While I was in waiting mode in the supermarket I thought “It’s about time I put a big hairy motor car on my page”. Li’s van does not count being far too refined, V12 engine and all that. Putting aside Vintage Bentleys, what more hairy than an Austin Healey 100/4 in Le Mans trim?
Then I had an idea that would relieve road congestion and save the planet at the same time. The Government should immediately ban the production or import of cars with syncromesh gearboxes and power steering. Then no more would we see tiny little women at the wheel of enormous people carriers that carry children’s buggies bigger than my car. The only people who could get the car out of first gear would be those with the mechanical feel and skill to use a crash gearbox. It would cut down on speeding too. I should know because I used to own an F type MG and until I got the hang of the gearbox I used to stop at the bottom of each hill and put it in bottom gear, I could manage upward changes quite well, but double de-clutching is an art, though once learnt never forgotten. When I took my driving test in the driving insructors car he warned me not to do my habitual double de-clutch on changing down “or the examiner will  think you are a clever bugger, and fail you!”