I am a big car geek. Many of my childhood memories are dated by the car my parents owned at the time. So it's not too surprising I thought hard about the cars the characters drove in Best Friends Perfect Book One. I think the car someone drives says a lot about a person - even if it's 'I'm not into cars'.
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.
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.
Mum's first new car was one of these, a 1985 VW Polo C - ex demonstrator, in this exact colour.
I remember, just like it was yesterday, in 1985 when Mum picked up her brand new ‘bread van’ VW Polo in Gambia red, just like the one above, from the VW garage in Salisbury. She stopped at the petrol station to fill up and asked me if I knew what any of the dials and flashing lights meant. It was quite different from the seventies VW Beetle she’d had before that. In this Polo, I learned about the bighting point, how to change gear, hill starts, sat next to Dad, on a disused airfield in the New Forest. Dad also taught me not to hold it on the clutch, or leave it in gear when stationary. His black Golf only used 1 clutch in 200,000 miles. I'll just leave that to sink in :-)
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.
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.
Rover 100 - I had my driving lessons with a teacher, and took my test in one of these.
I remember a family holiday in Dad’s brand new 1986 VW Golf from Testwood VW, near Southampton, as we drove through northern France below 56mph to ‘run in’ the engine. The theme music of that holiday was The War of The World. Great stuff.
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.
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.
Dad's 1986 VW Golf (the black one) and my 1989 VW Polo (the red one) both in 2000. My car was called, Priscilla too, just like Kieran's is.
We had an orange VW campervan and I remember lots of family holidays sleeping in the elevated roof section.
Ours was orange and from the mid seventies. We had it until the early eighties. When I was a baby and didn't sleep well, Mum & Dad used to start the engine and I'd fall asleep very quickly.
Before Mum’s new Polo, we had a blue VW Beetle on its last legs, with broken reverse gear and tatty bodywork. She used to always drop us off driving up the hill at primary school in Salisbury, so she could roll down if she needed to let someone pass. When Mum stopped at Tesco on the outskirts of Salisbury, she filled the inside with shopping as the boot at the front, where most other cars have their engine, wasn’t big enough for the shopping.
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*.
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*.
Mine was *metallic* blue with five doors. She was called Clara - like Long Distance Clara from Pigeon Street.
The year Dad died, in 2001, he helped me plan to tour England in Clara, staying in YHA youth hostels. Once I'd reassembled myself after his funeral Mum agreed he would have wanted me to still do the tour, so I zig zagged across the country from Cardiff, Ipswich, Manchester, the Lake District and more, in Clara.
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.
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.
Kieran's Priscilla would look like this. They were originally designed to carry French peasants across a ploughed field without breaking a basket of eggs.
Vauxhall Astra mark 1 – Kev’s not really into cars, it’s just a way of getting from A to B. If it stops and goes, Kev’s happy. Kev’s is much rustier than this one below. In the late nineties, this wouldn’t have been a classic car, it would just have been a cheap banger. Cars have to be lucky enough to pass through *cheap banger* missing the scrap yard and then get to *classic* status. As you’d expect many just get to the scrap yard and that’s it, making those left more rare and more *classic*.
This is what Kev's car would look like - only his would be *much* dirtier and rustier than this one, full of his high heels, clothes, and makeup.
If you'd like to read about Kieran's adventures in Priscilla, Kieran's dad's horror at the state of Kev's Vauxhall Astra, how they get to *the perfect night out* and Pride festivals in one piece, Best Friends Perfect Book One is available from Wilde City Press and Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com
Until next time,
Liam Livings
Until next time,
Liam Livings
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