There follows some stories behind various cars in my life through the years. I realise not everyone's as into cars as I am, but hopefully the stories are interesting for everyone, car geeks or otherwise :-)
Mum and Dad moved into their new home, which they’d had designed and built themselves, at the start of B reg – August 1984. That's how I always dated it, even as a small boy.
On my first proper driving lesson I got in the teacher’s car – a 1996 N reg Rover 100 in black in case you wondered – and drove home from Southampton to my house in the New Forest.
I wept on the day we said goodbye to Mum's red Polo, as it had been written off from someone driving into it down a windy lane just outside Salisbury. Of course, we were pleased, Mum was OK after the accident. But it felt like saying goodbye to an old friend. I had always hoped I would have the car when it was time for me to learn to drive.
We used to take Dad's black Golf on family holidays to a static caravan site in Corfe Castle, in Dorset. The *velour* uplostery was much more luxurious for long journeys than Mum's Polo's grey material. I spent most of the holidays buried in the latest Adrian Mole book, or playing with my brother on his skateboard. My brother had it after Dad died, and eventually sold it to a retro Golf enthusiast in the mid noughties.
My first car, Priscilla, the red 1989 VW Polo (below). Door bins full of mix tapes, seats full of friends, I went all over Hampshire, up to London, to Brighton in search of *the perfect night out*. I drove myself to school in the upper sixth form, dropping my brother at his school in Romsey, on the way. That summer, Dad helped me choose Priscilla from a selection of other Polos. Mum borrowed the car and someone drove into the back of it on the way to Salisbury, writing it off in 2001. I cried. My brother bought it off me, and it sat in his garage awaiting a super charged engine and rebuild, for a long time. He eventually ebayed it in 2012 to a retro Polo enthusiast.
In 2001 one of Dad’s friends from work sold me a mark 1 VW Golf. It was X reg, when the new X reg had just come out, but this was X reg, *the first time round*. I used to tell everyone I had an X reg car *pause* then add from 1981 not 2001. Maybe you had to be there for that one *gets coat and leaves*.
I’m a member of the Mazda MX5 Owners Club and the Gay Classic Car Group – for gay people who are into classic cars. I go to MX5 Club events, and have chatted to the GCCG stand people at classic car shows.
In Best Friends Perfect Book One there are two important cars
Citroen 2CV6 – Kieran’s car is called Priscilla. My first car was called Priscilla too, but it wasn’t a Citroen 2CV6, it was a much more prosaic VW Polo ‘breadvan’ like Mum’s but it was red though.
Until next time,
Liam Livings