Cars that stole my heart. 1. Fiat 124 Sport

In the mid 1970s, I ran a petrol station and it also sold used cars. I was told that if I passed my test, I could have the use of the third best car on the pitch, the first two being at the disposal of my employers.

I passed my test first time in July of 1976. Well, I had been playing around in a garage environment since I was 14. I learned to move cars around the forecourt when I wasn't serving petrol.

The first third best car turned out to be a disappointment. The day I passed my test in a Viva HB (which I quite liked), I went home in a Mini 1000 automatic. Three speed box, up and down the gears like a fiddler's elbow.

In the same week, I also went home in a lime green metallic VW engined Beach Buggy with faux sheepskin interior. It was so garish, people would point as you drove past and believe me it was embarrassing a car to drive and not as much fun as its trendy design suggested.

Later that hot summer, the one everyone remembers, even those who weren't born. I had the use for three weeks, a white Fiat 124 sport 1600cc. It had a charcoal and dogtooth check interior, a 5 speed box and a set of loud air horns.

As a 19 year old, this was my first love. OK, I'd flirted a little having had one nighters with Jaguar XJ6s, MGBs and a Lotus Elan +2, but this was my summer love. I drove miles in it in my off duty moments. I even had a girlfriend to take out cruising with me, Laura was her name, she was in a band. She knew all the members of Led Zepellin.

We went to one of their houses and I don't recall whether is was Jimmy Page or Robert Plant, I just know it was on a hill and had a lot of land around it. Of course, arriving in a snazzy white Fiat sports car and announcing our arrival with a blast on the air horns. I even remember the dress Laura was wearing, an expensive cotton print of Martini labels, the frock she'd worn in a professional shoot for one of the singles her band Little Acre had laid down.

When the Fiat became a sold unit, I nearly cried. The lads tried to bring me round with the use of a huge Mercedes, but it was no good, my heart was broken. Wall actually the big blue Mercedes with the build quality of a Rolls Royce was pretty magnificent.

I lost touch with Laura, her band never made the big time, despite Micky Most taking an interest in their tapes, their support of Trapeze on tour and also her living next door to Slade's Don Powell on the Stowlawn estate in Bilston. One of the chief reasons for the band's demise was one of the members being put inside for breaking into a guitar shop and applying a bit of 5 finger discount to a Gibson flying G. Great pity, this band had talent. Their two singles were really good. Perfect crime and Cable Car.

I suppose it's better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all., but of all the lovely cars I drove in those days, that Fiat is still fresh in my memory as is the hot summer and lovely Laura Spencer.

I'll feature some of the other impressive machines I drove as well as one or two of the stinkers. Citroen SM being one of the disappointments of a lifetime.