Joni Mitchell. A wise woman. In the early 1970's she was taking in the spectacular view from her hotel room in Hawaii when she looked down and spotted the parking lot, inspiring her to write Big Yellow Taxi (let's ignore the irony that that song was pencilled partly as an environmental plea, and here I am making reference to it on a site dedicated to a V6 engined hatchback!). A very pleasant little ditty, the chorus begins:
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone....
On Feb 19th this year, Vee #294 was driven away to it's new home in Somerset and I was all set to chase another ambition of mine, to run a rally car. Or so I thought. I remember feeling totally gutted at selling up and that feeling never really left me, as days turned to weeks, turned to months. Sure, our Mini Cooper S is fun to drive and probably as quick, if not quicker over any difficult B-road than the vee, but it was lacking something. The X-factor, the VaVaVoom!
About a month or so ago, I came to the conclusion that I needed another vee in my life. Other marques were considered and I'm sure the same list as many others here have mulled over was drawn up, but the lure of the vee was simply too strong - nothing else came close for anything like the same amount of money.
The search was on and my first port of call was the new owner of #294 - we had a gentlemans agreement that if it were ever to be sold, I would have first refusal and after making a speculative call to Ed220V6, it turned out my luck was in. Yesterday began the longest day of long days, involving a 5.00am start, a train from Edinburgh to Taunton followed by 420 smiles drive back to Edinburgh! Ed is a true gent, and the amount of care and attention lavished on the car in his spell as owner is nothing short of incredible. I am ashamed to say, but she looks better now than at any point in my previous ownership and I am really going to have to raise my game in the car detailing stakes. Ed - I will be picking your brains on this further....
I am still going to pursue my rally dream, but will be doing so with #294 parked outside - if it takes another year or two, so be it, I'm fine with that!
So, a cautionary note to all fellow vee owners, bear in mind the words of Joni Mitchell - wise words from a wise woman.
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone....
On Feb 19th this year, Vee #294 was driven away to it's new home in Somerset and I was all set to chase another ambition of mine, to run a rally car. Or so I thought. I remember feeling totally gutted at selling up and that feeling never really left me, as days turned to weeks, turned to months. Sure, our Mini Cooper S is fun to drive and probably as quick, if not quicker over any difficult B-road than the vee, but it was lacking something. The X-factor, the VaVaVoom!
About a month or so ago, I came to the conclusion that I needed another vee in my life. Other marques were considered and I'm sure the same list as many others here have mulled over was drawn up, but the lure of the vee was simply too strong - nothing else came close for anything like the same amount of money.
The search was on and my first port of call was the new owner of #294 - we had a gentlemans agreement that if it were ever to be sold, I would have first refusal and after making a speculative call to Ed220V6, it turned out my luck was in. Yesterday began the longest day of long days, involving a 5.00am start, a train from Edinburgh to Taunton followed by 420 smiles drive back to Edinburgh! Ed is a true gent, and the amount of care and attention lavished on the car in his spell as owner is nothing short of incredible. I am ashamed to say, but she looks better now than at any point in my previous ownership and I am really going to have to raise my game in the car detailing stakes. Ed - I will be picking your brains on this further....
I am still going to pursue my rally dream, but will be doing so with #294 parked outside - if it takes another year or two, so be it, I'm fine with that!
So, a cautionary note to all fellow vee owners, bear in mind the words of Joni Mitchell - wise words from a wise woman.
of course pleased to see you have #294 back. :approve:
