DAVID BROWN

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

‘Congratulations, Mr Brown, you have won £20,000…’

Should that turn out to be anything other than an online fraud involving the president of some distant country, it would not take me long to invest it in something useful – that is, another car.

That sum would net me a very good Karmann Ghia coupe with a little bit to put aside to spend on keeping it in fifine condition. I’d also join the Karmann Ghia Owners Club (www.kgoc.org.uk), so that I could get involved in some of their activities.

The marriage of the Ghia design, Karmann bodywork and Volkswagen beetle underpinnings works well for me and is probably the nearest thing to a sports car I’ve ever had hankerings for. I’d prefer a tin top rather than a convertible.

For a spot-on rust-free lowlight version I‘d need another £5k, but I’d happily settle for one of the 1970s coupés with 1584cc engines. Even with the bigger engines (the originals could only muster 1192cc, giving a top speed of 77mph), they were not as fast as their looks might suggest. Personally I don’t see that as a problem and if my colleagues go speeding by in their own mega dream machines, I won’t mind because I will be too busy enjoying my Karmann Ghia.

Mind you, my luck is such that should a winning cheque actually pop through my letterbox, I’d get a paper cut when I picked it up!