The Popular Ford

April 1983, Ford Prefect, circe 1961

I know what you're thinking - this guy will never learn. Very true.

Two tone, at first glance a very nice example of an older car - bought it from a guy in Rochdale or some other exotic northern town, can't remember who took me to look at it. The guy had it in a big shed, it looked like a classic, it smelled like a classic, it drove like a blancmange.

So, in reality, I take the money from the Hovertron deal that I probably still owed to the finance company and blow it on a done-up rust bucket. Probably drove into AP for a month before becoming "Son of social stigma" - they were right, this thing was the icing on the cake of bad judgement calls, I was out of control with vehicles, my life was a mess and I ended up selling this thing in the August for a lot less than I'd paid.

This was almost a complete regression back to 1975 when I had sold a motorbike while still owing money to a finance company, and then went out and bought an old banger.

Lessons learned : Twenty seven years old is a good age to grow up. Old cars are exactly that, nothing romantic about a bad earth on your back lights.