I always loved cars growing up. I had pictures on the walls, you know, the usual stuff. My father had a Ford Cortina estate that he used to let me drive a bit. He needed an estate because he was a silversmith. It was red with a go-faster stripe down the side.
My parents had Volvos after that. I got given my mum’s after I passed my test and I put a load of speakers in the back. I was 17 years old. I passed first time after about five lessons, although I think that was in the days of just having to read a number plate from 30 yards and then looking at a sign with a train on and explaining what it meant. That was the extent of the Highway Code back then.
The first car I bought was a Ford Cortina Ghia with a black vinyl roof. It was cracking. I put in all the speakers and things again. A few of my mates would modify their cars – put an extra carb on them or stick a pair of Wolfrace wheels on, but mine was pretty standard.
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Esta historia es de la edición April 2023 de Top Gear.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
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Word is there's no such thing as a decent, small, simple, reasonably priced car these days. Allow TopGear to investigate
VOLKSWAGEN ID.BUZZ 7-SEAT
Volkswagen’s new seven seater ID.Buzz is now the family mover it always should have been
BMW M5
TO THE POINT: THE NEW BMW M5 IS AN excellent car. It's very fast, confident, endlessly configurable and now offers a not inconsequential 40ish miles of electric-only running for happy tax returns.
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These two brands have been the 'pile it high, sell it cheap' kings of the UK market for decades, but their new core models take a very different tack...
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MEANWHILE... IN THE FUTURE
Catching rockets with chopsticks isn't the only autonomous tech going on in Elon Musk's world...
KING OF THE HILLS
You wait for one 800+bhp super GT, then two rock up at once. It's the Aston/Ferrari showdown we've all been waiting for...
PACKAGE
What better way to test the Hyundai Santa Fe's SUV-ness than hand delivering TopGear magazine to each and every subscriber in... New Zealand?
MYTH BUSTER
\"THE GOLF GTI WAS THE OG HOT HATCH\"