Selling my Ford Maverick was a decision not down to the vehicle. It was a great old bus and still is – a mate now owns it.

What it came down to was being totally fed up with the flack you get for owning a 4×4. I got fed up with having to defend my hobby. I even had to do so on occasion within the 4×4 world – it wasn’t just ramblers and eco-warriors. Greenlaning remains a hobby that polarises opinion. Some people like it, many more seem to hate it. Very few seem ambivalent about it and those that are, would probably think about it for a moment and then decide that the countryside should be left to animals and pretty flowers and that only people on foot should be allowed to enjoy it.

This annoys me greatly. When you consider the number of Byways that 4x4s can make use of, versus the number of footpaths that snake around our countryside, the footpaths win by a massive margin. If you want to enjoy a walk unspoiled by the sound of vehicles, then options are plentiful. If you want to travel down Byways that were often the only way to get from A to B in a vehicle, you have to search long and hard to find viable tracks.

Good fun, apart from the hatred this generates

4x4s should not damage the environment unduly either. Travelling in small, sensible groups and backing out of anything too challenging is  the way to do it. Know your vehicle’s limits and try not to get into a position where you need winching out. If you like that sort of thing, go to a Pay and Play site.

Sadly, far, far too many people ignore this advice. The greenlanes on which I travelled legally were surrounded by areas where people had gone off-piste. The reason? Well, they’ve spent hundreds if not thousands of pounds ‘improving’ their 4x4s, and they want to push them to the limits. The truth is that the vast majority of greenlanes I’ve driven will not really challenge a completely stock 4×4. But people don’t want a stock 4×4. No, they want a row of spotlights above the cab roof, raised suspension, big, noisy tyres, a noisy exhaust and no doubt a ONE LIFE LIVE IT sticker – the stupidest sticker of all time. They don’t want to gently bumble down an unspiled lane – they want their 4×4 to be covered in mud from tyres to roof so they can show the world how manly and cool they are.

They can also be pretty thick. For a start, they think that driving around in a mobile mud hut is cool. Secondly, literacy seems to not exist. I’ll defend my chums in West Wales Laning here as almost uniquely in the 4×4 world, they seem able to type actual sentences and seem a jolly nice bunch too. While some do have modified vehicles, everyone I saw on a lane behaved themselves impeccably and a responsible attitude was encouraged at all times.

But spending time on 4×4 forums when you have a love of English is like walking around an abbatoir if you like fluffy lambs. It’s a gruesome experience. I’ve seen some apostrophe abuse in my time, but on one forum, I found an apostrophe in the name of the country I live in. Wales.

Now, I know that not everyone is good at English and some have dyslexia, which is a very frustrating condition. But I don’t see such a blatant disregard for English on classic car forums. It’s not like the classic car world is full of people over 50 with English degrees either. There just seems an intolerance for text speak and crap spelling that frankly should be applauded.

I ended up feeling very disillusioned by the whole thing. I knew some very nice people, and still do, but I very much felt part of a minority. The 4×4 had to go.

And I do miss the avenues opened up to you by a 4×4. I miss being able to drive places that a normal car cannot go. I don’t miss accessing these places, because I can do so on foot – and I do. I still think there’s nothing to beat being somewhere really remote on foot. A car removes that sense of being many miles from civilisation. But I do miss the challenge and enjoyment which comes from putting a 4×4 to the use in which it was intended. What a shame that this seems to have become regarded as the latest anti-social hobby.

Yup. I’ve got it big time. That rush you get when you KNOW you’re going to get another car. It’s annoying in a way. Having only purchased three vehicles (plus taken one back) in 2012, I was hoping I’d calmed down a bit. It would seem not.

These are the most dangerous hours. The buzz is kicking in and like any buzz, there’s a fair chance that the sensible head will not make an appearance. I have identified a likely motor, but am putting off ringing up about it as it’s a bit of a stretch financially just at the moment. Mind you, it’s a stretch because I’ve already stashed away the money I need to cover my mid-term tax bill in July. I’m sure Mr Tax Man wouldn’t mind if I used the money for useful purposes in the meantime…

There are plenty of other big bills due this year too. Both Citroens require road tax at the end of March (a particularly poor bit of planning there), the 2cV needs some suspension work and some de-rusting and the BX has a few jobs needed too. On top of that, we’re aiming to take part in a BX Club trip around Scotland in June. That’ll add up as I’ll need a week away from work, around £120 for fuel (two fills of the tank, which should easily get us over 1000 miles). Accommodation (mainly tent-based) and food add to the cost as well.

