My Cars
My very first cars
I was just 20 years of age when I bought my first car - a used Lada estate in the 70s
( Lada was an east European low cost car manufacturer based on Fiats).
I didn't have a driving license at the time but needed a car to transport my Hammond organ to gigs in London
so bought this old used car for a couple of hundred quid.
Agreed, not the prettiest of cars but at the time I wasn't into cars and just wanted transport.
After a while it started to become increasingly apparent I wasn't going to attract any girls
with my old "Lada" station wagon so started to look around at sports cars.
And so I came up with this: an MGB fixed head in bright orange!
At the time I thought it was the best ever for the price and was very proud of it driving around London town back in the 70's.
I can't remember now if this car had any effect on the girls I used to date but at least it didn't put them off like the Lada did.
Quite frankly though, this was - and still is today - the best sports car I ever owned.
As a young man of course I was always looking for something better -
so exchanged by lovely 4 cylinder engine MGB for a 6 cylinder engine TR6
It was okay I guess but didn't excite me so much as my MGB.
That was until I discovered this! A Jaguar E-type
OMG - are you kidding me?
This is the dream machine I really wanted and if I was driving this then I was sure the girls would be throwing themselves at me.
In the 70s this was just an old out-dated car that nobody really wanted so you you could pick them up really cheap.
I think I paid around £1,000 ($1,200) at the time in London for this "golden sand" color E-type series 1 so it was just in my price range then.
(BTW they are now selling in the $50,000 to $250,00 range)
Alas, this car didn't prove to be much of a chick puller either. Partly because most of the time it either didn't start or - when it did - didn't stop.
The brakes on this car were so bad that I had to try to anticipate ahead of time if anyone was going to pull out in front of me.
Because - if they did - then I'd have little chance of stopping in time to avoid a collision.
And sure enough, I had multiple accidents because of this and by the time I sold it, the front end of this car was a complete tangled mess.
One time, a police car with two cops in it was following me around at night and - as they probably thought I looked suspicious
(I had really long hair in those days and wore a tight leather suit with platform snake skin boots)
they decided they would pull me over.
Now, in contrast to here in the states, where the police stay behind you with flashing lights on,
the UK police overtake you to get in front when they want you to stop
and then switch on a "Police Stop" flashing sign on the back of their squad cars.
Well, little did they know, that wasn't such a good idea with me and my E-type with my "hope and pray" brakes.
In order to avoid the inevitable collision I had to drive the car into the curb multiple times which made them even more suspicious.
I passed the Breathalyzer test though so they let me go.
Talking of not stopping, this car used to get so hot under the collar after an hour or so in traffic
that even when you switched the engine off it would still keep running while bellowing steam.
It looked great though and that was the main thing for me at the time.
Fast fowarding some 25 years later - after moving from my beloved England to Frankfurt Germany
- while driving a multidude of mundane VW Golfs and Audis there -
I was walking past a book store one day and noticed a magaizine about Jaguar E-types.
Well that magazine just did it for me
- all those lovely memories about my E-type back in London came flooding back and - sure enough - I was hooked again.
And so a decade of Jaguar E-types and their restoration ensued for me.
I started with a series 1.5 2+2 E-type
Then a primrose yellow series 3 V 12 2+2
And finally, my series 3 convertable
Because all my E-types spent most of their time in the workshop, I bought a Jaguar XJS for day to day driving.
My V12 1971 E-type in British Racing Green that I fully restored from the ground up -
including a complete V12 engine rebuild - and converted from a coupe to a convertible over a period of 5 years
And in the background, (just barely visible) my Jaguar XJS.
All vary fond and dear memories now
After the XJS I purchased this gorgeous XK8 Jaguar while in Frankfurt , Germany which I owned for some 8 years.
MG for "Martin Gardiner" on the German plate. "F" for Frankfurt. "15" because 1 to 14 wasn't available.
You can't get a personalized plate in Germany so this was the best I could get.
In Florida my plate is "MPG 1" - I wanted "MG 1"but that was alreay taken. The "P" is for "Paul" - my middle name BTW.
So now everyone asks me - why do you have "MPG 1- Miles Per Gallon" on your plate? Does that car just do 1 MPG?
My wife thinks it's stupid to have a personalized plate but when she saw what prices personalized plates cost in the UK she understood.
In my home country - the UK - a personalized plate is often worth more than the car itself.
My cousin for example - an artist - wanted "Art 1" - price was $150,000.
While a plate like "SEX 1" is now over $1 million.
After moving to Florida, I sold all my E-types as business was taking most of my time.
This was my Florida XK8 car for 9 years.
My last purchase - a 2009 XK Jaguar - pic is in front of our Florida home.
My favorite Youtube car videos
Jay Leno's E types
Charles Morgan's great video of the Eagle Speedster E-Type
Ever wanted one of these? You won't after watching this video
The world's worst car. And yes, it's British.
The world's smallest car. And yes, it's British too!
The world's smallest car. Here's the newest version
My dream car: Aston Martin DB11
Click above to see the great Aston Martin website and videos
Does a supercar attract women? Check out the above video to see.
BTW if you don't have a super car and still want to pick-up girls, check out the "My Comedy" page to see how.
