Open season’s back
SPRING HAS SPRUNG. And that means it was MoT time. As usual, the BMW flew through with no advisories. Of course, it hadn’t seen much use recently. Our last trip out as a family had been to Silverstone Circuit in the run-up to Christmas, to Lap Land, the fabulous light and laser show that plays as you lap the track. Shame about the weather: a bit wet for going topless with a speed limit of 5mph. Great fun nonetheless, especially considering that Lockdown 3.0 was just around the corner.
So we faced a month or three of Essential Travel Only, which meant occasional forays in the BMW and makes you realise what life has become when a drive to the supermarket is a rare treat. But with the end of March came the first tentative steps out of lockdown. And even a few days of sunny weather. Which is exactly what the doctor ordered.
Cue a couple of hundred miles in a couple of days, visiting family up north and down south for a socially distanced catch-up, and enjoying the unruffled cruising capability of this 32-year-old car. Well, unruffled for those in the front, anyway. With the roof down, if you’re in the back the wind blasts the last traces of winter from your head. The missus and daughter no.2 will thank me one day (no.1 refuses to travel unless her make-up is sheltered by the front screen.
That’s what’s important when you’re 12.)
What’s important to me is making use of a car we bought to enjoy as a family: yes, it might be a bit blustery in the back, but the seats are comfortable, there’s decent legroom, and the boot takes a full picnic and even a set of chairs. Why do I mention this? Because it’s getting harder to do the family thing as my kids get older. Regular readers might remember my suggestion that, after ten years with the BMW, maybe it’s time to move on to something different. I’m thinking two seats and a water-cooled, midmounted flat-six.
But if I were to keep it, there’s also hope for a stablemate. That’s unlikely to be a Porsche: my 944 went with the garage it lived in, but I now have a lock-up in a nearby block. And an extremely small budget with which to score an occupant. Regular readers (again) might remember my appeal for ideas last month. With even pre-classic hot hatches being far less affordable than I’d anticipated, I courted ideas for something cheap yet interesting to complement life with the BMW. Suggestions that came back included a rally-replica Subaru or Mitsubishi Evo (wonderful, but not compatible with funds), a Lancia Gamma Coupé project (also wonderful, just not compatible with my limited spannering skills), an MGB (predictably) or (far less so) a Volvo V50.
Anyway, I keep looking for bargains, and I keep looking at 987 Caymans too. Feel free to email me with help in either case: glen@octane-magazine.com.