Oh, and there’s the small matter of affording wood, council tax and house repairs. Yet I’m buzzing to such a degree that I’m quite prepared to risk all of the above. July is ages away. Surely I’ll have plenty of money by then?

The car in question is up for £2000. Thanks to the power of the internet though, I know it’s been for sale since June 2011. I think the location (west Wales handily!) has put off buyers. Would a cheeky offer secure it?

The sensible head should pop up at this point and remind me of my financial obligations as well as point out that for someone who works from home, two cars is entirely reasonable, if not already OTT.

Where have I put my phone?

The past few days have been rather busy, hence less bloggage. In fact, I can deploy one of my favourite phrases. It’s been batshit mental.

I’ve been working exceedingly hard to fill the news pages of Classic Car Weekly to cover annual leave. I take my hat off to news journos. It can be very hard going at times, watching the clock tick while people who promise to get back in touch with you just don’t. I finally escaped the laptop at about half eleven last night. It’s probably the hardest I’ve worked since I was in the office – producing an 80 (or more) page newspaper every week requires a lot of effort. Especially when bank holidays reduce your working week…

It’s been enjoyable though and I like that I can break up the working day by doing things such as shifting our latest load of logs and selling a car.

Oh yes. The Green Tiger BX estate is off to a new home. Deposit received, collection to occur at some point in the next few weeks. Mojo has run out on that one and finances were looking worryingly tight. As it happens, some invoices that got a bit bogged down have cleared and the money panic is over for a bit, but it’s definitely time for that BX to find a new home. One is enough. Well, it is for me!

That sodding turbo diesel has spoilt me rather. I’ve clocked up tens of thousands of miles in the BX estate quite merrily, but now I’ve gone turbo, there really is no going back. From 71bhp to 90bhp doesn’t sound much, but the way the turbo diesel delivers a huge wall of torque from around 2000rpm becomes very addictive. Too addictive. I don’t actually drive it that quickly by my standards – I probably push the non-turbo diesel harder because momentum is so difficult to get back. This is a skill I learnt with the 2CV. Don’t slow down if it can be avoided!

The latest fleet change means we’ll be down to two vehicles again. This is probably enough really, especially as my long-suffering wife is actually happy to drive both of them. I can’t see two vehicles being enough somehow though. I live for cars and there are a great many that I have not yet owned. There’s always the argument that there’s safety in numbers too. Surely at least one car must work!

The problem is, I don’t actually know what I want. I don’t need anything for long distance work as the BX covers that off nicely. It’s also massively practical and decently quirky. If I want more quirk and character, then the 2CV fits the bill. So, what is it I actually want?

I don’t like sports cars, but if I ignore the fact that the tax man wants a huge chunk of cash in July, I could probably stretch to a car that’s long been on my radar – the Suzuki Cappuccino. In fact, prices seem as low as they’ll ever be at the moment – I could probably get one for a spend of £1500-2000. I still regard that as an enormous sum of money though, and they rot like anything, so one probably isn’t ideal for sitting outside (2CV gets the garage now!). But I love them. They’re tiny, with a 660cc three-cylinder, turbocharged engine, entertaining handling and a weird, many-format convertible roof.  They’re also incredibly cheeky. I like that in a car.

Cute, perky and not expensive. And the car’s not bad either. Arf Arf.

But there is the problem that I don’t like sports cars. I don’t actually enjoy sitting that low. Therefore, maybe it’s time to tick another must-have off the list. The Vauxhall Senator. It’s much bigger than a Cappuccino, with a mighty 3-litre, six-cylinder engine and the cheesiest grille ever fitted to a car. I love them though, since I first clapped eyes on one as a nipper. One reason I love Inspector Morse is not the clapped out, bottom-of-the-range Jag MkII he drives around in, but the Police Senators lurking in the background (earlier ones had Rover SD1s). It’s a perfect motorway Police car. It looks menacing and powerful. I hope I haven’t missed the boat as values seem to be rising.

