My very first car - a Peugeot 309 xe 1.1.

Bought in or around 1996 sometime, I shared this one with my mum - and it really was a good car: It only cost £1200 and it had only done 50,000 miles and was in pretty much immaculate condition. If I drove it gently, we could get silly fuel economy, and I and my friends would cruise around many a night, surviving on McDonalds and Chocolate Frijjs. 

 I christened her “y’bastard”, so I could simultaneously address her politely, and curse her for not starting immediately in cold weather (usually because I had flooded the cylinders.)

 We went through a lot - me and this car, not only did I add the obligatory stereo, ampifier, and subwoofer combination, this one got a classy addition of aluminium footpedals and a racing style steering wheel. And a CB radio. Class in a can!

Many a night was spent rolling around in this little style wagon of plenty, with my friends (Andy Shep, Mark to the Gleds, Matty, and Dave H to name but a few of them).

I also had one of the most upsetting moments of my life in it, when I was hijacked by an assumed “friend of a friend” passenger who robbed my friends, kicked them out and forced me to drive around for 3 hours, looking for someone who’d buy my car. No shit. It’s an amazing sight seeing 5 police cars emerge from the five entrances onto the golf store roundabout on the A30 near Camberley; and getting shut off by them. Relief? I could have pooed myself right there!!!! 

 And that is the story of how the police got hold of my DNA!

 This car later dropped its coolant, which I duly replaced with water, and forgot to add antifreeze before winter. After many years, the water simply froze, the engine had been split in two, and I drove it until the engine literally split and seized. Cracking car this - many great memories.