearly got enough speed tickets to get a ban. But she loved it dearly and it has to be said it was a very sexy little car was Tinka and much missed. Indeed, it was  really the pocket rocket that we should have kept. I think that car was the car she most loved and as a two plus two just the thing for a yummy mummy to race around in.

Tonka on the other hand was a saga worthy of a short book. It was brought because the ex wanted a british sports car and its a good reason never to let women loose in the Auto Trader. Even the trip to see the car was a saga. Zoe (then 8 months old) got caught short and had to held out the window in a traffic jam on the M25 to have a wee. When we got there I knew all was lost when the owner opened the garage door and Lisa said "Ohh I love it". Well, at least £200 was added to the price I now had to pay and the backfiring and noises the thing made on the way back meant I was going to be busy rebuilding the engine and most everything else. But it did make a nice wee car and much fun she had in it. And bless her the wife pitched in and I will not forget in a hurry watching her sat on the front room carpet T cutting the bonnet while watching the TV. I bet she would not do that now!

Typical of all English Sports cars it had its moments. Including breaking down on the M40 one morning in the rush hour. The resulting tow back to our house included a fast passage on the A43 that reached a rop speed of 60 mph. Now I wouldnt mind but I was in the broken down car and being pulled by a mad women on a 10 foot rope! Zoe stood in the back window of the tow car waving back at me, waving at her to slow down!

Yes we had a few cars and more than a few classics. I dont think I ever made a profit but they did look nice. Including Dobby the Elf.

Dobby took two years to restore and was a cow from the start. Made a nice car in the end, but I will never restore another and feel sorry for anyone who wants to do a mini. They rust if left on grass over night. Bloody awful car to work on.

Of all the cars I owned I think two are worthy of note now and both are Italian. I restored a Fiat 850 Spider for my first wife and it really was a super little car and much loved.

I think it holds the record for the most Italians you can get in a two door coup. 7! and the best one liner by a woman driver when I asked why there was no pads in the front brake she replied. "Ohh I wondered where that noise was coming from".Its no wonder my nick name was "Spanners".

However, if you pushed me to choose a favourite it has to be my old Alfa Romeo GTV. I really did love that car and I think kept it for a good six years. It did sound nice and flew around the auto routes of Europe and Cyprus. My Father and I brought it one day after a few pints in Nottingham. I have to admit the wife at first was not that happy with the cost, but melted a bit when I took her up the M1 at over the 100 MPH mark in the early morning sun. "My God it flies" was her first words. It was also famous for making my dreaded sister in law sick. I took my brother and his......................erm............................wife! out for a spin and gave it the beans. Remarkable how green she became in my rear view mirror the faster I we went.

Alf also nearly became a coffin when over taking a truck full of grapes on a very dodgy mountain road in Cyprus. But, by far its greatest feat was in Northern Cyprus when they closed the border with the Greek half and we had to get back to the check point fast before we became "guests" of the Turkish Police. I would just like to thank the Derbyshire Police for teaching me to drive and Alfa Romeo for making the car that got us back to that check point with seconds to spare. We were never so pleased to see a Royal Fusilier with his feathers in his cap.Indeed, Rita gave him the biggest hug of his life.

I suppose ones first car is the one we most think of and mine was a little VW beetle called Lizzie. RPE 617 E was the reg and it puttered me around for a few years of happy motoring without much misshap. One bonds with a car and I did with Liz on the 3 years courting involving many a journey back and forth from Oxford to Nottingham. But one night I recall clearly for it snowed very heavily and only Liz and I ventured forth to tootle down the M1 and then A5 with the snow getting thicker and the window wipers going slower and the vision getting smaller by the mile. By the time I got to Brackley in Northants I was doing 10 mph and stopping every couple of miles to clear the windscreen. But Liz never coughed once and got me back to base at very early O'clock of the morning.

I have had a few clapped out monsters  mind you. A Ford Escort Mk1 was probably the worst. The engine stopped if you put the indicators on. And a Triumph Spitfire that I discovered had been repaired with bread when I found a bird pecking at the rear wheel arch! But, you live and learn.

Now of course cars are much cheaper than they were and much better built than they were. However, harder to fix and not so much fun for the kids. Now I have Poly the Polo and that does me to get around. A real old Granddad car, with its 3 cylinder 1.4 engine it does me. Indeed, I just drove to Hamburg and back in it. Slow, but we got there. Mind you, when you think about it the first time I drove with my Dad from Hamburg to UK was in 1963 and in one of these!

The winter of 63 was the worst on record and my God it was long and cold. My Mother was having kittens being too far from her Mother and decided we had to go home to Nottingham for Christmas. How we even managed to get from Germany to the Hook of Holland Ill never know. But the journey from Harwich to the Nottingham up the old A1 was a very long and bitterly cold nighmare. The heater was an optional extra (I kid you not) on the Oxford and ours gave out as much heat as a night light. Wrapped in blankets we shivered with Dad driving really superbly through a blizzard with those skinny old cross ply tyres scrabbling for traction. Dead cars and lorries littered the Great North Road and boy were we glad to get to Nottingham for naturally what turned out to be a totally crap Christmas. Where Mum and Gran just argued mostly. Then the horror of having to retrace our route in even worse weather back to Germany. I think I share something with my Dad here. We both picked women who would not let go of their Mothers appron strings to our cost. But that as they say is another story and perhaps for another time.

Happy motoring in the meantime.