Phwooaaaar! Senator gets this scribe’s vote

I have also considered a Reliant Robin. They’re huge fun, but the jokes would get tiring. They certainly did when I got a 2CV. I hate Only Fools and Horses, so it could get very annoying indeed.

I could be this cool. I want a Robin. Very much.

Otherwise, I’m really struggling. There’s the possibility of a Jaguar XJ40, but I’d rather fight the tide of inevitability which says that all classic car journos must own one at some point. It’s the same reason I refuse to have anything to do with Volkswagen Golfs. That and the fact that they are massively overrated. People seem blind to just how dull they are…

I dunno. I’m sure the right (or wrong) car will come along at the right (or wrong) moment and I’ll end up with something. I’m desperate to try and make it something vaguely sensible – I did well last year – but who knows. Knowing me, I’ll end up with a bright pink, Volvo hearse.

Believe it or not, Jeremy Clarkson and my good self share much in common. No, really!

For a start, neither of us are university educated and to read Clarkson’s witterings over the years, which I do a lot, he shares with me that slight regret. University sounds like a lot of fun. Certainly more fun than working in Kwik Save as I did at university age.

We both earn money from writing about cars, though I concede that Clarkson has had rather more success in this avenue. Mind you, on the plus side for me, there are no pictures of me looking pregnant on some fancy Carribbean island featuring in newspapers. Or existing at all in fact.

To write about cars, you need silly hair

We definitely do both share a love of the English language too. It isn’t an academic “look how many long words I know” sort of an appreciation, just a delight in how some words fit together in ways that somehow resonate. Take this example, which has been making me laugh for two days now. Of the modern MINI, Clarkson says: “…the boot is not even big enough for a mouse’s pants.” That’s just delicious. It’s a way to conduct a review of a really boring aspect of a car while clearly getting the point across. It leads my troubled mind to conjure up the scene of a mouse being exceedingly pissed off because his pants won’t fit in the boot of a MINI, no matter how hard he tries.

Clarkson’s TV persona is vastly different to the one you pick up by reading his work. Yes, there’s the odd obnoxious statement in there, but he appears nowhere near as oafish as his telly appearances make him out to be. That’s an act put on because deployment of it seems to render him enormously wealthy. If you get rewarded for something, you’ll continue to do it.

One key difference is his hatred of ‘crap’ cars. This was highlighted in a recent DVD where he informed viewers via the medium of screaming that he dislikes the FSO Polonez. There’s another similarity though. We’ve both driven that same left-hand drive Polonez. The main difference was that I really liked it…

You see, I absolutely love crap cars. I always have. I don’t believe in putting up barriers and I suspect some of this comes from attending a primary school when I was a child that had a truly enormous spread of races. Child logic quickly reveals that when you ignore religion and skin colour, you’re all just children wanting to run around outside and screaming with excitement when a dog wanders aimlessly into the playground. And farts are hilarious.

Similarly with cars, I don’t care whether people think it’s any good or not. I want to drive it. Where I certainly do differ from Mr C is that I really can’t see the point of POWAAAARGH, so I get as much enjoyment out of a 29bhp 2CV as any other car. Having lots of power in a road car is just stupid. Really, really stupid. I once drove a Lola T70 Replica which had over 400bhp. Think about touching the throttle pedal and you’ll be doing illegal speeds in mere moments. Exhilarating yes, the first time you accelerate. Then you’re looking in the mirrors like a paranoid drug dealer as you try and get the speed back down to something legal. The rest of the journey is spent realising just how little of the power you can actually exploit, or being scared that one sneeze and you’ll accidentally accelerate into a tree. Rubbish!

Hop back into a 2CV – Jeremy has driven a racing one as well as a French one turned into a boat – and you can exploit every single one of its horsepowers. The same can be said of the Austin Seven, the Austin-Healey Frogeye Sprite and the Citroën BX diesel. Surely driving a car so it’s giving 100% is much more exciting than driving a really powerful car to about 20% of its potential?

