Triumph TR7

OWNED SINCE October 1984 // MILEAGE THIS YEAR 280 // TOTAL MILEAGE 72,826 // ANNUAL COST Nil

I wish I had more to report on the Cambridge this year, but to be honest I haven’t really gone out of my way to exhibit it in public for a while – the paintwork that was vandalised in 1995 still hasn’t been sorted!

I know… the thing is that it would be good for the car to have a really good paint job and some chroming, but this would mean a large bill.

I really do have a repaint fund but it gets decimated regularly, one of the biggest direct hits this year being the £795 needed to get my MG ZR through its MoT.

Thus the car has only been on the odd outing to circulate the oil and grease, and other cars have gone to shows – even my 1989 Austin Maestro!

If I had an iota of common sense, I’d probably have a cull of my other projects, such as the Morris MO and Rover P4 and divert some of the funds to the Cambridge. Another alternative would be to simply patch the errant paint on the car for now, or have new paint blown in by a local spray shop so the car would look more respectable. Or would it be best to wait and go the whole hog? With the seats, slashed by vandals, having been superbly restored some years ago by Aldridge trimming, a very nice car would result.

It’s strange to get in and drive a car that you have owned for so long, and think of all the people – some no longer with us of course – who have enjoyed being driven in it. And all the journeys in the car, from interviews to weddings to work. All the Cambridge’s quirks and features it had in 1984 are still here, plus those less welcome additions, of course.

What will 2019 bring, I wonder?

PLANS FOR NEXT YEAR

I daren’t promise that I’ll end up with a beautifully repainted Cambridge, but I will do my best to get out and about in it a lot more next year.