Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) The one car that influenced me more than another

Very nice story, Mkiss. It's basically the same for novice drivers of cars and motorcycles, that after a period of initial familiarization you feel safer than you are. Even if an Ecomobile is certainly much more unfamiliar at the beginning.

My first car was a very old, and very tired, soft yellow (canary yellow) early 1970s VW Beetle. It was all I could afford and was inexpensive, no doubt, because of the colour. So, as a teenage boy, I was driving around in a light yellow Beetle, which gave you the option of either being cold, or using the stand-alone Webasto heater, which filled the car with petrol fumes but there was a modicum of warmth. Initially, my music choices were limited to the in-dash original AM radio with the one central dash speaker. Listening to poorly received 'music', played on a cheap paper cone speaker is something a generation who have grown up with ipods will never appreciate.

However, and with all that said, that car, more than any other since, represented freedom. 'She' was slow but I received my first speeding ticket going down a very long and very steep hill... and that ticket was tapped to the dash as a badge of honour and my own St Christopher’s medal to all those who laughed at the lacklustre performance of my Beetle. That car allowed me to go on petrol fuelled adventures, leaving the house when I wanted and not being reliant on bus schedules. Was she glamorous, no, but to this day when I see a Beetle it makes me smile. When I hear the unique tune of the engine I get a warm glow inside, instantly being brought back in time; I imagine myself shifting gears, hand on the thin, cold, steering wheel and not caring about anything other than the next mile ahead.

My first car was a 1978 VW Polo S, basic but with the Golf 1100 cc motor. My mother passed it to me and my then girlfriend (now Mrs B!) and we loved it! It was freedom, we went on holidays in France and were happy. In my childhood (and still!) I loved various cars, as Lamborgine Miura's, Aston Martin DBS.s, Jaguar e-types, but more affordable BMW's 1600, 2002, first 3-series etc. And many, many more. Already very early I was caught by an article about the Morgan. A Dutch journalist described his experiences having his Morgan delivered at the factory and at the next village they had already an issue...! But it was a positive story and Morgan always did stay in my mind, but also as something I thought I could never afford. Coming from a family consisting of solely biologists (my father was the first professor in genetics in the Netherlands in 1964!), I knew one thing: I don't want to become a biologist too! I love the nature, the birds and the flowers, but I was always addicted with cars. So my dad, afraid that I would go for a job in the world of cars, recommended me to have a job which provided enough money to buy a nice car. So, not that far from biology, I became a doctor, an internist-endocrinologist. In the course of the time we bought modest cars, new Polo, new Golf. Nissan!! Primera estate (gave a lot of joy with 2 young children), later VW Passat Variants and a Volvo V70. When I was 50 years old I gave myself my first BMW X5! After that, 2 more BMW's and a Tesla did follow.
My addiction with Morgan made me to buy a second hand 1990 4/4-4 seater in 1996, and I felt guilty spending this money while we had young children and enough expenses. I was in my late thirties. Later it appeared one of the best things I ever did. Recently we bought a new PlusFour. But what were my most special cars? The Polo for sure, the BMW X5 which even my wife loved very much, and of course the Morgans!
In conclusion I am very happy how things went!


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