There is another reason I like crap cars though. They’re crap. That means they’ve got loads of character. Who cares if switches fall off and the doors are so thin that they get damaged by leaves? Even crap cars have truly tremendous stories behind them. The Trabant had a body formed of Duraplast, which is a material combining resin with reinforced cotton waste. If you’ve got no development funds or steelworks, then building a car from this material makes perfect sense.

The Skoda Estelle appeals too. Sure, the handling isn’t the best and build quality is suspect but so what? They’re great fun to drive and far better than the jokes or their communist upbringing would have you believe.

So,  I certainly do not agree with everything Clarkson says. In fact, I tend not to watch Top Gear anymore because it’s boring and predictable. Is he an idiot though? Such is his success that he probably doesn’t give two figs whether you think he’s an idiot or not. My personal view? I just wish I could get a mouse’s pants out of my head…

I’m not a fan of consumerism. It sits hand in hand with capitalism, slowly turning the world into a big bowl of ultra-safe magnolia blandness. Ugh! Marketing has far more say in the things we buy than clever people like engineers. Gone are the days when an ego-maniac like Issigonis could tell everyone to sod off while he churned out the cars he thought we should be driving. His Morris Minor and the Mini remain two huge motoring icons. Car companies were a lot more fun when one person stood out above all others. André Citroën employed geniuses like André Léfèbvre to almost single-handedly create some of the most iconic vehicles ever created. The Citroen Traction Avant, 2cv and DS are all attributed to him, even if he worked with others to create them.

There you go. Just two designers/engineers and five of the most astonishing cars of all time. Issigonis was usurped by Harris Mann, who just drew up sketches based on things normally used to stop doors from slamming shut. It was the start of things going wrong and can you name someone who’s designed and engineered a car currently on sale? No, I can’t either.

Another top boffin was Spen King. The Rover P6, SD1 and Triumph TR7 all benefitted from his skillful approach to chassis design, but my favourite of his endeavours is the Range Rover. This astonishing vehicle absolutely stumped the marketing department. They had no idea what to do with it. Incredibly, management went ahead anyway and another absolute icon was born. There was no reason for it to exist, but it did and it remained in production with remarkably few changes for 25 years.

Range Rover. Marketing didn’t have a clue, but the engineers did

Sure, great men don’t always get it right. Spen King was behind the flawed Triumph Stag engine and gave us the Maestro, Issigonis proved how out of touch he was with reality by thinking the utilitarian Landcrab would appeal to executives and Léfèbvre became convinced that cars with a narrow rear track were the future – despite the fact they fell over a lot.

In fact, motoring history is littered with brilliant-but-truly-hopeless designs. Long after André Citroën’s demise, the company bearing his name went truly mad and created the SM. Stunning looks were allied to hopeless interior packaging, hydraulic complexity and an exotic Maserati engine that was quite good at melting itself. Remember this was also a time when Citroën was experimenting with the rotary engine – even building a helicopter powered by one of its Wankel-theory engines. They’d obviously gone quite mad.

Sadly, this is no way to make money and yet again, Citroën ended up in trouble. Boring old Peugeot bailed them out and steadily set about taming its quirky rival. This peaked in the late 1990s when most Citroëns were about as exciting as net curtains. And uglier. These days, a C6 is seen as exciting because the rear screen is a bit curvy – which the CX already had back in 1975. It’s a sad state of affairs.

Oddly, it was Renault that overdosed on loopy pills at around that time. First they turned the bland Scenic MPV into a chunky 4×4, then they decided that the best way to build a super car was to put a V6 engine in the back of their shopping trolley Clio. This was just warming up though, because in 2001, Renault unveiled the Avantime.

Lunacy by Renault, crap number plate photoshop by me

Quite why Renault thought the world needed a sports coupe based on a people carrier is anyone’s guess, but then who at Land Rover decided that what 4x4s really needed was car-like suspension and a 100mph top speed? Sometimes it takes a brave move to garner success. The Avantime truly was a brave move. Matra was already building the plastic-bodied Espace for Renault, and leapt at the chance to build the Avantime. Clever double-hinged doors held up development and all for the minor benefit of doors that don’t open quite as wide as you’d expect. The big talking point was that backside though. Good grief!

