|
Having worked a combined total of 'many years' in various garages and dealerships, i have been in the fortunate position to have driven many cars which, certainly at the time, were both fast and desirable.
But, for me, the most memorable experiences or journeys, have invariably always taken place in small, low powered and very basic cars (and van). Probably the most memorable of these were when i owned a Suzuki ST90 panel van (predecessor to the Supercarry/Bedford Rascal). I lived and worked in Aberdeen at the time and decided to do a sort of road trip, taking in a trip to the Orkney Islands to see friends. I slept in the back of the van in a sleeping bag on a few layers of cardboard, just managing to stretch out diagonally along the length of the load bay. I was so comfy and so cosy!. The van itself performed brilliantly, within its limitations, one of those being around 38bhp, the other being its proportions. Very short, very narrow, very tall (in relation to its length and width), very, very short wheelbase. The speedometer didn't work, but at a guess i'd say 45-50mph would have been a happy cruising speed. On the return journey it was quite windy and crossing the Kessock bridge just outside Inverness was fairly traumatic, with the little Suzy being blown about between the lanes, following traffic wisely deciding to hang back rather than try to pass me!.
Another memorable journey, for entirely different reasons, was my hot run from Wigan to Aberdeen. This would have been around 1993 and at the time i had a MK2 Fiesta 1.6 (n/a) diesel, which had 54bhp. I left Wigan at 5pm and got home at exactly 10pm having stopped for a 30min break around the half way mark. The AA route planner suggests a driving time of 5hrs and 36mins, so thinking back to that run, knocking more than an hour off that time (with only 54bhp), even now brings a smile!.
|
