Well, here's the old girl... and my Ferrari (I am in SO much trouble for that!). She's an '84 308 Gran Turismo Spider Quattrovalvole... and since I think that Gran Turismo should mean a good deal more than 'goes out on a Sunday once in a while' I take her touring. She's been all over western Europe and I'm proud to have put over 50,000 of her 90,000 miles on the clock. She's wearing her age well (ok, she's had the odd nip and tuck, but it would be rude to mention that) and apart from one or two very, very tiny spots of tin worm (which I'll get sorted shortly) is in very good shape.

Everyone seems to say that old Ferraris are slow by 'modern standards' - well, 250 horses certainly isn't a lot these days, but neither is her weight. Sure, I've had a huge Merc kissing my bottom (so to speak) when I've run out of steam at around 150mph (on the Autobahn in Germany, I hasten to add) but on other roads, I think she's still pretty fast - put her through the twisties in third and see what can keep up... No, she's still 'got it' after all these years, and that's not because I'm any kind of racing driver (because I'm most certainly not), but rather that the car has such assurance and poise that she instills confidence, and better than that her 'envelope' is well outside of mine, so when I make a mistake, she looks after me.

Will I ever change her? I don't know. I've had her since '95 and my fear is that what ever I could replace her with - even a more recent Ferrari - might disappoint... and there's more. I bought her because someone I knew died. If I hadn't bought her I wouldn't have met Gretchen, my lovely wife.

It would be tough to see her go.

And this is the Duc (well, a standard pic of one as opposed to mine, but she looks like this). At the moment she lives rather sadly under a dust cover, where she has sat for over a year awaiting a service... Oh well, business has been tough, so certain things get put off and running a Ferrari has taken the funds... but maybe soon she'll get an airing.