Not bland, you must admit

This was something else. It was ridiculous. It truly was one of those concept cars that you never think will reach production. But the Avantime did. The impact has been lessened somewhat by the smaller Megane II, which brought quirky arses to the masses. It’s still very daft though, and about as practical as an L-shaped guitar case.

The problem was, Matra had been sold a dud. Renault launched another quirky executive car – the bizarre Vel Satis. This was more practical – it had rear doors and everything – and sold better. Only 8577 Avantimes were sold and it helped destroy Matra. This French firm built some impressive machines during its life – from three-seat sportscars to the ahead-of-its-time Matra Rancho – but was effectively killed off by Renault. And guess what! Renault could now make the Espace itself, out of steel, in its own factory, for greater profit. I’ve never forgiven Renault for this.

Manufacturers should be encouraged to build ‘crap’ cars every now and then. But they won’t. They’re too scared. Anything outside the norm is considered too risky as it won’t keep the shareholders happy. This is why a Ford Focus seems rather similar to a Kia, and why Citroën these days builds blingy MINI-clones instead of interesting cars that are a bit silly and leave unusually colourful puddles on the ground.

But, enough mithering. It’s probably about time I got to the road test bit. Actually, I’m not sure I’m going to. You see, this is a car that’s almost entirely about the looks. I can merely conclude that even with a punchy V6 engine, the Avantime’s driving experience can in no way get close to the impact of those looks. Therefore, it is one of very few cars in the world that I implore you to own but not to drive. Just look at it. It never gets boring.

Double-hinged doors are marvellously pointless

By the way, if you’ve made it to this point, well done and thank you for proving that not everything on the internet needs to be snappy and short. If, on the other hand, you aborted after the first paragraph then you’re a big smelly bumface. Have a nice day!

2012 didn’t end particularly well. Work was quiet, my self-esteem took a pounding and months of miserable weather left me feeling very grumpy indeed.

2013 started well. Work was picking up and the first day of the new year was one packed with sunshine. That was good as we joined a 2CV road run in Abergavenny.

Elly the 2CV and friends atop the Sugar Loaf near Abergavenny.

It was a jolly nice start to the year, with a good pub lunch afterwards. The sun shone for most of the day, and it failed to rain even when the sun went shy. A day worthy of celebration. Perhaps 2013 would be ok!

Er, no. We then had several days of rain. Ugh! I found myself putting front pads on my BX Turbo Diesel in the rain, then experiencing likewise as I fitted new rear discs and pads to the Green Tiger – my BX diesel estate. Not much fun, but both needed doing. Especially the discs on the state. Shocking.

Crap brakes are now not-so-crap brakes!

It was a job that didn’t go particularly well, as the small hex-head bolt that holds the disc in place was snapped and broken on one side. In the end, I hammered a smaller socket over it with great success. Certainly more than with my specially-purchased mole grips. They’re rubbish.

Note that my arm is covered in sawdust in that photo. That’s because of our heating system. No day is complete without ferrying a load of logs around. Good healthy exercise, but not much fun when it’s raining. Or dark.

Anyway, I got the job done eventually, while also doing an awful lot of writing. I’ve been sleeping very well lately! This week, I also had to find time to take two old ladies shopping as part of my volunteer bus duties and the 2CV needed fettling after losing an exhaust clamp on New Year’s Day. On top of that, in a rare burst of organisation, I decided to complete my self-assessment tax return as well.

A few months ago, my To Do list was lengthy, but I felt disinclined to do much about it as it was far easier to grumble about how crap things were and eat chocolate. Fortunately, sunshine came along to boost my motivation! Deadlines were met for another week and I rushed outside to make the most of the weather.

That largely involved filling the newly-resurrected Green Tiger with rubbish and taking it to the tip. Twice.

Green Tiger rides again. A truly excellent workhorse.

