CARS I HAVE OWNED

Your editorial in the March issue struck a chord as a few years ago I celebrated 50 years of car ownership by collating photos of all the cars I have owned to create a photobook. Every picture tells a story, but as they are probably of more interest to me than to your readers, I made a collage of all the cars to use as the front cover of the book and I attach a picture of that.

Apart from my early student years, there have always been two cars, often three and for five years four cars. I guess all would be classed as ‘unexceptional,’ as for many years one of them had to sensible, the other usually a soft top. The highlights for me are:

My first car, the Morris Minor lowlight convertible. It was soon painted JCB yellow – literally, as a friend was a plant hire contractor and the paint was free.

My dad showing me how to decoke a Morris 1000. I never did get to grips with the oily bits though.

The Mk1 Cavalier – I changed careers to get that as a company car.

The S-type Jaguar – I always wanted a Jag, and the end of having a company car meant I could have one.

The Mumford Marina – I was living in Cornwall at the time and we needed something bigger than the Midget to cart my son and his gear to cricket. Originally a metallic lime green, it was BMC brown when I bought it, to match the beige and brown interior. The back seat was like a big bouncy sofa, as was the drive.

The F-pace – that was more of a lowlight than a highlight as it spent more time in the garage than on my drive, and when it was on my drive it dumped the whole contents of its sump on it.

A running thread throughout is my love of the 2CV. I could get oily with those, and often needed to.

There are lots of cars in there as I get itchy after a couple of years, but two that have lasted are the SLK which I have had for 12 years and the MINI five-door I've had for nine years. Now there is just one other, the BMW Gran Coupé, unless I have changed it by the time you read this!

Geoff Knappett