I was 17, a trainee surveyor earning £5 a week. Faced with a week’s leave without much cash to spend, I decided to try hitchhiking with my mate Gordon. We started at the gates of Liverpool’s Stanley A

If you walk into a modern-day franchised car dealership to have your vehicle serviced or repaired, most places offer a comfortable seating area. Here you are spoilt for choice with wifi, water dispens

Fitting-out time is here again. Because I winter up in the Baltic where the sea still sometimes freezes, my season doesn’t really start until May. It was different when I berthed my 22ft wooden sloop

Rétromobile is Europe’s finest indoor classic car show, and as I nosed happily around this year’s three floors it seemed better than ever. Among the money-drenched dealers’ stands, favourites included

The excellent article on Leyton House F1 [The team that fired Adrian Newey, March] brought back memories. I was their insurance broker at the time along with many other F1 teams and their principals.

A vision of a time 11 years before the M3 opened – and when Ford Prefects, Austin Cambridges and telegraph poles were everyday sights