How good it felt to be cruising around in a recently-revived car, enjoying the spectacular, sun-soaked scenery. I may have only had 71 horses under my throttle foot (and I suspect some of those have gone missing) but life felt good. It’s amazing what a difference a bit of sunshine can make.

I then fixed the 2CV’s exhaust and had a quick roof-back hoon in that, which taught me that it was bloody cold. It’s now fuelled up and ready for a 2CV run we’ve organised this coming weekend.

Strangely, I don’t feel like buying another car at the moment. I seem to have the perfect team with the three I have at the moment, though they all need work to make them better. So, perhaps I’ll resist the lure of Ebay and will focus on the improvements needed. They are:

BX Turbo Diesel – Improve paintwork, coolant refresh, fix flow-diverter valve leak, flush hydraulics.

BX Green Tiger – Clutch and cambelt, welding, general tidy up.

2CV – Welding, paint, service, kingpin, leak prevention, tidy up wiring and general fettling.

Plenty to keep me busy. Shame that tax return has rather emptied the coffers just at the moment…

I often get asked what my favourite car is, and I think people often expect me to mention a Ferrari or some other sporty thing. It’s true – the Ferrari 288GTO is probably my favourite sports car of all time. If you own one and you’d like me to drive it, I wouldn’t refuse. I might even overcome my dislike of TV Chef James Martin if he offered me the keys. Which he probably would just to let the world know that he had a Ferrari 288GTO.

Not Ian’s favourite car of all time

But try and fit four people in one, or half a ton of sawdust briquettes and it would all start going a bit wrong. I bet it’s crap on fuel too.

That’s the thing. The Best Car Ever has to be one I live with every day. That means it has to do the impossible. It must be good at being a boring, dependable, economical and comfortable car, but it must also handle well, be quirky and make me want to drive it.

The list of cars that do that is tiny to say the least. Even the 2CV fails to make the mark as while I absolutely adore them, given the choice, I’d prefer something a little quieter for a long journey. Which is a bit silly given that I’ve driven mine to Land’s End, John O’Groats and Switzerland.

The BX does score less well than the 2CV in the fun stakes – it sadly lacks the comical bodyroll and roll-back roof – but it trumps it entirely in the peace stakes, offering the sort of motorway cruising ability that is lacking in the little French peasant wagon.

The trumping (if you’ll pardon the expression) is almost entirely down to the hydropneumatic suspension. It’s pure genius. A 2CV is fun, but it doesn’t magically lift its skirts at the start of a journey and nor can it self-level when heavy things like people are placed inside it.

It’s sheer magic. How can four small ‘grenades’ provide such long-travel springing that manages to cosset yet not spoil things in the bends? What amazes me most of all is that it is entirely mechanical. There’s no electrickery here. Clever linkages, valves and pipes come together to create a car that adjusts constantly to the weight inside it. The same hydraulic system also powers the steering and brakes. How does it do all that at the same time?!

Fitting such clever technology to an otherwise dull car transforms it. I also love the sharp-edged Bertone styling (by Marcello Gandini actually – yes the chap who designed the Countach, Ferrari 308GT4 and Renault 5 Supercinq.

The BX is a far better car than the superb Citroen GS. The G was great in many ways but it was the dilution of quirkiness in favour of parent-company Peugeot’s engines that made the BX truly great. It had quirk factor but would also cover 300,000 miles while sipping diesel at 50mpg.

Sure, it’s not perfect, but then show me a car that is. The gearchange is horrible. The interior plastics are flimsy. The strut front suspension isn’t as good at absorbing shocks as some Citroens and replacing an alternator is like keyhole heart surgery. Through a bear trap.

But it delivers so well in other areas. Having finally purchased a turbo diesel, it’s a reminder that here is a car that set the scene for everything that followed. When it was launched in 1988, diesels were a minority product, seen as dirty and sluggish. These days, the majority of cars run on heavy oil – matching economy with brisk progress. The BX was one of the first to do this, making diesel truly acceptable. It also, astonishingly, proved the first Citroen with widespread appeal, despite still having quirky hydraulics. At the NEC Classic Motor Show last year, there was a constant stream of people bringing us their memories of having one as a company car – and perhaps then buying one themselves.

