When I was first at university I owned a 10-year-old Vauxhall Nova 1.2 which wasn’t old or tired, but I was young and inexperienced on the motorway and each trip to and from home was preceded with enormous amounts of preparation. Lists were made. Blankets were packed. Sandwiches were made. Tyres and washer bottles were checked. The petrol tanks was filled. I was going to be travelling over 200 miles and I needed to be sure that I was ready for every eventuality. As time went on though my preparations became fewer and fewer until each journey was greeted with the nonchalance of someone popping out for the weekly shop. 

This process was aided by the newer and better cars I found myself driving. A Toyota Corolla estate that never went wrong was the epitome of this, to the extent that it made me want to drive something a little less perfect and a little more characterful. 

Bob is, I think, the oldest vehicle I have ever owned. She can even trace her direct lineage back further (1950) than the other old timer I owned, a Mini Moke (1959) called Emma. (Funnily enough the Moke is the only other car I’ve given a human name to – ‘The Fridge’ for the Corolla doesn’t count.) There’s something about an old car’s imperfections that makes it feel almost human. Driving Bob isn’t at all like going for a spin in the Citroen, Nissan or Smart. Even the edgy Smart Roadster is simply being operated in comparison to the VW. You have to think about driving an old car, no matter how used to it you get. Emma drove like a dodgem-car but you had to make sure that all the controls that you normally take for granted (lights, indicators, brakes, gearbox, windscreen wipers, handbrake, starter motor, tyres etc.) were OK on virtually every journey, and each of their functions had quirks unique to the particular vehicle. I have often been reminded of Biff Tannen in Back to the Future, who knew he was the only one who knew how to start his car. It had a way that only he knew, just as if it were a human friend.

Driving around in Bob is of course going to get easier for me, but tonight I’m getting myself prepared for the first long(ish) journey I’ve had to make in her in the same kind of way I did on those early visits home from university. Considering her recent reliability issues this is perhaps not surprising, but if the summer trip to Italy is going to happen I need to start making these journeys now, and it needs to become second nature. I’m still going to have to check all those things each trip though even after countless drives, and Bob needs to give me a little more faith in her ability to take me to my destination. I’m looking forward to it, wish me luck…