I absolute adore mine and while I also favour the non-turbo diesel, having the mid-range punch of turbo power really does make the BX package even better. Here’s a car that is 20 years old, but can keep pace with the moderns without breaking a sweat, and still deliver 54mpg. And best of all, the Best Car Ever cost me £375. Wonderful.

Turbo diesel sure is brisk. Best car ever though?

Well, it’s easy to think 2012 was a crap year, thanks to recent appalling weather. However, it was a good year for me, if not consistently so.

The year started with the last ever Raid Sportsmans Arms – an event we’d taken over the running of. This was in January and there was a great turnout as 2CVs convoyed to the Highest Inn in Wales. The Sportsmans Arms has since closed down, so very soon, we’ll be convoying to the new Highest Inn in Wales!

2CV’s in the sunshine back in January

I almost made it to the end of January without purchasing another car, but failed dramatically when a ‘bargain’ Ford Maverick cropped up on Ebay. I bid at £500 with 2 minutes left and was somewhat startled to win it. It became a stalwart of the 2012 fleet once I’d sorted out some of its issues though, and now lives across the valley from me, having survived a creditable 10 months in my ownership. Not many cars make it past six months.

Maverick was a bargain, but needed a fair chunk of work…

That led to a short spell writing for 4×4 Magazine, which has just come to an end – seeing as how I don’t own a 4×4 anymore! It was a great buy and I had a lot of fun in it. Arguably more fun per mile than almost any other car I’ve owned. I only clocked up about 2000 miles in it, but easily spent most of my time at the wheel in low box, testing it’s impressive off-road ability.

The Maverick led to me having to urgently sell a Peugeot 309 that was on the fleet at the start of the year – not a car I really bonded with at all, though I did appreciate the sharp handling, comfy ride and the fact that it really should have been a Talbot.

Then the fleet entered something approaching stability. I had the 2CV, the Maverick and my Mk1 Citroen BX estate project that was getting better all of the time. I was worried it wasn’t up to the summer of travelling I had planned though, so when my old BX estate came up for grabs in May, I had to have it. She’d been chronically abused in the 10 months she’d been away, covering 30,000 miles with barely any attention at all. A bit of reviving TLC and she served me well though, taking in the International Citroen Car Clubs Rally in Harrogate and leading an impromptu BX Birthday convoy at that event, before heading to the CXM Rally and a long-awaited trip to Bletchley Park – home of the codebreakers during the Second World War. A fabulous place, well worth a visit.

May also saw a momentous event for me and my 2CV. 100,000 miles together! We celebrated that milestone on the return from the excellent La Vie en Bleu at Prescott Hillclimb.

Hoon! 2CV at Prescott Hillclimb, before we celebrated 100,000 miles together

Few cars make it past six months with me, as I’ve said. Elly the 2CV was just the latest of a long line of 2CVs (the 14th in five years in fact!) when I purchased her in 2000 for the sum of £450. She somehow won me over, earning herself a restoration and she’s been in regular service since. I now can’t see me ever selling this car. By contrast, my wife has been in my life for only nine years though happily I can’t imagine life without her either.

The absolute highlight of the year is definitely the International Citroen Car Clubs Rally though. It was immense. Superb cars, incredible entertainment (The Demon Barbershop Roadshow and Ukulele Orchestra highlights there), wonderful company and yet more superb cars. A credit to all involved and Classic & Sports Car’s event of the year! Honourable mentions must also go to Shitefest – where we celebrated the worst cars of history and I got to drive an FSO Polonez – and 2CVGB’s Registers Day. That was a nightmare to get to due to rain, pretty horrible while we were there due to rain, and pretty horrible on the way home too due to everything being soaked. Yet it was still a lot of fun – it takes a lot to dampen the spirits of 2CVers.

Car purchasing got a bit silly again in August and September, but a fleet cull now sees me with just three cars, two of which work and one of which is being revived – the 2CV, BX Turbo Diesel and BX Green Tiger.

As for the blog itself, I’m not sure where it’s heading for 2013. I shall simply go against the grain and will therefore make no promises at all! Happy New Year and thanks for reading.